[Book review] Piero della Francesca: A Mathematician's art by J.V. Field, Yale University Press.

Review of the book 'Piero della Francesca: A Mathematician’s Art' by J.V. Field, Yale University Press, 420 pp, £35 ISBN 0300103425.

High current density induced damage mechanisms in electronic solder joints: a state-of-the-art review

High current density induced damages such as electromigration in the on-chip interconnection /metallization of Al or Cu has been the subject of intense study over the last 40 years. Recently, because of the increasing trend of miniaturization of the electronic packaging that encloses the chip, electromigration as well as other high current density induced damages are becoming a growing concern for off-chip interconnection where low melting point solder joints are commonly used. Before long, a huge number of publications have been explored on the electromigration issue of solder joints. However, a wide spectrum of findings might confuse electronic companies/designers. Thus, a review of the high current induced damages in solder joints is timely right this moment. We have selected 6 major phenomena to review in this paper. They are (i) electromigration (mass transfer due electron bombardment), (ii) thermomigration (mass transfer due to thermal gradient), (iii) enhanced intermetallic compound growth, (iv) enhanced current crowding, (v) enhanced under bump metallisation dissolution and (vi) high Joule heating and (vii) solder melting. the damage mechanisms under high current stressing in the tiny solder joint, mentioned in the review article, are significant roadblocks to further miniaturization of electronics. Without through understanding of these failure mechanisms by experiments coupled with mathematical modeling work, further miniaturization in electronics will be jeopardized

Trembling the plane of immanence: media arts philosophy and the re-vision of art (or what’s acoustics got to do with the visual?)

Invited lecture at the Royal Academy of Art.

To tremble the zero: art in the age of algorithmic reproduction

'To Tremble the Zero: Art in the Age of Algorithmic Reproduction' is a philosophic, political and sensuous journey playing with (and against) Benjamin's 'Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. In an age inundated by the 'post-': postmodernity, posthuman, post art, postsexual, post-feminist, post-society, post-nation, etc, 'To Tremble the Zero' sets out to re/present the nature of what it means to do or make 'art', as well as what it means to be or have 'human/ity' when the ground is nothing other than the fractal, and algorithmically infinite, combinations of zero and one. The work will address also the unfortunate way in which modern forms of metaphysics continue to creep 'unsuspectingly' into our understanding of contemporary media/electronic arts, despite (or perhaps even because of) the attempts by Latour, Badiou, or Agamben especially when addressing the zero/one as if a contradictory 'binary' rather than as a kind of 'slice' or (to use Deleuze and Guattari) an immanent plane of immanence. This work argues that by retrieving Benjamin, Einstein, Gödel, and Haraway, a rather different story of art can be told.

Psyche and the arts: Jungian approaches to music, architecture, literature, painting and film

Does art connect the individual psyche to history and culture? Psyche and the Arts challenges existing ideas about the relationship between Jung and art, and offers exciting new dimensions to key issues such as the role of image in popular culture, and the division of psyche and matter in art form. Divided into three sections - Getting into Art, Challenging the Critical Space and Interpreting Art in the World - the text shows how Jungian ideas can work with the arts to illuminate both psychological theory and aesthetic response. Psyche and the Arts offers new critical visions of literature, film, music, architecture and painting, as something alive in the experience of creators and audiences challenging previous Jungian criticism. This approach demonstrates Jung’s own belief that art is a healing response to collective cultural norms. This diverse yet focused collection from international contributors invites the reader to seek personal and cultural value in the arts, and will be essential reading for Jungian analysts, trainees and those more generally interested in the arts. [From the Publisher]

Discourse and soul: Jung, literature, science and tragedy as mythical writing

This paper will propose that literature and science, far from being discrete spheres of cultural activity, are, in fact, the cultural expressions of interlocking myths. They therefore overlap and even take each other’s places, as examination of the ‘science’ of C.G. Jung and the ‘art’ of a writer such as John Cowper Powys, will show. ‘Dis-course’, I argue, is the material aspect of the mythical structuring of psychic experience. In the work of Jung and Powys, discourse is the articulation of the soul in the world that spans personal, social, natural and cosmic space. [From the Author]

Art always at heart

The Art Workers Guild, brother body to the SPAB and once presided over by William Morris and his followers, is 125 years old this year. Alan Powers looks back over its history, and sheds light on the characters and common bonds between the two bodies – while present Brothers of the Guild are pictured at work by photographer Lara Platman for new book to mark the event.

The art of auscultation: evaluating a patient's respiratory pathology

This article considers national policy drivers promoting the development of advanced assessment skills and practical procedures for the safe and effective use of the stethoscope in the clinical area. The evidence base underpinning effective use of the stethoscope in clinical practice is explored, including the preparation of the patient and the environment, applying infection control policies, and placing an emphasis on privacy and dignity. This is followed by a practical guide to auscultation technique of the respiratory system for nurses developing advanced practice skills.

Psychology and interventions for pupils at risk of underachievement and school exclusion: the year 10 effect

Findings are presented from a longitudinal study of over 1,500 adolescents. Some were engaged in interventions aimed at reducing social disaffection. Participants completed measures of social-identification, academic self-concept and motivation, and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Consistent with our previous research, developmental trends in identity and self-concept were found - adolescents became more negative about some school-based factors and more positive about aspects of identity. Trends were less clear in the 120 adolescents receiving interventions. Findings demonstrate the importance of psychology in work with young people. [Source: (2008) 'Invited Address, IUPsyS Invited Symposium, Invited Symposium, Symposium, Paper Session, Poster Session', International Journal of Psychology, 43:3, 348 - 527]

Spank performance tour [at National Review of Live Art 2008]

Spank is a duet about two women’s journeys as they play out different roles. One woman recalls stinging anecdotes marked by intimacy, jealousy, fear and fantasy from her childhood in the 70s suburbs – round the corner from where Mike Leigh would film Life Is Sweet. Her Double (projected on screen) reads from a newspaper about an event that punctured the local community, creating an enduring cultural scar, her voice lacking emotion. Both women must eventually face one another and ask, who is deceiving whom? The consequences of guilt and shame and the unstable shift from private memory to public consequence is inevitable and deadly.[ABSTRACT BY THE AUTHOR]