Retracing the image: The emergence of photography in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

This is a difficult conference to review. It is particularly difficult as your reviewer comes from the margins of the discipline of his tory of photography; but then, all reviews are from a single, personal viewpoint (as are most photographs) and may not necessarily reflect an audience consensus. So, I shall begin by saying that this was not what I had expected. Had I been a mainstream art historian, still flushed with youthful enthusiasm, I might have loved it; but age, experience and a profound uneasiness about my own lack of wisdom left me with the distinct impression of the curate's egg. This conference was ‘good in parts’.     

Dedication response

As Executive Editor for Radiation Protection Dosimetry since1981 I tried constantly to be firm that authors should writein the third person and not the first, other than in the mostexceptional circumstances. These are most exceptional circumstancesand I feel justified in writing very personally. I am highly humbled but very pleased by the great honour bestowedon me by the dedication of     

“Optimizing the Interaction Between the Food and Drug Administration and the Industry” The Need for Cooperation for the “Public Good”

Abstract

It is a pleasure for me to be a speaker at this conference, to share the podium with a friend and former colleague, Merve Schumate, of the FDA and also to have the opportunity to appear for the first time with Dr. Parariello of Wyeth Laboratories. The title for this morning's session, “Optimizing the Interaction Between the Food and Drug Administration and the Industry”, is an interesting one. As I was preparing my remarks, I wondered if they would be different if I was giving this talk to an FDA seminar at the agency or at the Public Citizen Litigation Group, Nader's organization. If I was talking to Dr. Sidney Wolf of the Litigation Group, I m sure that his optimization plan between FDA and the Industry would be tied to the concept of having open files, everything in writing and memoranda for all meetings. I feel fairly certain that Dr. Wolf would wish to have the opportunity to have either himself or one of his colleagues attend any of the meetings that they thought worthy of their time and effort. Now if I was an FDA reviewer and was talking about optimizing the interaction, I would see Industry representatives submitting well researched NDA files and supplements. These Industry representives would quickly understand and appreciate the wisdom of my request for additional studies, more data for the NDA, and the use of certain terms and concepts in relationship to labeling and promotional activities. They would find my suggestion of a patient package insert to be extremely helpful. On the other hand, if I were to become one of Dr. Papariello's researchers, I'm sure that I would see optimization of the system occur when my explanation to the FDA reviewer was quickly understood, all my views on the relationship of the data to the study submitted were accepted without question, and the agency looked most favorably on everything that was submitted to support the application.     

Cryptanalysis and improvement on a conference key distribution system

Abstract

In 1993, Wu and Yeh proposed a conference key distribution system based on cross product. In this paper, we will show that Wu and Yeh's system is breakable. We also propose a modified scheme for the conference key distribution system under the same assumption, which can achieve better security.     

H. S. Ede visits Stieglitz

Abstract

‘I called on a dealer of pictures, a person really alive to the meaning of art; too much an artist to become rich, more ready to help others than to help himself I took him a paying-in slip on a foreign post office given to me in London by a German artist who had fallen on lean days. Give this to S—if you see him, he had said with a strange laugh. My dealer said I could have brought no better card of introduction, for our mutual friend was a real artist though most people in an official world would think him mad. “There is always something bitter in his messages, but I will try to send him a litde”, he said. I was sorry to have to leave but glad at least to have made this contact with so genuine a man.’     

A structured approach to predicting and managing technical interactions in software development

One of the most difficult challenges of managing product development is identifying the individuals who need to coordinate closely their interdependencies during the design process. “Who should talk to whom?” and “Which interfaces should they talk about?” are key questions that engineering managers must address when planning and executing product development efforts. In this paper, I introduce the notion of the affiliation matrix to map the product architecture onto the organizational structure and predict potential technical communication patterns. By comparing potential interactions with actual communications, engineering managers can uncover product interfaces and organizational interactions that may require special managerial action during the design phase of development processes. This provides an integrated view of how process, product, and organizational structures align themselves when developing new products. I illustrate the implementation of this approach in a software development organization, which offers relevant insights about the challenges associated with managing new software development.     

From The Cambrian (Swansea)

Abstract

Mr Calvert Jones then rose and said. — Mr Chairman and Gentlemen — I rise to propose a toast which I well know will be responded to with enthusiasm; but before doing so, allow me to assure you of the pleasure which it gives me to be present on this festive occasion. I can declare with sincerity that I never before have had so much satisfaction in attending a meeting of the kind. Gentlemen, I have always taken a deep interest in commerce, especially in the commerce of my native place, and I am convinced that since the first stone was laid for the first copper works on this river, no event has occurred of so much importance to the prosperity of Swansea as what took place on Friday last, when the Royal Assent was given to the Dock Bill. I have viewed with shame and sorrow, year after year, every port of consequence in the Bristol Channel developing its resources, and constructing floating accommodation for shipping while in our admirable Port and bay, more favoured by Providence than all of them, nothing has been done; the crisis however arrived, when (as I had the honour of expressing my opinions to you last October)¹ not to advance was to recede, and to recede fearfully. Thanks however to those gentlemen who have had the conduct of this Bill, “the tide in our affairs. which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune”, has been embarked upon, and will assuredly, carry us forward to golden prosperity. Judging from the success which has followed the formation of docks in other ports, I have so little doubt that the shareholders in this undertaking will be well remunerated, that had I the capital, I should be proud and happy to follow the noble example so ably commented on by my friend, the Chairman; I would construct the Docks myself, not only for the sake of pecuniary reward, but for the higher satisfaction of seeing my friends and fellow-townsmen growing in wealth and importance; for, gentlemen, we should not limit our views of this question, but take a wide and extensive survey of it; for instance, while Lord Bute is justly receiving a vast and increasing return for his fearless public spirit, the merchants and tradesmen of Cardiff are on their part reaping a rich and plentiful harvest in the shape of growing independence and honourable prosperity, which, I am firmly convinced, will be the case with everyone possessing vested rights in this town or its trade ... Before I conclude I would beg you to observe one point of importance. There are two ways, gentlemen, of judging the merits of a measure; from the opinions of its advocates, and from that of its opponents. In this case the former is well-known to all of us here assembled; as to the latter, I call upon you to consider a fact which I hear from good authority, namely, that the construction of our Docks is viewed with the utmost jealousy at Bristol and other rival ports. I do not mention this as any reproach to these places, but merely beg you to note the fact; did they not anticipate great success to the docks, their formation would be a matter of perfect indifference ....     

The Dysfunctional Leica

Abstract

Winding up the estate of somebody is a sad task, only sustained by the hope of unexpected finds or definitive proof of one's preconceived opinions. There is no difference in this between one's own grandmother and a contemporary like Lucia Moholy. While executing this task I naturally came across various documents that shifted my vague assumptions about this versatile woman in different directions. I saw photographs from her private life that enlightened me about her social relations but, in the end, I was disappointed at not havlng been able to get closer to a person I thought I knew quite well, even if from a certain distance.¹     

“Optimizing the Interaction Between the Food and Drug Administration and the Industry” The Need for Cooperation for the “Public Good”

It is a pleasure for me to be a speaker at this conference, to share the podium with a friend and former colleague, Merve Schumate, of the FDA and also to have the opportunity to appear for the first time with Dr. Parariello of Wyeth Laboratories. The title for this morning's session, “Optimizing the Interaction Between the Food and Drug Administration and the Industry”, is an interesting one. As I was preparing my remarks, I wondered if they would be different if I was giving this talk to an FDA seminar at the agency or at the Public Citizen Litigation Group, Nader's organization. If I was talking to Dr. Sidney Wolf of the Litigation Group, I m sure that his optimization plan between FDA and the Industry would be tied to the concept of having open files, everything in writing and memoranda for all meetings. I feel fairly certain that Dr. Wolf would wish to have the opportunity to have either himself or one of his colleagues attend any of the meetings that they thought worthy of their time and effort. Now if I was an FDA reviewer and was talking about optimizing the interaction, I would see Industry representatives submitting well researched NDA files and supplements. These Industry representives would quickly understand and appreciate the wisdom of my request for additional studies, more data for the NDA, and the use of certain terms and concepts in relationship to labeling and promotional activities. They would find my suggestion of a patient package insert to be extremely helpful. On the other hand, if I were to become one of Dr. Papariello's researchers, I'm sure that I would see optimization of the system occur when my explanation to the FDA reviewer was quickly understood, all my views on the relationship of the data to the study submitted were accepted without question, and the agency looked most favorably on everything that was submitted to support the application.     

Harry Callahan

Abstract

In a fellowship application addressed to New York's Museum of Modern Art at the end of January 1946, Harry Callahan wrote:

My project could only be to photograph as I felt and desired; to regulate a pleasant form of living; to get up in the morning — free, to feel the trees, the grass, the water, sky or buildings, people — everything that affects us; and to photograph that which I saw and have always felt. This, I know, is not a definite project because life itself is not definite, but it could be the part of a lifetime project to help keep photography alive for me and with the hope that it would be alive for someone else.¹     

A scene in a library

Abstract

This essay concerns one photograph: the eighth plate in The Pencil of Nature, called A Scene in a Library, which originally appeared in the second installment of Talbot's inaugural book on photography (figure 1). I have already written extensively about A Scene in a Library — and given its title to a book on illustrated books.¹ But it is a photograph that, together with the text that accompanies it, has never ceased to intrigue me. I continue to wonder what Talbot's intentions were when he chose this photograph for his book. Why did he choose it over similar photographs that he had made and could possibly just as well have used? Why did he title it the way he did — A Scene in a Library — when we know that it was not actually taken in his library? Why and when did it occur to him to write the piece of text that accompanies the plate — which speaks of experimentation with the invisible end of the light spectrum? And what did he have in mind when he put the plate, the caption and the accompanying text together? For A Scene in a Library is remarkable — and exceptional — for the unaccountable way in which it puts text together with image. Almost all the other plates have text that bears on them fairly straightforwardly, either explaining how and where they were made or indicating possible uses for the photograph in question. Not so A Scene in a Library, which functions, rather, as a kind of clef de roman, and which has, as I hope to show, an emblematic status in The Pencil of Nature precisely because it is an exception.     

Scientometrics: New opportunities

Conclusions As I noted in the beginning, I don't think bibliometrics research is in a crisis beyond that of academia in general. But we are in a period in which critical decisions are being made which will determine the well-being of our discipline in the coming years. Efforts are now underway to take advantage of the momentum of the conference series to establish a profession Informetrics association. I believe that it is most important for us at this point to assure that this association, which would deal with the types of problems G-S have raised, is strong enough to succeed.Comments on the paper byW. Glänzel, U. Schoepflin,Scientometrics, 30 (1994) 375.     

Computer model of design

The computer model I will talk about came about as an attempt to generalize an earlier model of the SAR procedures for support design. I will first present this earlier program as a specific model of design. Then I will discuss how parts of the model can be generalized to what I am working on now.     

Flame Synthesis of Nanophase Oxide Powders

ABSTRACT

For several years, we have been developing a process--called Chemical Vapor Condensation (CVC)--for the high rate production of nanophase ceramic powders. This method proved to be well-suited to the synthesis of non-oxide ceramics, such as SiC and Si₃N₄. More recently, we have been investigating the synthesis of oxide ceramics by a similar process, except for the replacement of the original hot-wall reactor with a combustion-flame reactor. A specially designed burner is used to achieve a flat flame, extending a few millimeters out of the burner, which ensures that the temperature distribution and gas phase residence time are identical over the entire burner surface. Metalorganic precursors, introduced along with the fuel/air mixture, therefore experience completely uniform decomposition and reaction, thereby yielding an uniform nanopowder product. In this talk, we will describe the progress made in flame synthesis of SiO₂, TiO₂, and Al₂O₃ nanopowders.     

Synthesis of Nanophase WC Powder by Displacement Reaction

ABSTRACT

Conventional thermochemical processing of nanophase WC powder involves hydrogen reduction of a tungsten precursor compound to form high surface area α-W. followed by gas phase carburization to develop WC. This two-step process inevitably leads to some coarsening of the nanophase WC powder product. Recently, we have developed a new method, called “displacement reaction processing”, in which the two steps (reduction and carburization ) are combined into a single step, leading to a much finer nanostruciure for the product WC powder. The one-step process is particularly favored when H₂ reduction of the precursor compound results in the formation of an amorphous oxygen-rich intermediate. The resulting nanophase WC has a particle size < 10 nm. In this talk, the procedures that must be followed to promote one-step WC powder processing, starting from different tungsten-based precursors, will be described, and the mechanisms discussed.     

My photographic career in Shanghai

Abstract

For more than ten years there has been an ever increasing demand for photos that I took showing scenes of Jewish refugees during their years of exile in Shanghai (figure 1). But it had never been my intention, or within my resources, to create a photographic record of the Jewish refugee community which had lived in Shanghai during the Second World War. All this came about rather incidentally. Like most young children, I was fascinated by photography, but the purchase of what I would call a ‘real’ camera was always beyond my financial resources. When I arrived in Shanghai in 1938 I did not even own a camera, but my brother had an Agfa box camera. Such a camera had a fixed-focus lens, and only a single shutter speed, but in good light, on any sunny day, it produced perfectly acceptable pictures. This most basic camera became available to me because my brother had different interests.     

Metal Matrix composites VI

Abstract

Metal Matrix composites VI, held at The Royal Society, London on 26-27 November 1997, was the latest conference in this biennial series. The fact that applications in major industries such as transport, high speed machinery, scientific instruments, optics, electronics, and sporting goods have only recently become significant is indicative of the length of time it takes for new materials to achieve large commercial markets. However, the attendance included a higher proportion of industrial delegates than in previous years and this shows the increasing commercial interest in MMCs. In addition, although not designated an international conference, the meeting attracted 30 overseas delegates, representing 18 countries, among the total attendance of just over 100. This special issue of MST contains refereed versions of oral and poster contributions to the meeting.     

Constantijn huygens and early attitudes towards the camera obscura

Abstract

J'ay chez moy l'autre instrument de Drebbel, qui certes fait des effets admirables en peinture de reflexion dans une chambre obscure; il ne m'est possible de vous en declarer la beauté en paroles; toute peinture est morte aux prix, car c' est icy la vie mesme, ou quelque chose de plus relevé, si la parole n'y manquoit. Car et la figure et le contour et les mouvements s'y recontrent naturellement et d'une façon grandement plaisante. Les Degheyns s'y plaisent merveilleusement, mais nostre cousin Carel s'y enragera.

[I have at home Drebbel's other instrument, which certainly makes admirable effects in painting from reflection in a dark room; it is not possible for me to reveal the beauty to you in words; all painting is dead by comparison, for here is life itself or something more elevated if one could articulate it. As one can see, the figure and the contour and the movements join together naturally and in a grandly pleasing fashion. The De Gheyns are marvellously pleased by it but our cousin Carel will be agitated by it.]     

Design of a low cross‐talk micro‐coil array for micro‐scale MRI

Design of magnetic resonance micro‐coil arrays with low cross‐talk among the coils can be the main challenge to improve the effectiveness of magnetic resonance micro‐imaging because the electrical cross‐talk which is mainly due to the inductive coupling perturbs the sensitivity profile of the array and causes image artifacts. In this work, a capacitive decoupling network with N(M ? 1) + (N ? 1)(M ? 2) capacitors is proposed to reduce the inductive coupling in an N × M array. A 3 × 3 array of optimized micro‐coils is designed using the finite element simulations and all the needed elements for the array equivalent circuit are extracted in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed decoupling method by assessing the reduction of the coupled signals after employing the capacitive network on the circuit. The achieved results for the designed array show that the high cross‐talk level is reduced by the factor of 2.2–3.4 after employing the capacitive network. By employing this method of decoupling, the adjacent coils in each row and inner columns can be decoupled properly while the minimum decoupling belongs to the outer columns because of the lack of all necessary decoupling capacitances for these columns. The main advantages of the proposed decoupling method are its efficiency and design easiness which facilitates the design of dense arrays with the properly decoupled coils, especially the inner coils which are more coupled due to their neighbors. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 353–359, 2013