150 research outputs found
Calum Colvin: The Magic Box
No full textArtist Calum Colvin introduces his new exhibition, The Magic Box, which is an archaeology of his practice from the last 25 years. The exhibition will feature image transparencies from the early 1980s, new prints created at Edinburgh Printmakers, and an installation of Colvin's photography studio, which will be in use when Colvin photographs Scottish author Janice Galloway.The Magic Box is on at Edinburgh Printmakers, until the 6th September 2014. Find out more at edinburghprintmakers.co.uk
Fortissat Science Alliance podcast: Calum McAndrew
No full textCalum McAndrew is a public engagement professional at the University of St Andrews. He took part in the Fortissat Science Alliance podcast recordings in March 2021.What is the Fortissat Science Alliance?The Fortissat Science Alliance is a Wellcome Trust & Children In Need "Curiosity" project. This scheme provided informal STEM learning opportunities for young people who attended the community centre Getting Better Together Shotts (GBT Shotts) between 2019 and 2023. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, deliveries had to pivot online so the podcast was founded. These recordings were made via Zoom with warm-up STEM activities sent to every young person in advance, along with a profile page for each researcher, so that they were relaxed and able to ask excellent questions.Link to episode on Spotify.Depending on the broadcast date, podcast deliveries were co-sponsored by Glasgow Science Festival, EXPLORATHON 2021, or EXPLORATHON 2022/23.For the duration of the project, it was supported jointly by Children in Need and the Wellcome Trust. In 2021, EXPLORATHON episodes were supported by the European Commission [grant agreement ID 101036101]. In 2022-23, EXPLORATHON episodes were supported by the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council [grant number EP/X020894/1].Author contributions to contentCalum McAndrew was the guest featured on this episode. Rebecca Hay was the youth worker coordinating the young people who conducted the interviews as well as co-editing and broadcasting the recordings. Iain Hamilton co-edited the episodes. Kirsty Ross was the STEM consultant for the project and uploaded completed episodes to Figshare. </p
Structural and transport studies of binary compounds under extreme conditions
No full textNovel materials and behaviours can be observed in systems under extreme pressures in excess of 100 GPa and the extremes of temperatures (4 K-3000 K) that were not previously accessible by conventional chemical synthesis.
Reacting the extremely stable N2 molecule with a host metal under extreme conditions can form exotic nitrogen networks, such as pentagonal nitrogen rings or infinitely long singularly bonded nitrogen chains, which could be stabilised in the metal lattice to form a High Energy Density Material (HEDM). A high pressure study of barium and nitrogen under extreme pressures up to 100 GPa and ∼3000 K was conducted and found to form a modulated barium nitrogen compound where the average structure is cubic, synthesised by laser heating the sample at 52 GPa. Alongside this synthesis, an hcp barium nitrogen compound was formed from laser heating barium in a nitrogen atmosphere at 89 GPa and from volumetric considerations a tentative stoichiometry of BaN6 could be assigned.
Throughout barium experimentation, the formation of Ba-V was observed at pressures as low as 33 GPa after laser heating. Decompression of Ba-V showed that there is a significant hysteresis in the phase change between phases IV and V, where Ba-V does not transform to Ba-IV until 23.5 GPa. This suggests that Ba-IV is a low temperature meta-stable phase and the discontinuity between Ba-II and Ba-V may disappear at high temperatures.
The closure of the band gap of selenium disulphide (SeS2) has been investigated from ambient pressure up to 55 GPa using the four probe method. The sample was observed to undergo an insulator-to-semiconductor-to-metal transition at 20 GPa and 36 GPa. This coincided with a visual change in the appearance of the samples, which changed from an orange powder to a black solid to reflective grey metal. There is also evidence of a potential superconducting transition at approximately 4 K to 10 K at 45 GPa characterised by a sudden drop in resistance. Unfortunately this temperature coincides with the cryostat’s lowest temperature so the resistance was not observed to stabilise at ∼ 0 Ω
Portrait of Hugh MacDiarmid
No full textA commissioned installation/portrait as one of the programme of public events at the National Galleries of Scotland/Royal Scottish Academy collaborative opus Ages of Wonder: Scotland’s Art 1540 to Now exhibition at the RSA. I was invited to ‘bring my studio’ into the building and create an artwork during the run of the exhibition in public view. The finished installation was marked with a public event in the Gallery with Calum Colvin and author James Robertson on 1/1/18. Subsequently the printed and framed photographic portrait was debuted at the RSA Annual Exhibition 2018, which was convened and curated by Colvin and included a number of guest artists who were invited to explore the links between poetry and visual art. This included a programme of public artist/poet talks. The portrait subsequently won the City of Glasgow College Purchase Prize
Smelt and Mary Scotland: Nicknaming in Frank Macdonald’s A Forest for Calum
No full textFrank Macdonald’s novel A Forest for Calum (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustrates a variety of nicknames and explores their social functions and naming practices. The novel is set in Shean, itself a nickname for the town of Inverness on the west side of Cape Breton Island. Macdonald celebrates the culture, traditions and customs of rural Cape Breton while at the same time recording the inevitable changes resulting from the closure of town’s coal mine. Nicknaming, one of these prominent customs, is explored from the point of view of young Rod Gillies as he matures as a person and an artist. Although nicknames of adults occur in the novel, the author has a particular interest in the naming patterns of the younger characters. For instance, the protagonist is named Smelt as a result of a fishing accident, and his girlfriend, Mary Scotland, receives her nickname from an elementary teacher because she is one of three Mary Camerons in the class and her father has an interest in Scotland. Macdonald presents a realistic treatment of nicknames as demonstrated by comparison with the research on nicknames in general and on Cape Breton Island.Le roman de Frank Macdonald intitulé A Forest for Calum (une forêt pour Calum) (2005, Sydney, NS: Cape Breton University Press) illustre une variété de surnoms et explore leurs fonctions sociales et les pratiques de désignation des personnages. Le roman se déroule à Shean, une localité qui porte elle-même un surnom de la ville d'Inverness située du côté ouest de l'île du Cap-Breton. Macdonald célèbre la culture, les traditions et les coutumes des régions rurales du Cap-Breton, tout en enregistrant certains changements inévitables qui ont résulté de la fermeture de la mine de charbon de la ville. L'emploi de surnoms, l'une des coutumes bien implantées, est exploré du point de vue du jeune Rod Gillies, au moment où il devient adulte et artiste. Bien que les surnoms soient surtout le fait des adultes dans le roman, l'auteur manifeste un intérêt particulier pour le mode de désignation des plus jeunes personnages. Par exemple, le protagoniste est nommé Smelt (éperlan) à la suite d'un accident de pêche, et sa petite amie, Mary Scotland, reçoit ce surnom d'un enseignant du primaire parce qu'elle est l'une des trois Mary Camerons dans la classe, et son père a un intérêt pour l'Écosse. Macdonald offre un traitement réaliste des surnoms comme le démontre son ouvrage comparativement à la recherche sur les surnoms en général et sur l'île du Cap-Breton
Without ground: Lacanian ethics and the assumption of subjectivity.
No full textIn this new paperback edition, Calum Neill explores the ideas of Jacques Lacan to present a powerful argument for an approach to ethics which is neither rooted in a traditional morality nor reduced to a relativism, an ethics, that is, which is without ground. However we conceive of ethics, whether by appeal to an exterior or traditional notion of right and wrong, or by appeal to some form of individual virtue or responsibility, it implies some form of agency. Where there is an ethical act, there must be someone acting ethically. Working from this simple premise, this book argues that the manner in which we conceive that 'someone' is the condition of possibility for our conception of ethics and, consequently, our ethical potential. Against the commonplace conception of the modern individual as self-identical, self-aware and self-governing, the author presents a detailed introduction to the Lacanian subject, a conception of the self as anything but self-identical, self-aware and self-governing. The book goes on to show how such a rethinking of the subject necessitates a rethinking of our relation to law, tradition and morality, as well as a rethinking of ethics
Strain-compensated GaInSb/AlGaInSb type-I MQW for CO2 detection (Conference Presentation)
No full textAges of Wonder: Scotland's Art 1540 to Now. Commissioned Installation.
No full textThis large scale historical exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy included a commissioned installation and residency by Calum Colvin. Ages of Wonder presents work from the NGS and RSA National Collections. The exhibition included over 450 works by over 270 artists and architects, from the masterpiece 'The Adoration of the Magi' painted by Jacopo Bassano of 1540, to recent Diploma Works by Callum Innes RSA and Alison Watt RSA. Integral to the exhibition was commissioned work for and during the exhibition by Calum Colvin RSA, Kenny Hunter RSA and Richard Murphy RSA.This project, recreating the artist's studio within an art gallery in order to allow a public viewing of the process of creation of an artwork over a period of time, allowed a unique access to the various stages in the slow evolution of one of Colvin's staged/painted and constructed pieces - from initial research, set-up and arrangement of objects to the process of painting and final photograph. A large format view camera was installed in the Gallery and the public were able to engage in dialogue with the artist as the piece evolved from an arrangement of objects in a three dimensional set to a large scale painted portrait. The subject was Hugh MacDiarmid- a major figure of 20th Century Scottish and European literature and a controversial political activist, this choice of subject stimulated much debate focussing artistic and visual dialogue alongside political and cultural discussion. Visitors contributed personal letters and objects associated with the poet, which became part of the fabric of the work. Images from the University of Dundee's Peto Collection were used as source material alongside photographic images made by the artist at Brownsbank Cottage, MacDiarmid's former home in Biggar. Public engagement was core to this project, with numerous spontaneous talks as well as pre-arranged lectures. Discussions around visual science, cultural and political engagement, art and poetry and potency of material culture were held. A final public lecture/discussion on the finished artwork/installation was held on Jan 1st 2018 alongside renowned Scottish author James Robertson
Fragmentation of the Labour Party right, c. 1970-1983
No full textThe purpose of this thesis is to explore the differences that emerged among the social-democratic ‘right’ wing of the British Labour Party in the 1970s and early 1980s. For most of the early post-war period, the Labour right was a cohesive unit, with a shared commitment towards gradual, pragmatic reform and welfare-state capitalism. However, even then there was an awareness that within its ranks there were two diverging tendencies. The first tendency, known as ‘revisionism’, was the intellectual basis for British social-democracy from the 1940s onwards, and was associated with the group of educated, middle-class politicians who supported Hugh Gaitskell during his days as leader of the party. The second tendency, often known as the ‘traditionalist’ or ‘Labourist’ right, was more nebulous and therefore harder to define, as it rarely dissented from revisionism in terms of doctrine or policy; but it was widely agreed to be much more ‘working-class’ in its composition, was considered by its critics to be conservative rather than progressive in instinct, and was usually conflated with trade union politics. By the 1970s, the alliance between them was deemed to be under severe strain. But in trying to explain how that came about, this thesis seeks to determine whether or not the dichotomy between revisionism and traditionalism was actually as relevant in sowing discord as it sometimes appeared to be.
In the first chapter of my thesis I examine these two tendencies in greater detail, and consider the potential for further division within the right that was caused by differing interpretations of three important social-democratic ethics – namely, egalitarianism, libertarianism, and rationalism. The second chapter concerns the debates surrounding Britain’s application to join the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1971, which - by splitting the Labour right into opposing ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ camps - has often been viewed as a proxy for the tensions that existed between the revisionists and the traditionalists. The third chapter scrutinises attempts from within the right to reform industrial relations, focusing mainly on incomes policy and ‘workers participation’, and the consequences this had for the Labourist tendency. Chapter four analyses the gradual rift that developed between two leading revisionists, Anthony Crosland and Roy Jenkins, and the emergence among the latter’s supporters of a new, liberal form of ‘post-revisionism’. The fifth chapter discusses the impact of a more explicitly ‘populist’ approach that was developed by certain right-wing activists on the party’s fringes, and the consequences this had for the revisionist/traditionalist divide. And lastly, chapter six examines the creation of the breakaway Social Democratic Party (SDP) in 1981, and the efforts of its leaders to eradicate any traces of their Labour Party past by emphasising novelty and modernity to their new support base instead
Multiple sets of solutions for harmonic elimination PWM bipolar waveforms: Analysis and experimental verification
No full textMultiple sets of solutions for the selective harmonic elimination pulse-width modulation method for inverter control exist. These sets present an independent solution to the same problem but further investigation reveals that certain sets may offer an improved overall harmonic performance. In this paper, a minimization method is discussed as a way to obtain these multiple sets of switching angles. A simple distortion harmonic factor that takes into account the first two most significant harmonics present in the generated waveform is considered in order to evaluate the performance of each set. The bipolar waveform is thoroughly analyzed and two cases are considered; single-phase patterns which eliminate all odd harmonics and three-phase counterparts which eliminate only the nontriplen odd harmonics from the line-to-neutral pattern but such harmonics are naturally eliminated from the line-to-line waveform. Experimental results support the theoretical considerations reported in the paper
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