Through the Time Barrier: <i>Art and Design in the Digital Age</i>

During the past decade, computers have broken through the barrier of human time. Today, computers can process data in milli-, micro- and even nanoseconds and can (inter) act autonomously in time frames that exceed our capacity to perceive and respond to. This produces a fundamental problem – a gap between human time and the time of computers – and raises important questions: how do big data and fast computation affect our experience and understanding of time? If a computer is able to deal with the world faster than we can, are we doomed to live forever in the past, however near the present? Or are we dealing with a technological extension of the present, and how might we be able to understand and experience this? By analysing theory and works of art, this text examines how to deal with the shock produced by microtemporal technologies.</jats:p

The influence of anticoagulants on the development of colorectal cancer in the rat and their activity in human colorectal cancer

Pre-neoplastic changes were studied in an animal model for chemically induced colorectal cancer. This included cell kinetic and morphological changes, demonstrated by stathmokinetic techniques and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The effects of warfarin [3-(a-acetonylbenzyl)-4-hydroxycoumarin] on these aspects, and tumour size and incidence were studied. These studies investigated the mechanism by which warfarin affects the development of malignancy. It was adminstered at low dose (non-therapeutic anticoagulation) and at high dose (therapeutic anticoagulation). In stathmokinetic studies the crypt cell production rate (CCPR), a cell kinetic index, was determined. The CCPR in normal animals was highest in the caecum, intermediate in descending and ascending colon, and lowest in transverse colon and rectum. With carcinogenesis CCPR increased in all areas; the greatest increase occurred in the distal colon and the smallest in the caecum. Maximum tumour yield also occurred in descending colon and rectum. Warfarin, at either dose, had no significant effect on CCPR. However tumour incidence was significantly decreased by both doses. SEM demonstrated small raised areas on the epithelial surface. Conventional histololgy demonstrated that they had adenomatous characteristics. These `microadenomas</p

Electrochemically controlled modification of CVD diamond surfaces

The surface chemical properties of CVD diamond play a crucial role in many of the potential device applications using diamond, encompassing areas such as, cold cathodes and photocathodes, surface conductive FET's, electrochemistry, and genomics and proteomics. There is therefore great interest in developing routes for surface modification, and in understanding the influences, which such surface modifications produce. In the present work, an electrochemical procedure was developed to produce chemically stable negative electron affinity (NEA) surfaces. CVD diamond electrodes were electrochemically oxidised at anodic potentials to produce oxygen functionalities, which were subsequently subjected to ion exchange with aqueous Cs+ ions. Characterisation with XPS reveals the presence of a surface monolayer phase with the expected presence of Cs and O. The surface modified with Caesium displays negative electron affinity (NEA) and high field emission yields, and is much more stable than caesiated diamond surfaces produced by vacuum techniques. This new process represents an example of how simple electrochemical procedures can be used to achieve surface modification results, which are not so easily realised using other approaches. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved