Newton-Okounkov bodies on projective bundles over curves

In this article, we study Newton-Okounkov bodies on projective vector bundles over curves. Inspired by Wolfe's estimates used to compute the volume function on these varieties, we compute all Newton-Okounkov bodies with respect to linear flags. Moreover, we characterize semi-stable vector bundles over curves via Newton-Okounkov bodies.Comment: 28 pages. Final version: to appear in Mathematische Zeitschrif

On singular Fano varieties with a divisor of Picard number one

In this paper we study the geometry of mildly singular Fano varieties on which there is an effective prime divisor of Picard number one. Afterwards, we address the case of toric varieties. Finally, we treat the lifting of extremal contractions to universal covering spaces in codimension 1.Comment: 35 pages. Final version: to appear in Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore, Classe di Scienz

From Cambridge to Brighton: Concrete poetry in Britain, an interview with Stephen Bann

Extensive interview with art historian, curator and concrete poet Stephen Bann by Gustavo Grandal Montero, focusing particularly on his curatorial, critical and artistic work of the 1960s, closely involved with the development of Concrete poetry in the UK. Associated at an early stage with Ian Hamilton Finlay, he co-organized the First International Exhibition of Concrete and Kinetic Poetry (Cambridge, 1964) and was Director of the Concrete Poetry Exhibition for the inaugural Brighton Festival in 1967, edited Concrete poetry: an international anthology 1967 and published several influential critical texts, while developing his own Concrete poetry practice

Artists’ books in HE teaching and learning

Learning resource, teaching collection, study collection, research collection or special collection: a historical collection of artists’ books like that at Chelsea College of Art & Design Library can (and probably, has) been used and referred to in all these different ways, at different times, responding to changes in education, audiences, users, etc. The focus on research within universities has led, over time, to a narrow view of such collections and their use primarily as research material, often to the detriment of their use in teaching and learning. With the rebalancing in recent years of the importance of these activities, seen again as central to the mission of Higher Education (HE), a re-evaluation of the use of special collections, and specifically artists’ books collections, to enhance and improve the quality of learning and teaching activities, is required

Deriving model-based Te_e-consistent chemical abundances in ionised gaseous nebulae

The derivation of abundances in gaseous nebulae ionised by massive stars using optical collisionally excited emission lines is studied in this work comparing the direct or $T_e$ method with updated grids of photoionisation models covering a wide range of input conditions of O/H and N/O abundances and ionisation parameter. The abundances in a large sample of compiled objects with at least one auroral line are re-derived and later compared with the $\chi^2$ weighted-mean abundances from the models. The agreement between the abundances using the two methods both for O/H and N/O is excellent with no additional assumptions about the geometry or physics governing the HII regions. Although very inaccurate model-based O/H are obtained when no auroral lines are considered, this can be overcome assuming empirical laws between O/H, log $U$, and N/O to constrain the considered models. In this way, for 12+log(O/H) $>$ 8.0, a precision better than 0.1dex consistent with the direct method is attained. For very low-$Z$, models give higher O/H values and a high dispersion, possibly owing to the contamination of the low-excitation emission-lines. However, in this regime, the auroral lines are usually well-detected. The use of this procedure, in a publicly available script, HII-CHI-mistry}, leads to the derivation of abundances in faint/high redshift objects consistent with the direct method based on CELs.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Some figures and text have been replaced to match published versio

Kinkon biobib: life and work of Dom Sylvester Houedard

Bio-bibliographical essay on British Benedictine monk, scholar, translator, concrete poet and artist Dom Sylvester Houédard (1924–92). Based on scarce published materials and primary sources, this chronology emphasises artistic over religious and other activities, and public over private ones. It lists events where Houédard had an active involvement (group and solo exhibitions – focusing on UK based ones, and those where a catalogue was published; talks, readings and performances – including recordings; collaborations), significant artworks, monographic publications (broadsheets, print folders, cards, pamphlets, monographs, exhibition catalogues, anthologies) and serial publications (articles and magazines)

Using Virtual Reality to increase technical performance during rowing workouts

Technology is advancing rapidly in virtual reality (VR) and sensors, gathering feedback from our body and the environment we are interacting in. Combining the two technologies gives us the opportunity to create personalized and reactive immersive environments. These environments can be used e.g. for training in dangerous situations (e.g. fire, crashes, etc), or to improve skills with less distraction than regular natural environments would have. The pilot study described in this thesis puts an athlete who is rowing on a stationary rowing machine into a virtual environment. The VR takes movement from several sensors of the ergo-meter and displays those in VR. In addition, metrics on technique are being derived from the sensor data and physiological data. All this is used to investigate if, and to which extent, VR may improve the technical skills of the athlete during the complex sport of rowing. Furthermore, athletes are giving subjective feedback about their experience comparing a standard rowing workout, with the workout using VR. First results indicate better performance and an enhanced experience by the athlete