Dirty Tangible Interfaces (DIRTI) are a new concept in interface design that forgoes the dogma of repeatability in favor of a richer and more complex experience, constantly evolving, never reversible, and infinitely modifiable. We built a prototype based on granular or liquid interaction material placed in a glass dish, that is analyzed by video tracking for its 3D relief. This relief, and the ...

As we begin a new millennium and contemplate how our current understandings might be evaluated in 1000 years, it may be useful to look backward. What pieces of knowledge do we treasure that come from 1000 years ago? Accounts from the end of the last millennium herald innovations like the metal plow but were imbued with folk knowledge from an era when trolls, fairies, and personifications of the...

A z-pinch capillary plasma as an alternative active medium of soft X-Ray lasers was studied experimentally and theoretically. The theoretical analysis was based on the self consistent solution of the so called “snow plow” model. The dynamics of pinched plasma is determined by the capillary parameters and by the time dependence of electrical current passing through it. The current time dependenc...

Accurate description of soil surface topography is essential because different tillage tools produce different soil surface roughness conditions, which in turn affects many processes across the soil surface boundary. Advantages of fractal analysis in soil microrelief assessment have been recognised but the use of fractal indices in practice remains challenging. There is also little information ...

This study examines the reasons farmers in East-Central Illinois continue to use controversial agricultural practices in the context of extreme criticism. Such practices – conventional plow tillage, application of potent agricultural chemicals, farming up to river banks – are attacked from diverse sources as inattentive to environmental conservation. Our results suggest these practices are impo...