This essay performs Adorno’s philosophical practice of negative dialectics by attending to two contemporary artworks: Vadim Zakharov’s Adorno Monument and Siah Armajani’s An Exile Dreaming of Saint Adorno. After first developing an understanding of Adorno’s work as a series of etudes capable of enhancing the creative capacity of philosophers in the present, the essay then reveals each artwork’s inherent aporetic tension. Proceeding negatively from each aporia to the environment housing each artwork, the author forges an argument supporting the (...) need for Adorno’s philosophy, especially in situations where the antinomy of art and life opens a space for reflection and critical thought. (shrink)

Predicting suspended sediment load in water resource management requires efficient and reliable predicted models. This study considers the support vector regression method to predict daily suspended sediment load. Since the SVR has unknown parameters, the observer-teacher-learner-based Optimization method is integrated with the SVR model to provide a novel hybrid predictive model. The SVR combined with the genetic algorithm is used as an alternative model. To explore the performance and application of the proposed models, five input combinations of rainfall and discharge (...) data of Cham Siah River catchment are provided. The predictive models are assessed using various numerical and visual indicators. The results indicate that the SVR-OTLBO model offers a higher prediction performance than other models employed in the current study. Specifically, SVR-OTLBO model offers highest Pearson correlation coefficient, Willmott’s Index, ratio of performance to IQ, and modified index of agreement and the lowest relative root mean square error in comparison with SVR-GA and SVR models, respectively. (shrink)