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Unravelling the Invisible Spatial Logic: Spatial Production of the Clothing Wholesale Service Area in the Liuhua District in Guangzhou, China
Full text linkThis article focuses on an unplanned clothing wholesale district in Guangzhou City, China. Dramatic Chinese Economic Transition and the district’s advantageous location next to the Guangzhou Railway Station have led to its commercial success. Smaller clusters of clothing wholesale buildings, clothes processing shops, shop design companies, tag shops, mannequin shops and logistics companies constitute this district. This research aims to understand how these smaller clusters choose their locations in the district without holistic urban planning in advance. By following the Actor-Network Theory, this research regards spaces as actors among other human and non-human actors and adopts a bottom-up perspective to investigate the spatial structures of the district. Qualitative methods including observation, semi-structured interviews and mapping are used. This research has found that invisible spatial logics behind the physical structures have induced the formation of the district, businesspeoples’ location choices and their spatial appropriations. This research goes beyond the visible forms and shapes to investigate the urban dynamics and complexities. It offers new perspectives to understand the spatial structures of urban spaces from the perspectives of space end-users
Beyond Victimisation: Exploring Narratives on Northern Nigerian Women in the Context of Boko Haram
Full text linkThis essay examines the portrayal of northern Nigerian women in the context of Boko Haram and the related conflict, arguing that they have been predominantly framed through a narrative of victimisation, overshadowing their agency and diverse experiences. It first explores the historiography of northern Nigerian women before Boko Haram, highlighting their marginalisation in both historical and international discourse. It discusses how the limited accounts, shaped by colonial and Western perspectives, depicted these women primarily as oppressed and in need of external intervention, thus solidifying a restricted, homogenised portrayal of their experiences. The essay then focuses on the 2014 Chibok Girls’ kidnapping, which brought global attention to northern Nigerian women and reinforced their portrayal as victims. This perception was intensified by Boko Haram’s use of women as suicide bombers and the human rights violations committed by all sides of the conflict, further reinforcing the view of women as passive victims trapped in a cycle of violence. Finally, the essay highlights limited but important sources that discuss northern Nigerian women’s agency, including their voluntary association with Boko Haram and active roles in counterinsurgency and peacebuilding efforts, challenging the dominant narrative. By exploring these examples, this essay underscores the multifaceted roles these women have played in the conflict and emphasises the importance of incorporating their agency into discussions to move beyond reductionist portrayals and fully appreciate their diverse experiences and contributions to conflict dynamics
Class A Orphans in GtoPdb v.2025.2
Full text linkTable 1 lists a number of putative GPCRs identified by NC-IUPHAR [197], for which preliminary evidence for an endogenous ligand has been published, or for which there exists a potential link to a disease, or disorder. These GPCRs have recently been reviewed in detail [153]. The GPCRs in Table 1 are all Class A, rhodopsin-like GPCRs. Class A orphan GPCRs not listed in Table 1 are putative GPCRs with as-yet unidentified endogenous ligands.Table 1: Class A orphan GPCRs with putative endogenous ligands GPR3GPR4GPR6GPR12GPR15GPR17GPR20 GPR22GPR26GPR31GPR34GPR35GPR37GPR39 GPR50GPR63GPR65GPR68GPR75GPR84GPR87 GPR88GPR132GPR149GPR161GPR183LGR4LGR5 LGR6MAS1MRGPRDMRGPRX1MRGPRX2P2RY10TAAR2 In addition the orphan receptors GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119 which are reported to respond to endogenous agents analogous to the endogenous cannabinoid ligands have been grouped together (GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119)
Anthropology of Toxicity
No full textUncertainty, disavowal, forgetting, and stigmatisation are common responses to toxicity: dumping grounds are habitually portrayed as ‘strange, alien spaces with no comprehensive histories’ (Little and Akese 2024). How can we best face this strangeness? What are the methodological and theoretical tools we would need to do so? Three recent volumes offer provocations for anthropologists of toxicity from phenomenological, activist, and heritage management standpoints
43 Actions to Overcome Eight Barriers to Qualitative Data Sharing
Full text linkWe present the preliminary findings of a scoping study on the actions a researcher can take to overcome common barriers to sharing interview transcripts.
In preparing our own transcripts for deposit, we struggled to identify guidance addressing the practical issues we were facing at a detailed enough level to be helpful to us. As we searched through the extensive literature on the subject, we reasoned that it may be beneficial for other researchers to have access to the results of this exercise.
We therefore began a formal scoping review, focusing specifically on the practical steps that researchers can take towards opening their transcripts. From the extracted concerns, we constructed eight themes: confidentiality, consent, misappropriation of data, context, copyright, IRB approval, researcher distress and time and money. We have presented the preliminary findings in the form of a table based ‘tool’, organised via these themes, which we used to develop our own data management plan. This talk gives an overview of this tool, with the hope that it will save time for people who, like us, are new to the practice of open qualitative data
Should military robots that are designed to evacuate injured soldiers from the battlefield carry small arms for self-defence the same way human military personnel does?
No full textWhile medical personnel are protected from attack under the laws of war, they are permitted to carry small arms for self-defence and the defence of those in their care in acknowledgement of the reality that they are sometimes unlawfully targeted. Robots whose function is to extract wounded combatants are being developed and like human medical personnel, are at risk of being unlawfully targeted. This article argues that extraction robots should be armed to protect themselves and those in their care to achieve the goals of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (the Convention) to the fullest extent. First, being armed enables the robot to avoid incapacitation which in turn allows it to continue to assist the wounded, reducing human suffering and enlarging the dignity of the wounded. The ability to defend wounded in its care achieves the same ends. However, programming should set a high threshold of certainty of unlawful attack before force is used in order to recognise the complexity and confusion of combat situations and avoid the possibility of the robot losing protected status. In addition, to comply with proportionality and necessity requirements under the doctrine of self-defence, and to further minimise the chance of illegitimate force (particularly lethal force) being exerted, ERs should be equipped with communicative capabilities and non-lethal response options
Class A Orphans in GtoPdb v.2025.1
Full text linkTable 1 lists a number of putative GPCRs identified by NC-IUPHAR [164], for which preliminary evidence for an endogenous ligand has been published, or for which there exists a potential link to a disease, or disorder. These GPCRs have recently been reviewed in detail [124]. The GPCRs in Table 1 are all Class A, rhodopsin-like GPCRs. Class A orphan GPCRs not listed in Table 1 are putative GPCRs with as-yet unidentified endogenous ligands.Table 1: Class A orphan GPCRs with putative endogenous ligands GPR3GPR4GPR6GPR12GPR15GPR17GPR20 GPR22GPR26GPR31GPR34GPR35GPR37GPR39 GPR50GPR63GPR65GPR68GPR75GPR84GPR87 GPR88GPR132GPR149GPR161GPR183LGR4LGR5 LGR6MAS1MRGPRDMRGPRX1MRGPRX2P2RY10TAAR2 In addition the orphan receptors GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119 which are reported to respond to endogenous agents analogous to the endogenous cannabinoid ligands have been grouped together (GPR18, GPR55 and GPR119)
SLC3 and SLC7 families of heteromeric amino acid transporters (HATs) in GtoPdb v.2025.1
Full text linkThe SLC3 and SLC7 families combine to generate functional transporters, where the subunit composition is a disulphide-linked combination of a heavy chain (SLC3 family) with a light chain (SLC7 family) [1]
Neoliberalism and Urban Regeneration: London\u27s Communities Finding a Voice and Fighting Back
No full textThis is a book of and for its time. It is both a warning and a call to arms. From the excellent introduction by Marjorie Mayo to the final chapter, we are left in no doubt about the context that faces us all one way or another. This is one of its many merits. We are living in an unprecedented global era and this account of campaigning groups over a decade or more has no illusions about both the limitations and the necessity of collective community action.