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Repairability as a condition of the world: Ernesto Oroza’s archive of dis/repair
Get PDFIn an age of apparent disrepair as the climate crisis takes hold and neoliberalism fails to liberate, as the cost of living rises and rights are retracted, the need for a reparative turn is overdue. But what is repair? If repair is contained in moments of total breakdown, then the reparative acts of care that sustain the world are denied. Countering these forces and the urgency prescribed by the crisis of disrepair and in what too often appears as the proprietary epistemology of repair, in this paper I offer an account of ‘repairability’. Structured in relation to the reparative gaze of feminist theory and poetic thinking, repairability assumes a material trace, I contend, through the vernacular archive of Cuban artist-ethnographer Ernesto Oroza. Oroza’s work offers a compelling case study through which to think the possibility of repair as an act of worldly becoming
Integrative taxonomy recognises four species within the legume Inga chocoensis (Leguminosae: Caesalpinioideae)
Get PDFThe legume genus Inga is a significant component of Neotropical wet forests. Despite extensive study, the identities and distributions of some species remain contentious. This study focuses on the Inga chocoensis complex, addressing the challenges in species delimitation due to morphological similarity of closely related species. An integrative taxonomic approach was employed, combining morphological and population genetic analyses. Field and herbarium specimens of I. chocoensis s.l. were studied from its entire distribution range. Morphological features were documented, and DNA was extracted and sequenced from 1320 loci using a target-capture approach. Morphological analysis identified consistent differences among groups of specimens of I. chocoensis s.l., suggesting the presence of four distinct species. Key distinguishing features include the number and shape of nectaries on leaflets and the size and shape of fruits. Moreover, a principal component analysis and genetic ancestry admixture analysis of individuals suggest four distinct genetic groups consistent with the species delimited by morphology. Finally, a Mantel test confirms that such genetic differentiation is not due to geographic distance among populations. The four species now delimited are I. chocoensis, I. coprocarpa, and two new species described here, I. calimensis sp. nov. and I. crassinectaria sp. nov. The combination of morphological and genomic data enhanced the accuracy of species delimitation in this clade of recently diverged species. The study underscores the importance of using integrative methods to resolve taxonomic ambiguities in morphologically similar tropical tree species
Credibility as a double-edged sword:The effects of deceptive source misattribution on disinformation discernment on personal messaging
Get PDFDisinformation often features reputable sources to boost false information’s credibility, but does this deceptive source misattribution shape its spread on personal messaging? In a preregistered between-subjects survey experiment on U.K. WhatsApp users (N = 2,580), we showed participants WhatsApp messages containing true or false news attributed to either British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News or no source. Attribution to BBC News significantly increased message credibility. Importantly, however, participants’ responses to false messages attributed to BBC News were statistically indistinguishable from their responses to true messages. On personal messaging, source credibility can boost the spread of accurate news but can also be used deceptively to propagate falsehoods.</p
Predicting impact sensitivities for an extended set of energetic materials via the vibrational up-pumping model:molecular-based structure-property relationships identified
Get PDFWe have applied the vibrational up-pumping model to predict the mechanically-induced impact sensitivities of 33 molecular energetic crystals. Overall, the current model successfully identifies and ranks the compounds that are most sensitive to mechanical initiation, but offers poorer differentiation between compounds with lower sensitivity. Further developments to include the effects of trigger bond activation led to significant improvements in predictive capability. We show that this structure-property model highlights the importance of molecular flexibility in predicting impact sensitivity, and furthermore, we show that the Kier molecular flexibility index, which can be obtained from a SMILES string, offers a simple molecular-based descriptor that goes some way towards predicting the sensitivity of energetic materials.</p
One health surveillance: linking human and animal rabies surveillance data in Kenya
Get PDFINTRODUCTION: Rabies poses a significant public health and economic challenge in Kenya. The Kenya rabies elimination strategy identifies surveillance as a key pillar to achieve the targets of ending human deaths from rabies by 2030. Here we investigated the utility of the national human and animal rabies surveillance data to provide robust surveillance data to guide the Kenya rabies elimination program.METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the official rabies data obtained from the national human and animal health surveillance systems between 2017 and 2023. We obtained data on bites, cases, and deaths in dogs and humans due to rabies. We estimated incidences and tested the relationships between rabies variables in human and dogs as a proxy for robust data availability.RESULTS: On average, there were 162 cases and 84 deaths in dogs, while in humans, there were 53 cases and 6 deaths. We found positive correlations between dog bites and cases of dog rabies [RR = 1.33, 95% credible interval (CI): 1.16, 1.54], deaths and rabies cases in dogs (RR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05, 1.14) and death cases and dog bites (RR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.06, 1.98). However, relationships between rabies cases and dog bites in humans were not statistically significant (RR = 1.00, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.03), whereas rabies cases in dogs and humans were negatively correlated (RR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.68, 0.94).DISCUSSION: The findings indicate that Kenya's rabies surveillance system effectively captures trends in dog rabies but has gaps in human rabies case reporting. The weak relationship between rabies cases and dog bites in humans and the negative correlation between rabies cases in dogs and humans point to potential underreporting of human cases, that could be possibly driven by misdiagnosis or limited access to healthcare, or effective post-exposure treatment.CONCLUSION: Understanding these relationships is critical for improving the surveillance systems that can effectively support the rabies elimination program.</p
The importance of small island populations for the long-term survival of endangered large-bodied insular mammals
Get PDFIsland populations of large vertebrates have experienced higher extinction rates than mainland populations over long timescales due to demographic stochasticity, genetic drift, and inbreeding. While being more susceptible to extinction and as such potentially targeted for conservation interventions such as genetic rescue, small-island populations can experience relatively less anthropogenic habitat degradation than those on larger islands. Here, we determine the consequences and conservation implications of long-term isolation and recent human activities on genetic diversity of island populations of two forest-dependent mammals endemic to the Wallacea archipelago: the anoa ( Bubalus spp.) and babirusa ( Babyrousa spp.). Using genomic analyses and habitat suitability models, we show that, compared to closely related species, populations on mainland Sulawesi exhibit low heterozygosity, high inbreeding, a high proportion of deleterious alleles, and experience a high rate of anthropogenic disturbance. In contrast, populations on smaller islands occupy higher-quality habitats, possess fewer deleterious mutations despite exhibiting lower heterozygosity and higher inbreeding. Site frequency spectra indicate that these patterns reflect stronger, long-term purging in smaller-island populations. Our results thus suggest that conservation efforts should focus on protecting small-island high-quality habitats and avoiding translocations from mainland populations. This study highlights the crucial role of small offshore islands for the long-term survival of Wallacea's iconic and indigenous mammals in the face of development on the mainland. </p
The impact of signal variability on COVID-19 epidemic growth rate estimation from wastewater surveillance data
Get PDFTesting samples of wastewater for markers of infectious disease became a widespread method of surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic. While these data generally correlate well with other indicators of national prevalence, samples that cover localised regions tend to be highly variable over short time scales. Here we introduce a procedure for estimating the real-time growth rate of pathogen prevalence using time series data from wastewater sampling. The number of copies of a target gene found in a sample is modelled as time-dependent random variable whose distribution is estimated using maximum likelihood. The output depends on a hyperparameter that controls the sensitivity to variability in the underlying data. We apply this procedure to data reporting the number of copies of the N1 gene of SARS-CoV-2 collected at water treatment works across Scotland between February 2021 and February 2023. The real-time growth rate of the SARS-CoV-2 prevalence is estimated at all 121 wastewater sampling sites covering a diverse range of locations and population sizes. We find that the sensitivity of the fitting procedure to natural variability determines its reliability in detecting the early stages of an epidemic wave. Applying the same procedure to hospital admissions data, we find that changes in the growth rate are detected an average of 2 days earlier in wastewater than in hospital admissions. In conclusion, this paper provides a robust method to generate reliable estimates of epidemic growth from highly variable data. Applying this method to samples collected at wastewater treatment works provides highly responsive situational awareness to inform public health.</p
A Bi-Directional Neural Interface Chip With 32-Channel 83-dB DR CTDSM-Based Recording Using FIRDAC With Pre-Emptive ELD Compensation
Get PDFClinical-ready neuromodulation devices for real-time monitoring and treatment of neurological disorders require a neural interface integrated circuit (IC) that supports therapeutic neurostimulation together with concurrent recording of neural activities from large brain regions. To address this need, this article presents an IC with 32 high dynamic range (HDR) electrocorticography (ECoG) recording channels and two programmable neurostimulators allowing bi-directional neural interfacing. The recording channel uses a 2nd-order continuous-time ΔΣ modulator (CTDSM) architecture with 12-tap finite impulse response digital-to-analog converter (FIRDAC) feedback facilitated by a pre-emptive current-steering excess loop delay (ELD) compensation scheme. By employing a high-performance linearized low-noise/low-power transconductance amplifier (L3TA) in the input integration stage, the recording channel achieves 83-dB dynamic range (DR) with up to 222-mVpp linear input range, and thus can accommodate large electrode dc offsets (EDOs) and stimulation artifacts. Thanks to the FIRDAC that relaxes component matching requirements, each recording channel occupies only 0.028 mm2 and consumes 5.39 μ W while being manufactured in standard 180-nm CMOS technology. The concurrent neural recording and stimulation capabilities of the chip have been validated in a mouse experiment in vivo, which shows that the recording channel can tolerate real stimulation artifacts and the recorded ECoG signals can be separated from the artifacts with high fidelity
Lattice-Code Multiple Access: Architecture and Efficient Algorithms
Get PDFThis paper proposes a lattice-code multiple-access (LCMA) scheme for K-user uplink systems. Each user encodes messages via 2 m-ary lattice codes mapped to 2 m-PAM. The receiver employs integer coefficients to compute integer linear combinations (ILCs) of messages, then reconstructs original data through novel low-complexity soft detection and single-user decoders. Key contributions include: 1) A soft detector calculating a posteriori probabilities of ILCs over lattices, enabling efficient belief-propagation decoding; 2) A bounded independent vectors problem (BIVP) framework to optimize ILC coefficients, solved by a rate-constrained sphere decoder outperforming traditional lattice reduction methods; 3) Optimized signature sequences designed via a targetswitching steepest descent algorithm. Simulations demonstrate LCMA's superiority over IDMA and SCMA in supporting higher user loads and achieving lower error rates, while avoiding successive interference cancellation or iterative detection.</p
Patient derived cancer-associated fibroblasts from non-small cell lung cancer undergo phenotypic drift in culture
Get PDFBackground: Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are the predominant cell type in the stroma of many solid organ malignancies, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). They exhibit considerable phenotypic and functional heterogeneity and are widely used in functional assays and co-culture models. CAF research frequently involves the in vitro expansion and maintenance of CAFs to facilitate functional assays and co-culture studies. However, less is known about how in vitro culture temporally affects CAF phenotype. Methods: We characterised the phenotype of CAFs from NSCLC patients compared to non-cancerous lung fibroblasts using conventional in vitro conditions by tracking changes in CAF subset marker expression levels by flow cytometry. Additional transcriptomic and functional analyses were performed to determine differences between CAFs and non-cancerous fibroblasts. Results: We demonstrate that CAFs from NSCLC undergo phenotypic drift in culture, and that there is a convergence to a subset phenotype predominantly upregulated in non-cancerous lung. Additionally we demonstrate the phenotype, transcriptome and function of fibroblasts converge between CAFs and fibroblasts from non-cancerous lung by the third culture passage, suggesting that in vitro conditions promote this phenotype. Conclusion: We highlight the need to understand and monitor the culture phenotype during functional studies with CAFs, as the heterogeneity found in the tumour microenvironment is rapidly lost in cultured cells. <br/
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