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How the Eurozone shapes populism:A comparative political economy approach
Get PDFThe rise of populist parties is a defining feature of political change in the advanced capitalist countries. Whereas a large body of research explores populist parties in domestic politics, we know little about how populist parties of right and left have responded to the transformation of the transnational Eurozone regime. In this paper, we show how the diverse exposure to the costs and benefits of EMU can explain their EU-level economic policy positions and thereby create opportunities for populist alliances across the left-right divide. In the debtor countries of Southern Europe, populist parties of both right and left have resisted demands for neoliberal reform during the Euro crisis while supporting fiscal risk-sharing arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic, making populist left-right coalitions possible. In the creditor countries of Northern Europe, by contrast, populist right and left parties have been fundamentally divided throughout. Based on case study analyses of Germany and Italy, the most prominent creditor and debtor countries, our findings suggest that populist parties may only find common ground when ‘Brussels’ interferes in domestic policy-making autonomy by imposing neoliberal reform
The voice of the UPIC:technology as utterance
No full textRecent work in Sound Studies figures the logos of electroacoustic music as a set of sounds and sound-types that reveal themselves as if a sort of stethoscope were applied to the aether, as well as to the industrial and organic sounds around us. Thus, electroacoustic music is connected to the imaginaries of science fiction, space travel, and Jules Verne-like explorations of the universe, and of planet earth and its life and industries. In the UPIC, a computer music instrument of legendary intransigence, Iannis Xenakis conceived of an electronic music with a totally different ethos: ancient not modern, divining not palpating, physical not imaginary. The works conceived on the UPIC, from Mycène Alpha to Voyage Absolu des Unari vers Andromède have a visceral energy and epic power that come from its unique, hand-made sound production methods. In this paper, I reimagine the UPIC as the re-intonation of ancient voices, with a logos which, in the words of Barbara Johnson, “break(s) through preconceived notions of meaning in order to encounter unexpected otherness”. I explore from a philological perspective the sonic material of the UPIC, and relate it to the ‘writing’ of the traces that constitute the instrument’s compositional interface. These twin notions of writing and intonation set the sounds of the UPIC apart from the mainstream of electroacoustic texts, and propose an aesthetic of direct address: the voice of the UPIC
Hormonal stories:a new materialist exploration of hormonal emplotment in four case studies
No full textHormones are complex biosocial objects that provoke myriad cultural narratives through their association with social activities and identities, and these narratives have the power to shape people’s lived realities and bodies. While hormones were historically conceptualised as ‘master molecules’ capable of controlling various life processes, their explanatory potential has now been overshadowed by technoscientific developments like omics- and gene-based biotechnologies that have reframed how human bodies and behaviours are understood. Considering these shifts, this paper asks what roles hormones perform and what stories they are arousing today. Through a patchwork of four hormone stories about contraception, gender hacking, birth, and autism-specific horse therapy, we show how hormones remain vital protagonists in the constitution of bodies, affects, environments, places, politics, and selves in the contemporary period. Building on new materialist approaches, we adopt and extend the notion of ‘emplotment’ to encapsulate how hormones act as key characters in our plots. They are working to complicate dominant understandings of what bodies are and can be in new ways as they mediate different plots of bodily experience, in ways showing the ongoing powerful salience of hormones and their ascendancy in the present.<br/
Operationalising intersectionality in equality and domestic abuse policy in Scotland: Contradictions, contestations and erasure
No full textThis article synthesises the findings from two studies on the operationalisation of intersectionality in Scotland: one in equality policy and NGOs, and the other in domestic abuse policy-making. Drawing upon Ashlee Christoffersen’s framework of applied concepts of intersectionality, this article analyses the competing and contradictory ways that intersectionality is institutionalised in Scottish policy and practice. It highlights the contestations and debates that arise when actors with varying understandings, agendas, and levels of political will attempt to apply intersectionality. We argue that dominant approaches to applying intersectionality in Scottish equality and domestic abuse policymaking are additive and superficial, a consequence of power inequalities shaping who has access to policymaking processes and institutions. Beyond the Scottish case, the article highlights key lessons concerning how to operationalise intersectionality in policy and practice in ways that are truer to its original conceptualisation in Black feminism
Andrew Holleran, HIV/AIDS, and Queer narrative form
No full textThis article argues that gay American fiction writer Andrew Holleran’s short story “Friends at Evening” measures narrative’s capacity to represent the HIV/AIDS epidemic before the advent of prophylactics and therapeutics. Anticipating later critical debates in queer narratology and responding to one of Holleran’s earlier essays on writerly feelings of futility, the story incorporates and emphasizes lists and lines of poetry in order to forestall lethal climaxes and conclusions. This aesthetic hybridity creatively connects the catastrophe of an epidemic to a crisis in genre
Prenatal maternal infections and early childhood developmental outcomes:Analysis of linked administrative health data for Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Scotland
Get PDFBackground: Previous research has linked prenatal maternal infections to later childhood developmental outcomes and socioemotional difficulties. However, existing studies have relied on retrospectively self-reported survey data, or data on hospital-recorded infections only, resulting in gaps in data collection. Methods: This study used a large linked administrative health dataset, bringing together data from birth records, hospital records, prescriptions and routine child health reviews for 55,856 children born in Greater Glasgow & Clyde, Scotland, 2011–2015, and their mothers. Logistic regression models examined associations between prenatal infections, measured as both hospital-diagnosed prenatal infections and receipt of infection-related prescription(s) during pregnancy, and childhood developmental concern(s) identified by health visitors during 6-8 week or 27-30 month health reviews. Secondary analyses examined whether results varied by (a) specific developmental outcome types (gross-motor-skills, hearing-communication, vision-social-awareness, personal-social, emotional-behavioural-attention and speech-language-communication) and (b) the trimester(s) in which infections occurred. Results: After confounder/covariate adjustment, hospital-diagnosed infections were associated with increased odds of having at least one developmental concern (OR: 1.30; 95% CI: 1.19–1.42). This was broadly consistent across all developmental outcome types and appeared to be specifically linked to infections occurring in pregnancy trimesters 2 (OR: 1.34; 95% CI: 1.07–1.67) and 3 (OR: 1.33; 95% CI: 1.21–1.47), that is the trimesters in which foetal brain myelination occurs. Infection-related prescriptions were not associated with any clear increase in odds of having at least one developmental concern after confounder/covariate adjustment (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.98–1.08), but were associated with slightly increased odds of concerns specifically related to personal-social (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.03–1.22) and emotional-behavioural-attention (OR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.08–1.22) development. Conclusions: Prenatal infections, particularly those which are hospital-diagnosed (and likely more severe), are associated with early childhood developmental outcomes. Prevention of prenatal infections, and monitoring of support needs of affected children, may improve childhood development, but causality remains to be established
The feasibility and acceptability of delivering a group trauma-focused intervention to children in care
Get PDFObjectiveYoung people in care (i.e., in the child welfare system) are a group who have often experienced very high rates of potentially traumatic events, including maltreatment. It is well-documented that they have high rates of trauma-related mental health difficulties, such as posttraumatic stress. To address the needs of the large number of young people who may benefit from support, scalable interventions are crucial. But also important is that they are effective and deliverable – particularly given the complexity of this group and services. We assessed a five-session group CBT-based intervention for PTSD. The primary goal was to understand core procedural and protocol uncertainties to address prior to a definitive trial.MethodsParticipants were 34 10–17 year olds in care, with moderate to severe posttraumatic stress symptoms, and their caregiver. We ran seven groups (four online), delivered in social care and NHS-based mental health teams. Data were collected via pre-, post-, 3-month follow-up questionnaires and qualitative interviews.ResultsOf the 34 participants allocated to the intervention, 27 (80%) attended at least three of the five sessions (most attended all). Caregiver attendance was lower (50%). There was generally good completion of assessment measures. Qualitatively, most participants were positive about the intervention, and many reported improvements in areas such as coping, sleep, and willingness to talk about experiences. However, there were important concerns about the lack of ongoing support, given this was a low-intensity intervention for a group who often had complex needs.ConclusionThe intervention and research protocols were acceptable to most young people and carers. With modifications, a future definitive trial would likely be possible. However, key considerations include: how (and whether) to screen for PTSD; the trial design; and the option to embed high-intensity support (e.g., via assessing a stepped-care model)
What We Can Learn About Mars from the Magnetism of Returned Samples
No full textThe Red Planet is a magnetic planet. The Martian crust contains strong magnetization from a core dynamo that likely was active during the Noachian period when the surface may have been habitable. The evolution of the dynamo may have played a central role in the evolution of the early atmosphere and the planet’s transition to the current cold and dry state. However, the nature and history of the dynamo and crustal magnetization are poorly understood given the lack of well-preserved, oriented, ancient samples with geologic context available for laboratory study. Here, we describe how magnetic measurements of returned samples could transform our understanding of six key unknowns about Mars’ planetary evolution and habitability. Such measurements could i) determine the history of the Martian dynamo field’s intensity; ii) determine the history of the Martian dynamo field’s direction; iii) test the hypothesis that Mars experienced plate tectonics or true polar wander; iv) constrain the thermal and aqueous alteration history of the samples; v) identify sources of Martian crustal magnetization and vi) characterize sedimentary and magmatic processes on Mars. We discuss how these goals can be achieved using future laboratory analyses of samples acquired by the Perseverance rover
Value chains of AI:Data training firms, platforms, and workers
Get PDFFrom self-checkouts to self-driving cars to social media newsfeed to surveillance systems, artificial intelligence (AI) is part of our lives whether we know it or not. Recent scholarship is attempting to explore how different places and people are involved in the development of AI. This chapter builds on this scholarship to extend the debate around the hidden and opaque networks of sub-contracting practices for AI training. In particular, it examines the ways in which lead firms develop their AI systems by tapping into a complex network of suppliers, platforms, and human workers doing data work in some of the most marginalised parts of the world. The chapter shows that despite their touted nature as autonomous machines (i.e. without human control), AI is dependent on a global army of human labour performing a wide variety of data enrichment tasks. It then concludes by discussing implications of this data work on workers and places where AI gets trained
Large-scale epidemiological modelling:Scanning for mosquito-borne diseases spatio-temporal patterns in Brazil
Get PDFThe influence of climate on mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and chikungunya is well established, but comprehensively tracking long-term spatial and temporal trends across large areas has been hindered by fragmented data and limited analysis tools. This study presents an unprecedented analysis, in terms of breadth, estimating the susceptible-infectious-recovered transmission parameters from incidence data in all 5570 municipalities in Brazil over 14 years (2010–2023) for both dengue and chikungunya. We describe the Episcanner computational pipeline, developed to estimate these parameters, producing a reusable dataset characterizing all dengue and chikungunya epidemics that have taken place in this period in Brazil. The analysis reveals new insights into the climate-epidemic nexus: we identify distinct geographical and temporal patterns of arbovirus disease incidence across Brazil, highlighting how climatic factors like temperature and precipitation influence the timing and intensity of dengue and chikungunya epidemics. The innovative Episcanner tool empowers researchers and public health officials to explore these patterns in detail, facilitating targeted interventions and risk assessments. This research offers the possibility of exploring the main characteristics of dengue and chikungunya epidemics and their geographical specificities linked to the effects of global temperature fluctuations such as those captured by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation index
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