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From the river to the sea: Gramsci and Palestinian cultural politics in the post-Oslo conjuncture
Get PDFThis essay explores how thinking with Gramsci helps us understand the differentiated forms of settler colonialism with which Palestinian artists have to contend in the current post-Oslo conjuncture in Palestine. This conjuncture refers to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995 and the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority (the PNA) in the Occupied Territories. I begin by highlighting how Gramscian thought can help us foreground, on the one hand, the entanglements between Israeli settler colonialism and its dispossession of the Palestinians , and capital and its shifting articulations with dispossession and racialization on the other. Taking the urban Palestinian cultural scenes in Ramallah (1967 territories) and Haifa (1948 territories) as my vantage points, I rely on twenty in-depth interviews with Palestinian artists as well as archival materials to explore how the interrelations within and between political and civil society are historically and geographically situated. My overall argument is not only that Gramsci reorients our attention to how culture is mediated through political, social, and economic relations, but that culture remains an important sphere of struggle against settler colonialism. Starting with the concrete cultural practices in Palestine keeps in view both the genocidal nature of settler colonial violence as well as its more pernicious and insidious modes of control and erasure that are woven into the fabric of everyday life. The political stakes of such an analysis are front and centre as it refuses, for example, to relegate “settler violence” in the West Bank but approaches it as relationally constitutive to political-civil municipal practices in Haifa. Thinking with Gramsci leaves us with a more intricate analysis of Israeli settler colonialism in its operations across the multiple Palestinian geographies as well as of its vulnerability to Palestinian modes of resistance – from the river to the sea.
Probing the Influence of Specular Reflection and Overexposure on Backscattering Mueller Matrix Polarimetry for Tissue Imaging and Sensing
Get PDFMueller matrix polarimetry has great potential for tissue detection and clinical diagnosis due to its ability to provide rich microstructural information accurately. However, in practical in vivo tissue imaging based on backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry, specular reflection is often inevitable, leading to overexposed regions and the following inaccurate polarization information acquisition of tissues. In this study, we probe the influence of specular reflection and overexposure on backscattering Mueller matrix polarimetry for tissue imaging and sensing. We investigate in detail the differentiation of polarization behaviors between the specular reflection and non-specular reflection tissue regions using a 3 × 3 backscattering Mueller matrix measurement. Then, we obtain the vertical projection profiles to further quantify the Mueller matrix elements of porcine liver tissue in different specular reflection regions. Finally, we calculate the polarization feature parameters derived from a 3 × 3 Mueller matrix and analyze their behavior in overexposed regions. Based on the quantitative analysis and comparisons, we obtain a group of polarization feature parameters with strong immunity to the specular reflection process. This study offers a strategy for selecting the polarization parameters during in vivo polarimetric imaging applications, provides valuable references for further eliminating the characterization errors induced by specular reflection, and may contribute to the advancement of quantitative tissue polarimetric imaging and sensing
Five ways seascape ecology can help to achieve marine restoration goals
Get PDFContext: Marine restoration is increasingly recognized as a key activity to regenerate ecosystem integrity, safeguard biodiversity, and enable ocean sustainability. Global policies such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework include area-based targets to improve ecosystem integrity and connectivity. Achieving these targets requires scaling up restoration in ecologically and socially meaningful ways. Objectives: The objective was to establish a consistent language and framework for seascape restoration practitioners that complements existing marine restoration guidelines and can help to achieve cross-scale restoration targets. Methods: We proposed that the integration of the 5Cs of seascape ecology—Context, Configuration, Connectivity, Consideration of scale, and Culture— can offer a valuable framework for advancing marine restoration practice and policy. We synthesized existing ecological and social science evidence to demonstrate how the 5Cs framework can be applied to seascape restoration efforts. Results: We established a consistent language and framework for marine restoration practitioners and recommended four key operational pathways: (1) focusing on the recovery of interconnected habitats across the land–sea interface; (2) integrating the 5Cs from site selection through to monitoring; (3) representing social, historical, cultural, and ecological variables when assessing site suitability; and (4) fostering transdisciplinary collaborations to support integrative, multifaceted projects. Conclusions: Integrating landscape ecology concepts and methods into coastal restoration will enable the effective scaling up of regenerative actions. Applying the 5Cs can help achieve global restoration targets through more strategic, inclusive, and effective marine restoration across coastal seascapes
A context-aware methodology for fault detection and severity classification under variable operating conditions
Get PDFRotating machinery operates under variable conditions making monitoring particularly challenging, as often it is not clear if a change in the vibration signature is due to a fault or due to the change of operating modes. Therefore, the introduction of context in condition monitoring algorithms has been proposed in order to provide the necessary background for the correct interpretation of data and informed decision making. Context allows algorithms to tailor their analysis to the unique characteristics of the machine operation and its environment. In this paper, the problem of fault detection and fault severity classification in rotating machinery under variable and unseen working conditions is investigated. Existing state-of-the-art methods are often based on deep multimodal data fusion, combining contextual information (i.e. operating mode) with raw sensor data, to account for the additional information encoded in the operating states. However, this fusion increases task complexity, since models must recognize fault signatures across multiple operating modes in which machine behaviour can vary substantially. To address this challenge, we propose a novel hypernetwork based methodology. Our hypernetwork takes the current operating mode as input and generates the weights of a specialized prediction network tailored to that mode. This design enables efficient adaptation to -and knowledge sharing across- different operating conditions while maintaining a simpler per mode prediction model, thereby reducing overall task complexity. The methodology is tested and evaluated on the PHM2023 gearbox dataset and the results show that it achieves generalization and accuracy improvement in the prediction of fault severity under unseen operating conditions, outperforming state-of-the-art techniques
Extended phenotypic spectrum of benign yellow dot maculopathy
Get PDFBackground: To present the morphological and functional characteristics of individuals with benign yellow dot maculopathy (BYDM). Methods: Assessments included ocular examinations, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, optical coherence tomography (OCT), blue-light fundus autofluorescence (BAF), and near-infrared autofluorescence (NIR-AF). First degree family members were also examined whenever available. Results: 25 individuals with BYDM (15 females, 10 males) from 19 unrelated families with a median age at first presentation of 37 years (range, 4–54 years) were included in the study. The 19 index patients were referred for assessment of early-onset drusen (n = 10), macular dystrophy (n = 6), or an unrelated ocular condition (n = 3). Clinical examination of 15 first-degree family members of 8 probands revealed vertical transmission in 6 relatives. After excluding 6 patients with other ocular pathologies, BCVA was 20/25 or better in all patients. Fundoscopically, all patients had yellow dots in the macular area, extending to the vascular arcades in 19 and beyond in 11 individuals. Hyper-autofluorescent dots on BAF topographical matched the dots seen on fundoscopy, while hypo-autofluorescent dots were noted on NIR-AF. OCT revealed no abnormalities in 14 cases, but mild ellipsoid zone irregularities were observed in 11. No morphological or functional progression was noted in 15 individuals over an average follow-up period of 3.6 years. Conclusion: BYDM may present with a mild phenotype with yellow dots extending to the vascular arcades and beyond, suggesting it could be more common than previously reported. Recognizing this phenotype may reduce unnecessary investigations and follow-ups. Yellow dots show hypo-autofluorescence on NIR-AF and there is no morphological or functional progression
Sleep and mood in central serous chorioretinopathy
Get PDFPurpose: To investigate the impact of central serous chorioretinopathy on sleep and mood in patients with acute and chronic central serous chorioretinopathy. Methods: This cross-sectional study compared sleep and mood differences between central serous chorioretinopathy and control patients recruited from Ophthalmology clinics at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford between 2012 and 2020. Data including visual acuity, type of central serous chorioretinopathy (acute or chronic; aCSC/cCSC), sex, and chronotype were obtained. Sleep quality was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used to evaluate anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D). Results: A total of 247 age matched controls and 109 patients with central serous chorioretinopathy participated. There were no significant differences in PSQI or HADs (P > 0.05) between the two groups. Females exhibited significantly higher PSQI scores than males both for control and central serous chorioretinopathy groups (P < 0.05). Within the central serous chorioretinopathy group, 88 (81%) had chronic central serous chorioretinopathy and 21 (19%) had acute central serous chorioretinopathy, and an increase in daytime dysfunction was seen in the acute phenotype compared to chronic (P = 0.018). Conclusion: In our study, no significant differences in sleep quality or mood scores were identified in central serous chorioretinopathy patients, when compared to controls. Worsened sleep for females was present when compared to males, both in central serous chorioretinopathy and control groups. Within central serous chorioretinopathy groups, worsened daytime function was observed in acute versus chronic – a larger study would help distinguish the effect of chronicity on sleep
A curious collection: Oxford’s du Bois Herbarium as an archive of early eighteenth-century science and empire
No full textThe du Bois Herbarium, a collection of nearly 14,000 botanical specimens pristinely preserved within the Oxford University Herbaria, is a unique artefact of early eighteenth-century science. Compiled by English East India Company treasurer Charles du Bois between 1680 and 1740, the Herbarium is closely tied to leading figures of eighteenth-century botany, melding early British scientific and colonial histories into a single source. Despite the compendium’s archival potential, the du Bois Herbarium remains one of the least explored collections of its kind, largely neglected after it was dismantled from its original binding in the 19th century. Although the early modern organisation of the du Bois Herbarium has since been lost, and many of its specimens redistributed to other institutions, the collection retains unique elements capable of producing history in its own right. Herbaria have long been understood as important sites of botanic knowledge, used since the sixteenth century to advance medical education, develop taxonomical frameworks, and act as records of biodiversity. This thesis proposes a new purpose: historical research. Rather than using the Herbarium as a starting point, this project treats du Bois’s collection as its centre. Each chapter asks the du Bois Herbarium to perform different archival roles – material, biographical, scientific, colonial, and decolonial – in order to provide a full historical account of the roles du Bois played within the scientific and colonial communities he inhabited. This approach reveals that, while long deemed archaic and unusable, the du Bois Herbarium is in fact a vibrant archive of scientific history, brimming with details about the inner workings of natural history and its ties with Britain’s early colonial endeavours in India
Optimal control of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy in a heart-tumour model
Get PDFAutoimmune myocarditis, or cardiac muscle inflammation, is a rare but frequently fatal side–effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), a class of cancer therapies. Despite the dangers that side-effects such as these pose to patients, they are rarely, if ever, included explicitly when mechanistic mathematical modelling of cancer therapy is used for optimization of treatment. In this paper, we develop a twocompartment mathematical model which incorporates the impact of ICIs on both the heart and the tumour. Such a model can be used to inform the conditions under which autoimmune myocarditis may develop as a consequence of treatment. We use this model in an optimal control framework to design optimized dosing schedules for three types of ICI therapy that balance the positive and negative effects of treatment. We show that including the negative side-effects of ICI treatment explicitly within the mathematical framework significantly impacts the predictions for the optimized dosing schedule, thus stressing the importance of a holistic approach to optimizing cancer therapy regimens
On superficial interneurons of dorsal hippocampal CA1
Get PDFInhibition plays a pivotal role in information processing in the brain. Cortical areas have developed a plethora of distinct inhibitory interneuron types, with over 20 distinct types described in dorsal CA1 of the hippocampus. In contrast to CA1 pyramidal neurons, interneurons are found scattered across all layers and display distinct morphological, molecular, and electrophysiological characteristics. However, the function of superficial layer interneurons (the strata radiatum, lacunosum, and moleculare) remains poorly understood, compared to their counterparts in strata oriens and pyramidale, due to the scarcity of studies in the intact brain. Here, I validated a cross platform-based tetrode depth estimation approach to navigate the superficial layers of dorsal hippocampal CA1, which allowed me to map simultaneously recorded superficial interneurons, pyramidal neurons, and network activity across different mice into a common spatial framework. I found that superficial interneurons exhibit layer-specific spike waveform characteristics, which do not follow commonly used interneuron classification rules. Additionally, superficial interneuron spike-timing characteristics and engagement in theta oscillations, sharp-wave ripples, and behavioural states, appeared to be spatially structured along the radial axis of dorsal CA1. Anatomical and functional connectivity mapping showed that superficial interneurons are differentially recruited by CA3 and entorhinal cortex in a network state-dependent manner. Furthermore, superficial interneurons’ interaction with their peers and pyramidal neurons appeared to be layer and state-dependent. Finally, these data combined showed that stratum lacunosum features a set of unique characteristics compared to the neighbouring strata radiatum and moleculare, indicating this layer may form a separate submodule in the local network. Together, these findings reveal the spatial and temporal structure of inhibitory activity across layers of dorsal CA1 and provide a strong foundation to unravel the role of superficial interneurons in both health and disease
Smoking status and vascular risk factors as predictors of disability in AQP4-NMOSD and MOGAD
Get PDFBackground: Smoking and vascular risk factors (VRFs) are reported to have adverse effects in multiple sclerosis but data are limited in aquaporin-4 antibody-positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (AQP4-NMOSD) and myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody disease (MOGAD). This study aimed to measure their impact on disability. Methods: Smoking status was defined as never, past or current smokers and VRF comprised of ⩾1: hypertension, dyslipidemia, high body mass index or diabetes. Logistic regression models were fitted to predict their influence on recovery from onset attack and first optic neuritis (ON) attack. Results: A total of 442 patients were included. Current MOGAD smokers had a higher risk of disability from onset attack and first ON attack than never smokers (odds ratio (OR) 2.9, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–6.9; OR 3.3, 95% CI 1.4–7.8). VRF in MOGAD was not predictive of disability. Current AQP4-NMOSD smokers and VRFs had a higher risk of residual disability from onset attacks (OR 7.5, 95% CI 2.1–27.7; OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.0–3.4). VRF was associated with higher risk of visual disability (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.08–6.46) while smoking status was not. Conclusions: Current smoking status detrimentally influenced onset attack recovery in AQP4-NMOSD and MOGAD patients, including visual recovery in MOGAD. Non-smoking VRFs influenced clinical and visual outcomes in AQP4-NMOSD