Violent infrastructure, nationalist stigmatisation and spatial erasure

This article studies the violent politics of stigmatisation and erasure of nationalist urban infrastructure. In general, urban infrastructure is a mechanism of state power. But, through the case of the imposing presence of Turkish nationalist infrastructure in the Kurdish city Diyarbakir, it demonstrates that when tied to an antagonistic nationalist political project, this infrastructure is often purposefully built to violently cleanse urban spaces of the national “other”. Be it a statue, a mural or a picture of a nationalist leader – this infrastructure is incapable of inflicting physical pain. Nonetheless, its violence is symbolic and meant to have a real effect on Diyarbakir’s Kurds’ ability and willingness to identify as Kurds. That said, violence does not entirely inform the spatial experience of those targeted by this nationalist infrastructure. The article demonstrates that Kurdish residents also found ways of remaining unaffected, even treating the infrastructure laden with Turkish nationalist iconography as a reminder of their own Kurdish identity. This article thus expands our understanding of what nationalist infrastructure does. It may be designed to be violent. However, it also reveals itself to be a site of contestation – equally inspiring the persistence of the counter-narrative of the national “other”

Disparity of Abstract Color Representations in Convolutional Networks

A common occurrence in the deep learning community is to theorize on what abstract representation data takes inside a network. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that the expected representation from a simple well-defined problem takes on other forms than what human thought processes would expect it to do. The experiment uses CIFAR-10 and a FRUITS dataset as its base and compares models trained on RGB variants to models trained on separated red, green, and blue color channels. A simplified FRUITS dataset variant represents a much simpler problem of classifying tomatoes and capsicum based on their significant red and green color. Generally, the RGB model variant outperformed the separated variants; but for the simplified FRUITS experiment, we observed the blue color channel outperforming the red and green model variants with its performance on par with the RGB variant. This suggests that the model has chosen a blue filter to represent the classification features. We also confirm that the blue color variant is most prominent feature contributor through cross-testing the RGB model variant. For a simple classification problem, the models choose to represent the classes in a less intuitive form than what was expected from the simplicity of the data representation. We aim for further discussion about the disconnect of internal data representation of deep learning to the human counterpart.</p

Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and risk of leukemia and lymphoma in a pooled European cohort

Leukemia and lymphoma are the two most common forms of hematologic malignancy, and their etiology is largely unknown. Pathophysiological mechanisms suggest a possible association with air pollution, but little empirical evidence is available. We aimed to investigate the association between long-term residential exposure to outdoor air pollution and risk of leukemia and lymphoma. We pooled data from four cohorts from three European countries as part of the “Effects of Low-level Air Pollution: a Study in Europe” (ELAPSE) collaboration. We used Europe-wide land use regression models to assess annual mean concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), black carbon (BC) and ozone (O3) at residences. We also estimated concentrations of PM2.5 elemental components: copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn); sulfur (S); nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), silicon (Si) and potassium (K). We applied Cox proportional hazards models to investigate the associations. Among the study population of 247,436 individuals, 760 leukemia and 1122 lymphoma cases were diagnosed during 4,656,140 person-years of follow-up. The results showed a leukemia hazard ratio (HR) of 1.13 (95% confidence intervals [CI]: 1.01–1.26) per 10 μg/m3 NO2, which was robust in two-pollutant models and consistent across the four cohorts and according to smoking status. Sex-specific analyses suggested that this association was confined to the male population. Further, the results showed increased lymphoma HRs for PM2.5 (HR = 1.16; 95% CI: 1.02–1.34) and potassium content of PM2.5, which were consistent in two-pollutant models and according to sex. Our results suggest that air pollution at the residence may be associated with adult leukemia and lymphoma.</p

Two logics of democracy in collaborative governance: A mapping of clashes and compromises

Collaborative governance is a promising supplement to traditional Weberian bureaucracy and New Public Management. However, the legitimacy and accountability of collaborative governance processes and outcomes is questionable. Based on a comprehensive mapping of the scholarly literature, we show that the sweeping multiplicity of accountability and legitimacy conceptions, types and critiques is structured by two democratic logics: an electoral one revolving around the territorial state and a stakeholder one focused on the collaborative network. The article provides the first attempt to position the conceptions, types and critiques of the accountability and legitimacy of collaborative governance in one map

Household Economics of Cocoa Agroforestry:Costs and Benefits

Current research suggests that cocoa agroforestry systems could offer stable yields, additional benefits and income from shade trees, despite potential added costs, such as from the purchase of insecticides. There is a paucity of profitability studies of different cocoa agroforestry systems. Only few of them go beyond a narrow focus on cocoa yields to model the entire agroforestry system and thus do not advance our understanding of the socio-economic value of other ecosystem goods. Based on survey data covering a thousand cocoa plots and group interviews with cocoa farmers, we explore the costs and benefits at the household level of including trees in cocoa systems. Comparing low and medium tree diversity systems, we find that income from cocoa beans, timber and fruit trees are higher and labour costs are lower in plots with medium diversity, while insecticide costs are lower on low-diversity plots. Overall, net benefits were higher on cocoa plots with higher tree diversity. Thus, cocoa agroforestry systems offer cost-reduction and income-improving advantages. Since cocoa systems vary among different agro-ecological zones in Ghana, we recommend that interventions aimed at increasing tree diversity consider the specific management practices of each farming household and the location in question

An Axiom System for Basic Hybrid Logic with Propositional Quantifiers

We present an axiom system for basic hybrid logic extended with propositional quantifiers (a second-order extension of basic hybrid logic) and prove its (basic and pure) strong completeness with respect to general models.</p

What’s the Purpose?:Employee Perspectives on Being ‘Purpose-driven’ in Hybrid Organisations

The notion of being purpose-driven and wishes for doing good in society has gained increased attention. This is mirrored in the upsurge of hybrid organisations balancing both social and financial value. Seen through the theoretical lenses of alternative organising purpose rests on autonomy, solidarity, and responsibility. The article investigates how these dimensions are outlived and perceived through a case study. The main findings are: (1) societal responsibility is enacted differently with respect to multiple purposes, (2) organisational purpose is also nurturing reflections on autonomy and solidarity, and (3) being ‘alternative’ might diminish negative organisational and societal affairs but may obscure negative work condition