The greater implications of Bartelson’s Becoming International

Of all major International Relations (IR) scholars active today, it is Jens Bartelson who has done the most in terms of getting us to rethink our assumptions about the basic building blocks of our field. In a series of very significant books — A Genealogy of Sovereignty (1993), The Critique of the State (2001) and Sovereignty as Symbolic Form (2014)— as well as numerous articles, he has changed our understanding of both the concept of sovereignty and its conceptual history, with serious implications also for the history of ‘the state.’ His 2017 book War in International Thought has led the reader through the evolution of the thinking about war. And his most recent book Becoming International (2024), which is the subject of this review essay, joins Visions of World Community (2009) in getting us to rethink the very basic notion of ‘the international’ and how it came about

Connexin 43 is downregulated in advanced Parkinson’s disease in multiple brain regions which correlates with symptoms

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition with the greatest increase in disability globally. Dysfunction of dopaminergic neurons is a well-known PD hallmark; however, changes in astrocytes also accompany PD progression. One aspect of astrocyte biology not yet investigated in PD is their network coupling. To assess this, we focussed on the major astrocytic gap junctional protein connexin 43 (Cx43, GJA1). A dataset of 20 post-mortem late-stage PD brain tissue samples from the cortex and basal ganglia alongside 20 age-matched control sets was collected, accompanied by clinical histories and data on -synuclein, tau, and amyloid-beta pathology. Protein levels and intracellular distribution of Cx43 and other key markers were measured. Computational re-analysis of open-source mRNA sequencing datasets from the striatum and midbrain complemented the original findings. Two novel observations were made: first, profound Cx43 loss in late-stage PD, and second, differential manifestation of this pathology in different brain areas, including those outside of the midbrain substantia nigra – the region that is most commonly used in PD research. Cx43 downregulation in specific regions correlated with non-motor symptoms of PD such as depression and sleep disturbance. Astrocytic tree simplification in the frontal cortex was further observed. In conclusion, astrocytic network decoupling through Cx43 downregulation in PD may contribute to astrocytic dysfunction and PD symptom development

Towards critical, anti-colonial and anti-racist education in national and global contexts

The fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4) of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. With over 122.6 million people worldwide forcibly displaced, and the number of refugees globally reaching 43.7 million by mid-2024, focusing on the importance of refugees accessing lifelong learning has become more urgent than ever. Despite this, refugees have been excluded from SDG-related national development plans, monitoring and reporting, raising questions about how the targets agreed in the Global Compact on Refugees and the SDGs are being implemented and met. Education, migration regulation and border regimes that reproduce injustices are fundamental elements of colonial education and have implications for lifelong learning. Education is often presented as crucial to the “integration” of migrants, including refugee people who have come to England. Nevertheless, the British government’s austerity policies, regarded by some as a form of racism, have underfunded the education system. This has made it more challenging for all learners from low-income families, and specifically refugee people, to access adequate education, amongst other rights. This article begins with a look at the assimilationist and apparent neutrality of approaches to education as sponsored by global and national commitments. The author then briefly discusses education as a practice of oppression, with colonial implications, including presenting perspectives from England and Brasil drawn from qualitative and mixed-methods doctoral and postdoctoral research. The article concludes by proposing approaches to enact education and lifelong learning as a practice of liberation rooted in critical, anti-racist and anti-colonial thinking and praxis

Towards a Marshall-based Theory of Research and Technology Organisations: the role of regional policy to address the varieties of knowledge.

The ability to generate knowledge across different technological cycles lies at the core of countries and regions’ competitiveness and economic growth. In this paper, we argue that Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) are public actors that are best enabled to fill in the capabilities gaps that emerge across the varieties of knowledge. Given the recent policy focus on regional development and the increasing complexity of new knowledge generation, we propose a capability-based theory of RTOs building on the insights of Alfred Marshall, specifically on his contributions about the collaborative nature of the knowledge-generation process and the place-based nature of knowledge

Market Analysis and Control Design for the Grid Integration of Battery Storage and Heat Pumps

To address the pressing challenges of climate change, power grids have seen a substantial increase in renewable energy integration. While renewable generation is preferable to fossil fuel generation from an emission standpoint, power output from renewable generations depends on various natural resources with inevitable variability in their behaviour, which makes these plants extremely difficult to control and presents challenges for power system operators. Simultaneously, new trends in power systems offer promising opportunities to address these challenges, particularly through the flexibility to shift load and store energy: The growing integration of battery energy storage provides the flexibility of shifting energy over time with its fast charging and discharging capabilities; Also, the electrification of heat loads is accelerating the deployment of heat pumps, which can provide additional flexibility through its fast response and connection to large-capacity heating systems. However, these trends also introduce new challenges. The rapid expansion of battery storage has saturated ancillary service markets, and storage is actively participating in wholesale electricity markets. While heat pumps have great potential to provide affordable ancillary frequency services, their effective integration requires to consider the operation of interconnected heating systems. As a result, under the current market design and control frameworks, system operators must balance economic efficiency with system reliability when integrating battery storage and heat pumps into power systems. This thesis focuses on two main topics: the wholesale electricity market participation of battery storage and control design for heat pumps. Specifically, in the first topic of storage market integration, we investigate whether current market designs support or hinder the contribution of investor-owned storage to cost-effective decarbonization. To this end, we develop an agent-based model to analyse the market interactions between profit-driven storage participants and system operators who aim to maximize social welfare. The analysis of system costs and carbon emissions will provide recommendations for potential improvements in market design. Moreover, we investigate whether storage acts as an honest participant or market manipulator in market participation. To address this concern, we formulate a theoretical framework to analyse storage withholding behaviour in wholesale markets. In the second topic of the control design of heat pumps, we address technical challenges related to stability and power sharing in both primary and secondary frequency regulation, which are a part of the ancillary service market. We first address the concerns that the engagement of heat pumps in frequency regulation may disrupt heating system operation. We first propose a power sharing scheme within the heating network that ensures fair and economic power sharing among multiple sources while guaranteeing supply-demand balance. We then propose two participation schemes for heat pumps to contribute to frequency regulation, operating as a frequency-dependent load and as a converter-linked load. Next, we design a primary control framework that enables heat pumps and the heating systems to contribute to frequency regulation with guaranteed stability and optimality in the combined heat and power network. Finally, we explore how two mainstream distributed secondary control frameworks, the distributed averaging-based proportional-integral and primal-dual approaches, can accommodate the two proposed heat pump participation schemes with guaranteed stability and optimal power sharing. These two focal areas contribute to maintaining supply-demand balance across different time scales of power system operation. Battery storage in wholesale markets operates within the economic dispatch time scale from minutes to hours, while heat pumps contribute to frequency regulation on a time scale from seconds to a few minutes, serving as cost-efficient and reliable resources in increasingly saturated ancillary service markets. Together, these efforts aim to support the affordable decarbonization of power systems

Deconvoluting genetic variants associated with aortic disease using stem cell models

Thoracic aortic disease (TAD) is usually silent until a catastrophic, life-threatening complication occurs. Identification and treatment at an early stage of disease can be informed by utilising genetic data, which in recent years has rapidly increased with the expansion of next-generation sequencing technologies. However, a critical challenge in genomic medicine is determining which variants identified by whole genome sequencing are causal for disease. Identifying causal variants aids disease diagnosis, prognostication, and determination of cascade screening requirements. This study aimed to utilise induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models of TAD to analyse genetic variants from the 100,000 Genomes Project by determining causality, disease mechanisms and identifying drug targets. We focused on three Tier One variants, protein truncating in known aortopathy-related genes. Variants in lysyl oxidase (LOX, 122070160 T>TA), myosin light chain kinase (MYLK, 123401069 ACT>A) and mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 4 (SMAD4, 51076665 C>T) were selected. CRISPR-Cas9 genetic editing introduced these mutations into wild type iPSC lines. The mutant lines were differentiated into vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC), analysed with a multi-omic approach, and the findings were validated in vitro. This work is the first to perform deep molecular phenotyping on LOX, MYLK and SMAD4 genetic variants in the context of aortic disease. TAD variant heterozygous knock-ins were confirmed through molecular cloning and Sanger sequencing. Mutant VSMCs demonstrated TAD transcriptomic signatures, with common & distinct pathways mediating disease pathogenesis in different variants. Active or basal contraction defects were revealed in both 2D monolayer and 3D engineered vascular tissue (EVT) models in all genetic variants. Proteomics of 3D EVT indicated shared deregulated matrix proteins alongside global metabolic perturbation. Commonly enriched signalling pathways in mutants suggested shared central hubs of dysregulation. A pro-proliferative phenotype was demonstrated in LOX and SMAD4 mutants, whereas MYLK and SMAD4 mutants were pro-apoptotic, suggesting an imbalance in cell number contributing to disease. LOX and MYLK mutant VSMCs showed hallmarks of abnormal synthetic phenotypic switching, driven by increased matrix stiffness, confirming the importance of VSMC state in aortic wall homeostasis. Increased mitochondrial basal respiration revealed metabolic defects in MYLK and SMAD4 mutants. Distinct phenotypes were observed, including perturbed calcium signalling in the MYLK mutant, or an inflammatory phenotype most strongly associated with SMAD4. A high-throughput drug screening assay identified Coenzyme Q10 as improving contraction in wild type and SMAD4 VSMCs and MYLK mutant EVT active contraction was restored by targeting the Rho kinase pathway. A pipeline was established between national flagship population genomic studies and detailed ‘disease-in-a-dish’ models. iPSC-derived VSMCs demonstrated TAD signatures when combined with multi-omic analyses and, as such, offer a valuable human platform to study aortic disease genetic variants. Despite distinct genetic initiators, there is a convergence on abnormal extracellular matrix turnover and VSMC contractility, which, in combination, are likely the driving factors behind reduced aortic wall integrity. Both changes contribute to dysfunctional VSMC mechanosensing, further exacerbating the loss of extracellular matrix homeostasis through abnormal remodelling. This work points to abnormal VSMC phenotypic switching accelerating disease and adds weight to the argument that reduced TGF- signalling is causal in TAD. A hypothesis of improving VSMC contraction and reducing ECM degradation, thus retaining the VSMC mechanotransduction capabilities and reducing abnormal phenotypic switching, is put forward, which could be achieved with combination drug therapy. Overall, this thesis demonstrated an iPSC ‘disease-in-a-dish’ approach to determine variant causality, key phenotypes associated with disease and identify drug targets

Hyperspectral image analysis for classification of multiple infections in wheat

Plant diseases can cause heavy yield losses in arable crops resulting in major economic losses. Effective early disease recognition is paramount for modern large-scale farming. Since plants can be infected with multiple concurrent pathogens, it is important to be able to distinguish and identify each disease to ensure appropriate treatments can be applied. Hyperspectral imaging is a state-of-the art computer vision approach, which can improve plant disease classification, by capturing a wide range of wavelengths before symptoms become visible to the naked eye. Whilst a lot of work has been done applying the technique to identifying single infections, to our knowledge, it has not been used to analyse multiple concurrent infections which presents both practical and scientific challenges. In this study, we investigated three wheat pathogens (yellow rust, mildew and Septoria), cultivating co-occurring infections, resulting in a dataset of 1,447 hyperspectral images of single and double infections on wheat leaves. We used this dataset to train four disease classification algorithms (based on four neural network architectures: Inception and EfficientNet with either a 2D or 3D convolutional layer input). The highest accuracy was achieved by EfficientNet with a 2D convolution input with 81% overall classification accuracy, including a 72% accuracy for detecting a combined infection of yellow rust and mildew. Moreover, we found that hyperspectral signatures of a pathogen depended on whether another pathogen was present, raising interesting questions about co-existence of several pathogens on one plant host. Our work demonstrates that the application of hyperspectral imaging and deep learning is promising for classification of multiple infections in wheat, even with a relatively small training dataset, and opens opportunities for further research in this area. However, the limited number of Septoria and yellow rust + Septoria samples highlights the need for larger, more balanced datasets in future studies to further validate and extend our findings under field conditions

‘We Shift You’: Experimental Infrastructures, Race, Gender, and Unity and Difference in Britain, 1980–97

This thesis is a cultural study of four ‘experimental infrastructures’ which emerged in the context of race ‘coming home’ (Stuart Hall) in postwar Britain. The four infrastructures are: a friendship group of art students in Leeds (1981–84); Bazaar: South Asian Arts Magazine (1987–92); Panchayat archive (c. 1992–2003); and Horizon Gallery (1987–91). None have been the focus of any major study, thus this thesis offers granular historical reconstructions, drawing from archival research and oral history. It also offers critical analysis of the experimental infrastructures by relating close readings of their formal cultural properties to the conjunctures in which they were situated. This thesis is intended as an interdisciplinary contribution to cultural studies and art history. The first chapter studies Leeds-based art students’ conceptualisation and enactment of political solidarities in artworks and a friendship group (the artist-led infrastructure under discussion in this case) in the years 1980–85. I explore how students at the University of Leeds and Leeds Polytechnic pushed against the limitations of the intellectual and artistic projects developing in their respective art schools, particularly with respect to the articulation of race, gender and class as modalities of domination. The second chapter, a study of Bazaar: South Asian Arts Magazine (1987–92), explores how internationalist queer South Asian and second-generation South Asian cultural activists in Britain ‘repoliticised’ the liberal anti-racist orientation of the magazine’s founders. In a coda to the chapter, I analyse photographer and frequent Bazaar contributor Sunil Gupta’s alternative to the magazine: a media infrastructure coextensive with his artistic practice and aligned with queer black coalitional politics. The ‘Third Worldist’ archive of contemporary art (c. 1992–2003) created by the artists’ collective Panchayat is discussed in Chapter 3. I study this experimental infrastructure in the context of Panchayat’s broader project of renewing earlier histories of internationalist black liberatory and Third Worldist solidarities during the 1990s, following Panchayat’s participation in the Tercera Bienal de la Habana (1989). The fourth chapter explores exhibitions and an art gallery created by ‘London-based Indian modernist’ (LBIM) artists’ collectives in the 1980s. Specifically, I argue that these experimental infrastructures challenged racism in Britain on the basis of a liberal humanist aesthetic philosophy, which was then contested by artists of the British Black Arts Movement and artists engaging with socialist feminism, with whom the LBIMs came to collaborate. The chapter conclusion explores the LBIMs’ and the British Black Arts Movement’s common experience of state multiculturalist depoliticisation. The thesis conclusion considers the demise of Bazaar and the Horizon Gallery in the early 1990s from the standpoint of anti-racist cultural strategy. I argue that the neoliberalisation of both public cultural infrastructure and of racial politics in Britain – carried out as part of the consolidation of the global project of neoliberalism – required a revision of the strategies adopted by artists studied in this thesis, namely liberal pluralism and identity politics. I then gesture to some contemporaneous examples of this re-strategisation. Finally, I offer some summative reflections, which amount to the beginnings of a theory of ‘experimental infrastructures’ as designs and lived examples of non-normative social spaces