Neoliberal visions? Exploring gendered media and popular culture in the Palestinian West Bank

Walking through Ramallah, it is hard not to notice the commercial advertising billboards, TV screens, and posters that line the city’s streets. They frequently feature bright glossy images of young nuclear families – always a man and a woman, often with light skin – gazing longingly at ‘dream’ homes. These materials document how capital and aspiration are increasingly enfolded into everyday space in post-Oslo Palestine. They particularly show how neoliberal ‘reforms’ have transformed Palestine’s political economy over (at least) the past 30 years. Indeed, Ramallah today embodies the complexities wrought by the Oslo process more than any other space in Palestine: its inhabitants paradoxically live under a colonial present shaped by neoliberal capitalism. While recent works consider how such shifts reformulate the political economy of occupied Palestine, and/or reroute the struggle for national liberation, rarely are the cultural practices and media forms that mark, embody and communicate such political and economic changes centralised as sites of meaning-making. Even less forthcoming is work that explores how such representations cultivate shifts in gender and sexuality norms. This project offers a different interpretation of the West Bank’s neoliberal order that moves beyond these traditional theoretical straightjackets. Using textual and qualitative methods, it foregrounds both the production and consumption of gendered advertisements as a way to explore how neoliberal culture constructs gendered subjectivity. It broadly asks how transforming forms of political economy, social relations and cultural practices relate to changing modes of gendered subjectivity in contemporary Palestine

Use of mRNA Markers for Age Prediction in Healthy and Unhealthy Individuals of Indian Subcontinent

Current age estimation techniques rely on morphological features such as teeth eruption, wear and tear pattern, and fusion of skeletal bones at different stages of life. These techniques require the presence of complete or partial human body and sometimes are difficult to perform on living individuals. Age estimation using molecular markers can provide better accuracy and can be performed with very small amount of biological sample found at the crime scene. Recently, mRNA, T-cell specific DNA rearrangements and mitochondrial DNA have been tested for estimating the age, and mRNA was found to be most age correlated. This research aims to use mRNA as a genetic marker to predict the age of Indian subcontinent population, both healthy and unhealthy individuals, by correlating the expression patterns within different age groups. This research provides an insight about the potentials of using mRNA markers to predict biological or chronological age by testing them on both healthy and unhealthy individuals. This study compared the predictive powers of three genes (NRCAM, CFH, and SLC16A10) against healthy individuals and unhealthy individuals. The results showed no significant difference in age prediction between healthy and unhealthy individuals. In order to further confirm the results future studies should include samples from various populations with large sample size to produce more statistically sound data which can further help improve age prediction process in forensic investigations

Nexus between U.S Energy Sources and Economic Activity: Time-Frequency and Bootstrap Rolling Window Causality Analysis

This paper explores the relationship between U.S economic activity and renewable energy sources namely hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wood energy, waste energy, biofuel, biomass energy, and total renewable energy. Monthly data for the period January 1981 to March 2015 is used to depict the comovements between the variables through Wavelet Squared Coherence (WTC) and Multiple Wavelet Coherence (MWCC) approaches. Maximal overlap wavelet correlation and cross-correlation measures, analogous to WTC and MWCC, show strong positive comovement in long-run. The causal linkage between economic activity and renewable energy sources is examined through bootstrap rolling window causality. The analysis reveals the significant reciprocal effects between the economic activity and energy use during the periods of extreme events. Overall, findings indicate that renewable energy sources play an important role in stimulating economic activity. This shows that present study has important implications for US energy policy authorities

Nexus between U.S Energy Sources and Economic Activity: Time-Frequency and Bootstrap Rolling Window Causality Analysis

This paper explores the relationship between U.S economic activity and renewable energy sources namely hydroelectric power, geothermal energy, wood energy, waste energy, biofuel, biomass energy, and total renewable energy. Monthly data for the period January 1981 to March 2015 is used to depict the comovements between the variables through Wavelet Squared Coherence (WTC) and Multiple Wavelet Coherence (MWCC) approaches. Maximal overlap wavelet correlation and cross-correlation measures, analogous to WTC and MWCC, show strong positive comovement in long-run. The causal linkage between economic activity and renewable energy sources is examined through bootstrap rolling window causality. The analysis reveals the significant reciprocal effects between the economic activity and energy use during the periods of extreme events. Overall, findings indicate that renewable energy sources play an important role in stimulating economic activity. This shows that present study has important implications for US energy policy authorities

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Theatre Encounters: A Politics of Performance in Palestine

This dissertation analyzes how theatrical practices in Palestine are directly connected to the ways politics are performed. Focusing on questions of representation and performance in the context of ongoing Zionist-Israeli settler colonialism, I highlight the play between the artistic and the political, between acting and 'real-life' experiences, to demonstrate how each are constitutive of the other. Drawing on framing strategies that have played a defining role in the struggle over Palestine, shaping our understanding of socio-political realities on the ground, I analyze performance as a site through which power operates. As strategies of performance have been mobilized throughout the decades in Palestinians' fight for international recognition, legitimacy and self-determination, political solutions have been based on how Palestinians perform. My readings of theatre plays and performances are thus contextualized within a larger frame of performance politics. Palestine is treated as a stage on and through which politics are performed and a reality that is continually staged. I specifically address how theatre is mobilized as a representational and pedagogical tool, as a way to make visible the performance in the everyday, and as a strategic means to confront the colonial power. By critically reflecting on questions of culture, nation, resistance, and violence, this study offers a contextualization of the under-studied and under-theorized field of theatre practice in all of Palestine. In exploring politics as staged and enacted in the everyday and taking into account the multiple registers of performance—from the artistic to the political, from military to 'nonviolent'—this analysis makes visible what is at stake in how Palestinians perform

DNA Methylation as a Biomarker for Body Fluid Identification

Currently, available identification techniques for forensic samples are either enzyme or protein based, which can be subjected to degradation, thus limiting its storage potentials. Epigenetic changes arising due to DNA methylation and histone acetylation can be used for body fluid identification. Markers DACT1, USP49, ZC3H12D, FGF7, cg23521140, cg17610929, chromosome 4 (25287119–25287254), chromosome 11 (72085678–72085798, 57171095–57171236, 1493401–1493538), and chromosome 19 (47395505–47395651) are currently being used for semen identification. Markers cg26107890, cg20691722, cg01774894 and cg14991487 are used to differentiate saliva and vaginal secretions from other body fluids. However, such markers show overlapping methylation pattern. This review article aimed to highlight the feasibility of using DNA methylation of certain genetic markers in body fluid identification and its implications for forensic investigations. The reviewed articles have employed molecular genetics techniques such as Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP), methylation specific PCR (MSP), Pyrosequencing, Combined Bisulfite Restriction Analysis (COBRA), Methylation-sensitive Single Nucleotide Primer Extension (SNuPE), and Multiplex SNaPshot Microarray. Bioinformatics software such as MATLAB and BiQ Analyzer has been used. Biological fluids have different methylation patterns and thus, this difference can be used to identify the nature of the biological fluid found at the crime scene. Using DNA methylation to identify the body fluids gives accurate results without consumption of the trace evidence and requires a minute amount of DNA for analysis. Recent studies have incorporated next-generation sequencing aiming to find out more reliable markers that can differentiate between different body fluids. Nonetheless, new DNA methylation markers are yet to be discovered to accurately differentiate between saliva and vaginal secretions with high confidence. Epigenetic changes are dynamic and it is important to find stable DNA sequences that can be used as biomarkers. Keywords: Forensic Science; DNA analysis; Methylation; body fluid; identification;  Pyrosequencing; DACT1; USP49; ZC3H12D; FGF7

DNA Methylation as a Biomarker for Body Fluid Identification

Currently, available identification techniques for forensic samples are either enzyme or protein based, which can be subjected to degradation, thus limiting its storage potentials. Epigenetic changes arising due to DNA methylation and histone acetylation can be used for body fluid identification. Markers DACT1, USP49, ZC3H12D, FGF7, cg23521140, cg17610929, chromosome 4 (25287119–25287254), chromosome 11 (72085678–72085798, 57171095–57171236, 1493401–1493538), and chromosome 19 (47395505–47395651) are currently being used for semen identification. Markers cg26107890, cg20691722, cg01774894 and cg14991487 are used to differentiate saliva and vaginal secretions from other body fluids. However, such markers show overlapping methylation pattern. This review article aimed to highlight the feasibility of using DNA methylation of certain genetic markers in body fluid identification and its implications for forensic investigations. The reviewed articles have employed molecular genetics techniques such as Bisulfite sequencing PCR (BSP), methylation specific PCR (MSP), Pyrosequencing, Combined Bisulfite Restriction Analysis (COBRA), Methylation-sensitive Single Nucleotide Primer Extension (SNuPE), and Multiplex SNaPshot Microarray. Bioinformatics software such as MATLAB and BiQ Analyzer has been used. Biological fluids have different methylation patterns and thus, this difference can be used to identify the nature of the biological fluid found at the crime scene. Using DNA methylation to identify the body fluids gives accurate results without consumption of the trace evidence and requires a minute amount of DNA for analysis. Recent studies have incorporated next-generation sequencing aiming to find out more reliable markers that can differentiate between different body fluids. Nonetheless, new DNA methylation markers are yet to be discovered to accurately differentiate between saliva and vaginal secretions with high confidence. Epigenetic changes are dynamic and it is important to find stable DNA sequences that can be used as biomarkers. Keywords: Forensic Science; DNA analysis; Methylation; body fluid; identification;  Pyrosequencing; DACT1; USP49; ZC3H12D; FGF7