Criminal law as a security project

This paper asks how criminal might be understood as a security project. Following Valverde’s lead, it does this not by trying to define the concept of security, but by looking at the operation of the temporal and spatial logics of the criminal law. It looks first at the basic logics of time and space in conceptions of criminal liability and jurisdiction, before reviewing some recent developments which challenge these practices and what these might mean for criminal law as a security project

On the Lense-Thirring test with the Mars Global Surveyor in the gravitational field of Mars

I discuss some aspects of the recent test of frame-dragging performed by me by exploiting the Root-Mean-Square (RMS) orbit overlap differences of the out-of-plane component N of the orbit of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft in the gravitational field of Mars. A linear fit of the full time series of the entire MGS data (4 February 1999-14 January 2005) yields a normalized slope 1.03 +/- 0.41 (with 95% confidence bounds). Other linear fits to different data sets confirm the agreement with general relativity. The huge systematic effects induced by the mismodeling in the martian gravitational field claimed by some authors are absent in the MGS out-of-plane record. The non-gravitational forces affect at the same level of the gravitomagnetic one the in-plane orbital components of MGS, not the out-of-plane one. Moreover, they experience high-frequency variations which does not matter in the present case in which secular effects are relevant.Comment: LaTex2e, 8 pages, no figures, no tables, 17 references. It refers to K. Krogh, Class. Quantum Grav., 24, 5709-5715, 2007 based on astro-ph/0701653. Final version to appear in CEJP (Central European Journal of Physics

Neuromesenchymal hamartoma of small bowel - an extremely rare entity: a case report

Neuromuscular and vascular hamartoma (NMVH) is a very rare stricturing condition of the small intestine, occurring focally and causing recurrent obstructive symptoms or occult chronic gastrointestinal bleeding. Salas et al. (Neuromesenchymal hamartoma of the small bowel. J Clin Gastroenterol. 1990, 12 (6): 705-9) proposed the term of "Neuromesenchymal hamartoma" for the cases of NMVH with participation of mesenchymal tissues

On the Possibility of Measuring the Gravitomagnetic Clock Effect in an Earth Space-Based Experiment

In this paper the effect of the post-Newtonian gravitomagnetic force on the mean longitudes $l$ of a pair of counter-rotating Earth artificial satellites following almost identical circular equatorial orbits is investigated. The possibility of measuring it is examined. The observable is the difference of the times required to $l$ in passing from 0 to 2$\pi$ for both senses of motion. Such gravitomagnetic time shift, which is independent of the orbital parameters of the satellites, amounts to 5$\times 10^{-7}$ s for Earth; it is cumulative and should be measured after a sufficiently high number of revolutions. The major limiting factors are the unavoidable imperfect cancellation of the Keplerian periods, which yields a constraint of 10$^{-2}$ cm in knowing the difference between the semimajor axes $a$ of the satellites, and the difference $I$ of the inclinations $i$ of the orbital planes which, for $i\sim 0.01^\circ$, should be less than $0.006^\circ$. A pair of spacecrafts endowed with a sophisticated intersatellite tracking apparatus and drag-free control down to 10$^{-9}$ cm s$^{-2}$ Hz$^{-{1/2}}$ level might allow to meet the stringent requirements posed by such a mission.Comment: LaTex2e, 22 pages, no tables, 1 figure, 38 references. Final version accepted for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Influence of Lung Reconstruction Algorithms on Interstitial Lung Pattern Recognition on CT.

BACKGROUND  Despite current recommendations, there is no recent scientific study comparing the influence of CT reconstruction kernels on lung pattern recognition in interstitial lung disease (ILD). PURPOSE  To evaluate the sensitivity of lung (i70) and soft (i30) CT kernel algorithms for the diagnosis of ILD patterns. MATERIALS AND METHODS  We retrospectively extracted between 15-25 pattern annotations per case (1 annotation = 15 slices of 1 mm) from 23 subjects resulting in 408 annotation stacks per lung kernel and soft kernel reconstructions. Two subspecialized chest radiologists defined the ground truth in consensus. 4 residents, 2 fellows, and 2 general consultants in radiology with 3 to 13 years of experience in chest imaging performed a blinded readout. In order to account for data clustering, a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with random intercept for reader and nested for patient and image and a kernel/experience interaction term was used to analyze the results. RESULTS  The results of the GLMM indicated, that the odds of correct pattern recognition is 12 % lower with lung kernel compared to soft kernel; however, this was not statistically significant (OR 0.88; 95%-CI, 0.73-1.06; p = 0.187). Furthermore, the consultants' odds of correct pattern recognition was 78 % higher than the residents' odds, although this finding did not reach statistical significance either (OR 1.78; 95%-CI, 0.62-5.06; p = 0.283). There was no significant interaction between the two fixed terms kernel and experience. Intra-rater agreement between lung and soft kernel was substantial (κ = 0.63 ± 0.19). The mean inter-rater agreement for lung/soft kernel was κ = 0.37 ± 0.17/κ = 0.38 ± 0.17. CONCLUSION  There is no significant difference between lung and soft kernel reconstructed CT images for the correct pattern recognition in ILD. There are non-significant trends indicating that the use of soft kernels and a higher level of experience lead to a higher probability of correct pattern identification. KEY POINTS   · There is no significant difference between lung and soft kernel reconstructed CT images for the correct pattern recognition in interstitial lung disease.. · There are even non-significant tendencies that the use of soft kernels lead to a higher probability of correct pattern identification.. · These results challenge the current recommendations and the routinely performed separate lung kernel reconstructions for lung parenchyma analysis.. CITATION FORMAT · Klaus JB, Christodoulidis S, Peters AA et al. Influence of Lung Reconstruction Algorithms on Interstitial Lung Pattern Recognition on CT. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2022; DOI: 10.1055/a-1901-7814

Evidence of blood and muscle redox status imbalance in experimentally induced renal insufficiency in a rabbit model

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is accompanied by a disturbed redox homeostasis, especially in end-stage patients, which is associated with pathological complications such as anemia, atherosclerosis, and muscle atrophy. However, limited evidence exists about redox disturbances before the end stage of CKD. Moreover, the available redox literature has not yet provided clear associations between circulating and tissue-specific (muscle) oxidative stress levels. The aim of the study was to evaluate commonly used redox status indices in the blood and in two different types of skeletal muscle (psoas, soleus) in the predialysis stages of CKD, using an animal model of renal insufficiency, and to investigate whether blood redox status indices could be reflecting the skeletal muscle redox status. Indices evaluated included reduced glutathione (GSH), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), protein carbonyls (PC), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). Results showed that blood GSH was higher in the uremic group compared to the control (17.50 ± 1.73 vs. 12.43 ± 1.01, p = 0.033). In both muscle types, PC levels were higher in the uremic group compared to the control (psoas: 1.086 ± 0.294 vs. 0.596 ± 0.372, soleus: 2.52 ± 0.29 vs. 0.929 ± 0.41, p < 0.05). The soleus had higher levels of TBARS, PC, GSH, CAT, and GR and lower TAC compared to the psoas in both groups. No significant correlations in redox status indices between the blood and skeletal muscles were found. However, in the uremic group, significant correlations between the psoas and soleus muscles in PC, GSSG, and CAT levels emerged, not present in the control. Even in the early stages of CKD, a disturbance in redox homeostasis was observed, which seemed to be muscle type-specific, while blood levels of redox indices did not seem to reflect the intramuscular condition. The above results highlight the need for further research in order to identify the key mechanisms driving the onset and progression of oxidative stress and its detrimental effects on CKD patients.This work was supported by the European Union (European Social Fund, ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program “Educational and Lifelong Learning” of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), Research Funding Program: Thales (MuscleFun Project-MIS 377260) Investing in Knowledge Society through the European Social Fund, and the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme “H2020 MSCAS-RISE-Muscle Stress Relief” under grant agreement no. 645648.Published versio

Phenomenology of the Lense-Thirring effect in the Solar System

Recent years have seen increasing efforts to directly measure some aspects of the general relativistic gravitomagnetic interaction in several astronomical scenarios in the solar system. After briefly overviewing the concept of gravitomagnetism from a theoretical point of view, we review the performed or proposed attempts to detect the Lense-Thirring effect affecting the orbital motions of natural and artificial bodies in the gravitational fields of the Sun, Earth, Mars and Jupiter. In particular, we will focus on the evaluation of the impact of several sources of systematic uncertainties of dynamical origin to realistically elucidate the present and future perspectives in directly measuring such an elusive relativistic effect.Comment: LaTex, 51 pages, 14 figures, 22 tables. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science (ApSS). Some uncited references in the text now correctly quoted. One reference added. A footnote adde

Evidence of functional deficits at the single muscle fiber level in experimentally-induced renal insufficiency

Chronic kidney disease patients present with metabolic and functional muscle abnormalities, called uremic myopathy, whose mechanisms have not yet been fully elucidated. We investigated whether chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) affects skeletal muscle contractile properties at the cellular level. CRI was induced surgically in New Zealand rabbits (UREM), with sham-operation for controls (CON), and samples were collected at 3 months post-surgery, following euthanasia. All protocols had University Ethics approval following national and European guidelines. Sample treatments and evaluations were blinded. Maximal isometric force was assessed in 382 permeabilized psoas fibers (CON, n=142, UREM, n=240) initially at pH7, 10oC (‘standard’ conditions), in subsets of fibers in acidic conditions (pH6.2, 10oC) but also at near physiological temperature (pH7, 30oC and pH6.2, 30oC). CRI resulted in significant smaller average CSA (~11%) for UREM muscle fibers (vs CON, P<0.01). At standard conditions, UREM fibers produced lower absolute and specific forces (i.e. normalized force per fiber CSA) (vs CON, P<0.01); force increased in 30oC for both groups (P<0.01), but the disparity between UREM and CON remained significant. Acidosis significantly reduced force (vs pH7, 10oC P<0.01), similarly in both groups (in UREM by -48% and in CON by -43%, P>0.05). For the first time, we give evidence that CRI can induce significant impairments in single psoas muscle fibers force generation, only partially explained by fiber atrophy, thus affecting muscle mechanics at the cellular level

Law of denial

Law’s claim of mastery over past political violence is frequently undermined by reversals of that relationship of mastery, so that the violence of the law, and especially its symbolic violence, becomes easily incorporated into longues durées of political violence, rather than mastering them, settling them, or providing closure. Doing justice to the past, therefore, requires a political and theoretical attunement to the ways in which law, in purportedly attempting to address past political violence, inscribes itself into contemporary contexts of violence. While this may be limited to an analysis of how law is an effect of and affects the political, theoretically this attunement can be further refined by means of a critique of dynamics that are internal to law itself and that have to do with how law understands its own historicity, as well as its relationship to history and historiography. This article aims to pursue such a critique, taking as its immediate focus the ECHR case of Perinçek v Switzerland, with occasional forays into debates around the criminalisation of Armenian genocide denialism in France. The Perinçek case concerned Switzerland's criminalisation of the denial of the Armenian genocide, and concluded in 2015 after producing two judgments, first by the Second Chamber, and then by the Grand Chamber of the ECHR. However, although they both found for the applicant, the two benches had very different lines of reasoning, and notably different conceptions regarding the relationship between law and history. I proceed by tracing the shifting status of 'history' and 'historians' in these two judgments, and paying attention to the deferrals, disclaimers and ellipses that structure law's relation to history. This close reading offers the opportunity for a critical reappraisal of the relationship between law, denial and violence: I propose that the symbolic violence of the law operative in memory laws is a product of that which remains unresolved in law's understanding of historicity (including its own), its self-understanding vis-à-vis the task of historiography, and its inability to respond to historical violence without inscribing itself into a history of violence, a process regarding which it remains in denial