Self-Shooting Uterus-Owners: Examining the Selfies of Pregnant Transmen within the Politics of Human Reproduction

This work examines how transmen pregnancy is found within the discourse of moralizing and pathologizing reproductive health. Moralization criticizes the “artificial” character of transpregnancy, and pathologization sees transpregnancy as rather “abnormal”. This work analyses these discursive contentions with case of the increasing public visibility of pregnant transmen through selfies. A commonplace reading of these transpregnant selfies can be, on the one hand, extended forms of othering or, on the other hand, emancipation from moralization and pathologization. However, this work argues that the visual display of transpregnant bodies is neither a form of othering nor gaining recognition but rather a suspension to moralization and pathologization of trans-identities. Transmen pregnancy has the character of both disrupting the concept of pregnancy-as-usual and at the same time evokes a very familiar experience of human reproduction. This thus gives transpregnant selfies their liminal character of both abnormal and normal at the same time. Given that transpregnancy is still a new subject for philosophical inquiry, this work hopes to contribute to the literature by surfacing some of transpregnancy’s ethical dimensions when juxtaposed in the cyberspace.Received 27 February 2019. Accepted 22 March 2019. Published online 1 April 2019

The Maternal Body as a Space: Examining the Visuality of Marian Pregnancy in Late Medieval Europe

This work offers a theoretically informed analysis of the characterization of maternity in religion using a spatial lens. The maternal body as a space is used as an analytical framework to discuss how Mary's pregnancy is located and spatialized in Christianity. Through examining selected medieval Marian iconography, this work discusses what kind of space Mary's body represents in the Christian doctrine. Analysis shows three central themes on the characterization of the maternal body as a space: (1) as a transitional space, (2) as a landmark, and (3) as a liminal space. The images of Marian pregnancy show that the maternal body is beyond its biological purpose in the Bible, but serves as a space that enables various interactions and spiritual events. The examination of Mary's maternal body as a space offers an alternative perspective to discuss Mary's character as a point of interface for Christian doctrines, biblical periods, and the Scriptures. In many ways, understanding Mary's maternal body as a space speaks about the complexities and unveiled aspects of maternity's role in religion. This work hopes to spark further discussions on how the maternal body intersects with spatiality in the context of religion. © 2021 Aireen Grace Andal, published by De Gruyter

Effect of bioformulations of Phosphate Solubilizing Bacteria (PSB) on the Growth and Biochemical Characters of the Gossypium Hirsutum and Zea Mays

Biofertilizers offer a new technology to Indian agriculture holding a promise to balance many of the short comings of the conventional chemical based technology. They are usually prepared as carrier based inoculants containing effective microorganisms. The present study was aimed at to study the nursery performance of different formulations of PSB in maize and cotton plants. The selected PSB was mass multiplied in the laboratory and incorporated into the nursery soil through different carrier material such as coirpith, vermicompost, organic manure, lignite and vermiculite. The effect of bioinoculants on the growth and biochemical characters were studied from the control and treated seedling of Gossypium hirsutum and Zea mays. The significant difference was observed in the growth and biochemical characters in both Gossypium hirsutum and Zea mays. The effect was differed with reference to the nature of carrier materials used for the preparation of bioformulations. The results indicated that the bioformulation prepared by composted coirpith had superior in plant growth and development

Birth of an image: a post-secular glimpse of fetal representations in visual arts

This work examines how the religious discourses of the fetus translate into the visual platform to characterize the fetus. Drawing on critical discourse analysis from Habermasian post-secular interpretation, this work critically unpacks fetal representations through examining visual arts (e.g. paintings, sculptures and digital arts). This work analyzes the images in their sacred and pragmatic dimensions. Analyses how that fetal images treatise the sacred and the pragmatic aspects at the same time, situating them in a complex dialogue with each other as they mutually shape the public sphere. The discourses behind the images and their epistemological boundaries categorize the fetus as “living” in various depictions, both in sacred and non-sacred ways. These observations imply that the fetal images reflect the contested rationalities underpinning the dynamics between sacredness, life and conception. It also shows that those considered as sacred and pragmatic depictions are not just benign and independent activities, but both are rather political and intertwined. The images convey a relational, not unidirectional connection with both religion and the secular world

Doctoral Journey During COVID-19: Reflections from a Collaborative Autoethnography

Aim/Purpose: This paper identifies and examines cross-cutting experiences from the perspec-tive of two doctoral students, whose research was affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Background: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be challenging for higher education scholars in terms of proceeding with their research and how the pandemic sets the scene for changes in higher education's future. Due to increased anxiety lev-els because of uncertainties, the paper provides a reflection of doctoral experi-ences from two students - one in Russia at the data collection stage, and one in China (enrolled in New Zealand) at the proposal stage. Methodology: Through collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection, we analyze our ex-periences as doctoral students focusing on methodological adjustments, ethical dilemmas, adaptation strategies and supervisor-supervisee relationships. Con-ducting a collaborative autoethnography provides a richer analysis of the inter-play between perspectives, compared to a traditional autoethnography. Collabo-rative autoethnography also provides conditions for a collective exploration of subjectivities of doctoral students through an iterative process. After providing separate individual accounts, we discussed our experiences, analyzed them, and engaged in a joint-reflection from our consensual interpretations. Contribution: Our work aims to contribute to existing discussions on how COVID-19 im-pacted on doctoral students' coping strategies during the pandemic. The paper encourages doctoral students to further discuss how they navigate their doctoral experiences through autoethnography and joint-reflections. Findings: Three main themes transpired in our analysis. First, we encountered roadblocks such as interruptions, frustrations and resistance to adapt our doctoral studies in the pandemic context, which align with the recent literature regarding education during the coronavirus pandemic. Second, we faced a diversity of burdens and privileges in the pandemic, which provided us with both pleasant (opportunity to create change) and unpleasant (unknown threats) situations, thereby enabling us to construct and reconstruct our stories through reflection. Third, we experi-enced a shared unfamiliarity of doing doctoral studies during the pandemic, to which the role of the academic community including our supervisors and doc-toral colleagues contributed to how we managed our circumstances. Recommendations for Practitioners: We speak to our fellow doctoral students to dare navigate their doctoral experi-ences through collaborative reflections. In practice, by reflecting on our experi-ence, we recommend that new doctoral students remain flexible and mindful of their doctoral journeys and recognize their agency to deal with the unexpected. We thus encourage the view of doctoral studies as a process rather than out-come-oriented, as we gain experience from processes. Recommendations for Researchers: We recommend using both collaborative autoethnography and joint-reflection as an instructive tool for qualitative research. Such engagements offer important discussions towards further communications and exchange of ideas among doc-toral students from various backgrounds. Impact on Society: More broadly, this work is an invitation to reflect and provoke further thoughts to articulate reflections on the impact and various ways of thinking that the pandemic might bring to the fore. Future Research: Doctoral students are welcome to contribute to a collectivity of narratives that thicken the data and analyses of their pandemic experiences in higher education to reinforce the role of doctoral researchers as agents of history in the trying times of a pandemic. © 2021 Informing Science Institute. All rights reserved

Perspectives on the Barriers to Nuclear Power Generation in the Philippines: Prospects for Directions in Energy Research in the Global South

This paper offers a discussion on the social dimensions of the barriers to nuclear power generation in the country. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature by identifying the barriers to nuclear power generation in the Philippines and offering perspectives on the social relevance of potentially adding nuclear sources to the country’s energy mix. Given the contemporary relevance of the energy transitions globally, this work builds on the available sources over the past decade concerning nuclear energy technology in the Philippines and provides further discussions on the diverse barriers to the country’s energy transition pathway. Findings present barriers related to politics, policy, infrastructure, technical capacities, environment and information. The differences in priorities and values concerning nuclear energy reflect that the barriers to nuclear energy generation in the Philippines are social as much as technical. Based on the findings and descriptions of the current discussions on Philippine energy generation, this work provides some key points for consideration in order to deploy nuclear power plants in the country. These recommendations, however, are not definitive measures and are still subject to local conditions that may arise. This study hopes to be instructive to other countries in terms of further reflecting on the social dimensions of the barriers to nuclear energy generation. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Переосмысление БРИКС в рамках дискурса политического тела в политической философии

This paper situates the BRICS within the body politic discourses by offering an analysis on how the BRICS nations perform and display their normative commitments to the BRICS vision of international relations and global realities. This reimagination is anchored on the changes of governance discourses from the discourse of hierarchical body politic towards a recognition of multipolar governance in the international arena, which challenges the classical notion of the body politic. This provides a counter-narrative to the classical neural discourses of the body politic that are controlling and paternalistic.В данной статье БРИКС помещается в рамки политического дискурса, предлагая анализ того, как страны БРИКС выполняют и демонстрируют свои нормативные обязательства в отношении видения БРИКС международных отношений и глобальных реалий. Это переосмысление основывается на изменении дискурсов управления от дискурса иерархического политического тела к признанию многополярного управления на международной арене, которое бросает вызов классическому понятию политического тела. Это дает контрнарратив классическим нейронным дискурсам политического тела, которые являются контролирующими и патерналистскими

Density-Matrix approach to a Strongly Coupled Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensate

The time evolution equations for average values of population and relative phase of a strongly coupled two component BEC is derived analytically. The two components are two hyper-fine states coupled by an external laser that drives fast Rabi oscillations between these states. Specifically, this derivation incorporates the two-mode model proposed in [1] for the strongly coupled hyper-fine states of Rb. The fast Rabi cycle is averaged out and rate equations are derived that represents the slow dynamics of the system. These include the collapse and revival of Rabi oscillations and their subsequent dependence on detuning and trap displacement as reported in experiments of [1]. A proposal to create stable vortices is also given.Comment: 11 Latex pages, 2 figures (Figure 3 was removed and the text chnaged accordingly

Adakitic Paracale Granodiorite in southeastern Luzon, Philippines: A peek at a Proto-Philippine Sea Plate-related magmatic arc

This paper describes the geochemistry, petrogenesis and tectonic setting of a silicic pluton, the Paracale Granodiorite (PG), intruded into an ophiolitic suite in southeastern Luzon island, Philippines. Whole rock chemistry suggests that the PG samples are calc-alkaline and are characterized by light rare earth element (LREE)-enrichment and relatively weak heavy rare earth element (HREE)-depletion. They also show depletion in Nb, Ta, Zr and Ti and positive anomalies in K, Pb and Sr when normalized with the Primordial Mantle and normal-mid-ocean ridge basalt (N-MORB). The PG biotite mineral chemistry shows an affinity to calc-alkaline trends based on the FeOtot versus Al2O3, whereas in the MgO-Al2O3 plot, they exhibit transitional calc-alkaline to peraluminous characteristics. These information, along with a temperature \u3e600 °C based on biotite chemistry, and hydrous setting for the generation of the PG suggest generation in a subduction-related setting. When plotted in the Y versus Sr/Y and YbN versus (La/Yb)N, the PG samples exhibit adakitic signature. Partial melting, fluid addition and sediment participation are discerned from the geochemistry. Melting, assimilation, storage and homogenization (MASH) with limited fractionation are the dominant mechanisms of formation. The PG could represent a Late Cretaceous to Paleogene magmatic arc generated during the subduction of the proto-Philippine Sea Plate

Measuring fluorescence into a nanofiber by observing field quadrature noise

We perform balanced homodyne detection of the electromagnetic field in a single-mode tapered optical nanofiber surrounded by rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap. Resonant fluorescence of atoms into the nanofiber mode manifests itself as increased quantum noise of the field quadratures. The autocorrelation function of the homodyne detector's output photocurrent exhibits exponential fall-off with a decay time constant of $26.3\pm 0.6$ ns, which is consistent with the theoretical expectation under our experimental conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first experiment in which fluorescence has been observed and measured by balanced optical homodyne detection