PERHAPS HERETICAL

This is a brief reply to Matteo Marconi’s article. I have been challenged along with Marcello Tanca with the criticism of practicing a geography that is eccentric but unaware of the logical continuity between modernity and postmodernity. The suspicion is that the subversive impact of the “culturalist” turning point is in fact compromised by a system of production of truth akin by logic, operation and subject to that of the modern era. I have therefore attempted to formulate a possible answer to these comments and to the critical insights of Matteo Marconi, whom I thank for having requested a response to his writing

Sciatic neuropathy in an acromegalic cat without concurrent diabetes mellitus

Case summary: A 17-year-old neutered male European Shorthair cat was presented owing to an inability to jump and respiratory stridor. The owner did not report any other clinical signs. On physical examination, the main findings were plantigrade stance, broad facial features and inspiratory stridor. Neurological examination revealed posterior paraparesis, hypotonia and right hindlimb muscle atrophy. Laboratory findings were unremarkable and glycaemia was normal. Serum insulin-like growth factor 1 concentration was elevated (>1000 ng/ml). A total body CT scan showed an enlarged pituitary gland, thickening of the nasal turbinates and an L7–S1 right foraminal stenosis. Electrodiagnostic testing confirmed the presence of a neuropathy affecting both sciatic nerves. The cat was treated with gabapentin only and was still alive and euglycaemic 16 months after the diagnosis. Relevance and novel information: This case describes for the first time sciatic neuropathy, an occasional complication of acromegaly in people, as a possible clinical presentation in acromegalic cats without concurrent diabetes mellitus

“Bola y obras”: la construcción de gobernabilidad de Cambiemos en una villa bonaerense

En el año 2015, el triunfo de la coalición política Cambiemos a nivel nacional y provincial para la Provincia de Buenos Aires abrió un escenario novedoso para el sistema político argentino. La llegada al poder de una fuerza con características como la de dicho espacio –una alianza de centro derecha cuyo líder provenía de un partido diferente al peronismo o al radicalismo, de impronta hasta entonces local- habilitó la formulación de preguntas relacionadas con su ejercicio de gobierno, especialmente aquel que afectaba a los sectores populares. En este sentido, esta ponencia aborda las prácticas de gobierno llevadas a cabo por un organismo provincial creado durante la gestión cambiemita destinado a la integración social y urbana de diferentes villas del conurbano bonaerense. A partir de un trabajo de campo realizado en 2019 en Villa Itatí, Quilmes, el barrio popular más grande comprendido por dicho organismo, se buscará comprender: por un lado, las tramas relacionales en las que estas prácticas se insertan a nivel local; por el otro, aproximarse a aquella red de relaciones afín a los mundos sociales de pertenencia predominantes dentro del espacio gobernante que participan de las actividades comprendidas por estas prácticas de gobierno. A lo largo del texto se recorrerá el carácter negociado y forcejeado de tales prácticas, en las que se condensan diferentes saber hacer y evaluaciones morales. Asimismo, el texto dialogará con la literatura que, a lo largo de las últimas décadas, ha venido estudiando para el caso argentino la relación entre Estado y sectores populares para contribuir a la comprensión de las configuraciones que adopta el vínculo en este caso.GT54: Estudios y modos de abordar “lo político” en la vida social en el marco de procesos de organización y estatalización de los sectores subalternos.Universidad Nacional de La Plat

Very large ensemble ocean forecasting experiment using the Grid computing infrastructure

Atmospheric and oceanic ensemble forecasting is a way to deal with uncertainty related to inaccurate knowledge of the initial state of the atmosphere and the ocean, the lateral and vertical boundary condition errors and the model physics shortfalls (Lewis, 2005, Epstein, 1969). Since the atmosphere and the ocean are extremely non-linear systems (Lorenz, 1993, Saravanan et al., 2000) initial uncertainties can amplify and limit the predictability of short term forecasts (Kleeman and Majda, 2005). For the ocean, ensemble forecasting is a novel field. Ensemble methods are used to compute the background error covariance matrix in data assimilation schemes (Evensen, 2003) but are not used yet to quantify the forecast uncertainty in short term ocean forecasting systems. Initial conditions uncertainty is a major source of unpredictability for ocean currents due to the limited observations available for nowcasting and the highly non-linear physics. In this study we explore the short term ensemble forecast variance generated by perturbing the initial conditions using a new computational facility, so-called Grid infrastructure (http://grid.infn.it/), distributed over the Italian territory. This infrastructure allowed us to perform several ensemble forecast experiments with 1000 members: they are completed within 5 hours of wall-clock time after their submission and the ensemble variance peaks at the mesoscales

Geografie marginali: la mappa e il tempo del piccolo globo virale. (Dialogo tra AB e GdS)

Marginal Geographies: the Map and the Time of the Little Viral Globe. (Dialogue Between AB and GdS) Starting from Paul Celan’s Meridian, between geography and rhetoric, a relation between the viral phase of capitalism and the viral pandemic has been established. In the rhetorical area, the meridian echoes the language of medias and official communications that use the term map to help visualise the spreading of Covid-19. This term, for geographers, has a technical meaning of cloth of the world. Namely, it points to something that surrounds and envelops the world with creases and intensity in a temporal register of a crisis irreducible to reticular reason and the contemporary synchronic space (Olsson, 2007). It is the projection of such a  viral mappamundi  that redesigns the content of a current globe. The relation between the two globes – analogous in their nature of hybrid metaphysical whims – is established by a line of margin or crisis that renegotiates the promise of the immunological limits of the current globalisation phase by intersecting two projections and two geographical imaginations (Sloterdijk, 2007). This is the margin, and the marginality, that our geography shows when intersected with plural pandemic temporalities.G ographies marginales : la carte et le temps du petit globe viral. (Dialogue entre AB et GdS) A partir du M ridien de Paul Celan, entre g ographie et rh torique, une relation s’ tablit entre la phase virale du capitalisme et la pand mie virale. Du c t  rh torique, le m ridien est li  au langage des m dias et des communications officielles qui utilise le terme carte pour illustrer la propagation du Covid-19. Un terme qui pour les g ographes signifie techniquement tissu du monde, c’est- -dire quelque chose qui enveloppe et entoure le monde de plis et d’intensit  dans un registre temporel de crise irr ductible   la raison r ticulaire et   l'espace synchronique contemporain (Olsson, 2007). C’est la projection d’une   mappamundi virale   similaire qui redessine le contenu du globe actuel. La relation entre les deux globes – de nature analogue   des caprices m taphysiques hybrides – s’ tablit par une ligne de marge ou de crise qui, en croisant deux projections et deux imaginaires g ographiques, ren gocie la promesse des limites immunitaires de la phase actuelle de mondialisation (Sloterdijk, 2007). C’est la marge, et la marginalit , que notre g ographie d tecte en croisant les temporalit s pand miques plurielles

NARRAZIONI MARGINALI DA UN’ESCURSIONE “INDI-SCIPLINARE” ALLA BIENNALE ARCHITETTURA 2021

L'articolo indaga le potenzialità dell’oggetto marginalità a partire dal “buco nella trama” (Negarestani, 2021, p. 106) o nel tema che si aggirava in maniera fantasma-gorica nel titolo della Biennale Architettura 2021 (How we will live together?) e segnalava lo scarto tra la declinazione della domanda e la topografia dello spazio espositivo, che “nutriva le altre trame” (ivi) dei pochi geografi che per due giorni ne hanno condiviso l’esplorazione. “Buco” o assenza che sta per il mancato incontro tra Geografia (il materiale in mostra) e disciplina geografica (con due sole eccezioni) e che qui viene utilizzato come esercizio di marginalità potenziale per immaginare trame, narrazioni e alleanze “indisciplinari” a venire

NARRAZIONI MARGINALI DA UN’ESCURSIONE “INDISCIPLINARE” ALLA BIENNALE ARCHITETTURA 2021

If Neil Smith and David Harvey find space at the Arsenale, if at the Giardini the exercise is to dis-explore the Earth, it is because the Bien-nale is about surveying the crisis space of globalisation: it forces us to in-terrogate the geopolitical map of contemporaneity between the Anthropo-cene, techno-capitalism, encroachments and adaptations. This is why we thought of sharing a visit to the Biennale with those geographers for whom the exercise proposed by Architects is essential to our theoretical, disciplinary, ethical, civil and very human present of being geographers. Our notes in the margin depend on this invitation to investigate the po-tential of the object of marginality starting from the concept of “hole in the plot - which - nourishes the other plots” (Negarestani, 2021, p. 106). Hole or absence that stands for the missed encounter between Geogra-phy (the material on display) and geographical discipline to imagine plots, narratives and “undisciplined” alliances to come

Ocean ensemble forecasting. Part I: Ensemble Mediterranean winds from a Bayesian hierarchical model

A Bayesian hierarchical model (BHM) is developed to estimate surface vector wind (SVW) fields and associated uncertainties over the Mediterranean Sea. The BHM–SVW incorporates data-stage inputs from analyses and forecasts of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and SVW retrievals from the QuikSCAT data record. The process-model stage of the BHM–SVW is based on a Rayleigh friction equation model for surface winds. Dynamical interpretations of posterior distributions of the BHM–SVW parameters are discussed. Ten realizations from the posterior distribution of the BHM–SVW are used to force the data-assimilation step of an experimental ensemble ocean forecast system for the Mediterranean Sea in order to create a set of ensemble initial conditions. The sequential data-assimilation method of the Mediterranean forecast system (MFS) is adapted to the ensemble implementation. Analyses of sample ensemble initial conditions for a single data-assimilation period in MFS are presented to demonstrate the multivariate impact of the BHM–SVW ensemble generation methodology. Ensemble initial-condition spread is quantified by computing standard deviations of ocean state variable fields over the ten ensemble members. The methodological findings in this article are of two kinds. From the perspective of statistical modelling, the process-model development is more closely related tophysicalbalances than inpreviousworkwithmodels for the SVW.Fromthe ocean forecast perspective, the generation of ocean ensemble initial conditions via BHM is shown to be practical for operational implementation in an ensemble ocean forecast system. Phenomenologically, ensemble spread generated via BHM–SVW occurs on ocean mesoscale time- and space-scales, in close association with strong synoptic-scale wind-forcing events. A companion article describes the impacts of the BHM–SVW ensemble method on the ocean forecast in comparisons with more traditional ensemble methods