Nairobi Burning: Kenya's post-election violence from the perspective of the urban poor

"The next elections in Kenya will probably be held in December of 2012, and they are already casting an ominous shadow. Will these elections again be accompanied by an escalation of violence as in 2007? Focusing on Nairobi, Kenya's urban heart of politics, the author analyzes the decisive characteristics and dynamics of the Kenyan post-election violence from the perspective of the urban poor. Aiming to draw a lesson from the past, he recommends that domestic as well as international actors promote the formation of a truly inter-ethnic alliance that includes Kenya's main antagonized groups. In regard to the micro level, he points to the complex nature of violence in the slums, warns against repressive police tactics and emphasizes that secure supply corridors to Kenya's impoverished areas need to be kept open at any circumstances." (author's abstract)"Die nächsten Wahlen werden in Kenia voraussichtlich im Dezember 2012 stattfinden. Bereits jetzt wirft der Gedanke an die Abstimmung seinen unheilvollen Schatten auf das Land. Werden diese Wahlen erneut von einer Eskalation der Gewalt wie im Jahr 2007 begleitet? Mit dem Fokus auf Nairobi, dem urbanen Herzen der kenianischen Politik, analysiert der Autor die entscheidenden Merkmale und die Dynamik der kenianischen Gewalt nach den Wahlen aus der Pespektive der armen Stadtbevölkerung. Mit dem Ziel, eine Lehre aus der Vergangenheit zu ziehen, empfiehlt er, dass die inländischen als auch die internationalen Akteure die Bildung einer inter-ethnische Allianz, zu welcher Kenias wichtigste antagonistische Gruppen gehören, fördern sollten. In Bezug auf die Mikroebene verweist der Autor auf die komplexe Natur der Gewalt in den Slums und warnt vor einer repressiven Polizeitaktik. Außerdem betont er, dass die sicheren Versorgungskorridore in den verarmten Gebieten Kenias unter allen Umständen offen gehalten werden müssen." (Autorenreferat

From Tahrir Square to Open Space: Practical Experiences with Open Space Technology in Egypt

The Egyptian revolution started literally with an open space: at the Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo. Here it was where many Egyptians for the first time in their lives made the experience of freely talking about politics in public. Since January 2011, many young Egyptians are trying to keep up this “Tahrir experience” by experimenting with new forms of political debate and civic education in Egypt. It was this spirit that resulted in the idea of introducing the Open Space Technology (OST) as a new format of civic education in Egypt. In March 2011 the authors of this article, both working in Egypt for many years, organized the first Open Space in the country. This event encouraged many other national and international institutions and initiatives to adopt and further develop OST in Egypt and other Arab countries. The unexpected popularity of OST in revolutionary Egypt proved that it is in fact the right methodology at the right time in the right context and the right place. OST is a meeting format that fosters dialogue and exchange in a democratic way. It is easy to organize and non-costly. It invites for sharing opinions, discovering common ground, discussing and tackling differences. It helps generating ideas and reflecting about their implementation. This article argues that Open Space (OS), therefore, is a format that perfectly fits the transforming political environment and the socio-cultural setting of Egypt and – most probably – other Arab transformation-states

Persistent electrical doping of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x mesa structures

Application of a significantly large bias voltage to small Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x mesa structures leads to persistent doping of the mesas. Here we employ this effect for analysis of the doping dependence of the electronic spectra of Bi-2212 single crystals by means of intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy. We are able to controllably and reversibly change the doping state of the same single crystal from underdoped to overdoped state, without changing its chemical composition. It is observed that such physical doping is affecting superconductivity in Bi-2212 similar to chemical doping by oxygen impurities: with overdoping the critical temperature and the superconducting gap decrease, with underdoping the c-axis critical current rapidly decreases due to progressively more incoherent interlayer tunneling and the pseudogap rapidly increases, indicative for the presence of the critical doping point. We distinguish two main mechanisms of persistent electric doping: (i) even in voltage contribution, attributed to a charge transfer effect, and (ii) odd in voltage contribution, attributed to reordering of oxygen impurities

Психологические аспекты экономического поведения человека

Рассматриваются теоретические и эмпирические концепции и теории в области психологии, связанные с исследованиями человеческой способности к адаптации и имеющие непосредственное отношение к области интереса экономистов. В частности, речь идет о вероятности импульсивных поступков, присущих природе человека, и о необходимости мгновенного реагирования на неожиданно возникающие в экономической жизни общества ситуации

Innovations in thoracic imaging:CT, radiomics, AI and x-ray velocimetry

In recent years, pulmonary imaging has seen enormous progress, with the introduction, validation and implementation of new hardware and software. There is a general trend from mere visual evaluation of radiological images to quantification of abnormalities and biomarkers, and assessment of 'non visual' markers that contribute to establishing diagnosis or prognosis. Important catalysts to these developments in thoracic imaging include new indications (like computed tomography [CT] lung cancer screening) and the COVID-19 pandemic. This review focuses on developments in CT, radiomics, artificial intelligence (AI) and x-ray velocimetry for imaging of the lungs. Recent developments in CT include the potential for ultra-low-dose CT imaging for lung nodules, and the advent of a new generation of CT systems based on photon-counting detector technology. Radiomics has demonstrated potential towards predictive and prognostic tasks particularly in lung cancer, previously not achievable by visual inspection by radiologists, exploiting high dimensional patterns (mostly texture related) on medical imaging data. Deep learning technology has revolutionized the field of AI and as a result, performance of AI algorithms is approaching human performance for an increasing number of specific tasks. X-ray velocimetry integrates x-ray (fluoroscopic) imaging with unique image processing to produce quantitative four dimensional measurement of lung tissue motion, and accurate calculations of lung ventilation

Protracted late Neoproterozic – early Palaeozoic deformation and cooling history of Sør Rondane, East Antarctica, from 40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb geochronology

40Ar/39Ar and U–Pb data from five structural domains constrain the late Neoproterozoic – early Palaeozoic tectonothermal history of the eastern part of the East African–Antarctic Orogen in Sør Rondane. A total of 27 new Ar/Ar ages span 570–474 Ma, roughly corresponding to the age range of three generations of syn- to post-tectonic granitoids. The ages are distinct for the five structural domains. The oldest cooling ages come from the weakly deformed southern part of the SW Terrane of Sør Rondane (SW Terrane S), a sliver of a Tonian island arc, which escaped much of the late Neoproterozoic accretionary deformation. This terrane was intruded by the oldest and largest granitoid complex at c. 640–620 Ma. The oldest Ar/Ar amphibole and biotite ages of 570–524 Ma are from the Main Shear Zone, along the northern margin of the SW Terrane S sliver. It hosts granites of age c. 584–570 Ma strung out along the shear zone. Two younger granitoid phases are recorded in the adjacent four terranes to the west, north and east of the SW Terrane S, and correlate with the younger group of Ar/Ar biotite ages spanning 513–474 Ma. We interpret the magmatic and cooling history of duration > 150 Ma to reflect repeated phases of accretion, magmatism and reactivation, that is, collage-style tectonism, partly pre-dating the incorporation of Sør Rondane into Gondwana. The study area first accreted to the cryptic Valkyrie Craton in Tonian times, was then ‘sandwiched’ between the Kalahari and Indo-Antarctica cratons, and experienced extensional tectonics and elevated heat flux due to lithospheric delamination, which resulted in slow cooling during the Pan-African Orogeny.publishedVersio

Biocompatible hydroxyapatite/polyvinyl alcohol cryogel materials for bone tissue rgeneration

Behavior of a cryogel of polyvinyl alcohol mineralized with calcium phosphates and the quality of bone formation was investigated in vivo in a Wistar rat strain that was formed by bone defects in the proximal metaphysis of both tibia, one of which was filled with a cryogel-based implant. For comparison, an intact rat was taken. Assessment of the quality of bone tissue formation between the implant and the damaged bone was performed after 60 days using computed tomography