The Antinomies of Anti-Capitalism

A review of Liza Featherstone and United Students Against Sweatshops's Students against Sweatshops (Verso, New York, 2002)

High energy x-ray implementation of phase contrast and dark field imaging

X-ray phase contrast and dark field imaging are emerging imaging modalities which provide significantly enhanced visibility of details classically considered “x-ray invisible” and complementary information on a sample’s micro-structure, respectively. To date they have been successfully implemented in a series of applications at low x-ray energy, but their translation to higher x-ray energies is still, to some extent, problematic. Yet the ability to perform phase contrast and dark field imaging at high x-ray energy would have a series of significant implications in various applications, medical or otherwise. This thesis work investigates this option through a combination of modelling and experimental work. Particular attention has been dedicated to the behaviour of the optical elements (x-ray masks) that make phase contrast and dark field possible at high energy, which required the design of new methods of their implemention into simulation models. The modeling results have been validated first through a pilot experiment at a synchrotron facility, then in a series of lab experiments. Results clearly indicate that implementations of phase contrast and dark field imaging at high x-ray energy exist, however particular care must be taken in the design and fabrication of the masks; moreover, a series of parasitic effects which are absent at lower energies appear, which this thesis work describes and against which it suggests mitigation solutions

Renovating reality TV

The Block was Australia\u27s hit TV show of 2003. Its viewing audience regularly topped the 2 million mark, easily surpassing all the other \u27lifestyle\u27 shows - DIY Rescue, Burke\u27s Backyard, Backyard Blitz, Changing Rooms, Better Homes and Gardens , Location Location, Auction Squad, Hot Auctions , the list is practically endless. Australian made TV drama has meanwhile delivered its worst ratings performance in years, virtually guaranteeing The Block will not only be repeated but cloned as well. David Castran, the managing director of Audience Development Australia, explains it this way: recent world turmoil has brought people closer to home to focus on what they control such as the colour of the dining room wall and the type of turf you sow in your backyard. Meanwhile social researcher Hugh Mackay attributes the turn toward lifestyle TV to a cultural shift in attitudes. On his view, Australians are becoming more self-obsessed and less compassionate .1 Why we are so willing and seemingly find so much satisfaction in making these kinds of pronouncements about the deteriorating quality of the national character is a question we will have to come back to because it touches on what I see as one of the central themes of Reality TV, namely civil society. But before we get to that, I think we need to start with the obvious: no viewer of The Block can have failed to notice, nationally, we are in the middle of an unprecedented property boom - no state or territory, not even the traditional laggers NT and Tasmania, has been left unaffecte

The ephemeral coast: on the edge of the otherly realm

The coastline –the space between the ocean and the land– is a both a barrier and an invitation to go beyond the land’s edge and enter an otherly realm. Humans have skated over the water in boats and other kinds of watercraft for thousands of years. But they have always been (and continue to be) reluctant to immerse themselves in the ocean. Despite humanity’s eons long interaction with water, as Charles Sprawson’s marvellous paean to swimming Haunts of the Black Masseur documents, it is only the past 150 years or so that humans have been swimmers and not bathers

Observations on the Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate in Infancy and Childhood: With Special Reference to the Use of Landau's Modification of the Linzenmeier-Raunert Micromethod

Within the last two decades, considerable attention has been directed, by observers in many countries, to the value of the sedimentation test in disease. This test depends on the observation that, in a column of blood which has been prevented from clotting by the addition of citrate or other anticoagulant, the red cells sediment more rapidly in disease than in health. Owing mainly to the methods in general use, which demand venipuncture, this attention has been principally directed to disease as it occurs in the adult, and only a relatively small amount of investigation has been carried out in children. The present study, performed during a period of one year in Wards 5 and 6 of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow, was undertaken with the following objects (1) To investigate the methods applicable to children, and to discover, if possible, a method which would be at once simple and efficient. (2) To determine the value of the test as an aid to diagnosis and prognosis in the diseases of childhood

The Blood Groups of the Metis of Alberta: With Special Reference to the Rh Chromosome -D-

Abstract Not Provided

Oral Mucosa with Particular Reference to the Edentulous Mouth

Surveys of adult dental health in recent years have shown that more than one third of the United Kingdom population over the age of sixteen years is edentulous. In spite of this, surprisingly little research work has been carried out into the nature of oral mucosa in the edentulous mouth. The initial part of this work was to devise a method for the quantitative evaluation of oral mucosa. This was achieved by modifying the techniques of stereology described by Warnakulasuriya (1976). In addition, descriptive analysis was carried out on the stratum corneum to assess the type and degree of keratinisation. These techniques were used to evaluate the differences between mucosa on the crest of the ridge in the maxillary first molar and mandibular anterior regions in post-mortem material. Intact edentulous palates were obtained post-mortem and cross-sections were prepared in the first molar region. These enabled an assessment to be made of the regional variations in the tissues across the palate from the surface layer to the periosteum. In order to determine the effects of complete dentures on oral mucosa, it is necessary to have detailed information on the structure of normal oral mucosa. Quantitative and descriptive analyses were therefore undertaken on a number of patients to provide baseline data. Having established this information, the study was extended to include patients who had been wearing dentures for a number of years and whose oral mucosa was clinically normal. These results enabled conclusions to be drawn on the effects of complete dentures on oral mucosa. Throughout this work the effects of the age and the sex of the individuals on the mucosa were evaluated. In addition, in the clinical studies, the influence of the number of hours of denture-wearing per day, the length of denture experience and the smoking habits of the individuals were assessed

Affect and Noise in the Society of Control

In his short paper “Postscript on Control Societies” (Deleuze 1995: 177-82), Gilles Deleuze offered one of the most searing diagnoses of contemporary society critical theory has produced. Three decades later, this essay remains remarkable for its prescience, especially when one considers that the World Wide Web was not in existence at the time that Deleuze wrote his essay, let alone smart phones and social media. Now that we’re beginning to understand the impact of global corporations such as Facebook and Alphabet (Google’s parent company), it could be argued that the essay speaks to today’s technological reality even more incisively than it did thirty years ago. Deleuze identified some of the key principles and logics at work

Hip hop culture's OGs: a narrative inquiry into the intersection of hip hop culture, black males and their schooling experiences

Using a critical race lens, this narrative study employs a focus group design to explore the intersections between black males, hip hop culture and schooling experiences. To provide a sociocultural grounding, this study first reviews the research literature around hip hop culture's sociocultural development and its impact as a culture force that contributes to both dominant narratives and counter narratives around black male students in the hip hop generation. This overarching purpose of the research study is to explore the ways that black males' engagement with hip hop culture might inform liberatory educational outcomes. Using the composite counterstorytelling methodology, this research study synthesizes the participants' experiences and perspectives around the intersections black masculinity, schooling and hip hop culture. Finally, as it relates to schooling and school leadership, this research outlines the possible implications and recommendations that emerge from the findings. One of the primary implications of this research is that it can inform culturally responsive and antiracist pedagogies that lead to increased self and community agency for boys of color

Meaningful digital health interventions : bridging digital divides via tailored design

Addressing issues of low digital literacy, access and use, this paper reports on an exploratory project that sought to develop a prototype tailored digital portal to facilitate meaningful digital interventions between young mothers and their support workers. The projects responds to calls for “person-based” and “persuasive” approaches to digital health interventions (e.g. Yardely et al, 2015) and recognition that “more work is needed to create successful [digital health] engagement strategies” (e.g. O’Conner et al, 2016, p1)