Myths of a Near Past: Envisioning Finance Capitalism anno 2007

This paper seeks to extend earlier work on particular features and manifestations of capitalism (De Cock et al., 2001). Our 2001 Myths of a Near Future paper offered ephemera readers a large depository of images concerning the New Economy. Eight years later our focus has shifted to Finance Capitalism. Over the course of the year 2007 we cut out and scanned 81 ads placed by financial institutions in the Financial Times. Our analysis of these aims to provide a sense of how the financial world ?showed up? in this pivotal year, whilst illustrating how its representations were interwoven with fantasy throughout. We also hope that the ensemble of images associated with the paper will be creatively reassembled by its readers and possibly provide a useful teaching aid

Medial Axis Transform using Ridge Following

The intent of this investigation has been to find a robust algorithm for generation of the medial axis transform (MAT). The MAT is an invertible, object centered, shape representation defined as the collection of the centers of disks contained in the shape but not in any other such disk. Its uses include feature extraction, shape smoothing, and data compression. MAT generating algorithms include brushfire, Voronoi diagrams, and ridge following. An improved implementation of the ridge following algorithm is given. Orders of the MAT generating algorithms are compared. The effects of the number of edges in the polygonal approximation, shape area, number of holes, and number/distribution of concave vertices are shown from test results. Finally, a set of useful extensions to the ridge following algorithm are discussed

Ultrafast far-infrared optics of carbon nanotubes

The optical properties of single-wall carbon nanotube sheets in the far-infrared (FIR) spectral range from few THz to several tens of THz have been investigated with terahertz spectroscopy both with static measurements elucidating the absorption mechanism in the FIR and with time-resolved experiments yielding information on the charge carrier dynamics after optical excitation of the nanotubes. We observe an overall depletion of the dominating broad absorption peak at around 4THz when the nanotubes are excited by a short visible laser pulse. This finding excludes particle-plasmon resonances as absorption mechanism and instead shows that interband transitions in tubes with an energy gap of ~10meV govern the far-infrared conductivity. A simple model based on an ensemble of two-level systems naturally explains the weak temperature dependence of the far-infrared conductivity by the tube-to-tube variation of the chemical potential. Furthermore, the time-resolved measurements do not show any evidence of a distinct free-carrier response which is attributed to the photogeneration of strongly bound excitons in the tubes with large energy gaps. The rapid decay of a featureless background with pronounced dichroism is associated with the increased absorption of spatially localized charge carriers before thermalization is completed

Temperature dependence of ultrafast phonon dynamics in graphite

Nonequilibrium optical phonons are generated in graphite following the excitation of electron-hole pairs with a femtosecond laser pulse. Their energy relaxation is probed by means of terahertz pulses. We find that the hot-phonon lifetime increases by a factor of 2 when the sample temperature decreases from 300 to 5 K. These results suggest that the energy relaxation in graphite at room temperature and above is dominated by the anharmonic decay of hot A′1phonons at the K point into acoustic phonons with energies of about 10 meV

Drawing a pandemic vulnerabilities' map: The SoNAR-global Vulnerabilities Assessment digital and its output

This paper describes the process, advantages and limitations of a qualitative methodology for defining and analyzing vulnerabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Implemented in Italy in two sites (Rome and outside Rome, in some small-medium sized municipalities in Latium) in 2021, this investigation employed a mixed digital research tool that was also used simultaneously in four other European countries. Its digital nature encompasses both processes of data collection. Among the most salient is that the pandemic catalyzed new vulnerabilities in addition to exacerbating old ones, particularly economic. Many of the vulnerabilities detected, in fact, are linked to previous situations, such as the uncertainties of labor markets, having in COVID-19 to the greatest negative effects on the most precarious workers (non-regular, part-time, and seasonal). The consequences of the pandemic are also reflected in other forms of vulnerability that appear less obvious, having exacerbated social isolation, not only out of fear of contagion, but because of the psychological challenges posed by containment measures themselves. These measures created not mere discomfort, but behavioral changes characterized by anxiety, fearfulness, and disorientation. More generally, this investigation reveals the strong influence of social determinants throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, creating new forms of vulnerability, as the effects of social, economic, and biological risk factors were compounded, in particular, among already marginalized populations

Differential Immune-Reactivity and Subcellular Distribution Reveal the Multifunctional Character of Profilin in Pollen as Major Effect of Sequences Polymorphism

Trabajo presentado al Annual Meeting of the American Society of Agronomy and Crop Science Society and Soil Science Society of America, celebrado en Cincinnati (USA) del 21 al 24 de octubre de 2012.Profilin, one of the major allergen (Ole e 2) of olive (Olea europaea L.) pollen, are broadly distributed actin-monomer-binding proteins (ABP). They display a major regulatory role in actin cytoskeleton dynamics, driving cell morphogenesis, sexual reproduction, and translating signals into cellular responses to different environmental stresses. Plants exhibit multiple profilin isoforms w ith distinctive biochemical properties, and differentially regulated. How ever, it is still an open question w hether these profilin isoforms, generated by multiple gene sequence polymorphism, are functionally different, as well as the role of that polymorphism in pollen allergy. Particularly, in differential epitopes generation, profilin isoforms sensitization and cross-reactivity among cultivars, and even among species. In the present study, w e have used mature pollen from olive, birch, hazel, timothy-grass, and maize, in addition to olive germinating pollen and seeds, w ith the aim to analyze the immune-reactivity and subcellular localization of profilin by using polyclonal and specific isoforms antibodies against olive and maize profilins. The results show ed immune-reactivity differences betw een the five species analyzed, betw een olive cultivars, as w ell as between reproductive and vegetative profilins. Furthermore, the existence of different profilin isoforms w as revealed along pollen germination stages. A differential subcellular distribution of profilin isoforms w as found in olive pollen. They w ere localized in the nucleus, pollen aperture regions, pollen and tube w alls and pollen tip, in addition to a general cytoplasmic distribution, in comparison to controls. Data suggest that profilin family might contain numerous functionally distinctive isoforms, spatial-temporal differentially expressed and regulated during vegetative development, pollen maturation and pollen tube grow th. Furthermore, differential immune-reactivity revealed in the study might point out the involvement of common shared and specific epitopes, generated by sequence polymorphism, in differential olive pollen cultivar sensitization of allergenic patients, and cross-reaction to pollen from different species.This study was supported by the following European Regional Development Fund cofinanced grants: MCINN BFU 2004-00601/BFI, BFU 2008-00629, BFU2011-22779, CICE (Junta de Andalucía) P2010-CVI15767, P2010-AGR6274, P2011-CVI-7487, P2011-CVI-7487, and by the coordinated project Spain/Germany MEC HA2004-0094.Peer reviewe

Illusory perceptions of space and time preserve cross-saccadic perceptual continuity

When voluntary saccadic eye movements are made to a silently ticking clock, observers sometimes think that the second hand takes longer than normal to move to its next position. For a short period, the clock appears to have stopped (chronostasis). Here we show that the illusion occurs because the brain extends the percept of the saccadic target backwards in time to just before the onset of the saccade. This occurs every time we move the eyes but it is only perceived when an external time reference alerts us to the phenomenon. The illusion does not seem to depend on the shift of spatial attention that accompanies the saccade. However, if the target is moved unpredictably during the saccade, breaking perception of the target's spatial continuity, then the illusion disappears. We suggest that temporal extension of the target's percept is one of the mechanisms that 'fill in' the perceptual 'gap' during saccadic suppression. The effect is critically linked to perceptual mechanisms that identify a target's spatial stability