Extraordinary blowing snow transport events in East Antarctica

In the convergence slope/coastal areas of Antarctica, a large fraction of snow is continuously eroded and exported by wind to the atmosphere and into the ocean. Snow transport observations from instruments and satellite images were acquired at the wind convergence zone of Terra Nova Bay (East Antarctica) throughout 2006 and 2007. Snow transport features are well-distinguished in satellite images and can extend vertically up to 200 m as first-order quantitatively estimated by driftometer sensor FlowCapt™. Maximum snow transportation occurs in the fall and winter seasons. Snow transportation (drift/blowing) was recorded for ~80% of the time, and 20% of time recorded, the flux is >10-2 kg m-2 s-1 with particle density increasing with height. Cumulative snow transportation is ~4 orders of magnitude higher than snow precipitation at the site. An increase in wind speed and transportation (~30%) was observed in 2007, which is in agreement with a reduction in observed snow accumulation. Extensive presence of ablation surface (blue ice and wind crust) upwind and downwind of the measurement site suggest that the combine processes of blowing snow sublimation and snow transport remove up to 50% of the precipitation in the coastal and slope convergence area. These phenomena represent a major negative effect on the snow accumulation, and they are not sufficiently taken into account in studies of surface mass balance. The observed wind-driven ablation explains the inconsistency between atmospheric model precipitation and measured snow accumulation value. © 2009 The Author(s)

An Immanent Critique of the Attention Economy

The present article develops an immanent critique of the attention economy as a power apparatus. In particular, it contends that what Foucault (2009) defined as the passage from disciplinary societies to societies of security entails a transformation of the main function of human attention: whereas in disciplinary societies attention (or the gaze) was aimed at imposing continuous surveillance on each individual, societies of security conceive the gaze of each subject as a source of data which allows constructing a new object of power, i.e., the population. To illustrate this, the present article focuses on the specific case of the attention economy and the notions of ‘dataveillance’ and ‘Big Data’

Marxismo y cibernética : reflexiones sobre la teoría del valor en el contexto de la informatización de la producción

El objetivo de esta ponencia es explorar si los nuevos desarrollos en algoritmos de aprendizaje exigen redefinir o no la teoría del valor-trabajo de Marx para pensar el capitalismo contemporáneo. Para ello se presentarán tres posiciones que exploran esta pregunta desde perspectivas diferentes. En primer lugar, se utilizará la tesis del post-operaismo italiano sobre la crisis de la teoría del valor en el capitalismo posindustrial para definir la cibernética como una herramienta de la apropiación del común. En esta primera parte, la categoría de fábrica social (Negri) y la tesis del devenir renta del capital (Vercellone) serán centrales. En segundo lugar, se presentará la perspectiva de la así llamada “teoría crítica del valor" según la cual no es posible hacer una crítica marxista del capitalismo contemporáneo sin recurso a la teoría del valor. En esta sección se presentará la tesis de Ramin Ramtin acerca del vínculo entre cibernética y marxismo para ilustrar el argumento acerca de la imposibilidad de los algoritmos de generar valor. En tercer y último lugar se presentará una alternativa a la oposición anterior. Para ello se buscará redefinir el ciclo de valorización del capital introduciendo la categoría de información. Esto implica considerar dos cosas: a) la categoría de información a utilizar es la definida por Gilbert Simondon en su relectura de la teoría cibernética; b) se asume el vínculo entre información y trabajo definido por Maurizio Lazzarato en su texto sobre el trabajo inmaterial. Esta doble consideración busca redefinir e historizar el vínculo entre trabajo y máquina en la teoría de Marx para explorar el rol de los algoritmos de aprendizaje maquínico en el capitalismo contemporáneo.Fil: Celis Bueno, Claudio. Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano (Chile

Purification and initial characterization of two pheromones from the marine Antartic cilate, Euplotes nobilii

Among a set of wild-type strains of Euplotes nobilii, every one derived asexually from one specimen isolated from Terra Nova Bay (Ross Sea, Antarctica), two were found to be representative of different mating types mutually capable of inducing each other to form mating pairs through pheromones constitutively secreted into the extracellular environment. Pheromones of strain AC-1 were purified to homogeneity and shown to be represented by two distinct proteins, that were denoted En-1 and En-2. En-1, secreted in amounts three-fold greater than En-2, was determined to have a molecular weight of 5617 and an asparagine at the N-terminus of its amino acid sequence, while En-2 has a molecular weight of 6290 and bears an asparctic acid at its N-terminus. The fact that En-1 and En-2 are coreleased by genetically identical cells of the same strain was taken to imply that they carry a heterozygotic combination of allelic pheromone genes and that these genes are regulated by relationships of co-dominance

Malpractice and patient safety descriptors: an innovative grid to evaluate the quality of clinical records

Introduction: The medical record contains all the health information related to the patient’s clinical condition and its evolution during hospitalization. It was defined by the Italian Ministry of Health in 1992 as "The information tool designed to record all relevant demographic and clinical information about a patient during a single episode of hospitalization". The documents and information in a Medical Record must meet the following criteria: traceability, clarity, accuracy, authenticity, pertinence and completeness. The objectives of our study was to develop a tool capable of assessing the quality of the clinical record and pointed the critical point at the Organizational, Technical - Professional, Managerial level. Methods: To evaluate the quality of the medical documentation, we created an assessment grid composed of 4 sections with a total of 92 criteria. This grid was tested on 200 medical records that were randomly selected from 25 (18 medical and 7 surgical) wards of a teaching hospital in Rome. Results: The grid contains 4 sections. The first part regards administrative and clinical data; the second assesses the quality of hospital stay and surgical/invasive procedures; the third part is concerned with the discharge of the patient and the fourth aims to identify the presence of advisory reports given to the patient. This grid has been validated to verify internal consistency with Cronbach's Alpha = 0,743. Conclusions: Medical records were analyzed using a validated tool with grids to identify critical issues in care activities. Weaknesses in the system were identified in order to improve planning. The sample testing also in terms of ‘self-assessment' represents a tool to introduce activities to improve safety and quality of care, greatly reducing the costs of litigation

Legal scenarios in the coronavirus time: Medico legal implications in the aspects of governance

Along with rising levels of the infection around the world, the state of emergency prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic has also been having a heavy legal impact. The situation is posing important criminal challenges, as well as an ocean of social and public health issues around the world. It has not only directly affected constitutionally-guaranteed rights and individual freedoms, but also brought to the fore certain types of criminal offence that had previously been of little practical importance, such as the crime of ‘maliciously or unintentionally causing an epidemic’. Different countries and states have introduced policies to manage the emergency at different times and in different ways. The measures adopted have been the object of much criticism, also raising questions of constitutional legitimacy in countries like Italy. The present contribution begins with a brief outline of the different international scenarios. Then we examine some of the medicolegal aspects of criminal offences previously envisaged and newly introduced since the arrival of the pandemic. We suggest the need for a sort of ‘code of public health laws for the time of coronavirus’, that could also be applied to other public health emergencies, pandemic or otherwise. The idea is to give operators in the sector and the general population the opportunity to identify clear and simple rules to follow in the current complex global situation. We need a new, appropriate interpretation of the ‘boundaries’ of our individual rights in relation to the need to safeguard the wider community and its more vulnerable members

Economía de la atención y visión maquínica: hacia una semiótica asignificante de la imagen

El presente artículo explora la relación entre imagen y poder al interior de lo que se ha llamado la “economía de la atención”. En este nuevo modelo productivo, la atención humana se convierte en un mecanismo tanto de producción de plusvalía como de reproducción de relaciones de poder. Por un lado, la atención humana deviene fuente de información que es capturada y transformada en fuerza productiva. Por otro lado, la atención humana es utilizada como fuente de información estadística sobre una población, contribuyendo a la transición desde una sociedad disciplinar (basada en la individuación del sujeto en la masa) hacia una sociedad de la seguridad o control (basada en el cálculo estadístico y la gubernamentalidad). En este nuevo estadio del capitalismo, en el cual la imagen es producida y procesada algorítmicamente (visión maquínica), las categorías tradicionales para comprender la relación entre imagen y poder resultan insuficientes y requieren ser reconsideradas. Para ello, propongo el concepto de “imagen asignificante”. A partir de un desplazamiento de la metodología no-representacional propuesta por Gilles Deleuze y Félix Guattari hacia el fenómeno de la “visión maquínica” (Virilio), defino un novedoso marco teórico desde donde explicar el rol de la imagen en el capitalismo contemporáneo.This article explores the relationship between images and power in the context of what has been called “the attention economy”. In this new productive model, human attention becomes a new mechanism for the production of surplus value and the reproduction of power relations. On the one hand, human attention becomes a source of information that is captured and transformed in a productive force. On the other hand, human attention is used as a source of statistical information about a given population, shifting from a disciplinary society (based on the individual) towards a control society (based on statistical analysis and governability). In this new stage of capitalist accumulation in which images are produced and processed algorithmically, the traditional categories used to understand the relationship between power and images become obsolete. This article suggests the concept of “asignifying images” as a way of explaining the relationship between power and images in contemporary capitalism. By displacing Deleuze and Guattari’s non-representational theory to the case of “machinic vision” (Virilio), this article defines an original framework from where to explain the role of images in contemporary capitalism.Este artigo analisa a relação entre imagem e poder dentro do que tem sido chamado de "economia da atenção". Nesse novo modelo produtivo, a atenção humana torna-se um mecanismo tanto da produção de mais-valia como da reprodução das relações de poder. Por um lado, a atenção humana se torna uma fonte de informação que é capturada e transformada em uma força produtiva. Por outro lado, a atenção humana é usada como uma fonte de informação estatística sobre a população, contribuindo para a transição de uma sociedade disciplinar (com base na individualização do sujeito na massa), para uma sociedade de segurança ou controle (baseado no cálculo estatística e governamentalidade). Nesse novo estágio do capitalismo, no qual a imagem é produzida e processada por algoritmos (visão maquínica), as categorias tradicionais para entender a relação entre imagem e poder são insuficientes e precisam ser reconsideradas. Para isso, proponho o conceito de "imagem a-significante ". A partir de um deslocamento da metodologia não representacional proposta por Gilles Deleuze e Félix Guattari para o fenômeno da "visão maquínica" (Virilio), defino um novo arcabouço teórico a partir do qual se explica o papel da imagem no capitalismo contemporâneo.Facultad de Trabajo Socia

Quality assessment of medical record as a tool for clinical risk management: a three year experience of a teaching hospital Policlinico Umberto I, Rome

Introduction: The medical record was defined by the Italian Ministry of Health in 1992 as "the information tool designed to record all relevant demographic and clinical information on a patient during a single hospitalization episode". Retrospective analysis of medical records is a tool for selecting direct and indirect indicators of critical issues (organizational, management and technical). The project’s aim being the promotion of an evaluation and self-evaluation process of medical records as a Clinical Risk Management tool to improve the quality of care within hospitals. Methods: The Authors have retrospectively analysed, using a validated grid, 1,184 medical records of patients admitted to the Teaching Hospital “Umberto I” in Rome during a three-year period (2013-2015). Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS for Windows © 19:00. All duly filled out criteria (92) were examined. “Strengths” and "Weaknesses" were identified through data analysis and Best and Bad Practice were identified based on established criteria. Conclusion: The data analysis showed marked improvements (statistically significant) in the quality of evaluated clinical documentation and indirectly upon behaviour. However, when examining some sub-criteria, critical issues emerge; these could be subject to future further corrective action