K improvizaciji prostora

Careful observation of contemporary urban agglomerations challenges planning and design disciplines to reconsider their inherited conceptions of the urban as a fixed, teleological, and universally generalisable form. Thereby, contingency, emerging as a constitutive resource of the city, provokes a rethinking of the epistemology of the urban. While the conceptual framing shifts from reading the city as object towards interpreting the city as process, emphasis is laid not only on an analysis of built structures, but also of urban practice. Against this background, this essay proposes a different reading of urban practice itself, drawing attention away from any substantialisation of action and to the constitutive effects of action. On the basis of this reading, one can claim that the condition for planning and architecture has changed. Their role is not to offer resolution and inherently new tabula rasa designs, but instead to carefully examine urban praxis in contingent situations. In accordance with this observation, my argument is that urban practice can essentially be read as the technology of improvisation. In this context, the term improvisation technology indicates an attempt to move away from conventional courses of action and planning strategies and towards engaging “in urban situations.”Natančnejše opazovanje sodobnih urbanih aglomeracij zahteva od načrtovanja in oblikovanja, da ponovno premislijo lastna pojmovanja urbanega kot fiksne, teleološke in univerzalno posplošljive forme. Kontingenca, ki vznikne kot konstitutivni resurs mesta, potemtakem zahteva ponovni premislek epistemologije urbanega. Vtem ko se konceptualno uokvirjenje premakne iz razumevanja mesta kot objekta k interpretaciji mesta kot procesa, poudarek ni zgolj na analizi zgrajenih struktur, temveč tudi na urbanih praksah. Na takšnemu ozadju esej predlaga drugačno branje urbane prakse, s tem da odvrne pozornost od vsakršnega substancializma akcije in jo obrne k njenim konstitutivnim učinkom. Opirajoč se na takšno branje, lahko trdimo, da so se pogoji načrtovanja in arhitekture spremenili. Njihova vloga ni ponuditi odločitve in inherentno nove tabula rasa načrte, temveč vse prej pozorno preiskati urbane prakse v kontingentnih situacijah. V skladu s takšnim opažanjem je moj argument, da lahko urbane prakse v bistvu beremo kot tehnologije improvizacije. V tem kontekstu termin tehnologija improvizacije označuje poskus premika od splošno veljavnih smeri delovanja in načrtovanih strategij k vključevanju »v urbane situacije«

Popular Culture of Mathematics through Ancient Greek Old Comedy

This dissertation explores the extent to which mathematics played a role in comedy of fifth and fourth century BCE Athens. Within the corpus of Aristophanes and the fragments of Old Comedy, jokes about or implementing mathematical concepts occur. Analyzing the effects of these jokes sheds some light on how the audience of these comedies viewed mathematics and what sorts of mathematics were taken as common knowledge. Jokes containing references to calculation and common measurements indicate that the audience was to some extent numerate and had the ability to convert measurements relatively easily. Additionally, although references to specific mathematicians in Old Comedy are scarce, it seems that the audience was presented with a charicature or otherwise skewed picture of named mathematicians when they were mentioned or, in the case of Meton, brought on stage. Meton’s identity in fact seems to have been further mutilated by later scholars, as the passage in Birds does not relate Meton to the kind of mathematics for which others like Euclid would become known, but scholars have insisted that it does. Overall, mathematical jokes show that mathematics could be used both for good and for evil, and often they pack the same punch as the political jokes for which Old Comedy is famous

Modeling The Habitat Distribution Of Spiny Dogfish (Squalus Acanthias), By Sex, In Coastal Waters Of The Northeastern United States

A hierarchical Bayesian approach was used to model the spatiotemporal habitat distribution of spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) of both sexes (adults) caught during trawl surveys conducted by the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program in inshore coastal waters between New England and North Carolina during 2007-2013. The best model for predicting catch per unit of effort (CPUE) for this species includes the following relevant variables: bathymetry, sea surface temperature, salinity, chlorophyll- a (chl-a) concentration, season and time of survey, and a random spatial effect for both sexes. Predicted CPUE was related to depth for both sexes; females occurred in shallower waters than those in which males occurred. Also, more females than males were predicted to occur in warmer, less saline and more productive (higher chl-a concentration) waters. Seasonality and time of predicted CPUE indicated that the abundance of females was higher in inshore coastal waters in the spring and in the morning, and the abundance of males was greater in the afternoon and in the fall in the same area. Collectively, these results provide information that enhances our understanding of differences in habitat selection and spatiotemporal distribution of the 2 sexes of this species-information that can help to modify present management strategies for the U.S. Atlantic fishery

Firearm injury among people experiencing homelessness: Cross-sectional evidence from a national survey of United States emergency departments

OBJECTIVES: Persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) are at high risk for violent victimization. This study leverages unique data from a national study in the United States of America to provide estimates of non-fatal firearm injury among PEH and to describe the contexts related to injury, such as substance use, intent of the injury, and precipitating interpersonal factors. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional. METHODS: Data from the 1993-2020 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-Firearm Injury Surveillance Study (NEISS-FISS) were used to describe the context and characteristics of non-fatal firearm injury among PEH aged 16 years or older. Homeless status and substance use data were extracted from a de-identified narrative field. Estimates were weighted to account for the NEISS-FISS complex sampling design. RESULTS: Probable homelessness was identified in 0.10% of cases (n = 3,225). Substance use was documented in 22.73% of cases. Assault comprised 82.64% of injuries. Patients were mostly male (81.38%). Missing data were common on contextual variables: verbal argument (64.62%), physical fight (54.48%) or other criminal activity (62.33%). CONCLUSIONS: Assault is a leading cause of non-fatal firearm injury for PEH and is greater than rates of assault in non-fatal firearm injuries in the general population. Substance use was documented in nearly one quarter of patients, although this is less than expected given prior evidence. Reliance on narrative fields for key variables likely underestimates rates of PEH and substance use

A Hierarchical Bayesian Modeling Approach for the Habitat Distribution of Smooth Dogfish by Sex and Season in Inshore Coastal Waters of the US Northwest Atlantic

The Smooth Dogfish Mustelus canis is an abundant, small coastal shark occurring along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Despite being targeted by a directed fishery and having recently undergone a stock assessment that found the population neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing, little is known about the spatial and temporal distribution of this species. Here, we used catch data from the spring and fall Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program\u27s fishery-independent trawl surveys conducted between 2007 and 2016 and various environmental factors to perform hierarchical Bayesian modeling as a first attempt to spatially predict adult Smooth Dogfish CPUE in U.S. northwest Atlantic Ocean waters by sex and season. Relevant environmental variables differed between both sexes and seasons. Male and female CPUEs were similarly associated with lower salinity and shallower depth in the spring. During fall, male CPUE was associated with sea surface temperature and bottom rugosity, and female CPUE was associated with chlorophyll-a concentration, bottom rugosity, and year. Habitat modeling results predicted that areas of high male and female CPUEs would overlap during spring but strongly diverge during fall, when greater predicted CPUEs for males were distributed considerably farther north. These results suggest sexual segregation among Smooth Dogfish during fall, with the springtime overlap in distribution coinciding with the pupping and mating season in this population. This difference in distribution during fall may allow for a male-only directed fishery for Smooth Dogfish in the northern extent of the species\u27 range in waters near southern New England and Georges Bank

Who wants to be a teaching innovator?

Innovative teaching is a common goal in Australasian university strategic documents. However, innovative teaching requires innovative teachers, yet our study of science, health and engineering staff at a Victorian university found many teaching academics did not identify as innovative, even when reflecting on their 2020-21 pandemic teaching experiences, and even though they demonstrated as much innovation at that time as their peers who did consider themselves to be innovators. This concise paper investigates reasons why teaching academics may be reticent to call themselves innovators, finding tentative support for three hypotheses: that there may be differences in how innovation is understood that are discipline-specific; that there may be social stigma associated with innovation that can be overcome via a change in organisational culture; and that some academics may associate innovation with negative connotations or experiences. We conclude with practical recommendations for building a culture of innovation in learning and teaching

Mannosidase 2, alpha 1 deficiency is associated with ricin resistance in embryonic stem (ES) cells.

Host gene products required for mediating the action of toxins are potential targets for reversing or controlling their pathogenic impact following exposure. To identify such targets libraries of insertional gene-trap mutations generated with a PiggyBac transposon in Blm-deficient embryonic stem cells were exposed to the plant toxin, ricin. Resistant clones were isolated and genetically characterised and one was found to be a homozygous mutant of the mannosidase 2, alpha 1 (Man2α1) locus with a matching defect in the homologous allele. The causality of the molecular lesion was confirmed by removal of the transposon following expression of PB-transposase. Comparative glycomic and lectin binding analysis of the Man2α1 (-/-) ricin resistant cells revealed an increase in the levels of hybrid glycan structures and a reduction in terminal β-galactose moieties, potential target receptors for ricin. Furthermore, naïve ES cells treated with inhibitors of the N-linked glycosylation pathway at the mannosidase 2, alpha 1 step exhibited either full or partial resistance to ricin. Therefore, we conclusively identified mannosidase 2, alpha 1 deficiency to be associated with ricin resistance