Review of Decolonial Archival Futures

Review of Decolonial Archival Futures by Krista McCracken and Skylee-Storm Hogan-Stacey

Epistemic Conditions for Collective Action

http://philpapers.org/s/Sara%20Rachel%20ChantWriters on collective action are in broad agreement that in order for a group of agents to form a collective intention, the members of that group must have beliefs about the beliefs of the other members. But in spite of the fact that this so-called 'interactive knowledge' is central to virtually every account of collective intention, writers on this subject have not offered a detailed account of the nature of interactive knowledge. In this paper, we argue that such an account is necessary for any adequate analysis of collective intention. Furthermore, we argue that an application of Robert Aumann's theory of interactive knowledge may be used to address several puzzling features of collective intention

Advanced Purchase Commitments for a Malaria Vaccine: Estimating Costs and Effectiveness

To overcome the problem of insufficient research and development (R&D) on vaccines for diseases concentrated in low-income countries, sponsors could commit to purchase viable vaccines if and when they are developed. One or more sponsors would commit to a minimum price that would be paid per person immunized for an eligible product, up to a certain number of individuals immunized. For additional purchases, the price would eventually drop to short-run marginal cost. If no suitable product were developed, no payments would be made. We estimate the offer size which would make the revenues from R&D investments on a malaria vaccine similar to revenues realized from investments in typical existing commercial pharmaceutical products, as well as the degree to which various contract models and assumptions would affect the cost-effectiveness of such a commitment for the case of a malaria vaccine. Under conservative assumptions, we document that the intervention would be highly cost-effective from a public health perspective. Sensitivity analyses suggest most characteristics of a hypothetical malaria vaccine would have little effect on the cost-effectiveness, but that the duration of protection against malaria conferred by a vaccine strongly affects potential cost-effectiveness. Readers can conduct their own sensitivity analyses employing a web-based spreadsheet tool.

Mattering: Agentic Objects in Victorian Literature

Thesis advisor: Maia McAleaveyA time of rapid industrialization and burgeoning consumerism, the nineteenth century was full of things, a physical reality that is mirrored in the heavily material story worlds of Victorian literature. My dissertation investigates how objects do things in texts, exhibiting a mattered, agentic existence that decenters the human and proposes a materially-centered textual reality. In the writings of Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Wilkie Collins, and others, a particular set of objects-portraits, dresses, dolls, and letters-is characterized by their shared representation of the human body and the ways in which they act with, against, and independently of the characters they represent. These texts and objects emphasize the essential material components of textual realities and the ways in which objects have agency within the narrative to redefine the mattered framework of the text. The objects in this study operate on a spectrum of agency that emphasizes their role as active matter in their parent text. Going beyond the historical and cultural models that usually inform readings of things in Victorian literature, I investigate how these objects are active in upending the primacy of the human and constructing new assemblages of possibility and potentiality that cannot be accessed by the human alone. Each chapter traces the development of the agentic object in one or more texts as they reshape the structure of their fictional reality to allow objects to exist alongside with, rather than subservient to, their human creators and audiences. Acknowledging the ways in which things in texts have functioned historically and culturally in the nineteenth century, this dissertation examines how they operate textually, offering a differently centered narrative world that reimagines the role of objects as primary actors in constructing fictional realities.Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018.Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.Discipline: English

What contributes to an effective mannose recognition domain?

In general, carbohydrate-lectin interactions are characterized by high specificity but also low affinity. The main reason for the low affinities are desolvation costs, due to the numerous hydroxy groups present on the ligand, together with the typically polar surface of the binding sites. Nonetheless, nature has evolved strategies to overcome this hurdle, most prominently in relation to carbohydrate-lectin interactions of the innate immune system but also in bacterial adhesion, a process key for the bacterium's survival. In an effort to better understand the particular characteristics, which contribute to a successful carbohydrate recognition domain, the mannose-binding sites of six C-type lectins and of three bacterial adhesins were analyzed. One important finding is that the high enthalpic penalties caused by desolvation can only be compensated for by the number and quality of hydrogen bonds formed by each of the polar hydroxy groups engaged in the binding process. In addition, since mammalian mannose-binding sites are in general flat and solvent exposed, the half-lives of carbohydrate-lectin complexes are rather short since water molecules can easily access and displace the ligand from the binding site. In contrast, the bacterial lectin FimH benefits from a deep mannose-binding site, leading to a substantial improvement in the off-rate. Together with both a catch-bond mechanism (i.e., improvement of affinity under shear stress) and multivalency, two methods commonly utilized by pathogens, the affinity of the carbohydrate-FimH interaction can be further improved. Including those just described, the various approaches explored by nature to optimize selectivity and affinity of carbohydrate-lectin interactions offer interesting therapeutic perspectives for the development of carbohydrate-based drugs

The Use of Garcinia Extract (Hydroxycitric Acid) as a Weight loss Supplement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomised Clinical Trials

The aim of this systematic review is to examine the efficacy of Garcinia extract, hydroxycitric acid (HCA) as a weight reduction agent, using data from randomised clinical trials (RCTs). Electronic and nonelectronic searches were conducted to identify relevant articles, with no restrictions in language or time. Two independent reviewers extracted the data and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Twenty-three eligible trials were identified and twelve were included. Nine trials provided data suitable for statistical pooling. The meta-analysis revealed a small, statistically significant difference in weight loss favouring HCA over placebo (MD: −0.88 kg; 95% CI: −1.75, −0.00). Gastrointestinal adverse events were twice as common in the HCA group compared with placebo in one included study. It is concluded that the RCTs suggest that Garcinia extracts/HCA can cause short-term weight loss. The magnitude of the effect is small, and the clinical relevance is uncertain. Future trials should be more rigorous and better reported

Using Dust from Asteroids as Regolith Microsamples

More robust links need to be forged between meteorites and their parent bodies to understand the composition, diversity and distribution of the asteroids. A major link can be sample analysis of the parent body material and comparison with meteorite data. Dust is present around all airless bodies, generated by micrometeorite impact into their airless surfaces, which in turn lofts regolith particles into a "cloud" around the body. The composition, flux, and size distribution of dust particles can provide insight into the geologic evolution of airless bodies. For example, the Cassini Cosmic Dust Analyzer detected salts and minerals emitted by plumes at Enceladus, evidence for a subsurface ocean with a silicate seafloor. Dust analysis instruments may enable future missions to obtain elemental, isotopic and mineralogical composition of regolith particles without returning the samples to terrestrial laboratories

Immunogenicity negatively influences the outcome of adalimumab treatment in Crohn's disease

Background: Adalimumab is an effective treatment in patients with Crohn's disease; as it is a humanized anti-tumour necrosis factor monoclonal antibody, immunogenicity is thought not to be of any significance. Aim: To assess whether antibodies to adalimumab (ATAs) affect adalimumab treatment outcome in patients with Crohn's disease previously treated with infliximab. Methods: A retrospective study was p

The Potential of Cellular Agriculture to Reduce Environmental Impacts of Food Systems

Peer reviewe