From Marx to Gramsci to us: Laboratory to prison, and back

Marx and Gramsci remain two of the most constant presences and inspirations for those on the left. Yet there is a persistent sense that we have still to get them right. Perhaps this indicates that sources like this are now fully classics, to be returned, and returned to. In the case of Marx and Gramsci, a series of major works published in the Brill Historical Materialism series breaks new ground as well as returning to older controversies, both resolved and unresolved. Apart from remaining arguments concerning the status of materials unpublished in their own lifetimes, the major tension that emerges here is that between the task of immanent, contextual philology and the challenge of reading ‘Marx for today’ or ‘Gramsci for today’. The tension between text and context, and the question of what travels, conceptually persists

Feasibility of nanofluid-based optical filters

In this article we report recent modeling and design work indicating that mixtures of nanoparticles in liquids can be used as an alternative to conventional optical filters. The major motivation for creating liquid optical filters is that they can be pumped in and out of a system to meet transient needs in an application. To demonstrate the versatility of this new class of filters, we present the design of nanofluids for use as long-pass, short-pass, and bandpass optical filters using a simple Monte Carlo optimization procedure. With relatively simple mixtures, we achieve filters with <15% mean-squared deviation in transmittance from conventional filters. We also discuss the current commercial feasibility of nanofluid-based optical filters by including an estimation of today's off-the-shelf cost of the materials. While the limited availability of quality commercial nanoparticles makes it hard to compete with conventional filters, new synthesis methods and economies of scale could enable nanofluid-based optical filters in the near future. As such, this study lays the groundwork for creating a new class of selective optical filters for a wide range of applications, namely communications, electronics, optical sensors, lighting, photography, medicine, and many more

Leaps and lulls in the developmental transcriptome of Dictyostelium discoideum

Development of the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is triggered by starvation. When placed on a solid substrate, the starving solitary amoebae cease growth, communicate via extracellular cAMP, aggregate by tens of thousands and develop into multicellular organisms. Early phases of the developmental program are often studied in cells starved in suspension while cAMP is provided exogenously. Previous studies revealed massive shifts in the transcriptome under both developmental conditions and a close relationship between gene expression and morphogenesis, but were limited by the sampling frequency and the resolution of the methods. Here, we combine the superior depth and specificity of RNA-seq-based analysis of mRNA abundance with high frequency sampling during filter development and cAMP pulsing in suspension. We found that the developmental transcriptome exhibits mostly gradual changes interspersed by a few instances of large shifts. For each time point we treated the entire transcriptome as single phenotype, and were able to characterize development as groups of similar time points separated by gaps. The grouped time points represented gradual changes in mRNA abundance, or molecular phenotype, and the gaps represented times during which many genes are differentially expressed rapidly, and thus the phenotype changes dramatically. Comparing developmental experiments revealed that gene expression in filter developed cells lagged behind those treated with exogenous cAMP in suspension. The high sampling frequency revealed many genes whose regulation is reproducibly more complex than indicated by previous studies. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis suggested that the transition to multicellularity coincided with rapid accumulation of transcripts associated with DNA processes and mitosis. Later development included the up-regulation of organic signaling molecules and co-factor biosynthesis. Our analysis also demonstrated a high level of synchrony among the developing structures throughout development. Our data describe D. discoideum development as a series of coordinated cellular and multicellular activities. Coordination occurred within fields of aggregating cells and among multicellular bodies, such as mounds or migratory slugs that experience both cell-cell contact and various soluble signaling regimes. These time courses, sampled at the highest temporal resolution to date in this system, provide a comprehensive resource for studies of developmental gene expression

Time in SCCharts

Synchronous languages, such as the recently proposed SCCharts language, have been designed for the rigorous specification of real-time systems. Their sound semantics, which builds on an abstraction from physical execution time, make these languages appealing, in particular for safety-critical systems. However, they traditionally lack built-in support for physical time. This makes it rather cumbersome to express things like time-outs or periodic executions within the language. We here propose several mechanisms to reconcile the synchronous paradigm with physical time. Specifically, we propose extensions to the SCCharts language to express clocks and execution periods within the model. We draw on several sources, in particular timed automata, the Clock Constraint Specification Language, and the recently proposed concept of dynamic ticks. We illustrate how these extensions can be mapped to the SCChart language core, with minimal requirements on the run-time system, and we argue that the same concepts could be applied to other synchronous languages such as Esterel, Lustre or SCADE

How to diagnose plantaris tendon involvement in midportion Achilles tendinopathy - clinical and imaging findings

Background: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate if clinical assessment, Ultrasound + Colour Doppler (US + CD) and Ultrasound Tissue Characterisation (UTC) can be useful in detecting plantaris tendon involvement in patients with midportion Achilles tendinopathy. Methods: Twenty-three tendons in 18 patients (14 men, mean age: 37 years and 4 women: 44 years) (5 patients with bilateral tendons) with midportion Achilles tendinopathy were surgically treated with a scraping procedure and plantaris tendon removal. For all tendons, clinical assessment, Ultrasound + Colour Doppler (US + CD) examination and Ultrasound Tissue Characterisation (UTC) were performed. Results: At surgery, all 23 cases had a plantaris tendon located close to the medial side of the Achilles tendon. There was vascularised fat tissue in the interface between the Achilles and plantaris tendons. Clinical assessment revealed localised medial activity-related pain in 20/23 tendons and focal medial tendon tenderness in 20/23 tendons. For US + CD, 20/23 tendons had a tendon-like structure interpreted to be the plantaris tendon and localised high blood flow in close relation to the medial side of the Achilles. For UTC, 19/23 tendons had disorganised (type 3 and 4) echopixels located only in the medial part of the Achilles tendon indicating possible plantaris tendon involvement. Conclusions: US + CD directly, and clinical assessment indirectly, can detect a close by located plantaris tendon in a high proportion of patients with midportion Achilles tendinopathy. UTC could complement US + CD and clinical assessment by demonstrating disorganised focal medial Achilles tendon structure indicative of possible plantaris involvement

'Concrete freedom' : C.L.R. James on culture and black politics

This article aims to provide a synoptic account of the cultural writings of the West Indian intellectual and activist C.L.R. James. I aim to make a case for greater recognition of his work among cultural sociologists. I go on to show how James’ original, historicising account of cultural forms relates closely to his wider political interventions including, specifically, his ground-breaking discussion of mid-twentieth century black politics in America

Recoding of Translation in Turtle Mitochondrial Genomes: Programmed Frameshift Mutations and Evidence of a Modified Genetic Code

A +1 frameshift insertion has been documented in the mitochondrial gene nad3 in some birds and reptiles. By sequencing polyadenylated mRNA of the chicken (Gallus gallus), we have shown that the extra nucleotide is transcribed and is present in mature mRNA. Evidence from other animal mitochondrial genomes has led us to hypothesize that certain mitochondrial translation systems have the ability to tolerate frameshift insertions using programmed translational frameshifting. To investigate this, we sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the red-eared slider turtle (Trachemys scripta), where both the widespread nad3 frameshift insertion and a novel site in nad4l were found. Sequencing the region surrounding the insertion in nad3 in a number of other turtles and tortoises reveal general mitochondrial +1 programmed frameshift site features as well as the apparent redefinition of a stop codon in Parker’s snake-neck turtle (Chelodina parkeri), the first known example of this in vertebrate mitochondria

The Early ANTP Gene Repertoire: Insights from the Placozoan Genome

The evolution of ANTP genes in the Metazoa has been the subject of conflicting hypotheses derived from full or partial gene sequences and genomic organization in higher animals. Whole genome sequences have recently filled in some crucial gaps for the basal metazoan phyla Cnidaria and Porifera. Here we analyze the complete genome of Trichoplax adhaerens, representing the basal metazoan phylum Placozoa, for its set of ANTP class genes. The Trichoplax genome encodes representatives of Hox/ParaHox-like, NKL, and extended Hox genes. This repertoire possibly mirrors the condition of a hypothetical cnidarian-bilaterian ancestor. The evolution of the cnidarian and bilaterian ANTP gene repertoires can be deduced by a limited number of cis-duplications of NKL and “extended Hox” genes and the presence of a single ancestral “ProtoHox” gene