Body_Machine? Encounters of the Human and the Mechanical in Education, Industry and Science

This paper unveils the body_machine as a key element of dynamic mental maps that have come to shape both educational praxis and research. It traces and analyses instances in which the human and the mechanical encountered each other in metaphorical, material and visual forms, thereby blurring to some extent the boundaries between them while capturing and mobilising specific forms of knowing and acting. The paper studies, first, how certain ‘orienting frames of reference’ and associated ‘experimental systems’ managed to materialise around the body_machine and penetrate theory and praxis; and, second, what visual and textual sources related to a vocational school may reveal about where and how the body_machine has come to operate in education, industry and science. The paper centres on early twentieth-century photographs and analyses these not only as media presenting, representing and interrogating common thought and practice but also as agents of meaning-making around the body_machine

A Checklist Of Arthropods Associated With Pig Carrion And Human Corpses In Southeastern Brazil.

Necrophagous insects, mainly Diptera and Coleoptera, are attracted to specific stages of carcass decomposition, in a process of faunistic succession. They are very important in estimating the postmortem interval, the time interval between the death and the discovery of the body. In studies done with pig carcasses exposed to natural conditions in an urban forest (Santa Genebra Reservation), located in Campinas, State of São Paulo, southeastern Brazil, 4 out of 36 families of insects collected - Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae (Diptera) and Dermestidae (Coleoptera) - were considered of forensic importance, because several species were collected in large numbers both visiting and breeding in pig carcasses. Several species were also observed and collected on human corpses at the Institute of Legal Medicine. The species belonged to 17 different families, 6 being of forensic importance because they were reared from human corpses or pig carcasses: Calliphoridae, Sarcophagidae, Muscidae, Piophilidae (Diptera), Dermestidae, Silphidae and Cleridae (Coleoptera). The most important species were: Diptera - Chrysomya albiceps, Chrysomya putoria, Hemilucilia segmentaria, Hemilucilia semidiaphana (Calliphoridae), Pattonella intermutans (Sarcophagidae), Ophyra chalcogaster (Muscidae), Piophila casei (Piophilidae); Coleoptera - Dermestes maculatus (Dermestidae), Oxyletrum disciolle (Silphidae) and Necrobia rufipes (Cleridae).95135-

Re-Turning Matters of Body_Mind: Articulations of Ill-/Health and Energy/Fatigue Gathered through Vocational and Health Education

This paper explores “articulations” or “re-turnings” of ill-/health and energy/fatigue in education, re/configuring bodies and minds as “body_minds”. The Institut Émile Metz (IEM), founded as a vocational school in 1913, thereby serves as a starting point. This institute is analysed “diffractively” through health education institutes which, together with the IEM, belong to a broader architecture of Luxembourg industry-related social welfare provisions with a global dimension. From knowledge and praxis “gathered” through the IEM, tuberculosis, an infectious disease known to manifest itself in bodily and mental fatigue, emerges as a conspicuous silence. Based particularly on six stills from a corporate film featuring the IEM and a preventorium-sanatorium and open-air school alongside other health education provisions, we trace similar articulations around tuberculosis and (energy/)fatigue across such institutes. Whereas previous research in this context has pointed to new encounters of bodies and machines, our paper reframes articulations pertaining to such newly imagined “body_machines” as having allowed also for re/configurings of the interrelation between (machine) bodies and minds re/configured as “body_minds”

Prevalence of Cancer in Adult Patients with Atopic Dermatitis:A Nationwide Study

Abstract is missing (Short communication

Recent advances in understanding and managing contact dermatitis [version 1; referees: 3 approved]

About 20% of the general population is contact-sensitized to common haptens such as fragrances, preservatives, and metals. Many also develop allergic contact dermatitis (ACD), the clinical manifestation of contact sensitization. ACD represents a common health issue and is also one of the most important occupational diseases. Although this inflammatory skin disease is mediated predominantly by memory T lymphocytes recognizing low-molecular-weight chemicals after skin contact, the innate immune system also plays an important role. Along that line, the presence of irritants may increase the risk of ACD and therefore ACD is often seen in the context of irritant contact dermatitis. In this review article, we discuss recent progress in basic research that has dramatically increased our understanding of the pathomechanisms of ACD and provides a basis for the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic measures. Current methods for diagnosis as well as treatment options of ACD are also discussed

Inorganic carbon promotes photosynthesis, growth, and maximum biomass of phytoplankton in eutrophic water bodies

1.The traditional perception in limnology has been that phytoplankton biomass in lakes is limited by phosphorus, nitrogen, and light, but not by dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) because CO2 can be supplied from the atmosphere. We tested the possibility of carbon limitation of photosynthesis, growth, and biomass accumulation of phytoplankton communities across an alkalinity and DIC gradient (0.15–3.26 mM) in nutrient‐rich freshwater. 2.During 47‐day long experiments, we measured phytoplankton biomass, organic carbon, calcium, DIC, pH, and oxygen in indoor, constantly mixed mesocosms with either no removal or a 70% weekly removal of the biomass. Photosynthesis was measured in the morning and in the afternoon at high biomass. 3.Maximum biomass and organic carbon production increased two‐ to four‐fold with DIC, which supported 7% of organic carbon production at low DIC and 53% at high DIC concentration, while atmospheric CO2 uptake supplied the remainder. Weekly biomass removal increased growth rates through improved light conditions leading to enhanced total phytoplankton biomass production at high DIC. Photosynthesis was significantly higher in the morning compared to afternoon due to daily DIC depletion. 4.We conclude that phytoplankton photosynthesis, growth rate, maximum biomass, and organic carbon production can be markedly carbon limited in eutrophic lake waters. Consequently, lakes of high DIC and pH can support a faster primary production by greater DIC use and chemically enhanced atmospheric CO2 uptake.publishedVersio

Possible first order transition in the two-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau model induced by thermally fluctuating vortex cores

We study the two-dimensional Ginzburg-Landau model of a neutral superfluid in the vicinity of the vortex unbinding transition. The model is mapped onto an effective interacting vortex gas by a systematic perturbative elimination of all fluctuating degrees of freedom (amplitude {\em and} phase of the order parameter field) except the vortex positions. In the Coulomb gas descriptions derived previously in the literature, thermal amplitude fluctuations were neglected altogether. We argue that, if one includes the latter, the vortices still form a two- dimensional Coulomb gas, but the vortex fugacity can be substantially raised. Under the assumption that Minnhagen's generic phase diagram of the two- dimensional Coulomb gas is correct, our results then point to a first order transition rather than a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, provided the Ginzburg-Landau correlation length is large enough in units of a microscopic cutoff length for fluctuations. The experimental relevance of these results is briefly discussed. [Submitted to J. Stat. Phys.]Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures upon request, UATP2-DB1-9

Simulation of the CMS Resistive Plate Chambers

The Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) muon subsystem contributes significantly to the formation of the trigger decision and reconstruction of the muon trajectory parameters. Simulation of the RPC response is a crucial part of the entire CMS Monte Carlo software and directly influences the final physical results. An algorithm based on the parametrization of RPC efficiency, noise, cluster size and timing for every strip has been developed. Experimental data obtained from cosmic and proton-proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV have been used for determination of the parameters. A dedicated validation procedure has been developed. A good agreement between the simulated and experimental data has been achieved.Comment: to be published in JINS