Contesting Postwar Belfast

This chapter employs relational space on postwar Belfast (Northern Ireland) to understand the role of space in its urban conflicts over peace(s). The focus is both on how society produces and how it is produced by space in its material, perceived, and lived dimensions. The first line of analysis explores how Belfast’s seemingly given ethnonational geography is not “just there”, but—in contrast—is actively produced by those supporting the Catholic and Protestant ethnonational peace(s). This production happens through everything from erecting flags and painting murals to spreading fear of “the other” or clustering into “our/their” residential areas. The second line of analysis explores how Belfast’s built environment—e.g. its peacewalls and defensive architecture, its houses and roads, and its city centre—“talks back” to society by actively producing ethnonational and socioeconomic divisions that in turn support the ethnonational and normalising peace(s) whilst undermining the coexisting one

Kosovska mitrovica as two parallel cities in the twenty-first century

After the war in 1999, Kosovska Mitrovica located in the north of Kosovo, became a part of the group of politically and ethnically divided cities. The process of division began in June 1999 when Serbs from the parts located south of the Ibar River were forced to flee. In the following years, antagonism between local Albanians and Serbs intensified. Since 2000, the northern part of Kosovska Mitrovica and later the whole municipality has been developing rapidly, becoming an administrative, educational and cultural centre for the Serbian community in Kosovo. In accordance with arrangements of the Brussels Agreement (2013), two municipalities and two settlements emerged: North Mitrovica with Serb majority and South Mitrovica with Albanian majority. The Ibar River is a natural boundary of the two cities. This study deals with the causes and the consequences of the splitting of Kosovska Mitrovica, which has been developing into two separate (parallel) cities since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Spatial divisions of post-war development of the Kosovska Mitrovica’s urban space are discussed in their symbolic, ethno-demographic and institutional dimensions

Superoxide generation catalyzed by the ozone-inducible plant peptides analogous to prion octarepeat motif

Ozone-inducible (OI) peptides found in plants contain repeated sequences consisting of a hexa-repeat unit (YGH GGG) repeated 7–9 times in tandem, and each unit tightly binds copper. To date, the biochemical roles for OI peptides are not fully understood. Here, we demonstrated that the hexa-repeat unit from OI peptides behaves as metal-binding motif catalytically active in the O2•-generation. Lastly, possible mechanisms of the reaction and biological consequence of the reactions are discussed by analogy to the action of human prion octarepeat peptides

Cephalopods in neuroscience: regulations, research and the 3Rs

Cephalopods have been utilised in neurosci- ence research for more than 100 years particularly because of their phenotypic plasticity, complex and centralised nervous system, tractability for studies of learning and cellular mechanisms of memory (e.g. long-term potentia- tion) and anatomical features facilitating physiological studies (e.g. squid giant axon and synapse). On 1 January 2013, research using any of the about 700 extant species of ‘‘live cephalopods’’ became regulated within the European Union by Directive 2010/63/EU on the ‘‘Protection of Animals used for Scientific Purposes’’, giving cephalopods the same EU legal protection as previously afforded only to vertebrates. The Directive has a number of implications, particularly for neuroscience research. These include: (1) projects will need justification, authorisation from local competent authorities, and be subject to review including a harm-benefit assessment and adherence to the 3Rs princi- ples (Replacement, Refinement and Reduction). (2) To support project evaluation and compliance with the new EU law, guidelines specific to cephalopods will need to be developed, covering capture, transport, handling, housing, care, maintenance, health monitoring, humane anaesthesia, analgesia and euthanasia. (3) Objective criteria need to be developed to identify signs of pain, suffering, distress and lasting harm particularly in the context of their induction by an experimental procedure. Despite diversity of views existing on some of these topics, this paper reviews the above topics and describes the approaches being taken by the cephalopod research community (represented by the authorship) to produce ‘‘guidelines’’ and the potential contribution of neuroscience research to cephalopod welfare

Octopus vulgaris: An Alternative in Evolution

Octopus vulgaris underwent a radical modification to cope with the benthic lifestyle. It diverged from other cephalopods in terms of body plan, anatomy, behavior, and intelligence. It independently evolved the largest and most complex nervous system and sophisticated behaviors among invertebrates in a separate evolutionary lineage. It is equipped with unusual traits that confer it an incredible evolutionary success: arms capable of a wide range of movements with no skeletal support; developed eyes with a complex visual behavior; vestibular system; primi- tive “hearing” system; chemoreceptors located in epidermis, suckers, and mouth; and a discrete olfactory organ. As if these were not enough, the occurrence of recently discovered adult neurogenesis and the high level of RNA editing give it a master key to face environmental challenges. Here we provide an overview of some of the winning evolutionary inventions that octopus puts in place such as the capacity to see color, smell by touch, edit own genes, and rejuvenate own brain