‘Do You Really Want to Live Forever?’: Animism, Death, and the Trouble of Digital Images

This essay examines two works of video art to think through the apparent ‘immortality’ of recorded data and digital images, along with the use of ‘animism’ as a framework to describe the ‘liveliness’ of objects in recent cultural theory. In discussing Cécile B. Evans’ Hyperlinks or it Didn’t Happen (2014) and Korakrit Arunanondchai’s Painting with history in a room filled with people with funny names 3 (2016), we highlight how framings of death and digital images are not uniform, and are often articulated to other cultural beliefs. Yet these beliefs cannot be temporally or spatially opposed in any rigid fashion (as ‘modern’ or ‘premodern’, ‘Western’ or ‘Eastern’), in spite of attempts to suggest a ‘return’ to animism to theorise the agency of objects is an embrace of premodern, non-Western epistemologies and ontologies. The ‘troubled images’ we discuss here should be thought through a sense of ‘trouble’ derived from Donna Haraway: as stirring up, or making cloudy. We aim to further complicate and ‘trouble’ the ethical imperatives of animism (in the work of those like Haraway) given the role of digital media in sustaining or putting into practice the animisms of our present. In doing this, we also advance an ontological argument about data and its relationality, suggesting that data be theorised through tropes of metonymy and synecdoche

The Wienhausen Grabeschristus: exploring 15th century cloister worship

This thesis examines the Wienhausen Effigy of Christ-- a 15th century religious artwork from the Wienhausen Cloister in northern Germany. It will attempt to explain the Effigy's origins, usage, and overall history. By examining it I hope to break through the relative mystery surrounding this unique artwork, and show how its position in the Cloister as a liturgical object, reliquary, pilgrimage site, meditational tool, and subject of intense religious performance and mysticism, is both common for the time and highly unusual. In this way, it will be a valuable tool to understanding how 15th century women, particularly nuns, worshiped, thought, and lived. This thesis tracks the known history of the Effigy as well as the Wienhausen Cloister. Research has been collected from the Wienhausen Kloister's archives, primary texts, personal interviews, journal articles, and other publications. This thesis will also draw on more contemporary ideas of pre-Reformation art and performance

Allocating HIV Prevention Funds in the United States: Recommendations from an Optimization Model

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had an annual budget of approximately $327 million to fund health departments and community-based organizations for core HIV testing and prevention programs domestically between 2001 and 2006. Annual HIV incidence has been relatively stable since the year 2000 [1] and was estimated at 48,600 cases in 2006 and 48,100 in 2009 [2]. Using estimates on HIV incidence, prevalence, prevention program costs and benefits, and current spending, we created an HIV resource allocation model that can generate a mathematically optimal allocation of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention’s extramural budget for HIV testing, and counseling and education programs. The model’s data inputs and methods were reviewed by subject matter experts internal and external to the CDC via an extensive validation process. The model projects the HIV epidemic for the United States under different allocation strategies under a fixed budget. Our objective is to support national HIV prevention planning efforts and inform the decision-making process for HIV resource allocation. Model results can be summarized into three main recommendations. First, more funds should be allocated to testing and these should further target men who have sex with men and injecting drug users. Second, counseling and education interventions ought to provide a greater focus on HIV positive persons who are aware of their status. And lastly, interventions should target those at high risk for transmitting or acquiring HIV, rather than lower-risk members of the general population. The main conclusions of the HIV resource allocation model have played a role in the introduction of new programs and provide valuable guidance to target resources and improve the impact of HIV prevention efforts in the United States

Data from: Estimating agronomically relevant symbiotic N fixation in green manure breeding programs

Please cite as: Katherine Muller, Joseph Guinness, Matthew Hecking & Laurie Drinkwater. (2021) Data from: Estimating agronomically relevant symbiotic N fixation in green manure breeding programs. [Dataset] Cornell University eCommons Repository. https://doi.org/10.7298/vrd4-4k23Widespread use of legume green manures is limited by a lack of reliable varieties that meet the needs of farmers. Improving symbiotic N fixation (SNF) in open-pollinated legume species poses a challenge because normal methods used for assessing SNF conflict with breeding practices such as seed production and removing low-quality sires. We investigated methods for measuring symbiotic N fixation that are compatible with breeding practice for two major legume cover crops: hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum L.). We collected two non-destructive samples at the early-flowering stage (Meristem and Wedge) and a sample at seed harvest (Seed). Our objective was to determine which combination of measurements best predicted symbiotic N fixation (%Ndfa) and total N content at 50% flowering. Our statistical approach accommodated the problem that target traits and seed measurements cannot be measured in the same individuals. Overall, the Wedge sample provided the best prediction for Ndfa at 50% flowering. The best predictions for total N plant-1 came from combining vigor ratings with aboveground biomass at seed harvest. In addition to specific recommendations for legume cover crop breeding programs, we provide a flexible statistical method for studying relationships between traits that cannot be measured jointly.This work was supported by USDA-NIFA grant #2015-51300-24192, with additional support from USDA-NIFA grant #2018-51106-28778. Guinness was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. 1916208 and the National Institutes of Health under grant No. R01ES027892

Cost-effectiveness of HIV/AIDS interventions in Africa: a systematic review of the evidence.

BACKGROUND: Evidence for cost-effectiveness of interventions for HIV/AIDS in Africa is fragmentary. Cost-effectiveness is, however, highly relevant. African governments face difficult choices in striking the right balance between prevention, treatment, and care, all of which are necessary to deal comprehensively with the epidemic. Reductions in drug prices have raised the priority of treatment, though treatment access is restricted. We assessed the existing cost-effectiveness data and its implications for value-for-money strategies to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. METHODS: We undertook a systematic review using databases and consultations with experts. We identified over 60 reports that measured both the cost and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS interventions in Africa. 24 studies met our inclusion criteria and were used to calculate standardised estimates of the cost (US$for year 2000) per HIV infection prevented and per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) gained for 31 interventions. FINDINGS: Cost-effectiveness varied greatly between interventions. A case of HIV/AIDS can be prevented for$11, and a DALY gained for $1, by selective blood safety measures, and by targeted condom distribution with treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Single-dose nevirapine and short-course zidovudine for prevention of mother-to-child transmission, voluntary counselling and testing, and tuberculosis treatment, cost under$75 per DALY gained. Other interventions, such as formula feeding for infants, home care programmes, and antiretroviral therapy for adults, cost several thousand dollars per infection prevented, or several hundreds of dollars per DALY gained. INTERPRETATION: A strong economic case exists for prioritisation of preventive interventions and tuberculosis treatment. Where potentially exclusive alternatives exist, cost-effectiveness analysis points to an intervention that offers the best value for money. Cost-effectiveness analysis is an essential component of informed debate about priority setting for HIV/AIDS