Baghdad’s thirdspace: Between liminality, anti-structures and territorial mappings

Wedged in-between the dense urban grain of Baghdad, blast walls of t-shaped concrete have littered the streets and neighbourhoods since 2003, after the US led invasion. The idiosyncrasy of these walls lies in their exaggerated spatial liminality. They appear, change location and disappear overnight, and on a daily basis, leaving Iraqis to navigate through labyrinths of in-between spaces. This article critically reveals the new social and power structures that have emerged in the context of the city in response to the condition resulting from this unique urban intervention. This uncanny spatial and social condition of permanent liminality will be analysed through Victor Turner’s critical theories of liminality and anti-structure coupled with Edward Soja’s theory of Thirdspace, interpreting, through a series of territorial mappings, a complex liminal condition in a contested and disrupted city

Precious, Tiny and Shiny: Close range photogrammetry for artists and others

Close Range Photogrammetry is increasingly being used to create digital assets across a range of disciplines, and can provide 3D ‘scans’ and surface ‘textures’ to very high resolution. The techniques of capture and processing usually present challenges for objects that are very small, monochromatic, reflective or relatively lacking in features. This ongoing visual arts project seeks to capture, re-examine and ultimately transform specific military and religious insignia as part of an investigation into their interrelated iconographies and histories. The materiality (highly reflective) and scale (very detailed embroidery) of these objects has required different approaches to achieving the accurate 3D models required. This paper will present the apparatus, methods and devices that have been developed to help solve these problems. Together they offer affordable, reliable, and scalable solutions to the traditional challenges of ‘3D scanning’ for particular types of objects, and robust methods applicable to a wide range of situations. They also help reduce the investment (of capital cost, time and labour) required to achieve accurate digital models with high resolution textures, opening up creative possibilities further down the virtual or material ‘pipeline’

Autism from a Biometric Perspective

Purpose:The aim of this pilot study was to test autistic children, siblings and their parents using a biometric device based on the gas discharge visualization (GDV) technique in order to assess their psycho-emotional and physiological functional state based on the activity of the autonomic nervous system. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the biometric assessment based on GDV will enable us: (1) to evaluate some specific features associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as to compare autistic children to their siblings and to controls; (2) to analyze the differences in individual values of parents of autistic children versus parents of normal children. Results: Out of total of 48 acupuncture points present on ten fingertips of both hands and associated to organs/organ systems, autistic children differed significantly from controls (p < 0.05) in 36 (images without filter) and 12 (images with filter), siblings differed significantly from controls (p < 0.05) in 12 (images without filter) and seven (images with filter), autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from siblings in eight (images without filter) and one (images with filter), fathers of autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from controls in 14 (images without filter) and three (images with filter) and mothers of autistic children differed significantly (p < 0.05) from controls in five (images without filter) and nine (images with filter) acupuncture points. Conclusions: All compared groups have shown significant difference on both psycho-emotional (images without filter) and physiological (images with filter) levels. However, the differences between autistic children and controls expressed on psycho-emotional level were the most significant as compared to the other groups. Therefore, the activity of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system is significantly altered in children with autism. The biometric method based on GDV is a promising step in autism research that may lead towards creating a disease profile and identify unique signature/biomarker for autism. Further work should involve more participants in order to augment our findings

Probiotics and Preterm Infants: A Position Paper by the ESPGHAN Committee on Nutrition and the ESPGHAN Working Group for Probiotics and Prebiotics

More than 10,000 preterm infants have participated in randomised controlled trials on probiotics worldwide, suggesting that probiotics in general could reduce rates of necrotising enterocolitis (NEC), sepsis, and mortality. However, answers to relevant clinical questions as to which strain to use, at what dosage, and how long to supplement, are not available. On the other hand, an increasing number of commercial products containing probiotics are available from sometimes suboptimal quality. Also, a large number of units around the world are routinely offering probiotic supplementation as the standard of care despite lacking solid evidence. Our recent network meta-analysis identified probiotic strains with greatest efficacy regarding relevant clinical outcomes for preterm neonates. Efficacy in reducing mortality and morbidity was found for only a minority of the studied strains or combinations. In the present position paper, we aim to provide advice which specific strains might potentially be used and which strains should not be used. Besides, we aim to address safety issues of probiotic supplementation to preterm infants, who have reduced immunological capacities and occasional indwelling catheters. For example, quality reassurance of the probiotic product is essential, probiotic strains should be devoid of transferable antibiotic resistance genes, and local microbiologists should be able to routinely detect probiotic sepsis. Provided all safety issues are met, there is currently a conditional recommendation (with low certainty of evidence) to provide either L. rhamnosus GG ATCC53103 or the combination of B. infantis Bb-02, B. lactis Bb-12, and Str. thermophilus TH-4 in order to reduce NEC rates