49 research outputs found
Sexual orientation and gender identity as part of the WPS project
In 2000, the United Nations Security Council passed Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325), on “Women and Peace and Security”, the first resolution to draw attention to women and girls during conflict, as well as the first to consider gendered experiences of war. Yet those vulnerable to insecurity and violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity remain largely neglected by the international peace and security community. While much has been accomplished by WPS projects, there is an alarming lack of attention to how homophobic and transphobic violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals occurs in conflict-related environments
Under Construction: Toward a Theory and Praxis of Queer Peacebuilding
This article explores what queer as a concept brings to peacebuilding, presenting a guiding framework and introduction for a special issue on queer peacebuilding. It offers an initial approach to the topic, which means to center queer and trans perspectives of peace and bring queer epistemologies to bear on how peace is constituted so as to rearticulate the concept both in theory and praxis. In doing so, it addresses an unexamined gap in peacebuilding efforts to achieve gender justice and inclusive security in conflict-affected societies, namely the unique experiences of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer) individuals and their collective efforts to achieve social justice in these contexts. The authors approach the topic of queer peacebuilding through three questions: What is queer peacebuilding?, Why is queer peacebuilding important? and What can queer peacebuilding contribute? While the impacts of queer peacebuilding in sites of contentious politics around the globe are visible, it remains an emergent and somewhat elusive concept, still under construction within peace and security scholarship and practice. By presenting a conceptualization of the notion of queer peacebuiling, the authors seek to further academic efforts to construct and analyze queer peace.Este artículo explora lo que aporta el concepto queer/cuir a la construcción de paz, exponiendo un marco de referencia y una introducción para un número temático sobre la construcción de paz queer/cuir. Se presenta una aproximación inicial a este tema, lo que significa centrar las perspectivas queer/cuir y trans de la paz, así como aportar epistemologías queer/cuir a la forma en que se constituye la paz para rearticular el concepto tanto en la teoría, como en la práctica. Con ello, se aborda un vacío en los esfuerzos de construcción de la paz que buscan alcanzar justicia de género y seguridad inclusiva en sociedades afectadas por conflictos, es decir, se examinan las experiencias únicas de las personas LGBTQ (lesbianas, gays, bisexuales, trans y queer) y sus esfuerzos colectivos en pos de lograr la justicia social en esos contextos. Los autores abordan el tema de la construcción de la paz queer/cuir a través de tres preguntas: ¿qué es la construcción de la paz queer/cuir?, ¿por qué es importante la construcción de la paz queer/cuir? y ¿en qué puede contribuir la construcción de la paz queer/cuir?. Aunque los impactos de la consolidación de la paz queer/cuir en los lugares de conflicto político de todo el mundo son visibles, este sigue siendo un concepto emergente y un tanto esquivo, que todavía se está construyendo dentro de los estudios y las prácticas de paz y seguridad. Al presentar una conceptualización de la noción de construcción de la paz queer/cuir, los autores pretenden impulsar los esfuerzos académicos para construirla y analizarla.Neste artigo, é explorado o que o conceito queer/cuir contribui para a construção da paz, apresentando um referencial e uma introdução para um número temático sobre a construção da paz queer/cuir. É apresentada uma abordagem inicial do tema, o que significa centralizar as perspectivas queer/cuir e trans da paz, bem como trazer epistemologias queer/cuir para a forma em que a paz é constituída a fim de rearticular o conceito tanto na teoria quanto na prática. Com isso, é abordada uma lacuna nos esforços de construção da paz que buscam atingir justiça de gênero e segurança inclusiva em sociedades afetadas por conflitos; nesse sentido, são examinadas as experiências únicas das pessoas LGBTQ (lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, trans e queer) e seus esforços coletivos em prol de atingir a justiça social nesses contextos. Os autores abordam o tema da construção da paz queer/cuir por meio de três perguntas: o que é a construção da paz queer/cuir? Por que a construção da paz queer/cuir é importante? E para que a construção da paz queer/cuir pode contribuir? Embora os impactos da consolidação da paz queer/cuir nos lugares de conflito político de todo o mundo sejam visíveis, esse conceito continua sendo emergente e um tanto esquivo, que ainda está sendo construído dentro dos estudos e práticas de paz e segurança. Ao apresentar uma conceituação da noção de construção da paz queer/cuir, os autores pretendem fomentar os esforços acadêmicos para construí-la e analisá-la
SDSS-IV from 2014 to 2016: A Detailed Demographic Comparison over Three Years
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is one of the largest international
astronomy organizations. We present demographic data based on surveys of its
members from 2014, 2015 and 2016, during the fourth phase of SDSS (SDSS-IV). We
find about half of SDSS-IV collaboration members were based in North America, a
quarter in Europe, and the remainder in Asia and Central and South America.
Overall, 26-36% are women (from 2014 to 2016), up to 2% report non-binary
genders. 11-14% report that they are racial or ethnic minorities where they
live. The fraction of women drops with seniority, and is also lower among
collaboration leadership. Men in SDSS-IV were more likely to report being in a
leadership role, and for the role to be funded and formally recognized. SDSS-IV
collaboration members are twice as likely to have a parent with a college
degree, than the general population, and are ten times more likely to have a
parent with a PhD. This trend is slightly enhanced for female collaboration
members. Despite this, the fraction of first generation college students (FGCS)
is significant (31%). This fraction increased among collaboration members who
are racial or ethnic minorities (40-50%), and decreased among women (15-25%).
SDSS-IV implemented many inclusive policies and established a dedicated
committee, the Committee on INclusiveness in SDSS (COINS). More than 60% of the
collaboration agree that the collaboration is inclusive; however, collaboration
leadership more strongly agree with this than the general membership. In this
paper, we explain these results in full, including the history of inclusive
efforts in SDSS-IV. We conclude with a list of suggested recommendations based
on our findings, which can be used to improve equity and inclusion in large
astronomical collaborations, which we argue is not only moral, but will also
optimize their scientific output.Comment: 30 pages, 9 figures, accepted in PAS
The functional connectome in obsessive-compulsive disorder: resting-state mega-analysis and machine learning classification for the ENIGMA-OCD consortium
Current knowledge about functional connectivity in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is based on small-scale studies, limiting the generalizability of results. Moreover, the majority of studies have focused only on predefined regions or functional networks rather than connectivity throughout the entire brain. Here, we investigated differences in resting-state functional connectivity between OCD patients and healthy controls (HC) using mega-analysis of data from 1024 OCD patients and 1028 HC from 28 independent samples of the ENIGMA-OCD consortium. We assessed group differences in whole-brain functional connectivity at both the regional and network level, and investigated whether functional connectivity could serve as biomarker to identify patient status at the individual level using machine learning analysis. The mega-analyses revealed widespread abnormalities in functional connectivity in OCD, with global hypo-connectivity (Cohen’s d: -0.27 to -0.13) and few hyper-connections, mainly with the thalamus (Cohen’s d: 0.19 to 0.22). Most hypo-connections were located within the sensorimotor network and no fronto-striatal abnormalities were found. Overall, classification performances were poor, with area-under-the-receiver-operating-characteristic curve (AUC) scores ranging between 0.567 and 0.673, with better classification for medicated (AUC = 0.702) than unmedicated (AUC = 0.608) patients versus healthy controls. These findings provide partial support for existing pathophysiological models of OCD and highlight the important role of the sensorimotor network in OCD. However, resting-state connectivity does not so far provide an accurate biomarker for identifying patients at the individual level
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in
operation since July 2014. This paper describes the second data release from
this phase, and the fourteenth from SDSS overall (making this, Data Release
Fourteen or DR14). This release makes public data taken by SDSS-IV in its first
two years of operation (July 2014-2016). Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14
is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all
data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14
is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS); the first data from the second phase of the
Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2),
including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data driven machine
learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes
from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous
release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of
the publicly available data from SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the
important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both
targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS
website (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release, and provides links to
data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is
planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be
followed by SDSS-V.Comment: SDSS-IV collaboration alphabetical author data release paper. DR14
happened on 31st July 2017. 19 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by ApJS on 28th Nov
2017 (this is the "post-print" and "post-proofs" version; minor corrections
only from v1, and most of errors found in proofs corrected
Regulation of O-glycosylation through Golgi-to-ER relocation of initiation enzymes
Growth factor stimulation moves O-glycosylation initiation enzymes (GalNac-Ts) from the Golgi to the ER in a Src-dependent fashion, increasing protein O-glycosylation
Engineering improved ethylene production: Leveraging systems Biology and adaptive laboratory evolution
Ethylene is a small hydrocarbon gas widely used in the chemical industry. Annual worldwide production currently exceeds 150 million tons, producing considerable amounts of CO2 contributing to climate change. The need for a sustainable alternative is therefore imperative. Ethylene is natively produced by several different microorganisms, including Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola via a process catalyzed by the ethylene forming enzyme (EFE), subsequent heterologous expression of EFE has led to ethylene production in non-native bacterial hosts including E. coli and cyanobacteria. However, solubility of EFE and substrate availability remain rate limiting steps in biological ethylene production. We employed a combination of genome scale metabolic modelling, continuous fermentation, and protein evolution to enable the accelerated development of a high efficiency ethylene producing E. coli strain, yielding a 49-fold increase in production, the most significant improvement reported to date. Furthermore, we have clearly demonstrated that this increased yield resulted from metabolic adaptations that were uniquely linked to the EFE enzyme (WT vs mutant). Our findings provide a novel solution to deregulate metabolic bottlenecks in key pathways, which can be readily applied to address other engineering challenges
Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: Mapping the Milky Way, Nearby Galaxies, and the Distant Universe
We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median ). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July
The Fourteenth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey and from the Second Phase of the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment
The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) has been in operation since 2014 July. This paper describes the second data release from this phase, and the 14th from SDSS overall (making this Data Release Fourteen or DR14). This release makes the data taken by SDSS-IV in its first two years of operation (2014–2016 July) public. Like all previous SDSS releases, DR14 is cumulative, including the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since the first phase began operations in 2000. New in DR14 is the first public release of data from the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey; the first data from the second phase of the Apache Point Observatory (APO) Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE-2), including stellar parameter estimates from an innovative data-driven machine-learning algorithm known as "The Cannon"; and almost twice as many data cubes from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey as were in the previous release (N = 2812 in total). This paper describes the location and format of the publicly available data from the SDSS-IV surveys. We provide references to the important technical papers describing how these data have been taken (both targeting and observation details) and processed for scientific use. The SDSS web site (www.sdss.org) has been updated for this release and provides links to data downloads, as well as tutorials and examples of data use. SDSS-IV is planning to continue to collect astronomical data until 2020 and will be followed by SDSS-V
Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV: mapping the Milky Way, nearby galaxies, and the distant universe
We describe the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV), a project encompassing three major spectroscopic programs. The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment 2 (APOGEE-2) is observing hundreds of thousands of Milky Way stars at high resolution and high signal-to-noise ratios in the near-infrared. The Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey is obtaining spatially resolved spectroscopy for thousands of nearby galaxies (median ). The extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) is mapping the galaxy, quasar, and neutral gas distributions between and 3.5 to constrain cosmology using baryon acoustic oscillations, redshift space distortions, and the shape of the power spectrum. Within eBOSS, we are conducting two major subprograms: the SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources (SPIDERS), investigating X-ray AGNs and galaxies in X-ray clusters, and the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS), obtaining spectra of variable sources. All programs use the 2.5 m Sloan Foundation Telescope at the Apache Point Observatory; observations there began in Summer 2014. APOGEE-2 also operates a second near-infrared spectrograph at the 2.5 m du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, with observations beginning in early 2017. Observations at both facilities are scheduled to continue through 2020. In keeping with previous SDSS policy, SDSS-IV provides regularly scheduled public data releases; the first one, Data Release 13, was made available in 2016 July