Fabric of life : the infrastructure of settler colonialism and uneven development in Palestine

This dissertation aims to resurface and make visible infrastructure networks as concrete expressions of settler colonialism and uneven development. Focusing on contemporary Palestine, particularly in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, this thesis investigates the ways in which infrastructures come to matter socially, politically, economically and spatially both symbolically and as a set of materials. Drawing on the histories and geographies of road and electricity grids, Fabric of Life explores the ways these infrastructures are constructed, imagined and governed but also how they are experienced and contested. The research takes roads and electricity as object and subject of analysis and traces their role in shaping and producing space while also using them as window into understanding the various actors and ‘larger’ forces and structures that constitute these grids. An interdisciplinary analytical focus on the ‘hardware’ (e.g. wires) and ‘software’ (e.g. policies) aspects of infrastructures and their co-evolution with urban spaces and populations opens up critical perspectives on existing accounts of the political and economic geographies of Palestine. It offers a powerful way of thinking about these large socio-technical systems as a complex assemblage of actors, agents, policies and processes that connect to, and drive, much debated processes of settler colonialism, modernity, statecraft and uneven development. Concurrently, by providing an analytical study of infrastructures, the project generates new knowledge about and insight into the Palestinian case. In pursuing these themes, this thesis represents an attempt to resist and complicate dominant accounts of occupation and development in Palestine but also to make a vital contribution to a broader scholarship in critical urban studies and settler colonialism

Unplug and play: manufacturing collapse in Gaza

This article examines how colonial violence has been recast in light of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza during the summer 2005. By looking at infrastructural networks —the systems that distribute water, electricity sewage, fuel etc— it explores how far from ending the occupation, disengagement provided a distinct spatial scale from which to experiment new methods of control and repression. In particular, it seeks to expose how these life support systems function as geopolitical sites of spatial control and as biopolitical tools to regulate and suppress life. Specially, it illustrates how the mobilization of discourses strategies and doctrines, criminalize these critical system turning them into ‘legitimate’ and ‘pre-emptive’ targets Drawing on the destruction of Gaza’s only power plant and the subsequent sanctions on electricity and fuel, it argues that the destruction and manipulation of infrastructura networks has severe consequences, particularly in public health. In exploring these claims with respect to Gaza, the article draws attention to the ways in which infrastructure play a crucial role in regulating the elastic Gaza’ humanitarian collapse. The article closes introducing the concept of infrastructural violence as way to further explore this discussion

Tuned Mass Damper Positioning Effects on the Seismic Response of a Soil-MDOF-Structure System

Tuned mass dampers (TMDs) are effective structural vibration control devices. However, very little research is available on the experimental investigation of TMDs and their performance in systems undergoing dynamic soil-structure interaction (SSI). Geotechnical centrifuge tests are conducted to investigate storey positioning effects of single and multiple TMDs in a soil-MDOF-structure system. The criteria for optimal storey positioning will be established and it is shown that storey positioning influences TMD performance more than the number of TMDs used. Non-optimal storey positioning was found to have the potential of reducing damping efficiency, amplifying peak structural response and inducing lengthier high-intensity motion.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant ID: EP/K503009/1

Ein Ansatz zur Geschäftsmodellierung in der frühen Schiffsentwurfsphase

This dissertation presents an enterprise modeling approach to support the efficiency and dynamic nature of the ship early design phase. The modeling approach is based on the principle concept of the integration between data and process. This concept is applied by taking into consideration the specifications of the early design stage. Therefore, an information model as well as a process model for the ship in the early design stage are developed. Thereby, predefined activity as well as configuration concepts are applied to represent the early design process and support its integrated nature

Moyamoya Induced Acute Paraplegia in A Child with Epilepsy

ObjectiveMoyamoya disease (MMD) is a chronic, occlusive, cerebrovascular disorder of unknown  pathogenesis, characterized by progressive stenosis of the bilateral supraclinoid internal carotid arteries, with concomitant formation of tortuous arterial collateral vessels at the base of the brain, which reconstitute distal branches of the cerebral circulation. In Japanese, "Moyamoya" means "hazy puff of smoke" and refers to the angiographic appearance of the abnormal network of vessels that develop at the base of the brain and basal ganglia to supply a collateral route of blood flow. We report here the case of Moyamoya disease in a 5 year-old girl with normal mentality with a one year history of epilepsy, with Todd's paralysis. This condition is rare and most patients are diagnosed in childhood. With this report we aim to underscore the possibility that a usual neurological sign could be associated with unusual neurological disorders.

Oxidative responses and genetic stability of date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. Barhi cv. under salinity stress.

This study was aimed to investigate the oxidative responses and genetic stability of date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. under different irrigation water salinity, date palm off shoots cv. Barhi subjected to different concentrations of NaCl (100, 200, 300 and 400 µM) for 180 days. The obtained results showed that, the date palm responses to salinity stress, this responses was increased of H2O2 level, Peroxidase activity and Malondialdehyde MDA concentration with increase NaCl concentration, while opposite trend with membrane stability index, which H2O2 was increased from(0.73 µM/g) in control to (2.20 µM/g) in 400 µM treatment, MDA was increased from (2.35 nmole/g) in control to (nmole/g) in 400 µM treatment, also peroxidase activity was reached to (39.59 U/min/g) in 400 µM treatment, while was (20.73 U/min/g) in control and Membrane stability index reduction significantly from (81.36%) in control to (64.13%) in 400 µM treatment.  In terms of genetic stability of date palm under salinity stress, the ISSR markers analysis showed that, the high concentrations of NaCl (200, 300 and 400 µM) produced more polymorphic fragments comparison to control treatment, while the DNA profile was identical between control and 100 µMtreatment.Dendogram was generated using similarity indices of ISSR markers showed, the lowest genetic similarity was found between 400 µM NaCl concentration and control and 100 µM treatment, followed with both 200 and 300 µM treatments, which the control and 100 µM treatment was grouped in one cluster, also treatments with 200 and 300 µM grouped in one cluster, while the treatment with 400 µM NaCl separated in cluster. Keywords: ISSR, Genetic stability, Oxidative stress, Peroxidase, MDA, membrane peroxidatio

The use of antihypertensive therapy in Spain (1986-1994)

Producción CientíficaWe aimed to analyze the trends in antihypertensive therapy in Spain during the period 1986 to 1994, as well as the change in the pattern of different drugs, in relation to different national/international recommendations for hypertension treatment. Antihypertensive consumption was studied using the defined daily dose (DDD) and the DHD (DDD/1000 inhabitants/ day) of each drug, as defined by the Drug Utilization Research Group of the European Office of the World Health Organization. The anatomical classification of hypotensive drugs has been made according to EPhMRA (European Pharmaceutical Market Association) guidelines. A significant increase of 117.4% (41.39/90 DHD) in antihypertensive drug consumption was observed in the period 1986 to 1994. In 1986 diuretics were the most consumed (30.27 DHD), followed by calcium antagonists (5.37), b-blockers (3.93), and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor (1.37). In 1994 ACE inhibitors, calcium antagonists, and b-blockers increased significantly (P < .0001), whereas diuretics were still the most commonly prescribed. Nifedipine and captopril were the most used among calcium antagonists and ACE inhibitors. National and international recommendations had no effect on prescription patterns. Antihypertensive therapy of all types is increasing in Spain. Diuretics remain the most popular, b-blockers stay stable, whereas the newer types are rising rapidly. National and international recommendations had no effect on prescription patterns