Sobre la pena de muerte: meditaciones fragmentadas

This short reflection attempts to meditate on the premise around which both proponents-of and those-opposed-to the death penalty hinge their arguments. And it makes the case that in-lieu of their premise being antonymous, or at least antagonistic — as might be expected — it is exactly the same: that even though they might come to diametrically opposite conclusions, both sides rely on the notion that life is sacred. By doing so, they are conceiving of it in the abstract, as abstractions; and thus, ignoring — or, at least, temporarily set aside — the fact that each life, and each living, including one’s own, is irreducibly singular and should be considered in its concrete materiality, situation, and context. More importantly, in order to decide in the abstract, what is actually done is to decide — a priori — what counts as a life.This piece, thus, opens the potentially disconcerting possibility that — by acknowledging lives in their immanence, and attempting to respond to them as such — one’s very responsibility lies in the fact that every moment of living is an act of choosing who, and what, one kills.Esta breve reflexión pretende meditar sobre la premisa en torno a la cual articulan sus argumentos tanto quienes defienden como quienes se oponen a la pena de muerte. La tesis de este escrito se basa en que, aunque dichas posturas se presentan como antónimas, o al menos antagónicas – como se podría esperar – y pese a que podrían llegar a conclusiones diametralmente opuestas, ambas se basan en la noción de que la vida es sagrada. Al hacerlo, conciben la cuestión en abstracto, como abstracciones; y de esta manera ignoran – o, al menos, dejan de lado temporalmente – el hecho de que, cada vida y cada existencia, incluyendo la propia, es irreduciblemente singular y debe ser considerada en su materialidad, situación y contexto concretos. Más importante aún, para decidir en abstracto, lo que realmente se hace es decidir – a priori – aquello que cuenta como vida. Este artículo, por lo tanto, abre la posibilidad potencialmente desconcertante de que — al reconocer vidas en su inmanencia e intentar responder a ellas como tales — la responsabilidad propia radique en el hecho de que, cada momento de vida sea un acto de elegir a quién y qué se mata

Writing Art

Writing Art is an attempt to respond to the possibilities of art, the potentialities in art, to the possible event that art is. Keeping in mind that events are always already potentially beyond us, are quite possibly unknown, unknowable. In this book, Jeremy Fernando meditates on art through a response to specifics works, to the specificity of the craft, tekhnē, of each work; offering a reading of specific works of photography (Photovoice sg), poetry (Tammy Ho Lai-Ming), installation art (Charles Lim), film (Tan Chui Mui), conceptual art (ZXEROKOOL), and charcoal drawings (Yanyun Chen). Through writing. For, to write is always also to scribble, to scratch, tear, quite possibly open — and perhaps more importantly, to open the possibility of a relation with another, to the unknowability that is the other. At the risk that this writing causes one to writhe, to be torn, to cry out; even if the very one is himself

Writing Death

Writing Death opens a meditation on the possibility of mourning; of whether there is a subject, or even object, that one mourns—of whether one is mourning, can only mourn, the very impossibility of mourning itself. The manuscript is framed by two attempts at mourning—Avital Ronell’s “The Tactlessness of an Unending Fadeout” and Jeremy Fernando’s “adieu.” In-between—for this is where both pieces posit the possibility of attending to the passing, the memory, the fading of the person—is an attempt to think this impossibility. The text is continually haunted by the question of whether one is mourning the person as such, or a particular version of the person, a reading of the person. And in reading another, in attempting to respond to the other, one can never have the metaphysical comfort that one is reading accurately, correctly; in fact, one may always already be re-writing the person. Thus, all one can do is attempt to mourn the name of that person, whilst never being certain of whether her name even refers to her any longer. All one can do is write death

Canzone d'amore per una città ...

Jeremy Fernando. 'Canzone d'amore per una città ...', tradotto da Céline Coderey in Cenobio, 2017

Anatomic Knowledge and Perceptions of the Adequacy of Anatomic Education Among Applicants to Orthopaedic Residency.

BackgroundThe time dedicated to the study of human anatomy within medical school curriculums has been substantially reduced. The effect of this on the knowledge of incoming orthopaedic trainees is unknown. The current study aimed to evaluate both the subjective perceptions and objective anatomic knowledge of fourth-year medical students applying for orthopaedic residency.MethodsA multicenter prospective study was performed that assessed 224 students during the course of their interview day for an orthopaedic residency. Participants provided demographic data and a subjective assessment of the quality of their anatomic education, and completed either an upper or lower extremity anatomic examination. Mean total scores and subscores for various anatomic regions and concepts were calculated.ResultsStudents on average rated the adequacy of their anatomic education as 6.5 on a 10-point scale. Similarly, they rated the level of importance their medical school placed on anatomic education as 6.2 on a 10-point scale. Almost 90% rated the time dedicated to anatomy as good or fair. Of six possible methods for learning anatomy, dissection was rated the highest.On objective examinations, the mean score for correct answers was 44.2%. This improved to 56.4% when correct and acceptable answers were considered. Regardless of anatomic regions or concepts evaluated, percent correct scores did not reach 50%. There were no significant correlations between performance on the anatomic examinations and either prior academic performance measures or the student's subjective assessment of their anatomic education.ConclusionsCurrent students applying into orthopaedic residency do not appear to be adequately prepared with the prerequisite anatomic knowledge. These deficits must be explicitly addressed during residency training to produce competent, safe orthopaedic surgeons

Applications of micro-fluidic platforms integrating packed stationary phases

To design and fabricate novel centrifugal micro-fluidic platforms integrating packed stationary phases for solid-phase micro-extraction in a wide range of (bio)analytical applications. To design and fabricate novel micro-fluidic platforms integrating packed stationary phases capable of withstanding significant high pressures

Object-Oriented-Upcycling: An object-based approach to the circular economy

This paper introduces a preliminary framework to address upcycling from an object-oriented perspective. Upcycling is defined by Wegener as: “the perfect mix between ‘upgrading’ and ‘recycling’. To upgrade is to add value and to recycle is to reuse” (Wegener, 2016). This process connects with Aristotelian notions of design and productive knowledge which are concerned with something coming into being and competing standards of value (Galdon, 2019). In this paper, we are approaching this process from an Object-Oriented-Ontology. For Harman the research programme of OOO is precisely focused “to magnify the tensions between the object and its appearance to consciousness, or the object and its qualities”, by invoking “the constant formation of hybrid entities in which humans’ fuse with non- humans” (Harman, 2015). We do so by conducting a case study on furniture design. In this context, a bidirectional multi-level taxonomy is presented to address notions of design, manufacturing, sustainability, circularity and respect for the environment. Based on research findings, the authors recommend the integration of Object-Oriented-Upcycling strategies in the design process, as they insert a method for the re-materialisation of local waste into usable furniture

Studi Literatur : Efektivitas Ekstrak Daun Sirih Merah (Piper Ornatum) sebagai Desinfektan Alami dalam Mencegah Penyebaran Penyakit Covid-19

Pandemi Corona-virus Disease 19 (COVID-19), merupakan penyakit infeksi yang terjadi sejak akhir tahun 2019 hingga tahun 2020 dan menyerang berbagai usia. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV-2), menginfeksi mucosal membrane yang menyebabkan peradangan dan bermanifestasi terutama pada organ-organ dengan reseptor Angiotensin Converting Enzyme – 2 (ACE-2) seperti sistem cardiovascular, saluran pernapasan, sistem pencernaan, dan beberapa organ lain seperti ginjal. Saat ini masih belum dapat ditemukan pengobatan untuk penyakit ini, sehingga perlu dilakukan pencegahan secara efektif, seperti penggunaan pelindung wajah (facemask ataupun faceshield) dan penggunaan agen desinfektan. Banyak zat alami yang digunakan sebagai bahan untuk menjadi desinfektan untuk mencegah perkembang-biakan virus dan mengurangi penyebaran penyakit ini, salah satunya adalah daun sirih merah (Piper ornatum). Studi literatur ini digunakan untuk mendapatkan berbagai informasi terkait pengaruh daun sirih merah sebagai salah satu desinfektan alami untuk mencegah penyebaran penyakit COVID-19. Referensi didapatkan dari textbook, jurnal ilmiah, artikel ilmiah, serta berbagai data yang disediakan dari badan resmi. Hasil studi ditemukan, bahwa ekstrak daun sirih merah berpotensi sebagai bahan desinfektan alami untuk mencegah penyebaran penyakit melalui penghambatan reproduksi virus karena adanya kandungan fenol seperti flavonoid dan tannin

Calculating the Expected Value of Sample Information in Practice: Considerations from Three Case Studies

Investing efficiently in future research to improve policy decisions is an important goal. Expected Value of Sample Information (EVSI) can be used to select the specific design and sample size of a proposed study by assessing the benefit of a range of different studies. Estimating EVSI with the standard nested Monte Carlo algorithm has a notoriously high computational burden, especially when using a complex decision model or when optimizing over study sample sizes and designs. Therefore, a number of more efficient EVSI approximation methods have been developed. However, these approximation methods have not been compared and therefore their relative advantages and disadvantages are not clear. A consortium of EVSI researchers, including the developers of several approximation methods, compared four EVSI methods using three previously published health economic models. The examples were chosen to represent a range of real-world contexts, including situations with multiple study outcomes, missing data, and data from an observational rather than a randomized study. The computational speed and accuracy of each method were compared, and the relative advantages and implementation challenges of the methods were highlighted. In each example, the approximation methods took minutes or hours to achieve reasonably accurate EVSI estimates, whereas the traditional Monte Carlo method took weeks. Specific methods are particularly suited to problems where we wish to compare multiple proposed sample sizes, when the proposed sample size is large, or when the health economic model is computationally expensive. All the evaluated methods gave estimates similar to those given by traditional Monte Carlo, suggesting that EVSI can now be efficiently computed with confidence in realistic examples.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Characterization of the F94L Double Muscling Mutation in Pure- and Crossbred Limousin Animals

The objective of this study was to investigate the nature of the effect of the F94L variant in the myostatin (MSTN) gene on economic traits in Limousin and Limousin-Angus crossbred animals in the context of genomic analyses using Illumina BovineSNP50 Bead chip genotypes