1,776 research outputs found
Geographies of digital skill.
In an era of rapid technological change, especially considering the rise of robotics and AI, there is widespread anxiety about the impacts of digital technologies across a vast range of industries. Policy responses to this changing employment landscape champion the necessity for growing ‘digital skills’. However, we argue that these dominant macropolitical interpretations draw on a restricted understanding of spatiality where digital skills are discretely located in particular bodies and in particular geographical locations. The paper develops a novel geographical response through an exploration of the micropolitics of digital skills. This focuses on the material and practical dimensions of work with digital technologies that produces a more dynamic spatiality and thus a more complex politics of labour. We argue that the dynamic spatiality of digital skills can be evaluated according to: (1) site-specific dimensions, as digital skills are co-minglings of humans and technologies; (2) extensive dimensions, as digital skills are networked across geographically dispersed sites; and (3) intensive dimensions, as digital skills emerge across bodies and environments through repetitive practices. This analysis suggests that policy declarations of digital skills ‘shortages’ are problematic, since they overlook the contested and shifting forms of enablement and constraint that labour practices involving digital technologies give rise to. Unpacking this labour politics therefore requires geographical approaches that are adept at grasping these complex spatialities of labour
Geographies of digital skill
In an era of rapid technological change, especially considering the rise of robotics and AI, there is widespread anxiety about the impacts of digital technologies across a vast range of industries. Policy responses to this changing employment landscape champion the necessity for growing ‘digital skills’. However, we argue that these dominant macropolitical interpretations draw on a restricted understanding of spatiality where digital skills are discretely located in particular bodies and in particular geographical locations. The paper develops a novel geographical response through an exploration of the micropolitics of digital skills. This focuses on the material and practical dimensions of work with digital technologies that produces a more dynamic spatiality and thus a more complex politics of labour. We argue that the dynamic spatiality of digital skills can be evaluated according to: (1) site-specific dimensions, as digital skills are co-minglings of humans and technologies; (2) extensive dimensions, as digital skills are networked across geographically dispersed sites; and (3) intensive dimensions, as digital skills emerge across bodies and environments through repetitive practices. This analysis suggests that policy declarations of digital skills ‘shortages’ are problematic, since they overlook the contested and shifting forms of enablement and constraint that labour practices involving digital technologies give rise to. Unpacking this labour politics therefore requires geographical approaches that are adept at grasping these complex spatialities of labour
Simulation of seismic events induced by CO2 injection at In Salah, Algeria
Date of Acceptance: 18/06/2015 Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the operators of the In Salah JV and JIP, BP, Statoil and Sonatrach, for providing the data shown in this paper, and for giving permission to publish. Midland Valley Exploration are thanked for the use of their Move software for geomechanical restoration. JPV is a Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Early Career Research Fellow (Grant NE/I021497/1) and ALS is funded by a NERC Partnership Research Grant (Grant NE/I010904).Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Apical polarity in three-dimensional culture systems: where to now?
Delineation of the mechanisms that establish and maintain the polarity of epithelial tissues is essential to understanding morphogenesis, tissue specificity and cancer. Three-dimensional culture assays provide a useful platform for dissecting these processes but, as discussed in a recent study in BMC Biology on the culture of mammary gland epithelial cells, multiple parameters that influence the model must be taken into account
Isotope shift measurements in the 2s1/2 → 2p3/2 transition of Be+ and extraction of the nuclear charge radii for 7,10,11Be
We have performed isotope shift measurements in the 2s1/2 → 2p3/2 transition of Be+ ions using advanced collinear laser spectroscopy with two counter-propagating laser beams. Measurements involving a frequency comb for laser stabilization and absolute frequency determination allowed us to determine the isotope shifts with an accuracy of 2 MHz. From the isotope shifts between 9Be and 7, 10, 11Be, high-accuracy mass shift calculations and the charge radius of the reference isotope 9Be we determined nuclear charge radii for the isotopes 7, 10Be and the one-neutron halo nucleus 11Be. The results are compared to nuclear-structure calculations using the fermionic molecular dynamics model which reproduce well the general trend of the radii. Decreasing charge radii from 7Be to 10Be are explained by the cluster structure of the nuclei. The increase from 10Be to 11Be is mainly caused by the halo neutron by which the 10Be core moves relative to the center of mass. Polarization of the 10Be core has only a small influence on the charge radius. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd
PARENCHYMAL CELLS FROM ADULT RAT LIVER IN NONPROLIFERATING MONOLAYER CULTURE : II. Ultrastructural Studies
Hepatic parenchymal cells from adult rats, established in vitro as a monolayer, have been evaluated by electron microscopy. Within 24 h after the initial seeding, the incubated cells were polygonal and in close apposition with three to six neighboring cells. The ultrastructure of the monolayer cells was examined at this time and after 3 and 10 days of incubation. With the exception of a few enlarged mitochondria, organelles in both the 1- and 3-day monolayer cells were indistinguishable quantitatively and morphologically from those found in the intact liver. After 10 days of incubation, however, the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (RER) had become dilated and vesiculated. In all cells studied, portions of RER were found in a close spatial relationship to mitochondria. From its frequency, this association appeared to be more than fortuitous, and the organelle complex may represent a functional unit necessary for new membrane formation, as suggested previously. The Golgi complexes of 1- and 3-day cells contained very low density lipoprotein-sized particles, which suggests that the monolayer cells synthesize lipoproteins. These electron microscope observations demonstrate that adult hepatic parenchymal cells in monolayer retain for several days the subcellular structural elements characteristic of normally functioning hepatocytes
Evaluating quality of life tools in North American patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria and X-linked protoporphyria.
BackgroundErythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) and X-linked Protoporphyria (XLP) are rare photodermatoses presenting with severe phototoxicity. Although anecdotally, providers who treat EPP patients acknowledge their life-altering effects, tools that fully capture their impact on quality of life (QoL) are lacking.MethodsAdult patients with EPP/XLP were given four validated QoL tools: the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System 57 (PROMIS-57), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQR), and an EPP-Specific tool. All patients received the PROMIS-57 while the HADS, IPQR, and EPP-Specific tools were introduced at a later date. Associations between responses and clinical phenotypes were explored.ResultsTwo hundred and two patients were included; 193 completed PROMIS-57, 104 completed IPQR, 103 completed HADS, and 107 completed the EPP-Specific tool. The IPQR showed that patients strongly believed EPP/XLP had a negative impact on their lives. Mean scores in anxiety and depression domains of both HADS and PROMIS-57 were normal; however, anxiety scores from HADS were borderline/abnormal in 20% of patients. The EPP-Specific tool revealed a decreased QoL in most patients. The PROMIS-57 showed that 21.8% of patients have clinically significant pain interference. Several tool domains correlated with measures of disease severity, most being from the PROMIS-57.ConclusionsImpaired QoL is an important consequence of EPP/XLP. PROMIS-57 was most sensitive in evaluating impaired QoL in EPP/XLP. Further research is needed to compare the effectiveness of it for assessing response to treatment
Nuclear Charge Radius of Be
The nuclear charge radius of Be was precisely determined using the
technique of collinear laser spectroscopy on the transition in the Be ion. The mean square charge radius increases
from Be to Be by \delta ^{10,12} = 0.69(5) \fm^{2}
compared to \delta ^{10,11} = 0.49(5) \fm^{2} for the
one-neutron halo isotope Be. Calculations in the fermionic molecular
dynamics approach show a strong sensitivity of the charge radius to the
structure of Be. The experimental charge radius is consistent with a
breakdown of the N=8 shell closure.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Spins, Electromagnetic Moments, and Isomers of 107-129Cd
The neutron-rich isotopes of cadmium up to the N=82 shell closure have been
investigated by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. Deep-UV excitation at 214.5
nm and radioactive-beam bunching provided the required experimental
sensitivity. Long-lived isomers are observed in 127Cd and 129Cd for the first
time. One essential feature of the spherical shell model is unambiguously
confirmed by a linear increase of the 11/2- quadrupole moments. Remarkably,
this mechanism is found to act well beyond the h11/2 shell
A new beamline for laser spin-polarization at ISOLDE
A beamline dedicated to the production of laser-polarized radioactive beams
has been constructed at ISOLDE, CERN. We present here different simulations
leading to the design and construction of the setup, as well as technical
details of the full setup and examples of the achieved polarizations for
several radioisotopes. Beamline simulations show a good transmission through
the entire line, in agreement with observations. Simulations of the induced
nuclear spin-polarization as a function of atom-laser interaction length are
presented for Na, [1] and for Ar, which is studied in this
work. Adiabatic spin rotation of the spin-polarized ensemble of atoms, and how
this influences the observed nuclear ensemble polarization, are also performed
for the same nuclei. For Ar, we show that multiple-frequency pumping
enhances the ensemble polarization by a factor 1.85, in agreement with
predictions from a rate equations model.
[1] J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys./174408400
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