Reinventing Liberalism

In this article I describe how neoliberal hegemony is a deeply disseminated governing rationality that puts the economy at the centre of society, its institutions, and human understanding and action. I argue that if neoliberal rationality and the homo economicus remain at the centre of human understanding and action, the erosion of the institutions, values, and morality organised by non-market rationalities will persevere. I approach this problem by exploring the essentially Christian roots through which the modern Western individual was invented. The acknowledgement and understanding of these religious and moral roots can open up a new perspective of reinventing liberalism and formulating a comprehensive morality for the future

Robustness of prediction for extreme adaptive optics systems under various observing conditions: An analysis using VLT/SPHERE adaptive optics data

For high-contrast imaging (HCI) systems, such as VLT/SPHERE, the performance of the system at small angular separations is contaminated by the wind-driven halo in the science image. This halo is a result of the servo-lag error in the adaptive optics (AO) system due to the finite time between measuring the wavefront phase and applying the phase correction. One approach to mitigating the servo-lag error is predictive control. We aim to estimate and understand the potential on-sky performance that linear data-driven prediction would provide for VLT/SPHERE under various turbulence conditions. We used a linear minimum mean square error predictor and applied it to 27 different AO telemetry data sets from VLT/SPHERE taken over many nights under various turbulence conditions. We evaluated the performance of the predictor using residual wavefront phase variance as a performance metric. We show that prediction always results in a reduction in the temporal wavefront phase variance compared to the current VLT/SPHERE AO performance. We find an average improvement factor of 5.1 in phase variance for prediction compared to the VLT/SPHERE residuals. When comparing to an idealised VLT/SPHERE, we find an improvement factor of 2.0. Under our 27 different cases, we find the predictor results in a smaller spread of the residual temporal phase variance. Finally, we show there is no benefit to including spatial information in the predictor in contrast to what might have been expected from the frozen flow hypothesis. A purely temporal predictor is best suited for AO on VLT/SPHERE

Battle of the Predictive Wavefront Controls: Comparing Data and Model-Driven Predictive Control for High Contrast Imaging

Ground-based high contrast exoplanet imaging requires state-of-the-art adaptive optics (AO) systems in order to detect extremely faint planets next to their brighter host stars. For such extreme AO systems (with high actuator count deformable mirrors over a small field of view), the lag time of the correction (which can impact our system by the amount the wavefront has changed by the time the system is able to apply the correction) which can be anywhere from ~1-5 milliseconds, can cause wavefront errors on spatial scales that lead to speckles at small angular separations from the central star in the final science image. One avenue for correcting these aberrations is predictive control, wherein previous wavefront information is used to predict the future state of the wavefront in one-system-lag's time, and this predicted state is applied as a correction with a deformable mirror. Here, we consider two methods for predictive control: data-driven prediction using empirical orthogonal functions and the physically-motivated predictive Fourier control. The performance and robustness of these methods have not previously been compared side-by-side. In this paper, we compare these predictors by applying them as post-facto methods to simulated atmospheres and on-sky telemetry, to investigate the circumstances in which their performance differs, including testing them under different wind speeds, C_n^2 profiles, and time lags. We also discuss future plans for testing both algorithms on the Santa Cruz Extreme AO Laboratory (SEAL) testbed

Influence of glutaraldehyde fixation of cells adherent to solid substrata on their detachment during exposure to shear stress

In order to determine the response of fixed and nonfixed cells adherent to a solid substratum to shear stress, human fibroblasts were allowed to adhere and spread on either hydrophilic glass or hydrophobic Fluoroethylene-propylene (FEP-Teflon) and fixed with glutaraldehyde. Then, the cells were exposed to an incrementally loaded shear stress in a parallel plate flow chamber up to shear stresses of about 500 dynes/cm2, followed by exposure to a liquid-air interface passage. The cellular detachment was compared with the one of nonfixed cells. In case of fixed cells, 50% of the adhering cells detached from FEP-Teflon at a shear stress of 350 dynes/cm2, whereas 50% of the adhering, nonfixed cells detached already at a shear stress of 20 dynes/cm2. No fixed cells detached from glass for shear stresses up to at least 500 dynes/cm2. More than 50% of the nonfixed cells were detached from glass at a shear stress of 350 dynes/cm2. Furthermore, the shape and morphology of fixed cells did not change during the incrementally loaded flow, in contrast to the ones of nonfixed cells, which clearly rounded up prior to detachment.</p

Modern Russian informational technologies of enterprise management. Platform 1C

The history of the development of the 1C program is briefly described. The topic of licensing and product safety was touched upon. Little is said about the corporate line and the new direction of 1C: EnterpriseDevelopmentTools. Also get acquainted with the products of 1C:ManufacturingEnterpriseManagement and 1C:EnterpriseResourcesPlanning

Magnesium sulfate in aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Magnesium reverses cerebral vasospasm and reduces infarct volume after experimental subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in rats. We aimed to assess whether magnesium reduces the frequency of delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) in patients with aneurysmal SAH. METHODS: Patients were randomized within 4 days after SAH. Magnesium sulfate therapy consisted of a continuous intravenous dose of 64 mmol/L per day, to be started within 4 days after SAH and continued until 14 days after occlusion of the aneurysm. The primary outcome DCI (defined as the occurrence of a new hypodense lesion on computed tomography compatible with clinical features of DCI) was analyzed according to the "on-treatment" principle. For the secondary outcome measures "poor outcome" (Rankin >3) and "excellent outcome" (Rankin 0), we used the "intention-to-treat" principle. RESULTS: A total of 283 patients were randomized. Magnesium treatment reduced the risk of DCI by 34% (hazard ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.38 to 1.14). After 3 months, the risk reduction for poor outcome was 23% (risk ratio, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.54 to 1.09). At that time, 18 patients in the treatment group and 6 in the placebo group had an excellent outcome (risk ratio, 3.4; 95% CI, 1.3 to 8.9). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that magnesium reduces DCI and subsequent poor outcome, but the results are not yet definitive. A next step should be a phase III trial to confirm the beneficial effect of magnesium therapy, with poor outcome as primary outcom

Stress of conscience of COVID-19 among perianaesthesia nurses having worked in a COVID-ICU during the coronavirus pandemic:an international perspective

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported that working in a COVID-ICU impacted nurses’ mental well-being. Yet little is known about how perianaesthesia nurses who have been working in a COVID-ICU perceived their stress of conscience. The aim of this study was to: (1) describe and compare stress related to troubled conscience among perianaesthesia nurses in three countries who have been working in a COVID-ICU during the pandemic, (2) compare their levels of troubled conscience between working in a COVID-ICU and their usual workplace, and (3) compare nurses that usually work in an ICU department with nurses who usually work outside of the ICU. METHODS: A descriptive, international cross‐sectional online survey including the Stress of Conscience Questionnaire (SCQ) was distributed between organizational member countries of the International Collaboration of PeriAnaesthesia Nurses. RESULTS: A total of 246 nurses from three countries participated. Significant differences were found in stress of conscience when working in the Covid-ICU between Sweden 31.8 (8.6), Denmark 23.1 (8.6), and Netherlands 16.4 (6.5) p < 0.001. Significant differences were also found between nurses working in a COVID-ICU in contrast with their usual workplace: 23.1(5.6) versus 17.7(5.3), p < 0.001. The most stressful aspect of conscience reported was that work in the COVID-ICU was so demanding, nurses did not have sufficient energy to be involved with their family as much as they desired. No statistical differences were found between nurses that usually work in an ICU department with nurses who usually work outside of the ICU. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted stress of conscience among nurses working in the COVID-ICU. Swedish nurses were found to be more significantly impacted. This could be related to low numbers of existing ICU beds and ICU nurses prior to the pandemic necessitating a longer time required for working in a COVID-ICU. Stress of conscience also increased when working in the Covid-ICU compared to working in the usual workplace, and the most stressing aspect reported was that COVID-ICU work was so demanding that nurses did not have the energy to devote themselves to their family as they would have liked

Rapid Miocene Exhumation to the East of the Tauern Window

The Eastern Alps were substantially shaped by northward movement of the Dolomites Indenter and eastward extrusion of the orogenic wedge in front of the indenter. A resulting sinistral wrench zone runs through the western Tauern Window (TW) and continues along the Salzach-Ennstal-Mariazell-Puchberg Fault (SEMP) eastward. Low-T thermochronological studies demonstrate rapid Miocene cooling of the TW units from ≥ 350 °C to below ~ 80 °C due to folding and coeval erosion. Thermochronologic ages in the Eastern Tauern Window range between 12 Ma to 22 Ma for the zircon fission track chronometer (partial annealing zone (PAZ) ~ 200 – 350°C, e.g., Tagami et al., 1996) and 5 Ma to 13 Ma for the apatite (U-Th)/He chronometer (partial retention zone (PRZ) ~ 40 – 80°C, Stockli et al., 2000). Ages for the zircon (U-Th)/He and apatite fission track chronometers fall in between. Along the eastern margin of the TW, the extensional Katschberg Fault-System (KFS) decoupled the Gurktal Block (GB) in its hanging wall from folding. The KFS was active between 20 and 17 Ma, in the early Miocene (Scharf et al., 2016). A late reactivation phase is demonstrated by reset or partially reset zircon and apatite fission track ages within the footwall towards the fault, yielding Late Miocene to Pliocene ages (Bertrand et al., 2017). A similar younging trend is observed within the TW towards the Brenner Fault in the western TW. The GB in the hanging wall of the KFS preserves a rapid Cretaceous and Eocene cooling through the zircon fission track PAZ and rapid Oligocene to Miocene cooling through the apatite fission track PAZ (Wölfler et al., 2023). The Niedere Tauern (NT), north of the GB and south of the SEMP line, seem to be structurally closely linked to the TW. They show a similar rapid Miocene cooling history and an intervening Cenozoic structure between the TW and the NT is missing. Published apatite fission track ages range between 14 Ma and 24 Ma (apatite PAZ ~ 60 – 100°C, Wagner et al., 1989). Published apatite (U-Th)/He ages from the southern boundary of the NT range between 6 Ma and 7 Ma, indicating a Late Miocene cooling below ~ 80 °C (Wölfler et al., 2016). Our (U-Th)/He analysis from the interiour of the NT revealed ages of around 20 Ma to 23 Ma (zircon (U-Th)/He), and 11 Ma to 22 Ma (apatite (U-Th)/He). Published apatite fission track ages fall in between and partly overlap with our results. This demonstrates a rapid cooling pulse in the Miocene, exhuming at least the western part of the NT from ≥ 200 °C to below ~ 80 °C. Published AHe ages of ~ 6 Ma along the southern margin of the NT might relate to late Miocene normal faulting along the complex Murtal Fault-System (MFS). A pronounced jump towards older thermochronologic ages in the Seckauer Tauern, east of the Pöls fault and extensional structures along this fault indicate a structural decoupling of the western NT from the Seckauer Tauern. In this contribution, we discuss the linkage between TW and N T and characterize in greater detail the exhumation history along the eastern wrench zone