Who owns the city? China Miéville’s The City and the city as an urban Gothic dystopia

The paper considers China Miéville’s novel The City and The City from the point of view of geography of space suggesting that the capital is the dominating force that shapes urban reality. The novel builds on the traditional Victorian Gothic ideas of the city as a place of dual existence and exploits the topoi of the noir, but instead of focusing on the individual and the issues of psychological doubling and existential plights of a detective, it is more concerned with the modes of production and the way that capitalism continuously re-invents itself by its use of space without making itself known. The plot elements and aesthetics of film noir add to the mystery of murder, of the twin cities’ identity, and highlight the false consciousness of the masses which enables the ideology’s effectiveness

An automated classification system for leukocyte morphology in acute myeloid Leukemia

Diagnosis of hematological malignancies and of acute myeloid leukemia in particular have undergone wide-ranging advances in recent years, driven by an increasingly detailed knowledge of its underlying biological and genetic mechanisms. Nevertheless, cytomorphologic evaluation of samples of peripheral blood and bone marrow is still an integral part of the routine diagnostic workup. Microscopic analysis of these samples has so far defied automation and is still mainly performed by human cytologists manually classifying and counting relevant cell populations. Access to this diagnostic modality is therefore limited by the number and availability of educated cytologists. Furthermore, its results rest on judgments of examiners, which may vary according to their education and experience, rendering rigorous quantification and standardization of the method difficult. In this thesis, an approach to cytomorphologic classification is presented that aims to harness recent advances in computational image classification for leukocyte differentiation using Deep Learning techniques that derive from the domain of Artificial Intelligence. In a first stage of the project, peripheral blood smear samples from both AML patients and controls were scanned using techniques from digital pathology. Experienced cytologists from the Laboratory of Leukemia Diagnostics at the LMU Klinikum annotated the digitized samples according to a scheme of 15 morphological categories derived from standard routine diagnostics. The resulting set of over 18,000 annotated single-cell images is the largest public database of leukocyte morphologies in leukemia available today. In a second step, the compiled dataset was used to develop a neural network that is able to classify leukocytes into the standard morphological scheme. Evaluation of network predictions show that the network performs well at the classification task for most clinically relevant categories, with an error pattern similar to that of human examiners. The network can also be employed to answer two questions of immediate clinical relevance, namely if a given single-cell image shows a blast-like cell, or if it belongs to the set of atypical cells which are not present in peripheral blood smears under physiological conditions. At these questions, the network is found to show similar and slightly better performance compared to the human examiner. These results show the potential of Deep Learning techniques in the field of hematological diagnostics and suggest avenues for their further development as a helpful tool of leukemia diagnostics.In der Diagnostik hämatologischer Erkrankungen wie der akuten myeloischen Leukämie haben sich in den vergangenen Jahren bedeutende Fortschritte ergeben, die vor allem auf einem vertieften Verständnis ihrer biologischen und genetischen Ursachen beruhen. Trotzdem spielt die zytomorphologische Untersuchung von Blut- und Knochenmarkspräparaten nach wie vor eine zentrale Rolle in der diagnostischen Aufarbeitung. Die mikroskopische Begutachtung dieser Präparate konnte bisher nicht automatisiert werden und erfolgt nach wie vor durch menschliche Befunder, die eine manuelle Differentierung und Auszählung relevanter Zelltypen vornehmen. Daher ist der Zugang zu zytomorphologischen Untersuchungen durch die Zahl verfügbarer zytologischer Befunder begrenzt. Darüber hinaus beruht die Beurteilung der Präparate auf der individuellen Einschätzung der Befunder und ist somit von deren Ausbildung und Erfahrung abhängig, was eine standardisierte und quantitative Auswertung der Morphologie zusätzlich erschwert. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, ein computerbasiertes System zu entwickeln, die die morphologische Differenzierung von Leukozyten unterstützt. Zu diesem Zweck wird auf in den letzten Jahren entwickelte leistungsfähige Algorithmen aus dem Bereich der Künstlichen Intelligenz, insbesondere des sogenannten Tiefen Lernens zurückgegriffen. In einem ersten Schritt des Projekts wurden periphere Blutausstriche von AML-Patienten und Kontrollen mit Methoden der digitalen Pathologie erfasst. Erfahrene Befunder aus dem Labor für Leukämiediagnostik am LMU-Klinikum München annotierten die digitalisierten Präparate und differenzierten sie in ein 15-klassiges, aus der Routinediagnostik stammendes Standardschema. Auf diese Weise wurde mit über 18,000 morphologisch annotierten Leukozyten der aktuell größte öffentlich verfügbare Datensatz relevanter Einzelzellbilder zusammengestellt. In einer zweiten Phase des Projekts wurde dieser Datensatz verwendet, um Algorithmen vom Typ neuronaler Faltungsnetze zur Klassifikation von Einzelzellbilden zu trainieren. Eine Analyse ihrer Vorhersagen zeigt dass diese Netzwerke Einzelzellbilder der meisten Zellklassen sehr erfolgreich differenzieren können. Für falsch klassifizierte Bilder ähnelt ihr Fehlermuster dem menschlicher Befunder. Neben der Klassifikation einzelner Zellen erlauben die Netzwerke auch die Beantwortung gröberer, binärer Fragestellungen, etwa ob eine bestimmte Zelle blastären Charakter hat oder zu den morphologischen Klassen gehört die in einem peripheren Blutausstrich nicht unter physiologischen Bedingungen vorkommen. Bei diesen Fragen zeigen die Netzwerke eine ähnliche und leicht bessere Leistung als der menschliche Befunder. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit illustrieren das Potential von Methoden der künstlichen Intelligenz auf dem Gebiet der Hämatologie und eröffnen Möglichkeiten zu ihrer Weiterentwicklung zu einem praktischen Hilfsmittel der Leukämiediagnostik

Étude des modèles de texte sur l ’exemple de la note de service

The memo, a kind of company’s internal correspondence, is a very interesting material for investigation due to its highly formalised character. The linguistic analysis based on text models is aimed at arriving at the French standard of the memo. The first part of the article discusses basic aspects of text models. Next, a structural and formulative model of the French memo is presented. This model then undergoes a thorough linguistic analysis which is to show the interrelations between the participants of the communication act. Finally, the article concentrates on those elements of verbal communication which decide about proper understanding and, consequently, about the effectiveness of a given text

"ФЛОРЕНЦИЯ В МОСКВЕ" О. Э. МАНДЕЛЬШТАМА

U pjesmi "U raznoglasju djevojačkog kora..." ("V raznogolosice devičeskogo hora...", 1916.) Osip Emiljevič Mandeljštam (1891. – 1939.), "najmlađi i najsvojeglaviji" akmeist (R. Lauer), u kremaljskim crkvama zapaža njihov talijanski karakter. Tako moskovska katedralna crkva Uzašašća, Uspenski sabor (rus. Uspenskij sobor), nazvana "nježnom" ("Uspen\u27e nežnoe"), u njegovoj vizuri postaje i dio Italije, grada-rodnog mjesta renesanse, toskanskoga grada u kojem je živio i Dante. Upravo je Dante – nimalo slučajno – ruskom pjesniku bio "izvorište iz kojeg je potekla cijela europska poezija", kao što mu je i Sredozemlje bilo "sveta zemlja", kako svjedoči u autobiografiji Mandeljštamova žena Nadežda, njegova tiha suradnica i suputnica iz doba najgorih staljinističkih progona.В стихотворении В разноголосицe девического хора ... (1916) "самый младший и самый упрямый" акмеист (Р. Лауэр) О. Э. Мандельштам (1891-1939) в кремлёвских соборах усматривает их итальянский характер. Так, "Успенье нежное" – Успенский собор Московского Кремля, главный храм Московского государства – для поэта становится частью Италии, частью тосканского города-родины Возрождения, в котором жил и Данте. Мандельштам не случайно выбрал Данте, для Осипа Эмильевича Данте – "источник, от которого пошла вся европейская поэзия", так в своей автобиографии свидетельствует супруга Мандельштама Надежда Яковлевна, его тихая сотрудница и спутница в эпоху страшнейших сталинских репрессий

Usporedba dviju metoda razaranja biološkoga materijala za mjerenje selenija

The purpose of the study was to compare two methods for destruction of biological material for selenium (Se) analysis: wet digestion by conductive heating in programmed digestion block and digestion in microwave oven. In both methods samples were prepared in a closed system using nitric acid. Selenium was analysed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The results have shown that both methods are convenient for complete mineralisation and are accurate in determining selenium in a variety of foodstuffs. Microwave digestion, however, has the advantage of speed and simplicity over the conventional heating procedure.Priprema uzoraka kritična je faza određivanja elemenata u tragovima. Klasične metode razaranja biološkog materijala jesu mokro (digestijski blok) ili suho (mufolna peć) spaljivanje. Primjena mikrovalova u istu svrhu naglo raste tek osamdesetih godina. U ovom radu uspoređene su dvije metode mokrog razaranja biološkog materijala za kasniju analizu selenija (Se): razaranje u aluminijskom bloku i razaranje mikrovalovima. Postupak kod obje metode proveden je u zatvorenim posudama koncentriranom HNO3 suprapur čistoće. Obje metode validirane su određivanjem Se u standardnom referentnom materijalu istom metodom. Izmjereni rezultati uspoređeni su s referentnim vrijednostima. Točnost određena mjerenjem Se u referentnom materijalu spaljenom u bloku za digestiju iznosi 95,8%, odnosno 103,8% za spaljivanje u mikrovalnom uređaju. Relativna standardna devijacija (RSD), određena mjerenjem Se u 10 paralelno priređenih uzoraka, kretala se od 2,3 do 17,7% i od 3,8 do 6,0% ovisno o koncentraciji Se u ispitivanom materijalu. Može se zaključiti da su obje metode primjenjive za potpuno razaranje biološkog materijala za naknadnu analizu Se. Dakako, razaranje mikrovalovima ima prednost jer je sam postupak jednostavniji i brži

Going Home: Narrating Maturity and Safety in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and Nick Hornby’s How to Be Good

The paper explores the idea of home as treated in two dissimilar texts representing distinctive genres and literary traditions: Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun (1957) and Nick Hornby’s novel How to Be Good (2001). Hansberry’s male protagonist Walter and his African-American family are on a literal quest for their own home, which is at the same time Walter’s quest for maturity and his masculine identity. Hornby’s first-person narrator is Katie Carr, middle-class woman and a medical doctor, undergoing a mid-life crisis, expressed in her desire to get divorced and live alone, away from her everyday familial struggles and duties. Despite the two protagonists’ obvious contextual differences (gender, race, class) their journeys seem to converge at one point: both of them eventually come to find peace in domestic security. Focusing on issues of home, class, and gender, the analyses of these two texts point to the idea of home as a site of acceptance, inclusion, security, and maturity for the protagonists, despite the fact that home is, and remains, a political space. Both play and novel depict their respective protagonists in reversed gender roles, possibly suggesting that most of the existing criticism connected to home and gender overlooks the possibility that home, although inevitably political, may still be a place of refuge, safety, and even personal growth. Both texts signify the universal importance of home, which gives their protagonists roots and safety (regardless of gender) symbolized in the forms of a material home (a house), and the mental states of home (a sense of belonging to one’s family) and homeliness

No Country for Old X-Men: The Aging Hero in No Country for Old Men and Logan

The American Western is imbued with a particular elasticity, which allowed it to stay relevant for decades. One of the recent developments in the genre seems to be its focus on the aging frontiersman – a hero past its prime. A faithful adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s 2005 novel, the Coen brothers’ eponymous film No Country for Old Men (2007), departs from the traditional Western by outlining an aging lawman, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, struggling to live up to his role. Similarly, James Mangold’s Logan (2017) forces the titular pop-cultural superhero icon to endure the deconstruction of its archetypal alter ego, the Wolverine. The underlying themes of the two films intersect, representing their aging protagonists both as evocations of their own previous, abler selves, and as elderly frontiersmen in a world with hardly any space for aged (super)heroes. Their fluctuating identities challenge the traditional, idealistic representations of patriarchal Western heroes by introducing a more realistic and complex concept of an aging hero both into the universe of the neo-Western genre and into popular culture