Heidegger Today: On Jeff Kochan's Science as Social Existence

Book review of: Jeff Kochan (2017), Science as Social Existence: Heidegger and the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (Cambridge UK: Open Book Publishers)

The Politics of Death:On Life after the ‘End of History'.

In this paper, the most recent writings by Giorgio Agamben and Bruno Latour are brought into dialog by examining what light they shed on contemporary debates concerning “end of life” decisions. More specifically, the paper focuses on the debates sparked by Diane Pretty's request for a grant of immunity against legal prosecution if her husband were to assist her to commit suicide and so terminate her increasingly unbearable suffering from motor neurone disease. The aim of this exercise is to articulate the presuppositions informing two influential and radically opposed views on the contemporary reconfiguration of relationships between humans, animals and other non-humans

Caveat Emptor:On Time, Death and History in Late Modernity

This article focuses on 'revivalism' and 'resurrectionism'. While the former is a sociological label for contemporary rituals of dying and death, the latter is a label for contemporary practices of historiographical representation. By exploring the formal and substantive similarities between 'revivalism' and 'resurrectionism', this study offers a speculative reflection on the relationship between time, death and history in late modernity

High Voltage System for the Generation of High Energy X-rays: synchronization and improvement

The x-ray (3 keV - 25 keV) are produced by high voltage discharge applied inside plasma source interaction chamber by focusing a laser beam. The control system is based on a high voltage power supply and an LC-inverter circuit with Thyratron, the generation of the trigger signal increasing the efficiency of the system. Analysis of the system, a possible layout with solid-state element and preliminary results of synchronization between high voltage discharge and Laser beam Nd-YAG are presented and discussed

Study of biological effects by ultra-soft X rays on V79 cell line: preliminary results

Radiobiological studies essentially focuse on DNA damage, according to a dose-dependant approach. The use of ultra-soft X-rays (500 eV) allows us to determine the biological effects from the damage on peripheral and cytoplasmatic structures, such as plasmatic membrane and organelles, without DNA is involved directly by radiation. The in vitro model chosen is V79 cell line (isolated from the lung of a normal Chinese Hamster). To reach this aim, we have developed: • an experimental layout to obtain ultra-soft X rays from monocromatic spherical mirror (500eV) and a second apparatus based on a plane copper mirror at grazing angular incidence (300-510 eV); • a custom biological sample holder, in order to be trasparent to X rays and visible light and realized by biocompatible materials; • analysis methods based on mycroscopy observation with appropriate set-up and study of different end-points as viability assay and ROS detection. In this article, we present the preliminary results and apparatus

What's in a name?:On affect, value and the bio-economy

This paper examines the argument that the contemporary convergence of economy and species existence signals the emergence of a novel and distinctive formation, the “bio-economy”. It does by focusing on the role that the preservation of three breeds of sheep, the Xisqueta, the Sambucana and the Herdwick, plays in the renewal of agricultural communities in the Catalan Pyrenees, the Maritime Alps and the Lake District. In so doing, the paper not only draws attention the importance of affective relations to the emergence of bio-economic relationships, but also brings the value attached to the encounter of human and non-human animals into dialogue with an understanding of the same assemblage as an intensive field. The paper thus contributes to ongoing discussions about diverse forms of economic valuation and their production