The ethics of forgetting in an age of pervasive computing

In this paper, we examine the potential of pervasive computing to create widespread sousveillance, that will complement surveillance, through the development of lifelogs; socio-spatial archives that document every action, every event, every conversation, and every material expression of an individual’s life. Examining lifelog projects and artistic critiques of sousveillance we detail the projected mechanics of life-logging and explore their potential implications. We suggest, given that lifelogs have the potential to convert exterior generated oligopticons to an interior panopticon, that an ethics of forgetting needs to be developed and built into the development of life-logging technologies. Rather than seeing forgetting as a weakness or a fallibility we argue that it is an emancipatory process that will free pervasive computing from burdensome and pernicious disciplinary effects

Predicting protein stability and solubility changes upon mutations: data perspective

Understanding mutational effects on protein stability and solubility is of particular importance for creating industrially relevant biocatalysts, resolving mechanisms of many human diseases, and producing efficient biopharmaceuticals, to name a few. Forin silicopredictions, the complexity of the underlying processes and increasing computational capabilities favor the use of machine learning. However, this approach requires sufficient training data of reasonable quality for making precise predictions. This minireview aims to summarize and scrutinize available mutational datasets commonly used for training predictors. We analyze their structure and discuss the possible directions of improvement in terms of data size, quality, and availability. We also present perspectives on the development of mutational data for accelerating the design of efficient predictors, introducing two new manually curated databases FireProt(DB)and SoluProtMut(DB)for protein stability and solubility, respectively

Belfast Without Sight: Exploring Geographies of Blindness

In this paper (he transformed spaces of visually impaired and blind people is explored through a detailed analysis of interview transcripts with twenty seven visually impaired people living in or around Belfast. Data were collected using a structured open-ended interview and were analysed within NUD-IST, a qualitative data analysis package. Analysis revealed that visually impaired people become spatially confused (e.g. lost or disorientated) for two primary reasons. "Self-produced" confusion is spatial confusion caused by the misperception/miscognition of a route (e.g. miscounting intersections). "Situational" confusion is spatial confusion caused by a permanent or temporary localised occurrences such as road works, vehicles parked on pavements, and street furniture. Both types of spatial confusion were found to induce feelings of fear and anxiety, leading to a loss of selfconfidence, embarrassment and frustration, which in turn led to less independent travel and exploration, and constrained patterns of spatial behaviour. Respondents detailed a number of strategies for coping with spatial confusion. In addition, they assessed methods to make Belfast more navigable including environmental modifications and orientation and mobility aid

The Effect of Spatial Tasks on Visually Impaired Peoples' Wayfinding Abilities

Thirty-eight people with visual impairments learned a 483-meter novel route through a university campus in four groups: verbalization, modeling, pointing, and control. The performance of all four groups improved with greater experience of the route, but the modeling group improved more than did the control group

Geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic

The spread of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in the most devastating global public health crisis in over a century. At present, over 10 million people from around the world have contracted the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), leading to more than 500,000 deaths globally. The global health crisis unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic has been compounded by political, economic, and social crises that have exacerbated existing inequalities and disproportionately affected the most vulnerable segments of society. The global pandemic has had profoundly geographical consequences, and as the current crisis continues to unfold, there is a pressing need for geographers and other scholars to critically examine its fallout. This introductory article provides an overview of the current special issue on the geographies of the COVID-19 pandemic, which includes 42 commentaries written by contributors from across the globe. Collectively, the contributions in this special issue highlight the diverse theoretical perspectives, methodological approaches, and thematic foci that geographical scholarship can offer to better understand the uneven geographies of the Coronavirus/COVID-19. </jats:p

Atopy in HIV-infected children in Pretoria

Introduction. The development or aggravation of a pre-existingatopic state in patients with human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) has not been thoroughly investigated in South Africa.HIV-infected adults have been shown to have a higherprevalence of atopy in some international studies, but this hasnot been documented in children.Methods. A prospective convenience sample of 50 childrenaged between 3 months and 12 years attending the TshwaneDistrict Hospital Paediatric HIV clinic in Pretoria wasrecruited. Their personal and family histories of atopy, WorldHealth Organization (WHO) HIV clinical staging and Centersfor Disease Control (CDC) immunological staging with CD4counts were documented. An age- and sex-matched controlgroup of 50 HIV-negative children was included. Skin pricktests (SPTs) to identify common aeroallergens were conductedon all patients.Results. One hundred children were enrolled, with 50 in eachgroup. Ten per cent of the HIV-infected patients comparedwith 16% of controls had positive SPTs to aeroallergens. Ahigher percentage of the HIV-infected patients had chronicrhinitis and eczema (60% and 68%, respectively). Therewas no relationship between CD4 count and positive SPTs(p=0.61), mean log CD4 count and presence of reportedasthma (p=0.71), and CD4 count and presence of reporteddermatitis (p=0.84). The CD4 count was not statisticallydifferent between children with and without a family historyof atopy (p=0.68).Conclusion. It appears that the stage of HIV disease does notinfluence the development or expression of allergy. There is a high prevalence of dermatitis and chronic rhinitis in HIVinfectedchildren, probably not atopic in origin