Editorial: Videos in der (Hochschul-)Lehre

24.04.2014 | Thomas Antretter, Johannes Dorfinger, Martin Ebner, Michael Kopp, Walther Nagler, Jutta Pauschenwein, Michael Raunig, Manfred Rechberger, Herwig Rehatschek, Patrick Schweighofer, Reinhard Staber & Martin Teufel (Graz

The autonomous city: towards a critical geography of occupation

This paper explores the recent resurgence of occupation-based practices across the globe, from the seizure of public space to the assembling of improvised protest camps. It re-examines the relationship between the figure of occupation and the affirmation of an alternative ‘right to the city’. The paper develops a critical understanding of occupation as a political process that prefigures and materializes the social order which it seeks to enact. The paper highlights the constituent role of occupation as an autonomous form of urban dwelling, as a radical politics of infrastructure and as a set of relations that produce common spaces for political action

Comparative analytical performance of multiple plasma Aβ42 and Aβ40 assays and their ability to predict positron emission tomography amyloid positivity

INTRODUCTION: This report details the approach taken to providing a dataset allowing for analyses on the performance of recently developed assays of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides in plasma and the extent to which they improve the prediction of amyloid positivity. METHODS: Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative plasma samples with corresponding amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) data were run on six plasma Aβ assays. Statistical tests were performed to determine whether the plasma Aβ measures significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting amyloid PET status compared to age and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. RESULTS: The age and APOE genotype model predicted amyloid status with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.75. Three assays improved AUCs to 0.81, 0.81, and 0.84 (P < .05, uncorrected for multiple comparisons). DISCUSSION: Measurement of Aβ in plasma contributes to addressing the amyloid component of the ATN (amyloid/tau/neurodegeneration) framework and could be a first step before or in place of a PET or cerebrospinal fluid screening study. HIGHLIGHTS: The Foundation of the National Institutes of Health Biomarkers Consortium evaluated six plasma amyloid beta (Aβ) assays using Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative samples. Three assays improved prediction of amyloid status over age and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. Plasma Aβ42/40 predicted amyloid positron emission tomography status better than Aβ42 or Aβ40 alone

In the social factory? Immaterial labour, precariousness and cultural work

This article introduces a special section concerned with precariousness and cultural work. Its aim is to bring into dialogue three bodies of ideas -- the work of the autonomous Marxist 'Italian laboratory'; activist writings about precariousness and precarity; and the emerging empirical scholarship concerned with the distinctive features of cultural work, at a moment when artists, designers and (new) media workers have taken centre stage as a supposed 'creative class' of model entrepreneurs. The paper is divided into three sections. It starts by introducing the ideas of the autonomous Marxist tradition, highlighting arguments about the autonomy of labour, informational capitalism and the 'factory without walls', as well as key concepts such as multitude and immaterial labour. The impact of these ideas and of Operaismo politics more generally on the precarity movement is then considered in the second section, discussing some of the issues that have animated debate both within and outside this movement, which has often treated cultural workers as exemplifying the experiences of a new 'precariat'. In the third and final section of the paper we turn to the empirical literature about cultural work, pointing to its main features before bringing it into debate with the ideas already discussed. Several points of overlap and critique are elaborated -- focusing in particular on issues of affect, temporality, subjectivity and solidarity

Incorporating radiomics into clinical trials: expert consensus on considerations for data-driven compared to biologically-driven quantitative biomarkers

Existing Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers (QIBs) are associated with known biological tissue characteristics and follow a well-understood path of technical, biological and clinical validation before incorporation into clinical trials. In radiomics, novel data-driven processes extract numerous visually imperceptible statistical features from the imaging data with no a priori assumptions on their correlation with biological processes. The selection of relevant features (radiomic signature) and incorporation into clinical trials therefore requires additional considerations to ensure meaningful imaging endpoints. Also, the number of radiomic features tested means that power calculations would result in sample sizes impossible to achieve within clinical trials. This article examines how the process of standardising and validating data-driven imaging biomarkers differs from those based on biological associations. Radiomic signatures are best developed initially on datasets that represent diversity of acquisition protocols as well as diversity of disease and of normal findings, rather than within clinical trials with standardised and optimised protocols as this would risk the selection of radiomic features being linked to the imaging process rather than the pathology. Normalisation through discretisation and feature harmonisation are essential pre-processing steps. Biological correlation may be performed after the technical and clinical validity of a radiomic signature is established, but is not mandatory. Feature selection may be part of discovery within a radiomics-specific trial or represent exploratory endpoints within an established trial; a previously validated radiomic signature may even be used as a primary/secondary endpoint, particularly if associations are demonstrated with specific biological processes and pathways being targeted within clinical trials

SPINART study : validation of the extended magnetic resonance imaging scale for evaluation of joint status in adult patients with severe haemophilia A using baseline data

Introduction: Most previous joint imaging scales for haemophilia have focused on earlier disease stages observed in younger patients. Aim: We sought to demonstrate that the 45-item extended magnetic resonance imaging (eMRI) scale is a valid instrument for measuring joint status in adults with severe haemophilia A. Methods: Six scale categories (effusion/haemarthrosis, synovial hypertrophy, hemosiderin, erosion, subchondral cysts and cartilage loss) in two domains (soft tissue [range = 0–9] and osteochondral [range = 0–36]) were evaluated for each joint. eMRI scores were derived using baseline data from a randomized, controlled, parallel-group clinical trial (SPINART). Quantitative analysis of linearity included assessments of the relationship between scores derived from the eMRI scale vs. the 17-point International Prophylaxis Study Group (IPSG) MRI scale and Colorado Adult Joint Assessment Scale (CAJAS). Results: Patient eMRI scores correlated with age (r = 0.58), consistent with the expectation of arthropathy progression and more severe joint changes in older patients. eMRI scores demonstrated excellent between-reader agreement for overall patient score (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.88) and outstanding agreement for knee evaluations (ICC = 0.95). There was a strong linear relationship of the eMRI score with the CAJAS (r = 0.7). Adding individual bone evaluations for each joint increased the sensitivity of the instrument to detect change at low scores. There was minimal ceiling effect (5% maximum scores for all evaluated joints) compared with the IPSG MRI scale (20%). Internal reliability was good (overall Cronbach's alpha = 0.75). Conclusions: Overall, the eMRI scale represents a valid and reliable measure of joint status in adolescents and adults with severe haemophilia A

Commentary on Werner Kofler's prose work

Das Projekt begleitet die gedruckte und kommentierte Werkausgabe (Prosa) des österreichischen Schriftstellers Werner Kofler. Es ergänzt den gedruckten Stellenkommentar um vertiefende Materialien und einen mehrschichtigen Zugang zu den vorhandenen Inhalten.The project complements the printed commented prose work of the Austrian writer Werner Kofler. It complements the printed commentary with additional materials and a multilayered access to the existing content

The Last Resident

Hardly a gray matter of catching the spirit of our present. From the sun-drenched-ness of the Dubaian atmosphere, to the feathery encounter in a secret printing workshop, words and materials are discreetly—spectrally, outspokenly—put forward: a bunch of residents cruising the seas of nine temporary realities, the result of an ongoing swapping of facts and speculations from the earthly realm. At one end of the spectrum, players, voyagers, entering the machinery (cacophony) of thought processing. At the other, the anchoring point, The Last Resident, one who opens a possible scene