A Genealogy of Power:The Portrayal of the US in Cold-War Themes Videogames

This article analyzes the relationship between power, knowledge, and an idea of American Exceptionalism in Cold War-themed videogames. The article focuses on three perspectives. The first section engages with how knowledge is positioned in videogames and what role it plays for shifting power dynamics. Next, it looks at the relationship between notable historio-political events—such as Ronald Reagan’s 1983 “Evil Empire” speech and the United States’ proposed Strategic Defence Initiative—and videogames to determine how historical knowledge is impacted when it is remediated in games. The third part of this article dicusses how Cold Warthemed videogames focusing on the US-American perspective embellish a hero who epitomizes and performs American Exceptionalism by establishing a notion of (moral) power that lies with the West. By connecting these three dimensions of knowledge and power in Cold War-themed videogames released between the 1980s and the present, this article suggests that videogames alter players’ perception of Cold War ideologies by associating the US with victory while vilifying the USSR and depicting Soviets as the losers in this conflict

Search for Gamma-ray Emission from Dark Matter Annihilation in the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Fermi Large Area Telescope

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the second-largest satellite galaxy of the Milky Way and is only 60 kpc away. As a nearby, massive, and dense object with relatively low astrophysical backgrounds, it is a natural target for dark matter indirect detection searches. In this work, we use six years of Pass 8 data from the Fermi Large Area Telescope to search for gamma-ray signals of dark matter annihilation in the SMC. Using data-driven fits to the gamma-ray backgrounds, and a combination of N-body simulations and direct measurements of rotation curves to estimate the SMC DM density profile, we found that the SMC was well described by standard astrophysical sources, and no signal from dark matter annihilation was detected. We set conservative upper limits on the dark matter annihilation cross section. These constraints are in agreement with stronger constraints set by searches in the Large Magellanic Cloud and approach the canonical thermal relic cross section at dark matter masses lower than 10 GeV in the $b\bar{b}$ and $\tau^+\tau^-$ channels.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures. Accepted by PR

Is bipolar I disorder heterogeneous?

Abstract. : Objectives: : The question whether bipolar I disorder should be subdivided into a preponderantly manic group (M) with no depression or only mild depression (Md) and a nuclear manic-depressive group (MD) has been rarely studied although the problem was raised more than 50 years ago. This paper seeks to elucidate this question by contributing further data. Methods: : 406 patients with mood disorders hospitalised at some time during the period 1959-1963 were followed-up every five years until 1985; mortality data were collected up to 1997. Data on episodes, outcome, suicides and attempted suicides, alcohol and substance abuse/dependence and long-term medication, as well as on personality (melancholic and manic type) were collected. Major mood disorders were subclassified according to their hospitalisation for depression (D) and/or mania (M). Results: : 30 manic patients (M/Md), 130 bipolar I (MD), 60 bipolar II patients (Dm) and 186 major depressive patients (D) were compared. The manic group differed from the bipolar I group in several variables: better school achievement, milder course of the illness (fewer recurrences), significantly less suicidality and a trend to less chronicity and more recovery. Manic patients required less long-term medication than bipolars and they differed in personality types from bipolars, the personality of manic patients being more often of the manic rather than the melancholic type, they were also more aggressive than bipolars. The family history data showed that the overall morbidity risk of first degree relatives of manic patients was significantly lower than that of bipolar patients. Conclusions: : In accord with several other studies our data point to the existence of a more manic (M/Md) group of bipolar subjects. The diagnosis predicts a better course, lower suicidality and fewer and different treatment needs than does nuclear bipolar I (MD) disorder. The M/Md groups, as clinically interesting subgroups of the mood spectrum, should become a target of further researc

A Genealogy of Power

This article analyzes the relationship between power, knowledge, and an idea of American Exceptionalism in Cold War-themed videogames. The article focuses on three perspectives. The first section engages with how knowledge is positioned in videogames and what role it plays for shifting power dynamics. Next, it looks at the relationship between notable historio-political events—such as Ronald Reagan's 1983 "Evil Empire" speech and the United States' proposed Strategic Defense Initiative—and videogames to determine how historical knowledge is impacted when it is remediated in games. The third part of this article discusses how Cold War-themed videogames focusing on the US-American perspective embellish a hero who epitomizes and performs American Exceptionalism by establishing a notion of (moral) power that lies with the West. By connecting these three dimensions of knowledge and power in Cold War-themed videogames released between the 1980s and the present, this article suggests that videogames alter players' perception of Cold War ideologies by associating the US with victory while vilifying the USSR and depicting Soviets as the losers in this conflict

OpenChemIE: An Information Extraction Toolkit For Chemistry Literature

Information extraction from chemistry literature is vital for constructing up-to-date reaction databases for data-driven chemistry. Complete extraction requires combining information across text, tables, and figures, whereas prior work has mainly investigated extracting reactions from single modalities. In this paper, we present OpenChemIE to address this complex challenge and enable the extraction of reaction data at the document level. OpenChemIE approaches the problem in two steps: extracting relevant information from individual modalities and then integrating the results to obtain a final list of reactions. For the first step, we employ specialized neural models that each address a specific task for chemistry information extraction, such as parsing molecules or reactions from text or figures. We then integrate the information from these modules using chemistry-informed algorithms, allowing for the extraction of fine-grained reaction data from reaction condition and substrate scope investigations. Our machine learning models attain state-of-the-art performance when evaluated individually, and we meticulously annotate a challenging dataset of reaction schemes with R-groups to evaluate our pipeline as a whole, achieving an F1 score of 69.5%. Additionally, the reaction extraction results of \ours attain an accuracy score of 64.3% when directly compared against the Reaxys chemical database. We provide OpenChemIE freely to the public as an open-source package, as well as through a web interface.Comment: To be submitted to the Journal of Chemical Information and Modelin

Understanding the margin squeeze: differentiation in fitness-related traits between central and trailing edge populations of Corallina officinalis

Assessing population responses to climate-related environmental change is key to understanding the adaptive potential of the species as a whole. Coralline algae are critical components of marine shallow water ecosystems where they function as important ecosystem engineers. Populations of the calcifying algae Corallina officinalis from the center (southern UK) and periphery (northern Spain) of the North Atlantic species natural distribution were selected to test for functional differentiation in thermal stress response. Physiological measurements of calcification, photosynthesis, respiration, growth rates, oxygen, and calcification evolution curves were performed using closed cell respirometry methods. Species identity was genetically confirmed via DNA barcoding. Through a common garden approach, we identified distinct vulnerability to thermal stress of central and peripheral populations. Southern populations showed a decrease in photosynthetic rate under environmental conditions of central locations, and central populations showed a decline in calcification rates under southern conditions. This shows that the two processes of calcification and photosynthesis are not as tightly coupled as previously assumed. How the species as whole will react to future climatic changes will be determined by the interplay of local environmental conditions and these distinct population adaptive traits.South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) IF/01413/2014/CP1217/CT0004 University of Portsmouthinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

MULHERES PRESAS ESTRANGEIRAS NO PERÍODO PANDÊMICO E DIREITOS HUMANOS: OLHARES A PARTIR DO DIREITO FRATERNO E DO PARADOXO DA INCLUSÃO-EXCLUSÃO LUHMANNIANO

Deslocamentos humanos são uma das mais graves situações de vulnerabilização na sociedade moderna. No panorama das migrações internacionais, um grupo mostra-se como de interesse na proteção dos direitos humanos internamente, em razão de sua extrema fragilidade: mulheres estrangeiras presas. Isso porque são submetidas a um processo duplo: de um lado, são invisibilizadas e silenciadas socialmente; de outro, são sujeitos de uma dinâmica paradoxal de inclusão-exclusão no âmbito normativo, pois concomitantemente à uma produção legislativa massiva, que, gradativamente, deixa os sistemas legais inchados, pragmaticamente, esta tutela inexiste, operando como não-proteção. Logo, os fins do trabalho são delinear quantitativamente o panorama das estrangeiras presas no Brasil, contextualizar o paradoxo da inclusão/exclusão no qual elas estão inseridas e entender o lugar da fraternidade frente às novas/velhas fragilidades sociojurídicas em relação à grupos vulneráveis. Para cumprir estes objetivos, se compilará dados do Departamento Penitenciário Nacional sobre a massa carcerária feminina nacional, entre janeiro de 2020 e dezembro de 2021; depois, se contraporá a situação de fragilidade das estrangeiras presas às garantias dos sistemas legais; por fim, se identificará quais são os “novos” significantes de significados de olhar o outro como outro “eu”. Espera-se que a pesquisa contribua no avanço dos estudos sobre a exclusão e a invisibilidade da estrangeira presa no Brasil. O método adotado é exploratório e descritivo quanto ao objetivo, qualitativo quanto à abordagem e bibliográfico, quanto ao procedimento

Infâncias, experiências e os sentidos de ser criança negra na educação infantil

Um problema a ser enfrentado para se falar em educação infantil consiste na recusa em tratar um conceito único e restrito de infância e o de ser criança. O desafio que se apresenta nesse nível de ensino, se configura em identificar e promover concepções de infâncias, experiências e sentidos de ser crianças de forma plural e diversificada. Este propósito pode ser entendido na medida em que o pensar e o agir pedagógicos na educação infantil forem compreendidos e mediados por tensões étnico-raciais subjacentes do racismo estrutural que permeiam as relações educacionais. Nesse aspecto pretende-se aqui fazer uma reflexão sobre três temas, inicialmente distintos, mas que em algum momento se entrecruzam. A tentativa é apontar um recorte breve sobre cada assunto e tecer uma reflexão sobre a forma como esses podem ser tratados no campo educacional. O propósito diz respeito a compreender os sentidos de ser criança negra na educação infantil e os desafios na construção de uma educação antirracista nesse nível de ensino