Unintended Architectures: Terrorism's Role in Shaping Post-War France, the European Union, and the Muslim Presence in the West

This article argues that the Algerian FLN (Front de libération nationale) played a major role in shaping the character of post-Second World War Europe. A sub-state terrorist organization dedicated to ending colonial domination of Algeria in the 1950s, the FLN effectively dashed France's dreams of resuming its position as a global power, which in turn promoted greater commitment on the part of France to the nascent European Community. The FLN may also be said to have inadvertently contributed to the first large-scale immigration of Muslims into Europe during the modern era, while also severely complicating the relationship between France and its Muslims for decades. While the FLN's use of political terror shaped national liberation movements across the developing world, the primary focus of this articler will instead be on the ways in which the FLN's victory in Algeria served to promote French participation in the European experiment and how the exodus of France's Arab and Berber allies at the conclusion of the conflict added to the extant piedmont of Muslim Europeans reshaping the ethnography of Western Europe

Walking in (a) Bordertown: Sorjonen, Liminality, and the Spatial Imaginary of Lappeenranta

Finnish programming is increasingly finding success beyond the country’s borders. Sorjonen - or as it is known internationally, Bordertown - is perhaps the best example of this trend, having been distributed with subtitles in multiple languages via Netflix. Set in the idyllic lakeside resort of Lappeenranta, which is also Finland’s closest city to St. Petersburg, Russia, Bordertown revolves around Detective Inspector Kari Sorjonen (Ville Virtanen) following his relocation there in the wake of his wife’s illness. Hoping to leave major crimes behind in the capital of Helsinki, Sorjonen is soon investigating horrific violence and gruesome events. The criminal networks he discovers often extend far beyond tiny Lappeenranta, thus placing the city at the nexus of illicit flows that link Russia to continental Europe. While Bordertown does not engage in the crass Russophobia of many other screened geopolitical interventions, the series does deploy its setting’s geopolitical liminality to engage with a variety of challenges to Europe. This essay interrogates Bordertown’s use of a real place, i.e. Lappeenranta, to sculpt a geopolitical imaginary that can tell a story. Focussing on a variety of elements from water to windmills and from the city council to the cellar, I employ various scales of engagement (i.e. the local, border, state, land and nation) to examine the series’ narrative, dramaturgical and visual “scaping” of a chimerical “border town” that maps on to the “real” city of Lappeenranta. Informed by my June 2018 Bordertown TV-Series Walking Tour, my analysis synthesises approaches from cultural geography, critical IR and television studies to assess the Bordertown’s intervention in the everyday, lived and embodied geopolitics of this south-eastern Finnish city.Les séries finlandaises rencontrent un succès grandissant à l’étranger. Sorjonen – rebaptisée Bordertown pour le marché international – est sans doute la meilleure illustration de cette tendance récente car elle bénéficie d’une diffusion sous-titrée en plusieurs langues sur Netflix. Bordertown relate l’arrivée de l’inspecteur Kari Sorjonen (Ville Virtanen) dans la ville de Lappeenranta, sur les rives du lac Saimaa à proximité de la frontière russe, suite au cancer de sa femme. Sorjonen abandonne rapidement ses espoirs de vie provinciale calme lorsqu’il est confronté à des affaires aussi violentes que sordides. Les réseaux criminels qu’il révèle débordent les frontières de sa petite ville, plaçant cette dernière au centre de trafics illicites liant la Russie à l’Europe continentale. Si Bordertown évite la russophobie grossière que trahissent d’autres séries à tonalité géopolitique, elle exploite néanmoins sa liminalité géographique pour aborder des problèmes européens. Cet article examine l’utilisation par la série de la ville réelle de Lappeenranta pour élaborer un imaginaire géopolitique sur lequel repose le récit. L’étude d’éléments caractéristiques tels l’eau, la cave, le moulin à vent, la mairie à tous les niveaux (local, régional, étatique, national) permet d’interroger la construction narrative, dramaturgique, et visuelle d’une ville frontière chimérique superposée en filigrane sur les contours de la ville réelle. Nourrie par une visite des lieux de tournage en juin 2018, cette recherche emprunte à la géographie culturelle et à la théorie critique des relations internationales et des études télévisuelles pour comprendre l’influence de cette ville-frontière fictionnelle (Bordertown) sur la géopolitique vécue et incarnée au quotidien dans la petite ville de Lappeenranta

Ghostbusting in the Late Anthropocene

This paper examines the latent ecocriticism of the horror-comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) against its original source material in the context of climate catastrophe culture. As a sequel to the Ghostbusters films (1984, 1989), Afterlife shifts the setting: (geo)physically, from metropolitan New York City to a ‘dirt farm’ in Summerville, Oklahoma, and generationally, from the original middle-aged, male ghost-catchers to the teenaged grandchildren of the brightest among them. While the original antagonist – the (fictive) Sumerian god Gozer – returns once more to end the world, the Anthropo(s)cenic landscapes of Afterlife establish the film as a geopolitical intervention in the debate on the already-in-progress environmental apocalypse. In its (partial) rejection of the values of its 1980s-era source material, which is critically assessed herein, I argue that Afterlife speaks to humanity’s emergence as a geological agent defined by geopolitical cultures rooted in human exploitation, hydrocarbon extraction, agro-industrialisation, and nuclearism. Indeed, the decade of Reaganism haunts the film, serving as a ghostly reminder of how we arrived at our current Anthropocene predicament through white heteropatriarchal triumphalism, neoliberal excess, and ecocide

Ghostbusting in the Late Anthropocene: The 1980s, (Un)Conscious Climate Culture, and Our Holocene Afterlives

This paper examines the latent ecocriticism of the horror-comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021) against its original source material in the context of climate catastrophe culture. As a sequel to the Ghostbusters films (1984, 1989), Afterlife shifts the setting: (geo)physically, from metropolitan New York City to a ‘dirt farm’ in Summerville, Oklahoma, and generationally, from the original middle-aged, male ghost-catchers to the teenaged grandchildren of the brightest among them. While the original antagonist – the (fictive) Sumerian god Gozer – returns once more to end the world, the Anthropo(s)cenic landscapes of Afterlife establish the film as a geopolitical intervention in the debate on the already-in-progress environmental apocalypse. In its (partial) rejection of the values of its 1980s-era source material, which is critically assessed herein, I argue that Afterlife speaks to humanity’s emergence as a geological agent defined by geopolitical cultures rooted in human exploitation, hydrocarbon extraction, agro-industrialisation, and nuclearism. Indeed, the decade of Reaganism haunts the film, serving as a ghostly reminder of how we arrived at our current Anthropocene predicament through white heteropatriarchal triumphalism, neoliberal excess, and ecocide

Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Features Identified by Unsupervised Machine Learning on Optical Coherence Tomography Scans Predict Glaucoma Progression.

Purpose:To apply computational techniques to wide-angle swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) images to identify novel, glaucoma-related structural features and improve detection of glaucoma and prediction of future glaucomatous progression. Methods:Wide-angle SS-OCT, OCT circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (cpRNFL) circle scans spectral-domain (SD)-OCT, standard automated perimetry (SAP), and frequency doubling technology (FDT) visual field tests were completed every 3 months for 2 years from a cohort of 28 healthy participants (56 eyes) and 93 glaucoma participants (179 eyes). RNFL thickness maps were extracted from segmented SS-OCT images and an unsupervised machine learning approach based on principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify novel structural features. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to assess diagnostic accuracy of RNFL PCA for detecting glaucoma and progression compared to SAP, FDT, and cpRNFL measures. Results:The RNFL PCA features were significantly associated with mean deviation (MD) in both SAP (R2 = 0.49, P < 0.0001) and FDT visual field testing (R2 = 0.48, P < 0.0001), and with mean circumpapillary RNFL thickness (cpRNFLt) from SD-OCT (R2 = 0.58, P < 0.0001). The identified features outperformed each of these measures in detecting glaucoma with an AUC of 0.95 for RNFL PCA compared to an 0.90 for mean cpRNFLt (P = 0.09), 0.86 for SAP MD (P = 0.034), and 0.83 for FDT MD (P = 0.021). Accuracy in predicting progression was also significantly higher for RNFL PCA compared to SAP MD, FDT MD, and mean cpRNFLt (P = 0.046, P = 0.007, and P = 0.044, respectively). Conclusions:A computational approach can identify structural features that improve glaucoma detection and progression prediction

An EXAFS study of rare-earth phosphate glasses in the vicinity of the metaphosphate composition

A study of rare-earth phosphate glasses, in the vicinity of the metaphosphate composition, has been undertaken at different temperatures using the extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) facility at the Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury Laboratory, UK. The metaphosphate-like glasses examined contained the rare-earth elements La, Sm. Eu and Gd as R3+ ions. The experiments were carried out at room temperature, 145 and 79 K. The data show that the first shell surrounding rare-earth ions contains only oxygen atoms at a mean distance of similar to 2.2-2.4 Angstrom. The 'Iantfianide contraction' is clearly observed, i.e., the R-O distance decreases with increasing atomic number. The observed R(-O) coordination numbers are in the range 5-7. A second correlation shell was found associated with phosphorus atoms around the central rare-earth atom (similar to 3.5 Angstrom), and another rare-earth:oxygen correlation was also identified (similar to 4 Angstrom). Static disorder dominates the Debye-Waller term, but thermal disorder is not negligible. Within the accuracy of the EXAFS data, no significant structural variations were observed over the temperature range studied. We conclude that the anomalous bulk properties are associated with either subtle structural features or primarily due to rare-earth ion Interactions

LINE-1 Hypomethylation in a Choline-Deficiency-Induced Liver Cancer in Rats: Dependence on Feeding Period

Chronic feeding of methyl-donor (methionine, choline, folic acid, and vitamin B12) deficient diet induces hepatocellular carcinoma formation in rats. Previous studies have shown that promoter CpG islands in various cancer-related genes are aberrantly methylated in this model. Moreover, the global genome in methyl-donor-deficient diet fed rats contains a lesser amount of 5-methylcytosine than control livers. It is speculated that more than 90% of all 5-methylcytosines lie within the CpG islands of the transposons, including the long/short interspersed nucleotide elements (LINE and SINE). It is considered that the 5-methylcytosines in LINE-1 limit the ability of retrotransposons to be activated and transcribed; therefore, the extent of hypomethylation of LINE-1 could be a surrogate marker for aberrant methylation in other tumor-related genes as well as genome instability. Additionally, LINE-1 methylation status has been shown to be a good indicator of genome-wide methylation. In this study, we determined cytosine methylation status in the LINE-1 repetitive sequences of rats fed a choline-deficient (CD) diet for various durations and compared these with rats fed a choline-sufficient (CS) diet. The methylation status of LINE-1 was assessed by the combined bisulfite restriction analysis (COBRA) method, where the amount of bisulfite-modified and RsaI-cleaved DNA was quantified using gel electrophoresis. Progressive hypomethylation was observed in LINE-1 of CD livers as a function of feeding time; that is, the amount of cytosine in total cytosine (methylated and unmethylated) increased from 11.1% (1 week) to 19.3% (56 weeks), whereas in the control CS livers, it increased from 9.2% to 12.9%. Hypomethylation in tumor tissues was slightly higher (6%) than the nontumorous surrounding tissue. The present result also indicates that age is a factor influencing the extent of cytosine methylation

Mechanical suppression of osteolytic bone metastases in advanced breast cancer patients: A randomised controlled study protocol evaluating safety, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of exercise as a targeted medicine

Background: Skeletal metastases present a major challenge for clinicians, representing an advanced and typically incurable stage of cancer. Bone is also the most common location for metastatic breast carcinoma, with skeletal lesions identified in over 80% of patients with advanced breast cancer. Preclinical models have demonstrated the ability of mechanical stimulation to suppress tumour formation and promote skeletal preservation at bone sites with osteolytic lesions, generating modulatory interference of tumour-driven bone remodelling. Preclinical studies have also demonstrated anti-cancer effects through exercise by minimising tumour hypoxia, normalising tumour vasculature and increasing tumoural blood perfusion. This study proposes to explore the promising role of targeted exercise to suppress tumour growth while concomitantly delivering broader health benefits in patients with advanced breast cancer with osteolytic bone metastases. Methods: This single-blinded, two-armed, randomised and controlled pilot study aims to establish the safety, feasibility and efficacy of an individually tailored, modular multi-modal exercise programme incorporating spinal isometric training (targeted muscle contraction) in 40 women with advanced breast cancer and stable osteolytic spinal metastases. Participants will be randomly assigned to exercise or usual medical care. The intervention arm will receive a 3-month clinically supervised exercise programme, which if proven to be safe and efficacious will be offered to the control-arm patients following study completion. Primary endpoints (programme feasibility, safety, tolerance and adherence) and secondary endpoints (tumour morphology, serum tumour biomarkers, bone metabolism, inflammation, anthropometry, body composition, bone pain, physical function and patient-reported outcomes) will be measured at baseline and following the intervention. Discussion: Exercise medicine may positively alter tumour biology through numerous mechanical and nonmechanical mechanisms. This randomised controlled pilot trial will explore the preliminary effects of targeted exercise on tumour morphology and circulating metastatic tumour biomarkers using an osteolytic skeletal metastases model in patients with breast cancer. The study is principally aimed at establishing feasibility and safety. If proven to be safe and feasible, results from this study could have important implications for the delivery of this exercise programme to patients with advanced cancer and sclerotic skeletal metastases or with skeletal lesions present in haematological cancers (such as osteolytic lesions in multiple myeloma), for which future research is recommended. Trial registration: anzctr.org.au, ACTRN-12616001368426. Registered on 4 October 2016

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Vessel Density in Healthy, Glaucoma Suspect, and Glaucoma Eyes.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to compare retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) retinal vasculature measurements in healthy, glaucoma suspect, and glaucoma patients.MethodsTwo hundred sixty-one eyes of 164 healthy, glaucoma suspect, and open-angle glaucoma (OAG) participants from the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study with good quality OCT-A images were included. Retinal vasculature information was summarized as a vessel density map and as vessel density (%), which is the proportion of flowing vessel area over the total area evaluated. Two vessel density measurements extracted from the RNFL were analyzed: (1) circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD) measured in a 750-μm-wide elliptical annulus around the disc and (2) whole image vessel density (wiVD) measured over the entire image. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUROC) were used to evaluate diagnostic accuracy.ResultsAge-adjusted mean vessel density was significantly lower in OAG eyes compared with glaucoma suspects and healthy eyes. (cpVD: 55.1 ± 7%, 60.3 ± 5%, and 64.2 ± 3%, respectively; P < 0.001; and wiVD: 46.2 ± 6%, 51.3 ± 5%, and 56.6 ± 3%, respectively; P < 0.001). For differentiating between glaucoma and healthy eyes, the age-adjusted AUROC was highest for wiVD (0.94), followed by RNFL thickness (0.92) and cpVD (0.83). The AUROCs for differentiating between healthy and glaucoma suspect eyes were highest for wiVD (0.70), followed by cpVD (0.65) and RNFL thickness (0.65).ConclusionsOptical coherence tomography angiography vessel density had similar diagnostic accuracy to RNFL thickness measurements for differentiating between healthy and glaucoma eyes. These results suggest that OCT-A measurements reflect damage to tissues relevant to the pathophysiology of OAG