The Creolizing Genre of SF and the Nightmare of Whiteness in John W. Campbell’s “Who Goes There?”

The alien in science fiction has not often been seen as part of an imperial colonial discourse. By examining John W. Campbell’s founding golden age SF text, “Who Goes There?” (1938), this paper explores the ways in which the alien adheres to an invisible mythos of whiteness that has come to be seen through a colonizing logic as isomorphic with the human. Campbell’s alien-monster comes to disseminate and invade both self and world and as such serves as an interrogation of what whites have done through colonization. It is thus part and parcel of imperial domination and discourse and appears as the very nightmare of whiteness in the form of its liminal and estranged shadow side. Part of what has made Campbell’s text so influential is that it offers a new type of alien invasion in the figure of “contagion,” which speaks “to the transition from colonial to postcolonial visions of modernity and its attendant catastrophes” (Rieder, 124), and which can be further examined as a race metaphor in American SF—indeed, as the white man’s fear of racial mixing that has a long and dehumanizing history. Through its threat of mixture, I read the alien as a creolizing figure that both troubles and undoes the white/black, human/nonhuman binary in science fiction, which I also read as being a creolizing, i.e., hybrid and plastic, genre

Efeitos agudos e crônicos da fluoxetina em modelos experimentais de pânico, ansiedade e depressão de ratos adultos submetidos ao isolamento social neonatal

Estudos clínicos sugerem que a ansiedade de separação na infância (ASI) facilita a ocorrência dos ataques de pânico (AP) na vida adulta. Por outro lado, o isolamento social neonatal (ISN) e os comportamentos defensivos eliciados pela estimulação elétrica da matéria cinzenta periaquedutal dorsal (MCPAd) tem sido propostos como os modelos experimentais de ASI e AP, respectivamente. De fato, dados recentes do nosso laboratório mostraram que o ISN facilitou os comportamentos defensivos de exoftalmia, imobilidade, trote, galope e salto evocados pela estimulação elétrica da MCPAd de ratos adultos. Em contraste, estudos epidemiológicos mostraram que os AP são influenciados somente por fatores genéticos e eventos não compartilhados vivenciados na fase adulta. Como os inibidores seletivos de recaptação da serotonina são as drogas de primeira escolha no tratamento dos transtornos de ansiedade, nós verificamos os efeitos do tratamento crônico de 21 dias com fluoxetina (FLX, 1 e 2 mg/kg/dia, I.P), salina (SAL) e ratos sem tratamento (FIC) em modelos experimentais de pânico, ansiedade e depressão de ratos ISN. Ainda, nós removemos o isolamento social agrupando ratos adultos no período pós-cirúrgico para testar a influência deste evento nos AP em ratos ISN. O ISN foi realizado separando toda a ninhada da sua mãe por 3 horas diárias durante o período de lactação (dias pós-natal 2-21, PN2-PN21). Os filhotes separados (P, n=83) eram colocados em caixas individuais enquanto suas mães eram transferidas para uma caixa nova num ambiente distinto ao de criação. Os controles (NP, n=80) permaneceram com suas mães e eram submetidos a mesma manipulação do grupo P. Ambos os grupos foram subdivididos para os tratamentos FIC, SAL, FLX1 e FLX2. A cirurgia de implantação de eletrodos era realizada no PN52, os estímulos elétricos no PN59 (sessão-triagem), PN60 (efeitos agudos), e PN67, PN74 e PN81 (efeitos crônicos). A ansiedade foi medida pelos testes do labirinto-em-cruz elevado (PN82) e do campo aberto (PN83), enquanto a anedonia e depressão pelos testes do consumo de sacarose (PN78-PN81) e da natação forçada (PN84), respectivamente. Nossos resultados mostraram que o grupo P foi mais depressivo (p<0.001), comportamento revertido pelo tratamento com FLX (p<0.01). Os tratamentos do grupo P tiveram um aumento de até 60% dos limiares defensivos (&#61508;I50) em função do tempo (p<0,001) e uma facilitação destes comparados aos NP (&#61508;I50 até -15,4%, p<0,001). No grupo NP, apenas a FLX2 promoveu aumento dos limiares defensivos (&#61508;I50= até 70%, p<0,0001). A redução das respostas tipo-depressivas do presente estudo corroboraram com a literatura e demonstraram o efeito antidepressivo da FLX em ratos ISN. Embora com reduções menos expressivas, este estudo corroborou os dados prévios da facilitação dos comportamentos defensivos produzidos pela estimulação da MCPAd de ratos ISN. Enquanto o grupo P não teve distinção das suas medianas em nenhum dos tratamentos empregados, somente FLX2 do grupo NP teve seus limiares defensivos elevados. O aumento gradual das medianas do grupo P em decorrência das estimulações semanais sugere um déficit motivacional tal qual como ratos depressivos submetidos ao desamparo aprendido

Diatoms from the Spring Ecosystems Selected for the Long-Term Monitoring of Climate-Change Effects in the Berchtesgaden National Park (Germany)

We studied diatoms from the fifteen springs selected in the Berchtesgaden National Park on behalf of the Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment to be sentinel environments of climate-change effects. For three of these springs, diatom data based on samples taken in 1997 were also available. A total of 162 species belonging to 49 genera were found sampling three microhabitat types (lithic materials, bryophytes, surface sediments). The cumulative percentage of all species included in a threat category including endangered species was 43%, confirming previous findings for comparable environments of the Alps. We could find a statistically significant positive association between the Meinzer variability index for discharge and the cumulative relative abundance of aerial diatom species. This study thus highlighted once again the relevance of discharge (and associated water-level) variability as an environmental determinant of diatom assemblages in spring ecosystems. Increased nitrate concentrations in some springs, likely due to diffuse airborne pollution and, locally, to impacts such as forest management, game, and cattle, led to a relevant occurrence of eutraphentic diatom species. Our results show a segregation of the older data in non-parametric diatom-based ordinations, suggesting a strong potential for the use of spring diatoms in studies aiming at tracking the effects of climate and environmental change

Defining the Behavior of IoT Devices through the MUD Standard: Review, Challenges, and Research Directions

With the strong development of the Internet of Things (IoT), the definition of IoT devices' intended behavior is key for an effective detection of potential cybersecurity attacks and threats in an increasingly connected environment. In 2019, the Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) was standardized within the IETF as a data model and architecture for defining, obtaining and deploying MUD files, which describe the network behavioral profiles of IoT devices. While it has attracted a strong interest from academia, industry, and Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs), MUD is not yet widely deployed in real-world scenarios. In this work, we analyze the current research landscape around this standard, and describe some of the main challenges to be considered in the coming years to foster its adoption and deployment. Based on the literature analysis and our own experience in this area, we further describe potential research directions exploiting the MUD standard to encourage the development of secure IoT-enabled scenarios

Is it still worth searching for lepton flavor violation in rare kaon decays?

Prospective searches for lepton flavor violation (LFV) in rare kaon decays at the existing and future intermediate-energy accelerators are considered. The proposed studies are complementary to LFV searches in muon-decay experiments and offer a unique opportunity to probe models with approximately conserved fermion-generation quantum number with sensitivity superior to that in other processes. Consequently, new searches for LFV in kaon decays are an important and independent part of the general program of searches for lepton flavor violation in the final states with charged leptons.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures. An extended version of the talk given at the Chicago Flavor Seminar, February 27, 2004. In the new version some misprints were corrected and some new data for LFV-processes were added. The main content of the paper was not changed. The paper is published in Yad. Fiz. 68, 1272 (2005

Global, Regional, and National Levels and Trends in Burden of Oral Conditions from 1990 to 2017: A Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease 2017 Study

Government and nongovernmental organizations need national and global estimates on the descriptive epidemiology of common oral conditions for policy planning and evaluation. The aim of this component of the Global Burden of Disease study was to produce estimates on prevalence, incidence, and years lived with disability for oral conditions from 1990 to 2017 by sex, age, and countries. In addition, this study reports the global socioeconomic pattern in burden of oral conditions by the standard World Bank classification of economies as well as the Global Burden of Disease Socio-demographic Index. The findings show that oral conditions remain a substantial population health challenge. Globally, there were 3.5 billion cases (95% uncertainty interval [95% UI], 3.2 to 3.7 billion) of oral conditions, of which 2.3 billion (95% UI, 2.1 to 2.5 billion) had untreated caries in permanent teeth, 796 million (95% UI, 671 to 930 million) had severe periodontitis, 532 million (95% UI, 443 to 622 million) had untreated caries in deciduous teeth, 267 million (95% UI, 235 to 300 million) had total tooth loss, and 139 million (95% UI, 133 to 146 million) had other oral conditions in 2017. Several patterns emerged when the World Bank's classification of economies and the Socio-demographic Index were used as indicators of economic development. In general, more economically developed countries have the lowest burden of untreated dental caries and severe periodontitis and the highest burden of total tooth loss. The findings offer an opportunity for policy makers to identify successful oral health strategies and strengthen them; introduce and monitor different approaches where oral diseases are increasing; plan integration of oral health in the agenda for prevention of noncommunicable diseases; and estimate the cost of providing universal coverage for dental care

Evaluation of Low versus High Volume per Minute Displacement CO₂ Methods of Euthanasia in the Induction and Duration of Panic-Associated Behavior and Physiology

Current recommendations for the use of CO ₂ as a euthanasia agent for rats require the use of gradual fill protocols (such as 10% to 30% volume displacement per minute) in order to render the animal insensible prior to exposure to levels of CO ₂ that are associated with pain. However, exposing rats to CO ₂ , concentrations as low as 7% CO ₂ are reported to cause distress and 10%-20% CO ₂ induces panic-associated behavior and physiology, but loss of consciousness does not occur until CO ₂ concentrations are at least 40%. This suggests that the use of the currently recommended low flow volume per minute displacement rates create a situation where rats are exposed to concentrations of CO ₂ that induce anxiety, panic, and distress for prolonged periods of time. This study first characterized the response of male rats exposed to normoxic 20% CO ₂ for a prolonged period of time as compared to room air controls. It demonstrated that rats exposed to this experimental condition displayed clinical signs consistent with significantly increased panic-associated behavior and physiology during CO ₂ exposure. When atmospheric air was then again delivered, there was a robust increase in respiration rate that coincided with rats moving to the air intake. The rats exposed to CO ₂ also displayed behaviors consistent with increased anxiety in the behavioral testing that followed the exposure. Next, this study assessed the behavioral and physiologic responses of rats that were euthanized with 100% CO ₂ infused at 10%, 30%, or 100% volume per minute displacement rates. Analysis of the concentrations of CO ₂ and oxygen in the euthanasia chamber and the behavioral responses of the rats suggest that the use of the very low flow volume per minute displacement rate (10%) may prolong the duration of panicogenic ranges of ambient CO ₂ , while the use of the higher flow volume per minute displacement rate (100%) increases agitation. Therefore, of the volume displacement per minute rates evaluated, this study suggests that 30% minimizes the potential pain and distress experienced by the animal

Dopant-dependent impact of Mn-site doping on the critical-state manganites: R0.6Sr0.4MnO3 (R=La, Nd, Sm, and Gd)

Versatile features of impurity doping effects on perovskite manganites, $R_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$, have been investigated with varying the doing species as well as the $R$-dependent one-electron bandwidth. In ferromagnetic-metallic manganites ($R$=La, Nd, and Sm), a few percent of Fe substitution dramatically decreases the ferromagnetic transition temperature, leading to a spin glass insulating state with short-range charge-orbital correlation. For each $R$ species, the phase diagram as a function of Fe concentration is closely similar to that for $R_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$ obtained by decreasing the ionic radius of $R$ site, indicating that Fe doping in the phase-competing region weakens the ferromagnetic double-exchange interaction, relatively to the charge-orbital ordering instability. We have also found a contrastive impact of Cr (or Ru) doping on a spin-glass insulating manganite ($R$=Gd). There, the impurity-induced ferromagnetic magnetization is observed at low temperatures as a consequence of the collapse of the inherent short-range charge-orbital ordering, while Fe doping plays only a minor role. The observed opposite nature of impurity doping may be attributed to the difference in magnitude of the antiferromagnetic interaction between the doped ions.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure