Material returns: cultures of valuation, biofinancialisation and the autonomy of politics

The ascent of biofinancialisation since the 1980s brought with it a culture of valuation that spread well beyond financial markets and came to pervade everyday life, subjectivity, ecology and materiality. At the same time, and as a response to the social conflicts of the previous decades, value production shifts to incorporate the extended lifeworld of working people, their networks of sociality and the commons. The article examines the conflicts that emerge from the friction of the prevalent cultures of valuation and the extensive embodiment of value production and argues that biofinancialisation alters the very material infrastructure of bodies and forms of life. What is the autonomy of politics when biofinance becomes molecularised in code and in matter

Penrose limits of homogeneous spaces

We prove that the Penrose limit of a spacetime along a homogeneous geodesic is a homogeneous plane wave spacetime and that the Penrose limit of a reductive homogeneous spacetime along a homogeneous geodesic is a Cahen--Wallach space. We then consider several homogenous examples to show that these results are indeed sharp and conclude with a remark about the existence of null homogeneous geodesics.Comment: 16 pages, many changes particularly to sections 6 and

Solvable models of strings in homogeneous plane wave backgrounds

We solve closed string theory in all regular homogeneous plane-wave backgrounds with homogeneous NS three-form field strength and a dilaton. The parameters of the model are constant symmetric and anti-symmetric matrices k_{ij} and f_{ij} associated with the metric, and a constant anti-symmetric matrix h_{ij} associated with the NS field strength. In the light-cone gauge the rotation parameters f_{ij} have a natural interpretation as a constant magnetic field. This is a generalisation of the standard Landau problem with oscillator energies now being non-trivial functions of the parameters f_{ij} and k_{ij}. We develop a general procedure for solving linear but non-diagonal equations for string coordinates, and determine the corresponding oscillator frequencies, the light-cone Hamiltonian and level matching condition. We investigate the resulting string spectrum in detail in the four-dimensional case and compare the results with previously studied examples. Throughout we will find that the presence of the rotation parameter f_{ij} can lead to certain unusual and unexpected features of the string spectrum like new massless states at non-zero string levels, stabilisation of otherwise unstable (tachyonic) modes, and discrete but not positive definite string oscillator spectra.Comment: 48 pages, LaTeX2e, v2: additional reference and cosmetic correction

Thermal quantum electrodynamics of nonrelativistic charged fluids

The theory relevant to the study of matter in equilibrium with the radiation field is thermal quantum electrodynamics (TQED). We present a formulation of the theory, suitable for non relativistic fluids, based on a joint functional integral representation of matter and field variables. In this formalism cluster expansion techniques of classical statistical mechanics become operative. They provide an alternative to the usual Feynman diagrammatics in many-body problems which is not perturbative with respect to the coupling constant. As an application we show that the effective Coulomb interaction between quantum charges is partially screened by thermalized photons at large distances. More precisely one observes an exact cancellation of the dipolar electric part of the interaction, so that the asymptotic particle density correlation is now determined by relativistic effects. It has still the $r^{-6}$ decay typical for quantum charges, but with an amplitude strongly reduced by a relativistic factor.Comment: 32 pages, 0 figures. 2nd versio

Knowledge-based semantic annotation and retrieval of multimedia content

aceMedia is a 4 year EC part-funded FP6 Integrated Project, ending in December 2007. The project has developed tools to enable users to manage and share both personal and purchased content across PC, STB and mobile platforms. Knowledge-based analysis and ontologies have been successfully exploited in an end-to-end system to enable automated semantic annotation and retrieval of multimedia content. The paper briefly describes the objectives of aceMedia and the application of knowledge-based analysis in the project

IgE-Mediated Multimorbidities in Allergic Asthma and the Potential for Omalizumab Therapy

Allergic asthma often coexists with different pathological conditions, called multimorbidities, that are mostly of allergic nature and share a common underlying inflammatory pathophysiological mechanism. Multimorbidities of allergic asthma may influence asthma control, its severity, and patients' response to treatment, and contribute to the overall socioeconomic burden of the disease. Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is known to play a central role in the pathogenesis of various allergic diseases, including asthma. Thus, IgE-mediated immunologic pathways present an attractive target for intervention in asthma and multimorbidities. In this review, we discuss the most frequently reported IgE-mediated multimorbidities in allergic asthma, including allergic rhinitis, rhinoconjunctivitis, atopic dermatitis, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, food allergies, and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis. Omalizumab is a recombinant humanized monoclonal antibody against IgE and has been in use to treat allergic asthma for more than a decade. We comprehensively review the clinical evidence for omalizumab in the treatment of the aforementioned multimorbidities in allergic asthma

Integrating multicriteria decision analysis and scenario planning : review and extension

Scenario planning and multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) are two key management science tools used in strategic planning. In this paper, we explore the integration of these two approaches in a coherent manner, recognizing that each adds value to the implementation of the other. Various approaches that have been adopted for such integration are reviewed, with a primary focus on the process of constructing preferences both within and between scenarios. Biases that may be introduced by inappropriate assumptions during such processes are identified, and used to motivate a framework for integrating MCDA and scenario thinking, based on applying MCDA concepts across a range of "metacriteria" (combinations of scenarios and primary criteria). Within this framework, preferences according to each primary criterion can be expressed in the context of different scenarios. The paper concludes with a hypothetical but non-trivial example of agricultural policy planning in a developing country

On the Inequivalence of Renormalization and Self-Adjoint Extensions for Quantum Singular Interactions

A unified S-matrix framework of quantum singular interactions is presented for the comparison of self-adjoint extensions and physical renormalization. For the long-range conformal interaction the two methods are not equivalent, with renormalization acting as selector of a preferred extension and regulator of the unbounded Hamiltonian.Comment: 19 pages, including 2 figures. The title and abstract were changed to more accurately reflect the content. The text was rearranged into sections, with several equations and multiple paragraphs added for clarity; and a few typos were corrected. The central equations and concepts remain unchanged

Plane waves with weak singularities

We study a class of time dependent solutions of the vacuum Einstein equations which are plane waves with weak null singularities. This singularity is weak in the sense that though the tidal forces diverge at the singularity, the rate of divergence is such that the distortion suffered by a freely falling observer remains finite. Among such weak singular plane waves there is a sub-class which do not exhibit large back reaction in the presence of test scalar probes. String propagation in these backgrounds is smooth and there is a natural way to continue the metric beyond the singularity. This continued metric admits string propagation without the string becoming infinitely excited. We construct a one parameter family of smooth metrics which are at a finite distance in the space of metrics from the extended metric and a well defined operator in the string sigma model which resolves the singularity.Comment: 22 pages, Added references and clarifying comment