"Dashed hopes, bruised egos": Professional identity in investment banking in the context of the 2008 financial crisis

The financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent economic collapse has helped bring scholarly attention on a sociological dimension of financial markets (Mackenzie 2009, Stark 2009, Knorr Cetina and Preda 2012). Despite recent research advancements in this area, however, the understanding of how financial markets are organised and reproduced remains limited. In particular, there is very little about the individual actors in the markets, how they think and act, and how they make sense of social context or how their experience is within it. This thesis contributes to addressing these questions by focusing on how investment bankers construct their professional identities and in particular, how did this process look like during the financial crisis of 2008. Three main areas are investigated: (i) what resources investment bankers draw on to construct their professional identities, (ii) what motivates them to do so, and (iii) how the process has been demonstrated through bankers’ lived experiences of the crash. To this end, the research integrates literature from the field of sociology of financial markets and identity. I argue that looking at professional identity construction through the lens of Honneth’s (1995) theory of struggle for recognition allows for a better understanding of the political nature of the intersubjective relationships in markets, alongside some of the pathologies that may develop in the periods of enhanced uncertainty. Methodologically, I conceptualise identities as narratives, in particular drawing on Ricoeur’s ( 1988) work on narrative identity. The analysis rests on the investment bankers’ accounts of their experiences of the crisis. By exploring how they have constructed their subjective understandings of reality and how they incorporated these into their professional identity narratives, the thesis advances the understanding of markets as political arenas of values, emotions and power games. I explore a number of frames the bankers used in order to position their identities within the workplace; including smartness, sacrifice, ambivalent status of money and temporality. I demonstrate that identity construction is inherently political and based on a fragile structure of systemic trust and interpersonal trust relationships. Threatened by the crisis, the bankers responded by creating liminal spaces in an attempt to re-align the identity narratives. The findings bear theoretical implications. Firstly , I argue that trust is a missing component in the theory of recognition when it deals with social cooperation. Secondly, I argue that as recognition normatively regulates social interactions in markets, actors are first and foremost power maximisers. I show that influencing expectations becomes, therefore, a central task for actors in the markets, leading to the development of reified identities. As a result, the emergent liminal spaces are shown to be arenas of the inherent struggle for recognition

Tension pneumothorax as a severe complication of endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial fine needle aspiration of mediastinal lymph nodes

This article presents a case report of a patient suffering from bullous emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, who was diagnosed with tension pneumothorax after undergoing endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA). Tension pneumothorax is a severe but rare complication of EBUS-TBNA. It can result from lung injury caused by the biopsy needle or, in patients suffering from bullous emphysema, from spontaneous rupture of an emphysematous bulla resulting from increased pressure in the chest cavity during cough caused by bronchofiberoscope insertion. The authors emphasize that patients should be carefully monitored after the biopsy, and, in the case of complications, provided with treatment immediately in proper hospital conditions. Patients burdened with a high risk of complications should be identified before the procedure and monitored with extreme care after its completion

Metal-Enhanced Fluorescence of Chlorophylls in Light-Harvesting Complexes Coupled to Silver Nanowires

We investigate metal-enhanced fluorescence of peridinin-chlorophyll protein coupled to silver nanowires using optical microscopy combined with spectrally and time-resolved fluorescence techniques. In particular we study two different sample geometries: first, in which the light-harvesting complexes are deposited onto silver nanowires, and second, where solution of both nanostructures are mixed prior deposition on a substrate. The results indicate that for the peridinin-chlorophyll complexes placed in the vicinity of the silver nanowires we observe higher intensities of fluorescence emission as compared to the reference sample, where no nanowires are present. Enhancement factors estimated for the sample where the light-harvesting complexes are mixed together with the silver nanowires prior deposition on a substrate are generally larger in comparison to the other geometry of a hybrid nanostructure. While fluorescence spectra are identical both in terms of overall shape and maximum wavelength for peridinin-chlorophyll-protein complexes both isolated and coupled to metallic nanostructures, we conclude that interaction with plasmon excitations in the latter remains neutral to the functionality of the biological system. Fluorescence transients measured for the PCP complexes coupled to the silver nanowires indicate shortening of the fluorescence lifetime pointing towards modifications of radiative rate due to plasmonic interactions. Our results can be applied for developing ways to plasmonically control the light-harvesting capability of photosynthetic complexes

Spectral Selectivity of Plasmonic Interactions between Individual Up-Converting Nanocrystals and Spherical Gold Nanoparticles

We experimentally demonstrate strong spectral selectivity of plasmonic interaction that occurs between α-NaYF4:Er3+/Yb3+ nanocrystals, which feature two emission bands, and spherical gold nanoparticles, with plasmon frequency resonant with one of the emission bands. Spatially–resolved luminescence intensity maps acquired for individual nanocrystals, together with microsecond luminescence lifetime images, show two qualitatively different effects that result from the coupling between lasmon excitations in metallic nanoparticles and emitting states of the nanocrystals. On the one hand, we observe nanocrystals, whose emission intensity is strongly enhanced for both resonant and non-resonant bands with respect to the plasmon resonance. Importantly, this increase is accompanied with shortening of luminescence decays times. In contrast, a significant number of nanocrystals exhibits almost complete quenching of the emission resonant with the plasmon resonance of gold nanoparticles. Theoretical analysis indicates that such an effect can occur for emitters placed at distances of about 5 nm from gold nanoparticles. While under these conditions, both transitions experience significant increases of the radiative emission rates due to the Purcell effect, the non-radiative energy transfer between resonant bands results in strong quenching, which in that situation nullifies the enhancement

Pediatric Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children as a Challenging Problem for Pediatric Surgeons in the COVID 19 Pandemic—A Case Report

The first cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection were identified at the end of 2019 and, in the next few months, coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread throughout the world. Initially, it was believed that this disease mainly affected elderly individuals with comorbidities, in whom respiratory failure often occurs. It was believed that children fell ill from the infection more often, although the course of infection in the vast majority of pediatric cases has been asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. In April and May 2020, the first report of a rapidly progressing disease, similar to Kawasaki syndrome, was found in children who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2. Shortly thereafter, children with symptoms of pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS-ST [temporally associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection]) began presenting to pediatric hospitals around the world. The syndrome has a mortality rate of up to 2%. Symptoms of PIMS-TS include those that may suggest the need for surgical treatment (severe abdominal pain with the presence of peritoneal symptoms, ascites, high levels of inflammatory markers, intestinal inflammation, and appendages revealed on ultrasound examination). However, there are few reports addressing surgical cases associated with this condition. The authors present a case involving an 11-year-old boy who was admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pain and underwent surgery for symptoms of peritonitis and was diagnosed with PIMS in the post-operative period. Due to the large number of illnesses caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection in recent months, the diagnosis of PIMS-TS/MISC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute abdominal symptoms, especially in atypical courses and interviews indicating exposure to SARS-CoV-2

Towards a Material Oriented Approach in Economics(part1)

The Neo-Classical Economics have regarded objects which have exchange value as goods. In this recognition, it is not necessary to make distinction between material objects and non-material objects or services. However, considering that environmental burdens stem from not enjoyment of services but use of material objects such as energy and matter, I argue that there should be clear distinction between material objects and non-material objects or services in environmental economic theories. In part 1,by reviewing some past masters, I will show there was clear distinction between material and non-material objects in the beginning of this science, describe how the Neo-Classical way of thinking has become dominant, and introduce some works of pioneers those who straggle to make economics stand on material bases, though their efforts had not resulted in success