The social and political sides of food surplus

This article looks at how surplus is not only an economic reality but a state of mind, created by and reflecting the social and political relations of a group, by considering examples of historic and prehistoric food surplus. The state of one’s surplus is not just what one stores, but also how others see it and think about it. Individuals are not alone, but always think of their surplus within a larger network of social and political interactions with others who are also storing food as well as within the rules for access. These networks have been considered safety nets by archaeologists, but often, as with many situations today, the populace does not have access to the safety net. Two case studies illustrate the dynamics and differences of this constructed side of food surplus

Introduction: households and landscapes

This issue explores how households, both individually and collectively as communities, choose to embed themselves in landscapes. In different ways and at different scales, the articles explore how their actions shaped, defined and delineated their landscapes through everyday practices

Using Electronic Reminders to Improve Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccinations among Primary Care Patients

The COVID-19 pandemic led to delays in routine preventative primary care and declines in HPV immunization rates. Providers and healthcare organizations needed to explore new ways to engage individuals to resume preventive care behaviors. Thus, we evaluated the effectiveness of using customized electronic reminders with provider recommendations for HPV vaccination to increase HPV vaccinations among adolescents and young adults, ages 9-25. Using stratified randomization, participants were divided into two groups: usual care (control) (N = 3703) and intervention (N = 3705). The control group received usual care including in-person provider recommendations, visual reminders in exam waiting rooms, bundling of vaccinations, and phone call reminders. The intervention group received usual care and an electronic reminder (SMS, email or patient portal message) at least once, and up to three times (spaced at an interval of 1 reminder per month). The intervention group had a 17% statistically significantly higher odds of uptake of additional HPV vaccinations than the usual care group (Adjusted Odds Ratio: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.01-1.36). This work supports previous findings that electronic reminders are effective at increasing immunizations and potentially decreasing healthcare costs for the treatment of HPV-related cancers

Lars Hætta’s miniature world: Sámi prison op-art autoethnography

This article examines a collection of miniature objects, now held in museum collections, which were originally made by a Sámi political prisoner in Norway during the mid-19th century as part of an educational programme. The author draws on recent developments in the theory of miniaturization to consider these miniatures as examples of prison op-art autoethnography: communicative devices which seek to address broad and complex social issues through the process of the creation and distribution of semiophorically functionless mimetic objects of reduced scale and complexity, and which reflect the restrictions of incarcerated artistic expression and the questions this raises regarding authenticity and hybridity

Miniatures from domestic contexts in Iron age Iberia

This article reviews a set of miniatures from domestic contexts in Iron Age eastern Iberia, and interprets them in terms of their role in forging social personae. After an introduction to the historical case under consideration, the miniatures are described in terms of their typology and their contexts of provenance are outlined. Though not abundant, they tend to occur in central places in the landscape; specifically, they are often found in houses of the powerful. The vast majority are miniatures of pottery and tools, though some miniature weapons are recorded. We contend that these objects were used as a means of enculturation and for the learning of values and norms. It is no coincidence that they emerge in the archaeological record of Iron Age Iberia at the same time as the rise of a social structure based on hereditary power

The Anthropocene monument:on relating geological and human time

In the Parthenon frieze, the time of mortals and the time of gods seem to merge. Dipesh Chakrabarty has argued that with the advent of the Anthropocene the times of human history and of the Earth are similarly coming together. Are humans entering the ‘monumental time’ of the Earth, to stand alongside the Olympian gods of the other geological forces? In this paper I first look at the cultural shifts leading to the modern idea of separate human and Earth histories. I examine the changing use of monuments to mediate between human and other temporalities. I explore the use of ‘stratigraphic sections’ as natural monuments to mark transitions between the major time units of Earth history, and the erection of intentional monuments nearby. I suggest that the Anthropocene, as a geological epoch-in-the-making, may challenge the whole system of monumental semiotics used to stabilise our way of thinking about deep time

Order parameter and connectivity topology analysis of crystalline ceramics for nuclear waste immobilization

We apply bond order and topological methods to the problem of analysing the results of radiation damage cascade simulations in ceramics. Both modified Steinhardt local order and connectivity topology analysis techniques provide results that are both translationally and rotationally invariant and which do not rely on a particular choice of a reference structure. We illustrate the methods with new analyses of molecular dynamics simulations of single cascades in the pyrochlores Gd2Ti2O7 and Gd2Zr2O7 similar to those reported previously (Todorov et al 2006 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 18 2217). Results from the Steinhardt and topology analyses are consistent, while often providing complementary information, since the Steinhardt parameters are sensitive to changes in angular arrangement even when the overall topological connectivity is fixed. During the highly non-equilibrium conditions at the start of the cascade, both techniques reveal significant localized transient structural changes and variation in the cation connectivity. After a few picoseconds, the connectivity is largely fixed, while the order parameters continue to change. In the zirconate there is a shift to the anion disordered system while in the titanate there is substantial reversion and healing back to the parent pyrochlore structure

A national clinical decision support infrastructure to enable the widespread and consistent practice of genomic and personalized medicine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, the completion of the Human Genome Project and other rapid advances in genomics have led to increasing anticipation of an era of genomic and personalized medicine, in which an individual's health is optimized through the use of all available patient data, including data on the individual's genome and its downstream products. Genomic and personalized medicine could transform healthcare systems and catalyze significant reductions in morbidity, mortality, and overall healthcare costs.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Critical to the achievement of more efficient and effective healthcare enabled by genomics is the establishment of a robust, nationwide clinical decision support infrastructure that assists clinicians in their use of genomic assays to guide disease prevention, diagnosis, and therapy. Requisite components of this infrastructure include the standardized representation of genomic and non-genomic patient data across health information systems; centrally managed repositories of computer-processable medical knowledge; and standardized approaches for applying these knowledge resources against patient data to generate and deliver patient-specific care recommendations. Here, we provide recommendations for establishing a national decision support infrastructure for genomic and personalized medicine that fulfills these needs, leverages existing resources, and is aligned with the <it>Roadmap for National Action on Clinical Decision Support </it>commissioned by the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. Critical to the establishment of this infrastructure will be strong leadership and substantial funding from the federal government.</p> <p>Summary</p> <p>A national clinical decision support infrastructure will be required for reaping the full benefits of genomic and personalized medicine. Essential components of this infrastructure include standards for data representation; centrally managed knowledge repositories; and standardized approaches for leveraging these knowledge repositories to generate patient-specific care recommendations at the point of care.</p

Whole-genome sequencing and annotation of Bacillus safensis RIT372 and Pseudomonas oryzihabitans RIT370 from Capsicum annuum (bird\u27s eye chili) and Capsicum chinense (yellow lantern chili), respectively

Here, we report the genome sequences of Bacillus safensis RIT372 and Pseudomonas oryzihabitans RIT370 from Capsicum spp. Annotation revealed gene clusters for the synthesis of bacilysin, lichensin, and bacillibactin and sporulation killing factor (skfA) in Bacillus safensis RIT372 and turnerbactin and carotenoid in Pseudomonas oryzihabitans RIT370