Pandemic and Desacralization: the New Political Order Founded on the Bare Life

This article aims to approach the COVID-19 health crisis through the category of precarity in two senses. On the one hand, in the face of power, a state of exception has been configured as the new form of political handling of the new normality. On the other hand, the loss of public space has meant that community ties have been broken, fostering greater atomisation and loneliness. Both processes were already present in modernity and post-modernity and foster an increasing uprooting of the individual through the loss of the symbolic axes of socialisation, as well as more intense social control. In short, the defining characteristic of the pandemic is the precarity of life

Mitochondrial Membrane Permeability Inhibitors in Acute Myocardial Infarction Still Awaiting Translation

Despite therapeutic advances, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. One potential limitation of the current treatment paradigm is the lack of effective therapies to optimize reperfusion after ischemia and prevent reperfusion-mediated injury. Experimental studies indicate that this process accounts for up to 50% of the final infarct size, lending it importance as a potential target for cardioprotection. However, multiple therapeutic approaches have shown potential in pre-clinical and early phase trials but a paucity of clear clinical benefit when expanded to larger studies. Here we explore this history of trials and errors of the studies of cyclosporine A and other mitochondrial membrane permeability inhibitors, agents that appeared to have a promising pre-clinical record yet provided disappointing results in phase III clinical trials

Strong convergence of the vorticity and conservation of the energy for the α\alpha-Euler equations

In this paper, we study the convergence of solutions of the $\alpha$-Euler equations to solutions of the Euler equations on the $2$-dimensional torus. In particular, given an initial vorticity $\omega_0$ in $L^p_x$ for $p \in (1,\infty)$, we prove strong convergence in $L^\infty_tL^p_x$ of the vorticities $q^\alpha$, solutions of the $\alpha$-Euler equations, towards a Lagrangian and energy-conserving solution of the Euler equations. Furthermore, if we consider solutions with bounded initial vorticity, we prove a quantitative rate of convergence of $q^\alpha$ to $\omega$ in $L^p$, for $p \in (1, \infty)$

Automatic Influences of Priming on Prosocial Behavior

Literature on the automaticity of social behavior indicates that in some circumstances, priming a concept automatically activates related behavioral schemas. Previous research studies have used priming techniques to increase willingness to help, but most of these have simply measured intention to engage in prosocial behavior rather than real helping behavior. Two different studies investigated the effect of priming the concept of prosocial behavior on real helping behavior. After priming prosociality through a scrambled sentences test, participants were shown to increase their donation rate after a direct request coming from an experimenter's confederate (study 1) and to spontaneously help to a greater extent a girl whose books had fallen on the floor (study 2). The implications of this automatic behavior priming effect are discussed within the theoretical framework of the automatic effect of social perception on prosocial behavior

Re-evaluation of the Gottfried sum using neural networks

We provide a determination of the Gottfried sum from all available data, based on a neural network parametrization of the nonsinglet structure function F_2. We find S_G=0.244 +- 0.045, closer to the quark model expectation S_G=1/3 than previous results. We show that the uncertainty from the small x region is somewhat underestimated in previous determinations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, latex with revte

Recognition of false alarms in fall detection systems

Falls are a major cause of hospitalization and injury-related deaths among the elderly population. The detrimental effects of falls, as well as the negative impact on health services costs, have led to a great interest on fall detection systems by the health-care industry. The most promising approaches are those based on a wearable device that monitors the movements of the patient, recognizes a fall and triggers an alarm. Unfortunately such techniques suffer from the problem of false alarms: some activities of daily living are erroneously reported as falls, thus reducing the confidence of the user. This paper presents a novel approach for improving the detection accuracy which is based on the idea of identifying specific movement patterns into the acceleration data. Using a single accelerometer, our system can recognize these patterns and use them to distinguish activities of daily living from real falls; thus the number of false alarms is reduced

Usability study of a wireless monitoring system among Alzheimer's Disease elderly population

Healthcare technologies are slowly entering into our daily lives, replacing old devices and techniques with newer intelligent ones. Although they are meant to help people, the reaction and willingness to use such new devices by the people can be unexpected, especially among the elderly. We conducted a usability study of a fall monitoring system in a long-term nursing home. The subjects were the elderly with advanced Alzheimer’s disease. The study presented here highlights some of the challenges faced in the use of wearable devices and the lessons learned. The results gave us useful insights, leading to ergonomics and aesthetics modifications to our wearable systems that significantly improved their usability and acceptance. New evaluating metrics were designed for the performance evaluation of usability and acceptability

Transhumanismo y Gnosis: Un Paralelismo

Transhumanism and Gnosis: A Parallelism The aim of this paper is to draw a parallel between the phenomenon of gnosis and transhumanism together with its ultimate version, posthumanism. After some methodological clarifications, the paper focuses on four confrontational axes: self-recognition, cosmic and anthropological dualism, the meaning of morality, death and suffering, and finally the promise of salvation. Finally, the two doctrines are framed within the context of the Gnostic revolution, emphasizing the sense of uprootedness and post-modernity to explain the resurgence of these phenomena.En este artículo se pretende entablar un paralelismo entre el fenómeno de la gnosis y el transhumanismo juntamente a su versión última, el poshumanismo. Después de unas aclaraciones de carácter metodológico, el trabajo se centra en cuatro ejes de confrontación: el reconocimiento de sí; el dualismo cósmico y antropológico; el sentido de la moral, de la muerte y del sufrimiento, y, por último, la promesa de salvación. Finalmente, se encuadra el transhumanismo en el marco de la revolución gnóstica haciendo hincapié en el sentido de desarraigo propio la posmodernidad para explicar el resurgimiento de dichos fenómenos

Imminence as a Key to Interpreting the Heterodoxy of Joachim of Fiore: the Radicalization of the Tractatus

The writings of Joachim of Fiore are characterised by a progressive radicalisation of his eschatological positions, culminating in the Tractatus, in which he defends openly heterodox positions. This article seeks to demonstrate that the concept of imminence is an important presence throughout Joachim’s work, even from his earliest writings. Indeed, thanks to Joachim’s highly personal biblical exegesis, imminence becomes the key to understanding the development of his eschatology. Accordingly, Elijah, not Christ, is the centre of the story, and the Church of Peter is about to be superseded by that of John