Recontextualizing insubordination: Chicana lesbian and queer feminist theorizations

If we understand the notion of insubordination as an act of disobedience that challenges authority, Chicana feminist epistemologies tracing lesbian desire and the queer body must be considered as the most critical paradigms of conceptual rebelliousness. The notion of insubordination, as I intend to theorize in this essay, not only defies the “Anglo-American” monolith signifier, but also represents the possibilities of cultural heterogeneity embedded in the struggles against the tyranny of hegemony and heteronormativity. As demonstrated in the much-acclaimed theories of Gloria Anzaldúa, Cherríe Moraga and the digital art of Alma López, the insubordinate body must convey an urgent sensibility of rebellion to dismantle the structures that make them feel invisible and powerless. While insubordination and its related signifiers — oppositional knowledge and resistance— are not necessarily new markers in theorizing Chicana sexuality and feminist epistemologies, the concepts are fundamentally essential to revisit and unpack the voices/subjectivities articulating the urgency to “decolonize” from repressive systems of domination

Micro-regional planning: evidence-based community buy-in for health development in five of Mexico’s poorest rural districts

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Community participation was a core tenet of Primary Health Care as articulated in the 1970s. How this could be generated and maintained was less clear. This historical article describes development of protocols for evidence-based community mobilisation in five local administrative units (<it>municipios</it>) in the Mexican state of Guerrero between 1992 and 1995.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A sample of five to eight sentinel sites represented each of the most impoverished municipalities of the poorest five of the state's seven regions. A 1992 baseline survey of diarrhoea and its actionable determinants provided the substrate for discussion with local planners and communities. Municipal planners used different strategies to promote participation. In one municipality, new health committees took control of water quality. In another, municipal authorities hired health promoters; a song promoted oral rehydration, and house-to-house interpersonal discussions promoted chlorination. In the poorest and most mountainous municipality, <it>radio casera</it> (home-made radio) soap operas used local "stars". In the largest and most disparate municipality, a child-to-family scheme relied on primary and secondary school teachers. The research team assessed outcomes at intervals and used the results to reinforce local planning and action.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Diarrhoea rates declined in all five municipalities, and there were several positive intermediate outcomes from the communication strategies – changing knowledge, household practices and uptake of services. There was a strong link between specific contents of the communication package and the changing knowledge or practices.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Apart from these evidence-based interventions, other factors probably contributed to the decline of childhood diarrhoea. But, by monitoring implementation of planning decisions and the impact this has at community level, micro-regional planning can stimulate and reinforce actions likely to improve the health of communities. The process empowered municipalities to get access to more resources from the state government and international agencies.</p

Generation of Airy solitary-like wave beams by acceleration control in inhomogeneous media

We investigate the propagation of Airy beams in linear gradient index inhomogeneous media. We demonstrate that by controlling the gradient strength of the medium it is possible to reduce to zero their acceleration. We show that the resulting Airy wave beam propagates in straight line due to the balance between two opposite effects, one due to the inhomogeneous medium and the other to the diffraction of the beam, in a similar way as a solitary wave in a nonlinear inhomogeneous medium. Going even further we were able to invert the sign of the acceleration of the beam

Anomalous scaling law for noise variance and spatial resolution in differential phase contrast computed tomography

In conventional absorption based x-ray computed tomography (CT), the noise variance in reconstructed CT images scales with spatial resolution following an inverse cubic relationship. Without reconstruction, in x-ray absorption radiography, the noise variance scales as an inverse square with spatial resolution. In this letter we report that while the inverse square relationship holds for differential phase contrast projection imaging, there exists an anomalous scaling law in differential phase contrast CT, where the noise variance scales with spatial resolution following an inverse linear relationship. The anomalous scaling law is theoretically derived and subsequently validated with phantom results from an experimental Talbot-Lau interferometer system

Cauchy-Riemann beams

By using operator techniques, we solve the paraxial wave equation for a field given by the multiplication of a Gaussian function and an entire function. The latter possesses a unique property, being an eigenfunction of the {\it perpendicular} Laplacian with a zero eigenvalue, a consequence of the Cauchy-Riemann equations. We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, the inherent rotation of this field during its propagation. The explanation for these rotations lies in the utilization of the quantum (Bohm) potential. The simplicity of this outcome reveals promising prospects: it enables the analytical deduction of the Fraunhofer or Fresnel diffraction pattern. In essence, this means that obtaining the Fresnel or Fourier transform of a function satisfying the Cauchy-Riemann equations becomes a straightforward task