Sensation as Civilization: Reading/Riding the Taxicab

Aesthetics, race, and nation are densely imbricated with one another. This essay examines their interactions in a newspaper column that describes an aesthetic confrontation between a presumably Arab taxi driver and his passenger, a white European-Dutch columnist. In this column, taste engenders acts of identification and abjection, transmits projections of fear, and underwrites a division of labor and virtue. It thereby serves as a racial border patrolling technology and institutes racial boundaries. To clarify the racial power of aesthetic constellations in the taxicab case, the paper turns to the dualities and integrations that theorists such as Addison, Baumgarten, Schiller, and Hegel have historically located at the center of their conceptions of the aesthetic. Unwrapping the disciplinary operations sustained in the taxi scenario by differentially available separations and integrations between mind and body, public and private, individuality and sociality, the essay investigates what follows for an understanding of aesthetic disciplinarity

The Aesthetic and Its Resonances: A Reply to Kathleen M. Higgins, Carolyn Korsmeyer, and Mariana Ortega

This essay offers replies to the critical commentaries on The Cultural Promise of the Aesthetic presented by Kathleen M. Higgins, Carolyn Korsmeyer, and Mariana Ortega. The essay shows how the probing questions and criticisms that the three commentators raise bring out details in the framework of relationality, address, and promises through which the book theorizes the aesthetic

Intensity of daily physical activity–a key component for improving physical capacity after minor stroke?

Purpose: Elucidating the complex interactions between physical activity (PA), a multidimensional concept, and physical capacity (PC) may reveal ways to improve rehabilitation interventions. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore which PA dimensions are related to PC in people after minor stroke. Materials and methods: Community dwelling individuals >6 months after minor stroke were evaluated with a 10-Meter-Walking-Test (10MWT), Timed-Up & Go, and the Mini Balance Evaluation System Test. The following PA outcomes were measured with an Activ8 accelerometer: counts per minute during walking (CPMwalking; a measure of intensity), number of active bouts (frequency), mean length of active bouts (distribution), and percentage of waking hours in upright positions (duration). Multivariable linear regression models, adjusted for age, sex and BMI, were used to assess the relationships between PC and PA outcomes. Results: Sixty-nine participants [62.2 ± 9.8 years, 61% male, 20 months post onset (IQR 13.0–53.5)] were included in the analysis. CPMwalking was significantly associated to PC in the 10MWT (std. β = 0.409, p = 0.002), whereas other associations between PA and PC were not significant. Conclusions: The PA dimension intensity of walking is significantly associated with PC, and appears to be an important tool for future interventions in rehabilitation after minor stroke.Implications for rehabilitation It is recommended to express physical activity after minor stroke in multiple dimensions such as intensity, frequency, duration and distribution. In particular, intensity of physical activity measured with accelerometer counts is most closely related to physical capacity. The findings of this study underline the importance of being physically active beyond a certain intensity. In future development of interventions and guidelines that aim to promote daily physical activity, intensity should be taken into account

Microhalocline enabled nutrient recycling may explain extreme Azolla event in the Eocene Arctic Ocean. PLoS ONE 7:e50159. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050159

In order to understand the physicochemical mechanisms that could explain the massive growth of Azolla arctica in the Eocene Arctic Ocean, we carried out a laboratory experiment in which we studied the interacting effects of rain and wind on the development of salinity stratification, both in the presence and in the absence of a dense Azolla cover. Additionally, we carried out a mesocosm experiment to get a better understanding of the nutrient cycling within and beneath a dense Azolla cover in both freshwater and brackish water environments. Here we show that Azolla is able to create a windproof, small-scale salinity gradient in brackish waters, which allows for efficient recycling of nutrients. We suggest that this mechanism ensures the maintenance of a large standing biomass in which additional input of nutrients ultimately result in a further expansion of an Azolla cover. As such, it may not only explain the extent of the Azolla event during the Eocene, but also th

Mesocosm experiment.

<p><b>A</b>) Development of the biomass density of <i>Azolla filiculoides</i> (g dry weight m⁻² ± standard error) grown in freshwater or brackish water basins. <b>2B</b>) Chloride concentrations and <b>2C</b>) phosphate concentrations (µM ± standard error) in the top, middle and bottom water layers of the freshwater and brackish water basins during the mesocosm experiment. Significant differences between water layers are indicated by different letters. The cumulative amount of rainfall during the experiment (mm) is shown on the right axis in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0050159#pone-0050159-g002" target="_blank">figure <b>2B</b></a>.</p

Interacting effects of <i>Azolla</i>, rain and wind on salinity stratification. A

<p>) Salinity (mg L⁻¹ ± standard error) in the top water layers (solid lines) and in the bottom water layers (dotted lines) of the beakers in the absence of <i>Azolla</i> (rounds), in the presence of <i>Azolla</i> (squares), with no influence of wind (closed figures) or with influence of wind (open figures) hours after the rain event. <b>B</b>) Salinity (mg L⁻¹) profiles in the beakers 20 hours after the rain event.</p