Unplug and play: manufacturing collapse in Gaza

This article examines how colonial violence has been recast in light of Israel’s disengagement from Gaza during the summer 2005. By looking at infrastructural networks —the systems that distribute water, electricity sewage, fuel etc— it explores how far from ending the occupation, disengagement provided a distinct spatial scale from which to experiment new methods of control and repression. In particular, it seeks to expose how these life support systems function as geopolitical sites of spatial control and as biopolitical tools to regulate and suppress life. Specially, it illustrates how the mobilization of discourses strategies and doctrines, criminalize these critical system turning them into ‘legitimate’ and ‘pre-emptive’ targets Drawing on the destruction of Gaza’s only power plant and the subsequent sanctions on electricity and fuel, it argues that the destruction and manipulation of infrastructura networks has severe consequences, particularly in public health. In exploring these claims with respect to Gaza, the article draws attention to the ways in which infrastructure play a crucial role in regulating the elastic Gaza’ humanitarian collapse. The article closes introducing the concept of infrastructural violence as way to further explore this discussion

Fabric of life : the infrastructure of settler colonialism and uneven development in Palestine

This dissertation aims to resurface and make visible infrastructure networks as concrete expressions of settler colonialism and uneven development. Focusing on contemporary Palestine, particularly in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, this thesis investigates the ways in which infrastructures come to matter socially, politically, economically and spatially both symbolically and as a set of materials. Drawing on the histories and geographies of road and electricity grids, Fabric of Life explores the ways these infrastructures are constructed, imagined and governed but also how they are experienced and contested. The research takes roads and electricity as object and subject of analysis and traces their role in shaping and producing space while also using them as window into understanding the various actors and ‘larger’ forces and structures that constitute these grids. An interdisciplinary analytical focus on the ‘hardware’ (e.g. wires) and ‘software’ (e.g. policies) aspects of infrastructures and their co-evolution with urban spaces and populations opens up critical perspectives on existing accounts of the political and economic geographies of Palestine. It offers a powerful way of thinking about these large socio-technical systems as a complex assemblage of actors, agents, policies and processes that connect to, and drive, much debated processes of settler colonialism, modernity, statecraft and uneven development. Concurrently, by providing an analytical study of infrastructures, the project generates new knowledge about and insight into the Palestinian case. In pursuing these themes, this thesis represents an attempt to resist and complicate dominant accounts of occupation and development in Palestine but also to make a vital contribution to a broader scholarship in critical urban studies and settler colonialism

Impacto del recorte presupuestal de nacionalización en la Policía Nacional Dirección de Antinarcóticos en el 2012

El principio de planeación en la Policía Nacional ha encontrado en la última década un realce de gran impacto para el servicio de policía, orientando al mando en la toma acertada de decisiones que le permite obtener resultados óptimos en el desarrollo de la misionalidad institucional. En este contexto, acertadamente el nivel central entrego la responsabilidad de la planeación y ejecución presupuestal en la Oficina de Planeación de la Policía Nacional, por lo tanto el trabajo de investigación desarrollado para este ensayo parte de la preocupación de evaluar la situación de financiamiento de una de las unidades policiales más reconocidas a nivel internacional por su trabajo, entrega y sacrificio en la lucha antidrogas como es la Dirección de Antinarcóticos

Evolution of Cluster Ellipticals at 0.2 < z < 1.2 from Hubble Space Telescope Imaging

Two-dimensional surface photometry derived from Hubble Space Telescope imaging is presented for a sample of 225 early-type galaxies (assumed to be cluster members) in the fields of 9 clusters at redshifts $0.17 < z < 1.21$. The 94 luminous ellipticals ($M_{AB}(B)<-20$; selected by morphology alone with no reference to color) form tight sequences in the size-luminosity plane. The position of these sequences shifts, on average, with redshift so that an object of a given size at z=0.55 is brighter by $\Delta M(B)=-0.57 \pm 0.13$ mag than its counterpart (measured with the same techniques) in nearby clusters. At z=0.9 the shift is $\Delta M(B)=-0.96 \pm 0.22$ mag. If the relation between size and luminosity is universal so that the local cluster galaxies represent the evolutionary endpoints of those at high redshift, and if the size-luminosity relation is not modified by dynamical processes then this population of galaxies has undergone significant luminosity evolution since z=1 consistent with expectations based on models of passively evolving, old stellar populations.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, and 1 Tabl

Glaucoma treatment in pregnancy and lactation: A literature review

Introduction: Intraocular pressure (IOP) in pregnancy decreases slightly towards the 18th gestation week, however in pregnant patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension the IOP could be variable and will not necessarily be reduced. Therefore, some pregnant women require potentially risky treatment for them and their fetuses. Objective: To describe the relevant ocular physiopathological changes, management options and possible adverse effects of treatment during pregnancy and lactation, in patients with associated glaucoma. Materials and methods: A literature review of publications was carried out from 2001 to 2021, considering the corresponding MeSH terms for glaucoma, pregnancy, lactation, and intraocular pressure (IOP). In a structured way, the information was extracted and synthesized. Results: It is increasingly common to identify pregnant patients with glaucoma. This condition can be treated with topical medications, but most of those are category C. The treatment option with selective laser trabeculoplasty seems to be a safe treatment, but the evidence is limited. Glaucoma surgery is an option in case of poor IOP control and visual function deterioration. The use of antimetabolites is fully contraindicated in this group of patients. During lactation, it is necessary to adjust topical medications, considering the conditions of the newborn. Conclusions: The approach to glaucoma in the pregnant patient requires a precise balance between IOP control to prevent visual damage in the pregnant/lactating female and the prevention of adverse effects in the fetus/newborn

Recommendations for visual exam in children

Introduction: Visual screening in children is an assessment that should be performed by the primary care physician to detect diminished visual acuity or risk factors that may interfere with an appropriate development of the eye and visual system. In the visual screening, visual acuity, ocular alignment and the presence of structural ocular anomalies should be assessed. Methods: A literature review about strategies to perform an adequate pediatric visual examination by general physicians and pediatricians for early detection of visual problems in children was carried out. Results: Visual disorders are one of the main causes of disability in children, being the main risk factors uncorrected refractive errors, strabismus and congenital cataracts, that can leave irreversible sequels if they are not detected on time, being those disorders identified through visual screening. Conclusions: Whenever the visual acuity is detected below the expected for the patient’s age, poor fixation and/or follow after 3 months, muscle imbalance, alteration of the red reflex, etc., the child should be referred to a visual health professional to prevent permanent visual loss

Evolution of Cluster and Field Ellipticals at 0.2<z<0.60.2 < z < 0.6 in the CNOC Cluster Survey

Two-dimensional surface photometry has been done for 166 {\em early-type} galaxies (bulge/total luminosity $B/T>0.6$) in 3 fields of the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology (CNOC) cluster survey. These galaxies are either spectroscopically confirmed members of clusters at $z=0.23$ (45 galaxies), $0.43$ (22), and $0.55$ (16) or field galaxies in the same redshift range. An additional 51 early-type galaxies in the rich cluster Abell 2256 at $z=0.06$ were analysed with the same technique. The resulting structural and surface brightness measurements show that, in the plane of absolute magnitude $M_{AB}(B)$ versus $\log R_e$ (half-light radius), the locus of cluster ellipticals shifts monotonically with redshift so that at redshifts of (0.23, 0.43, 0.55), galaxies of a given size are more luminous by ($-0.25\pm 0.10,-0.55\pm 0.12,-0.74\pm 0.21$) magnitudes with respect to the same relation measured at $z=0.06$ (adopting $q_\circ=0.5$). There is no evidence that early-type galaxies in the field evolve differently from those in clusters. If dynamical processes do not substantially modify the size-luminosity relation for early-type galaxies over the observed redshift range, then these galaxies have undergone significant luminosity evolution over the past half of the age of the universe. The amount of brightening is consistent with passive evolution models of old, single-burst stellar populations.Comment: Latex document (no figures) requiring AAS macros. Postscript with all figures is available at http://manaslu.astro.utoronto.ca/~carlberg/cnoc/ellipticals; (accepted for ApJ Letters

Exploring the progenitors of brightest cluster galaxies at z ∼ 2

We present a new method for tracing the evolution of brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) from z ∼ 2 to z ∼ 0. We conclude on the basis of semi-analytical models that the best method to select BCG progenitors at z ∼ 2 is a hybrid environmental density and stellar mass ranking approach. Ultimately, we are able to retrieve 45 per cent of BCG progenitors. We apply this method on the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey, Ultra Deep Survey data to construct a progenitor sample at high redshift. We furthermore populate the comparisons in local Universe by using Sloan Digital Sky Survey data with statistically likely contamination to ensure a fair comparison between high and low redshifts. Using these samples we demonstrate that the BCG sizes have grown by a factor of ∼3.2 since z ∼ 2, and BCG progenitors are mainly late-type galaxies, exhibiting less concentrated profiles than their early type local counterparts. We find that BCG progenitors have more disturbed morphologies. In contrast, local BCGs have much smoother profiles. Moreover, we find that the stellar masses of BCGs have grown by a factor of ∼2.5 since z ∼ 2, and the star formation rate of BCG progenitors has a median value of 13.5 Mʘ yr‾¹, much higher than their quiescent local descendants. We demonstrate that over z = 1–2 star formation and merging contribute equally to BCG mass growth. However, merging plays a dominant role in BCG assembly at z ≲ 1. We also find that BCG progenitors at high z are not significantly different from other galaxies of similar mass at the same epoch. This suggests that the processes which differentiate BCGs from normal massive elliptical galaxies must occur at z ≲ 2