Abstract This two-part article is a comparative analysis of two late twentieth-century works of art: John T. Scott's Ocean Song (1990), an abstract, large-scale public art sculpture in New Orleans, Louisiana in the US, and Sold Down the River (1999), a major, self-portrait-centered painting by the Bristol, UK-based artist Tony Forbes. As outlined in both sections, contemporary artists have produced works that ensure a continuing civic dialogue about, and commemoration of, site-specific histories of enslavement. In examining and placing these two works in their social, political and cultural contexts, the article highlights the role that artists may play in offering pictorial counter-narratives that question "official," often tourist-driven, narratives that tend to romanticize and/or mollify colonial and/or imperial initiatives, including enslavement and other legacies marked by trauma.
22 Pags.- 2 Tabls. The definitive version, with Figures, is available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00167061 ; Long-term studies of the changes in soil salinity are scarce and most overlook individual ions. Here, we assess changes in soil ionic contents using 42 soils repeatedly sampled during three campaigns over 24 years in a semi-arid irrigated district. Multivariate analysis (MVA) was used to evaluate the spatial distribution of ions and the temporal changes at comparable soil depths in relation to environmental and management factors. In general, the position of the soil in the landscape governed the spatial distribution of the salinity, while the temporal variations were related to irrigation, with incidences depending on the location in the district. Many soils on the slopes and foothills became salinated during the first years due to land leveling, but salination eventually tapered off after sprinkler utilization. At high and middle elevations, most soils were slightly saline in the first campaign but underwent desalination during the study period. At lower elevations, an initial desalination was followed by a pronounced salination, which was attributed to a water table rise with generalized irrigation in the basin. Whereas univariate salinity assessment might lead to conclusions that are over-simplistic at the landscape scale, MVA detects singular behaviors of groups of soils or single cases and has enormous potential coupled with GIS assessment of soil salinity data. ; This study was funded by the Spanish Government (project PCIN-2014-106). J.L. Mora also acknowledges support from the European Regional Fund and Aragón Regional Government through the PALEOQ (E56) research group. ; Peer reviewed
In the last decades, together with the technological advances, the exploration of closer celestial bodies has experimented a high increasing, with a special relevance of the missions whose objective is the scientific search of life precursors. Since the birth of COSPAR (Committee on space research) in 1964, many advances have been achieved in terms of Planetary Protection, to avoid introducing terrestrial contamination in other systems, and/or come back with extraterrestrial contaminations in sample return missions. Many restrictive protocols are adopted by space missions to minimize the bacteriological, molecular and particle contaminations, and especially harder in scientific missions, where the risk of a false positive in an analysis due to terrestrial contamination is critical. These missions search for small quantities of organic material, and any trace of simple signals of C–H, C–O, C–C, C–N, etc. bonds are the target. Many of these signals are present in all the polymeric components used in a space vehicle, and any accidental or natural contamination could lead to a false positive detection of precursors of life. In this work, a new protected technology to avoid any doubt in these cases is proposed: the systematic isotopic marking of polymeric materials used in space missions. As proof of concept, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymers, with the same characteristics of the one used in the calibration target for the Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) in the ExoMars mission, were synthetized in three different ratios of deuterium marking: 0%, 35%, and 100%. In addition the calibration target of the SuperCam instrument of the Mars 2020 mission also includes a sample of PET. The polymeric characterization by Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed similar characteristics, in the range of commercial PET polymers. The same analytical techniques used for organic studies, on board of the ExoMars laboratory, were used for this study: Raman spectroscopy, and Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Results showed that both marked compositions could be unequivocally identified, due to the expected differences caused by the increasing of mass of the marked hydrogen atoms. The materials were subjected to the outgassing test, according to ECSS-Q-ST-70-02C standard, of mandatory compliance for every material used in a space mission following the European standards ECSS, to test the validity for space use. All materials, marked and unmarked, passed this test, and even a slight improvement in RML could be observed in the fully deuterium marked (100%) PET, probably caused by its higher weight, but further studies are needed to verify this trend. ; With funding from the Spanish government through the "María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence" accreditation (MDM-2017-0737)
El cuestionamiento de las relaciones capitalistas de producción debe surgir a partir de su tendencia inherente a los desequilibrios y a la irracionalidad económica y no desde algún pre-juicio ideológico o político. En este contexto, la planificación económica se presenta como necesaria en la medida en que se requiera asegurar una autonomía humana de decisión con respecto a la distribución del ingreso, el acceso al empleo y la protección del medio ambiente. A partir de la constatación de este hecho, la planificación no sustituye a las relaciones mercantiles sino que cumple la función de garantizar una tendencia al equilibrio sobre la base de las relaciones mercantiles, lo que ningún automatismo del mercado puede garantizar. Se propone un principio de delimitación entre la planificación y la autonomía de las empresas (la reproducción de la vida humana), principio ampliable a la delimitación entre el Estado y las actividades de los grupos autónomos y de los mismos sujetos en general. Abstract The questioning of the capitalist relations of production must come from their inherent tendency to irrationality and economic imbalances and not from any ideological or political prejudice. In this context, economic planning is as necessary as it is required to ensure a human decision-making autonomy with respect to income distribution, access to employment and environmental protection. From the observation of this fact, planning is not a substitute for market relations but serves to ensure a tendency to balance on the basis of market relations, so no automatic of the market can guarantee. The article proposes a principle of demarcation between the planning and autonomy for enterprises (the reproduction of human life), expandable to top the demarcation between the state and the activities of autonomous groups and the same subjects in general.
Fusion oncogenes (FOs) are common in many cancer types and are powerful drivers of tumor development. Because their expression is exclusive to cancer cells and their elimination induces cell apoptosis in FO-driven cancers, FOs are attractive therapeutic targets. However, specifically targeting the resulting chimeric products is challenging. Based on CRISPR/Cas9 technology, here we devise a simple, efficient and non-patient-specific gene-editing strategy through targeting of two introns of the genes involved in the rearrangement, allowing for robust disruption of the FO specifically in cancer cells. As a proof-of-concept of its potential, we demonstrate the efficacy of intron-based targeting of transcription factors or tyrosine kinase FOs in reducing tumor burden/mortality in in vivo models. The FO targeting approach presented here might open new horizons for the selective elimination of cancer cells. ; This work was supported by grants from the Spanish National Research and Development Plan, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and FEDER (PI17/02303 and DTS19/00111 to S.R-P.); AEI/MICIU EXPLORA Project BIO2017-91272-EXP and CaixaImpulse (CI18-00017;FuGe) to S.R-P. RT-R. is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Asociacion Espanola Contra el Cancer (AECC). P.M. is supported by the European Research Council (CoG-2014-646903 and PoC-2018-811220), the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (SAF2016), and the Catalunya Government (SGR330 and PERIS 2017). J.C.S. is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (SAF2017-84248-P) and the Spanish Cell Therapy cooperative research network (TERCEL)(RD16/0011/0011). C.B. is supported by the AECC, Beca FERO, and the ISCIII/FEDER (PI17/01028). P.M. also acknowledges the financial support from the Obra Social La Caixa-Fundaci Josep Carreras. P.M. is an investigator of the Spanish Cell Therapy cooperative research network (TERCEL). A.M.C. acknowledges funding from ISCIII-FEDER (CP13/00189) and Xarxa de Bancs de Tumors de ...
Maerl beds occur worldwide and are formed by an accumulation of unattached calcareous red algae (Rhodophyta). Maerl-forming algae grow in a superficial living layer on sediments within the photic zone. Maerl beds are spatially complex habitats with a high degree of species and trophic group diversity. The European Commission's 'Habitats Directive' mandates the conservation management of two of the main European maerl-forming species, Phymatolithon calcareum and Lithothamnion corallioides. Mediterranean maerl beds are to be considered for inclusion in national inventories of sites of conservation interest, as required by the SPABIM Protocol of the Barcelona Convention. In spite of their importance, and the requirement for their conservation management, European maerl grounds suffer a variety of anthropogenic perturbations including direct exploitation through extraction, fishing impacts and chemical pollution by organic matter and excess nutrients. The ecology of northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean maerl beds has received little attention, in contrast to other marine communities (e.g. kelp forests, sea-grass meadows). Key conservation and management measures proposed include: the recognition that maerl beds are non-renewable resources and cannot sustain direct exploitation; prohibitions on the use of towed gear on maerl grounds; moratoria on the issue of further permits for the siting of aquaculture units above maerl grounds; monitoring of existing exploited or impacted maerl beds; the designation of 'no-take' reserves; measures to limit the impacts that might affect water quality above maerl beds; a programme of monitoring of the 'health' of European maerl beds; an awareness campaign on the biological importance of maerl beds; a higher conservation status for maerl habitats and maerlforming species in European legislation; and further research on maerl ecosystems. ; peer-reviewed
The Advancing Care Coordination & Telehealth Deployment (ACT) Programme is the first to explore the organisational and structural processes needed to successfully implement care coordination and telehealth (CC&TH) services on a large scale. A number of insights and conclusions were identified by the ACT programme. These will prove useful and valuable in supporting the large-scale deployment of CC&TH. Targeted at populations of chronic patients and elderly people, these insights and conclusions are a useful benchmark for implementing and exchanging best practices across the EU. Examples are: Perceptions between managers, frontline staff and patients do not always match; Organisational structure does influence the views and experiences of patients: a dedicated contact person is considered both important and helpful; Successful patient adherence happens when staff are engaged; There is a willingness by patients to participate in healthcare programmes; Patients overestimate their level of knowledge and adherence behaviour; The responsibility for adherence must be shared between patients and health care providers; Awareness of the adherence concept is an important factor for adherence promotion; The ability to track the use of resources is a useful feature of a stratification strategy, however, current regional case finding tools are difficult to benchmark and evaluate; Data availability and homogeneity are the biggest challenges when evaluating the performance of the programmes. ; European Union
