Multifaceted Care

Schillmeier's book is organised into three sections that centre on case studies of ill bodies: the forgetting body (Alzheimer's disease); the stroked body (stroke); and the infectious body (SARS – Severe and Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Although the social, material and historical particularities of these cases are attended to, the main contribution of the book is to show how each of these cases challenge common-sense understandings of social relations. For Schillmeier, these embodied experiences constitute a cosmopolitical event because they put the taken-for-granted, embodied relations of everyday life at risk. In the first and largest section of the book, Schillmeier shows, for instance, how Alzheimer's disease and the forgetting body disrupts and tests our common-sense claims and perceptions of normalcy, so that the process of dementing itself ‘introduces difference, uncertainties and insecurities’ (p. 42). Mrs M, Schillmeier's protagonist in his chapter on forgetting bodies, is a powerful figure through which the reader is called upon to rethink both human and non-human relations via the actor-networks of dementia, and matters of care, for which attending to affective relations and acknowledging the difference of others is an essential part. By exploring the significance of caring relations in particular, in the second section of the book, Schillmeier captures how the stroked body troubles our conception of home. It is worth stating that the relations of care being described in this book are not a means for advocating any formalised processes of care-giving but instead attend to the situated requirements of Schillmeier's eventful ill bodies. The section on the stroked body provides a detailed description of the complex set of relations that are implicated in the accomplishment of the feeling of being at home. The significance of this analysis is in the proposition that such a feeling is a collective achievement. This is indicative of the book's theoretical thrust that situates feelings and emotions (affective relations) within their material and socio-political networks. Finally, in the third section of the book on infectious bodies, Schillmeier reflects on the 2003 SARS outbreak to explore the cosmopolitics of being at risk of illness, an event that he contends can disrupt and alter our past and present lives. This section marks a departure from the previous two by moving away from bodies experiencing a serious illness. However, there is also a degree of continuity in interrogating human and non-human relations. In the case of infectious bodies, non-human entities like bacteria or viruses gain cosmopolitical agency, challenging the modernist dualism between nature and the non-human on the one hand, and society and humans on the other. The book makes a persuasive case for the cosmopolitics of illness which is well consolidated in the short but powerful conclusion. Part of the success of the book's argument is in the depth of Schillmeier's consideration and critique of concepts that cut across a number of theoretical domains, including a genealogical analysis of the making of different kinds of illness and bodies and social theory that foregrounds networks, social relations, embodiment and affect. Schillmeier is careful throughout the book to distinguish his cosmopolitics of illness from what he describes as a cosmopolitanism of health. The former challenges the very foundation of universalist proponents of ‘good’ health that are often grounded in modernist conceptions of what it means to be human. It would be difficult to recommend this book as an introductory text to a reader unfamiliar with the theoretical traditions that inform it. The accessibility of the book may have been improved in the introduction by a more thorough situating of the cosmopolitics of illness in the wider discipline, with reference to the theories and concepts that a cosmpolitical research agenda challenges and departs from. That said, the book's scholarly ambition and theoretical insight mean that for those readers who have a committed engagement to contemporary social theory, science and technology studies and/or medical sociology, it offers plenty in the way of rewards. It is a book that provides a rigorous theoretical interrogation that is simultaneously visceral in its attention to feelings, emotions and the fleshy nature with which bodies, illness and care are experienced.

Correction efficiency and error characteristics for cosmic-ray soil moisture on mountainous terrain

Self-driving cars in mountainous terrain have many critical applications. For example, autonomous off-road vehicles for rescue and exploration, self-driving trucks for the mining industries, and autonomous shuttle services for remote resorts. Training autonomous vehicles in these environments has many challenges compared to urban or highway environments. These challenges include steep slopes, winding roads, and off-road obstacles. This research presents a new reinforcement learning model to drive in this complex environment. The model explores the effect of using fewer sensors for performance enhancement and cost-effectiveness in this environment. These sensors are RADAR, IMU, and GPS. Unity Engine with ML Agent is used as a simulator for training, as it provides a virtual environment for efficient and safe driving. The selected sensors facilitate a seamless knowledge transfer from the simulator to a real vehicle. They also provide sufficient information for measuring road gradient and angle between successive lane segments. A new reward system is designed based on the Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO) algorithm with Behavioural Cloning (BC). The experimental findings suggest that the proposed model can navigate mountainous terrain safely and efficiently while avoiding collisions and staying in the correct lane. The model achieved a low total collision rate of approximately 0.04 collisions per obstacle, a lane exit rate of 0.014, maintained an average speed of 22 km/h, and a maximum speed of 48 km/h in complex simulated environments.

Attention allows us to select relevant and ignore irrelevant information from our complex environments. What happens when attention shifts from one item to another? To answer this question, it is critical to have tools that accurately recover neural representations of both feature and location information with high temporal resolution. In the present study, we used human electroencephalography (EEG) and machine learning to explore how neural representations of object features and locations update across dynamic shifts of attention. We demonstrate that EEG can be used to create simultaneous time courses of neural representations of attended features (time point-by-time point inverted encoding model reconstructions) and attended location (time point-by-time point decoding) during both stable periods and across dynamic shifts of attention. Each trial presented two oriented gratings that flickered at the same frequency but had different orientations; participants were cued to attend one of them and on half of trials received a shift cue midtrial. We trained models on a stable period from Hold attention trials and then reconstructed/decoded the attended orientation/location at each time point on Shift attention trials. Our results showed that both feature reconstruction and location decoding dynamically track the shift of attention and that there may be time points during the shifting of attention when 1) feature and location representations become uncoupled and 2) both the previously attended and currently attended orientations are represented with roughly equal strength. The results offer insight into our understanding of attentional shifts, and the noninvasive techniques developed in the present study lend themselves well to a wide variety of future applications.NEW & NOTEWORTHY We used human EEG and machine learning to reconstruct neural response profiles during dynamic shifts of attention. Specifically, we demonstrated that we could simultaneously read out both location and feature information from an attended item in a multistimulus display. Moreover, we examined how that readout evolves over time during the dynamic process of attentional shifts. These results provide insight into our understanding of attention, and this technique carries substantial potential for versatile extensions and applications.

<p>The operational Weather Surveillance Radar - 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) network is an efficient tool for observing hydrometeorology processes and it forms the cornerstone of national weather forecast and warning systems. However, the observation performance of the WSR-88D network is severely hampered over the western U.S., due to 1) the radar network density is not as high as that over the eastern U.S.; 2) WSR-88D radar beams are often partially or fully blocked by the mountainous terrain in the western U.S. </p><p>For example, the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California, which supports one of the most prosperous economies in the U.S., is expected to be covered by two WSR-88D radars: KMUX and KDAX. The KMUX radar is located in the Santa Cruz Mountains at an elevation of over 1000 m above mean sea level (AMSL) compared with the densely populated valley regions which are near the sea level. Typically, the storms in Northern California have freezing levels approximately 1–2 km AMSL. As the distance from the radar increases, the KMUX radar beam can easily overshoot the mixed-phase hydrometeors in the bright band or snowflakes above the bright band, even if it is raining at the ground. The KDAX radar is located near the sea level in Davis, California. However, the KDAX radar beams are partially blocked by the Coast Ranges at low elevation angles. The coverage limitations of the KMUX and KDAX radars are further compounded by the complex precipitation microphysics as a result of land-ocean interaction in the coastal regions and orographic enhancement in the mountainous regions. As a result, it is still challenging to monitor and predict the changing atmospheric conditions using operational radars in the Bay Area, which will make the Bay Area particularly susceptible to catastrophic flooding that disrupts transportation, threatens public safety, and negatively impacts water quality. </p><p>In this paper, we present an Advanced Quantitative Precipitation Information (AQPI) system built by NOAA and collaborating partners to improve monitoring and forecasting of precipitation and coastal flooding in the Bay Area. The high-frequency (i.e., C and X band) high-resolution gap-filling radars deployed as part of the AQPI program are detailed. A radar-based rainfall system is designed to improve real-time precipitation estimation over the Bay Area. The sensitivity of rainfall products on the occurrence of hydrologic extremes is investigated through a distributed hydrological model to improve the streamflow forecast. The performance of rainfall and associated hydrological impacts during the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 winter storm seasons is quantified in the context of improving urban resiliency to natural disasters in such a complex environment. </p>

A computational framework is described for modeling acoustic and radio-frequency (RF) signal propagation in complex environments, such as urban, mountainous, and forested terrain. In such environments, the influences of three-dimensional atmospheric fields and terrain variations must be addressed. The approach described here involves creation of a full environmental data representation (abstraction layer), which can be initialized with many different environmental data resources, including weather forecasts, digital terrain elevations, landcover types, and soil properties. The environmental representation is then converted into the parameters needed for particular signal modalities and classes of propagation algorithms. In this manner, execution of the signal propagation calculations is isolated from the sources of environmental data, so that all models will function with all types of environmental data. The formulation of the acoustic (infrasound and audible) and RF (VHF/UHF/SHF) feature spaces is also described. Example calculations involving infrasound propagation with 3D weather fields and RF propagation in mountainous terrain are provided.

RETHINKING HUMAN AND NONHUMAN ANIMAL RELATIONS IN J. M. COETZEE'S ELIZABETH COSTELLO (2003) Rodrigo Martini Paula August 1,2012 For the past four decades, scholarship on the relationship between human and nonhuman animals has been growing inside the academy and sprouting ontological and epistemological concerns about the status of the Humanities as an institution. Between 1997 and 2003, South-African author and Nobel Laureate 1. M. Coetzee created Elizabeth Costello, an Australian writer that delivers lectures at certain universities and causes controversy when addressing the nature of animal rights movements. This work aims at analyzing the situations in which Coetzce uses Costello to speak about the cruelty to nonhuman animals. What I argue is that in entering the conversation through the use of a fictional character, Coetzee puts the discourse of both philosophy an science in perspective and forces the reader to rethink the politics involved in the ways disciplines

Transnational families meet with multiple family law systems in their everyday lives. In this chapter, we use a bottom-up perspective based on multi-sited fieldwork shedding light on how transnational Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Egyptian families relate to these multiple family law systems. In our analysis, we understand wellbeing as multidimensional consisting of material, relational, and ethical dimensions. With regard to the material aspects of wellbeing, we focus on participants’ needs in dealing with legal systems and bureaucracy. Our findings indicate that it is not that easy for transnational families to translate claims back and forth and strategically use the law across borders, as this requires economic, cultural, and social capital. In the relational dimension, we found that the law is an important aspect of managing transnational family ties. With regard to the ethical dimension, we did not find confirmation of religious or cultural claims, as often mentioned in the literature. Rather, family members try to solve normative issues in pragmatic ways with the aim of preserving or severing family relationships. We suggest ‘navigating’ the law as a useful lens through which to study how these family members reconcile the different norms they encounter.

<p class="first" id="d152385e68">Optogenetics is a set of biological techniques that proposes a future where many neurological diseases in humans could one day be treated with light. It also gives way to the idea that humans can control other organisms, such as light-responsive algae, through genetic modification techniques. These techniques have the potential to be utilized to alter the behaviors of light-responsive algae for the production of bio-fuel, food, and other biological materials and products. However, these techniques open the door for many bioethical issues and concerns about genetic modifications and the agency of both human and non-human cells. Inspired by the ecofeminist philosophy of Donna Haraway’s “making kin”, <i>(R)EVOLUTION</i> is an artistic attempt to rearticulate the relationship between algal visual perception and human technoscientific desires through performance-based approaches associated with dance and gameplay. Using the aesthetic framing of <i>Dance Dance Revolution</i>, <i>(R)EVOLUTION</i> seeks to provide a satirical exploration of human and non-human relationships using light-based choreography and gameplay while simultaneously reflecting on ethical dimensions of research in the growing field of Optogenetics and the ethical issues involved in artistic works that are created out of the bodies, lives, and liveliness of microscopic organisms. This paper explores these ethical dilemmas, the work’s uses of microperformativity, and the cultural connotations of <i>(R)EVOLUTION</i> while providing critical analysis as context for the transdisciplinary approaches undertaken by the artist in collaboration with Humboldt Universität zu Berlin’s Department of Experimental Biophysics.

This paper discusses the transformed human (fishermen) and nonhuman (dogs) relations; dogs being the most feared animal in past to dogs as companion species today at Manchar Lake. The Lake is one of the oldest and largest freshwater lakes of South Asia, located in Sindh Pakistan, and is degrading for last more than two decades due to a development project called Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD), which drains industrial, agricultural, and domestic affluent in the lake. In past, when lake was flourishing, fishermen had very few occasions to come on land hence very few chances of interaction with dogs; they would run back to boathouses if ever come in contact with dogs. Now, living on banks, they need dogs as their companion, to protect domesticated animals from other dogs, jackals and tomcats who roam around and runaway in eastern mountains after killing a goat, hen or domesticated waterfowls. This transformed relations shed light on how human life is entangled with other species that they need help of nonhuman Other for survival. This paper is result of ethnographic fieldwork conducted during June 2015 to March 2017 with fishermen community of Manchar Lake.

This article aims to show how animal fables and tales, thanks to, rather than in spite of, their metaphorical or allegorical content, can broaden our perceptions and constructions of interspecies relationships. It considers to what degree the presence of the natural world and animals is used by writers to challenge not only the moral conventions and expected structures of these literary forms, but also traditional images of non-human beings, of the natural world and of human relationships with non-human beings. The fundamental role of these genres in promoting human and non-human relationships and offering new constructions of nature-culture will be outlined, analysing ‘Le Chat botté’ [‘Puss-in-Boots’], one of the founding Western tales, together with one of its contemporary interpretations by Angela Carter to illustrate those points, before broadening the conclusion with reference to a Creole animal tale by contemporary Martiniquan writer Patrick Chamoiseau.

This article aims to show how animal fables and tales, thanks to, rather than in spite of, their metaphorical or allegorical content, can broaden our perceptions and constructions of interspecies relationships. It considers to what degree the presence of the natural world and animals is used by writers to challenge not only the moral conventions and expected structures of these literary forms, but also traditional images of non-human beings, of the natural world and of human relationships with non-human beings. The fundamental role of these genres in promoting human and non-human relationships and offering new constructions of nature-culture will be outlined, analysing ‘Le Chat botte’ [‘Puss-in-Boots’], one of the founding Western tales, together with one of its contemporary interpretations by Angela Carter to illustrate those points, before broadening the conclusion with reference to a Creole animal tale by contemporary Martiniquan writer Patrick Chamoiseau.

In the United States, “jizz” most commonly appears as a slang term for semen, yet initially emerged in British English as a fast method of field identification implemented by skilled birdwatchers and naturalists around the world. Jizz, as such, is messy, fluid, somewhat opaque, linked to embodied knowledge, and incredibly generative across diverse contexts. Linguistic evidence suggests the two semantic identities of jizz might be simultaneously inhabitable and etymologically interchangeable, yet all lineage is uncertain. Legend and literature have accused “jizz” of being a polysemic bastardization of an acronym, a backronym, and any one of a line-up of possible parent words. The extent to which this messiness, fluidity, and opacity penetrates jizz to its core makes this term ripe for generating a full-bodied rhetorical investigation. The nature of my investigation of jizz, a term deeply connected to human relationships with animals, is in part inspired by the “Rhetorical Bestiary” entries in the May 2017 special issue of the Rhetoric Society Quarterly. This issue is dedicated to the fledgling presence of animal studies in multidisciplinary rhetoric, and asks writers to “entangle their scholarly habits with a performative intertwining of and experimentation with human and nonhuman relationships” (Gordon, et al. 223). The resulting “Bestiary” features creative “entries” rather than “traditional essays” to demonstrate the “emergence of an animal rhetoric—one that embraces a discursive ecosystem composed of animal lives and mingles humanism with species of wisdom that are not our own” (ibid). One of the arguments I do not pursue explicitly but endeavor to suggest is that while “jizz” is explicitly used and analyzed by humans, it is not a uniquely human wisdom.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to severe functional decline and death, imposing significant physical, emotional, and ethical burdens on patients and healthcare providers. With no curative treatment, ALS care depends on the early and sustained integration of palliative care to address complex and evolving needs. Nurses play a pivotal role in this process, yet their lived experiences remain underexplored. This study aimed to synthesize qualitative evidence on nurses' experiences in ALS care, with a focus on emotional, ethical, and palliative dimensions. A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies was conducted using Sandelowski and Barroso's four-step method. A systematic search across five databases identified eight studies exploring nurses' experiences with ALS care. Thematic synthesis was applied to extract overarching patterns. Three core themes emerged: (1) Relational Dimension: From challenges to empathy and Trust and mistrust-emphasizing communication barriers and the value of relational trust; (2) Care Dimension: Competence, Palliative care needs, and Rewarding complexity-highlighting the emotional demands of care, the need for timely palliative integration, and the professional meaning derived from ALS care; (3) Ethical Dimension: Medical interventionism and Patient-centered values-exploring dilemmas around life-sustaining treatments, patient autonomy, and end-of-life decisions. Nurses in ALS care face complex emotional and ethical challenges that call for strong institutional support and palliative training. Enhancing palliative care integration from diagnosis, alongside targeted education and psychological support, is crucial to improving care quality and sustaining the well-being of both patients and nurses.

Data from field studies have shown that the ozone concentrations in a complex environment do not exhibit the same mean values at mountaintop and valley sites. The occurrences of the maximum value for the two types of sites are approximately 180° out of phase, the mountaintop maximum occurring at night. Their relative concentrations often vary by a factor of 3 or 4. Ground-level NO2 concentrations were comparable to reported values. The NO/NO2 ratio was approximately 0.65.