Exclusion Mechanism Research Articles

Auxin is involved in cadmium accumulation in rice through controlling nitric oxide production and the ability of cell walls to bind cadmium

Although auxin has been linked to plants' responses to cadmium (Cd) stress, the exact mechanism is yet elusive. The objective of the current investigation was to determine the role and the mechanism of auxin in controlling rice's Cd accumulation. Rice roots with Cd stress have higher endogenous auxin levels, and exogenous auxin combined Cd treatment could reduce root cell wall's hemicellulose content when compared with Cd treatment alone, which in turn reduced its fixation of Cd, as well as decreased the expression of OsCd1 (a major facilitator superfamily gene), OsNRAMP1/5 (Natural Resistance-Associated Macrophage Protein 1/5), OsZIP5/9 (Zinc Transporter 5/9), and OsHMA2 (Heavy Metal ATPase 2) that participated in Cd uptake and root to shoot translocation. Furthermore, less Cd accumulated in the shoots as a result of auxin's impact in increasing the expression of OsCAL1 (Cadmium accumulation in Leaf 1), OsABCG36/OsPDR9 (G-type ATP-binding cassette transporter/Pleiotropic drug resistance 9), and OsHMA3, which were in charge of Cd efflux and sequestering into vacuoles, respectively. Additionally, auxin decreased endogenous nitric oxide (NO) levels and antioxidant enzyme activity, while treatment of a NO scavenger-cPTIO-reduced auxin's alleviatory effects. In conclusion, the rice's ability to tolerate Cd toxicity was likely increased by the auxin-accelerated cell wall Cd exclusion mechanism, a pathway that controlled by the buildup of NO.

Quantifying uncertainty in nanofiltration transport models for enhanced metals recovery.

To decarbonize our global energy system, sustainably harvesting metals from diverse sourcewaters is essential. Membrane-based processes have recently shown great promise in meeting these needs by achieving high metal ion selectivities with relatively low water and energy use. An example is nanofiltration, which harnesses steric, dielectric, and Donnan exclusion mechanisms to perform size- and charge-based fractionation of metal ions. To further optimize nanofiltration systems, multicomponent models are needed; however, conventional methods necessitate large amounts of data for model calibration, introduce substantial uncertainty into the characterization process, and often yield poor results when extrapolated. In this work, we develop a new computational architecture to alleviate these concerns. Specifically, we develop a framework that: (1) reduces the data requirement for model calibration to only charged species measurements; (2) eliminates uncertainty propagation problems present in conventional characterization processes; (3) enables exploration of pH optimization for enhancing metal ion selectivities; and (4) enables uncertainty quantification to assess the sensitivity of partition coefficients and ion driving forces to learned pore size distributions. Our framework captures eight independent datasets comprising over 500 measurements to within ±15%. Our studies also suggest that the expectation-maximization algorithm can effectively learn pore size distributions and that optimizing pH can improve metal ion selectivities by a factor of 3-10×. Our findings also reveal that image charges appear to play a less pronounced role in dielectric exclusion under the studied conditions and that ion driving forces are more sensitive to pore size distributions than partition coefficients.

Large Scalable High Ion Conductive and Selective Double Layer Membrane Achieved through Dual Ion Conducting Mechanisms

As the share of sustainable energy sources in the electricity supply rises, large-scale energy storage becomes increasingly important. All vanadium flow batteries, as one of the most promising large-scale energy storage methods, have reached the commercialization stage because of their unique feature of uncoupling power and energy, as well as the advantages of long life, high safety, and low cost. The ion-selective membrane is an essential part of flow batteries, which allows specific ions to pass through to maintain a neutral charge and prevents the crossover of active species to maintain the capacity. However, the high cost and low ion-selectivity of the commercialized ion-selective membranes (i.e., Nafion membranes) hindered the further promotion of the flow batteries. Herein, we developed a large scalable double-layer ion selectivity membrane with a unique bifunctional nanoporous boron nitride (PBN) ion selective layer and a low-cost porous polyetherimide (PEI) ion conductivity and support layer. PBN was synthesized by a large scalable template-free method, which was further decorated with Nafion resin. The nano-sized and tortuous pores of the PBN can effectively block the crossover of vanadium ions and provide excellent ion selectivity based on the pore size exclusion mechanism. Furthermore, the super-acidic sulfonic acid groups of Nafion decorated on the nanoporous structure of PBN provide high-speed proton transfer channels that increase proton conductivity through both Grotthuss and vehicle mechanisms. The low-cost porous PEI ion conductivity and support layer was prepared by the phase separation method. The well-aligned asymmetric finger-like porous structure of the PEI membrane provides excellent ion conductivity. The addition of a hydrophilic polymer additive, polyvinylpyrrolidone, further increased its ion conductivity. The PBN–PEI double layer membrane, prepared by a simple spray coating method, demonstrated an excellent ion selectivity (1.49×108 mS cm−3 min), which is almost 15 times higher than that of the pristine PEI membrane (6.71×106 mS cm−3 min) while maintaining high ion conductivity (64 mS cm−1). The PBN–PEI membrane achieved superior performance (97% of coulombic efficiency, 94% of voltage efficiency, and 91% of energy efficiency at 40 mA cm−2) than the Nafion 115 membrane in the all-vanadium flow battery with higher discharge capacity at all current densities and high stability with a lower capacity fading rate (0.17% per cycle vs. 0.74% per cycle at 100 mA cm−2). The PBN–PEI membrane also demonstrated a stable operation in the all-vanadium flow battery at a current density of 100 mA cm−2 over 700 cycles. The work presented the remarkable performance of the ultra-thin PBN bifunctional layer in terms of ion conductivity and selectivity; the combination with the low-cost high ion-conductive porous PEI membrane and a simple fabrication process demonstrated a great potential for commercialization of the PBN-PEI double-layer membrane.

Introduction


 
 
 This monographic section of volume 25 of Itinera stems largely from the discussions that took place during the two study days I organised on 13th and 14th. May 2021 at the Stensen Institute in Florence, entitled Ricerche in corso. These were planned on the occasion of the Moral Philosophy Seminars, held at the University of Florence, with the collaboration of Professor Maddalena Mazzocut-Mis and Professor Bruno Accarino, who were foundamental importance for these event, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them.
 With the aim of continuing and enriching the debate of both days, this section not only brings together some of the contributions presented by the speakers, but it also aims to further involve other authors in the field of teratology, an area of study, which can seem somewhat impenetrable.The original title of the seminar “The Anatomical Monster” (the subtitle of which reads: “Figures of Irregularity, Mechanisms of Exclusion and Biological Naturalism”) evidently referred to the theme of so-called “monstrous births”.
 The attempt was to make evident certain themes that run through the various contributions; starting from the definition of abnormal and pathological as deviations from the norm, we move on to delineate the field of unforeseen variations - anomalies, alterations, and abnormalities. We continue to the visual representation of monstrosity, its aesthetic form and its capacity to reveal exaggerated figures that break the monotony of “normality” by virtue of unexpected juxtapositions. This includes the monsters that populated Cabinets of Curiosities as much as circuses, later housed in the collections and on the anatomical tables of 18th- and 19th-century naturalists; the analysis of the present perception of the monster, aimed at its ambiguity, considered as a union of contrasting features that stand out against a horizon that leads back to otherness and difference. The result is a varied and polymorphous collection, within which the investigation of the prodigious, the marvellous and the monstrous loom transversally from every single essay.
 
 

Implementation by the OSCE participating States of their human dimension commitments

Introduction. On the 29th Annual Session of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly the delegates of the OSCE participating States issued Birmingham Declaration and, as part of it, the Resolution “On the Importance of the Human Dimension in the Context of Current Threats tothe Security in the OSCE Area Stemming from the Russian Aggression Against Ukraine”, where by they underlined “the importance of OSCE commitments, in particular those undertaken within the Human Dimension, that constitute firm political declarations of the participating States to fulfil, respect and promote human rights and fundamental freedoms ”and urged the participating States to implement those commitments. The aim of the article is to examine the main characteristics of the human dimension commitments and current approaches to their implementation. Results. This article provides a summary of the key characteristics of the OSCE human dimension commitments, focusing on their sources (CSCE and OSCE documents), process of adoption, nature of commitments, absence of sanctions for noncompliance, and lack of systematic verification of their implementation. The articlerefers to a precedent-setting suspension of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from the CSCE/OSCE “in view of clear, gross and uncorrected violations of CSCE commitments” in response to the growing crisis in Balkans. With reference to the unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine, and noting the OSCE’s position that, unlike the Council of Europe or other international organizations, the Organization does not have an effective mechanism for suspension or exclusion of its participating State for gross violation of the OSCE commitments and principles, the article highlights a need to review and transform current procedures and improve mechanisms to ensure implementation of the human dimension commitments. Conclusions. Although the OSCE human dimension commitments have beenre-affirmed by the participating States on numerous occasions, the challenge that is being faced by the OSCE, and which has become even more evident throughout 2022,one example of which may be the blocking of the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting by Russia and Belarus, is that the divergence between the participating States around the implementation of the OSCE human dimension commitments will onlyincrease. This will call for the development of new approaches to eliminate such divergence. The article concludes with a view that it is necessary to reassess the main institutional foundations of the OSCE’s work with the aim to increase effectiveness of the monitoring and verification of the implementation of the human dimension commitments, particularly as concerns respect for human rights. Key words: Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, CSCE, human dimension,human rights, Helsinki Final Act 1975, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, principles of international law, principle of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Magnesium supply alleviates iron toxicity-induced leaf bronzing in rice through exclusion and tissue-tolerance mechanisms.

Iron (Fe) toxicity is a widespread nutritional disorder in lowland rice causing growth retardation and leaf symptoms referred to as leaf bronzing. It is partly caused by an imbalance of nutrients other than Fe and supply of these is known to mitigate the toxicity. But the physiological and molecular mechanisms involved are unknown. We investigated the effect of magnesium (Mg) on Fe toxicity tolerance in a field study in the Central Highlands of Madagascar and in hydroponic experiments with excess Fe (300 mg Fe L-1). An RNA-seq analysis was conducted in a hydroponic experiment to elucidate possible mechanisms underlying Mg effects. Addition of Mg consistently decreased leaf bronzing under both field and hydroponic conditions, whereas potassium (K) addition caused minor effects. Plants treated with Mg tended to have smaller shoot Fe concentrations in the field, suggesting enhanced exclusion at the whole-plant level. However, analysis of multiple genotypes showed that Fe toxicity symptoms were also mitigated without a concomitant decrease of Fe concentration, suggesting that increased Mg supply confers tolerance at the tissue level. The hydroponic experiments also suggested that Mg mitigated leaf bronzing without significantly decreasing Fe concentration or oxidative stress as assessed by the content of malondialdehyde, a biomarker for oxidative stress. An RNA-seq analysis revealed that Mg induced more changes in leaves than roots. Subsequent cis-element analysis suggested that NAC transcription factor binding sites were enriched in genes induced by Fe toxicity in leaves. Addition of Mg caused non-significant enrichment of the same binding sites, suggesting that NAC family proteins may mediate the effect of Mg. This study provides clues for mitigating Fe toxicity-induced leaf bronzing in rice.

Social class, social networks and variety of weak and strong practices

AbstractMost research on the structural foundations of cultural consumption views tastes and practices as a better or worse emanation of social class or status. In contrast, this paper shows that cultural consumption is also embedded in a larger system of social networks. Not only does it examine whether having more diversified personal network translates into being involved in a wider range of cultural activities (omnivorousness), it also tests whether holding networks of different strength corresponds with different levels of cultural engagement (strong vs. weak). Based on the survey data collected in Poland in 2017, the analyses yield three main findings. First, cultural consumption continues to reflect social class divisions and is a potential mechanism for social exclusion. Second, network diversity is associated with cultural variety independently of class position. Third, the number of weak ties people hold is more strongly associated with the number of “weak” practices (that is practices of less frequency) and the number of strong ties is positively associated with the number of strong practices (voraciousness). These findings are discussed in terms of balance theory, interactional foci and weak versus strong culture. The implications of the article are that omnivorism both signifies class boundaries and indicates participation in different network structures.

Open data platforms for transformational entrepreneurship: Inclusion and exclusion mechanisms

Open data is considered an important resource to stimulate innovation and create economic and social value. Open data researchers have examined the importance of data publication by public bodies, but in contrast, much less attention has focused on how open data is exploited. In this paper, we aim to provide insight into the actions of platforms to assist open data exploitation by transformational entrepreneurs, which systemically facilitate transformation in socio-economic development. Our findings investigate two types of mechanism, reflecting the openness of the data movement and the competitive commercial need for closure. First, inclusion mechanisms are social mechanisms of the open data ecosystem which seek to attract a broad range of potential collaborators through supporting entrepreneurs to innovate with open data. Second, exclusion mechanisms are deployed to filter collaborators, to identify those who are seen by platforms to be more likely to successfully exploit their data, or develop revenue sharing relationships. We reveal how these mechanisms are used at different stages of the innovation process, to initially attract a wide pool of collaborators, before seeking to reduce them to better target limited resources. Despite ‘openness’ being a key requirement of open data publication, for successful transformational entrepreneur exploitation, it requires dimensions of closure.

YOU HAVE TO FIGHT TO GET THERE. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY INTO THE EXPERIENCES OF REGUGEE-BACKGROUND STUDENTS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Many refugees aspire to continue or start higher education studies in their host country. However, higher education is difficult to access for refugees due to various obstacles such as a lack of (reliable) information and admission criteria. If they manage to access higher education they experience specific problems during their studies, related to their backgrounds. Institutions therefore need to provide refugee-background students with suitable support. Based on an explorative study among fifteen refugee students, we argue that focusing on equity and inclusion is fundamental to successfully support refugee students. We interviewed refugee students twice: in the first and the second year after they started their program. In addition, before the student interviews took place, we interviewed seventeen education professionals who are involved with refugee-background students, to gain good insight in the range of support that was available for the students. According to our study, refugee students are highly motivated but less able to capitalize on higher education for their aspirations because of multiple disadvantages. Besides unfamiliarity with the Dutch education system and a language barrier, they encounter exclusionary mechanisms. They struggle to connect with fellow students and do not always feel safe to ask questions or seek support, while inclusion and a sense of belonging are crucial for study success. Existing organizational resources can be valuable; however, refugee students have difficulties utilizing these for their benefit. Offering support alone is not enough: students must be able to use the support for their goals, which now is often not the case. If we want to strive for inclusive education for these students more diversity in approach, support, and resources is required.

Ectomycorrhizal Fungal Community and Ascoma Production in a Declining Tuber borchii Plantation.

Tuber borchii is an edible ectomycorrhizal mushroom of considerable economic value. Its cultivation has become popular in recent years, but there are few studies on the factors affecting its productivity. In this work, the ascoma production and the ectomycorrhizal (ECM) community of a T. borchii plantation, established in an intensive farming area where this truffle is not naturally present, were studied. Tuber borchii production drastically declined from 2016 to 2021, and ascomata of other Tuber species (T. maculatum and T. rufum) were found from 2017. Molecular characterization of ectomycorrhizae carried out in 2016 identified 21 ECM fungal species, of which T. maculatum (22%) and Tomentella coerulea (19%) were the most abundant. Tuber borchii ectomycorrizae (16%) were almost entirely confined to the fruiting points. The diversity and structure of the ECM community on Pinus pinea were significantly different from those observed on hardwood trees. The obtained results suggest that T. maculatum (a native of the study site) tends to replace T. borchii through a mechanism of competitive exclusion. Although T. borchii cultivation is possible in suboptimal environments, particular care should be taken to limit competition with ECM fungi more suitable for local conditions.

Recovery of ionic liquids from aqueous solutions using membrane technology

Ionic liquids (ILs) have great potential as solvents and catalysts in the most diverse areas of the chemical industry. However, the need for a process that allows the recycling and purification of ILs in an efficient and economically viable manner is restricting the practical application of these solvents. The recycling processes most used to recover ILs are distillation and evaporation, followed by extraction and crystallization. However, most of these processes demand high energy consumption, or temperatures that may compromise the structural and chemical stability of the ILs. This work focuses on understanding the separation of ionic liquid from aqueous solution using membranes, a technique widely used in industry. The separation of eleven ILs (([C4mim][AOc], [C4mim][SCN], [C4mim][CF3SO3], [C4mim][CF3CO2], [C4mim][Cl], [C8mim][Cl], [P4444][Cl], [N4444][Cl], [C4mpip][Cl], [C4mpyr][Cl] and [C4-2-mpy][Cl]) was studied using a nanofiltration (NF270) and a reverse osmosis (BW30LE) membrane. The influence of cation and anion, pressure, IL concentration, and temperature, on the separation of ILs, was evaluated. The Donnan exclusion mechanism was found to be the limiting factor for the reverse osmosis, while the combination of concentration polarization and sieving mechanism was the limiting factor for nanofiltration membrane. The increase of temperature and pressure leads to an increase in the volumetric flux at the cost of a decrease of the IL retention. On the other hand, the increase in the concentration of the IL solution resulted in an increase in the osmotic pressure and, consequently, a decrease in the volumetric flow and a decrease in the rejection of the IL.

Osmoprotectants play a major role in the Portulaca oleracea resistance to high levels of salinity stress-insights from a metabolomics and proteomics integrated approach.

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is a non-conventional food plant used extensively in folk medicine and classified as a multipurpose plant species, serving as a source of features of direct importance to the agricultural and agri-industrial sectors. This species is considered a suitable model to study the mechanisms behind resistance to several abiotic stresses including salinity. The recently achieved technological developments in high-throughput biology opened a new window of opportunity to gain additional insights on purslane resistance to salinity stress-a complex, multigenic, and still not well-understood trait. Only a few reports on single-omics analysis (SOA) of purslane are available, and only one multi-omics integration (MOI) analysis exists so far integrating distinct omics platforms (transcriptomics and metabolomics) to characterize the response of purslane plants to salinity stress. The present study is a second step in building a robust database on the morpho-physiological and molecular responses purslane to salinity stress and its subsequent use in attempting to decode the genetics behind its resistance to this abiotic stress. Here, the characterization of the morpho-physiological responses of adult purslane plants to salinity stress and a metabolomics and proteomics integrative approach to study the changes at the molecular level in their leaves and roots is presented. Adult plants of the B1 purslane accession lost approximately 50% of the fresh and dry weight (from shoots and roots) whensubmitted to very high salinity stress (2.0 g of NaCl/100 g of the substrate). The resistance to very high levels of salinity stress increases as the purslane plant matures, and most of the absorbed sodium remains in the roots, with only a part (~12%) reaching the shoots. Crystal-like structures, constituted mainly by Na+, Cl-, and K+, were found in the leaf veins and intercellular space near the stoma, indicating that this species has a mechanism of salt exclusion operating on the leaves, which has its role in salt tolerance. The MOI approach showed that 41 metabolites were statistically significant on the leaves and 65 metabolites on the roots of adult purslane plants. The combination of the mummichog algorithm and metabolomics database comparison revealed that the glycine, serine, and threonine, amino sugar and nucleotide sugar, and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways were the most significantly enriched pathways when considering the total number of occurrences in the leaves (with 14, 13, and 13, respectively) and roots (all with eight) of adult plants; and that purslane plants employ the adaptive mechanism of osmoprotection to mitigate the negative effect of very high levels of salinity stress; and that this mechanism is prevalent in the leaves. The multi-omics database built by our group underwent a screen for salt-responsive genes, which are now under further characterization for their potential to promote resistance to salinity stress when heterologously overexpressed in salt-sensitive plants.

Ethos of Care in Manuel Puig’s El beso de la mujer araña

This article focuses on corporeal experience and the material and affective practice of care in Manuel Puig’s El beso de la mujer araña. It contends that at the heart of the novel’s political project lies an ethos of care that is situated rather than transcendent, contaminated rather than pure, embodied rather than abstract, and transactional rather than disinterested. In spite of all of the ways such an ethos might seem compromised or insufficient, it succeeds in suspending social mechanisms of exclusion and models for the reader a mode of ethical engagement with the world narrated.

American Romanticism and the Popularization of Literary Education

American Romanticism and the Popularization of Literary Education

Weed Species from Tea Gardens as a Source of Novel Aluminum Hyperaccumulators.

Increased availability of toxic Al3+ is the main constraint limiting plant growth on acid soils. Plants adapted to acid soils, however, tolerate toxic Al3+, and some can accumulate Al in their aerial parts to a significant degree. Studies on Al-tolerant and Al-accumulating species have mainly focused on the vegetation of acid soils distributed as two global belts in the northern and southern hemispheres, while acid soils formed outside these regions have been largely neglected. The acid soils (pH 3.4-4.2) of the tea plantations in the south Caspian region of Northern Iran were surveyed over three seasons at two main locations. Aluminum and other mineral elements (including nutrients) were measured in 499 plant specimens representing 86 species from 43 families. Al accumulation exceeding the criterion for accumulator species (>1000 µg g-1 DW) was found in 36 species belonging to 23 families of herbaceous annual or perennial angiosperms, in addition to three bryophyte species. Besides Al, Fe accumulation (1026-5155 µg g-1 DW) was also observed in the accumulator species that exceeded the critical toxicity concentration, whereas no such accumulation was observed for Mn. The majority of analyzed accumulator plants (64%) were cosmopolitan or pluriregional species, with a considerable rate of Euro-Siberian elements (37%). Our findings, which may contribute to phylogenetic studies of Al accumulators, also suggest suitable accumulator and excluder species for the rehabilitation of acid-eroded soils and introduce new model species for investigating Al accumulation and exclusion mechanisms.

Construction of a novel immune response prediction signature to predict the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in clear cell renal cell carcinoma patients

BackgroundImmune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment has enhanced survival outcomes in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of immunotherapy in ccRCC patients is restricted and we intended to develop and characterize an immune response prediction signature (IRPS) to forecast the efficacy of immunotherapy. MethodsRNA-seq expression profile and clinicopathologic characteristics of 539 kidney cancer and 72 patients with normal specimens, were downloaded from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, while the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was used as the validation set, which included 24 ccRCC samples. Utilization of the TCGA data and immune genes databases (ImmPort and the InnateDB), we explored through Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), along with Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator method (LASSO), and constructed an IRPS for kidney cancer patients. GSEA and CIBERSORT were performed to declare the molecular and immunologic mechanism underlying the predictive value of IRPS. The Human Protein Atlas (HPA) was deployed to verify the protein expressions of IRPS genes. Tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) score and immunophenoscore (IPS) were computed to determine the risk of immune escape and value the discrimination of IRPS. A ccRCC cohort with anti-PD-1 therapy was obtained as an external validation data set to verify the predictive value of IRPS. ResultsWe constructed a 10 gene signature related to the prognosis and immune response of ccRCC patients. Considering the IRPS risk score, patients were split into high and low risk groups. Patients with high risk in the TCGA cohort tended towards advanced tumor stage and grade with poor prognosis (p < 0.001), which was validated in GEO database (p = 0.004). High-risk group tumors were related with lower PD-L1 expression, higher TMB, higher MSIsensor score, lower IPS, higher TIDE score, and enriched Treg cells, which might be the potential mechanism of immune dysfunction and exclusion. Patients in the IRPS low risk group had better PFS (HR:0.73; 95% CI: 0.54–1.0; P = 0.047). ConclusionA novel biomarker of IRPS was constructed to predict the benefit of immunotherapy, which might lead to more individualized prognoses and tailored therapy for kidney cancer patients.

Policing the In/Exclusion of Social Marginality: The Preventive Regulation of Public Space in Urban Switzerland

Urban spaces are always contested and, as such, permeated by processes of inclusion and exclusion. Since the 2000s, new types of governmental public order services have been established in Switzerland specialized in dealing with socially marginalized individuals, groups, or areas. Without having police powers, they proceed with socio‐communicative methods typical in outreach social work. Based on our ethnographic research and drawing on Foucault‐inspired governmentality studies we elucidate the socio‐preventive risk management of two types of order services: While the welfare type aims to protect public spaces of attractive urban centers from social marginality, the neighborhood watch type is concerned with improving the coexistence of residents of marginalized housing developments. As the former wants to keep socio‐spatial in/exclusion of social marginality in motion and prevent its fixation in certain places, the latter works towards the inclusive socio‐spatial entrenchment of residents in segregated housing developments. Both dynamics—inclusion and exclusion—are closely intertwined and utilized for the governance of public spaces. The “inclusive city” should not be celebrated as a dull ideal and must be confronted with its own socio‐spatial mechanisms of exclusion.

Social exclusion and critical transitions in later life: Trajectories, forms and mechanisms

Unequal ageing patterns are increasingly prevalent within the life courses of heterogeneous older populations. Critical transitions in later life may contribute to these patterns and to more multifaceted deep-rooted forms of social exclusion. Yet despite significant research in this area, knowledge gaps remain regarding the subjective experiences of these transitions, the trajectories and constituent events of these transitions, and the related mechanisms that may drive exclusion. With a focus on lived experience, this article aims to investigate the role of critical life transitions in older age in constructing multidimensional social exclusion. The onset of dementia, bereavement of a significant other, and forced migration are selected as three illustrative transitions in older age. Based on 39 in-depth life-course interviews and life-path analyses, the study sets out to illuminate common features of the transitional process that increases exclusion susceptibility, and the potential commonalities regarding transition-related exclusionary mechanisms. Transition trajectories related to each of the transitions are first described identifying shared exclusionary risk features. Transition-related mechanisms that can generate multidimensional social exclusion are then presented as arising from a transition’s nature and character, its structural and management aspects, and its symbolic and normative positioning. Findings are discussed with reference to the international literature and future conceptualisation of social exclusion in later life.

Asymmetric polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofiltration membranes: Structural characterisation via transport phenomena

One promising application of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) is their use as selective layers in nanofiltration (NF). Especially encouraging are the simplicity of fabrication, controlled layer thickness in the nanometer range, and versatility. In addition to commonly used tuning parameters such as pH, ionic strength, and choice of polyelectrolytes, combining two different PEMs in a so-called asymmetric PEM enables further optimisation of the selective membrane layer. Experimental characterisation of these PEMs is complex, and therefore, the knowledge of the exact layer structure is limited. In this work, we combine filtration experiments and theoretical transport models to describe the effective structure of an asymmetric PEM made of a bottom layer of poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH)/poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) and a top layer of PAH/poly(acrylic acid) (PAA). Obtained membrane properties suggest the formation of a distinct layer structure with individual layer properties close to the single symmetric PEM after a minimum number of layers. There is, however, a fundamental difference in the retention of salt and polyethylene glycol molecules. While salt retention properties of the asymmetric PEM are stable already after only one bilayer of PAH/PAA, a gradual transition in the retention of polyethylene glycol molecules from the more open PAH/PSS system to the dense PAH/PAA system is observed. This is attributed to the different exclusion mechanisms dominating solute transport (size- vs charge-based). A gradual decrease in molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) with increasing bilayer (BL) number of PAH/PAA is observed, resulting in a minimum MWCO of around 120g mol−1 after 5 BLs. Theoretical transport models assuming an ideal layer structure in series predict this value as well. At the same time, high mono- to divalent salt selectivity is observed after 1 BL of PAH/PAA already. Single salt retention of NaCl is around 20% versus Na2SO4, MgCl2 and MgSO4 being above 95%. Although this trend is qualitatively predicted by the theoretical transport model, again assuming ideal layers in series, deviations indicate variations in charge distribution within these layers.

BIOPOWER AND THE DISABLED INDIVIDUAL: A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON THE CONTROL OF THE DISABLED BODY

Biopolitics is a new form of power through which modern states control and regulate social life. Biopower occurs by defining, controlling, and regulating bodies. This study focuses on biopower, and the disabled body. The aim of the study is to understand how biopower operates at the societal level through the disabled body. The control of biopower begins with the definition of disability and the disabled individual, based on the distinction between normal and abnormal. In cultural representation, the disabled body and the disabled individual are defined as abnormal. In the social world, these definitions result in dynamics that label, segregate, exclude, and marginalize the disabled body. Through these dynamics, the disabled individual is forced to live in a restricted area without being included in the normal limits of society. The operation of biopower results in the disabled individual living in a certain social status, with a quality of life that is not equal to that of the normal individuals. Biopower's exclusionary mechanisms occur in a social context where the disabled individual is legally and discursively accepted as equal to other individuals and granted various privileges. This study aims to reveal how the disabled body is defined in everyday life and to examine the control mechanisms that keep disabled individuals on the margins of society. Because the study aims to present this situation from the perspective of disabled individuals, a qualitative research method was adopted. Thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with physically disabled individuals, and the data obtained were analyzed thematically. The study concludes that disability is one of the areas where biopolitics is realized legally and socially and that policies developed for disabled individuals are transformed into control mechanisms in everyday life.