scholarly journals Tasteful Bunkers: Shades of Race and ‘Contamination’ in Luxury Design Sectors

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inna Arzumanova
Keyword(s):  
Interior Design ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Video Conferencing ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Home Office ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Domestic Spaces ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic

In the days following the onslaught of the COVID-19 global pandemic, it became clear that this humanitarian health crisis would be accompanied by a financial crisis. In response to these inevitabilities, the industries that make up the consumer design sector – interior design, decor, architecture, fashion and so on – quickly turned their attention to aestheticizing our new, increasingly private and isolationist realities, launching advertising campaigns and editorials to address these new realities. Work-from-home edits, new ‘home office’ collections, wardrobes for video conferencing and ‘digital gallery hopping’ campaigns all began encouraging consumers to accessorize their domestic spaces as a bulwark against the threats marking urban environments and their contaminated bodies; bodies that, through the notion of ‘contamination’, drag along a set of inescapable racial and class-based assumptions. Echoing the ways in which interior design, architecture and media enabled America’s ‘white flight’ and suburbanization in the 1950s, luxury retailers are again inviting privileged populations to retreat and design their homes as comfortable bunkers, full of the accessories of art, travel and public life, without the risk of actual encounter. In this article, I argue that these luxury industries are complicit in renewing a post-pandemic racialization of urban space. In the contemporary moment, the luxury design industry’s entreaties to (re)design our homes to accommodate a newly public life led in private amounts to a symbolic suburbanization founded in the fear of ‘contaminated’ racialized bodies.

scholarly journals ‘Long COVID’ syndrome

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. e241485
Author(s):  
Priyal Taribagil ◽  
Dean Creer ◽  
Hasan Tahir
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Complex Case ◽  
Shortness Of Breath ◽  
Gastrointestinal Dysfunction ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Public Health Crisis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Poor Memory

SARS-CoV-2 has resulted in a global pandemic and an unprecedented public health crisis. Recent literature suggests the emergence of a novel syndrome known as ‘long COVID’, a term used to describe a diverse set of symptoms that persist after a minimum of 4 weeks from the onset of a diagnosed COVID-19 infection. Common symptoms include persistent breathlessness, fatigue and cough. Other symptoms reported include chest pain, palpitations, neurological and cognitive deficits, rashes, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. We present a complex case of a previously well 28-year-old woman who was diagnosed with COVID-19. After resolution of her acute symptoms, she continued to experience retrosternal discomfort, shortness of breath, poor memory and severe myalgia. Investigations yielded no significant findings. Given no alternative diagnosis, she was diagnosed with ‘long COVID’.

scholarly journals Between Social Protests and a Global Pandemic: Working Transitions under the Economic Effects of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Valentina Rivera ◽  
Francisca Castro
Keyword(s):  
Economic Effects ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Female Workers ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Employment Trajectories ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Male Breadwinner ◽  
Social Protests

Emerging research on the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic draws attention to the labor effects of the crisis in the Global South. Developing countries show high levels of labor informality, where most workers cannot work from home and depend on daily income. In addition, the scarce and late state aid makes it difficult for workers to cope with the economic hardships caused by the pandemic. This research explores the employment trajectories of workers throughout the ongoing pandemic in Chile: a neoliberal country with a strong male breadwinner culture and high levels of income inequality. Using longitudinal non-probabilistic data for Chilean employment, this study finds that men lost their jobs to a lesser extent and returned to the labor market faster than women. Likewise, male workers with family (with a partner and young children) remained employed in a higher proportion than female workers with family, and most of these women shifted from employment into care work. The existing literature already pointed out how economic crises can have adverse effects on progress towards gender equality, and the current economic crisis seems to be no exception. Labor informality and low-skilled jobs were highly related to unemployment during the first months of COVID in Chile. These are important variables in a developing economy such as Chile, where around one-third of the population works under these conditions. This article concludes by reflecting on the importance of addressing the present crisis and future economic recovery with a gender perspective.

Curating the urban music festival: Festivalisation, the ‘shuffle’ logic, and digitally-shaped music consumption

2021 ◽  
pp. 136754942110086
Author(s):  
Paulo Nunes ◽  
Carolyn Birdsall
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Radio Station ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Music Festivals ◽  
Music Festival ◽  
Urban Music ◽  
Cultural Intermediaries

In recent years, music festivals have grown in significance within local cultural policy, city branding and tourism agendas. Taking the Mexefest festival in Lisbon as a case in point, this article asks how, in the digital streaming era, music festivals in urban environments are framed, curated and experienced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, our analysis examines how music festival programmers curate the urban festival experience, for both locals and tourists alike. First, we identify the emergence of urban music festivals in recent decades, and how modern festival programmes have adopted the cultural technique of the ‘shuffle mode’ as an influential principle. Second, we investigate the work of festival programmers through the lens of ‘cultural intermediaries’, and ask how their programming strategies, particularly through digital mobile media (such as music playlists), contribute to an aestheticised experience of the city during the festival. Third, we focus on how the Mexefest festival events are staged in tandem with brand activation by sponsors like mobile phone company Vodafone and their radio station Vodafone FM. In doing so, we highlight the participation of festival-goers through their embodied engagements with digital media, music listening and urban space, and evaluate the heuristic value of ‘shuffle curation’ as a tool for the understanding of music festivals as a distinctly global and networked form of leisure consumption in urban culture.

scholarly journals Zoombombing During a Global Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 205630512110353
Author(s):  
Greg Elmer ◽  
Stephen J. Neville ◽  
Anthony Burton ◽  
Sabrina Ward-Kimola
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Public Life ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Online Harassment ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Cross Platform ◽  
Digital Methods ◽  
Insight Into

Using a digital methods analysis, the following article conducts a cross-platform study of the emergent “Zoombombing” phenomenon alongside COVID-19 and the concomitant on-lining of professional and public life. This empirical study seeks to provide further insight to media frames characterizing Zoombombing at the outbreak of the pandemic, providing further insight into Zoombombing as a practice, how related actions act as an extension of longer histories and practices of online harassment, and the role that various platforms play in the phenomenon’s unfolding. By interrogating these points of departure, our study sheds light not only on Zoombombing as a cultural practice, but also how these acts manifest within and across a range of Internet platforms.

scholarly journals Spatially organized «vertical city» as a synthesis of tall buildings and airships

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 01002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Gagulina ◽  
Sergei Matovnikov
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Tall Buildings ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Internal Space ◽  
Urban Structure ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Compact City ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
High Rise ◽  
City Space

The paper explores the compact city concept based on the «spatial» urban development principles and describes the prerequisites and possible methods to move from «horizontal» planning to «vertical» urban environments. It highlights the close connection between urban space, high-rise city landscape and conveyance options and sets out the ideas for upgrading the existing architectural and urban planning principles. It also conceptualizes the use of airships to create additional spatial connections between urban structure elements and high-rise buildings. Functional changes are considered in creating both urban environment and internal space of tall buildings, and the environmental aspects of the new spatial model are brought to light. The paper delineates the prospects for making a truly «spatial» multidimensional city space.

scholarly journals Managing Cancer Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Agility and Collaboration Toward a Common Goal

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masumi Ueda ◽  
Renato Martins ◽  
Paul C. Hendrie ◽  
Terry McDonnell ◽  
Jennie R. Crews ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
Cancer Care ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Shared Vision ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Face ◽  
Snohomish County

The first confirmed case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States was reported on January 20, 2020, in Snohomish County, Washington. At the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States, the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and University of Washington are at the forefront of delivering care to patients with cancer during this public health crisis. This Special Feature highlights the unique circumstances and challenges of cancer treatment amidst this global pandemic, and the importance of organizational structure, preparation, agility, and a shared vision for continuing to provide cancer treatment to patients in the face of uncertainty and rapid change.

scholarly journals Street Cries and the urban ritornelle

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Jacob Kreutzfeldt
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Sound Studies ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Felix Guattari ◽  
Northern European ◽  
The Social ◽  
Environmental Relations ◽  
The City ◽  
Fertile Area

Street cries, though rarely heard in Northern European cities today, testify to ways in which audible practices shape and structure urban spaces. Paradigmatic for what Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari call ‘the refrain’, the ritualised and stylised practice of street cries may point at the dynamics of space-making, through which the social and territorial construction of urban space is performed. The article draws on historical material, documenting and describing street cries, particularly in Copenhagen in the years 1929 to 1935. Most notably, the composer Vang Holmboe and the architect Steen Eiler Rasmussen have investigated Danish street cries as a musical and a spatial phenomenon, respectably. Such studies – from their individual perspectives – can be said to explore the aesthetics of urban environments, since street calls are developed and heard specifically in the context of the city. Investigating the different methods employed in the two studies and presenting Deleuze and Guattari’s theory of the refrain as a framework for further studies in the field, this article seeks to outline a fertile area of study for sound studies: the investigation of everyday refrains and the environmental relations they express and perform. Today changed sensibilities and technologies have rendered street crying obsolete in Northern Europe, but new urban ritornells may have taken their place.

scholarly journals Economic assessment of urban space and blue-green infrastructure in Singapore

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mabel Lim ◽  
Stefanos Xenarios
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Mean Value ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Greenery

Abstract The urban conglomeration has accentuated the role of urban greenery as a determinant factor for sustainable living, especially in highly dense cities. The country of Singapore has consistently attempted to develop and rehabilitate urban greenery by attempting to align the green space policy with the pursuit of better life quality. In this study, we assess the benefits arising from the rehabilitated Bishan-Ang Mo Kio (AMK) Park in north Singapore and the effects on economic welfare. The Bishan-AMK Park was initially constructed in the late 70 s as a drainage area for the avoidance of flooding incidents. In 2012, a pilot project was introduced to create a blue-green infrastructure (BGI) space for the provision of drainage and flood prevention but also for recreational and environmental improvement in the area. Yet, the benefits emerging from BGI are not well explored and still underestimated. To this extent, we evaluate selected services related to recreational, socio-cultural and tourism-related values by indicating the economic benefits from the introduction of BGI in condensed urban environments like Singapore. The findings indicate that the benefits deriving from the selected services could be within the range of US$100 million to US$220 million with a mean value of US$160 million per year by substantially contributing to human well-being. The assessment of environmental services can raise the awareness of residents and local authorities on the contribution of urban greenery to livelihoods and economic development in Singapore and similar densely populated areas.

scholarly journals A Brief Review on Viral Variants of COVID-19 Infection

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-80
Author(s):  
Ishank Panchal ◽  
Sunita Vagha
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Distress Syndrome ◽  
Distress Syndrome ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphism ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Mutational Pattern ◽  
Steady Improvement ◽  
Probable Role ◽  
Therapy Strategies

SARS is a type of acute respiratory syndrome. Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV2), highly contagious, affecting people worldwide. Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID19) leads to a rapidly spreading respiratory distress syndrome. It has caused a global pandemic and severe health crisis in most countries. Due to its continual evolution, further research into the virus's pathogenicity and virulence mechanisms and the development of efficient therapy techniques are urgently required. The current paper summarises what is known about the virus's evolutionary and structural features to comprehend better its mutational pattern and probable role in the current pandemic. In December 2019, the Coronavirus Disease (SARSCoV2) began a destructive path toward a global pandemic in Wuhan, China. Since then, several SARS CoV2 variants have been discovered. Despite the speedy development of a COVID19 vaccine and ongoing mass vaccination efforts around the globe, the discovery of the latest SARSCoV2 variants could undermine the substantial success till now in stopping the spread of SARSCoV2.This review aims to characterize the different SARS CoV2 mutations and investigate the associated morbidity and death. Due to the virus's steady improvement, with its various unmarried nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) versions and lineages, figuring out SARS-CoV-2 infectivity is extraordinarily hard. but, similarly research into the virus's pathogenicity and virulence mechanisms, as well as the improvement of green therapy strategies, is urgent present-day The present day contribution summarises existing expertise regarding the virus's evolutionary and structural homes to clarify its mutational sample and ability function inside the ongoing pandemic.

Operational Readiness Case Study for Accessibility and Mobility of Wells Real Time Centre System and Applications During Movement Control Order

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohd Ridzuan Hamid ◽  
Meor M. Meor Hashim ◽  
Lokman Norhashimi ◽  
Muhammad Faris Arriffin ◽  
Azlan Mohamad
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Movement Control ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Machine Learning Applications ◽  
Full Capacity ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Control Order ◽  
Remote Operations

Abstract The recent global pandemic is an unprecedented event and took the world by storm. The Movement Control Order (MCO) issued by Malaysia's government to halt the spread of the deadly infection has changed the landscape of work via a flexible working arrangement. The Wells Real Time Centre (WRTC) is not an exception and is also subjected to the change. WRTC is an in-house proactive monitoring hub, built to handle massive real-time drilling data, to support and guide wells delivery effectiveness and excellence. The functionality of the WRTC system and applications are embedded in the wells delivery workflow. The centre houses drilling specialists who are responsible for observing the smooth sailing of well construction and are tasked to intervene when necessary to avoid any unintended incidents. WRTC is equipped with myriads of engineering applications and drilling software that are vital for the operations. Such applications include monitoring software, machine learning applications, engineering modules, real-time data acquisition, and database management. These applications are mostly cloud-based and Internet-facing, hence it is accessible and agile as an infrastructure that is ready to be deployed anytime anywhere when it is required. The strategy for WRTC mobility started as soon as the MCO was announced. This announcement mandated the WRTC to operate outside of the office and required the staff to work from home. The careful coordination and preparation to transform and adapt WRTC to a new norm was greatly assisted by the infrastructure readiness. All of these factors contributed greatly to a successful arrangement with zero to minimal downtime where a workstation was set up in each personnel's home, running at full capacity. This transformation was done within one day of the notice and completed within hours of activation. Despite the successful move, few rooms for improvements such as redundancy of VPN use to access applications and limited access to some proprietary software can be enhanced in the future. WRTC is ready to be mobile and agile to support the drilling operations remotely either in the office or from home. The quick turnaround is a major indicator that WRTC infrastructure and personnel are ready and capable for remote operations without interruption.

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