Yilmaz Güney’s The Fields of Yuréghir and Arkadaş: From Despair to Hope

This article discusses two relatively unknown works of Yilmaz Güney in the English-speaking world: Boynu Bükük Öldüler (They Bowed their Heads in Shame),1 a semi-autobiographical novel, which in 1972 won the Orhan Kémel prize, and Arkadaş (The Friend), a film released in Turkey by Güney Film in 1974. More than ten years separate these two works. The Fields of Yuréghir was written during Güney’s imprisonment from 1960 to 1963, a period marked by the military coup of 27 May 1960, which lasted until 1961 and a series of coalition governments from 1961 to 1965 under the premiership of İsmet İnönü (1884-1973) of the Republican Party. Arkadaş was filmed in 1974 against the backdrop of the Turkish invasion of Northern Cyprus in August 1974, a time of great patriotic fervour under the charismatic and left-leaning premiership of Bülent Ecevit (1925-2006). Güney had by then experienced considerable success as a filmmaker and actor. Arkadaş is a product of this favourable constellation of circumstances, both political and personal, that marked this brief period that was abruptly ended by his imprisonment in September 1974. The article is divided into the following sections: a short biography of Yilmaz Güney; a summary of The Fields of Yuréghir and Arkadaş; a thematic analysis of the two works under the headings of political engagement, sexual mores, religion, and national identity; and a conclusion.

Pushing Past the Blockade: Advancements in T Cell-Based Cancer Immunotherapies

Successful cancer immunotherapies rely on a replete and functional immune compartment. Within the immune compartment, T cells are often the effector arm of immune-based strategies due to their potent cytotoxic capabilities. However, many tumors have evolved a variety of mechanisms to evade T cell-mediated killing. Thus, while many T cell-based immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, have achieved considerable success in some solid cancers and hematological malignancies, these therapies often fail in solid tumors due to tumor-imposed T cell dysfunctions. These dysfunctional mechanisms broadly include reduced T cell access into and identification of tumors, as well as an overall immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that elicits T cell exhaustion. Therefore, novel, rational approaches are necessary to overcome the barriers to T cell function elicited by solid tumors. In this review, we will provide an overview of conventional immunotherapeutic strategies and the various barriers to T cell anti-tumor function encountered in solid tumors that lead to resistance. We will also explore a sampling of emerging strategies specifically aimed to bypass these tumor-imposed boundaries to T cell-based immunotherapies.

Maori, Biculturalism and the Assemblies of God in New Zealand, 1970 - 2008

<p>This thesis examines the extent to which the New Zealand Assemblies of God, one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal denominations in the country, has fostered participation by Maori, and its success in doing so between 1970 and 2008. From the advent of the Mana Maori renaissance in the 1970s the idea of biculturalism became an important vehicle for Maori aspirations. As part of its broader agenda, the thesis also considers the church's response to this bicultural emphasis. The Assemblies' particular response is analysed in the light of experiences in the mainline denominations and the Apostolic and Destiny churches which either experienced considerable success in attracting Maori participation, or explicitly accommodated the call for a bicultural response using recognised bicultural models. The research is based on the published literature of the Assemblies of God and an extensive range of interviews. These provided detail on the motivations and underlying beliefs that have generated particular responses. The published literature of the other denominations has also been addressed for comparative purposes, along with a range of relevant secondary literature. The Assemblies of God's flexible structure, clarity of teaching, fostering of indigenous leadership and emphasis on local church autonomy, has enabled it to grow rapidly throughout the world. Despite this, and despite the church's emphasis on crosscultural mission, this thesis demonstrates that Maori have not joined the Assemblies of God to the same extent that they have other Pentecostal denominations in New Zealand. It argues that the church has done little to foster Maori participation in the movement, and identifies eight key historical, ideological, and organisational factors that have hindered its ability to do so. In particular, it highlights the significance of the denomination's emphasis on local church autonomy, the absence of any deliberate "mission" to Maori, and the church's multicultural emphasis and historical suspicion of "social justice".</p>

Maori, Biculturalism and the Assemblies of God in New Zealand, 1970 - 2008

<p>This thesis examines the extent to which the New Zealand Assemblies of God, one of the largest and oldest Pentecostal denominations in the country, has fostered participation by Maori, and its success in doing so between 1970 and 2008. From the advent of the Mana Maori renaissance in the 1970s the idea of biculturalism became an important vehicle for Maori aspirations. As part of its broader agenda, the thesis also considers the church's response to this bicultural emphasis. The Assemblies' particular response is analysed in the light of experiences in the mainline denominations and the Apostolic and Destiny churches which either experienced considerable success in attracting Maori participation, or explicitly accommodated the call for a bicultural response using recognised bicultural models. The research is based on the published literature of the Assemblies of God and an extensive range of interviews. These provided detail on the motivations and underlying beliefs that have generated particular responses. The published literature of the other denominations has also been addressed for comparative purposes, along with a range of relevant secondary literature. The Assemblies of God's flexible structure, clarity of teaching, fostering of indigenous leadership and emphasis on local church autonomy, has enabled it to grow rapidly throughout the world. Despite this, and despite the church's emphasis on crosscultural mission, this thesis demonstrates that Maori have not joined the Assemblies of God to the same extent that they have other Pentecostal denominations in New Zealand. It argues that the church has done little to foster Maori participation in the movement, and identifies eight key historical, ideological, and organisational factors that have hindered its ability to do so. In particular, it highlights the significance of the denomination's emphasis on local church autonomy, the absence of any deliberate "mission" to Maori, and the church's multicultural emphasis and historical suspicion of "social justice".</p>

Collaborating with organized crime in the search for disappeared persons? Formalizing a humanitarian alternative for Mexico

The search for the more than 90,000 disappeared persons in Mexico has highlighted the need to establish relations of collaboration with organized crime groups in order to access not only relevant information to clarify the fate and whereabouts of the missing, but also territories under the control of organized crime groups for carrying out field searches. Given the ineffectiveness of formal, prosecutorial approaches and the considerable success of grassroots, victim-led search strategies, this paper argues for the need for a broader humanitarian approach to the search for the missing that is victim-centred and complementary to accountability mechanisms. The article advances a proposal to formalize this approach through the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) involvement in search activities, given the ICRC's unique organizational nature, expertise and humanitarian mandate.

Collaborative Partnership and New Farm Management for Solving Drought According to Different Geo-Social Environment in the Northeast of Thailand

This article studied the collaborative partnership among governmental organisations, local farmer scholar leaders and farmers at the local level. Their collaborative partnership aimed to promote and strengthen grassroots participation through new farm management. The farmer families tried to cope with drought situation by learning and practising new skills at local farmer scholar leaders’ learning centres. They were supported by related external and internal organisations in order to manage their agricultural areas when confronted with drought and infertile soil. The physical aspect, rolling landscape and mostly sandy soil, combined with excessive water in the rainy season became conditions that heavily affected crops in the northeast of Thailand. This was regarded as a major agricultural problem within the region considered as the most poverty-stricken area of the country. Through learning and exchanging views among the farmers, from various geo-social environments, regarding their drought experiences and new farm management techniques, it was found that they had attained considerable success in improving their appropriate, self-reliant and environmentally friendly agricultural practices, guided by, and complied with, the principles and philosophy of sufficiency economy.

A CNN Regression Approach to Mobile Robot Localization Using Omnidirectional Images

Understanding the environment is an essential ability for robots to be autonomous. In this sense, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) can provide holistic descriptors of a scene. These descriptors have proved to be robust in dynamic environments. The aim of this paper is to perform hierarchical localization of a mobile robot in an indoor environment by means of a CNN. Omnidirectional images are used as the input of the CNN. Experiments include a classification study in which the CNN is trained so that the robot is able to find out the room where it is located. Additionally, a transfer learning technique transforms the original CNN into a regression CNN which is able to estimate the coordinates of the position of the robot in a specific room. Regarding classification, the room retrieval task is performed with considerable success. As for the regression stage, when it is performed along with an approach based on splitting rooms, it also provides relatively accurate results.

The Need to Work Arm in Arm: Calling for Collaboration in Delivering Neuroprosthetic Limb Replacements

Over the last few decades there has been a push to enhance the use of advanced prosthetics within the fields of biomedical engineering, neuroscience, and surgery. Through the development of peripheral neural interfaces and invasive electrodes, an individual's own nervous system can be used to control a prosthesis. With novel improvements in neural recording and signal decoding, this intimate communication has paved the way for bidirectional and intuitive control of prostheses. While various collaborations between engineers and surgeons have led to considerable success with motor control and pain management, it has been significantly more challenging to restore sensation. Many of the existing peripheral neural interfaces have demonstrated success in one of these modalities; however, none are currently able to fully restore limb function. Though this is in part due to the complexity of the human somatosensory system and stability of bioelectronics, the fragmentary and as-yet uncoordinated nature of the neuroprosthetic industry further complicates this advancement. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current field of neuroprosthetics and explore potential strategies to address its unique challenges. These include exploration of electrodes, surgical techniques, control methods, and prosthetic technology. Additionally, we propose a new approach to optimizing prosthetic limb function and facilitating clinical application by capitalizing on available resources. It is incumbent upon academia and industry to encourage collaboration and utilization of different peripheral neural interfaces in combination with each other to create versatile limbs that not only improve function but quality of life. Despite the rapidly evolving technology, if the field continues to work in divided “silos,” we will delay achieving the critical, valuable outcome: creating a prosthetic limb that is right for the patient and positively affects their life.

Nanocatalysts in Olefins and Dienes Polymerization Processes

Sustainable development, the design of green and economically feasible processes to produce synthetic polymers is one of the major needs and biggest challenges. Catalysis of polymerization processes is among the most important applications within the field of nanoscience. Intensive research is being conducted and considerable success has been achieved in the heterogenization of various homogeneous catalysts on nano supports for polymerization of olefins and dienes. The large surface area of various nanomaterials qualifies them quite naturally to act either as a heterogeneous promoter for catalytic reactions or as a support for the heterogenization of homogeneous catalysts. To the polymerization of olefins and dienes by using nanocatalysts are devoted significant numbers of published papers, but to elucidate the possible effect of both the type and properties of nano supports and their sizes and amounts on the activity and stereoselectivity of heterogenized catalysts and the properties of the obtained polymers are needed more detailed studies. This review attempted to collect some published research materials in the field of the nanocatalysis of olefins and dienes polymerization processes and our main aim is to assess the critical points and to indicate the future perspectives and possible strategies in this area of research. We are confident that this review will be a helpful companion and deliver key hints to those, in academia and in the industry, who decide to move their research interest in this direction

InteraChem: Virtual Reality Visualizer for Reactive Interactive Molecular Dynamics

Interactive molecular dynamics in virtual reality (IMD-VR) simulations provide a digital molecular playground for students as an alternative or complement to traditional molecular modelling kits or 2D illustrations. Previous IMD-VR studies have used molecular mechanics to enable simulations of macromolecules such as proteins and nanostructures for the<br>classroom setting with considerable success. Here, we present the INTERACHEM molecular visualizer, intended for reactive IMD-VR simulation using semiempirical and ab initio methods.<br>INTERACHEM visualizes not only the molecular geometry, but also 1) isosurfaces such as molecular orbitals and electrostatic potentials, and 2) two-dimensional graphs of time-varying<br>simulation quantities such as kinetic/potential energy, internal coordinates, and user-applied force. Additionally, INTERACHEM employs speech recognition to facilitate user interaction and introduces a novel “atom happiness” visualization using emojis to indicate the energetic<br>feasibility of a particular bonding arrangement. We include a set of accompanying exercises that we have used to teach chemical reactivity in small molecular systems.