The Syrian Constitution at the end of the civil war: Is there a constitutional way to democratization?

The 2012 Syrian Constitution has been largely (dis)regarded as embodying a mere policy intent to placate contestation, leaving the resorts of monocratic power untouched. While this might be true, there were formal changes whose study is worthwhile to understand the possibilities for some degree of democratization. This article delves into the 2012 charter and its main innovations, asking, first, from a descriptive-analytical perspective, what are the main trends underlying contemporary Syrian constitutional politics? Second, from an explanatory perspective, what specific constitutional provisions prevent the rule of law and the material constitutional transformation in democratic terms? What legal-institutional mechanisms account for this phenomenon? While the 2012 formal constitutional changes can be conceived as a ‘blueprint’ revealing governmental priorities, the outstanding democratic deficits might help to identify the opposition's priorities. Together, they contribute to delineate a bargaining range for the ongoing constituent negotiations.

Portrayal by Inappropriate Interaction

A close reading of three different profiles of Danish-Palestinian poet Yahya Hassan (1995-2020) showcases how interactions between journalists and subjects may become a mutual performative challenge and how, on such occasions, the personas of both parties may serve as a multi-layered journalistic resource in both an ethical and aesthetic sense. Applying the concept of “rhetorical maneuvers” (Phillips 2006) to describe reporters’ uses of an understated ‘first-person minor’ versus a demonstratively responsive ‘first-person major’ perspective (Phillips 2019), we highlight a principle that may reorient interview situations that are tense or out of control. The principle entails continuous shifts of subject form that are potentially inappropriate but enable both contextual transparency and a distinct textual structure or narrative style. By considering the mutual constitution and reconstitution of personas as rhetorical maneuvering we hope first to expand the analytical perspective of persona studies at the level of form while also, secondly, motivating journalists to explore the relational and interactive aspects of persona performances as a resource for occasional, productive disruption of their professional practice.

Problematizing Local Knowledge Preservation of the Complex Social Assemblage in Globalizing Tai Lue communities in Chiang Kham

This article proposes to look at local knowledge preservation as a continual and contested process rather than as a static social activity. The preservation of local knowledge should be studied by situating it within a complex set of relationships among various social actors and organizations, and also within specific spatio-temporal conditions: in this case, the Tai Lue people of Chiang Kham, Phayao, Thailand. The local knowledge of the Tai Lue in Chiang Kham has been revived in accordance with the distinct desires of the local people, local politicians, academic institutions, and local and national governmental sectors. These various agents and organizations make up a social assemblage, in which local knowledge revival and preservation projects take place within a space where distinct cultural, political, and economic meanings are contested. This paper seeks to examine this social activity using the analytical perspective of glocalization. Taking a glocalization approach, local knowledge preservation is problematized as a culturally and socially instrumentalized activity that is pursued by some actors for political and economic identity negotiation. This will be complemented with a strategic essentialism analysis, which can help better illustrate how Tai Lue people utilize their local knowledge to benefit their positions within an increasingly globalized Chiang Kham. Keywords: Glocalization, Local knowledge, Social assemblage, Strategic essentialism, Tai Lue

Ion-Channel Antiepileptic Drugs: An Analytical Perspective on the Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) of Ezogabine, Lacosamide, and Zonisamide

The term seizures includes a wide array of different disorders with variable etiology, which currently represent one of the most important classes of neurological illnesses. As a consequence, many different antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) are currently available, exploiting different activity mechanisms and providing different levels of performance in terms of selectivity, safety, and efficacy. AEDs are currently among the psychoactive drugs most frequently involved in therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) practices. Thus, the plasma levels of AEDs and their metabolites are monitored and correlated to administered doses, therapeutic efficacy, side effects, and toxic effects. As for any analytical endeavour, the quality of plasma concentration data is only as good as the analytical method allows. In this review, the main techniques and methods are described, suitable for the TDM of three AEDs belonging to the class of ion channel agents: ezogabine (or retigabine), lacosamide, and zonisamide. In addition to this analytical overview, data are provided, pertaining to two of the most important use cases for the TDM of antiepileptics: drug–drug interactions and neuroprotection activity studies. This review contains 146 references.

About the issue of analyzing two concepts

During the pandemic it turned out once again that European and worldwide cooperation is very important. The virus partially robbed the mankind of their basic rights, as well as peace of mind and security. In this situation, the geopolitical positioning of the EU is meaningful. It would be desirable if Europe acted as a mediator between West and East despite internal challenges. How the EU develops is particularly important for those countries that are on the European periphery and are striving to join the European community. This transformation process can be successfully mastered through education and future opportunities. The European role in the German-speaking discourse is analyzed using the qualitative and quantitative method. The data of the OWIDplusLIVE and DWDS corpora are alike. The DWDS corpus contains a wide range of adjectives that describe the concepts of Europe and solidarity in a more varied way. It is noteworthy that Europe is always referred to positively. According to the contextual analysis, it turned out that solidarity has been used more frequently in connection with the pandemic situation. Due to the differentiated analysis of Solidarity / Europe in the context of parties, it was found that people’s parties are increasingly using these concepts. It must also be mentioned here that individual challenges of the corpora can be overcome through complex approach. Deeper insights into topic-related statements and their explanation from the perspective of the overall social context in a contrastive comparison can open up a new, interesting analytical perspective.

Resemiotized experience in classroom interaction: A student teacher’s interactional use of personal stories during teaching placement

One of the most important points of contact that student teachers have with the teaching profession occurs during placement, as placement provides a prime opportunity for them to interact with pupils and to further develop their teaching. In this article, a mediated discourse analytical perspective is employed as a lens to study a student teacher during his final teaching placement, with the aim of exploring how resemiotizations of previous experiences in the shape of oral stories can be interactionally used in the classroom. The data consist of three video recorded oral presentations, two video recorded sessions in a classroom, interview data, and observational field notes. Due to its potential to link past multimodal semiosis to present-time actions, nexus analysis is employed as the method for analysis. By unpacking a student teacher’s use of oral stories in the classroom, the study demonstrates how stories are adaptable resources that can be used to mark proximity to pupils, and thus serve as a means to manage the interaction order in the classroom. This is an activity with relevance for the teaching profession and, by extension, student teachers' development of professional identity.

Warehousing asylum seekers: The logistification of reception

This article employs the analytical perspective of logistics to explore a key, yet quite overlooked, aspect of the functioning of the EU border regime: the reception and associated territorial distribution of newly arrived asylum seekers. Drawing on qualitative data collected at the height of ‘refugee reception crisis’ in multiple contexts in Italy and Sweden, the article shows how reception is undergoing a process of ‘logistification’ . In this process, organisational and logistical concerns prevail over the care for those who are assisted, and reception is turned into a logistical matter of moving and accommodating asylum seekers. Crucial to this process of ‘logistification’ is the warehousing of asylum seekers – an art of government that seeks to objectify asylum seekers through their depersonalisation, victimisation and (im)mobilisation. The article argues that the ‘logistification’ of reception not only has dehumanising effects on asylum seekers, but also exposes the attempt to make profit out their management and transfer. This creates the conditions for the development of a reception industry in which the very presence of asylum seekers is valorised for the profit of a whole range of actors who ensure the reproduction, transfer, knowledge and control of those hosted in reception facilities.

Recent Applications of Derivatization Techniques for Pharmaceutical and Bioanalytical Analysis through High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Background: Derivatization of analytes is a quite convenient practice from an analytical perspective. Its vast prevalence is accounted by the availability of distinct reagents, primarily pragmatic for obtaining desired modifications in an analyte structure. Another reason for its handiness is typically to overcome limitations such as lack of sensitive methodology or instrumentation.The past decades have witnessed various new derivatization techniques including in-situ, enzymatic, ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted, and photochemical derivatization which have gain popularity recently. Methods: The online literature available on the utilization of derivatization as prominent analytical tools in recent years with typical advancements is reviewed. The illustrations of the analytical condition together with the structures of different derivatizing reagents (DRs) are provided to acknowledge the vast capability of derivatization to resolve analytical problems. Results: The derivatization techniques have enabled analytical chemists throughout the globe to develop an enhanced sensitivity method with the simplest of the instrument like High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC, compared to more sensitive Liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometer, is readily available and can be readily utilized for routine analysis in fields of pharmaceuticals, bioanalysis, food safety, and environmental contamination. A troublesome aspect of these fields is the presence of a complex matrix with trace concentrations for analyses. Liquid chromatographic methods devoid of MS detectors do not have the desired sensitivity for this. A possible solution for overcoming this is to couple HPLC with derivatization to enable the possibility of detecting trace analytes with a less expensive instrument. Running cost, enhanced sensitivity, low time consumption, and overcoming the inherent problems of analyte are critical parameters for which HPLC is quite useful in high throughput analysis. Conclusion: The review critically highlights various kinds of derivatization applications in different fields of analytical chemistry. The information primarily focuses on pharmaceutical and bioanalytical applications in recent years. The various modes, types, and derivatizing reagents with brief mechanisms have been ascribed briefly Additionally, the importance of HPLC coupled to fluorescence and UV detection is presented as an overview through examples accompanied by their analytical conditions.