Migrant Bodies in the Land/City/Seascapes of 2000s Turkish Cinema

In this essay, I explore the land-, sea-, and cityscapes in six films (five Turkish and one Turkish German)—Bliss, The Wound, Rıza, Broken Mussels, The Guest, and Seaburners—and their use of place and non-place. Hamid Naficy’s concept of transitional space and Marc Augé’s notion of non-place, based on Foucault’s concept of heterotopia, will be the basis of the theoretical discussion. I focus on what I see as a major shift in the representation of the migrant experience in the Turkish cinema of the early and late 2000s, a shift from the land- and cityscapes to films whose setting is the seascape. This shift, I argue, corresponds to changes in the phases of migration that flow within and through Turkey, and both government policies and the public perception.

Structure Determination of Microtubules and Pili: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Historically proteins that form highly polymeric and filamentous assemblies have been notoriously difficult to study using high resolution structural techniques. This has been due to several factors that include structural heterogeneity, their large molecular mass, and available yields. However, over the past decade we are now seeing a major shift towards atomic resolution insight and the study of more complex heterogenous samples and in situ/ex vivo examination of multi-subunit complexes. Although supported by developments in solid state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (ssNMR) and computational approaches, this has primarily been due to advances in cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). The study of eukaryotic microtubules and bacterial pili are good examples, and in this review, we will give an overview of the technical innovations that have enabled this transition and highlight the advancements that have been made for these two systems. Looking to the future we will also describe systems that remain difficult to study and where further technical breakthroughs are required.

The hyper-transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant exhibits significant antigenic change, vaccine escape and a switch in cell entry mechanism

Vaccination-based exposure to spike protein derived from early SARS-CoV-2 sequences is the key public health strategy against COVID-19. Successive waves of SARS-CoV-2 infections have been characterised by the evolution of highly mutated variants that are more transmissible and that partially evade the adaptive immune response. Omicron is the fifth of these Variants of Concern (VOCs) and is characterised by a step change in transmission capability, suggesting significant antigenic and biological change. It is characterised by 45 amino acid substitutions, including 30 changes in the spike protein relative to one of the earliest sequences, Wuhan-Hu-1, of which 15 occur in the receptor-binding domain, an area strongly associated with humoral immune evasion. In this study, we demonstrate both markedly decreased neutralisation in serology assays and real-world vaccine effectiveness in recipients of two doses of vaccine, with efficacy partially recovered by a third mRNA booster dose. We also show that immunity from natural infection (without vaccination) is more protective than two doses of vaccine but inferior to three doses. Finally, we demonstrate fundamental changes in the Omicron entry process in vitro, towards TMPRSS2-independent fusion, representing a major shift in the replication properties of SARS-CoV-2. Overall, these findings underlie rapid global transmission and may alter the clinical severity of disease associated with the Omicron variant.

A thalamo-centric neural signature for restructuring negative self-beliefs

Negative self-beliefs are a core feature of psychopathology. Despite this, we have a limited understanding of the brain mechanisms by which negative self-beliefs are cognitively restructured. Using a novel paradigm, we had participants use Socratic questioning techniques to restructure negative beliefs during ultra-high resolution 7-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (UHF 7 T fMRI) scanning. Cognitive restructuring elicited prominent activation in a fronto-striato-thalamic circuit, including the mediodorsal thalamus (MD), a group of deep subcortical nuclei believed to synchronize and integrate prefrontal cortex activity, but which has seldom been directly examined with fMRI due to its small size. Increased activity was also identified in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), a region consistently activated by internally focused mental processing, as well as in lateral prefrontal regions associated with regulating emotional reactivity. Using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM), evidence was found to support the MD as having a strong excitatory effect on the activity of regions within the broader network mediating cognitive restructuring. Moreover, the degree to which participants modulated MPFC-to-MD effective connectivity during cognitive restructuring predicted their individual tendency to engage in repetitive negative thinking. Our findings represent a major shift from a cortico-centric framework of cognition and provide important mechanistic insights into how the MD facilitates key processes in cognitive interventions for common psychiatric disorders. In addition to relaying integrative information across basal ganglia and the cortex, we propose a multifaceted role for the MD whose broad excitatory pathways act to increase synchrony between cortical regions to sustain complex mental representations, including the self.

Self-Driving Networks

This chapter presents a new vision of network operations, the self-driving network, that takes automation to the next level. This is not a description of existing work; rather, it is a challenge to dramatically rethink how we manage networks (or rather, how we do not manage networks). It draws upon an analogy with the development of self-driving cars and presents motivations for this effort. It then describes the technologies needed to implement this and an overall architecture of the system. As this endeavor will cause a major shift in network management, the chapter offers an evolutionary path to the end goal. Some of the consequences and human impacts of such a system are touched upon. The chapter concludes with some research topics and a final message. Key takeaways are that machine learning and feedback loops are fundamental to the solution; a key outcome is to build systems that are adaptive and predictive, for the benefit of users.

Artificial Intelligence and Optimisation Techniques for Risk Reduction in Civil Engineering

Artificial intelligence techniques are at the centre of a major shift in business today. They have a very broad array of applications within businesses, including that of optimisation for risk reduction in civil engineering projects. This is an active area of research, which has started to see real-world applications over the last few decades. It is still hindered by the extreme complexity of civil engineering problems and the computing power necessary to tackle these, but the economic and other benefits of these emerging technologies are too important to ignore. With that in mind, this chapter reviews the current state of research and real-world practice of optimisation techniques and artificial intelligence in risk reduction in this field. It also examines related promising techniques and their future potential.

Healthcare Professional’s Perceptions of E-Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: COVID-19 has a significant impact on lives worldwide. Owing to the adverse effect of this pandemic, there has been a major shift from in-person learning activities to virtual learning. Different methods of virtual learning or e-learning, such as online classes and webinars, have emerged rapidly. Objective: The aim of this study is to identify the perceptions of healthcare professionals regarding e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: An online survey was conducted using Microsoft Forms sent via a text link to mobile phones and emails to healthcare professionals. The questionnaire had multiple-choice questions and five-point scaling to determine perceptions about virtual learning. Data in the form of responses were collected, analyzed, and summarized as mean ± standard deviation and percentage. Results: Responses were received from a total of 410 participants, out of which 240 (58.54%) were females, and 170 (41.46%) were males. Among all participants, 294 (71.71%) were doctors. A vast majority of participants (90%) attended online webinar/e-conferences since the pandemic. The mobile phone was the most commonly used device for e-learning. More than half of the participants opined that in-person meetings are more effective than virtual meetings. In terms of medical learning, 40.48% of participants believed that virtual conferences are more convenient compared to conventional in-person attendance. According to 42.2% of participants, lack of personal interaction in virtual meetings affected their ability to acquire knowledge and experience. Conclusion: Our survey demonstrated the acceptance of virtual learning by healthcare professionals as a new learning method. The majority of participants seem willing to adapt to this new medium.

Climate change impact : Regional scenario

Climate change and global warming are going to be the major issues for the 21st century. Their impacts on agriculture, water availability and other natural resources are of serious concern. The paper briefly summarizes the existing information on global warming, past climatic anomalies and occurrence of extreme events vis-a-vis their impact on south Asia in general and Indian in particular. Use of GCM models in conjunction with crop simulation models for impact assessment in agriculture are briefly touched upon. The impact on hydrosphere in terms of water availability and on the forests in India are also discussed. A major shift in our policy makers paradigm is needed to make development sustainable in the face of climate change, global warming and sea level rise.

Solar power for some? Energy transition injustices in Kerala, India

The Indian government advocates for a major shift from national reliance on coal to more renewable energy sources. While these aspirations are laudable, a political ecology review reveals the uneven power relations associated with the introduction of renewable energy in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Drawing from fieldwork, research traces how Kerala government solar projects, including schemes to promote rooftop solar, prioritize middle- and upper-class consumers. Historically marginalized communities, including people living below the poverty level and Adivasis (indigenous peoples), are not a priority for the state agency implementing renewable energy and thus are not beneficiaries of cleaner energy. This disconnected approach builds from and exacerbates historical political and resource inequalities and enables the persistence of social and environmental injustices, even while moving towards a lower-carbon future. This model does not allow for all residents to actively engage in decision-making about energy processes and proves to be a missed opportunity to think holistically about development and energy in tandem. Energy democracy provides ideas to disturb this uneven power structure, with cooperatives being one possible way to implement this change. As the case of Kerala underscores, India may undergo an energy transition, but it will not be a just energy transition without significant changes.