:This article examines material economies of carbon fibre as a prosthetic form of masculinity. The paper advances three main arguments. Firstly, carbon fibre can be a site in which disability is overcome, an act of overcoming that is affected through masculinized technology. Secondly, carbon fibre can be a homosocial surface; that is, carbon fibre becomes both a surface extension of the self and a third-party mediator in homosocial relationships, a surface that facilitates intimacy between men in ways that devalue femininity (...) in both male and female bodies. Carbon fibre surfaces are material extensions of subjectivity, and carbon fibre surfaces are vectors of the cultural economies of masculine competition. Thirdly, the article gives an account of Oscar Pistorius as an example of the masculinization of carbon fibre, and the associated binding of a psychic attitude of misogyny and power to a form of violent and competitive masculine subjectivity. The paper unpacks the affects, economies and surfaces of “carbon fibre masculinity” and discusses Pistorius’ use of carbon fibre, homosociality and misogyny as forms of protest masculinity through which he unconsciously attempted to recuperate his gendered identity from emasculating discourses of disability. (shrink)

In a long-term transformation, that begins in Antiquity but takes a crucial turn in the Renaissance anatomies, the “fibre” becomes from around 1750 the operative building block and at the same time the first unifying principle of function-structure-complexes of organic bodies. It occupies the role that the cell takes up in the cell œconomies of the second third of the nineteenth century. In this paper, I will first discuss some key notions, technical analogies, and images that are related to “fibre”-concepts (...) from Andreas Vesalius to Albrecht von Haller and then focus on Charles Bonnet's and Denis Diderot's fibre œconomies. In Bonnet's and Diderot's fibre œconomies, the self-active, regulating properties of fibre-agents and their material structures, that reach from fibre bundles, tissues and membranes to apparati of organs, are united within the concrete whole of individual organized “systems” or “networks.”. (shrink)

Although Wittgenstein is famously skeptical about the possibility of making substantial philosophical claims, he can be said to offer significant insights into the difference between inner and outer as well as the difference between self and other.1 He consistently reminds us that inner and outer are intimately connected instead of only causally related, as well as that the self—far from being a wholly independent entity—always already finds itself constituted by its relationships with others. In thus contesting the Cartesian view on (...) subjectivity, however, Wittgenstein may appear to simply reduce the inner to the outer and the self to the other.. (shrink)

Women played a vital role in the American and British antislavery movements of the nineteenth century. Among other strategies, American women’s efforts included boycotting slave-produced goods and selling luxury items to raise money for the cause. Complicated by the nation’s diverse religious landscape, popular attitudes toward dress rendered some forms of consumer advocacy more effective than others. Fashionable antislavery fairs provided significant financial support for political campaigns. Meanwhile, Quaker Christians and some evangelical groups, which valued plain dress, promoted abstention from (...) all slave- produced goods and the genesis of an alternative free-labour cotton trade. Unlike the famous British boycotts of slave- produced sugar, American textile boycotts gained little support. This paper examines how the tension between American fashion and antifashion influenced the rise and fall of the free cotton movement. (shrink)

Women played a vital role in the American and British antislavery movements of the nineteenth century. Among other strategies, American women’s efforts included boycotting slave-produced goods and selling luxury items to raise money for the cause. Complicated by the nation’s diverse religious landscape, popular attitudes toward dress rendered some forms of consumer advocacy more effective than others. Fashionable antislavery fairs provided significant financial support for political campaigns. Meanwhile, Quaker Christians and some evangelical groups, which valued plain dress, promoted abstention from (...) all slave- produced goods and the genesis of an alternative free-labour cotton trade. Unlike the famous British boycotts of slave- produced sugar, American textile boycotts gained little support. This paper examines how the tension between American fashion and antifashion influenced the rise and fall of the free cotton movement. (shrink)

Fibre suspension has garnered considerable attention in turbulent flows that are used in many industries. Solid particles, such as dust particles, notably affect the turbulent flow field in a rotational frame. In assessing their impacts, the dusty turbulent flow for fibre suspensions needs to be studied in a frame of rotation that can be substantially applied in many industries. This study, therefore, aims to build a theoretical model for the energy motion of dusty turbulent flow of fibre suspensions in a (...) rotational frame. The turbulence momentum equation was considered to formulate the model in presence of dusty fluid rotating flow of fibre suspensions. The newly derived equation was derived in second-order correlation tensors Fi,j, Wi,j, Gi,j, Si,j, Xi,j, Yi,j, Qi,j, and Ri,j at any two points in the flow domain, where the tensors were expressed as space, time, and distance functions. The developed model is a considerable improvement because it takes into account all of the potential influential parameters that could affect the motion of turbulent energy, such as dust particles, suspending particles, and rotating frame. However, the impact of these parameters on turbulence energy motion must be evaluated in order to assess the performance of turbulence systems utilized in a variety of industries, such as paper manufacturing. The present theoretical development will contribute to open up experimental and numerical research opportunities for the advancement of the industry, science, and technology. (shrink)

During the 1840s and 1850s the British embryologist and histologist Martin Barry (1802-1855) propounded a bold and original thesis about the microscopic structure of animal and vegetable tissue. He maintained that minute double spirals were virtually ubiquitous in the makeup of a wide range of structures. This paper considers how a claim of this kind was consonant with a romantic image of scientific creativity with which Barry identified. It describes his partially successful strategies to convince contemporaries of the veracity of (...) his claims. Major figures in the field, such as Richard Owen and Jan Evangelista Purkyně, affirmed that Barry's spirals were real objects in nature. Others, notably William Sharpey, became convinced that the spirals were mere artefacts and that Barry was deeply flawed as a scientific investigator. The ultimate rejection of his hypothesis had much to do with the moral repugnance that Barry's attempts to gain credit for a major discovery evoked among influential medical scientists. This negative assessment of Barry as an investigator reveals the lineaments of an alternative ethic of scientific practice. (shrink)

L’ouvrage d’A. Wenger est la version remaniée de sa thèse de doctorat complétée par certains développements parus dans des revues spécialisées, Clio. Histoire, Femmes et Sociétés, Dix-huitième Siècle… La reprise de travaux antérieurs a entraîné parfois quelques redondances – sur l’onanisme ou la lectrice, par exemple – qu’une lecture plus attentive aurait pu éviter. Cette restriction est mineure au regard de l’intérêt de cette étude dont « l’objectif est de faire bouger les objets d’analyse t...

DNA is packed as chromatin on several levels in the eukaryotic nucleus. Dissection of chromatin with nucleases produces three stable substructures: the nucleosome core particle, the chromatosome and the 30 nm fibre. Whilst the first two allow transcription, the 30 nm fibre is taken to be the first level of transcriptionally dormant chromatin and it has an important functional role in cell differentiation and epigenetic regulation. Its structure has been a subject of continuing discussion since native fibres cannot readily be (...) crystallized. This problem has recently been addressed by reconstitution of fibres on repeats of DNA sequences having nucleosome‐positioning properties and two different structures were reported.1,2The reconstitution results and their interpretations are compared in this review with experimental data from native chromatin and it is shown that the results of Robinson et al.2 conform well with the known structural features of native fibres and are a good first step towards understanding the structure of the fibre. BioEssays 30:1003–1009, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

1. The current political scene in many countries is populated by polarised groups with sharply contrasting loyalties and beliefs implying that there are fundamental schisms between opposing groups....

Este breve ensaio é uma reacção a perguntas de Bernardino Orió de Miguel. As per­guntas que fecham Leibniz, Crítica de la razón simbólica são: “porque há analogias de ana­logias in infinitum?” e, para o filósofo da harmonia pré-estabelecida, “a expressão, que liga todos os níveis, terá sido apenas um compromisso socialmente correcto que oculta a noção do símbolo?”. Examino algumas das suas implicações para a noção actual de organismo, sob a forma de documentação preliminar ao estudo de mónadas, forças, fibras, (...) ictos e suas expressões. Dados os constrangimentos de espaço, concentro-me em duas questões: que significou o mecanismo, na sua diversidade, para Leibniz e alguns médicos do séculos XVII e XVIII; que significou a invenção do conceito de organismo pelo autor da Monadologia, na perspectiva das relações entre corpo, espírito e alma? Interessado no mergulho do infi nito no finito, concluo com um apontamento acerca da teoria da doença mental na proto­-modernidade. (shrink)

I articulate and discuss a geometrical interpretation of Yang–Mills theory. Analogies and disanalogies between Yang–Mills theory and general relativity are also considered.

It is suggested that bifurcation of parallel fibres in the cerebellar cortex assists the spatiotemporal convergence of temporally dispersed and asomatotopic inputs to granule cells. This increases the number of combinations of inputs which can be compared for the purpose of sequence recognition.

Well characterized databases used for experimental purposes with extensive meta-data are essential for conducting meaningful and comparable studies. The Food-pics_extended database is one example for a widely used food stimulus database. Indeed, meta-data on low level and high level image characteristics is broad, yet fiber ratings are not included, limiting its use in diet-related studies. Therefore, we developed fiber ratings per item, based on mean values of four non-expert raters. Ratings show good reliability and meaningful ranges per food (...) type. The newly provided fiber ratings enrich the already valuable database and extend it by an important nutrient value for human and planetary health. (shrink)

The geometro-stochastic quantization of a gauge theory for extended objects based on the (4, 1)-de Sitter group is used for the description of quantized matter in interaction with gravitation. In this context a Hilbert bundle ℋ over curved space-time B is introduced, possessing the standard fiber ℋ $_{\bar \eta }^{(\rho )} $ , being a resolution kernel Hilbert space (with resolution generator $\tilde \eta $ and generalized coherent state basis) carrying a spin-zero phase space representation of G=SO(4, 1) belonging (...) to the principal series of unitary irreducible representations determined by the parameter ρ. The bundle ℋ, associated to the de Sitter frame bundle P(B, G), provides a geometric arena with built-in fundamental length parameter R (taken to be of the order of 10−13 cm characterizing hadron physics) yielding, in the presence of gravitation, a quantum kinematical framework for the geometro-stochastic description of spinless matter described in terms of generalized quantum mechanical wave functions, Ψ x ρ (ξ, ζ), defined on #x210B;. By going over to a nonlinear realization of the de Sitter group with the help of a section ξ(x) on the soldered bundle E, associated to P, with homogeneous fiber V′4⋍G/H, one is able to recover gravitation in a de Sitter gauge invariant manner as a gauge theory related to the Lorentz subgroup H of G. ξ(x) plays the dual role of a symmetry-reducing and an extension field. After introducing covariant bilinear source currents in the fields Ψ x ρ (ξ, ζ) and their adjoints determined by G-invariant integration over the local fibers in ℋ, a quantum fiber dynamical (QFD) framework is set up for the dynamics at small distances in B determining the geometric quantities beyond the classical metric of Einstein's theory through a set of current-curvature field equations representing the source equations for axial vector torsion and the de Sitter boost contributions to the bundle connection (the latter defining the soldering forms of the Cartan connection in P(B, G) in the nonlinear gauge). The presented bundle framework yields a theory for quantized material objects in interaction with gravitation, the long-range metrical part of which remains classical. (shrink)

In this paper I discuss Tim Maudlin’s attempt to reject the theory of universals based on the interpretation of gauge theories in the fiber bundle framework. The project is novel and assuring, but, I argue, it is vulnerable to several objections stemming from both metaphysics and physics. I complement his project by emphasizing two missing elements: first, a commitment to realism; second, the fundamentality or non-fundamentality of gauge theories.

This unique volume is a comprehensive,well-illustrated study of the organization of the white matter pathways of the brain. Schmahmann and Pandya have analyzed and synthesized the corticocortical and corticosubcortical connections of the major areas of the cerebral cortex of the rhesus monkey. The result is a detailed understanding of the constituents of the cerebral white matter and the organization of the fiber tracts. The findings from the 36 cases studied are presented on a single template brain, facilitating comparison of (...) the locations of the different fiber pathways. The summary diagrams provide a comprehensive atlas of the cerebral white matter. The text is enriched by close attention to functional aspects of the anatomical observations. The clinical relevance of the pathways is addressed throughout the text and a chapter is devoted to human white matter diseases. The introductory account gives a detailed historical background. Translations of seminal original observations by early investigators are presented, and when these are considered in the light of the authors' new observations, many longstanding conflicts and debates are resolved. This scholarly book is an important addition to systems and cognitive neuroscience that will be of lasting value to neurobiologists, anatomists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuroradiologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and to their students and trainees. (shrink)

It was thus the combination of observational and experimental approaches that ultimately led to confirmation of the outgrowth theory. The observational method was essential for defining various possible methods of nerve fiber development. The multicellular, protoplasmic bridge and outgrowth theories were each postulated to explain purely observational evidence. However, the lack of truly suitable equipment and techniques to study the developing nervous system made it impossible to agree on a single theory on this basis alone. The experimental method provided (...) a means of choosing between these theories. Without the preceding observations that had led to the formulation of various hypotheses, however, the experimental approach might not have been so successful, for the power of this method is more of selection than of generation.Therefore it is impossible to weigh separately the contributions of the observational and experimental approaches to the question of nerve fiber development. Both were necessary for the ultimate acceptance of the outgrowth theory. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A8402051 00004. (shrink)

Random-excitation granule cells are likely to overwhelm spatiotemporal sequences described as in Braitenberg et al.'s target article. A mechanism is proposed involving the Golgi cells to reinforce tidal waves against noise. The recurrent inhibition by the Golgi calls can recruit random excitations of granule cells in phase with sequences of mossy fiber input.

Several themes can be identified in the commentaries. The first is that the climbing fibers may have more than one function; the second is that the climbing fibers provide sensory rather than motor signals. We accept the possibility that climbing fibers may have more than one function consequence(s)’ in the title. Until we know more about the function of the inhibitory input to the inferior olive from the cerebellar nuclei, which are motor structures, we have to keep open the possibility (...) that the climbing fiber signals can be a combination of sensory and motor signals. (shrink)

A fiber bundle constructed over spacetime is used as the basic underlying framework for a differential geometric description of extended hadrons. The bundle has a Cartan connection and possesses the de Sitter groupSO(4, 1) as structural group, operating as a group of motion in a locally defined space of constant curvature (the fiber) characterized by a radius of curvatureR≈10−13 cm related to the strong interactions. A hadronic matter field ω(x, ζ) is defined on the bundle space, withx the (...) spacetime coordinate and ζ varying in the local fiber. The components of a generalized tensor current ℑ μab (M) (x) are introduced, involving a bilinear expression in the fields ω(x, ζ) and ωΔ(x, ζ) integrated over the local fiber at the pointx. This hadronic matter current is considered as a source current for the underlying fiber geometry by coupling it in a gauge-invariant manner to the curvature expressions derived from the bundle connection coefficients, which are associated here with strong interaction effects, i.e., play the role of meson fields induced in the geometry. Studying discrete symmetry transformations between the 16 differently soldered Cartan bundles, a generalized matter-antimatter conjugation Ĉ is established which leaves the basic current-curvature equations Ĉ-invariant. The discrete symmetry transformation Ĉ turns out to be the direct product of an ordinary charge conjugation for the Dirac point-spinor part of ω(x, ζ) and an internal $\hat P\hat T$ transformation applied globally on the bundle to the fiber (i.e., de Sitter) part of ω(x, ζ). (shrink)

We use the notion of polar duality from convex geometry and the theory of Lagrangian planes from symplectic geometry to construct a fiber bundle over ellipsoids that can be viewed as a quantum-mechanical substitute for the classical symplectic phase space. The total space of this fiber bundle consists of geometric quantum states, products of convex bodies carried by Lagrangian planes by their polar duals with respect to a second transversal Lagrangian plane. Using the theory of the John ellipsoid (...) we relate these geometric quantum states to the notion of “quantum blobs” introduced in previous work; quantum blobs are the smallest symplectic invariant regions of the phase space compatible with the uncertainty principle. We show that the set of equivalence classes of unitarily related geometric quantum states is in a one-to-one correspondence with the set of all Gaussian wavepackets. We emphasize that the uncertainty principle appears in this paper as geometric property of the states we define, and is not expressed in terms of variances and covariances, the use of which was criticized by Hilgevoord and Uffink. (shrink)

Why has the labeled line versus across-fiber pattern debate of taste coding not been resolved? Erickson suggests that the basic tastes concept has no rational definition to test. Similarly, however, taste neuron types, which are fundamental to the across-fiber pattern concept, have not been formally defined, leaving this concept with no rational definition to test. Consequently, the two concepts are largely indistinguishable.