Reimagining Citizenship: Towards non-penal real utopias

As has long been recognised, the social distance created between offenders and a mythical law-abiding majority helps to fuel punitive practices and hinders any attempts to seriously reform the penal landscape (e.g. Christie, 2000). The commonplace treatment of the majority of offenders as non-citizens precludes meaningful dialogue and debate with ‘the citizenry’. As has been evident in recent years, debate about penal issues amongst those who are seen to be worthy of citizenship has often been reduced to base populism (Pratt, 2007). This presentation will seek to argue that penal reform can only result from adopting a genuinely inclusive, pluralist notion of citizenship (Kabeer, 2005) which is capable of incorporating all those affected by both state-defined crimes and various forms of social harm, whether they are regarded as victims or offenders. Even though we favour a Marshallian rights-based approach to citizenship, we argue that the notion of responsibility is also paramount. Yet, it needs to be understood in the widest possible sense to focus not only on the responsibilities of offenders as citizens but also those of individuals, states and communities to play a meaningful role in tackling harmful behaviour at source. This of course entails shifting the focus beyond harmful actions and those responsible for them to analyse broader agendas for political reform. Here we draw upon the insights of the Argentinian Liberation Philosopher Enrique Dussel (2010; 2013). Just as the debate on penal policy needs to go beyond crime, as it is commonly defined, the solutions proposed for the resolution of harmful behaviour need to go beyond the penal, going further than simply modifying the penal landscape to develop genuine non-penal real utopias

Reawakening Our Radical Imaginations: Thinking realistically about utopias, dystopias and the non-penal

In this introduction we consider the relationship between the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control [European Group] and the promotion of non-penal real utopias. The article begins by considering the historical connections between the New Left, utopian ideas, abolitionism and critical criminology, highlighting the role played by the European Group in the development of utopian thought. It then considers the utopian imagination in critical criminology, paying particular attention to Penal Abolitionism and Zemiology as utopia. It briefly analyses the crisis of utopia undergone by critical criminology in the 1980s before moving on to discuss the recent reawakening of the utopian criminological imagination and discussing the normative framework on which it should be based. Finally, it highlights the importance of developing of an emancipatory politics and praxis

Application of electron multiplying CCD technology in space instrumentation

Electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD) technology has found important initial applications in low light surveillance and photon starved scientific instrumentation. This paper discusses the attributes of the EMCCD which make it useful for certain space instruments, particularly those which are photon starved, and explores likely risks from the radiation expected in such instruments

A Vast Thin Plane of Co-rotating Dwarf Galaxies Orbiting the Andromeda Galaxy

Dwarf satellite galaxies are thought to be the remnants of the population of primordial structures that coalesced to form giant galaxies like the Milky Way. An early analysis noted that dwarf galaxies may not be isotropically distributed around our Galaxy, as several are correlated with streams of HI emission, and possibly form co-planar groups. These suspicions are supported by recent analyses, and it has been claimed that the apparently planar distribution of satellites is not predicted within standard cosmology, and cannot simply represent a memory of past coherent accretion. However, other studies dispute this conclusion. Here we report the existence (99.998% significance) of a planar sub-group of satellites in the Andromeda galaxy, comprising approximately 50% of the population. The structure is vast: at least 400 kpc in diameter, but also extremely thin, with a perpendicular scatter <14.1 kpc (99% confidence). Radial velocity measurements reveal that the satellites in this structure have the same sense of rotation about their host. This finding shows conclusively that substantial numbers of dwarf satellite galaxies share the same dynamical orbital properties and direction of angular momentum, a new insight for our understanding of the origin of these most dark matter dominated of galaxies. Intriguingly, the plane we identify is approximately aligned with the pole of the Milky Way's disk and is co-planar with the Milky Way to Andromeda position vector. The existence of such extensive coherent kinematic structures within the halos of massive galaxies is a fact that must be explained within the framework of galaxy formation and cosmology.Comment: Published in the 3rd Jan 2013 issue of Nature. 19 pages, 4 figures, 1 three-dimensional interactive figure. To view and manipulate the 3-D figure, an Adobe Reader browser plug-in is required; alternatively save to disk and view with Adobe Reade

Can spacetime curvature induced corrections to Lamb shift be observable?

The Lamb shift results from the coupling of an atom to vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields, so corrections are expected to arise when the spacetime is curved since the vacuum fluctuations are modified by the presence of spacetime curvature. Here, we calculate the curvature-induced correction to the Lamb shift outside a spherically symmetric object and demonstrate that this correction can be remarkably significant outside a compact massive astrophysical body. For instance, for a neutron star or a stellar mass black hole, the correction is $\sim$ 25% at a radial distance of $4GM/c^2$, $\sim$ 16% at $10GM/c^2$ and as large as $\sim$ 1.6% even at $100GM/c^2$, where $M$ is the mass of the object, $G$ the Newtonian constant, and $c$ the speed of light. In principle, we can look at the spectra from a distant compact super-massive body to find such corrections. Therefore, our results suggest a possible way of detecting fundamental quantum effects in astronomical observations.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, slight title change, clarifications and more discussions added, version to be published in JHE

Assessing the effectiveness of NICE criteria for stratifying breast cancer risk in a UK cohort

Breast cancer risk is a common indication for referral to clinical genetics services. UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines use family history (FH) to stratify by 10-year risk of breast cancer from age 40. Patients are stratified into population risk (PR, 10-year risk &lt;3%), moderate (MR, 3-8%) and high risk (HR, &gt;8%). Women at increased risk are offered screening at or prior to age 40. To assess the clinical effectiveness of current risk stratification, FH data was obtained for all unaffected women with a FH of breast cancer aged &lt;50, referred to cancer genetics from 2000-2010. Patients were risk stratified by NICE criteria, identifying patients who subsequently developed breast cancer. 1,409 women had 15,414 patient-years of follow up. 30 invasive breast cancers developed, 13 in MR and 13 in HR women. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated no significant difference in rate of breast cancer development between PR and MR women from ages 40-49 (Log rank p=0.431). There was a significant difference between ages 40- 49 years between PR and HR women (p=0.036), but not on exclusion of BRCA mutation carriers (p=0.136). NICE absolute 10-year risk thresholds between ages 40-49 were not met in any risk group, when risk was estimated using the guidelines (PR=0.82%, MR=1.68%, HR=3.56%). Our data suggests that improved criteria are required for risk assessment prior to age 50 and screening resources may be best focussed on those with highly penetrant mutations in cancer risk genes

On the Complex Network Structure of Musical Pieces: Analysis of Some Use Cases from Different Music Genres

This paper focuses on the modeling of musical melodies as networks. Notes of a melody can be treated as nodes of a network. Connections are created whenever notes are played in sequence. We analyze some main tracks coming from different music genres, with melodies played using different musical instruments. We find out that the considered networks are, in general, scale free networks and exhibit the small world property. We measure the main metrics and assess whether these networks can be considered as formed by sub-communities. Outcomes confirm that peculiar features of the tracks can be extracted from this analysis methodology. This approach can have an impact in several multimedia applications such as music didactics, multimedia entertainment, and digital music generation.Comment: accepted to Multimedia Tools and Applications, Springe

Chytrid epidemics may increase genetic diversity of a diatom spring-bloom

Contrary to expectation, populations of clonal organisms are often genetically highly diverse. In phytoplankton, this diversity is maintained throughout periods of high population growth (that is, blooms), even though competitive exclusion among genotypes should hypothetically lead to the dominance of a few superior genotypes. Genotype-specific parasitism may be one mechanism that helps maintain such high-genotypic diversity of clonal organisms. Here, we present a comparison of population genetic similarity by estimating the beta-dispersion among genotypes of early and peak bloom populations of the diatom Asterionella formosa for three spring-blooms under high or low parasite pressure. The Asterionella population showed greater beta-dispersion at peak bloom than early bloom in the 2 years with high parasite pressure, whereas the within group dispersion did not change under low parasite pressure. Our findings support that high prevalence parasitism can promote genetic diversification of natural populations of clonal hosts

Measurement of the hadronic photon structure function F_{2}^{γ} at LEP2

The hadronic structure function of the photon F_{2}^{γ} (x, Q²) is measured as a function of Bjorken x and of the photon virtuality Q² using deep-inelastic scattering data taken by the OPAL detector at LEP at e⁺e⁻ centre-of-mass energies from 183 to 209 GeV. Previous OPAL measurements of the x dependence of F_{2}^{γ} are extended to an average Q² of 〈Q²〉=780 GeV² using data in the kinematic range 0.15<x<0.98. The Q² evolution of F_{2}^{γ} is studied for 12.1<〈Q²〉<780 GeV² using three ranges of x. As predicted by QCD, the data show positive scaling violations in F_{2}^{γ} with F_{2}^{γ} (Q²)/α = (0.08±0.02⁺⁰·⁰⁵_₀.₀₃) + (0.13±0.01⁺⁰·⁰¹_₀.₀₁) lnQ², where Q² is in GeV², for the central x region 0.10–0.60. Several parameterisations of F_{2}^{γ} are in qualitative agreement with the measurements whereas the quark-parton model prediction fails to describe the data

Cost-effectiveness analysis of 3-D computerized tomography colonography versus optical colonoscopy for imaging symptomatic gastroenterology patients.

BACKGROUND: When symptomatic gastroenterology patients have an indication for colonic imaging, clinicians have a choice between optical colonoscopy (OC) and computerized tomography colonography with three-dimensional reconstruction (3-D CTC). 3-D CTC provides a minimally invasive and rapid evaluation of the entire colon, and it can be an efficient modality for diagnosing symptoms. It allows for a more targeted use of OC, which is associated with a higher risk of major adverse events and higher procedural costs. A case can be made for 3-D CTC as a primary test for colonic imaging followed if necessary by targeted therapeutic OC; however, the relative long-term costs and benefits of introducing 3-D CTC as a first-line investigation are unknown. AIM: The aim of this study was to assess the cost effectiveness of 3-D CTC versus OC for colonic imaging of symptomatic gastroenterology patients in the UK NHS. METHODS: We used a Markov model to follow a cohort of 100,000 symptomatic gastroenterology patients, aged 50 years or older, and estimate the expected lifetime outcomes, life years (LYs) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and costs (£, 2010-2011) associated with 3-D CTC and OC. Sensitivity analyses were performed to assess the robustness of the base-case cost-effectiveness results to variation in input parameters and methodological assumptions. RESULTS: 3D-CTC provided a similar number of LYs (7.737 vs 7.739) and QALYs (7.013 vs 7.018) per individual compared with OC, and it was associated with substantially lower mean costs per patient (£467 vs £583), leading to a positive incremental net benefit. After accounting for the overall uncertainty, the probability of 3-D CTC being cost effective was around 60 %, at typical willingness-to-pay values of £20,000-£30,000 per QALY gained. CONCLUSION: 3-D CTC is a cost-saving and cost-effective option for colonic imaging of symptomatic gastroenterology patients compared with OC