Female narratives of ‘new’ citizens’ belonging(s) and identities in Europe: case studies from the Netherlands and Britain

Public discourses on citizenship, identity and nationality, which link geographical borders and the political boundaries of a community, are infused with tensions and contradictions. This paper illustrates how these tensions are interwoven with multilayered notions of home, belonging, migration, citizenship and individual’s ‘longing just to be’, focusing on the Dutch and the British context. The narratives of a number of Dutch and British women, who either immigrated to the respective countries or were born to immigrants, illustrate how the growing rigid integration and assimilative discourses in Europe contradict an individual anchoring in national and local communities. The narratives of women participating in these studies show multilayered angles of belonging presenting an alternative to the increasing strong argument for a fixed notion of positioning and national belonging. The female ‘new’ citizens in our study tell stories of individual choices, social mobility and a sense of multiple belonging in and across different communities.

European urban spaces in crisis - the mapping of affective pracitices with Living with Difference: introduction

The introduction outlines the notion of urban space and crisis in Europe while taking into account the more recent protests and riots in different cities, in and beyond Europe. It is argued that the phenomen of protest is happening alongside the economic crisis underscoring an alternative political public civic spirit expressing to a certain degree the renaissance and timely making of, what might be called in the digital age, #œuvre. Its forces and emotional properties capture a political realm that unfolds as a globalized urban transnational public space, still progressing. Further, it introduces the collection of papers for the special themed feature. Five papers look at affective practices through a Continental European lens, which places the meaning of race, migration and intersecting identity angles at the centre of debates of individual encounters in public spaces. The final and sixth paper, written by Brenda Yeoh, looks through a Singapore/East Asia lens, and comments on the common European threats as well as on the historical specificity and implications of distinctive geo-political spaces for affective practices.

Fluorescent Logic Systems for Sensing and Molecular Computation: Structure-Activity Relationships in Edge-Detection

Molecular logic-based computation continues to throw up new applications in sensing and switching, the newest of which is the edge detection of objects. The scope of this phenomenon is mapped out by the use of structure-activity relationships, where several structures of the molecules and of the objects are examined. The different angles and curvatures of the objects are followed with good-fidelity in the visualized edges, even when the objects are in reverse video.

Einfamilienhaus bei Ramelton

The large scale horizontally mounted fibre cement panels follow an orthogonal grid, albeit with only two right angles, one each on the building's longitudinal east and west elevations above the car port. The remaining façade edges describe rising and declining lines. it goes without saying that the structural details of this purist house have been meticulously executed. It is simply complete, lacking nothing and without anything further required.

Zero-Reflectance Metafilms for Optimal Plasmonic Sensing

An ultrathin layer of metasurface that almost completely annihilates the reflection of light (>99.5%) over a wide range of incident angles (>80°) is experimentally demonstrated. Such zero-reflectance metafilms exhibit optimal performance for plasmonic sensing, since their sensitivity to changes of local refractive index is far superior to films of nonzero reflectance. Since both main detection mechanisms tracking intensity changes and wavelength shifts are improved, zero-reflectance metafilms are optimal for localized surface plasmon resonance molecular sensing. Such nanostructures have significant opportunities in many areas, including enhanced light harvesting as well as in developing high-performance molecular sensors for a wide range of chemical and biomedical applications.

Wide-Area Phase-Angle Measurements for Islanding Detection—An Adaptive Nonlinear Approach

The integration of an ever growing proportion of large scale distributed renewable generation has increased the probability of maloperation of the traditional RoCoF and vector shift relays. With reduced inertia due to non-synchronous penetration in a power grid, system wide disturbances have forced the utility industry to design advanced protection schemes to prevent system degradation and avoid cascading outages leading to widespread blackouts. This paper explores a novel adaptive nonlinear approach applied to islanding detection, based on wide area phase angle measurements. This is challenging, since the voltage phase angles from different locations exhibit not only strong nonlinear but also time-varying characteristics. The adaptive nonlinear technique, called moving window kernel principal component analysis is proposed to model the time-varying and nonlinear trends in the voltage phase angle data. The effectiveness of the technique is exemplified using both DigSilent simulated cases and real test cases recorded from the Great Britain and Ireland power systems by the OpenPMU project.

Visual symptoms and retinal straylight after laser peripheral iridotomy: the Zhongshan Angle-Closure Prevention Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI) on forward-scatter of light and subjective visual symptoms and to identify LPI parameters influencing these phenomena. DESIGN: Cohort study derived from a randomized trial, using an external control group. PARTICIPANTS: Chinese subjects initially aged 50 or older and 70 years or younger with bilateral narrow angles undergoing LPI in 1 eye selected at random, and age- and gender-matched controls. METHODS: Eighteen months after laser, LPI-treated subjects underwent digital iris photography and photogrammetry to characterize the size and location of the LPI, Lens Opacity Classification System III cataract grading, and measurement of retinal straylight (C-Quant; OCULUS, Wetzlar, Germany) in the treated and untreated eyes and completed a visual symptoms questionnaire. Controls answered the questionnaire and underwent straylight measurement and (in a random one-sixth sample) cataract grading. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Retinal straylight levels and subjective visual symptoms. RESULTS: Among 230 LPI-treated subjects (121 [58.8%] with LPI totally covered by the lid, 43 [19.8%] with LPI partly covered by the lid, 53 [24.4%] with LPI uncovered by the lid), 217 (94.3%) completed all testing, as did 250 (93.3%) of 268 controls. Age, gender, and prevalence of visual symptoms did not differ between treated subjects and controls, although nuclear (P<0.01) and cortical (P = 0.03) cataract were less common among controls. Neither presenting visual acuity nor straylight score differed between the treated and untreated eyes among all treated persons, nor among those (n = 96) with LPI partially or totally uncovered. Prevalence of subjective glare did not differ significantly between participants with totally covered LPI (6.61%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.39%-12.5%), partially covered LPI (11.6%; 95% CI, 5.07%-24.5%), or totally uncovered LPI (9.43%; 95% CI, 4.10%-10.3%). In regression models, only worse cortical cataract grade (P = 0.01) was associated significantly with straylight score, and no predictors were associated with subjective glare. None of the LPI size or location parameters were associated with straylight or subjective symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggests that LPI is safe regarding measures of straylight and visual symptoms. This randomized design provides strong evidence that treatment programs for narrow angles would be unlikely to result in important medium-term visual disability.

A proposed simple method for measurement in the anterior chamber angle: biometric gonioscopy

OBJECTIVE:

To design a system of gonioscopy that will allow greater interobserver reliability and more clearly defined screening cutoffs for angle closure than current systems while being simple to teach and technologically appropriate for use in rural Asia, where the prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma is highest.

DESIGN:

Clinic-based validation and interobserver reliability trial.

PARTICIPANTS:

Study 1: 21 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from a university-based specialty glaucoma clinic; study 2: 32 patients 18 years of age and older recruited from the same clinic.

INTERVENTION:

In study 1, all participants underwent conventional gonioscopy by an experienced observer (GLS) using the Spaeth system and in the same eye also underwent Scheimpflug photography, ultrasonographic measurement of anterior chamber depth and axial length, automatic refraction, and biometric gonioscopy with measurement of the distance from iris insertion to Schwalbe's line using a reticule based in the slit-lamp ocular. In study 2, all participants underwent both conventional gonioscopy and biometric gonioscopy by an experienced gonioscopist (NGC) and a medical student with no previous training in gonioscopy (JK).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:

Study 1: The association between biometric gonioscopy and conventional gonioscopy, Scheimpflug photography, and other factors known to correlate with the configuration of the angle. Study 2: Interobserver agreement using biometric gonioscopy compared to that obtained with conventional gonioscopy.

RESULTS:

In study 1, there was an independent, monotonic, statistically significant relationship between biometric gonioscopy and both Spaeth angle (P = 0.001, t test) and Spaeth insertion (P = 0.008, t test) grades. Biometric gonioscopy correctly identified six of six patients with occludable angles according to Spaeth criteria. Biometric gonioscopic grade was also significantly associated with the anterior chamber angle as measured by Scheimpflug photography (P = 0.005, t test). In study 2, the intraclass correlation coefficient between graders for biometric gonioscopy (0.97) was higher than for Spaeth angle grade (0.72) or Spaeth insertion grade (0.84).

CONCLUSION:

Biometric gonioscopy correlates well with other measures of the anterior chamber angle, shows a higher degree of interobserver reliability than conventional gonioscopy, and can readily be learned by an inexperienced observer.

Biometric gonioscopy and the effects of age, race, and sex on the anterior chamber angle.

AIM:

To utilise a novel method for making measurements in the anterior chamber in order to compare the anterior chamber angles of people of European, African, and east Asian descent aged 40 years and over.

METHODS:

A cross sectional study on 15 people of each sex from each decade from the 40s to the 70s, from each of three racial groups-black, white, and Chinese Singaporeans. Biometric gonioscopy (BG) utilises a slit lamp mounted reticule to make measurements from the apparent iris insertion to Schwalbe's line through a Goldmann one mirror goniolens. The main outcome measures were BG measurements of the anterior chamber angle as detailed above.

RESULTS:

There was no significant difference in angle measurement between black, white, and Chinese races in this study. However, at younger ages people of Chinese race appeared to have deeper angles than white or black people, whereas the angles of older Chinese were significantly narrower (p = 0.004 for the difference in slope of BG by age between Chinese and both black and white people).

CONCLUSION:

The failure to detect a difference in angle measurements between these groups was surprising, given the much higher prevalence of angle closure among Chinese. It appears that the overall apparent similarity of BG means between Chinese and Western populations may mask very different trends with age. The apparently more rapid decline in angle width measurements with age among Chinese may be due to the higher prevalence of cataract or "creeping angle closure." However, longitudinal inferences from cross sectional data are problematic, and this may represent a cohort phenomenon caused by the increasing prevalence of myopia in the younger Singaporean population.

Age, gender, biometry, refractive error, and the anterior chamber angle among Alaskan Eskimos.

BACKGROUND:

The prevalence of angle-closure glaucoma (ACG) is greater for Eskimos/Inuit than it is for any other ethnic group in the world. Although it has been suggested that this prevalence may be due to a population tendency toward shallower anterior chamber angles, available evidence for other populations such as Chinese with high rates of ACG has not consistently demonstrated such a tendency.

METHODS:

A reticule, slit-lamp, and standard Goldmann one-mirror goniolens were used to make measurements in the anterior chamber (AC) angle according to a previously reported protocol for biometric gonioscopy (BG) (Ophthalmology 1999;106:2161-7). Measurements were made in all four quadrants of one eye among 133 phakic Alaskan Eskimos aged 40 years and older. Automatic refraction, dilated examination of the anterior segment and optic nerve, and A-scan measurements of AC depth, lens thickness, and axial length were also carried out for all subjects.

RESULTS:

Both central and peripheral AC measurements for the Eskimo subjects were significantly lower than those previously reported by us for Chinese, blacks, and whites under the identical protocol. Eskimos also seemed to have somewhat more hyperopia. There were no differences in biometric measurements between men and women in this Eskimo population. Angle measurements by BG seemed to decline more rapidly over life among Eskimos and Chinese than blacks or whites. Although there was a significant apparent decrease in AC depth, increase in lens thickness, and increase in hyperopia with age among Eskimos, all of these trends seemed to reverse in the seventh decade and beyond.

CONCLUSIONS:

Eskimos do seem to have shallower ACs than do other racial groups. Measurements of the AC angle seem to decline more rapidly over life among Eskimos than among blacks or whites, a phenomenon also observed by us among Chinese, another group with high ACG prevalence. This apparent more rapid decline may be due to a cohort effect with higher prevalence of myopia and resulting wider angles among younger Eskimos and Chinese.

Angle-closure glaucoma: impact, etiology, diagnosis, and treatment.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW:

Recent studies underscore the importance of angle-closure glaucoma (ACG) as a cause of world blindness. A major contribution in assessing the true impact of this disease has been an article estimating the number of persons with occludable angles, angle closure, and blindness from ACG in China as 28.2 million, 9.1 million, and 1.7 million, respectively. Although these numbers are based on data from Singapore and Mongolia, which may be applied to China only with caution, they emphasize the blinding potential of ACG, which is three times as likely to be associated with blindness as open-angle glaucoma (OAG).

RECENT FINDINGS:

Recent reports in the Chinese literature on ACG prevalence suffer from definitional problems that would appear to lead to systematic overestimates of ACG prevalence and underestimates of OAG prevalence. Nonetheless, data from studies by Chinese investigators further emphasize the strong association between ACG and blindness, with fully 16% of subjects with ACG blind in one report-a far higher proportion than for OAG in China and elsewhere. The importance of topiramate as a cause of secondary angle closure has recently been understood, in part, because of a series of 19 such cases reported by investigators at the Food and Drug Administration.

SUMMARY:

Angle closure in this setting appears to be caused by uveal effusion and anterior rotation of the ciliary body with resultant closure of the angle. The condition is not always responsive to laser iridectomy, and elimination of the causative agent appears to be critical. Ultrasonic biomicroscopy is a potential new diagnostic modality for ACG, allowing the measurement of novel parameters, such as the angle opening distance (AOD) at 500 microm (AOD 500). The efficacy of such parameters in improving screening for ACG can only be established by prospective studies of potentially at-risk eyes. A number of novel treatments for AC and angle closure have recently been proposed, including cataract extraction, paracentesis, and argon laser iridoplasty. As with proposed new diagnostic modalities, the efficacy of these treatments remains to be demonstrated with prospective studies, ideally organized in a controlled, randomized fashion.

Reducing the visual burden of glaucoma in Asia: what we know and what we need to know.

Despite great progress in elucidating risk factors and effective treatments for eye disease in the last decades, blindness prevalence in the developing and developed world is either static or rising. A research agenda is needed to develop and test specific strategies to reduce the burden of blindness from glaucoma and other common eye diseases. Current knowledge about open and closed-angle glaucoma is reviewed and a strategy to reduce glaucoma blindness in Asia is suggested. A critical component of this strategy is enhanced training in the detection of narrow angles and optic nerve damage by direct examination. Specific research topics that could inform such a strategy are outlined.