Explore the vast range of titles available.

Spatial relations are a basic part of human cognition. However, they are expressed in natural language in a variety of ways, and previous work has suggested that current vision-and-language models (VLMs) struggle to capture relational information. In this paper, we present Visual Spatial Reasoning (VSR), a dataset containing more than 10k natural text-image pairs with 66 types of spatial relations in English (e.g., under, in front of, facing). While using a seemingly simple annotation format, we show how the dataset includes challenging linguistic phenomena, such as varying reference frames. We demonstrate a large gap between human and model performance: The human ceiling is above 95%, while state-of-the-art models only achieve around 70%. We observe that VLMs’ by-relation performances have little correlation with the number of training examples and the tested models are in general incapable of recognising relations concerning the orientations of objects.

This article explores the governing logics and political implications of citizen security in Puebla, Mexico, specifically, the Programa Nacional de Prevención del Delito (National Program for the Prevention of Crime, PRONAPRED). Taking a biopolitical perspective, the article centers on how citizens are produced through the application of citizen security initiatives. This production operates at two levels: the regulation of populations and the molding of subjects. First, vital statistics and risk-related variables highlight those populations that exceed the median for risk. Second, those at-risk groups are targeted for training to reduce their susceptibility to violence. Training focuses on the individual, asking citizens to identify and minimize risk in a manner that emanates from and contributes to security governance. The political ontology of citizen security is this citizen/citizenry coincident with official measures. The democratic aspirations of citizen security are consequently muted, as security governance locates citizens within the confines of state power and, at the same time, holds them separate from this power to produce citizen existence. Este articulo explora las lógicas gobernantes y las implicaciones políticas de la seguridad ciudadana en Puebla, México. Analizado en relación a la Programa Nacional de Prevención del Delito (PRONAPRED), el articulo pregunta: ¿quién es el ciudadano de la seguridad ciudadana? Examinado desde una perspectiva de la biopolítica, el enfoque se centra en cómo los ciudadanos son producidos por medio de la aplicación de iniciativas de la seguridad ciudadana. Esta producción opera a dos niveles: la regulación de poblaciones y el moldeo de sujetos. En primer lugar, la población es interpretada por las estadísticas vitales y las variables de riesgo para mostrar las poblaciones que exceden el promedio. En segundo lugar, y en base de eso, los grupos riesgosos son el objeto de entrenamiento para reducir su susceptibilidad a la violencia. El entrenamiento se centra en los sujetos individuales, pidiendo a los ciudadanos a identificar y minimizar el riesgo en una manera que emerge de y contribuye a la gobernanza de seguridad. La fundación ontológica de la seguridad ciudadana es esta ciudadano/ciudadanía consistente con las racionalidades oficiales. Las aspiraciones democráticas de la seguridad ciudadana consecuentemente son reducidos, dado que la gobernanza de seguridad ubica a los ciudadanos dentro de los límites del poder estatal, y al mismo tiempo, los mantiene separados de ese poder para reproducir la existencia ciudadana.

On August 16, 2019, protesters arrived at the Monument to Independence in Mexico City. In response to three separate allegations of rape by police in less than a month, demonstrators scrawled 565 pieces of graffiti to transform a historical site of national commemoration into a symbol of state violence against women. México feminicida (Mexico is femicide) covered the central plaque that previously read: ‘[from] the Nation to the Heroes of Independence’. The paper explores this transformation. Informed by Alfred North Whitehead, it argues that the Monument to Independence is an event. It is neither a timeless tribute to the nation, nor is it merely situated along the manicured Paseo de la Reforma. Rather, the Monument is continually reproduced in how graffiti connects it up with multiple histories of gender-based violence, in how it is given to meaning through the assembly of female/feminine bodies. From one of the most sedimented artifices of national remembrance, the site is transformed into a monument to patriarchal domination; a transformation that persists despite subsequent restoration work. El 16 de agosto de 2019, los manifestantes llegaron al Monumento a la Independencia en la Ciudad de México. En respuesta a tres denuncias distintas de violación por parte de la policía en menos de un mes, los manifestantes garabatearon 565 grafitis para transformar un sitio histórico de conmemoración nacional en un símbolo de la violencia de Estado contra las mujeres. México feminicida cubrió la placa central que antes decía: “De la Nación a los Héroes de la Independencia”. El documento explora esta transformación. Basándose en Alfred North Whitehead, sostiene que el Monumento a la Independencia es un acontecimiento. No se trata de un tributo intemporal a la nación, ni de un mero emplazamiento a lo largo del Paseo de la Reforma. Más bien, el Monumento se reproduce continuamente en cómo el grafiti lo conecta con múltiples historias de violencia de género y le da significado a través del ensamblaje de cuerpos femeninos. De uno de los artificios más sedimentados de la memoria nacional, el sitio se transforma en un monumento a la dominación patriarcal; una transformación que persiste a pesar de los trabajos de restauración posteriores.

This paper concerns how we understand and deploy securitisation—following speech act theory—from within a constative–performative continuum. The oscillation between each pole not only has analytical implications—moving from Schmitt-inspired prescriptive politics to performativity informed by Derrida—but also informs the actors and agency involved in the securitising move. Using this continuum as a point of departure, the paper has two aims. The first is to provide a state-of-the-art account of the Copenhagen school by locating the speech act, the securitiser and the audience within this continuum. Here, the securitiser shifts from a fixed agent to one constituted through the securitising move, while the audience moves from a proscriptive subject interpellated by the securitiser to an agent whose everyday life is integral to securitisation. The second aim is to interrogate the performative side of the spectrum wherein both the securitiser and the audience are subjects-in-process. A process-orientated account of securitisation is put forth in which the securitiser and the audience are enacted through the securitising move. Such an account rethinks the chronology of securitisation—placing greater emphasis on the enabling conditions that precede the utterance—and underlines the quotidian nature of security.

\"If You See Something, Say Something\": individuals detect the warning signs of an attack and notify authorities before it is too late. Yet, rather than a permanent state of alert, these vigilant subjects are only ever provisionally activated upon discovering risky objects: seeing something is to draw risky objects from a dangerous indeterminacy, while saying something is to affirm vigilant subjecthood. Offered is a processual account of these emergent subject-object relations, an account which extends security governance into incipient experience—before the self of self-government—and onto affectivities that strike the body—before calculations on how best to respond.

Abstract This paper charts the mechanics of civic responsibility in preventing violence. Attention centers on divergent practices of responsibilization in Puebla, Mexico, which emanate from both state rationales associated with citizen security initiatives and from community-based measures that confound such official logics. Situated in the workings of governmentality beyond advanced liberalism, the paper proposes a decentering of responsibilization. This requires two steps. First, analysis returns to governmentality as the intersection of technologies of domination and the self but locates the former in relation to nomos rather than logos. That is, responsibilization occurs not exclusively in relation to codes of conduct consistent with official determinations (logos) but also as a socially developed order that exceeds the political, economic, and rational dimensions of government (nomos). Second, it positions technologies of the self amid Michel Foucault's work on the empiricohistorical construction of care of the self. This is a situated care, wherein a responsible individual emerges from the constituent complexity of the social order and her interdependence with other living forms. Far from an art of government wherein individual participation becomes the corollary to the withdrawal of the state, civic responsibility in Puebla is socially embedded and, therefore, need not align with institutional power.

Abstract Walter Benjamin published his influential essay ‘Critique of Violence’/‘Zur Kritik der Gewalt’ in 1921, and the work has troubled and provoked thinkers across disciplines for over a century now. This Forum gathers a group of scholars in philosophy, political science, international relations and legal studies to reflect on the actuality of Benjamin’s essay for contemporary critical theory. In their separate contributions, sasha skaidra and R. Guy Emerson each elaborate on how Benjamin’s classic illuminates contemporary understandings of the politics of life and (violent) death globally. skaidra takes the Sanctuary City movement in Europe and North America as a focus. Arguing that Sanctuary politics is limited in its capacity to challenge borders in-of-themselves because the movement is caught in a false antinomy between natural and positive law that Benjamin critiques, skaidra’s contribution proposes a critique of borders that emulates Benjamin’s method which isolates violence from the mystification of legal theory. Whereas migrant justice movements threaten the state order by challenging Westphalian notions of time, Sanctuary operates like a purgatory wherein a potential messianic migrant figure could herald the end of state borders. skaidra proposes the idea of utopic purgatory as a means to isolate how Sanctuary Cities contribute to and limit a critique of borders. In the second sole-authored contribution to this section of the forum, Emerson rereads Benjamin in relation to Foucault by thinking biopower through criteria irreducible to official qualifications on life or the efficient management of populations. As a pure means without ends, violence for Benjamin cannot confirm anything external to it, be it the protection of life that comes after its elimination elsewhere or the regulation of life that follows the suppression of alterity. Instead, for Emerson, violent biopower, as pure, manifests a deadly order that immediately strikes life in a manner too abrupt to confirm rule or regulate populations. The result is a criterion for understanding both violence and life in biopower that maintains its distance from official intentions. Resumo Walter Benjamin publicou seu influente ensaio “Crítica da Violência” / “Zur Kritik der Gewalt” em 1921, e o trabalho tem perturbado e provocado pensadores de várias disciplinas há mais de um século. Este Fórum reúne um grupo de estudiosos em filosofia, ciência política, relações internacionais e estudos jurídicos para refletir sobre a atualidade do ensaio de Benjamin para a teoria crítica contemporânea. sasha skaidra e R. Guy Emerson elaboram sobre como o clássico de Benjamin ilumina as compreensões contemporâneas da política da vida e da morte (violenta) globalmente. skaidra foca no movimento da Cidade Santuário na Europa e América do Norte. Argumentando que a política do Santuário é limitada em sua capacidade de desafiar as fronteiras em si mesmas porque o movimento está preso em uma falsa antinomia entre lei natural e positiva que Benjamin critica, a contribuição de skaidra propõe uma crítica das fronteiras que emula o método de Benjamin, isolando a violência da mistificação da teoria jurídica. Enquanto os movimentos de justiça migratória ameaçam a ordem estatal desafiando as noções de tempo westphaliano, o Santuário opera como um purgatório onde uma potencial figura migrante messiânica poderia anunciar o fim das fronteiras estatais. skaidra propõe a ideia de um purgatório utópico como meio de isolar como as Cidades Santuário contribuem e limitam uma crítica das fronteiras. A contribuição de Emerson relembra Benjamin em relação a Foucault, pensando o biopoder por meio de critérios irredutíveis a qualificações oficiais sobre a vida ou à gestão eficiente de populações. Como meio puro sem fins, a violência para Benjamin não pode confirmar nada externo a ela, seja a proteção da vida que vem após sua eliminação em outro lugar ou a regulação da vida que segue a supressão da alteridade. Para Emerson, o biopoder violento, como puro, manifesta uma ordem mortal que atinge imediatamente a vida de uma maneira muito abrupta para confirmar a regra ou regular as populações. O resultado é um critério para entender tanto a violência quanto a vida no biopoder, que mantém sua distância das intenções oficiais.

Background/aimsTo assess silicone oil (SO) release by different brands of syringes used for intravitreal injection under different handling conditions.MethodsEight syringes were analysed: from the USA, Terumo 0.5 mL, Becton-Dickinson (BD) Tuberculin 1 mL, BD Luer-lok 1 mL, BD Ultra-Fine 0.3 mL and Exel Insulin 0.3 mL; from Germany, Braun Omnifix-F 1 mL and Braun Injekt-F 1 mL and from Spain, BD Plastipak 1 mL. The impact of air, priming the plunger, agitation by flicking and fluid temperature on SO release were assessed by light microscopy. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was performed to identify the molecular compound in each syringe.ResultsFive hundred and sixty syringes were analysed. Terumo 0.5 mL and BD Ultra-Fine 0.3 mL released more SO than all others. BD Luer-lok 1 mL, BD Plastipak and Braun Omnifix-F 1 mL released little SO; BD Tuberculin 1 mL, Exel 0.3 mL and Braun Injekt-F 1 mL released the least SO. Priming the syringe and different temperatures did not significantly affect SO release. Agitation by flicking caused a significantly higher proportion of samples to have SO droplets and an increased number of oil droplets. Air had an additive effect on the release of oil in the agitation groups. FTIR identified polysiloxane in all syringes but Injekt-F.ConclusionSyringes commonly used for intravitreal injections frequently release SO droplets, especially when agitated by flicking. To avoid unnecessary ocular risks, syringes should not be agitated before intravitreal injection. It is desirable that syringes be manufactured specifically for ophthalmic use.

Intravitreal injections are a common procedure in ophthalmology, often using syringes coated with silicone to aid piston movement and needles coated with silicone oil to facilitate penetration of the sclera. Pegcetacoplan and avacincaptad pegol, recently approved for clinical use by the US Food and Drug Administration, have higher viscosity and seem more susceptible to entrap air bubbles compared to anti-VEGF drugs. It is plausible that both anti-complement drugs could be associated with a higher likelihood of introducing silicone oil in the vitreous because of higher viscosity, with potentially higher friction at the inner surface of syringe barrel, in the vicinity of silicone oil. In addition to this, undesirable agitation might be inadvertently promoted by some retina specialists to remove air bubbles from the drug solution. In conclusion, recent reports of silicone oil droplets in the vitreous of patients receiving pegcetacoplan injection might be related to both its viscosity and to agitation of the syringe to remove air bubbles. Since avacincaptad pegol also is viscous, though with different pH, syringe and filter needle, we might expect similar reports for this agent soon. We also recommend further studies be carried not only to clarify the current matter but also the potential association between the combination of agitation, silicone oil and inflammation or any immune response.

Background/aimsTo compare risk factors for poor visual outcomes in patients undergoing primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) repair and to develop a scoring system.MethodsAnalysis of the Primary Retinal detachment Outcomes (PRO) study, a multicentre interventional cohort of consecutive primary RRD surgeries performed in 2015. The main outcome measure was a poor visual outcome (Snellen VA ≤20/200).ResultsA total of 1178 cases were included. The mean preoperative and postoperative logMARs were 1.1±1.1 (20/250) and 0.5±0.7 (20/63), respectively. Multivariable logistic regression identified preoperative risk factors predictive of poor visual outcomes (≤20/200), including proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.40), history of antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injections (1.38; 1.11 to 1.71), >1-week vision loss (1.17; 1.08 to 1.27), ocular comorbidities (1.18; 1.00 to 1.38), poor presenting VA (1.06 per initial logMAR unit; 1.02 to 1.10) and age >70 (1.13; 1.04 to 1.23). The data were split into training (75%) and validation (25%) and a scoring system was developed and validated. The risk for poor visual outcomes was 8% with a total score of 0, 17% with 1, 29% with 2, 47% with 3, and 71% with 4 or higher.ConclusionsIndependent risk factors were compared for poor visual outcomes after RRD surgery, which included PVR, anti-VEGF injections, vision loss >1 week, ocular comorbidities, presenting VA and older age. The PRO score was developed to provide a scoring system that may be useful in clinical practice.