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With recent progress in modeling liver organogenesis and regeneration, the lack of vasculature is becoming the bottleneck in progressing our ability to model human hepatic tissues in vitro. Here, we introduce a platform for routine grafting of liver and other tissues on an in vitro grown microvascular bed. The platform consists of 64 microfluidic chips patterned underneath a 384-well microtiter plate. Each chip allows the formation of a microvascular bed between two main lateral vessels by inducing angiogenesis. Chips consist of an open-top microfluidic chamber, which enables addition of a target tissue by manual or robotic pipetting. Upon grafting a liver microtissue, the microvascular bed undergoes anastomosis, resulting in a stable, perfusable vascular network. Interactions with vasculature were found in spheroids and organoids upon 7 days of co-culture with space of Disse-like architecture in between hepatocytes and endothelium. Veno-occlusive disease was induced by azathioprine exposure, leading to impeded perfusion of the vascularized spheroid. The platform holds the potential to replace animals with an in vitro alternative for routine grafting of spheroids, organoids, or (patient-derived) explants.

Wnt dependency and Lgr5 expression define multiple mammalian epithelial stem cell types. Under defined growth factor conditions, such adult stem cells (ASCs) grow as 3D organoids that recapitulate essential features of the pertinent epithelium. Here, we establish long-term expanding venom gland organoids from several snake species. The newly assembled transcriptome of the Cape coral snake reveals that organoids express high levels of toxin transcripts. Single-cell RNA sequencing of both organoids and primary tissue identifies distinct venom-expressing cell types as well as proliferative cells expressing homologs of known mammalian stem cell markers. A hard-wired regional heterogeneity in the expression of individual venom components is maintained in organoid cultures. Harvested venom peptides reflect crude venom composition and display biological activity. This study extends organoid technology to reptilian tissues and describes an experimentally tractable model system representing the snake venom gland.

Starting from the daily life conditions that mark our confinements, we suggest a virtual transAtlantic dialogue on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective is twofold. On the one hand, to examine the transformations it is generating both in society and in national state forms of political organization in Europe and Latin America. On the other, to discuss how this scenario decisively influence the ways in which we shall understand the study of borders under post-pandemic conditions., Partiendo desde de la cotidianidad de las condiciones vitales que marcan nuestros encierros, sugerimos un diálogo virtual transatlántico sobre la evolución de la pandemia de COVID-19. El objetivo es doble. Por un lado, examinar las transformaciones que está generando tanto en la sociedad como en las formas Estado nacionales de organización política en Europa y América Latina. Por otro, discutir cómo este escenario incide decididamente en las formas como entenderemos las fronteras y abordaremos su estudio en la postpandemia., Partindo das condições da vida cotidiana que marcam nossos confinamentos, sugerimos neste artigo um diálogo transatlântico virtual sobre a evolução da pandemia da COVID-19. O objetivo é duplo. Por um lado, examinar as transformações que está gerando tanto na sociedade como nas formas estatais nacionais de organização política na Europa e América Latina. Por outro, discutir como este cenário influencia decisivamente os modos como entenderemos as fronteiras e abordaremos seus estudos na pós-pandemia.

Phase contrast microscopy is highly valuable in medicine, biology, fluid dynamics, etc. as it allows in focus observation of transparent or semi-transparent objects, which are difficult to analyze with conventional bright field microscopy. Indeed, such samples mainly affect the phase of the optical field, i.e. the shape of the wavefront, but not the light intensity. Consequently, techniques providing quantitative phase contrast in microscopy, e.g. digital holography, are suitable for transparent object characterization: assessing the thickness, or more precisely the optical thickness, of an object directly from its phase profile is a very common approximation. However, the phase profile in the object median plane is generally different from its thickness profile, as actual three-dimensional objects cause wavefront distortion. This paper discusses the validity and limitations of this approximation. The presented study considers simulated homogeneous, transparent, spherical particles. The optical field behind the particle, computed using Mie theory, is backpropagated to the object plane by means of Rayleigh-Sommerfeld propagation equation. We have shown that the approximation is better for larger spheres and, to a certain extent, for lesser refractive index difference between the object and the surrounding medium. Moreover, the error in assessing the object thickness directly from the central value of the phase profile, has been studied. Considering, for example, a siliceous sphere in oil or in air, the error increases rapidly above 5% for diameters smaller than the illumination wavelength. The impact of a slight defocus has also been studied., SCOPUS: cp.p, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Description Europe’s borders have always been historically ambiguous and dynamic, whereby borders shift and change character and new borders replace older ones. By focusing upon the title question ‘where are Europe’s new borders’, this volume looks at the present state of European bordering and questions the often taken for granted relationships between borders, borderers and the bordered. While each chapter concentrates on a different (but overlapping) border issue or perspective, they are united through their focus on the level of everyday bordering practices and experiences, as well as the meaning that borders have upon all stakeholders and the relationships between them. To talk about border meaning (including the perspective of the researchers themselves), and how that meaning continually (re)creates and is (re)created by bordering practices, is to critically question where important borders lie, why and for whom do they matter and how are they imposed, maintained and resisted. As a result the chapters engage with issues of border violence, the power of maps and symbols (carto-politics), migrant mobility, gender and the rise of the far right in Europe. Taken together this edited collection will be of interest to border scholars as well as students of European politics more generally. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

L'ouvrage rassemble des textes écrits au fil de la dernière décennie, en marge d'une activité universitaire de recherche et d'enseignement bibliques et théologiques à l'École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem.Entre journal de voyage, réflexion politique et méditation théologique, ce livre pourrait être une introduction à la vie de l'âme chrétienne en Terre sainte aujourd'hui.Olivier-Thomas Venard nous invite à découvrir la beauté de l'Orient si proche et si lointain, et à partager son expérience locale du dialogue entre juifs, chrétiens et musulmans, tout en restant prudent sur les chances de succès du « processus de paix » entre Israéliens et Palestiniens en l'état actuel des coeurs.Terre de Dieu et des hommes permet de suivre le chemin intérieur d'un intellectuel occidental, religieux dominicain animé par un désir de communion avec tous, au-delà du choc des cultures. L'auteur : Ancien élève de l'École Normale Supérieure de Fontenay-Saint Cloud, agrégé de Lettres Modernes, docteur de l'Université de la Sorbonne-Paris IV, docteur en théologie, Olivier-Thomas Venard réside et enseigne à Jérusalem depuis 10 ans.

Homage to Ed Soja

This article develops a new critical comparative lens for the study of European borders, which displays bordering processes less as territorialized state-spaces than spatio-temporal assemblages. Taking the multiplicity and historicity of European borders into account while simultaneously allowing for their continuous re-envisioning through extra-territorial and post-colonial enframings of Europe, the standard horizontal gaze of border studies, it is argued, is dislocated. 'Inverting the telescope' on border studies thus enables a productive space of tension – named Café Europa – in which the negotiations of geopolitical as well as everyday life border practices find expression and take place. Inside this tension of multiple realities and politics, border theory is challenged and charged. It is the aim of the article to invite a furthering of ontological border politics in and across such conversations on borders that matter. Keywords: border studies, border theory, new comparativism, ontological politics, multiplicity, extra-territoriality/deterritorialisation

A malaise hovers over the erstwhile field of border studies. Symptoms of this condition fester on a political as well as theoretical plane, and can be located in a normative vacillation which impedes the discipline from distinguishing between spectacular forms of bordering that only serve to reproduce the repressive function of borders (e.g., Us/Them), and those that might point towards alternative roles for bordering practices that are more transductive and mediatory of socio-spatial relations. Proceeding along a road less travelled, this essay proposes to explore the latter option by rethinking the geo-historical relation between Europe and Latin America, conceived as the evolution of a “lettered border”. Inspired by the work of Ángel Rama, the author reveals a process of ceaseless comparative bordering, with origins in the very first colonial treaties and maps between European powers, whose postcolonial echoes continue to resonate in an internal/external border dialectic between both continents. By way of a border and transatlantic “rhythmanalyse”, the article concludes by proposing another way of seeing the borders of Europe and Latin America, viewed not so much as lines separating strongly differentiated geopolitical entities, but as horizons that demarcate a co-produced and shared modernity., Un malestar planea sobre los denominados ‘border studies’. Aquel se sitúa a un nível político tanto cómo teórico en una vacilación normativa que le impide a la disciplina diferenciar entre formas espectaculares de fronterización que sólo reproducen la función represora de fronteras (ie, Yo/Otro), y los que apuntan a roles alternativos para prácticas fronterizas de índole más transductor y mediador de las relaciones socio-espaciales. Abarcando un ‘road less traveled’, el ensayo propone explorer la segunda opción repensando la relación geo-histórica entre europa y américa latina en cuanto al desenvolvimiento de una ‘frontera letrada’. Inspirado por la obra de Angel Rama, el autor desvela una fronterización comparativa incesante, con orígen en los primeros tratados y mapas coloniales entre poderes europeos, cuyos ecos poscoloniales siguen resonando en una dialéctica fronteriza interna/externa entre ambos continentes. Por medio de un ‘ritmo-análisis’ fronterizo y trans-atlántico, el artículo concluye proponiendo otra forma de ver las fronteras entre europa y america latina, no tanto cómo líneas separadoras entre entidades geopolíticas fuertemente diferenciadas, sino cómo horizontes que demarcan una modernidad co-producida y compartida., Um mal-estar planeja sobre os denominados “estudos de fronteiras” (border studies). Situa-se a um nível político tanto como teórico, numa vacilação normativa que impede à disciplina diferenciar entre formas espetaculares de fronterização que só reproduzem a função repressora de fronteiras (ie, Eu/Outro), e as que apontam a papéis alternativos para práticas fronteiriças de índole mais transdutora e mediadora das relaciones sócio-espaciais. Avançando por um caminho menos transitado, este ensaio propõe-se explorar a segunda opção repensando a relação geo-histórica entre Europa e América Latina quanto ao desenvolvimento de uma “fronteira letrada”. Inspirado pela obra de Ángel Rama, o autor desvela uma fronterização comparativa incessante, com origem nos primeiros tratados e mapas coloniais entre poderes europeus, cujos ecos póscoloniais seguem ressoando numa dialética fronteiriça interna/externa entre ambos continentes. Por médio de um “ritmo-análise” fronteiriço e transatlântico, o artigo conclui propondo outra forma de ver as fronteiras entre Europa e América Latina, não tanto como linhas separadoras entre entidades geopolíticas fortemente diferenciadas, senão como horizontes que demarcam uma modernidade coproduzida e compartilhada.

Acknowledging the slippery nature of the term “governance”, the paper begins by canvassing a “first-wave” of academic reflection on the governance of European cross-border regions, emergent in the early to mid-1990s amid a EU-phoric plethora of institutional innovations designed to create “laboratories of European integration” within and across the internal borders formerly dividing European member states. The paper then excavates the limitations of this theoretical sediment, arguing that by drawing on literatures rooted in public administration and political science, the properly spatial dimension of cross-border governance has been muted, if not rendered invisible. The paper seeks to address this shortcoming by focusing on insights offered up by the “spatial turn” in geography and the wider social sciences as they relate to the increasingly visible problematic of transboundary governance evident at this time. Through this conceptual frame the author argues for a normative as well as theoretical specificity to cross-border regional spatiality, one which foregrounds the fact that, rather than merely epiphenomenal or derivative to state space, European cross-border regions (or, euregios) today are themselves important sites where the very meaning of “the political” is being negotiated, contested, resisted and transformed. The paper suggests that a way forward in the analysis of governance in Europe’s cross-border regions will demand breaking beyond several key assumptions of the mainstream border studies literature, notably the by now mantra-like insistence of borders as involving primarily identitarian distinctions between “Us and Them”, and, concomitantly with this outlook, an understanding of internal European borders and cross-border regions as idiographically unique appendages to state territoriality. In contradistinction to these hegemonic assumptions, a postcolonial, “contrapuntal” research agenda is posed, one which seeks to actively counter the logic of redu, Sin dejar de reconocer la naturaleza escurridiza del término “gobernanza”, este artículo comienza trazando una panorámica de la “primera ola” de producción académica sobre la gobernanza de regiones transfronterizas en Europa, que surgió entre principios y mediados de los 1990 entre la plétora EU-fórica de innovaciones institucionales destinadas a crear “laboratorios para la integración europea” dentro y a través de las fronteras que tradicionalmente han dividido a los Estados miembros europeos. A continuación, el artículo examina las limitaciones de esta base teórica, argumentando que al haber bebido de la literatura procedente de la administración pública y la ciencia política, la dimensión espacial propiamente dicha de la gobernanza transfronteriza ha sido silenciada, si no directamente invisibilizada. Este trabajo busca hacer frente a esa deficiencia, centrándose en las propuestas que ofrece el “giro espacial” en geografía y en las ciencias sociales en general, al relacionarse estas con la problemática cada vez más visible de la gobernanza transfronteriza actual. A través de este marco conceptual el autor defiende, tanto normativa como teóricamente, una especificidad de la espacialidad regional transfronteriza; una que ponga de relieve el hecho de que, más que meramente epifenoménico o derivado del espacio estatal, las regiones europeas transfronterizas (euroregiones) son hoy en día y en sí mismas importantes lugares donde el propio significado de “lo político” está siendo negociado, contestado, resistido y transformado. El artículo sugiere que un paso adelante en el análisis de la gobernanza de las regiones transfronterizas en Europa requerirá acabar con alguna de las premisas clave de la literatura clásica sobre los estudios de frontera. Esto es, la insistencia, como si de un mantra se tratase, en que las fronteras implican, en primer lugar, distinciones identitarias entre “Nosotros y Ellos”, y, de forma simultánea a esta perspectiva, un entendimiento de las fr, Reconhecendo a natureza escorregadia do termo “governança”, o artigo começa por angariar uma “primeira onda” de reflexão acadêmica sobre a governança das regiões transfronteiriças na Europa, desde o início e meados da década de 1990 em meio a uma infinidade “euro-fosfórico” de inovações institucionais destinadas a criar “laboratórios de integração europeia” dentro e através das fronteiras internas, anteriormente dividindo os estados-membros europeus. O artigo, em seguida, busca pesquisar as limitações desse sedimento teórico, argumentando, com base em literatura enraizada na administração pública e na ciência política, que a dimensão propriamente espacial da governança transfronteiriça tem sido silenciada, se não tornada invisível. O trabalho visa a colmatar essa lacuna, concentrando-se nas perspectivas oferecidas pela “virada espacial” na geografia e nas ciências sociais, que dizem respeito à problemática cada vez mais visível no momento atual da governança transfronteiriça. Dentro desse campo conceitual, o autor defende uma especificidade teórica e normativa da espacialidade regional transfronteiriça, a que coloca em primeiro plano o fato de que, ao invés de apenas um epifenômeno ou derivado de espaço dos estados, as atuais regiões transfronteiriças europeias (euregios) são também locais importantes onde o próprio significado do “político” está sendo negociado, contestado, resistido e transformado. O artigo sugere que uma maneira de avançar na análise da governança das regiões transfronteiriças da Europa exigirá quebrar e além dos vários pressupostos fundamentais do mainstream da literatura e dos estudos sobre fronteira, nomeadamente a atual insistência-mantra que analisa as fronteiras coç base nas distinções principalmente identitárias entre “Nós e Eles” e, concomitantemente com essa perspectiva, a compreensão de fronteiras internas da Europa e de suas regiões transfronteiriças como apêndices ideograficamente únicos da territorialidade do Estado. Em contraposição

Against the backdrop of a perceived near total hegemony of Anglophone norms and scholarly practices within the discipline of international geography, a growing chorus of voices from outside Anglo-Saxon geography is currently pleading for a greater sensitivity to context and language diversity in the field. Nowhere is the sense of exclusion and marginalization more acute than in the often frustrated attempts by non-English language geographers to publish in the leading Anglo-American geographical journals. This paper argues that the current state of debate on the issue has reached a certain conceptual impasse, as those voices from the self-proclaimed “peripheries” of international geography today cannot seem to reconcile a central tension between a call for greater context-specificity in knowledge production and an abiding concern to avoid the parochialism of local or national scholarly traditions. In an attempt to open alternative visions for publishing practices within the non-English language discipline, the author engages in a geo-historically informed analysis of the Barcelona-based book publishing industry during a crucial time of socio-political transition informed by anti-Franco cultural resistance. By excavating the geo-history of this urban industrial milieu (1962-75), the author attempts to reveal how the Catalan capital became, for a brief moment, the center of a world, connecting not only Latin America to the Iberian Peninsula but articulating wider politico-cultural projects between the global North and South. The political as well as geographical knowledge revealed from this case, it is argued, demonstrates that the task of creating a truly international geography may be more complex than its advocates may wish to acknowledge.

Sobre el rerafons d'una quasi total hegemonia de les normes i pràctiques acadèmiques anglosaxones dins de la disciplina de la geografia internacional, un nombre creixent de veus crítiques fora de l'àmbit anglosaxó reclamen una major atenció a les qüestions contextuals i de diversitat lingüística en aquest camp. En cap altre àmbit es fa notar tant aquest sentiment d'exclusió i marginació com en els molts intents frustrats per part de geògrafs no-anglosaxons de publicar en les revistes geogràfiques en anglès. Aquest article suggereix que l'estat actual de la qüestió d'aquest debat s'enfronta a un cert bloqueig conceptual; donat que les autoanomenades veus “perifèriques” de la geografia internacional semblen no poder reconciliar la tensió existent entre la crida per una major sensibilitat en la producció del coneixement amb l'ansietat de no caure en un provincialisme d'una tradició purament local o nacional. Oferim aquí un esbós del que pot ser una visió alternativa en les pràctiques de la publicació dins de la disciplina, on l'autor fa una anàlisi geohistòrica de la indústria editorial barcelonesa durant un període crucial de la transició sociopolítica i de resistència cultural antifranquista. Aprofundint així en la geohistòria d'aquell milieu urbà – industrial (1962-75); l'autor revela com la capital catalana es va convertir, durant un moment breu encara que amb grans repercussions futures, en el centre de un món, lligant no només Amèrica Llatina amb la península Ibérica, sinó articulant gran part del anomenat nord i sud. La saviesa política i geogràfica derivada d'aquesta anàlisi demostra que la tasca de construir una veritable geografia internacional podria ser més complexa que el que els seus promotors volen reconèixer.

Bibliogr. des oeuvres de M.-J. Dubois p. 358-360. Glossaire. Index, Contient aussi : "Pour un dialogue théologique entre le catholicisme et le judaïsme" / Olivier-Thomas Venard, extr. de la revue "Istina", (2005)n° 4 et (2006)n° 1 et un choix de textes de M.-J. Dubois

Against the backdrop of a perceived near total hegemony of Anglophone norms and scholarly practices within the discipline of international geography, a growing chorus of voices from outside Anglo-Saxon geography is currently pleading for a greater sensitivity to context and language diversity in the field. Nowhere is the sense of exclusion and marginalization more acute than in the often frustrated attempts by non-English language geographers to publish in the leading Anglo-American geographical journals. This paper argues that the current state of debate on the issue has reached a certain conceptual impasse, as those voices from the self-proclaimed “peripheries” of international geography today cannot seem to reconcile a central tension between a call for greater context-specificity in knowledge production and an abiding concern to avoid the parochialism of local or national scholarly traditions. In an attempt to open alternative visions for publishing practices within the non-English language discipline, the author engages in a geo-historically informed analysis of the Barcelona-based book publishing industry during a crucial time of socio-political transition informed by anti-Franco cultural resistance. By excavating the geo-history of this urban industrial milieu (1962-75), the author attempts to reveal how the Catalan capital became, for a brief moment, the center of a world, connecting not only Latin America to the Iberian Peninsula but articulating wider politico-cultural projects between the global North and South. The political as well as geographical knowledge revealed from this case, it is argued, demonstrates that the task of creating a truly international geography may be more complex than its advocates may wish to acknowledge.

As the national economies of Mexico and the United States intertwine more tightly under NAFTA, the role of the U.S.-Mexico border as a catalyst: for wider: economic development: has emerged as a central preoccupation of the administrations of Vicente Fox and George W. Bush. Yet, the sociocultural and intellectual contexts for successful cross-border development are riven by discrepant visions of the political possibilities inherent in achieving authentic transboundary integration. Drawing on recent key English-and Spanish language works, the author attempts to account for this discrepancy in the transboundary spatial imagination by rooting observed discourses in diverging traditions of modernity, modernism, and modernization, focusing on the Latin American intellectual negotiation of the postmodern condition. Rather than celebrate the U.S.-Mexico border as a postmodern space of radial openness or defend its position as a vital bulwark against the dissolution of "heroic" nation-state building projects, the article attempts to view both sets of discourses from a fragile middle-ground, hinting at possible linkages /and solidarities) with other, non-Western, "peripheral" modernities., En el ámbito de una cada vez más acelerada integración entre México y los Estados Unidos propiciada por el Tratado de Libre Comercio, el papel de la frontera entre ambos países como catalizador de un desarrollo económico más amplio ha emergido como una preocupación central para ambos gobiernos. Sin embargo, como sugiere este ensayo, los contextos socioculturales e intelectuales para el desarrollo transfronterizo se caracterizan por enfoques distintos de las posibilidades políticas inherentes a una auténtica integración transfronteriza. El autor intenta explicar las razones de esta discrepancia, buscando en discursos que encuentran sus raíces en tradiciones divergentes de modernidad, modernismo y modernización, haciendo hincapié en la negociación intelectual latinoamericana de la condición posmoderna. En lugar de concebir la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México como espacio posmoderno de apertura radical o defender su rol como baluarte inviolable contra la disolución de proyectos "heroicos" dirigidos hacia la construcción del Estado-nación, el ensayo abarca ambos discursos desde el punto de vista de un espacio intermedio y todavía frágil, además de indicar posibles vínculos (y solidaridades) con otras modernidades "incompletas" que perviven de manera marginal en Occidente.