bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Revealing the biocultural importance of Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae) in three villages, Kediri District, Indonesia
Authors: AFRIANTO WHISNU FEBRY , METANANDA ARYA ARISMAYA
Published: February 2024

Abstract. Afrianto WF, Metananda AA. 2023. Revealing the biocultural importance of Moringa oleifera (Moringaceae) in three villages, Kediri District, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 24: 6942-6952. Moringa oleifera Lam. (Moringaceae) is a multi-purpose species with significant use and cultural importance. However, communities have yet to cultivate and use this plant intensively. This study aims to identify the biocultural importance of M. oleifera by the communities in Kediri District, East Java, Indonesia. The qualitative and quantitative ethnobotanical approach was carried out in three villages, namely Datengan, Cerme, and Ngablak Villages, Kediri District, East Java. Data were collected based on a survey of 60 informants through a semi-structured study, direct field observation, and in-depth interviews that were selected using snowball sampling. The results showed that M. oleifera has a score ICI of 20.19 and a UV score of 3. This plant has long been grown or grows naturally at all research locations. This plant was utilized for food, medicines, fooder feed, rituals, live fence, firewood, and most importantly, the leaves. This plant can grow in a variety of environmental circumstances and managed agroecosystem land, but it has yet to be actively grown. However, local knowledge of M. oleifera has declined, particularly among younger generations. The reason for this is that this plant species is less economically important than other agricultural goods. This M. oleifera study demonstrates the value of the cultural keystone species paradigm in landscape appraisal for conservation efforts.
Cholesterol-lowering activity by lactic acid bacteria isolated from yogurt from Boyolali, Indonesia
Authors: NURCAHYANI INTAN , SUSILOWATI ARI , PANGASTUTI ARTINI
Published: February 2024

Abstract. Nurcahyani I, Susilowati A, Pangastuti A. 2023. Cholesterol-lowering activity by lactic acid bacteria isolated from yogurt from Boyolali, Indonesia. Asian J Nat Prod Biochem 21: 34-45. Hypercholesterolemia is considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, as it is characterized by increased cholesterol levels in the bloodstream that exceed the established normal range. At present, cardiovascular disease stands as the foremost cause of mortality worldwide, with a global death toll of 17.7 million. The employment of Lactic Acid Bacteria as a probiotic has the potential to reduce cholesterol levels via the enzymatic of Bile Salt Hydrolase (BSH), which facilitates the deconjugation of bile salts, as well as its capacity to assimilate cholesterol directly. The consumption of fermented dairy products that have undergone appropriate bacterial fermentation has been found to potentially contribute to a reduction in blood cholesterol. The region of Boyolali in Indonesia is known for its yogurt production; regularly consuming probiotic products has been suggested as a dietary approach to promoting long-term hypocholesterolemia effects. The objective of this research was to isolate and evaluate the efficacy of Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) in reducing cholesterol levels, and to identify the specific isolates derived from yogurt originating from Boyolali. The activity of the BSH enzyme was evaluated through qualitative testing by observing precipitation zones on the growth media. A quantitative assessment was also conducted using the UV-vis spectrophotometer method at ?570 nm. LAB isolates' activity in bile salt deconjugation and cholesterol assimilation was also measured using the UV-vis spectrophotometer method at ?660 nm and ?550 nm, respectively. The bacterial identification process was conducted through the examination of both macroscopic and microscopic morphology. The study employed a One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to compare the release of amino acids (specifically glycine and taurine), the release of free cholic acid, and the disparity in cholesterol levels between media that were inoculated with LAB and those that were not. The BSH enzyme activity was observed to be 1.11-3.82 U/mL for sodium glycocholate substrate and 0.85-3.13 U/mL for sodium taurocholic substrate. The recorded levels of bile salt activity were 0.52-1.26 µmol/mL for the sodium glycocholate substrate and 0.43-0.9 µmol/mL for the sodium taurocholic substrate. The percentage of assimilated cholesterol ranges from 38.69% to 71.98%.
Effectiveness of Passiflora foetida (Baby Semitoo) and Ocimum campechianum extracts (Married Man Pork) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae
Authors: SCOTT SAMATHRA , DANIEL RUTH , KALICHARRAN LEANNA
Published: February 2024

Abstract. Scott S, Daniel R, Kalicharran L. 2023. Effectiveness of Passiflora foetida (Baby Semitoo) and Ocimum campechianum extracts (Married Man Pork) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Asian J Nat Prod Biochem 21: 79-87. Medicinal plants have long been used to treat illnesses. They contain many secondary metabolites, which have antibiotic properties, and can treat antimicrobial resistance in bacteria. The aim of this study was to investigate the phytochemicals in Passiflora foetida L. (Baby Semitoo) and Ocimum campechianum Mill. (Married Man Pork) and to analyze the antimicrobial potential against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Plant extracts were prepared using hexane, methanol, and water, with a rotary evaporator. The extracts were tested using zone of inhibition, Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC), and Minimum Bacterial Concentration (MBC) methods. The extract of O. campechianum produced the highest percent yield for each solvent, while methanol produced the highest yield of all solvents. The results of the phytochemical test showed that, O. campechianum contained flavonoids, tannins, saponins, glycosides, and phenols; while flavonoids, tannins, glycosides, and saponins were found in P. foetida extract. Similarly, O. campechianum also showed higher antimicrobial potential than P. foetida. The P. aeruginosa proved more susceptible than K. pneumoniae to both plants.
"I Wish My Mother Could See Me Now": The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) and Negotiation of Gender and Class Relations, 1907–1918
Authors: Lee Janet
Published: February 2024

This paper focuses on war as a gendering activity and explores the founding and service of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), an elite British women's voluntary organization active during the First World War. As the first women to officially drive for the British Army, the FANY negotiated their work and resistance to it in the context of a shifting gendered terrain. I argue that such representations of gender in the masculine role of militarized ambulance transport driver-mechanic relied on a number of key social constructs that mediated and ultimately defused the subversive nature of their work.
'The most basic threat. . . to Israeli and Palestinian women is. . . the occupation': Enduring Strategies and Shifting Tactics of Israeli and Palestinian Feminist Peace NGOs in the Post-9/11 World
Authors: Weinberg Jessica P
Published: February 2024

This essay examines the ways in which the aftermath of 9/11 structured the discursive and material tactics of the Jerusalem Link, a feminist peace partnership between the Israeli nongovernmental organization (NGO) Bat Shalom and the Palestinian NGO Jerusalem Center for Women (JCW). A Bat Shalom statement for International Women's Day 2002, published in an anthology of feminist responses to 9/11, makes no explicit reference to 9/11 or its international consequences, though it may be seen as a plea to the international community not to forget the Palestine/Israel conflict in the post-9/11 agenda. The International Women's Day statement by the Jerusalem Link in 2003 explicitly links the impending U.S. invasion of Iraq with the two organizations' fears of an increase in harsh measures against the Palestinians by the Israeli government. In the time leading up to the invasion of Iraq, the Jerusalem Link established a phone network between Israeli women and Palestinian women to try to document any attempt by the Israeli military to expel Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. As 9/11 created new international realities, these organizations added new tactics to their overall strategy of linking their rhetorics and actions into the unfolding agendas of the United States and the international community.
Leveling the Playing Field for Women in Tenure and Promotion
Authors: Rosser Sue Vilhauer
Published: February 2024

This report addresses the ADVANCE initiative at Georgia Institute of Technology, aimed at improving the conditions and the chances for advancement of science and engineering women faculty. This initiative, funded by a five-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, was motivated by local findings of gender differences in curriculum vitae (CVs), the quality and quantity of mentoring, and the knowledge of and responses to tenure and promotion expectations and requirements. ADVANCE entails covering topics of interest and concern to all faculty, such as case studies of promotion and tenure; training to remove possible subtle gender and racial biases in promotion and tenure decisions; and developing ADEPT, a web program for faculty and administrators, as well as family-friendly policies and various practices that assess, promote, and guide the advancement of women faculty.
Unprecedented Urgency: Gender Discrimination In Faculty Hiring at The University of California
Authors: West Martha S.
Published: February 2024

This article outlines the negative impact of California's anti-affirmative action initiative, Proposition 209, on the hiring of women faculty members throughout the University of California (UC) system. Martha West viewed with alarm the widening discrepancy between the increasing percentage of women Ph.D.s in the United States and the declining percentage of women faculty hires in the UC system after Prop 209 passed in 1996. The UC data indicated that serious discrimination against women was occurring in the faculty hiring process. Perceiving the urgency of the situation, she and other faculty advocates approached a state legislator for assistance in putting pressure on the UC administration. The legislator initiated a state audit of UC's faculty hiring process and held three hearings in 2001, 2002, and 2003, inviting testimony from faculty and administrators at all nine campuses and the UC's central administration. The proceedings of the hearings, the obstacles faced by faculty women, and recommendations for change are highlighted in this article.
The Missing Story of Ourselves: Poor Women, Power and the Politics of Feminist Representation
Authors: Adair Vivyan C.
Published: February 2024

This essay focuses on a nationally touring installation entitled “The Missing Story of Ourselves: Poverty and the Promise of Higher Education.” This photographic and narrative exhibit—developed by low-income, student parents—presents complex, first-person views of what poverty and resistance through education look like from the inside out. In order to create a lens through which to view the exhibit, I analyze “stories” about poor women and welfare produced in contemporary political/public rhetoric and imagery, identifying a circuit through which bodies are represented and understood to mesh with dominant ideology; ideology in turn shapes and underwrites public policy; and public policy leaves its marks on the bodies of poor single mothers who are then interpreted as pathological “others” in need of further public and material control. Ultimately, I argue that only by trying our hand at more accountable forms of self-representation—as is the case in the exhibit—can we hope to disrupt this ubiquitous, self-replicating, and nearly impenetrable cyclical force of power, and in doing so redirect the policy that has such a profound and devastating impact on poor women and children in the contemporary United States.
Shahrazadian Gestures in Arab Women’s Autobiographies: Political History, Personal Memory, and Oral, Matrilineal Narratives in the Works of Nawal El Saadawi and Leila Ahmed
Authors: Vinson Pauline Homsi
Published: February 2024

This article examines two autobiographical works by Egyptian women, A Daughter of Isis by Nawal El Saadawi and A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman’s Journey by Leila Ahmed. In both works, the writers’ attempts to construct their identities through personal memory in autobiographical form entail a concurrent reexamination of the political history of their home societies and a feminist, postcolonial revision of Western and Middle Eastern understandings of those societies. At the same time, each writer, in her own way, inscribes a matrilineal oral heritage within the textual tradition of autobiography and creatively asserts her own identity within a transnational, historical context. This article explores the ways in which political history, autobiographical tradition, oral heritage, and the transnational reception of postcolonial texts all play a part in the construction of identity in the life narratives written by Nawal El Saadawi and Leila Ahmed.
Equality at the Price of Justice
Authors: Schlesinger Traci
Published: February 2024

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, prison admission rates rose precipitously, racial disparities remained high, and the proportion of prisoners who are women increased dramatically. While several scholars argue that changes in sentencing policies are responsible, there have been few empirical examinations of this presumed connection. This study examines whether or not mandatory terms and sentencing enhancements are associated with increases in state level admission rates, whether these increases—if they exist—are larger among women than among men, whether and how these gender disparities vary by race, and whether the effect of these sentencing policies on either scale or disparities varies by offense type. The study has four major findings. First, mandatory terms and sentencing enhancements increase prison admission rates for violent, property, and drug crimes. Second, these policies disproportionately burden women. Third, the gender disparate impacts of these policies are most consistent among blacks. Finally, the effects of these policies are most consistently associated with increases in violent admissions, but associated with the most substantial increases in drug admissions. These findings corroborate the theoretical perspective offered and suggest that policies that require people to be “similarly situated” in order to be deserving of “equal treatment” are incapable of producing justice.
The War on Drugs, Prison Building, and Globalization: Catalysts for the Global Incarceration of Women
Authors: Reynolds Marylee
Published: February 2024

Although women still comprise a small percentage of the total prison population in countries in North America, Western Europe, and Latin America, their numbers have been rising in the past two decades. This article is a literature review of a new and dynamic field of scholarship that maintains that this increase is a byproduct of three interrelated factors: the war on drugs, globalization, and prison building. First, using international pressure, the United States has imposed its federalized and militarized drug war on the governments of other nations. Second, the transfer of U.S.-led neoliberal economic policies, fueled by globalization, has marginalized poor women of color in modern and developing nations. As a result, many of these women have become involved in criminalized behaviors, including drug trafficking, as a means of economic survival. In this post-September 11 environment, transborder crossings are closely monitored, increasing the likelihood of arrest. Third, in an effort to contain surplus populations created by economic restructuring the United States has promoted a social policy of mass incarceration. The union of these three factors results in the greater likelihood of the arrest, detainment, prosecution, and imprisonment of poor women of color. The article concludes with a brief discussion of the experiences of women in global prisons and recommends strategies to curtail women’s imprisonment.
Microcredit, Men, and Masculinity
Authors: Ahmed Fauzia Erfan
Published: February 2024

The impact of masculinity on poverty alleviation is strikingly absent in the vast literature on microcredit, the cornerstone of gender empowerment programs worldwide. A binary framework, which excludes male relatives of microcredit loanees, prevails in the Grameen Bank paradigm; it exacerbates domestic violence and prevents joint decision-making on the loan. As part of a larger feminist theoretical project that deconstructs “universal man,” this article illustrates how a nuanced picture of low-income men and masculinities is useful to practitioners. The author lived with sharecropper families in rural Bangladesh in 2001 to conduct the research on a subset of 73 men and women, drawn from a larger sample of 200 villagers. She contrasts four vignettes of “high-minded,” “abusive,” “mixed,” and habla (lacking in common sense) husbands of Grameen Bank loanees along four categories: notions of an ideal wife, domestic violence, loan decisions, and fatherhood. She argues that as the first step of a poverty alleviation strategy that uses men to change men, high-minded men and masculinity also need to be rewarded even as abusive men and masculinity need to be transformed. The article concludes with recommendations for the Grameen Bank, which analyze ways in which high-minded men can be identified, supported, and rewarded so that they can act as social change agents to prevent domestic violence, within the household and in the community.
Teaching without a Mask?: Collaborative Teaching as Feminist Practice
Authors: Colwill Elizabeth , Boyd Richard
Published: February 2024

This essay explores the complexities of collaborative teaching, a practice often characterized by theorists as particularly consonant with feminist and anticolonial pedagogy. Interweaving the scholarship on collaborative teaching, feminist and critical pedagogies, with narratives from faculty who taught in an innovative, interdisciplinary general education program, our essay suggests that team teaching remains a more vexed process than is typically acknowledged, precisely because our teaching personas are deeply rooted not only in our conscious choices, but also in enduring, and at times unconscious, structures of self. These structures are themselves intertwined with what Chandra Talpade Mohanty has called “the politics of location”: the various axes of power that define the modalities and expressions of hierarchy in specific institutional contexts. Indeed, team teaching foregrounds conflict and differences—interpersonal, intellectual, and internal—that can become the very ground of learning. Focusing on the politics and psychodynamics of team teaching, we seek a revision of what constitutes a successful team-teaching experience, and of what makes it a promising site for the implementation of feminist and progressive pedagogies.
Looking Back to Move Forward: Katrina’s Black Women Survivors Speak
Authors: Murakami-Ramalho Elizabeth , Durodoye Beth A.
Published: February 2024

This study examines the experiences of black women who were displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. A discussion of commonalities between the evacuees and internally displaced persons around the world is included. Interviews with nine African American women who fied New Orleans and resettled in San Antonio, Texas, provide material for our analysis of the meanings of their displacement and struggle to create new meaning in their own and their families’ lives. Their narratives illuminate the challenges faced by Katrina evacuees and the gendered and racialized politics of forced diaspora. We identify four stages of transition common to all those interviewed for this study: reliving the hurricane; remembering New Orleans; saying goodbye and coping with change; and finally, moving forward. The article attends to how these findings may inform individuals and families in similar resettlement processes. The relevance of the research for service providers and others working with disaster relief missions is underscored.
Looking for Common Ground: Relief Work in Post-Katrina New Orleans as an American Parable of Race and Gender Violence
Authors: Luft Rachel E.
Published: February 2024

Dedicated to Shana Griffin, of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence and cofounder of the New Orleans Women’s Health & Justice Initiative, who articulated a concern to me long before anyone else, in February 2006, about colonial modes of organizing occurring in the Ninth Ward in post-Katrina New Orleans.

This article provides an interdisciplinary examination of race and gender intersectionality in the context of disaster “recovery” in New Orleans. Based on a case study of a grassroots relief organization, the Common Ground Collective, the findings demonstrate that in the absence of intersectional practice, sexism furthers racism and racism furthers sexism. After a series of sexual assaults were reported by white women volunteers in Common Ground in 2006, participant discourse criminalized the surrounding black community, although almost every accused perpetrator was a nonlocal white man. Contextualizing these events in the broader American history of violence and assistance traditions helps to reveal domestic and global patterns. The challenges Common Ground members faced in producing an antiracist, feminist response to both the assaults and the dominant organizational framing further point to the difficulties of just, intersectional recovery interventions.
Coalescing: The Development of Girls' Studies
Authors: Kearney Mary Celeste
Published: February 2024

This essay analyzes the development of Girls' Studies as a field of critical inquiry. Although scholars from across the academy and around the world currently conduct girl-centered research, considerable barriers prevented the coalescence of Girls' Studies until the late twentieth century. The first section of the essay explores the marginalization of girls in youth research and feminist scholarship prior to the 1990s, two fields where one would expect girls, girlhood, and girls' culture to be of interest. The second section focuses on transformations within and outside the academy that led to the rapid growth of girl-centered research in recent years. The third section provides a map of Girls' Studies scholarship to date, including a survey of topics explored in specific disciplines and those that deserve more attention, as well as an analysis of broader trends in such research across the academy over the past fifteen years.
Uncle Sam Wants You to Trade, Invest, and Shop! Relocating the Battlefield in the Gendered Discourses of the Pre- and Early Post-9/11 Period
Authors: Mayhall Stacey L.
Published: February 2024

The events of 9/11 shifted into prominent view the interconnected discourses of security and finance. The role of individuals and corporations in securing the state in its political and economic dimensions appears to some to be changing. This change is one of dominance and demand in identity terms, shifting back and forth between gendered citizen-consumer, citizen-investor, and citizen-soldier. Participation in the formal market is patriotic, trading is a defense of a way of life against outside threats, and in the first few days after the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, investors/consumers/workers were the first to be in a position to demonstrate their resolve. The dominant discourse reinvests meaning in such a way that reinterprets the actions of individuals and corporations as heroic, "defensive," and patriotic. "Real" men and women are made heroes because of their actions and because of what they represent—they are at once workers/investors/consumers, all soldiers in the "civilizational fight" for an American-led "market civilization" (Gill 1995).
What Are Pro-Life Feminists Doing on Campus?
Authors: Oaks Laury
Published: February 2024

This article analyzes pro-life feminist claims with particular attention to how the pro-life feminist movement attempts to shape college students' attitudes about abortion and understandings of feminism. I explore the messages within pro-life feminist literature and Feminists for Life of America's (FFL) College Outreach Program activist strategies since the mid-1990s, focusing on its campus visits and "Question Abortion" poster campaign launched in 2000–01. Pro-life feminism represents a small social movement, yet offers a focus for critical analysis of how pro-life feminists seek to frame abortion politics and contest the scope of feminism as it influences younger women. FFL's campaign defines their anti-abortion ideology as the truly woman-centered, historically feminist position. Pro-life feminists claim to represent best the interests of younger women and feminism, and demonstrate an anti-abortion strategy framed both as a challenge to and an embracing of the contested field of feminism.
The Gender Gap in Patenting: Is Technology Transfer a Feminist Issue?
Authors: Rosser Sue V.
Published: February 2024

In all countries, across all sectors and in all fields, the percentage of women obtaining patents is not only less than their male counterparts but it is less than the percentage of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the field in the country. This raises several questions: First, why aren't women obtaining patents at the same rate as their male counterparts? Second, is this a feminist issue? Finally, what can we apply from Women's Studies to close this gender gap in patenting? Articulating the goals for commercialization of science to link them directly with making society better and helping people should provide powerful incentives for women to patent and participate in technology transfer.
Gender and Childbearing Experiences: Revisiting O'Brien's Dialectics of Reproduction
Authors: Carter Shannon K.
Published: February 2024

In her analysis of the dialectical structure of reproductive consciousness, Mary O'Brien argued that the physical labor involved in women's reproductive experiences affirms women's connections with their children and integration in the human species, whereas men's discontinuous experiences negate such connections and integration. Patriarchy enables the reconciliation of this negation for men by allowing them to claim ownership of the products of women's reproductive labor. Drawing on interview data with eighteen postpartum women, this paper re-examines O'Brien's central argument in conjunction with empirical data. The findings support O'Brien's assertions that (1) labor is viewed by some women as an essential component of childbearing and (2) childbearing results in a sense of greater connectedness and integration in the human species for some women. However, women also emphasized the importance of another element of childbearing—an indescribable, incomprehensible, experiential component—that is missing from O'Brien's analysis and much feminist literature on reproduction. This paper concludes by merging the current findings with O'Brien's analysis and discussing the implications in relation to men's roles in reproduction.
The Female Poetics of Crime in E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Mademoiselle Scuderi"
Authors: McChesney Anita
Published: February 2024

This paper explores the role of the female detective in E.T.A. Hoffmann's "Mademoiselle Scuderi" ("Das Fräulein von Scuderi") against the trope of the silent, passive, poetic woman associated with nineteenth-century detective stories. Focusing on Scuderi's character and methodology, my analysis shows how Scuderi successfully competes against her male counterparts by using logic and distinctly female-encoded qualities such as intuition, compassion, and imagination to function as a generative, poetic force. This reading counters the traditional view in Anglo-American studies on Edgar Allen Poe's Dupin as the first prototypical detective. It also challenges interpretations in German Studies by asserting that Hoffmann's text is the first modern detective story because of and not despite its female detective. This rereading of the detective Scuderi is contextualized within Hoffmann's ideas of poetic representation. The analysis also considers how the image of the active female detective and poet offers a larger commentary on the feminine poetic ideal in German Romanticism. (AM)
The Wonder (of) Woman
Authors: Franck Julia
Published: February 2024

The following text is the German original followed by the English translation of a previously unpublished essay by Julia Franck, winner of the 2007 German Book Prize. Although Franck has received critical acclaim most recently for her novel Die Mittagsfrau ( Lady Midday, 2007), she came to the attention of the mainstream German media with the publication of her second novel, Liebediener (Love Servant, 1999), which coincided with the Fräuleinwunder craze. The Fräuleinwunder , or "Girl Wonder" phenomenon, existed briefly at the turn of the millennium, when Volker Hage first observed in Der Spiegel that many of the young, female authors writing at the time had a matter-of-fact approach to representing love and sex. When the newspaper Die Welt asked several of the authors included in the Fräuleinwunder to write essays about the popularity of German women authors, Franck penned "Das Wunder Frau," or "The Wonder (of) Woman." Here she strongly criticizes the Fräuleinwunder label, yet she does find some truth in Hage's assertion that women write differently than men. Franck proposes the term "weibliche Nüchternheit," or "Female Sobriety," which both acknowledges Hage's observation and provides an alternative way to talk about the writing style of female authors. Deeming "Das Wunder Frau" too feminist for publication, Die Welt declined to print it. Julia Franck has expressly given her permission to the Women in German Yearbook to publish the German original as well as the English translation of the essay. (AMH)
A Few Good Men: Gender, Ideology, and Narrative Politics in The Lives of Others and Good Bye, Lenin!
Authors: Creech Jennifer
Published: February 2024

This article examines two influential post- Wende (fall of the Wall) films about the former GDR and German unification, Wolfgang Becker’s Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others (2006). The films radically differ in terms of cinematic strategies, ideological positioning of the spectator, and the narrative function of gender. Considering the two films in terms of their critical reception, feminist theories of narrative, and Mary Fulbrook’s “octopus theory” of the GDR, I argue that gender plays a key role in the films’ diverging reconstructions of the former East. While the narrative and cinematic organization of The Lives of Others provide the viewer with an ideologically distinct, nostalgic reconstruction of a Cold War narrative of the GDR, in which the female protagonist and the GDR are clearly vilified, Good Bye, Lenin! ’s narrative and cinematic strategies position the viewer as simultaneously sympathetic and critical, constructing the female protagonist as the site of contradiction between real existing socialism and the utopian impulse at its heart. (JC)
Masking/Unmasking Identity in Early Twentieth-Century Germany: The Importance of N. O. Body
Authors: Thorson Helga
Published: February 2024

Within the context of early-twentieth-century medical discourses, this article focuses on the masking and unmasking of identity in N. O. Body’s Memoirs of a Man’s Maiden Years ( Aus eines Mannes Mädchenjahren ), an autobiography of a German “pseudo-hermaphrodite” published in 1907. Highlighting the author’s attempts to normalize the protagonist’s indeterminate body within both a medical and a narrative framework that attempt to negate the body’s “otherness,” I argue that Body’s autobiography actually exposes the protagonist’s ambiguity and multiple positionalities that threaten to spill out of the structures set up to contain them. Furthermore, the author’s attempt to mask his own Jewish identity while at the same time superimposing “Jewishness” back on the body of the protagonist illustrates the complex intersectionality in this text that is simultaneously hidden and on display. (HT)
Freedom from Violence, Freedom to Make the World: Muslim Women’s Memoirs, Gendered Violence, and Voices for Change in Germany
Authors: Weber Beverly M.
Published: February 2024

In recent years several bestselling autobiographies in Germany have reinforced a discourse in which domestic violence in immigrant communities is attributed to a backward, Muslim culture. The media as well as the German state turn to authors such as Necla Kelek and Seyran Ateş as “experts” who claim the right to represent immigrant women’s concerns, but their prominence obscures activists’ attempt to end both domestic violence and forms of cultural racism. This article contextualizes these autobiographies in a larger discourse of modernity that presumes secularism serves to regulate violence. I then analyze the discursive strategies employed by Kelek and Ateş, and juxtapose their narratives with Fadela Amara’s description of the French group Ni Putes ni Soumises (Neither Whores nor Submissives). I argue that the popularity of narratives portraying violence against women as necessarily and intrinsically a part of Islam functions to silence many activists of immigrant heritage, preventing effective activism against violence as well as productive alliances between groups fighting violence in multiple forms. (BMW)
Influence of the correlations in an active medium on the pump-induced exceptional points and strong coupling
Authors: Pashkevich Iryna S. , Doronin Ilya V. , Zyablovsky Alexander A. , Andrianov Evgeny S.
Published: February 2024

Exceptional points show great prospects for applications such as imaging, sensing, and designing lasers. Recently, systems with amplifying active medium exhibiting pump-induced exceptional points have attracted much attention due to the possibility of controlling the strong coupling between light and matter with the aid of pumping. In such structures, the interaction of the active molecules with external degrees of freedom, such as phonons or impurities, leads to the destruction of the correlations between the polarizations of different molecules. We study the effect of the correlation decay on system behavior near a pump-induced exceptional point. We show that exceptional points and strong coupling are robust to correlation decay and disappear only at very high rates of correlation decay, much larger than other relaxation rates. The obtained result is crucial for designing systems with exceptional points and strong coupling.
Design of integrated silicon waveguides for Raman-enhanced four-wave mixing in the telecom band
Authors: Sun Shiyu , Mashanovich Goran Z. , Peacock Anna C.
Published: February 2024

Silicon planar waveguides are designed to maximize the wavelength conversion efficiency via the use of Raman-enhanced four-wave mixing in the telecom band. By investigating the dispersion properties of various rib waveguide structures, the optimum etch depth and width are selected to obtain efficient phase-matching for a continuous-wave pump at 1545 nm. The design benefits from good fabrication tolerance in the structural parameters, which are well within the precision of standard lithography and etching processes. Using the optimized waveguides, simulations show that it is possible to reach conversion efficiencies as high as ∼45 dB for waveguide lengths as short as 4.6 cm, with a pump power of only 130 mW. This enhancement in the conversion efficiency is about 50 dB higher than conventional values for FWM in integrated silicon photonic systems, highlighting the benefits of exploiting the coupling between the two nonlinear processes.
Artifact-suppressing reconstruction of strongly interacting objects in X-ray near-field holography without a spatial support constraint
Authors: Dora Johannes , Möddel Martin , Flenner Silja , Schroer Christian G. , Knopp Tobias , Hagemann Johannes
Published: February 2024

The phase problem is a well known ill-posed reconstruction problem of coherent lens-less microscopic imaging, where only the squared magnitude of a complex wavefront is measured by a detector while the phase information of the wave field is lost. To retrieve the lost information, common algorithms rely either on multiple data acquisitions under varying measurement conditions or on the application of strong constraints such as a spatial support. In X-ray near-field holography, however, these methods are rendered impractical in the setting of time sensitive in situ and operando measurements. In this paper, we will forego the spatial support constraint and propose a projected gradient descent (PGD) based reconstruction scheme in combination with proper preprocessing and regularization that significantly reduces artifacts for refractive reconstructions from only a single acquired hologram without a spatial support constraint. We demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of our approach on different data sets obtained at the nano imaging endstation of P05 at PETRA III (DESY, Hamburg) operated by Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon.
Comparison of focusing property and radiation force between autofocusing Bessel beams and focused Gaussian beams
Authors: Ding Zhoulin , Gao Yihan , Hou Chunyu , Li Siyao , Yu Yongji
Published: February 2024

As abruptly autofocusing beams, autofocusing Bessel beams (ABBs) have been proven to be a class solution for the Helmholtz equation [Opt. Express 31, 33228 (2023)10.1364/OE.500383]. In this paper, we use the Fresnel number as the basic parameter and accurately compare the focusing property and radiation force of ABBs versus focused Gaussian beams (FGBs) under the same Fresnel number. Unlike FGBs, ABBs can achieve autofocusing without the need for an initial focusing phase. Our analysis of the beam width defined by power in the bucket, revealed that FGBs exhibit uniform focusing along the straight line, whereas ABBs demonstrate accelerated focusing along the elliptic curve. At the same Fresnel number, FGBs exhibit a higher peak intensity in the focal plane, yet ABBs excel in gradient force on particles. In comparison to FGBs, ABBs exhibit smaller potential well widths, allowing for stable and precise trapping of high refractive index particles at the focal point. While FGBs are considered suitable for laser processing and ablation due to their high peak power density, ABBs possess significant advantages in optical manipulation due to their great gradient force. Furthermore, we conduct a comparative analysis between ABBs and circular Airy beams (CABs). The peak intensity and gradient force exhibited by CABs are slightly lesser than those of ABBs. CABs are appropriate for multi-point trapping along the axis, whereas ABBs are more suited for precise single-point trapping.
Ultrafast energy transfer dynamics in CsPbBr3 nanoplatelets-BODIPY heterostructure
Authors: Qin Chaochao , Wang Xu , Zhou Zhongpo , Song Jian , Jia Guangrui , Ma Shuhong , Zhang Jicai , Jiao Zhaoyong , Zheng Shuwen
Published: February 2024

Understanding and directing the energy transfer in nanocrystals-chromophore heterostructure is critical to improve the efficiency of their photocatalytic and optoelectronic applications. In this work, we studied the energy transfer process between inorganic-organic molecular complexes composed of cesium halide perovskite nanoplatelets (CsPbBr3 NPLs) and boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) by photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), time-correlated single photon-counting (TCSPC) and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The quenching of PL in CsPbBr3 NPLs occurred simultaneously with the PL enhancement of BODIPY implied the singlet energy transfer process. The rate of energy transfer has been determined by transient absorption spectrum as kET = 3.8 × 109 s-1. The efficiency of Förster energy transfer (FRET) has been quantitatively calculated up to 70%. Our work advances the understanding of the interaction between BODIPY and perovskite nanoplatelets, providing a new solution based on their optoelectronic and photocatalytic applications.
Low power consumption grating magneto-optical trap based on planar elements
Authors: Yu Zhilong , Zhu Yumeng , Yao Minghao , Qi Feng , Chen Liang , Zou Chang-Ling , Duan Junyi , Liu Xiaochi
Published: February 2024

The grating-based magneto-optical trap (GMOT) is a promising approach for miniaturizing cold-atom systems. However, the power consumption of a GMOT system dominates its feasibility in practical applications. In this study, we demonstrated a GMOT system based on planar elements that can operate with low power consumption. A high-diffraction-efficiency grating chip was used to cool atoms with a single incident beam. A planar coil chip was designed and fabricated with a low power consumption nested architecture. The grating and coil chips were adapted to a passive pump vacuum chamber, and up to 106 87Rb atoms were trapped. These elements effectively reduce the power consumption of the GMOT and have great potential for applications in practical cold-atom-based devices.
Dual-polarization RF channelizer based on microcombs
Authors: Han Weiwei , Liu Zhihui , Xu Yifu , Tan Mengxi , Li Yuhua , Zhu Xiaotian , Ou Yanni , Yin Feifei , Morandotti Roberto , Little Brent E. , Chu Sai Tak , Xu Xingyuan , Moss David J. , Xu Kun
Published: February 2024

We report a dual-polarization radio frequency (RF) channelizer based on microcombs. Two high-Q micro-ring resonators (MRRs) with slightly different free spectral ranges (FSRs) are used: one MRR is pumped to yield soliton crystal microcombs (“active”), and the other MRR is used as a “passive” periodic optical filter supporting dual-polarization operation to slice the RF spectrum. With the tailored mismatch between the FSRs of the active and passive MRRs, wideband RF spectra can be channelized into multiple segments featuring digital-compatible bandwidths via the Vernier effect. Due to the use of dual-polarization states, the number of channelized spectral segments, and thus the RF instantaneous bandwidth (with a certain spectral resolution), can be doubled. In our experiments, we used 20 microcomb lines with ∼ 49 GHz FSR to achieve 20 channels for each polarization, with high RF spectra slicing resolutions at 144 MHz (TE) and 163 MHz (TM), respectively; achieving an instantaneous RF operation bandwidth of 3.1 GHz (TE) and 2.2 GHz (TM). Our approach paves the path towards monolithically integrated photonic RF receivers (the key components — active and passive MRRs are all fabricated on the same platform) with reduced complexity, size, and unprecedented performance, which is important for wide RF applications with digital-compatible signal detection.
A generalized energy eigenvalue problem for effectively solving the confined electron states in quantum semiconductor structures via boundary integral analysis
Authors: Phan Jerrick , Phan Anh-Vu
Published: February 2024

This paper introduces a novel approach for the efficient determination of confined electron states in quantum semiconductor structures through the introduction of a generalized energy eigenvalue problem formulated within the framework of boundary integral analysis. The proposed method enables the direct determination of the energy eigenvalues and normalized wavefunctions for bound quantum states. The novel technique aims to address the challenges associated with efficiently modeling the behavior of electrons within confined regions, offering insights into optimizing the performance of a wide range of quantum semiconductor structures. By employing boundary integral techniques, the paper establishes a comprehensive numerical framework that accommodates the complexity of quantum confinement effects. The methodology is demonstrated through numerical simulations, showcasing its effectiveness and accuracy in predicting electron states within different quantum wire structures.
Defining morphologically and genetically distinct GABAergic/cholinergic amacrine cell subtypes in the vertebrate retina
Authors: Li Yan , Yu Shuguang , Jia Xinling , Qiu Xiaoying , He Jie
Published: February 2024

In mammals, retinal direction selectivity originates from GABAergic/cholinergic amacrine cells (ACs) specifically expressing the sox2 gene. However, the cellular diversity of GABAergic/cholinergic ACs of other vertebrate species remains largely unexplored. Here, we identified 2 morphologically and genetically distinct GABAergic/cholinergic AC types in zebrafish, a previously undescribed bhlhe22+ type and a mammalian counterpart sox2+ type. Notably, while sole sox2 disruption removed sox2+ type, the codisruption of bhlhe22 and bhlhe23 was required to remove bhlhe22+ type. Also, both types significantly differed in dendritic arbors, lamination, and soma position. Furthermore, in vivo two-photon calcium imaging and the behavior assay suggested the direction selectivity of both AC types. Nevertheless, the 2 types showed preferential responses to moving bars of different sizes. Thus, our findings provide new cellular diversity and functional characteristics of GABAergic/cholinergic ACs in the vertebrate retina.
Sequential neuronal processing of number values, abstract decision, and action in the primate prefrontal cortex
Authors: Viswanathan Pooja , Stein Anna M. , Nieder Andreas
Published: February 2024

Decision-making requires processing of sensory information, comparing the gathered evidence to make a judgment, and performing the action to communicate it. How neuronal representations transform during this cascade of representations remains a matter of debate. Here, we studied the succession of neuronal representations in the primate prefrontal cortex (PFC). We trained monkeys to judge whether a pair of sequentially presented displays had the same number of items. We used a combination of single neuron and population-level analyses and discovered a sequential transformation of represented information with trial progression. While numerical values were initially represented with high precision and in conjunction with detailed information such as order, the decision was encoded in a low-dimensional subspace of neural activity. This decision encoding was invariant to both retrospective numerical values and prospective motor plans, representing only the binary judgment of “same number” versus “different number,” thus facilitating the generalization of decisions to novel number pairs. We conclude that this transformation of neuronal codes within the prefrontal cortex supports cognitive flexibility and generalizability of decisions to new conditions.