bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
In vitro evaluation of antifungal potential of selected plant species against Fusarium solani
Authors: PANT DEEPANSHU , TAPWAL ASHWANI , TIWARI BALKRISHNA , THAKUR J.S.
Published: February 2024

Abstract. Pant D, Tapwal A, Tiwari B, Thakur JS. 2023. In vitro evaluation of antifungal potential of selected plant species against Fusarium solani. Asian J Nat Prod Biochem 21 (2): 51-57. The hazardous effect of synthetic fungicides is a major concern. Therefore, the development of safe and eco-friendly fungicides is momentarily imperative. The Himalaya is considered a rich repository of floristic diversity, endowed with several medicinally important plant species exhibiting antimicrobial potential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-mycotic potential of five selected Himalayan plant species viz. Berberis lycium Royle, Zanthoxylum armatum DC., Valeriana jatamansi Jones, Ageratina adenophora (Spreng.) R.M. King & H. Rob. and Polystichum squarrosum (D. Don) Fee by poisoned food technique against Fusarium solani which is considered as one of the major causes of Shisham. Crude extract of B. lycium exhibited maximum growth inhibition (51.58%) of F. solani, followed by Z. armatum (21.94%) and V. jatamansi (21.45%). However, the inhibitory effect of A. adenophora and P. squarrosum extracts on fungal growth was insignificant. Furthermore, the potentials of three solvents (aqueous, ethanol and acetone) were evaluated for the extraction of antimycotic phytochemicals from the leaf of B. lycium and ethanol was found to be comparatively more effective. Phytochemical analysis of a crude extract of B. lycium revealed the presence of different groups of bioactive compounds, such as alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, steroids, phenolics and tannins. Thus, the presence of diverse groups of phytochemicals in B. lycium makes it more effective in controlling the growth of F. solani and can be used in the development of eco-friendly fungicides.
Effect of Wood Specimen Length on Uniaxial Stress–Strain Curve along the Grain Direction
Authors: Liu Jianhui , Xu Guolin , Bai Yashuang , Lin Yujie , Geng Wenqing
Published: February 2024

The axial compression test was carried out on the basis of three different-size specimens of white wax (Fraxinus chinensis), fir (Abies fabri), and Yunnan pine (Pinus yunnanensis) to explore the influence of specimen length on the compression strength parallel to grain, peak strain, and elastic modulus of wood. Weibull’s weakest-link theory, Bazant’s law of size effect, and Carpinteri’s multiple fractal size effect were used for the analysis. The results showed significant size effects on theses parameters of wood along the grain. Using the three theories to predict the compressive strength of 100-mm-length specimens, the predicted value of Bazant’s law of size effect has the smallest error with the measured value, followed by Weibull’s weakest-link theory and Carpinteri’s law of multiple fractal size effect. The size-effect coefficients of the down-grain compressive strength of the three woods obtained using the slope method were 0.06, 0.11, and 0.09, respectively, which were consistent with the values of m in the Weibull fitting function.
Captive Maternals vs. Compradors: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal
Authors: James Joy
Published: February 2024

Theorizing Captive Maternal Agency and Comprador Betrayals through the case of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and Philadelphia Judge Lucretia Clemmons, with a focus on the denial of civil and human rights within the US penal/legal system.
What Do Apologies Apologize for? Rearrangements of State Violence
Authors: Thobani Sunera
Published: February 2024

What do apologies apologize for? More precisely, what do the apologies regularly pronounced by states for some atrocity or other actually accomplish? This question animates my article. State apologies became an integral element of global political culture in the early 21st century. These politics of regret are reshaping Canadian national culture, most pronouncedly with the apologies for the Indian Residential School System (
CBC News 2008a;
McIntyre 2017) and the Komagata Maru (
CBC News 2008b;
Trudeau 2016). While Public Inquiries and Royal Commissions have long served as state responses to political mobilization, deployment of the machinery of regret has fast become the predictable response to accusations of atrocities, including genocide, enslavement and racial violence.

Drawing on Frantz Fanon’s and Walter Benjamin’s ideas on violence, colonial in the case of
Fanon (1961), law in that of
Benjamin (1996), I examine the apologies delivered to Indigenous peoples and South-Asian diasporic communities by the Canadian state. Locating these pronouncements in the histories of violence they index, I demonstrate how such apologies function as techniques of violence that advance settler power structures and narratives of nationhood. My argument here is that apologies are themselves acts of violence which rework histories of brutalization to meet the political destabilizations of the present. Apologies thus reorganize the racial violence of settler societies, drawing sections of subjugated populations into waging this violence and, in the process, derail resurgent politics of decolonization, abolitionism and anti-racism.
An Abolitionist Liveability Against State Carceral Unchilding Ahmad Manasra’s life-making
Authors: Otman Abeer , Shalhoub-Kevorkian Nadera
Published: February 2024

This article will not look at the incarceration of Ahmad Manasra through the prism of state violence against him, but more specifically through his radical call for “life-making”—as an abolitionist liveability against state criminality. We join Ahmad in taking a critical stance towards the politics of life—and what Aysha Odeh and Robin Kelley refer to as “freedom dreams”—refuting the state’s carceral network and the acceptance of the settler colonial necropolitical structure. In doing so, the article conceptualizes Ahmad Manasra’s multiple modes of refusal as acts of defiance against the brutality of state “unchilding,” arguing that his unending search for freedom are radical abolitionist cries that cannot be overlooked.
Swamped in dinosaurs with LED lights: negotiating sustainability in a high-consumption society
Authors: Wethal Ulrikke , Hansen Arve , Sandnes Thea
Published: February 2024

Unsustainable patterns of consumption in affluent societies are at the heart of global climate and environmental challenges and seemingly highly resistant to change. While decades of research have revealed how consumption is deeply embedded in society, recently calls have been made for (re-)engaging with the systemic conditioning of consumption in studies of everyday practices. In this paper, we analyse the ways in which eco-conscious households in Norway (N=20) perform and negotiate sustainability in everyday life. With theories of practice as a point of departure, we combine Bente Halkier’s work on social interaction with Sherry B. Ortner’s conceptualisation of agency as power (dominance and resistance) and agency through ‘projects’ to study how sustainability is negotiated in the everyday. Through this framework we explore how consumers perform ‘sustainability projects’ and how these are defined through, constrained by and negotiated against everyday normativity and dominant socio-material arrangements. Our findings demonstrate the compromises, trade-offs and negotiations that participants engage in when balancing their sustainability projects against other social roles, expectations and goals, often carried out within socio-material arrangements that are scripted towards less sustainable options. Hence, they provide detailed insight into the boundedness of consumer agency, being both socially and materially negotiated and contextualised. While often undertaken as mundane actions, the challenges our participants experienced is ultimately part of negotiating consumer society, often experienced as a constant pressure towards more consumption as expansive consumption is embedded in, and embodied and habituated through, a wide range of social practices.
Balancing the Passion for Activism with the Demands of Tenure: One Professional's Story from Three Perspectives
Authors: Few April L , Piercy Fred P , Stremmel Andrew J
Published: February 2024

As a Black assistant professor, April L. Few discusses the challenge of balancing the demands of tenure and her commitment to community, diversity, and social justice. In this story about her journey toward tenure, she reflects upon how racism and sexism within the classroom have defined her professional identity as an activist scholar. She also poses questions for feminist scholars who struggle about whether moving toward the center or mainstream of an institution means having to lose pieces of oneself in the tenure process. In order to provide additional perspective on this issue, Fred P. Piercy, the department head, and Andrew Stremmel, the departmental chair of the tenure and promotion committee, also reflect on this dilemma and suggest ways of turning teaching and service into scholarship that counts for tenure. Although it may be said that all new faculty face transitions, this story discusses additional challenges that are often negotiated by untenured ethnic faculty at predominantly White universities.
The Impact of Gender on the Evaluation of Teaching: What We Know and What We Can Do
Authors: Laube Heather , Massoni Kelley , Sprague Joey , Ferber Abby L.
Published: February 2024

The importance of teaching evaluations to the tenure and promotion of women faculty cannot be underestimated. Administrators routinely consider classroom teaching in hiring, tenure, promotion, and salary decisions and increasingly rely most heavily on quantitative student ratings. Scholars who have attempted to determine whether/how gender enters into students' evaluations of their teachers generally fall into two camps: those who find gender to have no (or very little) influence on evaluations, and those who find gender to affect evaluations significantly. Drawing on insights developed from sociological scholarship on gender and evaluation, we argue that the apparent inconsistency on the question of whether student evaluations are gendered is itself an artifact of the way that quantitative measures can mask underlying gender bias. We offer concrete strategies that faculty, researchers, and administrators can employ to improve the efficacy of the system of evaluation.
Affective Stories: Understanding the Lack of Progress of Women Faculty
Authors: Stout Patricia A , Staiger Janet , Jennings Nancy A
Published: February 2024

Previous research has found that the problem of sex inequity in higher faculty ranks may result from women taking longer to advance past associate professor. While statistical reports can isolate trends, they cannot identify reasons why women advance more slowly or suggest solutions for the situation. In this study, we conducted focus groups to learn how women tenured associate professors perceive their status as faculty women and their progress toward advancement to full professor. Questions explored career-related beliefs and practices, feelings about career progress, issues encountered while in the academy, and strategies used to manage these issues. Qualitative analysis of recurring themes and self-narratives of participants suggests that women associate professors are an overlooked or "forgotten" group. Evidence refutes the common wisdom that the number of senior women faculty will grow if more women are hired at the junior levels. Women in the study expressed lack of agency and resignation to their status and felt demoralized based on their experiences in the academy. Recommendations to address the "accumulation of disadvantages" are proposed including consistent application of promotion policies, development of workshops educating women about issues regarding their advancement, and equitable support for the activities of women faculty.
Losing Ground but Finding the High Road: Teaching Women’s Studies in Post-Katrina New Orleans
Authors: Mayer Vicki , Willinger Beth , Jenkins Pamela , Tucker Susan , Dietzel Susanne , Moore Pamela Waldron , Hemenway Betsy Jones , Kile Crystal , Bryan Violet Harrington , Reineman Julia
Published: February 2024

This essay combines the experiences and participation of women’s studies members from four campuses in New Orleans, Louisiana. It reflects both on the damage suffered by women in the academy and the strides that have been made in the post-Katrina environment.
Feminisms in Engineering Education: Transformative Possibilities
Authors: Riley Donna , Pawley Alice L. , Tucker Jessica , Catalano George D.
Published: February 2024

The goal of this paper is to examine the possibilities for explicitly feminist work in engineering and engineering education. What does it mean in engineering contexts to take a feminist perspective, and how might this influence the profession and society? We seek to establish an understanding of feminist perspectives in the engineering community broadly to recognize the connectedness of all forms of social injustice. Thus feminist visions of engineering might address a broad set of concerns such as militarism, racism, and global economic inequality as well as sexism and heterosexism. Our exploration of three feminist frameworks within engineering generates a set of questions for future research and institutional transformation.
Aesthetics of Crisis: Motherhood, Abortion, and Melodrama in Irmgard Keun and Friedrich Wolf
Authors: Barndt Kerstin
Published: February 2024

In recent years, the notion of "crisis" has emerged as a master paradigm through which the Weimar Republic saw itself and through which historians today make sense of the interwar years in Germany. Contributing an aesthetic dimension to this discussion, the following article investigates the notion of crisis in the literary culture of the late Weimar Republic. Comparing Irmgard Keun's novel Gilgi-eine von uns (Gilgi-One of Us, 1930) and Friedrich Wolf's play Cyankali (1929), I trace constructions of femininity and the theme of abortion to show how these authors, like many others at the time, generate narratives of existential crisis. Close analysis of these texts allows me to show to what degree such narratives tended to draw on a repertoire of melodramatic forms-tropes of female victimization, highly expressive language, and sudden shifts of fate confront characters with impossible decisions between love and work, life and death. While these devices ultimately serve more progressive ends in Keun's hand than in Wolf's, I argue that they constitute a dominant aesthetic trend that accompanies the ostensibly "sober" aesthetics of New Objectivity and imbues the latter with an undercurrent of urgency. (KB)
Autobiographical Selves: The Lebensbeschreibung of Regula Engel (1761–1853), the “Swiss Amazon”
Authors: Hilger Stephanie M.
Published: February 2024

This article examines the autobiography of Regula Engel (1761–1853), commonly known as the “Swiss Amazon.” Engel accompanied her husband, a member of a Swiss regiment serving the French, to battlefields in various countries. She cross-dressed as a male soldier and bore twenty-one children. Her husband’s death in 1815 left Engel without any financial means. In 1821, she published her life narrative, Lebensbeschreibung (Life Description), to generate income and secure potential benefactors. As a lower-class, cross-dressing, Zürich woman working in the retinue of a mercenary army, Engel not only challenges the autobiographical genre’s underlying presupposition of a male bourgeois subject but also questions early-nineteenth-century notions of femininity and thereby reinserts women into the writing of history. (SMH)
Self-Care for All: Sharing a Caregiver Program During the Pandemic
Authors: Swarbrick Margaret , Nemec Patricia B. , Fogerite Susan Gould , Spagnolo Amy B , Zechner Michelle , Lundquist Mary Catherine , Townsend Monica
Published: February 2024

ABSTRACT: Family members and health care professionals for people with a variety of health conditions play a crucial role in health care. Burden for both groups can erode their self-care skills, leading to poor physical and mental health outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented events that unfolded during 2020 added an additional layer of stress and challenges, compounded by life disruptions that further interfered with self-care. In response to those concerns, self-care education and support programs were offered to multiple audiences. This article briefly describes how a self-care program rapidly pivoted by disseminating the program content in a variety of ways to meet the increased and varied needs of a range of health care providers and family supporters. Lessons learned and implications considered are described.
3D fluorescence imaging through scattering medium using transport of intensity equation and iterative phase retrieval
Authors: Matsuda Shiori , Shoda Marin , Yoneda Naru , Kumar Manoj , Watanabe Wataru , Murata Takashi , Matoba Osamu
Published: February 2024

In this paper, we have proposed a method of three-dimensional (3D) fluorescence imaging through a scattering medium. The proposed method combines the numerical digital phase conjugation propagation after measurement of the complex amplitude distribution of scattered light waves by the transport of intensity equation (TIE) with followed iterative phase retrieval to achieve 3D fluorescence imaging through a scattering medium. In the experiment, we present the quantitative evaluation of the depth position of fluorescent beads. In addition, for time-lapse measurement, cell division of tobacco-cultured cells was observed. Numerical results presented the effective range of the phase amount in the scattering medium. From these results, the proposed method is capable of recovering images degraded by a thin scattering phase object beyond a small phase change approximation.
Chromatic correction for super multi-view 3D display based on diffraction theory
Authors: Sun Yutong , Ma Haowen , Li Jingnan , Cao Shuo , Zhou Ruyi , Ahmad Munzza , Li Chao , Liu Juan
Published: February 2024

The traditional analysis method for super multi-view 3D display based on geometric optics, which approximates the lenticular lenses as a series of pinhole structures, ignored the chromatic aberration. In this paper, the optimization method based on diffraction theory is proposed for super multi-view 3D display, where the wavefronts are evaluated accurately by the forward propagation method, and the chromatic aberration of the synthetic viewpoint image is reduced dramatically by the backward reconstruction optimization method (BROM). The optical experiment is performed to verify the feasibility of the method, which is consistent with numerical simulation results. It is proved that the proposed method simulates the physical propagation process of super multi-view 3D display and improves the reconstructed image quality. In the future, it can be used to achieve the super multi-view 3D light field technology with low crosstalk.
Iterative suppression of Kerr-induced instabilities in Bessel beams using on-axis intensity shaping
Authors: Ouadghiri-Idrissi Ismail , Courvoisier François
Published: February 2024

Kerr-induced instabilities in zeroth-order Bessel beams with low focusing angle prevent the formation of longitudinally uniform plasma rods in the filamentation regime. These instabilities lead to the oscillation of the beam on-axis intensity via the generation of new spatial frequencies by a first stage of spectral broadening followed by a second stage of four-wave mixing. Here, we numerically demonstrate an efficient approach to drastically reduce the instabilities due to the second stage. It is based on shaping the longitudinal intensity profile with spatio-spectral components in opposition of phase to the Kerr-generated ones via an iterative approach. Zeroth-order Bessel beams with a longitudinal flat intensity plateau can be generated in a few iterations in the nonlinear regime. This is performed in both monochromatic and pulsed femtosecond regimes.
Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS): Assessing patient satisfaction and socioemotional benefits in the hospital setting
Authors: Balmuth Evan A. , Luan Danny , Jannat-Khah Deanna , Evans Arthur , Wong Tanping , Scales David A.
Published: February 2024

Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) is an imaging modality used to make expedient patient care decisions at bedside. Though its diagnostic utility has been extensively described, POCUS is not yet considered standard of care in inpatient settings. Data from emergency department settings suggest that POCUS may yield socioemotional benefits beyond its diagnostic utility; furthermore, elements of the POCUS experience are known to promote placebo effects. These elements likely contribute to a placebo-like “POCUS positive care effect” (PPCE) with socioemotional benefits for receptive patients. Our objective is to provide the first characterization of the PPCE and its facilitating factors in an inpatient setting. In this novel mixed-methods study, we recruited 30 adult patients admitted to internal medicine floors in an urban academic medical center, recorded observations during their routine POCUS encounters, and administered post-encounter surveys. We conducted complementary quantitative and qualitative analyses to define and assess the magnitude of the PPCE. We also aimed to identify factors associated with and facilitating receptiveness to the PPCE. The results indicated that POCUS improves patients’ satisfaction with their hospital providers and care overall, as well as perceived care efficiency. Mutual engagement, strong therapeutic alliances, and interpreting POCUS images to provide reassurance are most closely associated with this PPCE. Patients who have lower anxiety levels, less severe illness, and received efficient care delivery during their hospitalizations are most receptive to the PPCE. We conclude that diagnostic POCUS has the potential to exert a positive care effect for hospitalized patients. This PPCE is associated with modifiable factors at the patient, provider, and environment levels. Together, our findings lay the groundwork for an optimized “therapeutic POCUS” that yields maximal socioemotional benefits for receptive patients.
Going for woke: How The Australian, the Herald Sun and The Sydney Morning Herald adopted the lexicon of ‘wokeism’
Authors: Sparrow Jeff
Published: February 2024

The word ‘woke’ emerged from within African American vernacular and then, after a process of pejoration, became popular as a political exonym among conservative adherents of so-called ‘culture war’. The study examines the word’s adoption by three major Australian newspapers (The Australian, Herald Sun and The Sydney Morning Herald). By focusing on the type of journalism in which ‘woke’ appeared, it documents the role of conservative advocacy in popularizing a term that then spread throughout the publications as a whole.
Organizational gatekeeping in Australian sports journalism: A longitudinal study of three newspapers
Authors: English Peter , Horky Thomas , Nieland Jörg-Uwe , Seeger Christof
Published: February 2024

Sport remains a key component of the Australian newspaper industry despite the decline of print in a digital-dominated environment. The production of sports stories consumes significant staffing time and organizational resources, and it is therefore important to examine how newsrooms have altered their approaches to publishing over the past decade. This longitudinal study focusing on three Australian newspapers is part of the global International Sports Press Survey, which was first undertaken in 2011, and replicated in 2021. The Australian, the Herald Sun and The West Australian formed the sample of 1274 articles in 2011, and 1121 in 2021. The results highlight shifts in newspaper content, with many of the changes guided by organizational and social-institutional level gatekeeping influences. The findings provide further evidence of widespread changes to the industry, which include more homogenous content and a decline in total story numbers, depth, diversity and quality.
‘It’s time to start listening’: Reporting on disability in practice-based journalism education
Authors: Valencia-Forrester Faith
Published: February 2024

An increased focus on audience engagement in newsrooms means that journalists are expected to have an understanding of appropriate contemporary reporting practices, more so by marginalized communities. Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a widespread pedagogical approach within journalism education. This article discusses the development of ‘Purpose WIL’: a service learning approach to WIL in journalism education that encourages student journalists to engage with social issues in an ethical, responsible way while still gaining the practical experience necessary for employment. An Australian case study of Purpose WIL, ‘Project Open Doors’ focused on addressing the ways people with disability are represented and treated by the media. Students worked closely with people with lived experience, community and industry partners to produce a significant body of appropriate reporting and ethical journalism about issues important to people with disability, as well as providing a community and media resource. All stakeholders reported positive outcomes, with students appreciating the opportunity to learn more about community engagement and how to work with vulnerable groups and industry partners benefitting from collaboration with the university and the resources produced. Purpose WIL represents a scalable, replicable model of journalism education that teaches students are able to engage responsibly with all members of their audiences.
International Broadcasting and its Contested Role in Australian Statecraft: Middle Power, Smart Power, Geoff Heriot (2023)
Authors: Cassidy Margaret
Published: February 2024

Review of: International Broadcasting and its Contested Role in Australian Statecraft: Middle Power, Smart Power, Geoff Heriot (2023)

London and New York: Anthem Press, 292 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-83998-504-1, h/bk, AUD 125.00

ISBN 978-1-83998-506-5, e-book, GBP 25.00
Real subsumption, cultural insurgence and social re-composition
Authors: Roberts John
Published: February 2024

This article looks at the crisis of the classical workers movement from the mid-1970s, and workers’ contribution to the emergence of new radical political and cultural theory from the 1980s in the ongoing struggle of workers against value relations. I deal with four intersecting areas: the neo-liberal attack on the cost of labour power in the Global North; the social, cultural and technical re-composition of the working class globally; the expansion of the participation of a diverse working class in higher education; and the changing function of real subsumption as workers and non-workers are incorporated into value relations through an ideology of economic self-reliance and the new entrepreneurial ethos. From this re-composition emerges the fundamental moving contradiction of our times: the increase in expectation of autonomy with the development of new technical skills across the working class and access to higher education, and the social and cognitive realities of the new economy and new digital culture: a precarious world of automative ‘non-work’, underemployment, passive consumption and deskilling. This conflict between the expectation of autonomy and realities of value production, has, I argue, been one of the driving forces of workers’ contribution to the new radical culture and theory since the 1980s.
Art for democracy’s sake: How neo-McCarthyism is resisted by arts-based social movements
Authors: Duke Benjamin
Published: February 2024

The rise of neo-McCarthyism has strengthened the power of the state through the repressive use of public institutions. Those who challenge capitalism and authoritarianism are singled out for reprisal. Arts-based social movements can resist state-sponsored neo-McCarthyite sanctions against democracy. Social movement activists can provide counter-narratives to the emerging forms of anti-leftism in autocratic states. As a model of resistance, travelling art and theatre groups could operate on a collaborative, crowdfunded basis, moving from place to place and providing innovative alternatives to the status quo. They would present comedy sketches, monologues, oratory, parodies, poetry, satires and songs that have a social and political message. They would at the same time disseminate information to help people make effective use of available resources and connect with solidarity networks. Performances could be live-streamed or recorded, then uploaded onto various social media platforms, helping to promote social movement objectives. Due to the collaborative nature of the work, public support would grow for these arts troupes that would eventually become self-funded. As social movement projects move online, artists encounter new forms of neo-McCarthyite repression.
Graphic Migrations: Precarity and Gender in India and the Diaspora, Kavita Daiya (2020)
Authors: Ahmed Sameera T.
Published: February 2024

Review of: Graphic Migrations: Precarity and Gender in India and the Diaspora, Kavita Daiya (2020)

Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 258 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-43992-025-1, p/bk, $34.95
Screening sovereignty: Cold War mediations of nationhood in USIA motion picture operations in the SWANA region
Authors: Vukoder Bret
Published: February 2024

This article explores how visible constructions and perceptions of sovereignty in the motion pictures of the United States Information Agency (USIA) factored into the dynamics of US Cold War foreign policy amidst the rise of the Non-Aligned Movement. Specifically, it focuses on agency films about and circulating within the Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region – such as the locally produced Iraq al-Youm newsreels (c.1956–58). By mapping the different policy contexts of the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations onto the USIA films’ aesthetics and themes, the article illustrates continuities in the United States’s attempts to expressively leverage images and evocations of sovereignty to sell and consolidate its policy interests in the region.
North African immigration in France: The aftermath of the Algerian War in graphic narratives Les Mohamed and Une Famille Nombreuse
Authors: Rouiller Honorine
Published: February 2024

The Algerian War (1954–62) has had a lasting impact on Arabs living in France since the First World War, whether they are Algerians or not. This article focuses on North African immigrants and ethnic minority lived experiences using Les Mohamed by Jérôme and Une Famille nombreuse by Chadia Chaibi , two graphic narratives that depict the North African immigrants’ contribution to a more diverse French history and the family/communities’ memories. Throughout this article, I analyse the various framing strategies used in Les Mohamed and Une Famille nombreuse that seek to change French readers’ perception of the North African identity and ultimately speak against the myth of cultural assimilation. By telling personal stories, Ruillier and Loueslati succeed at creating a collective memory that promotes a discourse in favour of integration. By designing his characters in a minimalist fashion, Ruillier combats existing stereotypes and invites his readers from diverse backgrounds to identify with the characters. By using humour and metatextual comments from her siblings, Loueslati emphasizes the diversity of immigrant and second-generation experiences. Using those framing strategies, both authors expose the normalcy of mistreatments and discrimination towards immigrants and their descendants in France.
Black bodies and French colonial history: Beyoncé and Jay Z’s ‘Apeshit’ at the Louvre
Authors: Reynolds Felisa Vergara
Published: February 2024

In June of 2018, Beyoncé and Jay-Z (under the name The Carters) released the music video for their song ‘Apeshit’, from the album Everything Is Love, set in the Louvre Museum in Paris. Through an agreement with the Louvre, The Carters were given free rein to film in front of some of the most famous art pieces in the world. This article focuses on five instances, within the music video, where the juxtaposition between either The Carters and/or their dancers, and certain works of art, merits analysis within the French colonial and postcolonial context. Under consideration are the following scenes: first is the dance scene in front of David’s The Coronation of Napoléon (1807); the second is in front of the Great Sphinx of Tanis (2600 BCE); the third is in front of Géricault’s The Charging Chasseur (1812); the fourth is a scene in a locker room that pans to a bedroom (‘Apeshit’ 00:02:31–00:02:36); the fifth and final is ‘the hair-combing scene’ in front of DaVinci’s Mona Lisa. Each of these scenes speaks to pivotal moments in French colonial and postcolonial history, and through the analysis of the lyrics of the song and the historical context, I provide insight into the rich and deep meaning behind the specific art choices made by The Carters, within the Louvre, for their music video.
New lyric writing: Blurring the boundary between popular and high culture
Authors: Sannaee John
Published: February 2024

This article aims to give an overview of the new forms of lyric writing by minorities in the United Kingdom, France and beyond. In the context of a globalized, postcolonial, internet era, a variety of forms and modes of broadcasting – from hip hop lyrics to instapoetry via verse novels and more traditional poetry collections – are characterized by an intersubjective lyricism that aims to transform and valorize the experiences of marginalized and minority writers. Out of the diversity of voices and forms, this article shows the shared poetics and features of this lyric writing as well as the solidarities across borders and different forms of marginalization that are often present and opens up lines of reflection and theorization, notably in relation to the role of internet and the developing cultural context of converging popular cultures and national and postcolonial literary traditions.
Making broken things seem whole: A family’s conversation about Into the Woods
Authors: Knapp Raymond , Knapp Rachel , Knapp Zelda
Published: February 2024

A family shares their recollections and insights regarding Into the Woods and their engagement with Sondheim and with musicals more generally. Recalling that their parents were on the brink of divorce when Into the Woods appeared on American television in March 1991, sisters Rachel Knapp and Jenny (Zelda) Knapp dialogue 31 years later with their father Raymond Knapp about their separate and mutual involvements with the musical’s themes – including broken families, separation and connectedness, responsibility and consequences, learning, mistakes, disappointment, tragedy, leaving home, absence, forgiveness, repair and just growing up – and how the show fostered and sustained their shared love of musicals over the decades.
‘Side by Side by Side’, in the street
Authors: Lang/Levitsky Rosza Daniel
Published: February 2024

An exploration of two decades of (queer, trans, Jewish) cultural work within justice movements, drawing on Stephen Sondheim’s work – banners, backpatches, rewritten lyrics, etc.
In my life, it was a good thing
Authors: Myers Sarah
Published: February 2024

‘No More’, one of the lesser-known songs from Into the Woods, is the launching pad for this personal article that explores both Sondheim’s lyrical legacy and his direct impact on the author’s understanding of her relationship with her father over a 30-year period. The article uses ‘No More’ to trace the author’s journey from 16-year-old encountering Into the Woods for the first time to 46-year-old deciding to leave an academic career while witnessing a complex father in slow decline. It examines the ways a ‘quest musical’ can help us craft (and recraft) stories about our lives as we are living them, and it explores how Sondheim’s songs unveil themselves in new, surprising ways over time – how his work speaks to multiple audiences at once. This article is also a homage to a life lived in academic theatre and a fond (partial) farewell to the cradle that world creates.
Kaddish for Steve: On the Jewishness of Sondheim1
Authors: Hoyt Gabrielle
Published: February 2024

‘Kaddish for Steve’ explores Steven Sondheim’s legacy as a Jewish artist after his death, seeking traces of his Judaism in stories of his Jewish collaborators, exploration of his Jewish (and Jew-ish) characters and analysis of his Jewish themes. Using theories of Jewish narrative and Jewishness as articulated by (among others) Dara Horn and Daniel Boyarin, and musical theatre theory as conceived by David Savran, the article closely reads musicals including Merrily We Roll Along, Company, Sunday in the Park with George and Gypsy alongside Sondheim’s own memoir, Finishing the Hat. In examining Sondheim’s understanding of his own work, ‘Kaddish for Steve’ discovers a Jewish way of reading and writing within both the musicals and the memoir that closely aligns with Boyarin’s concept of ‘Jewissance’. The article concludes with a remembrance of Sondheim as spiritual and artistic teacher, honouring his continued influence on contemporary musical theatre and comparing his role in the lives of his many students to that of a rabbi.
CAPACIDADE RELACIONAL EM PARCERIAS ESTRATÉGICAS
Authors: Comin Lidiane Cássia , Carvalho Carlos Eduardo , Begnini Sérgio
Published: February 2024

Objetivo: Desenvolver um quadro conceitual de como se dá o desenvolvimento da capacidade relacional no contexto das parcerias estratégicas, considerando as competências gerenciais como importantes antecedentes dessa capacidade.
Design/metodologia/abordagem: O estudo é baseado em ideias e pressupostos teóricos que têm significativa importância na definição e construção dos conceitos discutidos nesta análise. A revisão da literatura foi baseada na leitura, análise e fichamento de artigos nacionais e internacionais que possibilitou a discussão de pontos de interseção do tema parcerias estratégicas, capacidade relacional e competências gerenciais. Por fim, apresenta uma agenda de pesquisa com questões emergentes.
Resultados: O modelo conceitual desenvolvido propõe a atuação do gestor a partir de suas características que envolvem experiência, formação, cognição e comportamento. Aspectos da intelectualidade e conduta da alta administração tem sido positivamente relacionados na literatura aos modelos de negócios, e à capacidade da empresa de se relacionar com outros agentes do ecossistema de negócios do qual faz parte. Sugere-se que o conhecimento, as habilidades e características do gestor são necessárias para promover ações entre empresas parceiras para detectar e desenvolver novas oportunidades de negócios.
Originalidade: O estudo propõe uma estrutura dos componentes das competências gerenciais no desenvolvimento da capacidade relacional, necessária para parcerias estratégicas de empresas. A estrutura proposta apresentada contribuições ao conceito da capacidade relacional e seu papel sobre o desempenho dos negócios de empresas parceiras, e agrega a interação entre as dimensões individuais e organizacional necessárias para o desempenho de empresas parcerias.
COMPARATIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONTENT OF A NUMBER OF BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SUBSTANCES IN KIWI FRUITS
Authors: Aiba Lesik Yankovic , Platonova Natalia Borisovna , Belous Oksana Gennadievna
Published: February 2024

The content of biologically active substances in new promising varieties of kiwi breeding of the Research Institute of Agriculture of the Academy of Sciences of Abkhazia is considered. A spectrophotometric method for determining biologically active substances (anthocyanins, photosynthetic pigments, polyphenols) was used, which is based on determining the optical density of the solution of the analyzed substances at certain wavelengths. The aim is to analyze the varietal specification of kiwi fruits for the accumulation of biologically active substances such as pigments (anthocyanins, chlorophyll and carotenoids) and polyphenols in them. Five main groups of anthocyanins were quantified in fruits, and a significant excess of the amounts of this class of pigments was noted in the cv. Pobeditel (the amount of anthocyanins was 375.46 mg/100 g at 122.85–170.01 mg/100 g in the remaining varieties; LSD05 = 9.34). The predominant group of anthocyanin pigments in kiwi fruits is pelargonidin-3-glucoside, the content of which in varieties is in the range of 26.43 mg/100 g (cv. Slava) – 79.00 mg/100 g (cv. Pobeditel). The content of chlorophylls and carotenoids was determined, the greater amount of which accumulates in the fruits of the cv. Otkhara (1.58 mg/100 g of chlorophyll and 0.37 mg/100 g of carotenoids) and cv. Gulripshsky (1.58 and 0.23 mg/100 g, respectively). The amount of polyphenols synthesized in fruits has been established. The cv. Pobeditel and cv. Gulripshsky are the most rich in phenolic components (1576.5–1582.6 mg/100 g). The data of biochemical analyses showed the prospects of three new golden varieties without pubescence: Pobeditel, Gulripshsky and Otkhara. The results obtained will be used in further breeding work to obtain varieties that are the richest in biologically active substances of an antioxidant nature, and are of undoubted interest to the consumer.
A Shapley-érték komplexitása és becslése
Authors:   , Illés Ferenc
Published: February 2024

A kooperatív játékelmélet számos társadalmi dilemma illetve pénzügyi és gazdasági probléma modellje. Általában akkor alkalmazzuk, ha egy közösség által elérhető eredmény meghaladja az egyénenként elérhető eredmények összegét (szinergia), vagy egy tevékenység teljes költsége alacsonyabb, mint a részfeladatok költségeinek összege (megtakarítás) illetve teljes kockázata kisebb, mint a részfeladatok aggregált kockázata (diverzikáció). A fő kérdés pedig természetesen az, hogy hogyan osszuk el a többletet a szereplők között valamilyen „igazságos” módon. A kooperatív játékok legismertebb általános megoldását Lloyd Stowell Shapley adta meg 1953- ban A value for n-person games című cikkében. Bizonyítható, hogy Shapley megoldása, melyet azóta Shapley-értéknek neveznek, az egyetlen általános, azaz minden játékra működő megoldási koncepció, mely bizonyos igazságossági feltételeknek eleget tesz. Szépséghibája, hogy – az egyszerűen felírható formula és intuitív tartalma ellenére – konkrét játékokra nem feltétlenül tudjuk az értékét pontosan meghatározni, ha a játékosok száma túl nagy, ugyanis a képlet a játékosok számában nem polinomiális számú tag összegéből áll. A disszertáció tartalma, ha egy mondatban kéne összefoglalni: Hogyan lehet (illetve nem lehet) egy kooperatív játék Shapley-értékét hatékonyan kiszámolni vagy megbecsülni? Már a feladat pontos specikálásánál felmerül két egymást kioltó probléma. Az egyik a játék tárolásának képessége, mert egy általános TU-játék kezelhetetlen méretű adathalmaz, azonban a Shapley-érték ennek az adathalmaznak a függvényében „gyorsan” számolható. Ennek kezelésére bevezetjük a polinomiális reprezentáció fogalmát, azaz vizsgálódásainkat olyan játékosztályokra korlátozzuk, melyek valamilyen módon „jól tömöríthetőek”. A másik probláma a Shapley-érték kiszámításának képessége. Ha egy játékosztály elég jól tömöríthető ahhoz, hogy sok játékos esetén is meg tudjuk adni, akkor előfordulhat, hogy ennyi játékosra a Shapley-értéket már nincs kapacitásunk kiszámolni. A számítástudományi szempontból megoldhatatlannak tűnő problémák kezelésére két lehetőség adja magát. Az egyik a Monte-Carlo szimulációval történő becslés, a másik a speciális játékokra kifejlesztett pszeudopolinomiális algoritmus.
Difficulties of catching-up in Central-Eastern Europe
Authors:   , Fülöp Zoltán
Published: February 2024

The dissertation and the included articles primarily conduct exploratory investigations, followed by synthesising the results to draw conclusions. In the dissertation and in the article, I apply numerous quantitative methods. Mostly, they are connected to the input-output table systems. The balance of inter-sectoral relations (BIR) plays a central role in the targeted connection. The research applied other data analysing tools and databases, such as processing the company level reporting data which were linked to the system of national accounts. In this way I was able to organise different data sources of the National Tax and Customs Administration and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office to a consistent system.Beside and strongly connected to the input-output table system, the sectoral level interpretation of the smile curve framework involves other methodologies. The key methodology is the adaptation of Antràs (2013) methodology for calculating upstreamness and downstreamness index. Aim of the research: Throughout my research, the question that lingered was how Hungary and the Central-Eastern European region are progressing on the trajectory towards catching up (or, conversely, falling behind). The exploration of parallels between the region's characteristic state of a middle-income trap and its economic structure emerged as an objective, with one less-discussed aspect being the examination of engagement with global value chains.
Neurological Complications in Neonatal and Infant Bacterial Meningitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Ong Leong Tung
Published: February 2024

Background

Bacterial meningitis in neonates and infants is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Theincidence of bacterial meningitis has decreased in developed countries due to the use of conjugatesvaccines but the incidence is still high in developing countries. Neurological complications afterbacterial meningitis in neonates and infants can cause long-term sequelae such as neurodevelopmentaldelay and motor and psychometric impairment. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence ofneurological complications in neonates and infants diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.

Methods

Systematic electronic searches were conducted in EMBASE, MEDINE, and Google Scholar from January2000 to December 2020 to identify relevant studies. The quality of studies was assessed using theNewcastle-Ottawa-Scale. The random-effect model was used to calculate the pooled prevalence.

Results

A total of 10 studies involving 1206 patients were included in this systematic review. Five studies wereconducted in developing countries while five studies were conducted in developed countries. Theoverall prevalence of neurological complications in neonates and infants was 39.0% (95% CI 0.28-0.51).The most common neurological complication was hydrocephalus (11.5%, n=139) followed by seizure(9.5%, n=114), intracranial haemorrhage (9.1%, n=110), subdural effusion (6.8%, n=82), ventriculitis(4.6%, n=55), brain abscesses (4.2%, n=51), and brain infarct (3.1%, n=37). The common organismsfrom cerebrospinal fluid culture or blood culture were Group B Streptococcus (n=260), Escherichia coli(n=124), coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (n=78), Haemophilus influenzae (n=16), Neisseriameningitidis (n=11), and Listeria monocytogenes (n=10).

Conclusions

Neurological complications are frequently developed in neonates and infants diagnosed with bacterialmeningitis. Awareness of neurological sequelae is essential for planning clinical management toimprove patient outcomes. Frequent clinical follow-up with comprehensive neurological anddevelopmental assessment is needed after the disease to identify any complications.