bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Return to Learn After Sport-Related Concussion: A Survey of Secondary School and Collegiate Athletic Trainers
Authors: Williamson Chelsea L. , Norte Grant E. , Broshek Donna K. , Hart Joseph M. , Resch Jacob E.
Published: November 2018

Context

Recent recommendations have emphasized return-to-learn (RTL) protocols to aid athletes in recovery from sport-related concussion (SRC) but have been based primarily on anecdotal evidence.

Objective

To investigate the RTL practices of certified athletic trainers (ATs) after an SRC.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Online survey.

Patients or Other Participants

A total of 1083 individuals (27%) from a random sample of 4000 ATs in the National Athletic Trainers' Association membership database completed an electronic survey. Participants consisted of 729 self-identified secondary school ATs (SSATs; 67.3%; experience = 14.0 ± 9.7 years) and 354 self-identified collegiate ATs (CATs; 32.7%; experience = 13.4 ± 9.7 years).

Main Outcome Measure(s)

We used χ2 analyses to assess respondent differences related to current knowledge, current practices, and available resources. Independent t tests were used to compare SSATs and CATs on years of certification and annual number of SRCs evaluated.

Results

Of our total respondents, 41.2% (n = 446) correctly indicated the absence of evidence-based RTL guidelines. Whereas most (73.9%, n = 800) respondents had an established RTL policy, only 38.1% (n = 413) used such guidelines in their clinical practice. Most (97.1%, n = 708) SSATs and 82.2% (n = 291) of CATs had access to (a) mental health professional(s); however, minorities of SSATs (21.4%, n = 156) and CATs (37.0%, n = 131) never accessed these resources to care for concussed student-athletes.

Conclusions

Our results suggested that, despite the absence of empirical evidence, most surveyed ATs incorporated some form of RTL protocol in their SRC management policy. The varying AT knowledge, clinical practices, and resources highlighted by our results should be considered when creating or refining an RTL protocol.
School and Community Socioeconomic Status and Access to Athletic Trainer Services in Wisconsin Secondary Schools
Authors: Post Eric , Winterstein Andrew P. , Hetzel Scott J. , Lutes Blaire , McGuine Timothy A.
Published: November 2018

Context

Secondary schools have made significant progress in providing athletic trainer (AT) coverage to their student-athletes, but the levels of access at schools with ATs may vary widely. Socioeconomic disparities in medical coverage and access have been noted in other health care fields, but such disparities in the level of access to AT services have not been thoroughly examined.

Objective

To determine if (1) access to AT services or (2) the level of access (AT hours per week and athletes per AT hour) differed based on the socioeconomic characteristics of secondary schools.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Mailed and e-mailed surveys.

Patients or Other Participants

High school athletic directors and ATs from 402 Wisconsin high schools.

Main Outcome Measure(s)

Respondents provided information as to whether their school used the services of an AT and the number of hours per week that their school had an AT on-site. The number of athletes per AT hour was calculated by dividing the total number of athletes at the school by the number of hours of AT coverage per week. The socioeconomic status of each school was determined using the percentage of students with free or reduced-cost lunch and the county median household income (MHI).

Results

Schools without an AT on-site were in lower MHI counties (P < .001) and had more students eligible for a free or reduced-cost lunch (P < .001). Lower levels of AT access (fewer hours of AT access per week and more athletes per AT hour) were observed at schools in the lowest third of the county MHI and with the highest third of students eligible for a free or reduced-cost lunch (P < .001).

Conclusions

Socioeconomic disparities were present in access to AT services. New models are needed to focus on providing a high level of AT access for all student-athletes, regardless of socioeconomic status.
Boekbespreking
Authors: Van Zyl F.J. , Pont A.D.
Published: November 2018

No abstract available.
Die boek prediker: 'n Smartkreet om die gevalle mens
Authors: Oberholzer J.P.
Published: November 2018

No abstract available.
Die klinies pastorale vorming in Nederland en voorstelle vir Suid-Afrika
Authors: De Klerk W.J.
Published: November 2018

No abstract available.
Nawerkinge van die Cottesloeberaad van die wêreldraad van kerke 7–14 Desember 1960
Authors: Van Wyk D.J.C.
Published: November 2018

No abstract available.
Ou-testamentiese teologie en skrifbeskouing
Authors: Venter P.M.
Published: November 2018

No abstract available.
Laparoscopic repositioning of chronic gastric volvulus in a dog
Authors: Van Heerden Frans G. , Hartman Marthinus J. , McClure Vanessa , Kirberger Robert M.
Published: November 2018

A 12-year-old spayed Newfoundland bitch was presented with chronic non-productive vomiting, regurgitation and coughing of six weeks’ duration. On clinical examination, the dog was depressed with no other significant findings. Haematology and biochemistry investigations detected no abnormalities. Thoracic and abdominal radiographs revealed a megaoesophagus and an abnormally positioned pylorus. A thoracic and abdominal computed tomography scan confirmed the abnormal position of the stomach, together with moderate aspiration pneumonia. Laparoscopic examination of the peritoneal cavity revealed the greater omentum wrapped over the stomach, with a fold visualised between the abnormally positioned pyloric antrum and the gastric corpus. A 180-degree clockwise gastric rotation was laparoscopically diagnosed and corrected. The normal position of the stomach was confirmed before a laparoscopic-assisted incisional gastropexy was performed. Post-operatively the vomiting and regurgitation resolved and the patient was discharged. Twenty-four hours after discharge, the dog was presented with deteriorating clinical signs of aspiration pneumonia. The owner declined treatment, additional diagnostics as well as a necropsy and requested euthanasia. Chronic gastric volvulus should be considered as a rare differential diagnosis in dogs with non-specific, chronic gastrointestinal signs. Radiography, computed tomography and laparoscopy are valuable diagnostic aids in making this diagnosis. Chronic gastric volvulus can be successfully reduced laparoscopically as reported here for the first time.
Growth and special structures production of Nostoc paludosum (Nostocaceae, Cyanobacteria) under nutrient starvation and different light intensities
Authors: Dextro Rafael Barty , Moutinho Fellipe Henrique Martins , Nordi Cristina Souza Freire
Published: November 2018

The effects of the absence of nitrogen and phosphorus on AA media and three different light intensities (100% Light, 60.0± 2.7 μmol m-2 s-1, 50% Light, 30.0± 2.7 μmol m-2 s-1, and 13.5% Light, 8.1± 2.7 μmol m-2 s-1) on cell production and synthesis of heterocytes and akinetes were determined in a strain of Nostoc paludosum. In the experiment concerning the absence of nutrients, significant variations were observed between the control group and the groups with absence of nutrients, especially in cell numbers and in synthesis of heterocytes and akinetes. The absence of nitrogen boosted the formation of heterocytes and the absence of phosphorus produced the most akinetes. As for the different light conditions, the growth curves determined for each treatment showed that cell synthesis is slightly affected by the reduction of illuminance. The different light intensities are capable of reducing the maximum growth rates of Nostoc paludosum, with 13.5% light restriction being the most effective on limiting the cell growth rate and inducing the formation of akinetes. The synthesis of heterocyte does not seem directly correlated to light intensity, being better explained by nutritional factors. The data found contributes to the understanding of some of the factors involving growth and synthesis of special structures in Nostoc paludosum.
Growth Status, Inflammation, and Enteropathy in Young Children in Northern Tanzania
Authors: Wirth James P. , Kitilya Brenda , Petry Nicolai , PrayGod George , Veryser Stephen , Mngara Julius , Zwahlen Christian , Wieringa Frank , Berger Jacques , de Onis Mercedes , Rohner Fabian , Becquey Elodie
Published: November 2018

Recent evidence suggests that enteropathy of the gut due to environmental conditions (i.e., environmental enteropathy [EE]) in young children is negatively associated with linear growth. Using a case–control study design, we examined the potential determinants of stunting in stunted and non-stunted children 22–28 months of age. Potential determinants included inflammation biomarkers C-reactive protein, alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), and endotoxin-core antibody (EndoCAb) measured in serum samples; enteropathy markers alpha-1-antitrypsin, neopterin, myeloperoxidase (MPO) measured in stools samples; and demographic, health, feeding, and household characteristics. We also explored the determinants of EE by testing associations of composite EE scores and individual biomarkers with potential risk factors. Fifty-two percent of children (n = 310) were found to be stunted, and mean height-for-age Z scores (HAZ) were −1.22 (standard deviation [SD] ± 0.56) among non-stunted (control) children and −2.82 (SD ± 0.61) among stunted (case) children. Child HAZ was significantly (P < 0.05) and inversely associated with AGP, and child stunting was significantly positively associated (P < 0.05) with low dietary diversity, severe household hunger, and absence of soap in the household. Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein and EndoCAb concentrations were also significantly higher (P < 0.05) among children in households with no soap. Our study documented a seemingly localized cultural practice of young children (25%) being fed their dirty bathwater, which was associated with significantly higher concentrations of MPO (P < 0.05). Alpha-1-acid glycoprotein showed the most consistent associations with child growth and hygiene practices, but fecal EE biomarkers were not associated with child growth. The lack of retrospective data in our study may explain the null findings related to fecal EE biomarkers and child growth.
Acute Post-Streptococcal Glomerulonephritis in the Northern Territory of Australia: A Review of Data from 2009 to 2016 and Comparison with the Literature
Authors: Chaturvedi Swasti , Boyd Rowena , Krause Vicki
Published: November 2018

Acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) is an inflammatory kidney disease following infection with nephritogenic strains of Group A Streptococcus. In 1991, APSGN became notifiable in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia with cases recorded on the NT Notifiable Disease Database (NTNDS). The case definition of a confirmed case requires laboratory definitive evidence or laboratory suggestive evidence in conjunction with a clinically compatible illness. Probable cases require clinical evidence only. Acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis notifications from 2009 to 2016 were extracted from the NTNDS. Of the 322 cases, 261 were confirmed and 61 probable. The majority, 304 (94%), were Aboriginal and the median age was 8 years (range: 0–62 years). Incidence for confirmed cases was 13.8/100,000 person-years, with inclusion of probable cases increasing incidence to 17.0/100,000 person-years. Highest incidence of confirmed cases was in Aboriginal children less than 15 years of age at 124.0 cases/100,000 person-years. The rate ratio of confirmed cases in Aboriginal to non-Aboriginal Australians was 18.9 (95% confidence interval: 11.4–33.6). Recent trends show a consistently high number of notifications annually with less frequent outbreaks. The Aboriginal population of the NT continues to have high rates of APSGN with recent trends showing higher rates than previously reported. Sustained preventative efforts and continued surveillance strategies are needed.
Dengue Virus Infection of Primary Human Smooth Muscle Cells
Authors: Arias-Arias Jorge L. , Vega-Aguilar Francisco , Corrales-Aguilar Eugenia , Hun Laya , Loría Gilbert D. , Mora-Rodríguez Rodrigo
Published: November 2018

Dengue virus (DENV) infection of humans is presently the most important arthropod-borne viral global threat, for which no suitable or reliable animal model exists. Reports addressing the effect of DENV on vascular components other than endothelial cells are lacking. Dengue virus infection of vascular smooth muscle cells, which play a physiological compensatory response to hypotension in arteries and arterioles, has not been characterized, thus precluding our understanding of the role of these vascular components in dengue pathogenesis. Therefore, we studied the permissiveness of primary human umbilical artery smooth muscle cells (HUASMC) to DENV 1–4 infection and compared with the infection in the previously reported primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and the classically used, non-transformed, and highly permissive Lilly Laboratories Cell-Monkey Kidney 2 cells. Our results show that HUASMC are susceptible and productive to infection with the four DENV serotypes, although to a lesser extent when compared with the other cell lines. This is the first report of DENV permissiveness in human smooth muscle cells, which might represent an unexplored pathophysiological contributor to the vascular collapse observed in severe human dengue infection.
Handheld Point-of-Care Lactate Measurement at Admission Predicts Mortality in Ugandan Children Hospitalized with Pneumonia: A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Ma Cary , Gunaratnam Lourdes Cynthia , Ericson Austin , Conroy Andrea L. , Namasopo Sophie , Opoka Robert O. , Hawkes Michael T.
Published: November 2018

Globally, pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children younger than 5 years old, with most deaths occurring in low-income countries. Rapid bedside tools to assist practitioners to accurately triage and risk-stratify these patients may improve clinical care and patient outcomes. We conducted a prospective cohort study of children with pneumonia admitted to two Ugandan hospitals to examine the predictive value of a single point-of-care lactate measurement using a commercially available handheld device, the Lactate Scout Analyzer. One hundred and fifty-five children were included, 90 (58%) male, with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) age of 11 (1.4–20) months. One hundred and twenty-five (81%) patients had chest indrawing, 133 (86%) were hypoxemic, and 75 (68%) had a chest x-ray abnormality. In-hospital mortality was 22/155 (14%). Median (IQR) admission lactate level was 2.4 (1.8–3.6) mmol/L among children who survived versus 7.2 (2.6–9.7) mmol/L among those who died (P < 0.001). Lactate was a better prognostic marker of mortality (area under receiver operator characteristic 0.76, 95% confidence interval: 0.69–0.87, P ≤ 0.001), than any single clinical sign or composite clinical risk score. Lactate level at admission of < 2.0, 2.0–4.0, and > 4.0 mmol/L accurately risk-stratified children, with 5-day mortality of 2%, 11% and 26%, respectively (P < 0.001). Slow lactate clearance also predicted subsequent mortality in children with repeated lactate measurements. Hand-held lactate measurement is a clinically informative and convenient tool in low-resource settings for triage and risk stratification of pediatric pneumonia.
Case Reports: Survival from Rabies: Case Series from India
Authors: Mani Reeta S. , Damodar Tina , S Divyashree , Domala Srikanth , Gurung Birendra , Jadhav Vilas , Konanki Ramesh , Lingappa Lokesh , Loganathan Sathish Kumar , Salagare Rajendra , Tambi Priyash
Published: November 2018

Rabies, a zoonotic viral encephalitis, continues to be a serious public health problem in India and several other countries in Asia and Africa. Survival is rarely reported in rabies, which is considered to be almost universally fatal. We report the clinical and radiological findings of eight patients with laboratory-confirmed rabies who survived the illness. With the exception of one patient who recovered with mild sequelae, all survivors had poor functional outcomes. The reported survival from rabies in recent years may reflect an increased awareness of the disease and greater access to better critical care facilities in rabies-endemic countries. Nonetheless, there is an urgent need to focus on preventive strategies to reduce the burden of this dreadful disease in rabies-endemic countries.
Estimations of Global Shortwave Direct Aerosol Radiative Effects Above Opaque Water Clouds Using a Combination of A-Train Satellite Sensors
Authors: Kacenelenbogen Meloë S. , Vaughan Mark A. , Redemann Jens , Young Stuart A. , Liu Zhaoyan , Hu Yongxiang , Omar Ali H. , LeBlanc Samuel , Shinozuka Yohei , Livingston John , Zhang Qin , Powell Kathleen A.
Published: November 2018

Abstract. All-sky Direct Aerosol Radiative Effects (DARE) play a significant yet still uncertain role in climate. This is partly due to poorly quantified radiative properties of Aerosol Above Clouds (AAC). We compute global estimates of short-wave top-of-atmosphere DARE over Opaque Water Clouds (OWC), DAREOWC, using observation-based aerosol and cloud radiative properties from a combination of A-Train satellite sensors and a radiative transfer model. There are three major differences between our DAREOWC calculations and previous studies: (1) we use the Depolarization Ratio method (DR) on CALIOP (Cloud Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization) Level 1 measurements to compute the AAC frequencies of occurrence and the AAC Aerosol Optical Depths (AOD), thus introducing fewer uncertainties compared to using the CALIOP standard product; (2) we apply our calculations globally, instead of focusing exclusively on regional AAC hotspots such as the southeast Atlantic; and (3) instead of the traditional look-up table approach, we use a combination of satellite-based sensors to obtain AAC intensive radiative properties. Our results agree with previous findings on the dominant locations of AAC (South and North East Pacific, Tropical and South East Atlantic, northern Indian Ocean and North West Pacific), the season of maximum occurrence, aerosol optical depths (a majority in the 0.01–0.02 range and that can exceed 0.2 at 532 nm) and aerosol extinction-to-backscatter ratios (a majority in the 40–50 sr range at 532 nm which is typical of dust aerosols) over the globe. We find positive averages of global seasonal DAREOWC between 0.13 and 0.26 W · m−2 (i.e., a warming effect on climate). Regional seasonal DAREOWC values range from −0.06 W · m−2 in the Indian Ocean, offshore from western Australia (in March–April–May) to 2.87 W · m−2 in the South East Atlantic (in September–October–November). High positive values are usually paired with high aerosol optical depths (> 0.1) and low single scattering albedos (
Oligomerization Reactions
of Criegee Intermediates with Hydroxyalkyl Hydroperoxides: Mechanism, Kinetics,
and Structure-Reactivity Relationship
Authors: Chen Long , Huang Yu , Xue Yonggang , Shen Zhenxing , Cao Junji , Wang Wenliang
Published: November 2018

Abstract. Although secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) are major components of PM2.5 and organic aerosol (OA) particles and therefore profoundly influencing air quality, climate forcing and human health, the mechanism of SOAs formation via Criegee chemistry is poorly understood. Herein, we perform high-level theoretical calculations to study the reactivity and kinetics of four Criegee intermediates (CIs) reactions with four hydroxyalkyl hydroperoxides (HHPs) for the first time. The calculated results show that the sequential addition of CIs to HHPs affords oligomers containing CIs as chain units. The addition of -OOH group in HHPs to the central carbon atom of CIs is identified as the most energetically favorable channel, with a barrier height strongly dependent on both, CI substituent number (one or two) and position (syn- or anti-). In particular, the introduction of a methyl group into the anti-position significantly increase the rate coefficient, dramatic decrease is observed when the methyl group is introduced into the syn-position. Based on the collected data, the atmospheric lifetime of anti-CH3CHOO in the presence of HHPs is estimated as ~ 5.9 × 103 s. These findings are expected to broaden the reactivity proﬁle and deepen our understanding of atmospheric SOAs formation processes.
Biogenic silica production and diatom dynamics in the Svalbard region during spring
Authors: Krause Jeffrey W. , Duarte Carlos M. , Marquez Israel A. , Assmy Philipp , Fernández-Méndez Mar , Wiedmann Ingrid , Wassmann Paul , Kristiansen Svein , Agustí Susana
Published: November 2018

Abstract. Diatoms are generally the dominant contributors to the Arctic Ocean spring
bloom, which is a key event in regional food webs in terms of capacity for
secondary production and organic matter export. Dissolved silicic acid is an
obligate nutrient for diatoms and has been declining in the European Arctic
since the early 1990s. The lack of regional silicon cycling information
precludes understanding the consequences of such changes for diatom
productivity during the Arctic spring bloom. This study communicates the
results from a cruise in the European Arctic around Svalbard, which reports the
first concurrent data on biogenic silica production and export, export of
diatom cells, the degree of kinetic limitation by ambient silicic acid, and
diatom contribution to primary production. Regional biogenic silica
production rates were significantly lower than those achievable in the
Southern Ocean and silicic acid concentration limited the biogenic silica
production rate in 95 % of samples. Compared to diatoms in the Atlantic
subtropical gyre, regional diatoms are less adapted for silicic acid uptake
at low concentration, and at some stations during the present study, silicon
kinetic limitation may have been intense enough to limit diatom growth. Thus,
silicic acid can play a critical role in diatom spring bloom dynamics. The
diatom contribution to primary production was variable, ranging from
<10 % to ∼100 % depending on the bloom stage and
phytoplankton composition. While there was agreement with previous studies
regarding the export rate of diatom cells, we observed significantly elevated
biogenic silica export. Such a discrepancy can be resolved if a higher
fraction of the diatom material exported during our study was modified by
zooplankton grazers. This study provides the most direct evidence to date
suggesting the important coupling of the silicon and carbon cycles during the
spring bloom in the European Arctic.
The origin and role of biological rock crusts in rocky desert weathering
Authors: Wieler Nimrod , Ginat Hanan , Gillor Osnat , Angel Roey
Published: November 2018

Abstract. In drylands, microbes that colonise rock surfaces were linked to erosion because water scarcity excludes traditional weathering mechanisms. We studied the origin and role of rock biofilms in geomorphic processes of hard lime and dolomitic rocks that feature comparable weathering morphologies though originating from arid and hyperarid environments, respectively. We hypothesised that weathering patterns are fashioned by salt erosion and mediated by the rock biofilms that originate from the adjacent soil and dust. We used a combination of microbial and geological techniques to characterise rocks morphologies and the origin and diversity of their biofilm. Amplicon sequencing of the SSU rRNA gene suggested that bacterial diversity is low and dominated by Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. These phyla formed laminar biofilms only on rock surfaces that were exposed to the atmosphere and burrowed up to 6 mm beneath the surface, protected by sedimentary deposits. Unexpectedly, the microbial composition of the biofilms differed between the two rock types and was also distinct from the communities identified in the adjacent soil and settled dust, showing a habitat-specific filtering effect. Moreover, the rock bacterial communities were shown to secrete extracellular polymeric substances that form an evaporation barrier, reducing water loss rates by 65–75 %. The reduced water transport rates through the rock also limit salt transport and its crystallisation in surface pores, which is thought to be the main force for weathering. Concomitantly, the biofilm layer stabilises the rock surface via coating and protects the weathered front. Our hypothesis contradicts common models, which typically consider biofilms as weathering-promoting agents. In contrast, we propose the microbial colonisation of mineral surfaces acts to mitigate geomorphic processes in hot, arid environments.
Investigating the effect of El Niño on nitrous oxide distribution in the Eastern Tropical South Pacific
Authors: Ji Qixing , Altabet Mark A. , Bange Hermann W. , Graco Michelle I. , Ma Xiao , Arévalo-Martínez Damian L. , Grundle Damian S.
Published: November 2018

Abstract. The open ocean is a major source of atmospheric warming and ozone depleting gas nitrous oxide (N2O). Intense sea-to-air fluxes of N2O occur in major oceanic upwelling regions such as the Eastern Tropical South Pacific Ocean (ETSP). The ETSP is influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation that leads to inter-annual variations of physical, chemical and biological properties. A strong El Niño was developing in this region in October 2015, during which we investigated the N2O production pathways and, by comparing to previous non-El Niño years, the effects of El Niño on water column N2O distributions and fluxes. Analysis of N2O natural abundance isotopomers suggested that both nitrification and partial denitrification (nitrate and nitrite reduction to N2O) were important N2O production pathways. Higher than normal sea-surface temperatures were associated with a deepening of the oxycline, while the level of sea surface N2O supersaturation on the continental shelf was nearly an order of magnitude lower than those of non-El Niño years. Therefore, a significant reduction of N2O efflux in the ETSP occurred during the 2015 El Niño event. At both offshore and coastal stations, the N2O concentration profiles during El Niño showed moderate N2O concentration gradients, and peak N2O concentrations were deeper than during non-El Niño years; this was likely the result of suppressed upwelling retaining N2O in subsurface waters. The depth-integrated N2O concentrations during El Niño were nearly twice as high as those measured in non-El Niño years, indicating subsurface N2O during El Niño could be a reservoir for intense N2O effluxes when normal upwelling is resumed after El Niño.
Sediment transport modelling in riverine environments: on the importance of
grain-size distribution, sediment density and boundary conditions
Authors: Lepesqueur Jérémy , Hostache Renaud , Martínez-Carreras Núria , Montargès-Pelletier Emmanuelle , Hissler Christophe
Published: November 2018

Abstract. Hydromorphodynamic models are powerful tools to predict the potential mobilization and transport of sediment in river ecosystems. Recent studies even showed that they are able to satisfyingly predict suspended sediment matter concentration in small river systems. However, modelling exercises often neglect suspended sediment properties (e.g. particle site distribution and density), even though such properties are known to directly control the sediment particle dynamics in the water column during rising and flood events. This study has two objectives. On the one hand, it aims at further developing an existing hydromorphodynamic model based on the dynamic coupling of TELEMAC-3D (v7p1) and SISYPHE (v7p1) in order to enable an enhanced parameterisation of the sediment grain size distribution with distributed sediment density. On the other hand, it aims at evaluating and discussing the added-value of the new development for improving sediment transport and riverbed evolution predictions. To this end, we evaluate the sensitivity of the model to sediment grain size distribution, sediment density and suspended sediment concentration at the upstream boundary condition. As a test case, the model is used to simulate a flood event in a small scale river, the Orne River in North-eastern France. The results show substantial discrepancies in bathymetry evolution depending on the model setup. Moreover, the sediment model based on an enhanced sediment grain size distribution (10 classes) and with distributed sediment density outperforms the model with only two sediment grain size classes in terms of simulated suspended sediment concentration.
Evaluating critical rainfall conditions for large-scale landslides by detecting event times from seismic records
Authors: Kuo Hsien-Li , Lin Guan-Wei , Chen Chi-Wen , Saito Hitoshi , Lin Ching-Weei , Chen Hongey , Chao Wei-An
Published: November 2018

Abstract. One purpose of landslide research is to establish early
warning thresholds for rainfall-induced landslides. Insufficient observations
of past events have inhibited the analysis of critical rainfall conditions
triggering landslides. This difficulty may be resolved by extracting the
timing of landslide occurrences through analysis of seismic signals. In this
study, seismic records of the Broadband Array in Taiwan for Seismology were
examined to identify ground motion triggered by large landslides that
occurred in the years 2005 to 2014. A total of 62 landslide-induced seismic
signals were identified. The seismic signals were analyzed to determine the
timing of landslide occurrences, and the rainfall conditions at those times
– including rainfall intensity (I), duration (D), and effective rainfall
(Rt) – were assessed. Three common rainfall threshold models (I–D,
I–Rt, and Rt–D) were compared, and the crucial factors of a
forecast warning model were found to be duration and effective rainfall. In
addition, rainfall information related to the 62 landslides was analyzed to
establish a critical height of water model, (I-1.5)⋅D=430.2. The
critical height of water model was applied to data from Typhoon Soudelor of
2015, and the model issued a large landslide warning for southern Taiwan.
The Implications of the Pacific Alliance on the Evolution of Inequality in Member Countries
Authors: Rojas-Lozano Daniel
Published: November 2018

The Pacific Alliance is a regional integration process that seeks to promote greater economic growth, competitiveness and development in its member countries. In this paper, the author critically approaches this integration process and wonders if it affects the level of income inequality in their countries. When investigating the constituent agreements of the Pacific Alliance, and using Mercosur as a control group for the period 2000-2014, this study shows that the Pacific Alliance members conceive free capital flows as a mechanism to promote growth, however, the measures to promote this mechanism represent setbacks in distributive terms.
Integration Processes in Latin America
Authors: Flores Paredes Joaquín , Wong Chan Susana , Salas Chaverri Duayner
Published: November 2018

After describing, within the framework of “Open Regionalism”, the tortuous process that the Central American countries have experienced to achieve their integration as a Common Market, this article analyses the relationship between these countries and Mexico, through the Free Trade Agreement signed among them. Once it is shown that the integration process of the Central American countries is on an impasse, the article explores the possibilities to advance on the economic integration between Mexico and the region. Using quantitative measurement and qualitative elements, this article identifies favorable conditions for such integration to be initiated by Mexico and Costa Rica, whether or not US trade policy changes towards the region.
Naturalist Structuralism's Aporia? Essentialism, Indeterminacy, and Nostalgia – a response to Paul Livingston
Authors: Wheeler III Samuel C.
Published: November 2018

This essay argues that what Livingston calls the “structuralist” project, combined with a naturalistic, external approach to language, does not in fact lead to a paradoxical failure to match lived language. Quine’s indeterminacy argument is not a consequence of naturalism and structuralism, but is rather a consequence of thorough anti-essentialism, a thesis he shares with Derrida and Davidson. Contemporary naturalism is in fact not committed to Quine’s thesis. Davidson’s views are a purification of the views of Quine, removing Quine’s empiricist appeal to stimulus meaning and Quine’s scientism. Davidson abandons the conventionalist conception of language but retains the “structuralist” conception of language, as captured by a truth-definition. The indeterminacy thesis is a consequence of anti-essentialism applied to semantics, that is, the denial of transcendental signifieds. The essay concludes by arguing that Quine’s aporia (which is also Davidson’s and Derrida’s aporia) is a discovery rather than a paradox.
What Should Feminists Do About Nature?
Authors: Mann Bonnie
Published: November 2018

Feminists, including this one, have two problems with nature: a special problem which is a historical and political problem, and an ontological problem that we share with everyone else (our metabolism with the earth). My claim is that the first problem is so acute that it tends to make us forget the second. The fundamental division in contemporary feminist thinking can be described as that between feminists who are interested in deconstructing, all the way down, the notion of natural differences between women and men as pre-social, and feminists who are interested in recuperating, re-affirming or asserting some version of originary sexual difference. By returning to Simone de Beauvoir, we find that even at this early moment in contemporary feminist thought a more complex account of nature was already articulated. Beauvoir helps us understand how structures of injustice are parasitically entangled with general features of human existence, even those that seem most “natural.” At one founding moment of contemporary feminist thinking, then, deconstructive and descriptive engagements with the question of nature, far from being opposed, are co-necessary features of feminist thought.
A Way of Comparing Levi-Strauss and Lacan
Authors: Simonis Yvan
Published: November 2018

This essay attempts to compare and contrast the different conceptions of the human subject in Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jacques Lacan, with specific reference to the notions of art and the act. For this occasion I will draw on my reading of structuralism, developed elsewhere, as a “logic of the aesthetic perception of the social.” Structuralism apparently distances itself from the act, but it presupposes the act as a foundation. Psychoanalysis takes the act as its point of departure and seeks its art. In each case, the human subject is conceived differently. Nonetheless, the exercise appended to this essay proposes a space in which these two approaches can perhaps encounter each other on the common ground of structure.
The Borderline, or the Impossibility of Producing a Negotiable Form in the Social Bond for the Return of the Censored
Authors: Cantin Lucie
Published: November 2018

How do we think the problem of the “Borderline” within psychoanalysis and the structural conception of psychic organization it proposes? As for the notion of a border between neurosis and psychosis that the case of the Borderline would simultaneously raise and call into question, we must rather recognize the failed experience of an internal limit in the subject with regard to the management of the censored that works and disorganizes the body in a jouissance that finds no path for its expression. The Borderline grapples with the work of the unbound drive, which is free and mobilized by unconscious and censored mental representations which fail to find both their mode of expression outside of the body and their meaning for the subject, as well as their negotiable form in the social space. In the absence of this space carved out in the social bond for the expression of the drive and of desire, the symptom and acting out inscribe and stage the censored within the public space, where its dramatization inevitably leads to a breakdown.
Of Non-vital Interest: Art, Mimicry, and the Phenomenon of Life
Authors: Calhoon Kenneth
Published: November 2018

My aim in this essay is to explore certain parallels—concerning anthropomorphism—in the work of Roger Caillois, Hans Jonas, Theodor Adorno and Sigmund Freud. Both Caillois (a thinker closely connected to French Surrealism and an important source for Jacques Lacan) and Jonas (philosopher and one-time student of Heidegger) take issue with the ban on anthropomorphism—an anathema that is the legacy of Western science. Part of the thesis in Jonas’ major work, The Phenomenon of Life, is that freedom is not exclusively a human quality but a potential within the simplest organic forms, even within inorganic matter. Anthropomorphism may be the legacy of a primitive stage in human development in which the whole of creation was endowed with a soul, but this attitude, Jonas argues, is the more natural one. Whereas in the early phases of humanity death was the stranger in a world that was fundamentally alive, modern thinking made life the riddle within a world of neutral matter and mechanistic principles. Freud’s own theory of the death-drive (“an urge inherent in organic life to restore an earlier state of things which the living entity has been obliged to abandon under the pressure of external disturbing forces”) seems quite consistent with the primacy of death over life instituted by modern thought. I have a general interest in comparing Freud’s theory of the death drive, the aim of which is the restoration of an original equilibrium, with music, whose traditional structure (via the cadence) is to relieve tonal tension through a restoration of the keynote (Grundton). This bears upon the problem of anthropomorphism in that “classical” music since the seventeenth century has cast expression in terms of simulated human emotions: we hear music and perceive love, longing or fear, not to mention (in the case of pastorale) the “cheer” of birdsong or the “rage” of a thunderstorm. Adorno’s critique of this tradition, in which true expression is replaced by mere images of expression, theorizes what he calls a “tendency of the material,” extolling the composer whose sheer mastery of technique enables the material to go where it “wants” to go. What Adorno means by “material” is not merely the inventory of sounds available to the musician but the historical experience sedimented within musical convention. Nonetheless, I would like to attempt an argument whose parameters are Adorno’s “tendency of the material” and Jonas’ idea that freedom must be conceived as a “genuine potency” within physical substance.
The Time of Animal Voices
Authors: Toadvine Ted
Published: November 2018

Phenomenology’s attention to the theme of animality has focused not on animal life in general but rather on the animal dimension of the human and its contested relation with humanity as such. Phenomenology thereby reproduces Agamben’s “anthropological machine” by which humanity is constructed through the “inclusive exclusion” of its animality. The alternative to this “inclusive exclusion” is not, however, a return to kinship or commonality, but rather an intensification of the constitutive paradox of our own inner animality, understood in terms of the anonymous, corporeal subject of perception that lives a different temporality than that of first-person consciousness. This provides us with an entirely different context for encounter with non-human others, insofar as they speak through our own voices and gaze out through our own eyes. This position is developed through a reading, first, of the proximity of Merleau-Ponty’s early work with that of Max Scheler, who paradigmatically reduces human animality to bare life. Merleau-Ponty differentiates himself from Scheler by emphasizing, in The Structure of Behavior, that life cannot be integrated into spirit without remainder. Merleau-Ponty’s later work thinks this remainder as the ineliminable gap and delay in the auto-affection of the body and as a chiasmic exchange that anticipates Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of “becoming animal.” This remainder of life within consciousness is the immemorial past of one’s own animality. It follows that our “inner animality” is neither singular nor plural but a kind of pack that speaks through the voice that I take to be mine. Furthermore, in the exchange of looks between myself and a non-human other, the crossing of glances occurs at an animal level that withdraws from my own reflective consciousness.
"The Happiness of 'Slight Superiority'": Kierkegaard and Nietzsche on Resentment
Authors: Conway Daniel
Published: November 2018

My aim in this essay is to pair Kierkegaard with the German-born philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900). I am particularly concerned to juxtapose their complementary investigations into the etiology and operation of resentment, which both thinkers identified as exerting a powerfully retardant force within the bourgeois societies of late modern European culture. Indeed, both were concerned to demonstrate the extent to which the corrosive power of resentment had transformed the religious injunction to “love thy neighbor” into a culturally sponsored program to “beggar thy neighbor.”

The result of this pairing, or so I hope to demonstrate, is a productive division of philosophical labor: From Nietzsche, on the one hand, Kierkegaard’s readers may gain a clear sense of how a community founded on ressentiment may accommodate “healthy” expressions of comparative advantage and relative superiority. Even when exaggerated and amplified, however, these expressions pose no threat to the conservative, contractionary structure of the ethical life of the community in question. In particular, as we shall see, Nietzsche’s account of ressentiment may explain that, and why, the seemingly daring meditation conducted by Johannes de silentio in Fear and Trembling yields such a muddled and unsatisfying conclusion.
The Concept of Byrony
Authors: Gurley D. Gantt
Published: November 2018

“The Concept of Byrony” examines Kierkegaard’s lyrical relation to Lord Byron. As an alternative to models of German influence, this paper discusses Kierkegaard’s quotations of Byron’s poetry and allusions to the poet himself. The paper establishes a poetical relationship between the two writers in terms of irony and metaphor. Kierkegaard’s sense of irony is creative but not unique; its roots can be located in earlier writings of the Danish Golden Age. Of particular importance is the development of irony in the works of Johan Ludvig Heiberg and the young writers that surrounded him, including the young Kierkegaard himself. It was in Heiberg’s salon where Byron seems to have first stepped into the Danish literary landscape. For Kierkegaard and Danish letters in general, the reception and celebrity-status of Byron perhaps play a more important role than his verse, although another acolyte of Heiberg’s, Frederik Paludan-Müller, wrote poetry that strongly illustrates Byron’s poetical influence in Danish verse. The paper also examines the Byronic notion of the empty sign, a metaphor that points to its own meaninglessness as a further poetic relationship. Moreover, the Byronic hero as a model for a lived life provided Kierkegaard with a powerful public mask that accompanied him to his last days. I term this mask and masquerade Byrony. In its conclusion the paper marks a significant similarity between the death-scenes and epitaphs of these major nineteenth-century European writers.
The Ethical Context of Either/Or
Authors: Kosch Michelle
Published: November 2018

This is a sequel to an earlier paper ('Kierkegaard's Ethicist' Archiv 2006) in which I argued that J.G. Fichte (rather than Kant or Hegel or some amalgam) was the primary historical model for the ethical standpoint described in Kierkegaard’s Either/Or II. Here I offer some new support for that claim. In the first section I present some evidence for Fichte’s prominence in the landscape of philosophical ethics in the 1830s and ’40s in Germany and Denmark. I argue that Kierkegaard’s use of Fichte as a foil was not idiosyncratic, but was rather the obvious choice in the historical context. In the second section I describe some additional substantive and textual reasons for thinking Fichte was the figure looming largest in the background of Kierkegaard’s construction of the ethical standpoint in Either/Or.
Tragedy, History, and the Form of Philosophy in Either/Or
Authors: Lisi Leonardo F.
Published: November 2018

Kierkegaard’s essay “The Tragic in Ancient Drama Reflected in the Tragic in Modern Drama,” makes two basic claims of far-reaching consequences for the theory of the tragedy and for philosophy more generally. The first is the claim that the essence of tragedy in all its historical manifestations consists in the representation of an irreducible contradiction between two qualitatively distinct principles: substantial determinants and individual agency. The second is Kierkegaard’s contention that, within this essence, the difference between the genre’s ancient and its modern forms rests on the different relations to that contradiction, on whether it is accepted as an objective fact or as a reflexive possibility. In the present article I elucidate Kierkegaard’s argument in terms of these two claims and point to some of their larger implications. With respect to the first, I show that it introduces a significant challenge to the conception of historical time on which our category of modernity depends. As concerns the second, I argue that it constitutes an engagement with what Kant calls as the modality of judgments (whether an object is possible, actual, or necessary), which Kierkegaard here attacks in the version given to it by the young F.W.J. Schelling. Kierkegaard’s rejection of Schelling’s argument on this point goes to the heart of the idealist project and ultimately questions what the form of philosophy should be.
Rilke, Phenomenology, and the Sensuality of Thought
Authors: Tobias Rochelle
Published: November 2018

This paper takes as its point of departure Husserl’s claim that the only world we can speak of is the one given in consciousness or that presents itself to intuition. Husserl’s insistence on the world’s status as a phenomenon whose being can never be verified, as such a verification would require an act of mind, has led to the accusation that phenomenology is nothing but a form of idealism that discounts the validity of everything apart from consciousness. This paper turns this accusation on its head. To the extent that phenomenology addresses the role that consciousness plays in constituting the world, it draws attention to consciousness’ worldly aspects as not only the ground for all intuition but intuition itself in its sensuality. Consciousness is identical with what it observes, be it a bird in flight, the unfolding petals of a rose bud, or a discarded doll gathering dust in an attic. Rilke’s poetry more than any other exposes the sensuality of thought by exploring the inner contours of feeling or what he calls elsewhere the Weltinnenraum. This paper shows the intersection of poetry and phenomenology through a close reading of “Die Rosenschale,” which forms the conclusion of the first volume of the collection Neue Gedichte.
Mexico, Immigration, and Trump: Towards Transborder Thinking
Authors: Stephen Lynn
Published: November 2018

Since the contributions to this Special Issue consist of relatively brief statements, the Editorial Board of Konturen has decided to forego abstracts this time around. Please click on "html" or "pdf" below for the full document of this essay.