bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Skin in the Game
Authors: Bebout Lee
Published: April 2014

Over the last two decades, a growing body of scholarship has examined how whiteness is socially constructed as “objective” and “neutral” in the US and elsewhere. This article seeks to trouble such a position for white teachers in the multiracial classroom, particularly those that focus on multiethnic literatures. Drawing upon scholarship in critical whiteness studies, personal experiences with students, and reflections on multicultural literature, this article advances an educational philosophy of investment wherein privilege and subjectivity are made legible in the learning process. In this model, educators and students work toward the discomfort that often comes from recognizing the risks and rewards of acknowledging one’s positioning within a racial order.
Ecopedagogy
Authors: Lucksinger Annette
Published: April 2014

This piece discusses the use of sense of place as a focal point for studying literature to lead students to consider the complexity of the human relation to the physical world, the universal connections between people and landscapes, and the reciprocal impact of these relationships. The intent is to create fertile ground through the literature, class discussions, journal writing, and personal action for an environmental consciousness to emerge. Too, as students study literary characters’ interactions with places, they become more aware of their own developing relationships with their shared city and their place in, for many college students, their new community. The author presents these ideas from a pedagogical perspective that lays the foundation for such a literature course, including defining the concept “sense of place,” selecting texts, and creating assignments that encourage student involvement in the local community. The ideas covered are not limited to a literature course, however, and might be applied to writing classes and interdisciplinary disciplines.
Synthesis and CO2 Adsorption Properties of Hydrophobic Porous Coordination Polymer Featuring [Zn9(MeBTZ)12]6+ Building Units
Authors: Watabe Tsuyoshi , Yogo Katsunori
Published: March 2014

A hydrophobic porous coordination polymer, [Zn9(MeBTZ)12(BPDC)3] where MeBTZ is 5-methylbenzotriazolate and BPDC is 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxylate, was obtained through a one-pot solvothermal reaction of zinc nitrate hexahydrate, 5-methyl-1H-benzotriazole and 4,4′-biphenyldicarboxylic acid in N,N-dimethylacetamide. The structure of [Zn9(MeBTZ)12(BPDC)3] was built from trigonal antiprismatic [Zn9(MeBTZ)12]6+ nodes connected with linear BPDC linkers, having 4669 net topology. The working capacity for CO2 adsorption on [Zn9(MeBTZ)12(BPDC)3] over the pressure range between 0.1 and 1.6 MPa at 40 °C was 3.4 mol kg−1 after the preintroduction of high humidity.
Search, Liquidity, and the Dynamics of House Prices and Construction
Authors: Head Allen , Lloyd-Ellis Huw , Sun Hongfei
Published: April 2014

The dynamics of house prices, sales, construction, and population growth in response to city-specific income shocks are characterized for 106 US cities. A dynamic model of search in the housing market in which construction, the entry of buyers, house prices, and sales are determined in equilibrium is then developed. The theory generates dynamics qualitatively consistent with the observations and a version calibrated to match key features of the US housing market offers a substantial quantitative improvement over models without search. In particular, variation in the time it takes to sell induces transaction prices to exhibit serially correlated growth. (JEL D83, R21, R23, R31)
Bidding for Incomplete Contracts: An Empirical Analysis of Adaptation Costs
Authors: Bajari Patrick , Houghton Stephanie , Tadelis Steven
Published: April 2014

Procurement contracts are often renegotiated because of changes that are required after their execution. Using highway paving contracts we show that renegotiation imposes significant adaptation costs. Reduced form regressions suggest that bidders respond strategically to contractual incompleteness and that adaptation costs are an important determinant of their bids. A structural empirical model compares adaptation costs to bidder markups and shows that adaptation costs account for 7.5–14 percent of the winning bid. Markups from private information and market power, the focus of much of the auctions literature, are much smaller by comparison. Implications for government procurement are discussed. (JEL D44, D82, D86, H57, L13, L74, R42)
Heterogeneity and Aggregation: Implications for Labor-Market Fluctuations: Comment
Authors: Takahashi Shuhei
Published: April 2014

Chang and Kim (2007) develop an incomplete asset markets model incorporating discrete labor supply and idiosyncratic labor productivity. Their results resolve long-standing puzzles for business cycle models. Specifically, they produce a low correlation between aggregate hours worked and labor productivity (0.23) and a labor wedge with 76 percent the volatility of output. I show that these results arise from errors in their computational method. I resolve their model using a corrected method and find a strong, positive correlation between hours and productivity (0.80). Fluctuations in the labor wedge decrease to 24 percent of those in output. (JEL D31, E32, J22, J24, J31)
Automatic Detection of CT Perfusion Datasets Unsuitable for Analysis due to Head Movement of Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients
Authors: Fahmi Fahmi , Marquering Henk , Streekstra Geert , Beenen Ludo , Janssen Natasja , Majoie Charles , vanBavel Ed
Published: April 2014

Head movement during brain Computed Tomography Perfusion (CTP) can deteriorate perfusion analysis quality in acute ischemic stroke patients. We developed a method for automatic detection of CTP datasets with excessive head movement, based on 3D image‐registration of CTP, with non‐contrast CT providing transformation parameters. For parameter values exceeding predefined thresholds, the dataset was classified as ‘severely moved’. Threshold values were determined by digital CTP phantom experiments. The automated selection was compared to manual screening by 2 experienced radiologists for 114 brain CTP datasets. Based on receiver operator characteristics, optimal thresholds were found of respectively 1.0°, 2.8° and 6.9° for pitch, roll and yaw, and 2.8 mm for z‐axis translation. The proposed method had a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 82.3%. This method allows accurate automated detection of brain CTP datasets that are unsuitable for perfusion analysis.
Russia-Descendant Non-Russia-Based Communities in the Scientific-Knowledge and Cultural Context of Russian in late 1980s-2000
Authors: Камнева Галина , Kamneva Galina , Сотников Сергей , Sotnikov Sergey
Published: April 2014

The article deals with the evolution of the vision that the Russia-descendant community based out of Russia communicated through scientific literature, mass media, and Russian public opinion at different stages of democratic reforms. The author draws conclusions concerning the establishment of scientific objective vision of the Russia-descendant non-Russia-based community at the turn of the 21s´century and the development of a comprehensive informational and social/cultural dialogue between Russia and emigrants from Russia.
A Systematic Approach to Personnel Commitment Assessment
Authors: Лустина Татьяна , Lustina Tatyana
Published: April 2014

The article researches the issue of personnel loyalty /commitment as affecting organizational competitive potential. The author aims at creating a systematic approach to personnel loyalty management and drawing up a loyalty-type-specific plan of personnel loyalty development.

With long-term survival prospects making it any organization´s imperative to treat its personnel loyalty / commitment as a contributor to competitive advantage, research into the issue is gaining momentum. In terms of management, personnel loyalty / commitment is viewed as an effective driver of an organization´s efficiency, lending to HR stability, raising the organization´s competitive potential and improving performance. Thus, creating a personnel loyalty / commitment management system is an increasingly pressing matter.
Minimally invasive endoscopic therapy for the management of Boerhaave’s syndrome
Authors: Dent B , Immanuel A , Griffin SM
Published: March 2014

Darrien JH, Kasem H Minimally invasive endoscopic therapy for the management of Boerhaave’s syndrome. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2013; 95: 552–556 doi 10.1308/003588413X13629960049315
Meta-analysis of retrojugular versus antejugular approach for carotid endarterectomy
Authors: Antoniou GA , Murray D , Antoniou SA , Kuhan G , Serracino-Inglott F
Published: March 2014

Introduction

The retrojugular approach for carotid endarterectomy (CEA) has been reported to have the advantages of shorter operative time and ease of dissection, especially in high carotid lesions. Controversial opinion exists with regard to its safety and benefits over the conventional antejugular approach.

Methods

A systematic review of electronic information sources was conducted to identify studies comparing outcomes of CEA performed with the retrojugular and antejugular approach. Synthesis of summary statistics was undertaken and fixed or random effects models were applied to combine outcome data.

Findings

A total of 6 studies reporting on a total of 740 CEAs (retrojugular approach: 333 patients; antejugular approach: 407 patients) entered our meta-analysis models. The retrojugular approach was found to be associated with a higher incidence of laryngeal nerve damage (odds ratio [OR]: 3.21, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46–7.07). No significant differences in the incidence of hypoglossal or accessory nerve damage were identified between the retrojugular and antejugular approach groups (OR: 1.09 and 11.51, 95% CI: 0.31–3.80 and 0.59–225.43). Cranial nerve damage persisting during the follow-up period was similar between the groups (OR: 2.96, 95% CI: 0.79–11.13). Perioperative stroke and mortality rates did not differ in patients treated with the retrojugular or antejugular approach (OR: 1.26 and 1.28, 95% CI: 0.31–5.21 and 0.25–6.50).

Conclusions

Currently, there is no conclusive evidence to favour one approach over the other. Proof from a well designed randomised trial would help determine the role and benefits of the retrojugular approach in CEA.
Methods for siting emergency stomas in the absence of a stoma therapist
Authors: Pengelly S , Reader J , Jones A , Roper K , Douie WJ , Lambert AW
Published: March 2014

Introduction

Stomas often have to be sited in emergencies by trainees who may have had little training in this. Emergency stomas and stomas where the site has not been marked preoperatively by a stoma therapist are more prone to complications. These complications may severely affect a patient’s quality of life. Advice in the literature on how to best site stomas is conflicting. We compared two easy anatomical methods of siting stomas to sites chosen by a stoma therapist and looked at how this site was affected by the patients’ body mass index (BMI).

Methods

Patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery were seen either pre or postoperatively. Each patient’s BMI was recorded and the positions of three different potential stoma positions (site G: the gold standard, marked by a stoma therapist; site S: marked using a pair of scissors against the umbilicus; site H: halfway between the umbilicus and anterior superior iliac spine) were compared.

Results

The two fixed anatomical methods described (method S and method H) both gave poor results. The most common reason for poor siting was the proximity of a skin crease. There was a statistically significant correlation between the patient’s BMI and the laterality of the gold standard site.

Conclusions

The two simple anatomical methods described here do not provide a shortcut to effective siting. A more effective method may be calculating the laterality of the site using the patient’s BMI, and then moving up/down to avoid a skin crease and improve the patient’s view for changing the bag. This deserves further study.
Incidence and predictors of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia in a tertiary endocrine surgical unit
Authors: Edafe O , Prasad P , Harrison BJ , Balasubramanian SP
Published: March 2014

Background

Post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia is a common complication with significant short and long term morbidity. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and predictors of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia (as defined by a corrected calcium <2.1 mmol/l) in a tertiary endocrine surgical unit.

Methods

A total of 238 consecutive patients who underwent completion or bilateral thyroid surgery between 2008 and 2011 were included in this retrospective study. Clinical and biochemical data were obtained from electronic and hard copy medical records.

Results

The incidence of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia on first postoperative day (POD1) was 29.0%. There was variation in the incidence of hypocalcaemia depending on the timing of measurement on the first postoperative day. At six months following surgery, 5.5% of patients were on calcium and/or vitamin D supplementation. Factors associated with post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia were lower preoperative corrected calcium (p=0.005) and parathyroid gland (PTG) auto-transplant (p=0.001). Other clinical factors such as central lymph node dissection, inadvertent PTG excision, ethnicity, preoperative diagnosis and Lugol’s iodine were not associated with post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia.

Conclusion

The incidence of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia was underestimated by 6% when only POD1 measurements were considered. The timing of measurement on POD1 has an impact on the incidence of post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia. Auto-transplantation and lower preoperative calcium were associated with post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia.
Ultrasonography alone for diagnosis of breast cancer in women under 40
Authors: Appleton DC , Hackney L , Narayanan S
Published: March 2014

Introduction

Recent guidelines suggest that ultrasonography should be used as the primary imaging modality in women under 40 years of age with mammography being offered if further imaging is required. The aim of this study was to assess the adequacy of ultrasonography and the utility of mammography in this patient group by reviewing the role these imaging techniques had in the diagnosis of breast cancer in our unit.

Methods

All breast cancers diagnosed in patients 39 years or younger from June 2009 to June 2011 were reviewed. This was a retrospective review of presentation, clinical findings, imaging modality (ultrasonography, mammography, magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) and histology. Mammography was the primary imaging modality until May 2011 in women between 35 and 39 years of age. Both invasive and intraductal carcinoma were included in the study but lobular carcinoma in situ was excluded.

Results

A total of 2,495 patients were referred to the symptomatic breast clinic in this age group during the study period. Thirty women were identified with either invasive cancer (n=27) or ductal carcinoma in situ (n=3). Twenty-eight patients underwent mammography, graded as uncertain, suspicious or malignant in the majority. Malignancy was missed in one patient. All 30 patients underwent ultrasonography, reported as uncertain, suspicious or malignant, an indication for diagnostic core biopsy. Ultrasonography alone did not miss any cancers but did fail to detect multifocal disease in one patient.

Conclusions

In this study group, ultrasonography was reliable as the primary imaging modality for women under 40, identifying all cancers in this cohort. Mammography and/or MRI remain essential adjuncts to accurately determine multifocality and/or the extent of disease.
The use of computed tomography in identifying radiologically occult hip fractures in the elderly
Authors: Heikal S , Riou P , Jones L
Published: March 2014

Introduction

Fractured neck of femur (NOF) is a cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Approximately 4% of patients with an initial normal hip x-ray in the emergency department (ED) will in fact have an occult fracture. In cases where there is ongoing clinical suspicion of NOF fracture despite a normal hip x-ray, alternative imaging should be used. Although available evidence supports the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for this, it is often not readily accessible from the ED. In our department, it is common practice to request computed tomography (CT).

Methods

A historical review was undertaken of all patients who presented between October 2007 and January 2011 who had CT requested by ED staff. Patients included in the study were those who presented following low impact trauma in whom fractured NOF was suspected despite a normal x-ray.

Results

Of the 65 included patients, fractures (pelvic and hip) were identified in 38 patients on CT. Fractured NOFs were found in 13 patients. Acetabular fractures were found in nine patients, five of whom required further orthopaedic management. One patient went on to have MRI to confirm the diagnosis of an impacted NOF fracture, suspected both on x-ray and CT. Further review was undertaken of the medical notes of discharged patients to identify any who reattended or required further imaging. No such cases were found.

Conclusions

This review has shown the use of CT to be a practical approach to improving the care of patients with occult hip fractures.
Representation zeta functions of nilpotent groups and generating functions for Weyl groups of type B
Authors: Stasinski A. , Voll C.
Published: March 2014

We study representation zeta functions of finitely generated, torsion-free nilpotent groups which are groups of rational points of unipotent group schemes over rings of integers of number fields. Using the Kirillov orbit method and $\frak{p}$-adic integration, we prove rationality and functional equations for almost all local factors of the Euler products of these zeta functions. We further give explicit formulae, in terms of Dedekind zeta functions, for the zeta functions of class-$2$-nilpotent groups obtained from three infinite families of group schemes, generalizing the integral Heisenberg group. As an immediate corollary, we obtain precise asymptotics for the representation growth of these groups, and key analytic properties of their zeta functions, such as meromorphic continuation. We express the local factors of these zeta functions in terms of generating functions for finite Weyl groups of type~$B$. This allows us to establish a formula for the joint distribution of three functions, or ``statistics'', on such Weyl groups. Finally, we compare our explicit formulae to $\frak{p}$-adic integrals associated to relative invariants of three infinite families of prehomogeneous vector spaces.
Cusp geometry of fibered 3-manifolds
Authors: Futer David , Schleimer Saul
Published: March 2014

Let $F$ be a surface and suppose that $\varphi\colon F \to F$ is a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism, fixing a puncture $p$ of $F$. The mapping torus $M = M_\varphi$ is hyperbolic and contains a maximal cusp $C$ about the puncture $p$. We show that the area (and height) of the cusp torus $\partial C$ is equal to the stable translation distance of $\varphi$ acting on the arc complex $\scr{A}(F,p)$, up to an explicitly
bounded multiplicative error. Our proof relies on elementary facts about the hyperbolic geometry of pleated surfaces. In particular, the proof of this theorem does not use any deep results from Teichm\"uller theory, Kleinian group theory, or the coarse geometry of $\scr{A}(F,p)$. A similar result holds for quasi-Fuchsian manifolds $N\cong F\times\Bbb{R}$. In that setting, we find a combinatorial estimate for the area (and height) of the cusp annulus in the convex core of $N$, up to explicitly bounded multiplicative and additive error. As an application, we show that covers of punctured surfaces induce quasi-isometric embeddings of arc complexes.
Carleman estimates for the Zaremba Boundary Condition and Stabilization of Waves
Authors: Cornilleau Pierre , Robbiano Luc
Published: March 2014

In this paper, we shall prove a Carleman estimate for the so-called Zaremba problem. Using some techniques of interpolation and spectral estimates, we deduce a result of stabilization for the wave equation by means of a linear Neumann feedback on the boundary. This extends previous results from the literature: indeed, our logarithmic decay result is obtained while the part where the feedback is applied contacts the boundary zone driven by an homogeneous Dirichlet condition.We also derive a controllability result for the heat equation with the Zaremba boundary condition.
Neoliberal Temporality: Time-Sense and the Shift from Pensions to 401(k)s
Authors: Hardin Carolyn
Published: March 2014

The decline of traditional pensions and the rise of individualized retirement accounts such as 401(k)s can be read as a neoliberal program of transferring risk and responsibility for providing retirement income from employers to workers. Subsequent to this shift, American workers are facing a “retirement savings crisis.” While the stagnation of incomes in the United States has certainly contributed to this crisis, I argue that the specific temporality of 401(k) investing also plays a role. Drawing on the work of John Clarke, E. P. Thompson, and Paul Virilio, I argue that the neoliberal temporality of 401(k) investing conditions a new “time-sense” in workers-turned-employee-investors that privileges the present over the future. This present-focused time-sense contradicts the future orientation required for retirement investing.
Introduction: Dimensions of Empire and Resistance: A Forum on the Past, Present, and Future of US (Un)Equal Rights
Authors: Chávez Ernesto
Published: March 2014

This essay serves as an introduction to “Dimensions of Empire and Resistance: A Forum on the Past, Present, and Future of US (Un)Equal Rights,” an American Quarterly forum that stems from a panel at the American Studies Association conference in November 2012. The forum attempts to understand the simultaneous expansion of gay and lesbian rights through the vehicle of marriage equality and the retraction of Mexican American civil liberties through anti-immigrant legislation. It argues that the example of queers and Latino/as offers a stark contrast in the doling out of rights and citizenship. In addition, it argues that we should not lose sight of the fact that African Americans and Puerto Ricans have also been faced with these issues in the last year.
No More Shame! Defeating the New Jim Crow with Antilynching Activism’s Best Tools
Authors: Mitchell Koritha
Published: March 2014

This essay identifies similarities between racial violence of an earlier time period, lynching, and its most efficient form today, mass incarceration, suggesting that today’s racial violence must be met with tools used by previous generations. It calls for a critical demeanor of shamelessness that allows targeted communities and their allies to avoid taking on the shame that mainstream discourse encourages them to accept. People of color are incarcerated in staggering numbers, but not because they are disproportionately guilty of violent or even nonviolent crimes. Given the extreme racial disparities, being caught by the nation’s criminal (in)justice system is simply not a reflection on one’s character, not a reason for shame. Americans of all backgrounds must educate and empower themselves to see that mass incarceration is fueling an empire whose greed knows no limits, as it insists on practices that allow the elite to make pawns of everyone else.
Coivara da memória : Entre la nostalgia y la melancolía
Authors: Tinoco Sonia Barrios
Published: March 2014

Las novelas de Francisco Dantas han sido alabadas por darle nueva vida a la literatura regionalista del nordeste brasilero de los años 1930. Los estudios sobre sus escritos se han enfocado principalmente en los lazos que tiene el autor con dicha tradición y/o con su rol como representante del neoregionalismo. Nuestro propósito en estas páginas es ampliar el espectro y contemplar su texto Coivara da memória (1991) a través del lente de la nostalgia y la melancolía para explorar y discutir otros aspectos importantes y de dimensiones más universales de sus escritos. Ambientada durante el periodo de la decadencia de las plantaciones de caña de azúcar en el nordeste de Brasil, en la novela encontramos a un hombre que ha cometido un crimen en defensa propia y a quien se le da el privilegio de quedarse en casa hasta que se dicte su sentencia. Mientras espera, examina su vida y escribe. En el acto de recordar a menudo se inserta un gesto nostálgico, lo cual implica un deseo de regreso a un pasado idílico. Sin embargo, a medida que el personaje recorre su pasado el sentido de nostalgia se desvanece dando paso a un deseo utópico. Argumentamos que aunque la nostalgia y la melancolía comparten hilos en común, es posible identificar diferencias entre ellas e intentaremos descifrar en cuál de estas esferas habita la voz narrativa de Coivara .
La conquista del aire de Belén Gopegui: Un discurso narrativo de la Generación de los 90 en España inmerso en las coordenadas de la posmodernidad
Authors: Aiello Antonio J.
Published: March 2014

El presente trabajo examina la novela , la tercera novela de Belén Gopegui, ofreciendo una novedosa valoración de esta obra como exponente de la Generación de los 90 de la narrativa española de finales del siglo XX inmersa en el discurso narrativo de la posmodernidad, ese discurso mayor de los nuevos tiempos, olvidado por la crítica pero aún presente en el siglo XXI. Para ello analiza sus características en contraste con el modelo de Ihab Hassan, constatando su pertenencia a la narrativa posmoderna, sin obviar las características del ámbito sociocultural español de los años noventa, por las estrategias literarias empleadas: una fabulación basada en la deconstrucción de los códigos de la narrativa realista con un propósito metaficcional, el tratamiento del espacio y el tiempo desde una dimensión no real y ubicua, un relato identificado con la “petite histoire”, el desplazamiento del código autoral al del idiolecto, una diégesis no solo contable sino escribible, el grado de participación de su voz narrativa andrógina, el ambiente de anarquía, su tono de ironía, la temática del desencanto, la política del deseo, el adulterio, la soledad y la familia ajena a los cánones tradicionales, descubriendo el nuevo orden engendrado, paradigma de estos tiempos.
The Power of Belief: Spanish Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy and Student Performance on the National Spanish Examinations
Authors: Swanson Pete
Published: March 2014

In this study, the researcher investigated Spanish teachers’ sense of efficacy as it relates to their students’ achievement on the AATSP National Spanish Examinations. Results suggest that there is a link between Spanish teacher efficacy and students’ scores on the exams. That is, the higher one’s belief about his or her abilities to teach Spanish, the higher the students’ scores on the exams. Teacher efficacy also was found to be related to participants’ future vocational plans: whether they remain teaching or leave the profession. This research has implications for teacher preparation and professional development highlighting the importance of building a strong sense of efficacy in teaching Spanish.
Freedom to Experiment: The Coherence and Complexity of Federico García Lorca’s Puppet Theater
Authors: Polansky Susan G.
Published: March 2014

Federico García Lorca’s appropriation of the puppet play genre reveals that at the same time he was reaching into deep roots of popular tradition, he also was seeking opportunity to innovate and break free from limitations imposed by the commercial theater scene of the first decades of the twentieth century. Tracing the trajectory of Lorca’s puppet plays reveals that, while his puppet works contain recurring story lines, actions, and characters, they display an increasing complexity. Through metatheatrical devices such as narrator figures, Lorca takes a more self-reflective stance to communicate his aesthetic preoccupations and perspectives on puppet theater.
First-year Hybrid Spanish Courses: How Instructors Manage Their Time
Authors: Godev Concepción B.
Published: March 2014

This study examines how instructors managed their time when teaching a first-year hybrid Spanish course. The hybrid course differed from the traditional one in that 50% of the face-to-face teaching was replaced with online activities. Another marked difference between the traditional and the hybrid courses was that the latter enrolled 60 students per section, twice the number of students in traditional ones. The results indicate that instructors may not need to work significantly more time than they would in a traditional course, but the course coordinators’ tasks will increase, as they will have to set-up virtual master courses. The perception reported by instructors that they seem to work longer to manage a hybrid course may be a consequence of the increased frequency of certain tasks and how they are managed. In other words, more effort may be needed to manage a hybrid class while allocating the same amount of time as in a traditional class.
La valoración del habla bilingüe en los Estados Unidos: Fundamentos sociolingüísticos y pedagógicos en Hablando bien se entiende la gente
Authors: Lynch Andrew , Potowski Kim
Published: March 2014

Para muchas personas e instituciones, la Academia de la Lengua Española se considera una máxima autoridad en materia de lengua española y ejerce una fuerte influencia en la percepción y apreciación lingüísticas a través del mundo hispánico. La Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (ANLE), la más nueva de las 22 academias que conforman la Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, puede jugar un papel fundamental en la normalización del español en los Estados Unidos en años venideros, especialmente en los terrenos político e institucional. En este artículo examinamos desde un punto de vista crítico el libro Hablando bien se entiende la gente , una guía escrita por el director y varios miembros de la ANLE como un “esfuerzo de servicio comunitario realizado en aras del buen decir”, según los autores, con el propósito de “despejar dudas ortográficas y gramaticales”. Señalamos la problemática conceptualización sociolingüística del libro y argumentamos que la voz pedagógica que se manifiesta en sus páginas podría ser contraproducente para lo que debe ser la principal función de la ANLE: promover el uso del español en los Estados Unidos.
A Failed Utopia in Marcela del Río’s Proceso a Faubritten
Authors: Manickam Samuel
Published: March 2014

In Marcela del Río’s science fiction novel Proceso a Faubritten , utopia comes in the form of eternal life for all of humanity, thanks to Dr. Alexander Faubritten’s “Bomba L.” This polyphonic work includes diaries by Faubritten and his Mexican lover, María Corona. In my analysis of these two diaries, I will show how Faubritten overreaches as a scientist by inventing the Bomba L, while Corona in the guise of Malinche levels a critique of would-be utopias imposed upon humanity through patriarchal unilateral decisions.
Phonetics and Technology in the Classroom: A Practical Approach to Using Speech Analysis Software in Second-language Pronunciation Instruction
Authors: Olson Daniel J.
Published: March 2014

While speech analysis technology has become an integral part of phonetic research, and to some degree is used in language instruction at the most advanced levels, it appears to be mostly absent from the beginning levels of language instruction. In part, the lack of incorporation into the language classroom can be attributed to both the lack of practical pedagogical methods for implementation, as well as objections to the complex design of the software itself. The present study first seeks to create a brief picture of phonetic instruction at lower levels of language instruction. The second, and main aim, is to address the dearth of practical implementations by presenting one possible pedagogical application of speech analysis software called Praat with attention given to key considerations to facilitate student self-analysis. Lastly, to assess the previous objections to such software, this study provides empirical, student-driven pilot data for the usability of speech analysis software in the classroom. In addition to confirming that speech-analysis software is largely absent at the lowest levels of language instruction, the findings demonstrate that, with a carefully designed approach to self-analysis, students indicate that the program is both beneficial and highly usable.
Promoting the Academic Engagement and Success of Black Male Student-Athletes
Authors: Harris Paul C. , Hines Erik M. , Kelly Darren D. , Williams Derick J. , Bagley Bethany
Published: March 2014

The goal of this study was to provide a qualitative look at the factors associated with the academic engagement and success of Black male student-athletes in high school. The research team employed a thematic analysis to examine semi-structured interviews conducted with two successful Black male student-athletes, along with their principal, teachers, parents, and coaches. The results suggest that a consistent, collaborative approach laden with cultural competence is necessary to facilitate such outcomes. The study is viewed through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, and implications for the results are discussed for several education stakeholders. Suggestions for future research and practice are provided.
Isaac ha-Kohen’s Letter to Marco Lippomano: Jewish-Christian Exchange and Arabic Learning in Renaissance Italy
Authors: Kokin Daniel Stein
Published: March 2014

This article publishes and extensively analyzes a previously unstudied Hebrew letter sent by Isaac ha-Kohen, a Jewish scholar from Syracuse, to the learned Venetian politician Marco Lippomano (ca. 1390-ca. 1446). Written at the latter's clear request, this epistle offers a brief introduction to the Arabic verbal system and was probably composed in the 1420s or 30s. Already recognized as an accomplished Hebraist, thanks to this letter we now know that Lippomano sought to learn Arabic as well, in one of the earliest documented cases of interest in the language in the context of the Italian Renaissance. The article argues that Lippomano's motivation was, as it had been in the case of Hebrew, primarily scientific in nature and suggests that he was specifically interested in learning Judeo-Arabic. It notes how Isaac draws upon Sephardic paradigms concerning the relationship between the languages of "Sarah" and "Hagar" in deducing that Arabic, like Hebrew, has seven "buildings" or verbal stem formations. And it further observes that the verb tables at the letter's core offer an important indication as to the continued vitality of Sicilian Judeo-Arabic into the fifteenth century. It also uses Isaac's letter to highlight the neglected linguistic element of Sicilian Jewish scholarship. Finally, this article places this unique document in a larger context of shared economic discourse concerning Jewish-Christian intellectual exchange. The article concludes with an listing and discussing all known manuscripts associated with this Isaac ha-Kohen, helping bring to light a clearly important, but previously neglected, Sicilian Jewish scholar.
Paucity, abundance, and the theory of number
Authors: Harbour Daniel
Published: March 2014

Approximative numbers, like paucal and greater plural, can be characterized in terms of a feature, [±additive], concerned with additive closure. The two parameters affecting this feature (whether it is active and whether + and − values may cooccur) also affect the two features that generate nonapproximative numbers. All three features are shown to be derivative of concepts in the literature on aspect and telicity, to have a straightforwardly compositional semantics, and to eschew ad hoc stipulations on cooccurrence (such as geometries and filters). Thus, what is proposed is a general theory of number, free of extrinsic stipulations. Empirically, the theory yields a characterization of all numbers attested crosslinguistically, a combinatorial explanation of Greenberg-style implications affecting their cooccurrence, a natural account of morphological compositionality, and insight into their diachronic sources and trajectories.
From obligatory WH-movement to optional WH-in-situ in Labourdin Basque
Authors: Duguine Maia , Irurtzun Aritz
Published: March 2014

In this article, we analyze the nature and origin of a new wh -question strategy employed by young speakers of Labourdin Basque. We argue that this new strategy implies a parametric change: while Basque has always been a bona fide wh -movement language, these new constructions are instances of wh -in-situ and display the syntactic and semantic properties and patterns of in-situ wh -questions in French. We analyze the emergence of this new strategy as being due to the combination of three factors: (i) the abundance of structurally ambiguous wh -questions in the primary linguistic data, (ii) the change in the sociolinguistic profile of bilingual Basque-French speakers, and (iii) an economy bias for movementless derivations.
Canadian raising with language-specific weighted constraints
Authors: Pater Joe
Published: March 2014

The distribution of the raised variants of the Canadian English diphthongs is standardly analyzed as opaque allophony, with derivationally ordered processes of diphthong raising and of /t/-flapping. This short report provides an alternative positional contrast analysis in which the preflap raised diphthongs are licensed by a language-specific constraint. The basic distributional facts are captured with a weighted constraint grammar that lacks the intermediate level of representation of the standard analysis. The paper also provides a proposal for how the constraints are learned and shows how correct weights can be found with a simple, widely used learning algorithm.
“Non ai fatto la parte del tuo dovere:” Studio sulla lingua della propaganda italiana nella Grande Guerra
Authors: Petrossi Antonio
Published: March 2014

This work presents an overview of the influence of propaganda on the linguistic devices used in informal writing by the semi-educated during the Great War. The degree of influence of propaganda on the general population can be measured by linguistic clues in private letters, which, as reflections on, and descriptions of, the writers’ daily lives, are an ideal documentary source for the study of the subjective and collective mentality of an era. The research will focus on the volumes of an editorial series, “Pagine dell’ora”, published by Fratelli Treves , and the private correspondence of the military and the civil population.
Pasolini vs. Calvino, One More Time: The Debate on the Role of Intellectuals and Postmodernism in Italy Today
Authors: Re Lucia
Published: March 2014

From Dante on, writers and intellectuals have played a crucial role in Italy, acting as a sort of collective “critical conscience” and providing some sense of a common identity in spite of the country’s chronic socio-political, economic and cultural fragmentation. In recent years, the usual laments over the “decline” and failures of Italian intellectuals, bemoaning especially the disappearance of impegno in the postmodern era, have multiplied and turned into a peculiar genre of its own. Many scholars have repeatedly issued indictments against the postmodern in all its guises, taking it as a betrayal of Marxism, Gramscian theory, the politics of commitment and even of historical truth itself. In this article, I discuss recent works in light of the wider context of the current debate, and I highlight some of the pitfalls that derive from framing the question of intellectual commitment in oppositional terms, pitting “Pasolini” and his realist myth against “Calvino” and his putatively irresponsible postmodernism.
‘Cyberia, Syberia …’: Clones, Virtual Spaces, and Cyber-Selves in Claudio Magris’s Alla cieca
Authors: Wampole Christy
Published: March 2014

This article analyzes the moments in Claudio Magris’ Alla cieca (2005) in which the author mobilizes the expressive potential of technology by means of three specific European cultural references: the advent of Freudian psychoanalysis, twentieth-century class-struggle and its path toward the catastrophe of totalitarianism, and the legacy of the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts. I argue that these moments, in which Magris conjugates technology and specifically European cultural references, are essential to extracting his philosophy of (European) history, and its current and future representations. Despite his modest knowledge of contemporary digital and technological culture, Magris sees in it a metaphor for how history plays itself out in the lives of individuals and collectives.
Who Wants to Live Forever?: Overcoming Poetic Immortality in Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Conquistata
Authors: Brazeau Bryan
Published: March 2014

While Torquato Tasso’s Gerusalemme Liberata (1581) ambivalently employs a Homeric poetics of mourning—commemorating dead warriors in epic song—his later revisio of the poem, the Gerusalemme Conquistata (1593), demonstrates the problems such poetics pose within a Christian context. Focusing on the changes Tasso makes to two of his characters—the Christian knight, Tancredi, and the pagan warrior, Argante—this article examines how the Conquistata is actively engaged in distancing itself from Homeric kleos . The revised poem imitates the death of Hector precisely in order to present the impulse to mourn fallen heroes as a dangerous temptation away from Christian doctrine.
Paolo Sarpi: A Baroque Chameleon
Authors: Riverso Nicla
Published: March 2014

Sarpi is one of the most interesting and intriguing thinkers of the early modern age and as such, many of his statements offer different interpretations. How could Sarpi be a religious man and yet support the natural philosophy theories of his time? How did science correlate with religious matters in Sarpi’s thought? What effect did Sarpi’s conception on the immortality of the soul have on religious belief? Was Sarpi a Catholic friar or a heretic? These are some of the questions that I address in my paper providing my interpretation of the Servite friar as natural philosopher and religious man of the 17 th century.
Redeeming the National Ideal: Revisiting E. L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel and Its Political Implications
Authors: Kwon Jieun
Published: March 2014

Either celebrating E. L. Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel for its critical power or condemning it for distorting democratic consensus, traditional criticism invariably agrees that the text conveys a fundamentally dissentive impulse against American society. This article takes a departure from this approach by aiming to show that the dissenting gesture in the text ultimately functions to reaffirm the value of the nation’s fundamental ideals. The text criticizes social defects materialized by a conspiracy, but in doing so, it reinstates the absolute value that liberal democracy is believed to represent. Based upon this, this article aims to reassess the “radical” criticism that this text is often considered to embody. By resorting to liberal individualism and reconfirming the value of the American Constitution, this text opposes the society by way of affirming its ideal.
Messianism and the Abject: Reading D. H. Lawrence’s The Plumed Serpent
Authors: Raghinaru Camelia
Published: March 2014

The relationship between gender and mysticism places D. H. Lawrence’s novel The Plumed Serpent in a complicated relationship to modernity. This article points out that Lawrence’s vision of a national Mexican utopia, and ultimately of a cosmic one, is apparently premised upon a sexual revolution that should ultimately culminate in sexual intercourse as the archetypal union between ancient gods, deified men and women. However, Lawrence’s female abjection fails to achieve its messianic potential. Since the mystery of the new religion is directly related to the dark blood of male sexuality and female submission, the emergence of the modernist New is thwarted by D. H. Lawrence’s proto-fascist tendency and his preoccupation with femininity in its mystical and abject dimensions.
“Laura was not thinking”: Cognitive Minimalism in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes
Authors: Harker James
Published: March 2014

Critics have long considered the most distinctive feature of Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (1926) to be the generic shift from realism to fantasy when Laura Willowes becomes a witch and makes a pact with Satan. This article however examines Warner’s underappreciated and unusual depiction of Laura’s consciousness. Although her decisions are the crux of the plot, Laura is regularly presented as having a blank mind, experiencing mere sensation, or even “not thinking” at all. Drawing from cognitive science as well as narratology, this article maintains that Warner’s “cognitive minimalism” brings her into connection with contemporaneous modernist experiments from which she would otherwise seem to stand apart. The apparent move to fantasy is in the service of depicting minimal mental functioning. This cognitive minimalism, moreover, serves as an implicit social critique by pointing to the lack of representation of the thinking of an undervalued category—the unmarried woman.
“Being Myriad, One”: Melville and the Ecological Sublime in Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses
Authors: Vernon Zackary
Published: March 2014

This article offers a new ecocritical examination of William Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses (1942). Throughout the novel, Faulkner alludes repeatedly to Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851), and he bases the characterization of Isaac McCaslin in part on Ishmael. In doing so, Faulkner imports into his text a distinctly nineteenth-century brand of romanticism, particularly a fascination with the ecological sublime. However, this position ultimately proves untenable for Isaac, who witnesses the rapid destruction of the landscapes of the American South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The negative ramifications of this environmental destruction extend beyond ecosystems, as Faulkner suggests that the existence of the natural world is imperative in the process of developing ethical systems that enable humans both to live and thrive.
Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Phorate and Fenthion Pesticide in Apple Skin Using Silver Nanoparticles
Authors: Li Xiaozhou , Zhang Su , Yu Zhuang , Yang Tianyue
Published: April 2014

Traditional pesticide residue detection methods are usually complicated, time consuming, and expensive. Rapid, portable, online, and real-time detection kits are the developing direction of pesticide testing. In this paper, we used a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) technique to detect the organophosphate pesticide residue of phorate and fenthion in apple skin, for the purpose of finding a fast, simple, and convenient detection method for pesticide detection. The results showed that the characteristic wavenumbers of the two organophosphorus pesticides are more easily identified using SERS. We selected the Raman peaks at 728 cm−1 of phorate and 1215 cm−1 of fenthion as the target peaks for quantitative analysis, and utilized internal standards to establish linear regression models for phorate and fenthion. The detection limit was 0.05 mg/L for phorate and 0.4 mg/L for fenthion. This method can be used as a quantitative analytical reference for the detection of phorate and fenthion.