bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Deep Sedation With General Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair
Authors: Patzelt Johannes , Ulrich Miriam , Magunia Harry , Sauter Reinhard , Droppa Michal , Jorbenadze Rezo , Becker Annika S. , Walker Tobias , von Bardeleben Ralph Stephan , Grasshoff Christian , Rosenberger Peter , Gawaz Meinrad , Seizer Peter , Langer Harald F.
Published: December 2017

Background

Percutaneous edge‐to‐edge mitral valve repair (
PMVR
) has become an established treatment option for mitral regurgitation in patients not eligible for surgical repair. Currently, most procedures are performed under general anesthesia (
GA
). An increasing number of centers, however, are performing the procedure under deep sedation (
DS
). Here, we compared patients undergoing
PMVR
with
GA
or
DS
.

Methods and Results

A total of 271 consecutive patients underwent
PMVR
at our institution between May 2014 and December 2016. Seventy‐two procedures were performed under
GA
and 199 procedures under
DS
. We observed that in the
DS
group, doses of propofol (743±228 mg for
GA
versus 369±230 mg for
DS
,
P
<0.001) and norepinephrine (1.1±1.6 mg for
GA
versus 0.2±0.3 mg for
DS
,
P
<0.001) were significantly lower. Procedure time, fluoroscopy time, and dose area product were significantly higher in the
GA
group. There was no significant difference between
GA
and
DS
with respect to overall bleeding complications, postinterventional pneumonia (4% for
GA
versus 5% for
DS
), or C‐reactive protein levels (361±351 nmol/L for
GA
versus 278±239 nmol/L for DS). Significantly fewer patients with DS needed a postinterventional stay in the intensive care unit (96% for
GA
versus 19% for
DS
,
P
<0.001). Importantly, there was no significant difference between
DS
and
GA
regarding intrahospital or 6‐month mortality.

Conclusions

DS
for
PMVR
is safe and feasible. No disadvantages with respect to procedural outcome or complications in comparison to
GA
were observed. Applying
DS
may simplify the
PMVR
procedure.
Arsenic Exposure in Relation to Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Tsinovoi Cari L. , Xun Pengcheng , McClure Leslie A. , Carioni Vivian M.O. , Brockman John D. , Cai Jianwen , Guallar Eliseo , Cushman Mary , Unverzagt Frederick W. , Howard Virginia J. , He Ka
Published: December 2017

Background and Purpose—

The purpose of this case–cohort study was to examine urinary arsenic levels in relation to incident ischemic stroke in the United States.

Methods—

We performed a case–cohort study nested within the REGARDS (REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke) cohort. A subcohort (n=2486) of controls was randomly sampled within region–race–sex strata while all incident ischemic stroke cases from the full REGARDS cohort (n=671) were included. Baseline urinary arsenic was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Arsenic species, including urinary inorganic arsenic and its metabolites monomethylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid, were measured in a random subset (n=199). Weighted Cox’s proportional hazards models were used to calculate hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of ischemic stroke by arsenic and its species.

Results—

The average follow-up was 6.7 years. Although incident ischemic stroke showed no association with total arsenic or total inorganic arsenic, for each unit higher level of urinary monomethylarsonic acid on a log-scale, after adjustment for potential confounders, ischemic stroke risk increased ≈2-fold (hazard ratio=1.98; 95% confidence interval: 1.12–3.50). Effect modification by age, race, sex, or geographic region was not evident.

Conclusions—

A metabolite of arsenic was positively associated with incident ischemic stroke in this case–cohort study of the US general population, a low-to-moderate exposure area. Overall, these findings suggest a potential role for arsenic methylation in the pathogenesis of stroke, having important implications for future cerebrovascular research.
Successful Reperfusion With Intravenous Thrombolysis Preceding Mechanical Thrombectomy in Large-Vessel Occlusions
Authors: Tsivgoulis Georgios , Katsanos Aristeidis H. , Schellinger Peter D. , Köhrmann Martin , Varelas Panayiotis , Magoufis Georgios , Paciaroni Maurizio , Caso Valeria , Alexandrov Anne W. , Gurol Edip , Alexandrov Andrei V.
Published: December 2017

Background and Purpose—

Although current guidelines advocate pretreatment with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in all eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke with large-vessel occlusion before mechanical thrombectomy, there are observational data questioning the efficacy of this approach. One of the main arguments in favor of IVT pretreatment is the potential for tissue-type plasminogen activator–induced successful reperfusion (SR) before the onset of endovascular procedure.

Methods—

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials and observational cohorts providing rates of SR with IVT in patients with large-vessel occlusion before the initiation of mechanical thrombectomy. We also performed subgroup analyses according to study type (randomized controlled clinical trials versus observational) and according to the inclusion per protocol of patients with tandem (intracranial/extracranial) occlusions.

Results—

We identified 13 eligible studies (7 randomized controlled clinical trials and 6 observational cohorts), including 1561 patients with acute ischemic stroke (median National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score, 17) with large-vessel occlusion. SR following IVT and before mechanical thrombectomy was documented in 11% (95% confidence interval, 7%–16%), with no difference among cohorts derived from randomized controlled clinical trials and observational studies. There was significant heterogeneity across included studies both in the overall analysis and among subgroups (I
2
>84%;
P
for Cochran Q, <0.001). Higher tissue-type plasminogen activator–induced SR rates were documented in studies reporting the exclusion of tandem occlusions (17%; 95% confidence interval, 11%–23%) compared with the rest (7%; 95% confidence interval, 4%–11%;
P
for subgroup differences, 0.003).

Conclusions—

Pretreatment with systemic thrombolysis in patients with large-vessel occlusion eligible for mechanical thrombectomy results in SR in 1 of 10 cases, negating the need for additional endovascular reperfusion. Tandem occlusions seem to be the least responsive to IVT pretreatment.
Systematics and biogeography of the Afrotropical flea beetle subgenus Blepharidina (Afroblepharida) Biondi & D’Alessandro, with description of seven new species (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae, Galerucinae, Alticini)
Authors: D’Alessandro Paola , Frasca Roberta , Grobbelaar Elizabeth , Iannella Mattia , Biondi Maurizio
Published: December 2017

A taxonomic revision of the species attributed to the subgenus Blepharidina (Afroblepharida) Biondi & D’Alessandro is provided. Seven new species are described: Blepharidina (Afroblepharida) afarensis
sp. nov. and B. (A.) tajurensis
sp. nov. from Djibouti; B. (A.) bantu
sp. nov. from Kenya; B. (A.) benadiriensis
sp. nov. from Somalia; B. (A.) nubiana
sp. nov. from Sudan; B. (A.) pusilla
sp. nov. from Ethiopia and Kenya; B. (A.) zephyra
sp. nov. from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. An updated catalogue, including material examined, distributions, chorotypes, and ecological notes, is supplied. The revision comprises a key to the eleven known species, habitus photos, and microscope and scanning electron micrographs of diagnostic characters, including the aedeagus and spermatheca. A phylogenetic analysis based on parsimony was provided. The strict consensus tree was used to put forward a preliminary biogeographical analysis of the taxon in the light of the current distribution of the species.
Artists’ Innocent Eye as Extended Proximal Mode of Vision
Authors: Lou Leon
Published: December 2017

The innocent eye, or seeing ‘what the eye sees’ is a meaningful expression many artists use to capture their experience in observational drawing and painting. However, a literal interpretation of the innocent eye does not comport with a science of vison focused on object perception. Nor is a two-step model involving a ‘bottom-up strategy’ a plausible account of the notion. Consistent with an emerging body of neuroscientific and psychophysical evidence for the pivotal role of attention in conscious vision, artists’ innocent eye is best construed as an extended proximal mode of vision involving focused attention on pictorial relationships in an identified object or scene. The innocent eye is open to creative expansion, made possible by a competency developed most likely in the early through middle childhood that underpins the visuocognitive skills for flexible deployment of attention, flexible representation, mental imagery and visual memory. The potential challenge from the rare cases of savant-talented artists, who seem to be able to access retinal images directly, is discussed and considered inconclusive. The proposed theoretical framework raises new questions for empirical investigations on the nature and development of the artists’ perceptual expertise, and has implications for science-based pedagogical approaches to drawing, painting, and creativity.
Sun Protection Among New Zealand Primary School Children
Authors: Gage Ryan , Leung William , Stanley James , Reeder Anthony , Mackay Christina , Smith Moira , Barr Michelle , Chambers Tim , Signal Louise
Published: December 2017

Schools are an important setting for raising skin cancer prevention awareness and encouraging sun protection. We assessed the clothes worn and shade used by 1,278 children in eight schools in the Wellington region of New Zealand. These children were photographed for the Kids’Cam project between September 2014 and March 2015 during school lunch breaks. Children’s mean clothing coverage (expressed as a percentage of body area covered) was calculated. Data on school sun-safety policies were obtained via telephone. Mean total body clothing coverage was 70.3% (95% confidence interval = 66.3%, 73.8%). Body regions with the lowest mean coverage were the head (15.4% coverage), neck (36.1% coverage), lower arms (46.1% coverage), hands (5.3% coverage), and calves (30.1% coverage). Children from schools with hats as part of the school uniform were significantly more likely to wear a hat (52.2%) than children from schools without a school hat (2.7%). Most children (78.4%) were not under the cover of shade. Our findings suggest that New Zealand children are not sufficiently protected from the sun at school. Schools should consider comprehensive approaches to improve sun protection, such as the provision of school hats, sun-protective uniforms, and the construction of effective shade.
Regioselective Pinacol Rearrangement of Unsymmetrical Cyclobutane-1,2-diols
Authors: Gembus Vincent , Karmazin Lydia , Pira Sylvain , Uguen Daniel
Published: December 2017

Hydroxy-sulfone 34b, prepared as a mixture of trans and cis isomers by condensing the O-silyl derivative 18c of 2-hydroxy-2-methyl-cyclobutanone 18b — the Norrish II photocyclisation product of 2,3-pentanedione 21 — and methyl phenyl sulfone 33 was found to rearrange selectively either to the cyclopropanic β-ketosulfone 37 or the isomeric methyl ketone 38 by using, respectively, the tosyl fluoride/DBU and the DAST reagent. The potential of this methodology has been illustrated by a synthesis of phytal 1 from geranylacetone 46, and by the preparation from 3,4-hexanedione 51 and prenol 56 — via the cyclopropanic β-ketosulfone 54 (X-ray) — of an advanced fragment of the juvenile hormone molecule 59.
A Collective Case Screening of the Zeolites made in Japan for High Performance NH3-SCR of NOx
Authors: Priya Subramaniam Vishnu , Ohnishi Takeshi , Shimada Yumiko , Kubota Yoshihiro , Masuda Takao , Nakasaka Yuta , Matsukata Masahiko , Itabashi Keiji , Okubo Tatsuya , Sano Tsuneji , Tsunoji Nao , Yokoi Toshiyuki , Ogura Masaru
Published: December 2017

Zeolites demonstrating better SCR of NOx performance due to wide temperature activity, hydrothermal stability and N2 selectivity have been identified under a joint research initiative by the Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines (AICE), Japan. Based on the AICE’s standards, over 25 zeolites with different structures and pore dimensions were investigated and their SCR efficiency and durability have been compared. While the performances of the top contenders cannot be related to a single parameter, the results suggest that the SAR, Cu quality/quantity, pore dimensions, diffusivity and acidity play a combined role in deciding the SCR activity and selectivity.
A Direct Synthesis of Trisubstituted Allenes from Propargyl Alcohols via Oxaphosphetane Intermediates
Authors: Iwai Kento , Yokoyama Soichi , Asahara Haruyasu , Nishiwaki Nagatoshi
Published: December 2017

A direct synthetic method for trisubstituted allenes from propargyl alcohol is provided; the synthesis proceeds via an oxaphosphetane intermediate. Functional groups such as formyl and pyridyl exhibited a degree of tolerance during reaction without any protection. The alcohol dimethylated at the propargyl position afforded two structural isomers, allene and 1,3-diene. The product ratio was considerably influenced by the solvent. Allene was predominantly obtained when the reaction was conducted in cyclohexane, and the ratio was inverted by changing the solvent to dichloromethane. The prepared (2-pyridyl)allene served as a substrate for the copper(I) catalyzed cyclization reaction to afford 3,3-dimethylindolizine-2-one.
Fairer funding is non-negotiable
Authors: Hawthorne Shannon
Published: December 2017

We need a sustainable approach to funding that ensures that the rates that providers receive not only cover the cost of delivering places today, but also in the future, when those costs inevitably increase.
The London Bridge attack: managing multiple victims of penetrating trauma
Authors: Brown Nick , Rutherford Keir
Published: December 2017

For clinicians arriving first at mass casualty incidents, one of the greatest challenges is not focusing attention on one individual patient, but to assess the needs of the many in order to establish prescribed procedures and the resources required. However, for the victims of potentially lethal stab wounds, there is often little that prehospital clinicians can offer over very rapid transport to in-hospital surgical intervention. In this article, the authors explore the conflict between the established and often protracted major incident approach against the immediate needs of someone who has just been stabbed, in contrast to the different management challenges of victims of blunt trauma. A view of the London Bridge attacks is presented from the perspective of a London Ambulance Service advanced paramedic practitioner in critical care. The advantages of having an experienced advanced clinician able to offer early clinical and on-scene leadership manifested in several ways, and these will be highlighted here.
A review of ketorolac as a prehospital analgesic
Authors: Mallinson Tom Edward
Published: December 2017

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can be used as part of a multimodal approach to managing acute pain. Administering NSAIDs by intramuscular (IM) or intravenous (IV) injection allows them to be used in patients who are nil-by-mouth, who cannot swallow, and to allow a more rapid onset compared to the oral route. Current paramedic practice in the UK does not generally allow for the use of an NSAID given by IM or IV injection for acute pain. While paramedics may administer paracetamol and morphine intravenously, the only option for an NSAID is oral ibuprofen, or rarely oral naproxen or rectal diclofenac. Ketorolac is an NSAID, which can be administered by IV or IM injection. It is an effective analgesic agent when used alone, or in conjunction with other agents as part of a multimodal approach to analgesia. This article reviews the evidence from peer-reviewed papers and current clinical guidelines surrounding the safety and efficacy of ketorolac as an analgesic agent for acute pain, and discusses its potential use in UK paramedic practice.
A peek into the life of a student paramedic
Authors: Chapman Eleanor
Published: December 2017

January marks the launch of the Journal of Paramedic Practice Student Column. Here, we introduce the first of our three 2018 Student Paramedic Columnists.
Dengue and Chikungunya simulating model with mosquito periodic mortality rate
Authors: Manrique A. Oscar A. , Raigosa O. Steven , Munoz P. Dalia M. , Ropero P. Mauricio , Munoz L. Anibal , Jamboos T. Juan C.
Published: December 2017

A dynamic system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations to display
the infectious process of Dengue-Chikungunya, is presented. The
system including a mosquito periodic mortality rate and simulations of
the differential equation system by MATLAB software to determine the
effect of climatic variables (temperature, humidity, pluviosity) in the
infectious population mortality, is carried out.
Utopia as method in children’s literature research
Authors: Deszcz-Tryhubczak Justyna
Published: December 2017

This article discusses the significance of Jack Zipes’s contribution to the field of children’s studies in the context of utopianism, and outlines the influence of his work on scholars exploring utopian writing for children. It also proposes that Zipes’s research and his work with young readers, for example in the Neighborhood Bridges drama project, exemplifies the use of utopia as method, an approach proposed by Ruth Levitas as a critical tool to expose the deficiencies of the present and develop possible futures. The article also argues for extending the application of the utopian method to the study of children’s literature, in the form of participatory methodologies aimed at involving young readers as partners in the research process. It concludes with a plea for children’s literature scholars to look at Zipes’s work as paving the way for more publicly and politically engaged children’s literature scholarship.
Luzel’s ghosts: The unfinished business of translating folk tales for performance
Authors: Wilson Michael
Published: December 2017

This article emerges from the author’s work on translating a selection of folktales collected by the nineteenth-century Breton folklorist François-Marie Luzel. It argues for a new approach to the translation of folktale texts that draws less from the traditions of literary translation and more from the current thinking around stage translation. It proposes that our understanding of the folktale text could benefit from a consideration of theatre scholarship (particularly Marvin Carlson’s theories of ‘ghosting’) and that the emergence in recent decades of the figure of the contemporary professional storyteller asks us to think of the folktale not simply as a text of performance, but as a text for performance. Furthermore, it argues that the act of translation is in itself an act of performance, made within the context of all pervious performances and is, therefore, like all performances, provisional, incomplete and subject to revision.
‘By the Will of the Pike’: The transformation of a Russian national character
Authors: Nikolajeva Maria
Published: December 2017

This article explores some versions and film adaptations of the Russian folk tale about lazy Yemelya and the wish-granting pike. It argues that the folk tale reflects fundamental traits of Russian mentality and demonstrates how the versions transform the main character according to the prevalent ideology of their particular socio-historical context. For instance, the film adaptations created during the Soviet regime replace the lazy, simple-minded and self-conceited protagonist of the folk tale with a kind and brave representative of the ‘ordinary people’ oppressed by the king. In various paratexts he is invariably characterized as ‘kind and brave’. Moreover, he is portrayed as hard-working, clever and good-looking, which makes the pike’s gift a reward for existing virtue rather than an unexpected piece of luck, emphasizing class conflict and solidarity with the poor. A closer look at the film versions confirms Jack Zipes’s claim that folk tales are frequently employed for ideological purposes.
Mirrors and webs: Fairy tales, cultural memory and trauma in Helen Oyeyemi’s Boy, Snow, Bird and Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys
Authors: Tatar Maria
Published: December 2017

Helen Oyeyemi and Neil Gaiman both draw on the mythical imagination in their novels about hyperdysfunctional families and the process of healing from traumatic experience. Invoking the racially encoded story known to European and Anglo-American cultures as ‘Snow White’ as well as on a dilemma tale from African cultures, Helen Oyeyemi reconfigures both stories in Boy, Snow, Bird to take up the complexities of race, gender, and identity and to navigate the fraught terrain of mother–daughter relationships. Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys turns to the rich repertoire of stories about African Tricksters for a portrait of the artist as a figure who works his way through conflicted family relationships to an understanding of ambivalence, duplicity, and deceit as life-sustaining dispositions. Both writers invoke totem creatures and fairy-tale tropes to guide us through the thickets of domestic drama and psychic trauma.
An oddly modern fairy tale for Jack Zipes
Authors: Warner Marina
Published: December 2017

The title, An Oddly Modern Fairy Tale, is a reference to the series edited by Jack Zipes for Princeton University Press, which includes retellings, translations and rediscoveries of fairy tales. To these various forms of engagement with tales of wonder, the author of this article has added what she describes as an ‘anti-fairy tale’ of three wealthy Sicilian siblings who recused themselves in differing ways from the twentieth century. The youngest, Lucio, was a lyric poet whose work was admired by both Lampedusa and Montale. His older brother, Casimiro, was a photographer and painter of unsettling watercolours of pop-eyed gnomes and sprites. These he claimed to have witnessed going about their otherworldly lives among the exotic plants that their sister, Agata Giovanna, bought for the extensive gardens whose borders she rarely left. The story ends with Lucio’s attempt – both farcical and tragic – to secure a future for the family through the birth of an heir, which resembles similar attempts by Tancredi in Lampedusa’s masterpiece The Leopard.
Book Review
Authors: Crawford Amy
Published: December 2017

Time’s Witnesses: Women’s Voices from the Holocaust, Jakob Lothe (ed.) and Anne Marie Hagen (trans.) (2017) Edinburgh: Fledgling Press, 214 pp., ISBN: 9781905916900, p/bk, $11.99
Online political trolling in the context of post-Gezi social media in Turkey
Authors: Karatas Duygu , Saka Erkan
Published: December 2017

Drawing on the approach suggesting that the analysis of social media in relation to democracy should be provided within its own social context, we outline the social media activities adopted by the ruling populist political party in Turkey, namely, the Justice and Development Party (AKP), aimed at reinforcing its political ideology. We also unpack the ‘political online trolling’ as a manifestation of online practices driving the post-truth politics in Turkey. Following the Gezi protests, when social media and, in particular, Twitter gained trust and popularity as a news source due to severe censorship and polarization in the traditional mass media, the AKP adopted an aggressive strategy to attack and destroy all opposition as well as to manipulate public opinion through their political trolling activities. Employing the approach of digital ethnography and drawing on the archive of mass media outputs about the trolling events, we discuss how the ruling party has adopted online political trolling as a strategy, one that is deeply embedded in the political system, politicians and mainstream media. We also explain how trolling practices are facilitated by the coordinated work of these institutions to silence all critical opposing voices, in particular journalists and how they stifle public debate that is grounded in truth and evidence. We have also concluded that the chilling effects of political trolling lead to quitting social media, self-censorship and less participation in public debate of unprotected citizens who are the most vulnerable targets for the trolls. The trolls have targeted the dissent voices not only for criticizing the government publicly, but also to brand them as terrorists and traitors through increasingly polarizing and discriminating language based on nationalist and religious perspectives, which peaked in the aftermath of the 15 July coup attempt and the debates on the presidential regime. Far from condemnation of the trolling activities along with their polarizing and hateful rhetoric, the mainstream culture and public discourse seem to have been taken over by an increasing trolling subculture, which inhibits public debate, discredits the sources of truth, fosters fanaticism and encourages a hate discourse and violence, all of which are undermining democracy.
Film Review
Authors: Antonangeli Riccardo
Published: December 2017

Blaxploitalian: 100 Years of Blackness in Italian Cinema, Director Fred Kudjo Kuwornu (2016), Blue Rose Films/Do the Right Films
Book Reviews
Authors: Marrone Gaetana , Anatrone Sole , Heim Julia , Benci Jacopo , Koven Mikel J. , Tabanelli Roberta
Published: December 2017

Il giovane Fellini nello splendente fulgore della vita, Enzo Lavagnini (2011) Roma: Palombi Editori, 191 pp., ISBN: 9788860603944, p/bk, €15.00

Destination Italy: Representing Migration in Contemporary Media and Narrative, Emma Bond, Guido Bonsaver and Federico Faloppa (eds) (2015) (Italian Modernities; vol. 21), Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York and Wien: Peter Lang, 467 pp., ISBN: 9783035395136, p/bk, $72.95

A Very Seductive Body Politic: Silvio Berlusconi in Cinema, Nicoletta Marini-Maio (2015) Italy: Mimesis International, 118 pp., ISBN: 9788857526683, p/bk, $14.00

Rewind Italia: Early Video Art in Italy/I primi anni della videoarte in Italia, Laura Leuzzi and Stephen Partridge (eds) (2016) New Barnet, Herts: John Libbey Publishing, 350 pp., ISBN: 9780861967216, h/bk, £30.00

Italian Horror Cinema, Stefano Baschiera and Russ Hunter (eds) (2016) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 228 pp., ISBN: 9781474419680, £24.99 (trade paper)

S/Murare il Mediterraneo (Un/Walling the Mediterranean). Pensieri critici e attivismo al tempo delle migrazioni (‘Critical thoughts and activism in a time of migrations’), Luigi Cazzato and Filippo Silvestri (eds) (2016) Lecce: Pensa Multimedia, 256 pp., ISBN: 9788867603817, p/bk, €18.00
‘Queer Italian migrations’: Tonino De Bernardi’s Rosatigre (Tiger Rose) (2000) and the reconfiguring of Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli, terra di Dio (Stromboli, Land of God) (1950)
Authors: Brett Oliver
Published: December 2017

The documentary film focusing on queer identities in post-Millennial Italy reveals interesting key features, including the often intense collaboration of filmmakers and their subjects, the hybridity of genre and interrogation of those representations and identities being explored, and the increased agency and performance of participants. While, respectively, requiring further research, these features reflect what appears to be a propensity towards the ‘intertextual’. I approach this aspect here through Tonino De Bernardi’s sensory challenging ‘docu-fiction’ film Rosatigre (Tiger Rose) in 2000, which exploits, alongside the more general conventions of cinema, Roberto Rossellini’s Stromboli, terra di Dio (Stromboli, Land of God) in 1950. Positioned in relation to a corpus of other texts, I consider how these two films explore the issue of ‘migration’ beyond fixed categories. In talking of queers who migrate but also of queering migration, an interconnection of various narratives can be seen to broaden our understanding of the migrant figure in the Italian context.
From exclusion to expression in A Sud di Lampedusa and Come un uomo sulla terra: Visualizing detention centres along Italy-bound migrant routes
Authors: Fiore Teresa
Published: December 2017

The article analyses two Italian documentaries – A sud di Lampedusa (South of Lampedusa) by Andrea Segre et al. (2006) and Come un uomo sulla terra (Like a Man on Earth) by Andrea Segre et al. (2008) – whose novelty lies in their focus on the Sahara Desert crossing of undocumented migrants instead of the more common Mediterranean crossing, and in the latter film, the recollection of the traumatic experience of the detention in Africa once they arrive in Italy. The films reverse the effacement typical of news reportages by giving direct voice and agency to the migrants through interviews, or also including the migrants in the filmmaking process. In denouncing the trans-national government-assisted control and exclusion of migrants, the two documentaries visualize through silence, storytelling, and props what remains otherwise ‘undocumentable’ – the detention centres – of which the article offers a brief history as places of ‘legal exception’ both in Africa and Italy.
Continuity and change in Italian discourse on migration: A focus on mainstream television documentaries
Authors: Orrù Paolo
Published: December 2017

The goal of this article is to employ the means of critical discourse analysis to verify the contribution made by news documentaries to the discussion on the topic of migration in Italian journalism. My case studies include three documentaries screened on the national broadcaster (RAI): La neve la prima volta (Snow for the First Time) (Cataldi, 2014), Quando Youssef si mise in cammino (When Youssef Started His Walk) (Cataldi, 2015) and La lunga Marcia (The Long Route) (Ricucci, 2015). The documentaries deal with a range of issues regarding migration in the European Union, such as the construction of European external borders; policies of migrant management; human rights; prejudice towards foreigners. The article will take a closer look at lexical terms, metaphors and other rhetorical forms. Linguistic evidence has been jointly analysed with the visual construction on-screen since they both participate in the meaning-making process of the documentary as a whole.
In the eye of the beholder: The Orientalist representation of Chinese migrants in Italian documentaries
Authors: Pedone Valentina
Published: December 2017

Beginning in the mid-2000s, a number of documentaries about Chinese migration to Italy have been produced both by professional directors and by amateurs, all with no Chinese background, that are mainly aimed at revealing the hidden ‘reality’ of the Chinese immigration population on one hand and, on the other hand, at discarding some of the wide spread prejudices about this group. I selected five of the professionally shot documentaries in order to analyse how they portray the Chinese migrant presence in Italy. While all of these documentaries make an important effort to present Chinese migration to Italy as a positive phenomenon, Orientalism as well as elements of cultural essentialism can still persist. My analysis focuses on the points of view that different directors adopt in depicting Chinese life in Italy, stressing if, where, and how their narratives emphasize cultural distance, otherness and essentialism.
‘Comics on the Main Street of Culture’: Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell (1999), Laura Oldfield Ford’s Savage Messiah (2011) and the politics of gentrification
Authors: Davies Dominic
Published: December 2017

Through a comparative discussion of Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell’s From Hell (serialized 1989−96, collected 1999), which is now widely marketed as a ‘graphic novel’, and Laura Oldfield Ford’s more self-consciously subcultural zine, Savage Messiah (serialized 2005 to 2009, collected 2011), this article explores the correlation between the gentrification of the comics form and the urban gentrification of city space − especially that of East London, which is depicted in both of these sequential art forms. The article emphasizes that both these urban and cultural landscapes are being dramatically reshaped by the commodification and subsequent marketization of their subcultural or marginalized spaces, before exploring the extent to which this process neutralizes their subversive qualities and limits democratic access to them. In conclusion, however, the article demonstrates that comics artists tend to collect their ephemeral comics and publish them as marketable graphic novels not to commodify them, nor to maximize their profits. Rather, they do so in order to reach a wider readership and thereby to mobilize their subversive, anti-gentrification political content more effectively, constituting radical urban subcultures that resist the reshaping of London into a segregated and discriminatory cityscape.
A dark imaginarium: The Bridge, Malmö and the making of a ‘non-existent’ place
Authors: Saunders Robert A.
Published: December 2017

The article assesses the role of (hyper-)mediatized placemaking on the city of Malmö, Sweden, contextualizing the creation of an imaginary ‘southern Scandinavian city’ on top of a real urban zone with exceptional attributes and serious challenges. Paying close attention to Malmö’s image within and beyond Nordic Europe, I draw on three sets of artefacts to interrogate this phenomenon: (1) the visual and narrative content of the Swedish Danish television series The Bridge (2011–present), (2) tourism development strategies and tactics employed by the city of Malmö and (3) museological interpretations of the interplay between the conceived, lived and perceived spaces and places of Malmö. In doing so, this article seeks to advance and deepen of the discussion of screen tourism in influencing geographical imagination and place branding.
Glossy postcards and virtual collectibles: Consuming cinematic Paris
Authors: McNeill Isabelle
Published: December 2017

This article examines the touristic consumption of Paris in cinema, through a concept of the cinematic postcard as a commodification of history and place, arguing that film participates in and also illuminates touristic relations to the city. The article proposes two iterations of the cinematic postcard: a ‘glossy’ postcard that incorporates past and present into a cohesively framed urban space, and ‘virtual collectibles’ that encourage the serial accumulation of familiar signs of place. While connected through a nostalgic relation to the urban past, these iterations reflect different anxieties about the city and are emphasized in different aesthetic strategies, which the article pursues through close analysis of two films: Vincent Minnelli’s An American in Paris (1951) and Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (2011). In the troubled Paris of the early post-war years, the tourist gaze of cinema provided a cohesive image constructed from a selective, cultural past, anticipating a postmodern aesthetic of nostalgia as identified by Fredric Jameson. In the age of what Boris Groys calls ‘total tourism’ and its proliferation of the collection and online display of images of place, the emphasis has shifted from transmission to the virtual collection of desirable, analogue images of Paris.
New South, ‘New Athens?’: Angels, mobility and myths
Authors: Luger Jason
Published: December 2017

This article critically deconstructs the notion of the ‘New South’ using the case of Charlotte, North Carolina, a prototypical ‘New South’ city. Using the framework of Henri Lefebvre’s ‘right to the city’, specifically the themes of ‘mobility’, ‘access’ and ‘oeuvre’ (the art of city-making) – the following will argue that the ‘New South’ is a neo-liberal repackaging of entrenched race, class and geo-spatial segregation. The business-friendly repositioning of this former textile city, combined with a sprawling urban form with decentralized employment opportunities, along with disinvestment and re-segregation in public education – have all contributed towards the scattering and division of a coherent working class. Therefore, lack of access, lack of participation and exclusion from centrality mean that marginalized groups (including the LGBTQ, African American and white working-class and poor communities) face difficulty realizing Lefebvre’s conditions of ‘New Athens’, the ‘impossible’ utopian city.
Smoothing space in Palestine: Building a skatepark and a socio-political forum with the SkatePal charity
Authors: Abulhawa Dani
Published: December 2017

The history of skateboarding’s development is closely connected to water and fluidity, with the birth of modern ramp practice commonly attributed to Californian surfers, who used the undulating asphalt and concrete of the urban LA landscape as a replacement for sea waves when the surf was flat. This fluidity and adaptability is echoed in scholarly and populist discourse, which tends to discuss skateboarders’ abilities to be resourceful and playful within environments available to them, to adopt simulation alongside innovative DIY approaches when building their own environments and to form supportive networks across cultural boundaries. There has also been much growth in recent years of skateboarding development projects, particularly in areas of conflict and political unrest. This article focuses on my experiences with the SkatePal charity – which has been building skateparks and teaching children to skateboard in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 2013.
Global social activism, DIY culture and lack of institutional help
Authors: del Pozo Jorge González
Published: December 2017

Since the 2008 world economic crisis, new and different ways of community organization, resilience and urban initiatives for provisioning and survival have emerged all over the world in an attempt to create urban spaces and opportunities in areas where institutions and governments are unable or unwilling to devote time and resources. Also, economic and sustainable models have found physical spaces from which to operate in the aftermath of the crisis and outside the ontological frame of extreme neo-liberalism. This article discusses the approximations to these initiatives in three texts addressing urban contexts in the United States (Detroit), Spain (Seville, Barcelona, Bilbao and Madrid) and Mexico (Mexico City). These three works call attention to the specificity of these projects and expose recent approaches to community building and organizational solutions in the Hispanic world.
Multiple landscapes of capital cities
Authors: Vuksanović-Macura Zlata
Published: December 2017

This review looks at three publications that discuss the timeless issue of the relationship between power and space in capital cities located in a broad temporal and geographic framework. By applying Adam T. Smith’s model of interrelation among politics, landscape and civic values, the editors and authors of Political Landscapes of Capital Cities (2016) examine several major cities located in the area between South America and Southeast Asia during the period spanning from the fourteenth century bc to the present day. They elucidate the ways in which power and political authority are constructed and manifested in conjunction with the natural landscape and human-made environment. The edited volume Capital Cities in the Aftermath of Empires: Planning in Central and Southeastern Europe (2010), which covers the turbulent period between the mid-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century, deals with the capitals that emerged after the collapse of the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. The book reveals the ways in which the architecture and urban planning of capital cities were used to represent the national identity of the newly formed states. The author of the book The Capital of Europe: Architecture and Urban Planning for the European Union (2004) discusses the capital of one state, the European Union, arguing that common values and identity can be constructed by relying on a clear architectural strategy. Together, these three books highlight the importance and necessity of analysing the multiple landscapes of capital cities from diverse angles.
Pengelolaan Tenaga Kerja Difabel untuk Mewujudkan Workplace Inclusion
Authors: Poerwanti Sari Dewi
Published: December 2017

The focus of this study is the management of workers with disabilities as efforts to achieve an inclusive workplace in PT. Trans Retail Indonesia. The study also elaborates supporting and inhibiting factors in the implementation of labor management. This is a qualitative research that collects the data using literary studies, observation and in-depth interview. The result shows that the management is started from knowledge level of the company about workers with disabilities, selection process, development, compensation and maintaining the employs. In addition, they identify key factors of managing different ability such as stakesholders, associate support, mentoring and counseling for workers with disabilities. The obstacles of managing workers with disabilities include professionalism, communication, and productivity that lead to an attempt of firing. Overall, PT. Trans Retail Indonesia can be classified as one with ability to develop diversity management in order to organize a workplace inclusion.[Penelitian ini membahas pengelolaan tenaga kerja difabel (diversity management) di PT. Trans Retail Indonesia serta faktor pendukung dan penghambat dalam pelaksanaan pengelolaan tenaga kerja penyandang disabilitas yang diterapkan oleh perusahaan dalam mewujudkan tempat kerja yang inklusif. Ini adalah penelitian kualitatif yang mengumpulkan data dari literatur, wawancara, dan observasi. Analisis dimulai dari pemahaman perusahaan mengenai tenaga kerja difabel, pengadaan tenaga kerja, pembinaan tenaga kerja, pemberian balas-jasa dan pemeliharaan tenaga kerja. Penelitian menemukan faktor pendukung pengelolaan tenaga kerja berupa kerjasama stakesholders, dukungan rekan kerja, pendampingan serta konseling bagi karyawan difabel. Sedangkan faktor penghambatnya adalah komunikasi, dukungan sejawat, tenaga profesional dan produktivitas kerja karyawan difabel yang mengancam keberlanjutan kerja mereka. Meskipun demikian, PT. Trans Retail Indonesia dapat dianggap memiliki modal yang cukup untuk mengembangkan diversity management dalam upaya mewujudkan workplace inclusion. ]
Kesejahteraan Sosial Tunagrahita di Ponorogo
Authors: Andriana Lutfia
Published: December 2017

The research of this paper was carried out in Dusun Tanggungrejo, Desa Karangpatihan, Kecamatan Balong, Kabupaten Ponorogo, a village that seeks to empower their fellow villagers who are down syndrome. The paper answers the question of does the empowerment by the village help the disabled reach their wellbeing. In answering that question, this article uses James Midgley concept of three wellbeing indicators, including the ability to manage social problems; fulfilment of their need; and the potential of the social opportunity. The result of this paper is presented qualitatively to describe the social wellbeing and social activity of persons with down-syndrome. The data was collected through observation, interview, and documentation. The result of this research shows that those with mild and modest syndrome reach the wellbeing. While those who have a severe syndrome, fail to derive their welfare.[Penelitian ini dilakukan di Dusun Tanggungrejo, Desa Karangpatihan Kecamatan Balong Kabupaten Ponorogo, sebuah dusun yang puluhan warganya adalah tunagrahita dan mendapatkan beberapa pelatihan, bantuan, dan pemberdayaan yang diberikan masyarakat untuk warga tunagrahita. Penlitian ini menjawab pertanyaan apakah upaya warga tersebut dapat menyejahterakan para tunagrahita? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut, peneliti menggunakan teori James Midgley tentang tiga ukuran kesejahteraan sosial yang meliputi: kemampuan mengelola masalah sosial dengan baik, kebutuhan tercukupi, dan terbukanya peluang sosial di masyarakat. Penelitian disajikan dalam bentuk deskriptif kualitatif untuk mendeskripsikan dan menganalisis peristiwa, kondisi kesejahteraan sosial, dan aktivitas sosial warga tunagrahita. Data digali dengan metode observasi,  wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa mayoritas warga tunagrahita berkategori ringan dan sedang sudah dapat dikatakan sejahtera. Sementara warga tunagrahita kategori berat tidak mencapai sejahtera.]
Representasi Disabilitas dalam Iklan 'We’re the Superhumans'
Authors: Niyu Niyu
Published: December 2017

Disability is not something that is 'invisible', but it is something real and present among us.  Media, especially television through advertising, has a significant role in creating perceptions about disability and to change the paradigm of people on disability. This research discusses how Channel 4 (C4) through "We're the Superhumans" (WTSH) advertisement represents and constructs disabilities. This research used a qualitative approach and Peirce's semiotics method. The data are based on WTSH advertisement, literature study and documentation. Interviews were also conducted with C4. The results show that the disability is represented as 'superhumans' who have various abilities and achievements. Through 'Yes I Can' song, the spirit of the disability were represented. C4 constructed the reality of disability by displaying 140 persons with disabilities and celebrations for their achievements, not only as athletes but also as persons with disabilities in their daily lives.[Disabilitas  bukanlah  suatu  hal  yang  ‘invisible’  (tidak   terlihat),  namun merupakan sesuatu  yang  nyata dan ada diantara kita.  Media, terutama televisi melalui iklan, memiliki andil yang besar dalam menciptakan  persepsi mengenai disabilitas dan dalam mengubah paradigma masyarakat mengenai disabilitas. Penelitian ini membahas bagaimana Channel 4 (C4) melalui iklan “We’re The Superhumans” (WTSH) merepresentasikan dan  mengkonstruksikan disabilitas. Penelitian ini  menggunakan pendekatan   kualitatif dengan metode penelitian semiotika Peirce. Data penelitian berdasarkan iklan ‘We’re The Superhumans’, diambil dari studi kepustakaan dan dokumentasi. Wawancara juga dilakukan dengan pihak C4 selaku pembuat iklan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa disabilitas direpresentasikan sebagai   ‘superhumans’ yang memiliki berbagai kemampuan dan prestasi. Melalui lagu ‘Yes I Can’, direpresentasikan  semangat para disabilitas. Melalui iklan WTSH, C4 mengkonstruksikan realitas mengenai disabilitas dengan menampilkan 140  penyandang disabilitas dan perayaan akan pencapaian  mereka, bukan hanya sebagai atlit, namun juga sebagai penyandang disabilitas dalam keseharian mereka.]