bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electron microscopic changes of lymph nodes during correction of sodium glutamate action by melatonin
Authors: Harapko T.V.
Published: May 2020

The effect of monosodium glutamate on lymphoid organs remains insufficiently studied. Also, no less relevant is the issue of correction of changes caused by the action of monosodium glutamate. The aim of the study was to study the electron microscopic changes in the parenchyma of the lymph nodes of rats under the action of monosodium glutamate for six weeks and during correction with melatonin. The experimental study was performed on 66 white male and female rats of reproductive age. The structure of mesenteric lymph nodes of white rats under the conditions of physiological norm at the electron microscopic level was studied in 10 intact animals. Experimental animals were divided into 4 groups, each with 10 animals. The control was 16 white rats, which instead of a high-calorie diet (HCD) received a standard diet of vivarium. HCD was achieved by adding to the diet of monosodium glutamate at a dose of 0.07 g/kg body weight of rats. The dose of melatonin was 10 mg/kg body weight of rats, administered orally daily at the same time in the afternoon. The electron microscopic structure of the mesenteric lymph nodes of male and female rats of reproductive age of the intact and control groups corresponds to the species norm. The study showed that monosodium glutamate causes changes in the parenchyma of the lymph nodes as in alimentary obesity. After six weeks of HCD, the number of apoptically altered lymphocytes increases. That part of lymphocytes, which has no signs of karyorrhexis or karyolysis, has a karyolemma with deep intussusception, the cytoplasm is enlightened, the tubules of the granular endoplasmic reticulum in cells with signs of edema, dilated, mitochondrial ridges swollen, damaged. There are profound destructive changes in the cellular composition of the organ and violations at the level of all parts of the vascular bed. After six weeks of melatonin correction, the number of macrophages and plasma cells decreased, in some lymphocytes the nucleolus is not clearly expressed, the karyolemma is uneven, the cytoplasm is enlightened, the number of osmophilic (fatty) inclusions decreases both in the intercellular space and in the cytoplasm of the cell. Therefore, the introduction of melatonin led to a significant restoration of the structural organization, and hence the function of this organ.
Review of the Neotropical genera Quiva and Yungasacris (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Phaneropterinae)
Authors: Cadena-Castañeda Oscar J. , Gorochov A.V.
Published: May 2020

The Neotropical genera Quiva Hebard, 1927 and Yungasacris Rehn, 1950 belonging to the tribe Dysoniini are briefly reviewed. The former genus is divided into two subgenera: Quiva s. str. and Paraquiva subgen. nov. Four species and subspecies are described: Q. (Q.) sharovi sp. nov., Q. (P.) angieae sp. nov., Yu. multa sp. nov. and Yu. grata rara subsp. nov. Keys to subgenera, species and subspecies of these genera are given.
The Effect of Vitamin D Replacement on Patient with Subclinical Hypothyroidism: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial
Authors: Pezeshki Babak , Ahmadi Ali , Karimi Aliasghar
Published: May 2020

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is characterized by an elevated Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) with a normal T4. The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in patients SCH is high. Some studies suggested that Vitamin D supplements could be reduced serum concentration of TSH so improve SCH and prevent overt hypothyroidism. This study aims to explore the effect of vitamin D replacement on subclinical hypothyroidism. Materials and Methods: Fifty-nine patients, diagnosed with both subclinical hypothyroidism and Vitamin D deficiency by the Endocrinology outpatient clinics between January 2018 and March 2019, were included in this trial. The patients with overt hypothyroidism, cardiovascular risk factors, or positive TPO antibody, abnormal T4, and pregnant women were excluded from this study. The 40 subjects were investigated who received vitamin D supplements for two months.  Analyses were conducted through paired-samples t-test and independent-samples t-test using SPSS 24 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). Results: The mean serum levels of TSH was decreased from 6.89 mIU/l in the pre-test to 3.34 mIU/l in the post-test, and the difference was found to be statistically significant at P<0.001. Conclusion: We found that the TSH mean level significantly dropped through the use of vitamin D supplements. Thus, it is recommended that all the patients with subclinical hypothyroidism be screened and treated with vitamin D supplements. [GMJ.2020;9:e1592]
Efficacy of intraarterial superselective indocyanine green videoangiography in cerebral arteriovenous malformation surgery in a hybrid operating room
Authors: Shimada Kenji , Yamaguchi Tadashi , Miyamoto Takeshi , Sogabe Shu , Korai Masaaki , Okazaki Toshiyuki , Kanematsu Yasuhisa , Satomi Junichiro , Nagahiro Shinji , Takagi Yasushi
Published: May 2020

OBJECTIVE

Although intravenous indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography has been reported to be useful when applied to cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) surgery, the ICG that remains after the procedure makes it difficult to understand the anatomy, to evaluate nidus blood flow changes, and to repeat ICG videoangiography within a short time. Intraarterial ICG videoangiography has emerged as a way to overcome these limitations. The current study presents the results of intraarterial ICG videoangiography undertaken in patients with cerebral AVMs.

METHODS

Intraarterial ICG videoangiography was performed in 13 patients with cerebral AVMs. Routine intraoperative digital subtraction angiography at the authors’ institution is performed in a hybrid operating room during AVM surgery and includes the added step of injecting ICG to the contrast medium that is administered through a catheter.

RESULTS

Predissection studies were able to visualize the feeder in 12 of 13 cases. The nidus was visualized in 12 of 13 cases, while the drainer was visualized in all cases. After total dissection of the nidus, there was no ICG filling in the drainers found in any of the cases. Washout of the ICG took 4.4 ± 1.3 seconds in the feeders, 9.2 ± 3.5 seconds in the drainers, and 20.9 ± 3.4 seconds in all of the vessels. Nidus flow reduction was confirmed during dissection in 9 of 9 cases. Flow reduction was easy to recognize due to each span being very short. Color-encoded visualization and objective data obtained by Flow 800 analysis reinforced these findings.

CONCLUSIONS

The results showed that intraarterial ICG videoangiography was more useful than intravenous ICG videoangiography in cerebral AVM surgery. This was especially effective in the identification of the feeder, nidus, and drainer and in the assessment of the flow dynamics of the nidus. Use of Flow 800 made it simpler and easier to evaluate these findings.
Resolution of neonatal posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation coincident with patent ductus arteriosus ligation: case report
Authors: Vanstrum Erik B. , Borzage Matthew T. , Chu Jason K. , Wang Shuo , Rea Nolan , McComb J. Gordon , Krieger Mark D. , Chiarelli Peter A.
Published: May 2020

Preterm infants commonly present with a hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (hsPDA). The authors describe the case of a preterm infant with posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation, which resolved in a temporally coincident fashion to repair of hsPDA. The presence of a PDA with left-to-right shunting was confirmed at birth on echocardiogram and was unresponsive to repeated medical intervention. Initial cranial ultrasound revealed periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage. Follow-up serial ultrasound showed resolving intraventricular hemorrhage and progressive bilateral hydrocephalus. At 5 weeks, the ductus was ligated with the goal of improving hemodynamic stability prior to CSF diversion. However, neurosurgical intervention was not required due to improvement of ventriculomegaly occurring immediately after PDA ligation. No further ventricular dilation was observed at the 6-month follow-up.

Systemic venous flow disruption and abnormal patterns of cerebral blood circulation have been previously associated with hsPDA. Systemic hemodynamic change has been reported to follow hsPDA ligation, although association with ventricular normalization has not. This case suggests that the unstable hemodynamic environment due to left-to-right shunting may also impede CSF outflow and contribute to ventriculomegaly. The authors review the literature surrounding pressure transmission between a PDA and the cerebral vessels and present a mechanism by which PDA may contribute to posthemorrhagic ventricular dilation.
Degrees of bi-embeddable categoricity
Authors: Bazhenov Nikolay , Fokina Ekaterina , Rossegger Dino , San Mauro Luca
Published: May 2020

We investigate the complexity of embeddings between bi-embeddable structures. In analogy with categoricity spectra, we define the bi-embeddable categoricity spectrum of a structure [Formula: see text] as the family of Turing degrees that compute embeddings between any computable bi-embeddable copies of [Formula: see text]; the degree of bi-embeddable categoricity of [Formula: see text] is the least degree in this spectrum (if it exists). We extend many known results about categoricity spectra to the case of bi-embeddability. In particular, we exhibit structures without degree of bi-embeddable categoricity, and we show that every degree d.c.e above [Formula: see text] for α a computable successor ordinal and [Formula: see text] for λ a computable limit ordinal is a degree of bi-embeddable categoricity. We also give examples of families of degrees that are not bi-embeddable categoricity spectra.
How does the digital economy and society index (DESI) affect labor market indicators in EU countries?
Authors: Başol Oğuz , Yalçın Esin Cumhur
Published: May 2020

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the effects of the DESI (connectivity, human capital/digital skills, use of internet service by citizens, integration of digital technology and digital public services) on labor market indicators (labor market insecurity, long-term unemployment rate, employment rate, and personal earnings). METHODS: In the study, the 2018 DESI data, the 2018 Better Life Index (job) data and 23 EU countries were analyzed. In the analysis, the SmartPLS 3.0 program was executed with 23 cases and 5000 bootstraps. RESULTS: It was concluded that an increase in the DESI has increased employment rate and personal earnings, which are positive labor market indicators (t: 15,929; 0,849) and has decreased long-term unemployment rate and labor market insecurity, which are negative labor market indicators (t: 3,685; –0,535). CONCLUSIONS: As a result, digitalization in EU countries for the year 2018 has proved that the labor market indicators were improving.
The sigma-1 receptor: Potential role in the modulation of cellular radiation sensitivity
Authors: Belter Birgit , Deuther-Conrad Winnie , Hofheinz Frank , Neuber Christin , Bachmann Michael , Brust Peter , Pietzsch Jens
Published: May 2020

Direct interaction of the sigma-1 ( σ1) receptor, an endoplasmic reticulum chaperone located in close vicinity to the mitochondrion, with a variety of proteins involved in essential processes regulating proliferation, survival, and death of cells, indicates a role of this protein in tumor biology. Since tumor therapies address precisely these processes to stop the growth of tumor cells, the σ1 receptor could be a suitable modulator of the effectiveness of selected therapies. Recent initial studies have shown not only anti-proliferative effects of ligands targeting this protein, but also modulating effects in both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, in this regard the influence of functional expression of the σ1receptor has not yet been fully clarified. The purpose of this pilot experiment was to investigate the role of σ1 receptor on cellular radiosensitivity in an in vitro model. Therefore, clonogenic assays were performed to assess the susceptibility of HEK293 cells, stably transfected with human σ1 receptor, towards irradiation (X-ray) in comparison to non-transfected cells. Moreover, irradiation combined with pharmacological treatment should prove whether agonistic and antagonistic ligand binding to σ1 receptor influences the effectiveness of radiation treatment. The data obtained are not fully conclusive by indicating, on the one hand, an involvement of σ1 receptor in radiation-induced effects along with pharmacological effects independent from the σ1 receptor level, on the other hand, suggesting limitations of the model used herein. Consequently, subsequent work will focus on the investigation of tumor cells with different receptor densities.
Real world safety of bevacizumab in cancer patients: A systematic literature review of case reports
Authors: Dang Amit , Jagan Mohan Venkateswara Rao P. , Kishore Ravi , Vallish B.N.
Published: May 2020

BACKGROUND: Real-world safety of bevacizumab in cancer patients is limited. OBJECTIVE: To review the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) due to bevacizumab in cancer patients, in published case reports. METHODS: PubMed was searched; case reports of patients with any type of cancer, administered with bevacizumab (monotherapy/combination) and reported ADRs were included. Causality of ADRs was presented as reported in individual papers. ADRs were classified using the information in the USFDA-approved prescribing information (PI) of bevacizumab as ‘Serious’, ‘Common’, and ‘Post-marketing surveillance’ ADRs; ADRs not mentioned in the bevacizumab PI were termed as ‘Non-label ADRs’. RESULTS: A total of 130 published papers comprising 154 cases from 22 different countries were included. Most papers (102/130; 78.46%) had moderate methodological quality. Age range of patients was 9-77 years. Off-label use of bevacizumab was found in 34/154 cases (22.08%). Ninety-six unique ADRs were found among 154 ADRs; most reported ADRs affected circulatory, digestive, and respiratory systems (33, 32, and 26 cases respectively). Most commonly reported ADRs were posterior leukoencephalopathy, fistulae, and gastrointestinal perforation (17, 17, and 16 cases respectively). Twenty-eight unique non-label ADRs (29.17%) were found. CONCLUSION: Bevacizumab is associated with more ADRs in the real world among cancer patients than those reported during clinical trials.
Reseñas
Authors: López Caballero Alfonso , Trechera Herreros José Luis , Yuste, S.I. Rafael , Sequeiros San Román, S.I. Leandro , Romero Rodríguez, S.I. José Juan , Rodero Franganillo Adolfo , Morales Gutiérrez Alfonso Carlos
Published: May 2020

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Pemanfaatan Biogas Kotoran Sapi untuk Heater Kandang Ayam Jowo Super
Authors: Winangun Kuntang , Buntoro Ghulam Asrofi , Puspitasari Indah , Ain M. Fadyanto Handynur
Published: May 2020

Program Kemitraan Masyarakat (PKM) yang didanai oleh Kementerian Riset, Teknologi, dan Pendidikan Tinggi melalui Direktorat Riset dan Pengabdian Masyarakat Direktorat Jenderal Riset dan Pengembangan ini bertujuan untuk pembuatan biogas dari kotoran sapi untuk pemanas kandang ayam jowo super. Hal ini dilakukan agar mitra lebih efektif dalam pemanfaatan kotoran sapi yang selama ini hanya dibuang tanpa dikelola dengan maksimal. Biogas kotoran sapi kemudian dimanfaatkan kembali untuk pemanas kandang ayam jowo super oleh mitra. Selain bantuan teknologi, juga memberi pendampingan penggunaan alat kepada masyarakat mitra agar mampu menggunakan alat tersebut. Target kegiatan Program Kemitraan Masyarakat (PKM) ini adalah pembuatan digester biogas, pembuatan pemanas untuk kandang ayam jowo super, dan publikasi media masa agar lebih dikenal masyarakat luas. Metode pendekatan yang digunakan dalam kegiatan Program Kemitraan Masyarakat (PKM) ini adalah pendidikan dan pelatihan, pendampingan, evaluasi. Teknik pelaksanaan kegiatan dilakukan dengan cara memberikan motivasi usaha, pembimbingan manajemen usaha, pelatihan keterampilan masyarakat dalam pembuatan biogas dari kotoran sapi, pelatihan penggunaan alat pemanas kandang ayam jowo super. Diharapkan kegiatan ini dapat mengatasi permasalahan mitra khususnya dalam pemanfaatan kotoran sapi dan pembuatan pemanas kandang ayam jowo super.
Autoethnographic Reflections of an International Graduate Teaching Assistant’s Co-Teaching Experiences
Authors: Howlett Kristina , Nguyen Huong
Published: May 2020

This authoethnographic study explores the co-teaching experiences of an international graduate teaching assistant (IGTA) assigned to co-teach an undergraduate course at a U.S. publicly funded university. As a sociocultural theoretical framework, Dewey (1938), Vygotsky (1978), and Schön’s (1983) works regarding experiential learning, interaction, and reflective practice were used to analyze narratives and highlight the IGTA’s co-teaching experiences to provide evidence of reflective and collaborative practices. Five themes emerged from the study: a need for professional development, interdependence, mentoring, improving interpersonal skills, and shifting perspectives. The findings uncovered how the co-teaching experience cultivated and sustained an IGTA’s personal awareness of self and others through guided reflection on instructional practices to improve teaching and learning.
Analysis of the Relationship between Learning Environment and Student Engagement 个体背景和学习环境因素对来华本科留学生学习投入的影响
Authors: Lu Genshu , Li Lijie , Tian Mei
Published: May 2020

Drawing on the data generated by a survey involving 1,428 international undergraduate students in China, this article analyzed the relationship between the participants’ perceived learning environment and their self-reported engagement in academic activities. The findings revealed the participants’ uneven participation in academic activities. Based on their self-reported levels of student engagement, the participants were categorized into three types: i.e. active engagement (23.2%), lack of engagement (45.8%) and inadequate engagement (31.0%). In line with the previous research findings, this research confirmed a significant relationship between international students’ perceived learning environment and their engagement in academic studies. Suggestions were given for the enhancement of international student education in China. 本研究应用对1428名来华本科留学生的调查数据，探讨了来华留学生的学习投入状态，以及个体因素和学习环境因素对其学习投入的影响。研究发现，就总体而言，来华本科留学生感知的学习环境处于良好状态，他们的学习投入程度则处于一般偏低水平；根据来华本科留学生学习投入情况，可将其学习投入类型分为高投入型、低投入型和欠投入型三类，分别占比23.2%，45.8%，31.0%；个体因素和学习环境因素对来华本科留学生的学习投入程度具有一定的显著影响。为提高来华留学生的学习投入程度，一方面要从来华留学生自身出发，提高学习自觉性，增强学习投入水平；另一方面，要根据来华本科留学生的个体背景采取胡针对性的策略，同时通过营造良好的学习环境来提升来华本科留学生的学习投入水平，帮助其获得更好的在华留学经历。
Geographies and Cultures of International Student Experiences in Higher Education
Authors: Perez-Encinas Adriana , Rodriguez-Pomeda Jesus
Published: May 2020

Updated research is required on the geographies of the cultural issues that shape international students’ experiences. The growing number of students traveling to different countries implies a need to cater to cultures and values from different parts of the world. Apart from cultural and geographical aspects, there is scarce knowledge about similarities between students’ experiences abroad that takes into account their countries of origin (and, to some extent, their cultures) within those mobility flows. Using a probabilistic topic model on 59,662 international student reports from 167 countries on their mobility experiences, we examine links between the students’ experiences and their countries of origin. The results show that the geographical features of the reports are connected not only to cultural issues, but also to other factors that might affect their international experience.
Expanding Meaningfulness: Perceptions and Strategy Use of Chinese International Graduate Students in Disciplinary Reading
Authors: Wang Yang
Published: May 2020

This qualitative case study explored two Chinese international graduate students’ beliefs about their reading and reading processes.  The researcher interviewed the participants, asked them to read aloud, analyzed their reading using miscue analysis, and then discussed their reading with them using retrospective miscue analysis (RMA).  The researcher found that readers’ beliefs were not static and text difficulty influenced the students’ reading beliefs and strategy use. Through RMA, both students became aware of their respective reading processes and they both became more confident as readers.  This study suggests that RMA is an effective tool for English-as-an-additional language graduate students, as it helps in the construction of meaning and the improvement of disciplinary literacy skills.
Intercultural Learning in Transnational Articulation Programs
Authors: Dai Kun , Garcia Jaime
Published: May 2020

Many Chinese universities engage in transnational higher education by establishing articulation programs with international partners. Although research has broadly investigated transnational higher education topics, few studies have explored Chinese students’ intercultural learning and adjustment experiences in these programs. This qualitative study explored seven Chinese students’ experiences in two China-Australia articulation programs to add insights to this under-researched topic. The findings indicated that research participants’ intercultural learning experiences were far more complex than the theoretical model of “stress-adaptation-development.” The students’ agency, identity, and belonging underwent dynamic changes due to academic inconsistencies and differences, including the use of technology, assessment, and teaching strategies. This study suggests that it is important for educators to consider educational differences in designing and implementing transnational articulation programs.
FABRICATION OF SAND/ZINC OXIDE/TITANIUM DIOXIDE NANOCOMPOSITE AS PHOTOCATALYST
Authors: Idris Nur Jannah
Published: May 2020

In this work, a nanocomposite photocatalyst was fabricated by growing zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) on the sand as a substrate. The initial sand/ZnO was fabricated via sol-gel immersion method for 4 h at 95℃. Furthermore, the sand/ZnO/TiO2 was fabricatedusing hydrothermal method for 5 h at 150℃. Based on field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) analysis, the fabricated sand/ZnO/TiO2 consists of random formation of hexagonal ZnO nanorods and two pyramidal spindle ends of TiO2 nanorods. The addition of TiO2 on top of ZnO nanorods increased the number of active sites which enables more contaminants to be absorbed thus enhanced the photocatalysis process. Moreover, based on the micro-Raman spectra, the synthesized TiO2 was in rutile phase and the ZnO peak was unobservable due to the overlapping with TiO2 peak. Based on its morphological and structural properties, the fabricated sand/ZnO/TiO2 nanocomposite was potential to be applied as photocatalyst.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CLOVE AND EUCALYPTUS ESSENTIAL OILS-BASED PVP/GELATIN NANOFIBERS
Authors: CENGİZ ÇALLIOĞLU Funda , KESİCİ GÜLER Hülya , SESLİ ÇETİN Emel
Published: May 2020

This study aimed to produce polyvinylpyrrolidone/gelatin
(PVP/GEL) nanofibers based on clove essential oil (CLEO) and eucalyptus
essential oil (EEO) through emulsion electrospinning. Firstly, solution
properties such as GC-MS profile, viscosity, conductivity, and surface tension
were investigated. Then, nanofibers were produced under optimum process
parameters and characterized using SEM, FT-IR, and UV-vis. Lastly,
antibacterial activity was determined via the disc diffusion method against Staphylococcus
aureus (S. aureus), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Candida
albicans (C. albicans), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P.
aeruginosa), and Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis). The
major components of CLEO and EEO were determined to be eugenol and 1,8-cineole,
respectively. Conductivity and surface tension decreased and viscosity
increased with increasing concentration of either essential oil. Generally,
addition of CLEO to the polymer solution yielded quite fine nanofibers and
eliminated beads. Moreover, CLEO nanofibers displayed larger inhibition zones
than did EEO nanofibers.
Origem do mal segundo Santo Agostinho: Uma perspectiva judaico-cristã
Authors: Corsi Uellinton Valentim
Published: May 2020

Este é um processo de pesquisa e hermenêutica sobre a origem do mal segundo Santo Agostinho em uma perspectiva judaico-cristã. O centro de interesse está presente nas obras do autor De Libero Arbitrio e Confessiones, que busca elucidar como é concebido o mal e sua origem e, como se dá o processo de construção interna no ser humano por meio do imperativo da vontade desvelado pelo autor.
Una experiencia de práctica de oralidad en la enseñanza universitaria de las ciencias morfológicas
Authors: Teruel Miriam Teresita , Felipe Antonio Eduardo , Herrera Marcela Fernanda , Herrera Juan Manuel , Guerrero Melisa , Dopazo Judit , Díaz María , Alzola Paula , Eyheramendy Verónica
Published: May 2020

La oralidad constituye no sólo una competencia de comunicación, sino también de apoyo a los procesos de lectura y escritura, y por ende a los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje. Para estimular el desarrollo de habilidades comunicativas, incorporamos en el curso de Histología, Embriología y Teratología, de la carrera de Medicina Veterinaria de la UNCPBA (Tandil), guías de oralidad con imágenes de maquetas y microfotografías del desarrollo de aves y mamíferos, y de preparaciones histológicas de tejidos y órganos en formato PowerPoint. El objetivo de este trabajo es describir las características y la implementación de la propuesta durante el año 2017, y la percepción de docentes y estudiantes sobre la misma.
La construcción de habilidades digitales estudiantiles en torno al Programa Conectar Igualdad
Authors: Benítez Larghi Sebastián
Published: May 2020

Los procesos de formación y adquisición de habilidades digitales han despertado gran interés en tanto factor decisivo para superar las brechas digitales. Sin embargo, los estudios evaluativos suelen partir de una definición sustancialista y ahistórica de las habilidades digitales sin cuestionar cuáles son, quién las define y para qué sirven. Frente a esta postura, se propone una concepción materialista problematizando distintas dimensiones de los conocimientos subjetivos movilizados el entorno escolar: las habilidades digitales en general y la meta-habilidad del multitasking en particular de estudiantes beneficiarios del Programa Conectar Igualdad (PCI). La estrategia metodológica trianguló instrumentos cuantitativos y cualitativos (encuestas y grupos focales). Los hallazgos permiten ofrecer alternativas para morigerar la llamada disonancia digital.
Conclusion
Authors: Treharne Sally-Ann
Published: May 2020

Reagan and Thatcher forged a formidable alliance in a time of increasing Cold War tension and omnipresent fears of communist expansionism. Their close working, and indeed, personal, relationship was supported by a mutual respect and admiration, by shared fiscal and political ideologies and a strong anti-communist rhetoric. Despite the changing domestic and international realities of the UK and the US, both leaders were committed to a strengthening of bilateral relations between the two countries. Their relationship had an ease and level of familiarity that weathered their often diverging strategic interests, particularly in Latin America. Despite their often seemingly incompatible individual foreign policy objectives, the relationship continued to evolve and deepen. This strengthening in relations repaired the cleavages that emerged through challenges presented in the Latin American region during the 1980s....
Whose Repressed Memories? Max Manus: Man of War and Flame & Citron (from a Swede’s Point of View)
Authors: Hedling Erik
Published: May 2020

In 2008, both Norway and Denmark delivered major contributions to the cinematic genre of the ‘occupation drama’ (Norwegian), or ‘occupation film’ (Danish): the Norwegian film was Max Manus: Man of War (Max Manus, Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, 2008) and the Danish Flame & Citron (Flammen og citronen, Ole Christian Madsen, 2008). In Scandinavia, these generic markers refer to many films set during the Second World War and depicting the fates of Danes and Norwegians in the years 1940–5, when their respective countries were occupied by Nazi Germany. Thus, both Norway and Denmark eventually came to be on the victorious allied side of the war.
The other Nordic countries had different obligations. Sweden, most importantly in the present context, was neutral and kept its independence throughout the war. This chapter will study how Max Manus: Man of War and Flame & Citron can be understood in a Swedish context, referring to Swedish history during the war, textual analyses of mainly the scenes from Sweden in the films, and the reception of the films in Sweden. That is, I analyse Norwegian and Danish perceptions of Sweden during the war, but strictly from a Swede’s point of view.
Voices from the Past – Recent Nordic Historical Films
Authors: Iversen Gunnar
Published: May 2020

Nordic cinema since the 2000s has turned to history to a greater degree than before, employing historical subject matter and settings to entertain, show off costumes and tell stories, but also to contribute with images and sounds to what historian Robert A. Rosenstone calls ‘that larger History . . . that web of connections to the past that holds a culture together, that tells us not only where we have been but also suggests where we are going’.
This chapter discusses the connections to the past made by the genre of the historical film. By historical film I mean films that create stories that take place in the past and not the present. The main questions are: How do Nordic filmmakers interpret and construct Nordic history? How do Nordic filmmakers engage with the past? And, what constitutes history for current filmmakers in the Nordic countries?
I discuss four different feature films, from four different countries, in order to show the scope of the new Nordic historical film and different varieties of engagement with the past.
Fathers and Sons Reunited: Road Movies as Stories of Generational Continuity
Authors: Römpötti Tommi
Published: May 2020

This chapter asks what happens to the conventions of the road movie, and in particular its ethos of resistance, when younger and older generations hit the road together in Nordic films of the 2000s. In raising this question I discuss the use of road movie conventions in two Finnish road movies, the fictional Road North (Mika Kaurismäki, 2012) and the documentary Finnish Blood Swedish Heart (Mika Ronkainen, 2012), which both feature stories of father–son pairings driving together towards a new kind of understanding of their roots. The films offer two ways to see how road movies, in essence, work between the national and the transnational. Road North depicts a road journey inside the borders of Finland. Finnish Blood Swedish Heart, in comparison, is profoundly transnational anyway in its subject matter of a father and son duo driving from Finland to their past in Sweden, but film was also financed as a Finnish–Swedish co-production and, before being awarded as the best Finnish documentary of the year, it received the Dragon award for the best Nordic documentary at the Gothenburg International Film Festival 2013.
Powered by Music: Contemporary Film Musicals, Nordic Style
Authors: Wallengren Ann-Kristin
Published: May 2020

When thinking about Nordic cinema, the musical is not the first genre to come to mind. This holds true for the global audiences as well as for Nordic ones, nowadays and in retrospect. The film musical, in some kind of down-to-earth classical generic sense, is for a Western audience most probably associated with Hollywood films from the 1930s and onwards, with an obvious decline after the successful productions Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965). Some European musicals are probably also well-known to the nonspecialist public, such as Jacques Demy’s Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, 1964) and Les Demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort, 1967). Since then musicals have changed or transformed. Even if some characteristics usually connected with the genre are still in use,
they are now often utilised in an excessive or transformed way (Altman 1987; Grant 2012).
Slasher in the Snow: The Rise of the Low-Budget Nordic Horror Film
Authors: Gustafsson Tommy
Published: May 2020

Arguably, the horror film is the most frowned upon film genre, perhaps only surpassed by the porn film. Historically, the horror film has often been seen by Nordic film critics and film censors since the 1930s as something foreign or as yet another sign of unlawful Americanisation. Although the production of genre films has been prominent among all Nordic film industries ever since the silent film period, these genre films have mostly consisted of comedies and, especially in recent years, crime and detective films. The Nordic horror film in all its shapes and forms has been an anomaly in the Nordic countries, and this argument does not include the somewhat anachronistic genre labelling of films such as The Phantom Chariot (Körkarlen, Victor Sjostrom, 1921) and The Vampire (Vampyr, Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1932).
A National/Transnational Genre: Pornography in Transition
Authors: Larsson Mariah
Published: May 2020

The most (in)famous Swedish pornographic film from the 1970s is perhaps Fäbodjäntan (Come and Blow the Horn, 1978). In the national imagination, it has become not only iconic of an era clouded by myth and legend of Swedish sin and a golden age of porn and erotic cult movies, but also of a half-jokingly celebrated Swedishness as well. Partly this has to do with the title and the setting, as Mats Bjorkin notes in his essay on the film ‘Fäbodjäntan: Sex, Communication, and Cultural Heritage’ (2005): the fäbod is a place away from farming villages where, historically, farmers brought their animals for summer pasturage. Women followed the herds to the fäbod to watch them. Although Come and Blow the Horn takes place in contemporary times, it still plays upon this national historical image, and it is shot in the county of Dalecarlia (Dalarna) which is particularly associated with the fäbod practice. Although perhaps not the ideal of Sweden, through its director’s use of national iconography – summer, the fäbod, an alleged Viking artifact (the horn itself), skinny-dipping – and more or less unintentional comedy, the film has through the years become a part of the ‘imagined community’ (Anderson 1983) of Sweden.
A Culture of Reciprocity: The Politics of Cultural Exchange in Contemporary Nordic Genre Film
Authors: Kääpä Pietari
Published: May 2020

Tim League, the founder of Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain, and a key figure in distributing genre cinema in the US, outlines several significant developments in the international profile of Nordic film culture. His comments touch on the context where a range of genre films like Iron Sky (Vuorensola, 2012), Død snø/Dead Snow (Wirkola, 2008), The Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre (Kemp, 2010) and Kommandør Treholt og Ninja troppen/Norwegian Ninja (Malling, 2010) have broken the perception of a bleak sense of Nordic miserabilism of the Bergman or the Kaurismaki variety. Instead, cinemas of the Nordic countries are now ‘cool’ and receive blessing from both high-minded arts institutions and geeky fans alike. Furthermore, it seems genre has a substantial role to play here with both producers and creative institutions from the Nordic countries embracing its commercial and creative potential. In addition, League’s comments were published in Wired magazine, a venue for tech-savvy media connoisseurs, which reports on the very latest in the intersection of technology and communications.
The 1980s Italian Horror Cinema of Imitation: The good, the Ugly and the Sequel
Authors: Baschiera Stefano
Published: May 2020

In the first half of the 1980s, Italian horror cinema thrived amid a significant moment of crisis and structural changes in the national film industry and infrastructure. During the decade, the crisis of Italian cinema, which began in the 1970s, worsened significantly and affected all sectors of the industry.1 Specifically, the exhibition sector continued to struggle and witnessed an apparently irreversible resizing of the number of cinema theatres in the country and a massive decline in the number of the increasingly expensive tickets sold (Corsi, 2001: 116–23). The second- and third-run theatres – in particular, the provincial ones – which constituted the backbone of Italian cinema-going faced the crisis of the sector first, soon followed by more prestigious urban exhibition centres.
‘The Only Monsters here are the Filmmakers’: Animal cruelty and death in Italian Cannibal Films
Authors: Bernard Mark
Published: May 2020

Many contemporary horror filmmakers pride themselves on violating taboos in their films, especially taboos concerning violence. However, there is a line that even many of the most hardened filmmakers refuse to cross: violence against animals. In fact, some horror filmmakers have spoken out against animal abuse. For instance, heavy metal musician-turned-horror filmmaker Rob Zombie… teamed up with the organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in 2007 to record a message for their ‘Thanksgiving Hotline’, a ‘compassionate alternative’ to the Butterball Turkey Talk Line that offers tips on turkey preparation. Zombie is a self-described ‘ethical vegetarian’ and as such his contribution details the cruelty and mistreatment to which turkeys are subjected in Butterball’s factory farms (PETA, 2007). In 2009 another horror filmmaker, Eli Roth, director of the Hostel films (2006–7), appeared in a promotional spot for PETA.
The Khānqāh
Authors: Hofer Nathan
Published: May 2020

Saladin founded his khānqāh a hospice known as the Saʿīd al-Su
ʿadāʾ or al-Íalā ªīya– in 569/1173 in order to house Sufis newly arrived in Cairo. He built it in the heart of the city and funded it with an endowment (waqf) to ensure that it would continue to provide a home for Sufis long after he had passed away.1 But the Saʿīd al-Su
ʿadāʾ did not simply house itinerant Sufis. Saladin also created a stipendiary position (man‚ib) at the top of the hierarchy of the khānqāh’s organisation, known as the shaykh al-shuyūkh
(literally ‘the master of masters’, hereafter ‘Chief Sufi’). This office was a kind of Sufi counterpart to that of the Chief Judge (qā∂ī al-qu
āt). The Chief Sufi was supposed to mentor the Sufis of the khānqāh and to act as a liaison between the ruling elite and local communities of Sufis in Egypt and Greater Syria. Theoretically, then, the authority of the Chief Sufi was geographically coterminous with Ayyubid rule itself. In reality it did not work so neatly.
The Sufis of the Khānqāh
Authors: Hofer Nathan
Published: May 2020

In the previous chapter I argued that the Ayyubid and early Mamluk sultans’ interests in sponsoring Sufism at the Saʿīd al-Su ʿadāʾ were primarily two-fold: to support juridical Sufis in order to legitimise their own authority, and to accrue blessing and merit for themselves and their families. While the interests of the Sufis who lived at the khānqāh were certainly not synonymous with those of the military elites who sponsored them, they were nevertheless complementary. Indeed, it would be hard to imagine the sultans supporting and subsidising Sufis who did not in some way promote the interests of the state. Conversely, it would be highly unlikely that Sufis would agree to participate in the ideological programme of the khānqāh if doing so did not further their own goals or align with their conception of Sufi authority and duty.
The Popularisation of Shādhilī Sufism
Authors: Hofer Nathan
Published: May 2020

In the previous two chapters I characterised the early Shādhilī collectivity as a textual community that traced its unique Sufi identity to the †arīqa of Abū l-Óasan al-Shādhilī. After the deaths of al-Shādhilī and Abū l-ʿAbbās al-Mursī this †arīqa was disseminated in Egypt primarily through Ibn ʿA†āʾ Allāh al-Iskandarī’s discursive construction across several different texts, especially La†āʾif al-minan, and through his public preaching. It was the subsequent repetition and collective performance of that †arīqa that institutionalised the eponymous identity of al-Shādhilī and constituted the institutionalised social field from which the Shādhilī †āʾifa developed. In Chapter 3 I argued that it was largely the efforts of the state– the rulers and the Sufis of the khānqāh–
which brought their form of Sufism to the urban populace of
Cairo. It was principally in public spaces that they collectively produced and popularised a culture of Sufism accessible across multiple strata of society. Key to my understanding of the processes of popularisation is this notion of mass or large-scale cultural production, which is necessarily collective and happens at multiple social sites. Therefore, given the widespread popularity of the Shādhilī †arīqa and subsequent †āʾifa, we must ask a similar question.
Attitudes to the Use of Fire in Executions in Late Antiquity and Early Islam: The Burning of Heretics and Rebels in Late Umayyad Iraq
Authors: Marsham Andrew
Published: May 2020

Capital punishment can be understood as simultaneously an exercise of actual power – the ending of a human life – and an exertion of symbolic, or ritual, power.1 In this combination of symbolic transformation with real physical change, executions are unusual rituals. But the use of extreme violence against the human body certainly does have ritual characteristics, in that it has established rules (which may, of course, be deliberately challenged or broken) and in that these rules are used to make the drastic transformation in the status of the executed party seem legitimate and proper, to reassert more general ideas about the correct social order and to communicate threats and warnings to others who might seek to upset it. The victim of the execution is quite literally marked out as beyond reintegration into society. Their body becomes a kind of text, which can be read in a multitude of ways: the authorities carrying out the killing usually have one set of messages in mind, but the victim themselves, and those who witness or remember the act, may have very different ideas.
Sexual Violence in Verse: The Case of Jiʿthin, Al-Farazdaq’s Sister
Authors: van Gelder Geert Jan
Published: May 2020

At some time towards the end of the first/seventh century, a relatively trivial incident took place.1 An Arab of the tribe of Tamīm called Hammām b. Ghālib visited a clan not his own, the Banū Minqar, also belonging to Tamīm. A woman, waking up her daughter called Ẓamyāʾ, found that a snake had crept into her clothes. She cried for help and Hammām, who happened to be nearby, chased the snake away by throwing some dust at it. The snake had probably been attracted by the warmth of the girl’s body; Hammām was attracted to it in turn: he touched the girl and kissed her, but she resisted and he left, making a mocking epigram on her and her clan. When her relatives heard this, they were angry and one of them called ʿAmr (or ʿImrān) b. Murra, who was sent to play a trick upon Hammām’s sister, Jiʿthin. ʿAmr lay in wait for her and approached her unawares when, at night, she left her tent ‘to do her business’. He put his hands on her hip and her leg and dragged her along for some distance. She cried out and when her tribesmen hastened to the scene ʿAmr fled. In another version, there were, in fact, three other men, who together with ʿAmr/ʿImrān dragged Jiʿthin from her tent.
Animals Would Follow ShāfiʿIsm: Legitimate and Illegitimate Violence to Animals in Medieval Islamic Thought
Authors: Tlili Sarra
Published: May 2020

The fact that Islam allows humans to consume meat and obtain several services from nonhuman animals is prevalently interpreted as a sign of anthropocentrism. For example, G. H. Bousquet considers that God created other animals to serve humans, thus suggesting that nonhuman animals have little or no intrinsic value in Islam.1 Carol Bakhos, Mohammed Hocine Benkheira and many others subscribe to the same opinion.2 The aim of this chapter is not to contest this view altogether, but to argue that the supposed anthropocentric character of Islamic tradition has been overemphasised at the expense of the theocentric one. Anthropocentrism is, of course, a ‘sin’, of which all human societies seem to be guilty. Nevertheless, to the extent that one can discern from medieval Islamic texts, the anthropocentric tendencies of pre-modern Muslim societies were often held in check by the equally, if not more important, theocentric character of the tradition. This approach resulted in genuine respect and serious engagement with nonhuman animals’ interests. The question of legitimate and illegitimate violence is well situated to illustrate this point. Thus, as I investigate how some Muslim scholars justified and categorised acts of force against animals, I will also assess the extent to which anthropocentric presuppositions shaped Muslims’ attitudes toward other animals.
‘All Those Figures’: Joseph Conrad and the Maritimes
Authors: Stevenson Randall
Published: May 2020

Conrad’s struggles with his Board of Trade Examinations – including in 1884, when Greenwich was established as the benchmark of global temporality – have much to suggest about the astronomical knowledge, aptitude with chronometers, general navigational expertise and reliance on Greenwich-based world measurements demanded by his career at sea. Demands concerned later affected his career as a novelist, too: not in provoking explicit resentment of Greenwich and its orders, but in some more covert resistance to them though anachronic narrative forms. New narrative temporalities introduced in novels including Lord Jim, Nostromo, and The Secret Agent anticipated and were a key influence on the modernist writing which followed in the next decades of the C20th.
Times in the Mind: Modernism in the 1920s
Authors: Stevenson Randall
Published: May 2020

Confirmed at the same time as arrangements for the first Armistice Day were announced, Albert Einstein’s theories indicate that the 1920s were marked not only by stringent temporalities, but also by reactions against them and by alternative ways of conceptualising time. In the work of James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Ford Madox Ford, Marcel Proust and others, this often took the form of a retreat from the social world into inner consciousness – into the minds of characters whose memories facilitated narrative structures evading everyday chronology in favour of freely following thoughts from the present into the past. Priorities involved can be compared with the work of recent and contemporary thinkers, including Henri Bergson as well as Einstein. Wyndham Lewis can be seen as an interesting if unreliable commentator on processes and possible influences involved, also providing an instructive counter-example in his own fiction. Modernist fiction itself, however, is far from comprehensively anachronic, but instead includes a strong element of conventional chronology as part of the complex interplay of contemporary temporalities its imagination seeks to contain.
Celebrity creatures: the ‘starification’ of the cinematic animal
Authors: Hockenhull Stella
Published: May 2020

Star studies has made a significant theoretical contribution to film studies over the past thirty years, and has been important in offering a variety of methods for understanding what constitutes a star. Nonetheless, rarely, apart from critical reviews contemporaneous to the release of the films, has the animal been mentioned or awarded judicious attention in academic publications. Furthermore, invariably, the analysis of stardom in film is confined to the study of humans and, by extension, human performance. Using Uggie in The Artist (Hazanavicius 2011) as a case study, this chapter introduces the notion of animal as star, and analyses the ways in which media, publicity and film language promote the animal to what Emmanuel Gouabault, Annik Dubied and Claudine Burton-Jeangros (2011) term ‘superindividual’ status.