bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Can fracture orientation and intensity be detected from seismic data? Woodford Formation, Anadarko Basin, Oklahoma investigation
Authors: Rauch-Davies Marianne , Langton David , Bradshaw Michael , Bartana Allon , Kosloff Dan , Codd Jeff , Kessler David , Rich Jamie , Margrave Gary
Published: February 2019

With readily available wide-azimuth, onshore, 3D seismic data, the search for attributes utilizing the azimuthal information is ongoing. Theoretically, in the presence of ordered fracturing, the seismic wavefront shape changes from spherical to nonspherical with the propagation velocity being faster parallel to the fracturing and slower perpendicular to the fracture direction. This concept has been adopted and is used to map fracture direction and density within unconventional reservoirs. More specifically, azimuthal variations in normal moveout velocity or migration velocity are often used to infer natural fracture orientation. Analyses of recent results have called into question whether azimuthal velocity linked to intrinsic azimuthal velocity variations can actually be detected from seismic data. By use of 3D orthorhombic anisotropic elastic simulation, we test whether fracture orientation and intensity can be detected from seismic data. We construct two subsurface models based on interpreted subsurface layer structure of the Anadarko Basin in Oklahoma. For the first model, the material parameters in the layers are constant vertically transverse isotropic (VTI) in all intervals. The second model was constructed the same way as the base model for all layers above the Woodford Shale Formation. For the shale layer, orthorhombic properties were introduced. In addition, a thicker wedge layer was added below the shale layer. Using the constructed model, synthetic seismic data were produced by means of 3D anisotropic elastic simulation resulting in two data sets: VTI and orthorhombic. The simulated data set was depth migrated using the VTI subsurface model. After migration, the residual moveouts on the migrated gathers were analyzed. The analysis of the depth-migrated model data indicates that for the typical layer thicknesses of the Woodford Shale layer in the Anadarko Basin, observed and modeled percentage of anisotropy and target depth, the effect of intrinsic anisotropy is too small to be detected in real seismic data.
Application of structural interpretation and simultaneous inversion to reservoir characterization of the Duvernay Formation, Fox Creek, Alberta, Canada
Authors: Weir Ronald , Lawton Don , Lines Laurence , Eyre Thomas , Eaton David
Published: February 2019

Simultaneous prestack inversion of multicomponent 3D seismic data integrated with structural interpretation can provide an effective workflow to maximize value for unconventional plays. We outline an integrated workflow for characterizing the Duvernay play in western Canada, an emerging world-class low-permeability unconventional resource fairway. This workflow includes the determination of a time-depth relationship using synthetic seismograms, generation of seismic-derived time- and depth-converted structural maps, and calculation of inversion-based parameters of density and P- and S-wave velocity. The model-based procedure includes poststack (acoustic) inversion, amplitude variation with offset prestack inversion, and joint PP-PS inversion. With these rock properties determined, calculations are made to determine Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, and brittleness. Faults are mapped based on time slices, isochrons, and correlatable vertical displacements of stratigraphic marker reflections. Significant strike-slip movements are identified by lateral displacement on interpreted geologic features, such as channels and reef edges. Seismic-derived attributes, combined with structural mapping, highlight zones that are conducive to hydraulic fracturing as well as areas unfavorable for development. Mapping of structural discontinuities provides a framework for understanding zones of preexisting weakness and induced-seismicity hazards.
Feasibility and acceptability of suicide prevention therapy on acute psychiatric wards: randomised controlled trial
Authors: Haddock Gillian , Pratt Daniel , Gooding Patricia A. , Peters Sarah , Emsley Richard , Evans Emma , Kelly James , Huggett Charlotte , Munro Ailsa , Harris Kamelia , Davies Linda , Awenat Yvonne
Published: February 2019

Background

Suicidal behaviour is common in acute psychiatric wards resulting in distress, and burden for patients, carers and society. Although psychological therapies for suicidal behaviour are effective in out-patient settings, there is little research on their effectiveness for in-patients who are suicidal.

Aims

Our primary objective was to determine whether cognitive–behavioural suicide prevention therapy (CBSP) was feasible and acceptable, compared with treatment as usual (TAU) for in-patients who are suicidal. Secondary aims were to assess the impact of CBSP on suicidal thinking, behaviours, functioning, quality of life, service use, cost-effectiveness and psychological factors associated with suicide.

Method

A single-blind pilot randomised controlled trial comparing TAU to TAU plus CBSP in in-patients in acute psychiatric wards who are suicidal (the Inpatient Suicide Intervention and Therapy Evaluation (INSITE) trial, trial registration: ISRCTN17890126). The intervention consisted of TAU plus up to 20 CBSP sessions, over 6 months continuing in the community following discharge. Participants were assessed at baseline and at 6 weeks and 6 months post-baseline.

Results

A total of 51 individuals were randomised (27 to TAU, 24 to TAU plus CBSP) of whom 37 were followed up at 6 months (19 in TAU, 18 in TAU plus CBSP). Engagement, attendance, safety and user feedback indicated that the addition of CBSP to TAU for in-patients who are acutely suicidal was feasible and acceptable while on in-patient wards and following discharge. Economic analysis suggests the intervention could be cost-effective.

Discussion

Psychological therapy can be delivered safely to patients who are suicidal although modifications are required for this setting. Findings indicate a larger, definitive trial should be conducted.

Declaration of interest

The trial was hosted by Greater Manchester Mental health NHS Trust (formerly, Manchester Mental Health and Social Care NHS Trust). The authors are affiliated to the University of Manchester, Greater Manchester Mental Health Foundation Trust, Lancashire Care NHS Foundation trust and the Manchester Academic Health Sciences Centre. Y.A. is a trustee for a North-West England branch of the charity Mind.
Association between particulate matter air pollution and risk of depression and suicide: systematic review and meta-analysis – RETRACTED
Authors: Gu Xuelin , Liu Qisijing , Deng Furong , Wang Xueqin , Lin Hualiang , Guo Xinbiao , Wu Shaowei
Published: February 2019

Background

Some recent studies examined the effect of ambient particulate matter (PM) pollution on depression and suicide. However, the results have been inconclusive.

Aims

To determine the overall relationship between PM exposure and depression/suicide in the general population.

Method

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of case-crossover and cohort studies to assess the association between PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less) or PM10 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter between 2.5 and 10 µm) exposure and depression/suicide.

Results

A total of 14 articles (7 for depression and 7 for suicide) with data from 684 859 participants were included in the meta-analysis. With a 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 we found a 19% (odds ratio [95% CI] 1.19 [1.07, 1.33]) increased risk of depression and a marginally increased risk of suicide (odds ratio [95% CI] 1.05 [0.99, 1.11]) in the general population. We did not observe any significant associations between increasing exposure to PM10 and depression/suicide. Sensitivity and subgroup analyses were used to determine the robustness of results. The strongest estimated effect of depression associated with PM2.5 appeared in a long-term lag pattern (odds ratio [95% CI] 1.25 [1.07, 1.45], P < 0.01) and cumulative lag pattern (odds ratio [95% CI] 1.26 [1.07, 1.48], P < 0.01).

Conclusions

The meta-analysis suggested that an increase in ambient PM2.5 concentration was strongly associated with increased depression risk in the general population, and the association appeared stronger at long-term lag and cumulative lag patterns, suggesting a potential cumulative exposure effect over time.

Declaration of interest

None.
Lineage-specific reorganization of nuclear peripheral heterochromatin and H3K9me2 domains
Authors: See Kelvin , Lan Yemin , Rhoades Joshua , Jain Rajan , Smith Cheryl L. , Epstein Jonathan A.
Published: February 2019

Dynamic organization of chromatin within the three-dimensional nuclear space has been postulated to regulate gene expression and cell fate. Here, we define the genome-wide distribution of nuclear peripheral heterochromatin as a multipotent P19 cell adopts either a neural or a cardiac fate. We demonstrate that H3K9me2-marked nuclear peripheral heterochromatin undergoes lineage-specific reorganization during cell-fate determination. This is associated with spatial repositioning of genomic loci away from the nuclear periphery as shown by 3D immuno-FISH. Locus repositioning is not always associated with transcriptional changes, but a subset of genes is upregulated. Mef2c is specifically repositioned away from the nuclear periphery during early neurogenic differentiation, but not during early cardiogenic differentiation, with associated transcript upregulation. Myocd is specifically repositioned during early cardiogenic differentiation, but not during early neurogenic differentiation, and is transcriptionally upregulated at later stages of cardiac differentiation. We provide experimental evidence for lineage-specific regulation of nuclear architecture during cell-fate determination in a mouse cell line.
Kinematic signatures of prey capture from archival tags reveal sex differences in killer whale foraging activity
Authors: Tennessen Jennifer B. , Holt Marla M. , Hanson M. Bradley , Emmons Candice K. , Giles Deborah A. , Hogan Jeffrey T.
Published: February 2019

Studies of odontocete foraging ecology have been limited by the challenges of observing prey capture events and outcomes underwater. We sought to determine whether subsurface movement behavior recorded from archival tags could accurately identify foraging events by fish-eating killer whales. We used multisensor bio-logging tags attached by suction cups to Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) to: (1) identify a stereotyped movement signature that co-occurred with visually confirmed prey capture dives; (2) construct a prey capture dive detector and validate it against acoustically confirmed prey capture dives; and (3) demonstrate the utility of the detector by testing hypotheses about foraging ecology. Predation events were significantly predicted by peaks in the rate of change of acceleration (‘jerk peak’), roll angle and heading variance. Detection of prey capture dives by movement signatures enabled substantially more dives to be included in subsequent analyses compared with previous surface or acoustic detection methods. Males made significantly more prey capture dives than females and more dives to the depth of their preferred prey, Chinook salmon. Additionally, only half of the tag deployments on females (5 out of 10) included a prey capture dive, whereas all tag deployments on males exhibited at least one prey capture dive (12 out of 12). This dual approach of kinematic detection of prey capture coupled with hypothesis testing can be applied across odontocetes and other marine predators to investigate the impacts of social, environmental and anthropogenic factors on foraging ecology.
Resiliência em Sistemas de Varejo Urbano
Authors: Sousa Felipe Gerhard Paula , Peñaloza Verónica , Sousa Caio Victor De Paula , Lima Brenno Buarque de
Published: February 2019

Este ensaio tem como objetivo geral investigar as principais propriedades e características relacionadas à resiliência em sistemas de varejo urbano. Para tal, por meio da análise de aspectos teóricos concernentes à resiliência em estudos de diversas disciplinas, busca-se erigir um conceito de resiliência específico de sistemas de varejo urbano e analisar criticamente as diferenças teóricas existentes entre os processos de desenvolvimento dos sistemas econômicos e dos sistemas de varejo urbano. Com supedâneo nas análises realizadas, observa-se que, para tais ambientes, resiliência representa a capacidade de se manter ou atingir um equilíbrio dinâmico em harmonia com a reorganização advinda da adaptação às adversidades enfrentadas. A resiliência seria a engrenagem central que faz girar todo o processo de desenvolvimento diacrônico dos sistemas de varejo urbano. Assim, conclui-se que o enfrentamento e a superação tanto das vulnerabilidades presentes no sistema quanto das adversidades provenientes do ambiente externo são importantes propulsores da resiliência.
As Competências Gerenciais do Papel de Facilitador na atuação do Gestor Secretarial
Authors: Barros Conceição de Maria Pinheiro , Silva Joelma Soares da , Paiva Túlio Feitosa
Published: February 2019

O secretário executivo contribui diretamente para o alcance dos resultados organizacionais. Exerce diversos papéis e, para tanto, precisa desenvolver permanentemente as competências gerenciais necessárias à sua atuação. A presente pesquisa aborda o papel de facilitador exercido pelos secretários executivos fundamentando-se em Quinn et al. (2003) ao considerarem a influência exercida pelo gestor por meio das competências gerenciais: construção de equipes, processo decisório participativo e administração de conflitos. Este trabalho tem como objetivo investigar as competências gerenciais do papel de facilitador na atuação do gestor secretarial, na visão de profissionais. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa quantitativo-qualitativa e descritiva, tendo como técnica de coleta de dados a aplicação de um questionário com 100 estudantes e profissionais atuantes em Secretariado Executivo, no Brasil. A análise dos dados revelou que o papel de facilitador organizacional está presente na atuação do secretário como gestor, contribuindo ativamente para o equilíbrio das organizações contemporâneas.
Potential relationship between malaria elimination and reducing stunting in children in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Willis Derek W. , Hamon Nick
Published: February 2019

Background: The Sustainable Development Goals include goals to reduce malaria and stunting. Stunting is a result of childhood undernutrition. Our previous studies found that suppressing malaria could reduce poverty rates among agricultural households in Africa. The objective of this paper is to highlight how suppressing malaria could have the further effect of reducing stunting rates among children in agricultural households.

Methods: We estimated the burden of stunting among children in agricultural households in malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa on the basis of our previous research and data from UNICEF. We also used an evaluation of the impact of a nutrition program in Peru to assess the potential for poverty reduction to reduce stunting.

Results: We estimated that there are approximately 21.5 million children suffering from stunting in agricultural households in malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Poverty reduction was found to be a necessary condition to reduce stunting via a multisectoral nutrition program in Peru. The potential impact of suppressing malaria on the poverty rate of agricultural households could therefore play an important role in nutrition programs aiming to reduce stunting in Africa. Reducing the number of children with stunting in these households would improve their health and productivity as adults.

Conclusion: We have developed the first estimates of the burden of stunting in agricultural households in malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Understanding how suppressing malaria affects stunting in these households could affect funding for anti-malaria programs. Future research should use longitudinal data to examine this impact at a finer spatial scale.
Government Support for Small Businesses in the United States of America and China
Authors: Нормова Ю. , Normova Yu.
Published: February 2019

The article discusses the place and role of small businesses in the United States of America and China. The results of the study of the current level of development of the small business sector and its support in these countries, including statistical indicators of entrepreneurship development, are presented. The study is based on the analysis of support tools for small businesses. Key features of the small business system are highlighted. The state program supports it. The main directions and program activities focused on small business development are analyzed. Special attention is paid to monitoring the activities of the Small Business Administration, measures to support entrepreneurs, state financial assistance to small businesses, and sources of funding. Based on the analysis carried out, basic state programs and the territorial infrastructure of small business support were noted, and the high socio-economic orientation of small businesses was noted.
Freemium as an Optimal Strategy for Market Dominant Firms
Authors: Shi Zijun (June) , Zhang Kaifu , Srinivasan Kannan
Published: February 2019

We explain why dominant firms give away good-quality products for free when network externalities are present.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for children and young people: overview of guideline 87
Authors: Ryan Noreen
Published: February 2019

The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence have updated the guideline on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The updated guideline offers advice for children under 5 years, children and young people aged 5 to 17 years and adults aged over 18 who are at risk of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The new guidance makes recommendations about recognising the condition, offering information and support, managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, medication; maintenance and monitoring and adherence to treatment and review of medication and discontinuation.
Positive psychology: an overview for use in mental health nursing
Authors: Macfarlane Jan , Carson Jerome
Published: February 2019

This article introduces the upcoming series of articles that explore the meaning of positive psychology and the importance of applying the latest research findings, in particular, for the wellbeing of the mental health workforce. It takes a personal perspective on how the topic has become one of independent research in higher education. It outlines a range of research-based positive psychology interventions and indicates how these will be covered from a theoretical and practical perspective. It provides a soundboard for team leaders to consider how to bring in the principles to develop effective team working and further recognise the importance of maintaining staff wellbeing.
An exploration of why qualified mental health nurse prescribers do not prescribe
Authors: Oldknow Helen , Gillibrand Warren , Clifton Andrew
Published: February 2019

This article is an exploratory study of perceptions in mental health nurses who are qualified to prescribe yet choose not to do so. In-depth semi-structured face-to-face interviews, field notes and analysis of documents were used to investigate the perceptions of the non–prescribing nurse prescriber. A mapping exercise was conducted to identify potential participants. Interview data analysis was based on the principles of descriptive phenomenology and the research was theoretically framed within concepts of power, structure/agency and culture.

This study has contributed to understanding the views of non-prescribing mental health nurse prescribers on why they do not use their prescribing qualification. The findings from this study suggest that there are complex, interlocking factors: power and knowledge; culture; and structure and agency, which may enable or prevent mental health nurse prescribers from independently prescribing.
Love-based leadership
Authors: Smith Kimberly
Published: February 2019

The Apprentice, You're Fire, school of management has no place in education. Kimberley Smith looks at what love-based leadership is, how it works in action and why it is one of the most effective approaches.
UK NARIC's Early Years Service: a helping hand
Authors: Wood Peter
Published: February 2019

The Early Years Service from UK NARIC provides help for employers looking to recruit skilled overseas practitioners. Peter Wood describes the application process and evaluation system.
Learning through a lens
Authors: Soni Anita
Published: February 2019

Reflective practice is core to early years provision, but all too often focuses on righting wrongs. Educational psychologist Anita Soni describes how video can help highlight the positives.
I do not need to speak for you to hear me
Authors: Baker Charlotte
Published: February 2019

Selective mutism often starts in the early years and can continue into adulthood if left untreated. Charlotte Baker discusses the signs, the impact and strategies to support children who are affected.
STEAM: Not just playing
Authors: Adcock Joslyn
Published: February 2019

Bringing STEAM – science, technology, engineering, arts and maths – into the preschool classroom, including the use of basic coding, can help children to learn a range of important skills.
Help seasons spring to life
Authors: Chapman Ailsa
Published: February 2019

Each season is very distinct and comes with new opportunities for learning. As spring nears, Ailsa Chapman offers a range of themed activity ideas to help children explore life cycles and growth.
Introducing foraging skills
Authors: Webster Chloe
Published: February 2019

Foraging is an essential life skill and will help children develop their understanding of the natural world and local environment. Chloe Webster explains how foraging can be implemented into outdoor play.
Slimy, slippery but safe…
Authors: Roberts Ann R
Published: February 2019

Slime is a popular product and a great resource for sensory play. However, some commercial products have come under scrutiny for containing excessive levels of boron. So, why not make your own?
Buildings and businesses
Authors: Harries Judith
Published: February 2019

To start this new role-play eye openers series, Judith Harries shares ideas on encouraging building and businesses-themed role-play, such as train stations, schools, hotels, offices and libraries.
The use of the Sterimedix GTI Cannula® (Amar) in the management of facial scars and contour defects
Authors: Amar Olivier , Chummun Shaheel
Published: February 2019

Facial scars are common, and patients are requesting more interventions to improve the appearance of their scars and improve any contour deformity associated with the scars. Various treatment modalities have been described to improve the appearance of the scars. The Sterimedix GTI cannula® (Amar), designed by a leading plastic surgeon in the field of fat transfer for restoration of facial volume and rejuvenation, has recently been introduced to the market. Excellent patient satisfaction following the procedure and ease for the operator were achieved in undertaking the process of subcision and fat/filler transfer for volume restoration.
Rosacea: approaches to a complex and chronic skin condition
Authors: Hubbard Kevin
Published: February 2019

Rosacea is a chronic condition of the skin, which is specifically localised to the face. There are several different classifications of rosacea, and it can be a difficult condition to treat, often going misdiagnosed or mistreated. Rosacea can also have a significant psychological impact on the patient's life, and it is important that this impact is considered by the practitioner when determining a treatment plan. This article will explore the different classifications of rosacea and the various options available in treating the condition.
Setting up shop in the UK? Considerations before transferring or starting a business
Authors: Hool Claire
Published: February 2019

The UK market is saturated with aesthetic clinics, so businesses need to demonstrate that they are doing something special if they are to stay afloat among the competition. Claire Hool, former Operations Manager for Centros Unico, explores what needs to be considered if you are to succeed in the UK by drawing on her own experience working for the company
The good, the bad and the ugly: using habits to turbocharge your brand
Authors: Ratcliffe Jason
Published: February 2019

Understanding habit formation is the foundation of many marketing and safety campaigns. In this article, Jason Ratcliffe discusses the four rules of habit formation, and explores some instances where they can be ethically applied to both your clients and your staff
Workforce diversity and conflicts in care work: managers’ perspectives
Authors: Manthorpe Jill , Harris Jess , Moriarty Jo , Stevens Martin
Published: February 2019

The care workforce in England is ethnically diverse yet little is known of how managers manage this aspect of human resources work. This article reports findings from a longitudinal study of the care workforce to offer insights into managers’ views of staff demographics, relationships and management challenges and strategies. Three themes emerged from the analysis: sources of conflict; reactive approaches to limiting conflict; and proactive approaches to preventing and limiting conflict. Findings have implications for human resource management and the creation of supportive staff relationships within care work in countries where ethnic diversity is characteristic of the care workforce.
Struggles for recognition and redistribution: family carers and domestic workers in Spanish eldercare
Authors: Peterson Elin
Published: February 2019

Theories of social justice have identified the revaluation of caregiving work as a global challenge. Still, struggles for recognition are shaped by the specific cultural and institutional contexts in which they emerge. This article explores struggles for the recognition of caregiving work in Spanish eldercare, focusing on advocacy for family carers and for domestic workers. Drawing on interviews, findings reveal that domestic workers’ needs are politicised to a greater extent than family carers’ needs; empowerment and claims for workers’ rights contrast with notions of self-care and mutual support. While the struggles are differentiated, the undervaluation of eldercare is a common theme.
Hidden carers? A scoping review of the needs of carers of people with HIV in the contemporary treatment era
Authors: Hamilton Myra , Botfield Jessica , Persson Asha , Newman Christy , Bryant Joanne , valentine kylie , Wallace Jack
Published: February 2019

The role of carers in supporting people with HIV is largely hidden in Western countries in the contemporary era of antiretroviral treatments. Little is known about their needs. A scoping review was undertaken to describe the research available on the needs of this group and identify gaps in existing knowledge. Findings reveal that carers of people with HIV have similar needs to other carers but are currently mostly invisible to support services. The article suggests that the discourse of independence underpinning the new HIV treatment era may be difficult for carers to ‘disrupt’ by naming what they do as ‘care’.
Book Review
Authors: Marchetti Gina
Published: February 2019

King Hu In His Own Words, Roger Garcia and George Chun Han Wang (eds) (2013) 15th Udine Far East Film Festival, Udine: Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, 213 pp., p/bk, ISBN 9788889887134, €20,
Wang was missing: Rediscovering Wayne Wang’s independence
Authors: Gruenewald Tim
Published: February 2019

Wayne Wang (1949–present) occupies a unique position among Chinese American directors working in the United States as he has enjoyed a long and productive career spanning more than 30 years. Unlike most filmmakers, Wang has moved back and forth between independent filmmaking with experimental characteristics and mainstream commercial Hollywood productions. After early success with his pioneering Chinese American film Chan is Missing (Wang, 1982), audiences and film critics were wondering what happened to the ‘independent’ after a string of several commercial Hollywood films during the early 2000s. In 2007 and 2008, Wang returned to independent film production with A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007) and even formal experimentation in The Princess of Nebraska (2008). Both films benefit from violations of mainstream Hollywood film form in the areas of editing, subtitling, camera, mise-en-scène and narrative. Wang could realize these projects through innovative financing using the strategy of shadow film and pioneering new approaches to distribution by premiering The Princess of Nebraska on YouTube.
Entering the cinema of attractions’ Matrix: Yuen Wo-Ping’s merging of Hollywood spectacle with kungfu choreography
Authors: Pettigrew Ian
Published: February 2019

On its ascension to its current status as Hollywood’s chief competitor and collaborator, mainland Chinese cinema has benefited from a select group of filmmakers who contributed to blockbuster films overseas. Many of these filmmakers, including Yuen Wo-Ping, returned home and fused the awe-inducing visual effects (e.g. ‘the bullettime effect’) of the new wave of Hollywood’s cinema of attractions with the acrobatics of Chinese wuxia and kungfu films. This article will look closely at Yuen’s work in Hong Kong cinema before moving onto an analysis of his work on films such as The Matrix trilogy and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I will then demonstrate how his experience abroad brings a transnational aesthetic to mainland Chinese cinema that proffers new senses of global identity and being amidst its thrills.
‘Shoshke’ the subversive cartoon character: Politics and gender performance in Israel
Authors: Ben-Meir Orna
Published: February 2019

This article analyses the Israeli cultural phenomenon of a cartoon character named ’Shoshke’ that transformed into a real-life female embodiment and alter-ego of its male creator, the writer, artist and journalist Zeëv Engelmayer. Starting out as a two-dimensional drawn character in alternative, satirical and politically-critical publications, Shoshke became a physically-embodied, three-dimensional performance on the streets and social spaces of Tel Aviv and more widely in Israel and beyond, initially through ‘personal appearances’ of Shoshke/Engelmayer and then via the Internet and social media. The cartoon Shoshke is a voluptuous female superhero; her performed personification involes a man with a beard clad in a ‘naked’ female costume that emphasizes her genitalia, special headdress, glasses and red high-heels. All of this, along with her ‘promiscuous’ behaviour, define her as a subversive performance of a new self, transgressing rules of gender, sexuality and genre in an extraordinary way within the complex social, cultural and political contexts of contemporary Israel. Commenting on the local politics of that country at its 70th anniversary, Shoshke is a political act that calls attention, among so many other things, to what is true, what is semblance, what is to be believed and not believed. The analysis presented here considers the intentions of this creation, its reception and its effects, which are curiously and interestingly ambiguous on several levels – in relation to conceptions of national identity, gender identity and roles, and concepts of acceptability regarding clothing as covering and as revealing within the particular contested context of contemporary Israel.
Israeli fashion between individuality and national identity: Reflections on the exhibition White-Blue Collar
Authors: Granovsky Amit Tal
Published: February 2019

This article explores the tension between individualism and national collectivism in modern Israeli fashion design. When looking back at the end of the nineteenth century up until the declaration of Israel as a country in 1948, one can recognize the creation of the ideal community and image of the ‘New Jew’. In this process of building and defining the new national culture of Israel, the dominant approach within the ‘New Jew’ community was one of unity for a greater cause. In this state of mind, clothes did not matter, nor did individuality. Unlike bourgeois city fashion based on individual preferences, the unified ‘anti-style’ became a visual marker of Israeli identity. In the last couple of years, fashion designers are trying to go back to their roots by creating unique local garments. Due to the ‘anti-style’ visual past of the local fashion scene, one has to ask weather contemporary designers succeeded in creating a unique Israeli fashion by following the past and erasing individuality? Or by standing against the past and criticizing collectivism?
Critical (self-)reflections in the elusive other: The image of the Austrian in the films of Visconti, Fellini and Cavani
Authors: Dassanowsky Robert
Published: February 2019

Rossellini’s seminal image of the Austrian deserter in Roma città aperta (Rome, Open City) (1945) has continued to shape Austrian characters and their difference from the German in Italian auteur film. Giacomo Lichtner’s view that Italian film ‘absolved’ its society for the myth of the brava gente (the good or ‘better’ people) parallels Austria’s avoidance of dealing with its Nazi past until sparked by national discourse. Austria is thus a viable stand-in for Italian cinema’s examination of its own historical trauma. Visconti’s Austrian in Senso (1954) and his ‘Austrianization’ of the German in Morte a Venezia (Death in Venice) (1971) have added a ‘topos Austria’ to Italian film, which is deconstructed by Fellini’s abstraction of the ‘Habsburg mythos’ at the onset of the First World War in E la nave va (And the Ship Sails On) (1984). Cavani breaks the filmic taboo of finding Nazi perpetrators among the victimized Austrians in her film Il Portiere di notte (The Night Porter) (1974) and articulates the memory of the Nazi era and post-war repression in Vienna, seeking to represent a wider European experience.
The demonization of the South and the Southernification of evil in contemporary Italian cinema: Belluscone and Qualunquemente
Authors: Messina Marcello
Published: February 2019

Traditional images of the South of Italy are constructed on the premise of the negation of the positive values that allegedly define the Italian nation, and Southern populations are normally portrayed as lazy, backwards, inclined to crime and illegal behaviours, etc. In this article, I evaluate the ways in which contemporary Italian cinema resorts to these representations by analysing two recent Italian movies, namely, Qualunquemente (Whatsoeverly) (Manfredonia, 2011), starring, and written by, Antonio Albanese, and Franco Maresco’s Belluscone: Una storia siciliana (Belluscone: A Sicilian Story) (Maresco, 2014). In particular, I claim that these two films, often disguised as instances of political impegno (‘engagement’) and satire, concur to symbolically absolve the Italian nation of its political and ethical responsibilities, only to hand over the perceived guilt to Southern communities, territories and identities. Alongside the traditional demonization of the South, Italian cinema performs and nurtures a characteristic ‘Southernification of evil’.
Book Reviews
Authors: Bonifazio Paola , Bertellini Giorgio , Fiumara Francesco , Karagoz Claudia , Gaglio Sam , Ursini Francesco-Alessio , Leonardo Laura , Bauman Rebecca , Bisogno Anna , Boitani Giacomo
Published: February 2019

Breve ma veridica storia del documentario: Dal cinema del reale alla nonfiction, Adriano Aprà (2017) Alessandria: Falsopiano, 280 pp., ISBN: 9788893040754, p/bk, € 18.00

Early Film Theories in Italy, 1896–1922, Francesco Casetti (ed.) with Silvio Alovisio and Luca Mazzei (2017) Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 512 pp., ISBN: 9789089648556, p/bk, £48.50

Italian Political Cinema: Public Life, Imaginary, and Identity in Contemporary Italian Film, Giancarlo Lombardi and Christian Uva (eds) (2016) Bern: Peter Lang, 440 pp., ISBN: 9783034322171, p/bk; ISBN: 9783035308150, ebook, £25.00

Italy’s Other Women: Gender and Prostitution in Italian Cinema, 1940–1965, Danielle Hipkins (2016) Oxford: Peter Lang, 448 pp., ISBN: 978034319348, p/bk, £45.00/$67.95

Federico Fellini: Riprese riletture, (re)visioni, Paola Bernardini, Joanne Granata, Teresa Lobalsamo and Alberto Zambenedetti (eds) (2016) Florence: Franco Cesati Editore, 272 pp., ISBN: 9788876675522, p/bk, €24,00

Shooting Star: Sociologia mediatica e filosofia politica di Atlas Ufo Robot, Marco Pellitteri and Francesco Giacomantonio (2016) Roma: Mario Luzi Editore, 246 pp., ISBN: 9788867480944, p/bk, €24.90

Divergenze in celluloide. Colore, migrazione e identità nei film gay di Ferzan Özpetek, Ryan Calabretta Sadjer (2016) Milano: Mimesis, 250 pp., ISBN: 9788857537313, p/bk, €20,40

La TV invadente. Il reality del dolore da Vermicino ad Av etrana, Anna Bisogno (2015) Rome: Carocci Editore, 111 pp., ISBN 9788843062928, p/bk, €13.00

Social Gossip: From Courtyard Chats to Web Rumours, Antonia Cava and Francesco Pira (2015) Rome: Aracne, 129 pp., ISBN: 978885489035, p/bk, € 10.00

Il Cinema Italiano: Generi, figure, film del passato e del presente, Antonio Costa (2013) Bologna: Il Mulino, 136 pp., ISBN: 9788815244833, p/bk, € 9.80
The singer’s GPS: Rethinking traditional pitch instruction methods for straight-tone singing in commercial voice teaching
Authors: Damon Mindy
Published: February 2019

The purpose of this quantitative true-experimental study was to determine instruction- type efficacy on pitch accuracy in straight-tone singing as used in commercial music, by the examination of differences in pitch accuracy scores of 59 female collegiate voice majors (N=59) at a large university in mid-Atlantic United States. In this double-blind study with post-test only control group design, the control group (n=19) received traditional corrective verbal cues (TCVC). Treatment groups received either real-time visual feedback (RTVF) with TCVC (n=20), or performed audio feedback (PAF) with TCVC (n=20). Data were collected via a demographics survey, audio-recorded vocal response and visual-recorded vocal response using the Sing and SeeTM software. Data was analysed using a one-way analysis of variance, and results show that the average gain in pitch scores of female students who received RTVF instruction were significantly better than female students who received TCVC instruction and PAF instruction. These findings suggest that private voice instruction may yield better pitch accuracy through the use of visualization, thereby lightening the cognitive load of the student.
Towards a hopeful plurality of democracy: An interview on vocal ontology with Adriana Cavarero
Authors: Cavarero Adriana , Thomaidis Konstantinos , Pinna Ilaria
Published: February 2019

Marking the philosopher’s 70th anniversary as well as fifteen years since the original publication of For More than One Voice: Toward a Philosophy of Vocal Expression in 2005, this interview with Adriana Cavarero considers the ongoing resonance of her propositions on vocality for the expanding interdisciline of voice studies. Cavarero situates her work on voice within the matrix of its contemporaneous discourses as well as current critical debate. In entering a dialogue with other voice scholars, Cavarero expands on her project of dismantling the aporous, solipsistic subject of western metaphysics and foregrounds notions of responsibility as fundamental to her understanding of relationality. Cavarero further attends to vocal practices, within the remits of academic exchange as well as in contemporary art, and postulates the key tenets of her current project on contingent politics, demagogy and the necessity to reconfigure the voice of the masses as plural.
Reviews
Authors: Dellenbaugh Ginger , Rahaim Matthew
Published: February 2019

Hearing SIGNS, Seeing Voices: The Voice At The Limits Symposium (2016) The New School, New York, 1 April

Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills, Kirin Narayan (2016) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 256 pp., ISBN: 9280226407562, p/bk, $25.00
Performing without the use of a net: Making an animated feature without a storyboard
Authors: Bultheel Jan
Published: February 2019

Generally we think that the storyboard is the holy grail when making animation movies. But that same storyboard can also be an obstacle to improvisation, intuition, free artistic expression and last-minute ideas. Reflecting on this dilemma, I devised an alternative way to make an animated feature based on mocap technology and the talent of a cast of professional actors, skipping the storyboard entirely and having the freedom for changes almost until rendering. Cafard (2015) is that experiment. It is on the crossroad between theatre, cinema and game technology, combining the best of each world.
Discussing the notion of ‘writing for animation’: The case of Dragonkeeper (2020)
Authors: Castrillo Pablo
Published: February 2019

The project Dragonkeeper (2020) is an animated, international co-production between Spain and China, with the involvement of Dragoia Media, Movistar Plus, Atresmedia Cine and China Film Group, the largest film company in the Middle Kingdom. The film is based on the first of a series of novels by Australian author Carole Wilkinson, published by Walker Books: Dragonkeeper (2003), followed by Garden of the Purple Dragon (2005), and Dragon Moon (2007). This wealth of source materials and diversity of players provides a fertile environment to explore and question the meaning of ‘writing for animation’, as the process advances along the various stages of development of an adaptation and pre-production of an animated feature film. Here it is argued that the screenwriter’s role in an early stage of development should not be affected by the particularities of the medium, but rather, on the effective design of a story that must appeal to global audiences. The true process of ‘writing for animation’ begins once a director provides a unifying vision for the film’s development, entering a collaborative relationship with writers, artists and producers, through the visual means provided by concept art and storyboarding.
Liselotte Wajstedt’s Kiruna: Space Road: Experimental ecocinema as elegiac memoir in ‘extractivist’ Sápmi
Authors: Fish Cheryl J.
Published: February 2019

This article focuses on the experimental ecocinema of Swedish Sami filmmaker Liselotte Wajstedt, director of Kiruna – Rymdvägen (Kiruna: Space Road) (2013) and the sequel-in-progress, Kiruna – Ortdrivaren (‘Kiruna: The drift block’). The films engage with the effects of mining and extraction on the psyche of citizens in Wajstedt’s home town of Kiruna, in Arctic northern Sweden. Wajstedt’s work contributes to the emerging fields of critical Arctic studies, ecocinema and energy humanities and considers the power of moving images that respond to extractive industry practices and state/corporate storylines within the Fenno-Scandinavian region known as Sápmi.
Foggy signs: Dark ecological queerings in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist
Authors: Bøgh Thomsen Torsten
Published: February 2019

This article draws on the rich ecocritical scholarship that has burgeoned in the twenty-first century to posit that queer representations of the environment that blur Romantic human/non-human dualism can challenge and nuance our discussion of the present ecological crisis. Lars von Trier’s infamous film Antichrist, I argue, presents the viewer with such a queer vision of dark ecology. This is not a harmonious and peaceful vision of Romantic nature, but the environment as a mesh, a place where the very division between ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ is consistently undermined. ‘Nature’ in von Trier’s cinematic world represents all the invasive aspects of our biological surroundings that humans have sought to flee for millennia by producing shelter and culture. Antichrist has been called a psychological thriller or horror film, but it can also, I argue, be appropriately defined as a primary and genre-defining artwork of dark ecology.
Unthinking ethnocentrism: Ecocritical approaches to ethnic diversity in Nordic screen media
Authors: Moffat Kate , Kääpä Pietari
Published: February 2019

This article develops an ecocritical perspective on the ways Nordic film and television has addressed ethnic and racial diversity. Here we develop the term ‘ecotone’, a concept originating in environmental studies that characterizes the transitional space linking separate ecological communities. Focusing on the popular noir series Bron/Broen (The Bridge) (2011–18), Hannes Holm’s Swedish comedy En man som heter Ove (A Man Called Ove) (2015), the Norwegian teen drama Skam (Shame) (2015–17) and Ruben Östlund’s controversial film Play (2011), we claim that the ecotone, when adopted as a form of mediated intervention, allows us to interrogate the taken-for-granted ideological foundations of Nordic societies. This involves unpacking the representations of material culture and spatial interconnectedness that define immigrant Others in relation to their environment.
The mediated arena: Re-image-ining the epideictic in the digital age
Authors: Gasoi Lowell
Published: February 2019

Colin Kaepernick takes a knee during the singing of the national anthem at an NFL game, and the digital midwife helps birth a movement. Mike Pence is called out from the stage at a performance of the smash-hit musical, Hamilton, and the President of the United States takes to Twitter in rebuttal. New York’s Public Theater and its acclaimed artistic director, Oskar Eustis, stage a thinly veiled parable of the Trump presidency in their Shakespeare-in-the-Park production of Julius Caesar. Images of the performance are alternatively venerated and eviscerated on social media, frightened sponsors pull out and audiences attack the stage. Welcome to the new arena, where the theatre and the stadium have once more taken their places as flashpoints for political protest, and where digital media are not mere witnesses, but powerful participants. This article deploys these examples to ‘re-image-ine’ classical notions of the epideictic as rhetorical display. Engaging with William Beale’s 1978 rhetorical performative update to this classification, along with theorizations of performance and technical images, I argue the epideictic has the unique ability to reflect the values of the community in the moment, activating audiences and speakers in new ways. Modern audiences, informed by digital technologies and evolving relationships to the live event, have entered new areas of interaction and performance that invite new scholarship and explication. How can epideictic performance, (conceived as display and ceremony, but also as live in ways that deliberative and forensic rhetoric are not) act as a useful theory for understanding digital realities and moments of disruption and resistance?