bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
eBusiness
Authors: Baporikar Neeta
Published: March 2015

Internet has made a spectacular impact on all organization, creating completely new challenges on one hand and on the other offering entirely new conveniences. Through the establishment of digital networks, a considerably faster and less expensive way is created to exchange information with others. Moreover spatiotemporal borders disappear. Hence, entirely new business models are being developed and companies are discovering completely new strategies to gain competitive advantage in this information age. Traditional economies defined by regions and countries have shifted to more globally oriented markets. As the convergence of information, communication and technology (ICT) becomes imperative, global collaboration will drive modern management, making it indispensable to understand the critical success factors (CSFs) of doing it the e-way. Through in depth observation and desk analysis the paper aims to identify and understand the critical success factors vital for the success of eBusiness in these networked economies.
Answering Continuous Description Logic Queries
Authors: Bobed Carlos , Bobillo Fernando , Ilarri Sergio , Mena Eduardo
Published: March 2015

During the last years, mobile computing has been the focus of many research efforts, due mainly to the ever-growing use of mobile devices. In this context, there is a need to manage dynamic data, such as location data or other data provided by sensors. As an example, the continuous processing of location-dependent queries has been the subject of thorough research. However, there is still a need of highly expressive ways of formulating queries, augmenting in this way the systems' answer capabilities. Regarding this issue, the modeling power of Description Logics (DLs) and the inferring capabilities of their attached reasoners could fulfill this new requirement. The main problem is that DLs are inherently oriented to model static knowledge, that is, to capture the nature of the modeled objects, but not to handle changes in the property values (which requires a full ontology reclassification), as it is common in mobile computing environments (e.g., the location is expected to vary continually). In this paper, the authors present a novel approach to process continuous queries that combines 1) the DL reasoning capabilities to deal with static knowledge, with 2) the efficient data access provided by a relational database to deal with volatile knowledge. By marking at modeling time the properties that are expected to change during the lifetime of the queries, the authors'system is able to exploit both the results of the classification process provided by a DL reasoner, and the low computational costs of a database when accessing changing data (mobile environments, semantic sensors, etc.), following a two-step continuous query processing that enables us to handle continuous DL queries efficiently. Experimental results show the feasibility of the authors' approach.
A Design Model for Cognitive Engineering
Authors: MacIntyre Hector
Published: March 2015

The author confronts some of the practical consequences of a technogenic account of cognitive agency. In the first section the author examines the commitment to a narrow locus of control shared by most extended theories of cognition, motivating a normative approach to cognitive design. The author then examines the recent appeal some normative theorists have made to responsibilist theories of knowledge to preserve their commitment. This gives the author an opportunity to explore factitious intellectual virtue as a way to defend these sorts of appeals. In the final section the author argues that factitious virtue has several benefits as a normative design model for the practice of cognitive engineering.
Cyber-Bullies as Cyborg-Bullies
Authors: Bertolotti Tommaso , Magnani Lorenzo
Published: March 2015

This paper advocates a re-introduction of the notion of cyborg in order to acquire a new perspective on studies concerning the development of human cognition in highly technological environments. In particular, the auhtors will show how the notion of cyborg properly engages cognitive issues that have a powerful resonance especially as far as social cognition is concerned, and may consequently provide a new tool for tackling the emergent safety issues concerning sociality mediated by the Internet, and the moral panic occasionally surrounding it.
The Power and Appeal of Manipulation
Authors: Radovan Mario
Published: March 2015

Information technology has facilitated the creation of a virtual reality which differs from the reality in which we live. We preach sublime ideals, but our public discourse is reduced to manipulation. We extol freedom and democracy, but we live in a world of fears. We prise truth, but we preach and believe what serves our interests. Information technology allows and compels us to see how imperfect our behaviour has been. In this way it helps people in their efforts to face their weaknesses, and humanity to save itself from itself. However, information technology has also facilitated total surveillance and control over people, which leads towards a totalitarian world. The mythical struggle between Good and Evil has been taking place in people and between them. Technology is the means in this struggle, but its course and outcome depend more on human nature than on technology.
Automatic Construction of Service Network based on OpenCyc
Authors: Hu Xiaocao , Feng Zhiyong , Chen Shizhan
Published: March 2015

With the advent of Web Services, the software industry is evolving from developing specific functionality from scratch to reusing functionalities off the shelf. However, a major limitation of Web Services is that manual efforts are required in the functionality reuse. Thus, Service Network is proposed as an infrastructure that allows users to discover, deploy, synthesize and compose Web Services automatically. Nevertheless, the construction of Service Network suffers from the lack of domain ontologies. Based on OpenCyc, this paper presents an approach for the automatic construction of Service Network. In particular, the authors concentrate on two fundamental concepts in Service Network, including the service semantics and the association semantics. With the semantic support of OpenCyc, the service semantics is generated by augmenting the semantics of services, and the association semantics is acquired by identifying the association relations among services. And then a case study of service composition is presented to demonstrate how Service Network facilitates the functionality reuse. It is suggested that Service Network not only can effectively generate a composite service, but also can reduce the complexity of service composition.
Regularity and Variability
Authors: Zhang Lun , Zhu Jonathan J. H.
Published: March 2015

Social network sites (SNSs) have brought revolutionary changes to individuals' social interactions. The growth of online personal relationships is crucial for understanding current interpersonal communications and network dynamics. In the context of a Chinese SNS, this study provides an empirical presentation of the growth patterns of individuals' online friendships. This study uncovers the regularity as well as the variability of such growth patterns. On the one hand, the friendship growth patterns show regularity in that the time trajectory of friendship growth for most users levels off at some point of their friendship formation. On the other hand, the growth patterns of online friendships also demonstrate variability. There are three essentially different growth patterns emerged: the logistic pattern (i.e., S-shape), the double-logistic pattern (i.e., double-S shape), and the power pattern (i.e., rotated-L shape). By employing multinomial logistic regression, this study further found that network connectedness lead to the differences in these growth patterns of online friendships. However, a user's personal strategy of online friendship formation is found to have a nil effect on explaining the differences in growth patterns of online friendships. This paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the growth patterns of online relationships.
Improving Recommendation Accuracy and Diversity via Multiple Social Factors and Social Circles
Authors: Feng Yong , Li Heng , Chen Zhuo
Published: March 2015

Recommender systems (RS) have been widely employed to suggest personalized online information to simplify user's information discovery process. With the popularity of online social networks, analysis and mining of social factors and social circles have been utilized to support more effective recommendations, but have not been fully investigated. In this paper, the authors propose a novel recommendation model with the consideration of more comprehensive social factors and topics that user is explicitly and implicitly interested in. Concretely, to further enhance recommendation accuracy, four social factors, individual preference, interpersonal trust influence, interpersonal interest similarity and interpersonal closeness degree, are simultaneously injected into our recommendation model based on probabilistic matrix factorization. Meanwhile, the authors explore several new methods to measure these social factors. Moreover, the authors infer explicit and implicit social circles to enhance the performance of recommendation diversity. Finally, the authors conduct a series of experiments on publicly available data. Experimental results show the proposed model achieves significantly improved performance (accuracy and diversity) over the existing models in which social information have not been fully considered.
An Integrated Framework for Semantic Service Composition using Answer Set Programming
Authors: Yang Yilong , Yang Jing , Li Xiaoshan , Wang Weiru
Published: March 2015

Notwithstanding the advancement of service computing in recent years, service composition is still main issue in this field. In this paper, the authors present an integrated framework for semantic service composition using answer set programming. Unlike the AI planning approaches of top-down workflow with nested composition and combining composition procedure into service discovery, this proposed framework integrates designed workflow with nested composition. In addition, the planning is based on interface variables with validation through pre and post conditions. Moreover, a unified implementation of service discovery, selection, composition and validation is achieved by answer set programming. Finally, the framework performance is demonstrated by a travel booking example on QWSDataset.
From Adoption to Routinization of B2B e-Commerce
Authors: Oliveira Tiago , Dhillon Gurpreet
Published: March 2015

The authors present an in depth understanding of B2B e-commerce adoption and routinization across Europe. The research was informed by the technology, organization, and environment (TOE) framework. A sample of 7,172 firms across Europe was used. A seven factor model is presented that includes technology readiness, technology integration, firm size, obstacles, education level, competitive pressure, and trading partner collaboration, which inform B2B adoption and routinization. Based on adoption and routinization, clusters of European countries, are identified and factors presented that ensure movement from one cluster to the other.
Classification of Printed Moroccan Town and Village Names
Authors: Nouri Said , Fakir Mohamed
Published: March 2015

This paper presents a new method called density weight and zigzag sequence to recognize printed Arabic names. This technique was performed on two steps, the first aims to reduce matrix size of 96x96 into 12x12 using density weight techniques, in the second step the last matrix (12x12) was used to extract 144 sequences following path zigzag technique. 144 features found are used for representing each name in data set. This proposed technique was tested on Morocco town and village names using KNN with consensus rule and SVM classifiers. The perfect score was obtained with KNN (k=9) and SVM (linear kernel).
Mining Students' Learning Behavior in Moodle System
Authors: Touya K. , Fakir Mohamed
Published: March 2015

In the last few years, Educational Data Mining has become an interesting area exploited to discover and extract hidden knowledge of students from educational environment data. During the establishment of this work an attempt was made to manage the extracted information using mining techniques. These methods took place in order to get groups of students with similar characteristics. The application of classification, clustering and association rules mining algorithms on the data stored on the e-learning (Moodle system) database allowed to extract knowledges that help to understand students' behaviors and patterns. Additionally, the development of a Web application for the educators is a tool to monitor their students learning behavior by monitoring the number of assignments taken, the number of quizzes taken, the number of forum post and read by students, etc. The knowledge obtained can help the instructors to make decision about their students' interacting with the courses activities in Moodle system, and to create an efficient educational environment. In this research, a Data Mining tool called RapidMiner was used for mining the data from the Moodle system database, and a web application written in PHP was established to aid teachers with statistics.
Application of Data Mining in e-Commerce
Authors: Chajri Mohamed , Fakir Mohamed
Published: March 2015

The web in recent years has been a big trend, which helped make it a source of information and essential in the various fields of research, in particular, the commercial area that represents the e-commerce (electronic commerce). However, the competition in the e-commerce sites is very tight. This has pushed companies to conserve and retain customers rather than seeking to expand its market share by conquering politically. These requirements have introduced the extraction of knowledge from data in e-commerce sites, using data mining techniques. This article will be an introduction to the concept of data mining, a definition of economic concepts related to e-commerce, and the authors' approach to the application of data mining techniques in e-commerce.
Accessibility, affordability and use of health services in an urban area in South Africa
Authors: Stellenberg Ethelwynn L.
Published: March 2015

Background: Inequalities in healthcare between population groups of South Africa existed during the apartheid era and continue to exist both between and within many population groups. Accessibility and affordability of healthcare is a human right.Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore and describe accessibility, affordability and the use of health services by the mixed race (coloured) population in the Western Cape, South Africa.Method: A cross-sectional descriptive, non-experimental study with a quantitative approach was applied. A purposive convenient sample of 353 participants (0.6%) was drawn from a population of 63 004 economically-active people who lived in the residential areas as defined for the purpose of the study. All social classes were represented. The hypothesis set was that there is a positive relationship between accessibility, affordability and the use of health services. A pilot study was conducted which also supported the reliability and validity of the study. Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Stellenbosch and informed consent from respondents. A questionnaire was used to collect the data.Results: The hypothesis was accepted. The statistical association between affordability (p = < 0.01), accessibility (p = < 0.01) and the use of health services was found to be significant using the Chi-square (χ²) test.Conclusion: The study has shown how affordability and accessibility may influence the use of healthcare services. Accessibility is not only the distance an individual must travel to reach the health service point but more so the utilisation of these services. Continuous Quality Management should be a priority in healthcare services, which should be user-friendly.
Pastoral evaluation on the Basotho’s view of sexuality: Revisiting the views on sexuality of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther and John Calvin
Authors: Semenya David K.
Published: March 2015

This article examines the Basotho’s views on sexuality within a theological context as wellas the conflict between Christianity and cultural beliefs. Most Basotho have strong opinions on the subject of sexuality and those views undoubtedly emanate from the Basotho culture,which makes it necessary to evaluate them. The issue of sexuality is always a topic of discussion amongst people and did not go unnoticed by church fathers, like Augustine. Thomas Aquinas also expressed an interest in the topic in the Middle-Ages. Likewise, reformers of the calibre of Martin Luther and John Calvin espoused views on sexuality. Itis clear that the aforementioned theologians made a marked contribution toward shapingthe current views on sexuality, especially amongst theologians of this age and this is thereason for revisiting their views in this article examining the Basotho view on sexuality.In examining Basotho views on sexuality, the writer of this article will then discuss andevaluate the views of Augustine, Aquinas, Luther and Calvin with special reference tosexual intercourse, sexual intercourse within matrimony, extramarital sexual intercourseand also the unmarried state.
Adaptation to drought in arid and semi-arid environments: Case of the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
Authors: Mavhura Emmanuel , Manatsa Desmond , Mushore Terence
Published: March 2015

Small-scale rain-fed agriculture is the main livelihood in arid to semi-arid regions of subSaharan Africa. The area is characterised by erratic rainfall and frequent droughts, making the capacity for coping with temporal water shortages essential for smallholder farmers. Focusing on the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, this study investigates the impact of drought on food security and the strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with drought. We used meteorological data and interviews to examine the rainfall variability in the study area and the drought-coping mechanisms employed by smallholder famers respectively. The results show that there are various strategies used by smallholder farmers to cope with the impact of drought. These strategies include drought-tolerant crop production, crop variety diversification, purchasing cereals through asset sales, non-governmental organisations’ food aid and gathering wild fruit. However, consecutive droughts have resulted in high food insecurity and depletion of household assets during droughts. Smallholder farmers in the valley have also resorted to a number of measures taken before, during and after the drought. Still, these strategies are not robust enough to cope with this uncertainty
An abstract framework for parabolic PDEs on evolving spaces
Authors: Alphonse Amal , Elliott Charles M. , Stinner Björn
Published: March 2015

We present an abstract framework for treating the theory of well-posedness of solutions to abstract parabolic partial di¤erential equations on evolving Hilbert spaces. This theory is applicable to variational formulations of PDEs on evolving spatial domains including moving hypersurfaces. We formulate an appropriate time derivative on evolving spaces called the material derivative and define a weak material derivative in analogy with the usual time derivative in fixed domain problems; our setting is abstract and not restricted to evolving domains or surfaces. Then we show well-posedness to a certain class of parabolic PDEs under some assumptions on the parabolic operator and the data.
Microbial Removals by a Novel Biofilter Water Treatment System
Authors: Wendt Christopher , Ives Rebecca , Hoyt Anne L. , Conrad Ken E. , Longstaff Stephanie , Kuennen Roy W. , Rose Joan B.
Published: March 2015

Two point-of-use drinking water treatment systems designed using a carbon filter and foam material as a possible alternative to traditional biosand systems were evaluated for removal of bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. Two configurations were tested: the foam material was positioned vertically around the carbon filter in the sleeve unit or horizontally in the disk unit. The filtration systems were challenged with Cryptosporidium parvum, Raoultella terrigena, and bacteriophages P22 and MS2 before and after biofilm development to determine average log reduction (ALR) for each organism and the role of the biofilm. There was no significant difference in performance between the two designs, and both designs showed significant levels of removal (at least 4 log10 reduction in viruses, 6 log10 for protozoa, and 8 log10 for bacteria). Removal levels meet or exceeded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for microbial purifiers. Exploratory test results suggested that mature biofilm formation contributed 1–2 log10 reductions. Future work is recommended to determine field viability.
Morbidity Associated with Schistosomiasis Before and After Treatment in Young Children in Rusinga Island, Western Kenya
Authors: Davis Stephanie M. , Wiegand Ryan E. , Mulama Fridah , Kareko Edmund Ireri , Harris Robert , Ochola Elizabeth , Samuels Aaron M. , Rawago Fredrick , Mwinzi Pauline M. , Fox LeAnne M. , Odiere Maurice R. , Won Kimberly Y.
Published: March 2015

Schistosoma mansoni infection is a major cause of organomegaly and ultimately liver fibrosis in adults. Morbidity in pre-school-aged children is less defined, and they are currently not included in mass drug administration (MDA) programs for schistosomiasis control. We report results of a study of the association of schistosomiasis with organomegaly in a convenience sample of 201 children under 7 years old in Rusinga, Kenya on two cross-sectional visits, before and after praziquantel treatment. Data included stool examination and serology for schistosomiasis, the Niamey ultrasound protocol to stage hepatosplenic morbidity including organomegaly, and potential confounders including malaria. Unadjusted and adjusted Poisson regressions were performed. The baseline prevalence of schistosomiasis by antibody and/or stool was 80.3%. Schistomiasis was associated with hepatomegaly (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] = 1.4; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.0–2.1) and splenomegaly (aPR = 2.1; 95% CI: 1.2–3.7). The association with hepatomegaly persisted posttreatment (aPR = 1.4; 95% CI: 1.1–1.6). Schistosomiasis was associated with morbidity in this cohort. Efforts to include young children in mass treatment campaigns should intensify.
Experimental Hamster Infection with a Strain of Leptospira borgpetersenii Ballum Isolated from a Reservoir Mouse in New Caledonia
Authors: Matsui Mariko , Roche Louise , Soupé-Gilbert Marie-Estelle , Roudier Martine , Moniquet Vincent , Goarant Cyrille
Published: March 2015

Leptospirosis is a neglected zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira. In this study, we characterized the virulence of isolate B3-13S obtained from a wild mouse (Mus musculus) captured in New Caledonia, subsequently identified as a bacterium belonging to the L. borgpetersenii serogroup Ballum. Hamsters were infected with an intraperitoneal injection of 2 × 108 bacteria, resulting in severe histopathological organ damages consistent with tissue lesions previously observed with other strains. Hamsters were also injected with 1 × 108 or 5 × 107 bacteria and animals that recovered showed renal carriage of leptospires in concentrations similar to the bacterial load quantified in mouse kidneys, with urinary shedding of bacteria up to 4 weeks postinfection. The serogroup Ballum is increasingly reported in human leptospirosis, and these results highlight the use of the B3-13S isolate for the development of models resulting in either severe acute or chronic forms of the infection, allowing for better characterization of its pathogenesis.
Trypanosoma cruzi Calreticulin Topographical Variations in Parasites Infecting Murine Macrophages
Authors: González Andrea , Valck Carolina , Sánchez Gittith , Härtel Steffen , Mansilla Jorge , Ramírez Galia , Fernández María Soledad , Arias José Luis , Galanti Norbel , Ferreira Arturo
Published: March 2015

Trypanosoma cruzi calreticulin (TcCRT), a 47-kDa chaperone, translocates from the endoplasmic reticulum to the area of flagellum emergence. There, it binds to complement components C1 and mannan-binding lectin (MBL), thus acting as a main virulence factor, and inhibits the classical and lectin pathways. The localization and functions of TcCRT, once the parasite is inside the host cell, are unknown. In parasites infecting murine macrophages, polyclonal anti-TcCRT antibodies detected TcCRT mainly in the parasite nucleus and kinetoplast. However, with a monoclonal antibody (E2G7), the resolution and specificity of the label markedly improved, and TcCRT was detected mainly in the parasite kinetoplast. Gold particles, bound to the respective antibodies, were used as probes in electron microscopy. This organelle may represent a stopover and accumulation site for TcCRT, previous its translocation to the area of flagellum emergence. Finally, early during T. cruzi infection and by unknown mechanisms, an important decrease in the number of MHC-I positive host cells was observed.
Karl Heinz Göller (1924-2009): in memoriam
Authors: Stanonik Janez
Published: March 2015

The study is written in memory of Karl Heinz Göller, Professor of English literature at the Regensburg University, who died in Kelheim near Regensburg on 22nd April 2009. University of Regenburg was founded in 1967, and Göller was the first Dean of its Faculty of Philosophy. For more than 40 years he worked for the development of good contacts betwen the universities of Regensburg and Ljubljana. Since 2000 he was member of the Advisory Committee of the review Acta Neophilologica. In 1983 he founded the Society of German Mediaevalists, one of the leading societies of German scholars from the whole Germany, and was elected its first president. The study gives report on the development of Göller as a scholar, and his basic achievement in his research, pedagogical work and in university administration.
Un roman pour la génération dot.com?: Le comte de Monte-Christo dans l'adaptation de Stephen Fry
Authors: Marinčič Katarina
Published: March 2015

En 2000, le romancier britannique Stephen Fry publie The Starsʹ Tennis Balls, une adaptation modernisante du roman Le Comte de Monte-Cristo dʹAlexandre Dumas. Lʹobjectif de la présente contribution est dʹanalyser les techniques narratives des deux romanciers. Extrêmement fidèle au roman de Dumas au niveau de lʹintrigue, Stephen Fry sʹéloigne de son modèle au niveau stylistique, ce qui produit un effet de modernité qui ne sʹapparente pourtant pas à celui des adaptations cinématographiques.
"In viaggio verso il nulla" : elementi mitologici del viaggio in Se questo è un uomo e ne I sommersi e i salvati di Primo Levi
Authors: Prosenc Šegula Irena
Published: March 2015

Primo Levi's Se questo è un uomo (If This is a Man) and I sommersi e i salvati (The Drowned and the Saved) present complex relations to mythological elements, which are often filtered through Dante's Divine Comedy and are inserted as key components into the autobiographical narration, thus giving it a mythological dimension. The article proposes the triangular structure Levi-Dante-Ulysses as a basis for analysing the Jewish deportees' journey towards Auschwitz as a journey towards the mythological other world.
The blending of fact and fiction in three American documentary (crime) narratives
Authors: Flis Leonora
Published: March 2015

The article focuses on narratives that can best be classified as documentary novels. Such narratives can frequently depict deviant crimes. The selected texts are taken from three different decades, as the study intends to determine if/how the perception of crime and, consequently, its depiction in verbal narratives change through time, and moreover, to examine the attitudes of different writers towards facts (empirical reality) that they depict. Truman Capotećs In Cold Blood (1965), Norman Mailer's The Executioner's Song (1979), and John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story (1994) are all instances of crime narratives that blur and thus problematize the (often thin) line between fact and fiction, and, as a result, raise issues that concern genre theory. These texts embody characteristics of journalistic, historical, (auto)biographical, and fictional accounts, and continually oscillate on the scale of factuality or fictionality.
Generation X in Slovenia(n)
Authors: Češčut Romi
Published: March 2015

Addressing themes of family, interpersonal relationships, historicity, jobs, religion, and apocalypse Generation X narrative includes works by young American writers in the 80s and 90s of the twentieth century. The search for oneʹs identity in urban landscape is heavily influenced by mass media, pop culture and consumerism. Slovenian press and professional literature provided only scarce response to Generation X fiction which is also influenced by the ambiguity of the term Generation X and the essence of its culture and literature, which is also true for American literary criticism. The paper aims to explore the reception of novels by Douglas Coupland, Bret Easton Ellis, and Jay McInerney and their analyses with emphasis on narrative, themes of consumerism and mass media, characters, and style of writing.
Il sogno raccontato nel Filocolo di Giovanni Boccaccio
Authors: Blanco Valdés Carmen F.
Published: March 2015

The goal of this contribution is to isolate the narrative microtexts referred to dream or sight in such an emblematic work as Il Filocolo, the first great novel by Giovanni Boccaccio, by going into a deep analysis of some aspects like the spatial and temporal situation of the narrative time of the microtext and their subsequent interpretation in the macrotext. On the other hand, it will also be intended to show that the recurrent usage of this kind of microstories is one of the narrative resources used by Boccaccio for upgrading in literary terms the advance of such a long and complex novel; and, thus, it would be convenient to pay attention to the great game of internal references established between the oniric microtexts and the storytelling as a whole.
Ben-Hur in Slovenian: translations of an American novel about multicultural issues
Authors: Mazi Leskovar Darja
Published: March 2015

The 19th century American bestseller Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1880) ranks among those novels that have been translated several times into Slovenian. The translations appear to be of particular interest for research from the multicultural perspective since they do testify not only to the bridging of the gap between the Slovenian and American cultures from 1899 on but also to shifts in the familiarity of the targeted Slovenian audience with the cultures of the Near East and with the Judeo-Christian tradition. By highlighting the domestication and foreignization translation procedures, applied to make the adaptations of the novel accessible to the target audience, the study focuses on the changing translation zones and overlapping spaces created between the Slovenian culture and the cultures described in the novel. The article furthermore stresses the differences between the translations as far as the targeted readers are concerned, since the epic ranks among double audience books.
Faulkner's Southern belle - myth or reality?
Authors: Intihar Klančar Nataša
Published: March 2015

The article deals with heroines of William Faulkner's novels Light in August, Absalom, Absalom!, The Sound and the Fury, The Unvanquished, The Town and his short story "A Rose for Emily". The Southern belle features as a recurring character in Faulkner's fiction, her fragility, modesty, weakness yet strength, beauty, sincerity, generous nature, status and her fall from innocence comprise her central characteristics. Confronted with various expectations of Southern society and with the hardships of war, the belle is faced with many obstacles and challenges. Faulkner's heroines face a wide array of problems that prevent them from being and/or remaining a Southern belle. Let us name a few: Lena's inappropriate social status, Joanna's wrong roots, Mrs. Hightower's inability to fulfill her duties as the minister's wife, Ellen's miserable marriage, Judith's sad love life, Rosa's feelings of inferiority and humiliation, Mrs. Compson's failure as a mother, Caddy's weak rebellion against male convention, Drusilla's male characteristics, Linda's unrequited love and Emily's dark secret, to name a few. Through these characters and their destinies Faulkner shows a decaying South whose position has changed considerably over the years. Can the Southern belle save it? Can she save herself?
Il Predicatore di Francesco Panigarola: un nuovo modello di eloquenza sacra per il seicento
Authors: Giunta Fabio
Published: March 2015

The seventeenth century marks the advent of preaching, in both Italy and Europe, as a literary form. Francesco Panigarola (1548-1594) did certainly play a major role in this process thanks to his treatises on sacred oratory and years of preaching activity in several Italian and European cities - during which he developed important relationships and personally experienced some of the most significant events of the century. Panigarolaʼs Il predicatore is a seventeenth-century example of rhetoric that whilst based on classical oratory complies with the precepts of the Counter- Reformation. This treaty, published posthumously in 1609, is structured as a commentary on the pseudo-Demetriusʼs work on eloquence. Il predicatore, besides serving as an Italian/Florentine translation of and commentary on Pier Vettoriʼs De elocutione (the Latin version of Perì Ermeneias), passes on and adapts the rhetorical precepts of classical oratory to the renewed exigencies of the language and of Italian preachers.
Raccontare la critica: l'interpretazione di mode e modi letterari europei del settecento nella Frusta letteraria di Giuseppe Baretti
Authors: Reuter-Mayring Ursula
Published: March 2015

Giuseppe Barettiʼs literary journal, La Frusta letteraria (1763-65), is a poetic piece of fiction about the contemporary world of literature in the 2nd part of the eighteenth century. Baretti performs in it his criticism on contemporary literature as well as on the conventional and common processes implicit in literary scene at that time, reflecting also on his own experiences and observations as a 'modernʼ and cosmopolitan author. To stage this he uses various literary models which were traditional or 'in vogueʼ at that time in Europe. A critical analysis also reveals the journal in whole to be a closed text constructed strictly according to literary principles, which establishes it as a cohesive piece of poetic art.
La cène d'ouverture du Soulier de satin (I, 1)
Authors: Dauphiné James
Published: March 2015

La critique claudélienne, de façon récurrente, au fil des générations, a multiplié commentaires et remarques touchant les aspects religieux du théâtre de Claudel, avec une prédilection logique pour son oeuvre majeure, Le Soulier de satin. Toutefois, cette production critique semble fournir davantage de perspectives à portée générale que des explications précises et déterminantes.Il conviendrait en somme de recourir à un point de vue résolument théologique. Maintes fois, Claudel a dʼailleurs pris soin de mentionner combien la lecture chrétienne et spirituelle de son oeuvre était denature à expliquer autant quʼà révéler le sens et la virtù de sa démarche créatrice.
Contacts littéraires franco-slovènes durant l'entredeux-guerres: Hilarij Pernat de Vladimir Levstik et Le Cousin Pons de Balzac
Authors: Gacoin-Marks Florence
Published: March 2015

Levstik, à la fois écrivain slovène et grand traducteur de la prose française du XIXe siècle, semble avoir été largement inspiré par Le Cousin Pons de Balzac. Après avoir dégagé les éléments thématiques (au sens large) rapprochant les deux oeuvres (structure de lʼintrigue, thèmes et motifs, personnages, Ž), il convient de mettre en évidence ce que Vladimir Levstik a retenu de lʼesthétique balzacienne dans sa propre esthétique (discours des personnages, incipit/clôture du récit, veine satirique ...).
Crossing cultural frontiers: representations of the Amish in American culture
Authors: Štekovič Maja
Published: March 2015

The paper deals with the typology of Amish fiction, representations of the Amish in literature, and the roles of authors, publishers and readers. Special attention is dedicated to the role of film directors as cultural travellers when crossing cultural frontiers by entering the Amish cultural milieu. The paper also presents a more critical view of the Amish by demonstrating how the perception of the Amish groups has changed with time - from victims of religious persecution in their homeland to becoming highly romanticised people in the Land of Liberty via literature and film.
Wendy Jones Nakanishi : an American resident in Japan, her life and work through the English language and literary creativity
Authors: Potočnik Nataša
Published: March 2015

Wendy Jones Nakanishi is a professor of English Language and Comparative Cultures at a small private college located in the south of Japan: Shikoku Gakuin University in Kagawa prefecture. It is a life far removed from her roots. She grew up in a tiny town in the northwestern corner of Indiana and spent her childhood holidays at her grandparentsʼ farm in the central part of the state. She received graduate degrees in Indiana, in England and in Scotland and she also spent a year in France and half a year in Holland. Nakanishi has published widely in America, Japan and Europe. Her academic research ranges from eighteenth-century English literature to the analysis of contemporary Japanese and British authors to sociological topics related to Japan. She was an Associate Member of the Ruskin Programme, based at LancasterUniversity in England, and currently belongs to the Iris Murdoch Society of Japan. She has published a considerable body of academic work - critical monographs, articles and book reviews - and, in recent years, has embarked on writing short stories and Žcreative non-fictionʼ pieces based on her experience of living in Japan for the past twenty-seven years as an American 'ex-patʼ, as a university professor, and as the wife of a Japanese farmer and the mother of three sons. Her stories have been published in various literary magazines in Japan and abroad and reflect her Žlife storyʼ asa foreigner residing in that country. In this article, I will focus on her 'creative non-fictionʼ stories.
Fact and fiction: subverting orientalism in Ann Bridge's The dark moment
Authors: Bas Isil
Published: March 2015

While postcolonial criticism has extensively traced the Western women writers's accounts of the Orient, Ann Bridge's contribution to the genre remained unheard-of. In The Dark Moment she tells the story of the foundation of the Turkish republic after the struggle against Western imperialism, a theme highly controversial for a British diplomat's wife. Moreover, she plays with the conventions and representational strategies of traditional Orientalist narratives inverting each in turn to create an unprejudiced awareness of the historical context and the social and cultural specificities of Turkey and the Turk thereby foregrounding dialogical transculturality over intercultural penetration.
Un(be)greifbare Bilder des Familiengedächtnisses in der deutschen zeitgenössischen Literatur: Tanja Dückers' Himmelskörper
Authors: Štrancar Tina
Published: March 2015

This article first presents in brief recent theories of memory, their relevance for literarytheory (literature as a medium of collective memory), and then performs a reading of the novel Himmelskörperby German author Tanja Dückers through the lens of family memory. It signals attentionto the strategies of fictionalisation of and reflection on communicative memory, manifest in the novelin the form of family conversations, and the transformation of communicative memory into culturalor collective memory.
Salman Rushdie's "The location of Brazil": the imaginary homelands of fantastic literature
Authors: Albertazzi Silvia
Published: March 2015

In 1985, under the title "The Location of Brazil" Salman Rushdie published a long review of Terry Gilliam's film Brazil, which today is to be found in his collection Imaginary Homelands. My essay shows how Rushdie's article can be considered a sort of manifesto of his poetics, pivoting on his idea of a political use of the fantastic and his concept of the migrant as a central figure of modernity. Rushdie's theories seem to anticipate on the one hand Deleuze and Guattari's ideas on minor literatures and, on the other, Arjun Appadurai's views on "modernity at large".
Postfeminist construction of women's sexuality in The village bike by Penelope Skinner
Authors: Novak Melita
Published: March 2015

Penelope Skinner's drama The Village Bike deals with issues ranging from pregnancy to sexuality, pornography and sexual exploration. In this article I focus on the way these issues are presented and explain why pornography and sexual exploration belong to the postfeminist ideology. Namely, the author uncritically deals with these issues, objectifies a woman's body and favours gender constructs. Contemporary British drama by women playwrights is not marked by its engagement with feminism even though it might declare itself as pro-feminist or feminist. Penelope Skinner is one of the contemporary playwrights. I try to present that even though her drama seems to appear provocative at first sight this is not really the case. The provocation does not offer a critical insight and distance. I argue that this drama is postfeminist because it mainstreams pornography and presents a peculiar view on the part of sexual liberation, which is very limited.
The anti-romantic reaction in modern(ist) literary criticism
Authors: Al-Dabbagh Abdulla
Published: March 2015

While the antagonism of modernism to realism has often been commented upon, its equally vehement rejection of romanticism has not been as widely discussed. Yet, if modernism compromised at times with realism or, at least, with a "naturalistic" version of realism, its total antipathy to the fundamentals of romanticism has been absolute. This was a modernist trend that covered both literature and criticism and a modernist characteristic that extended from German philosophers, French poets to British and American professors of literature. Names as diverse as Paul Valery, Charles Maurras and F.R. Leavis shared a common anti-romantic outlook. Many of the important modernist literary trends like the Anglo-American imagism, French surrealism, German expressionism and Italian futurism have been antagonistic not only to ordinary realism as a relic of the 19th century, but also, and fundamentally, to that century's romanticism. In nihilistically breaking with everything from the past, or at least the immediate past, they were by definition anti-romantics. Even writers like Bernard Shaw or Bertolt Brecht and critics like Raymond Williams or George Lukacs, who would generally be regarded as in the pro-realist camp, have, at times, exhibited, to the extent that they were afflicted with the modernist ethos, strong anti-romantic tendencies.
Slovenian diasporic literature in Canada and Ted Kramolc
Authors: Maver Igor
Published: March 2015

The article analyzes the work and especially the novels by the Canadian writer of Slovenian descent, Ted Kramolc. It places him within the context of other diasporic literary authors in Canada as well as the Slovenian cultural space and discusses the critical response to his work, particularly in the period after Slovenian independence.
Eifersucht und Frauenlist: Boccaccios Decameron und seine Rezeption in der frühen Neuzeit am Beispiel von Hans Sachsens Fastnachtspiel Der gross Eyferer, der sein Weib Beicht höret
Authors: Javor Briški Marija
Published: March 2015

Auf der Grundlage des sog. Zainer- (um 1476) und des Cammerlander-Druckes (1535) wird die produktive Rezeption der fünften Novelle des siebten Tages von Boccaccios Decameron in Hans Sachsens Fastnachtspiel Der gross Eiferer, der sein Weib Beicht höret untersucht. Im Fokus des kontrastiven Vergleichs zwischen der Novelle und dem Fastnachtspiel stehen der Affekt der Eifersucht und das Motiv der List. Die Gründe für die Transformationen im Dramentext von Hans Sachs sind u. a. die Dekontextualisierung der Novelle und ihre Instrumentalisierung als pragmatische Unterweisung der frühbürgerlichen protestantischen Gesellschaft im Bereich der ehelichen Ordnung.
The soil N cycle: new insights and key challenges
Authors: van Groenigen J. W. , Huygens D. , Boeckx P. , Kuyper Th. W. , Lubbers I. M. , Rütting T. , Groffman P. M.
Published: March 2015

Abstract. The study of soil N cycling processes has been, is, and will be at the centre of attention in soil science research. The importance of N as a nutrient for all biota; the ever-increasing rates of its anthropogenic input in terrestrial (agro)ecosystems; its resultant losses to the environment; and the complexity of the biological, physical, and chemical factors that regulate N cycling processes all contribute to the necessity of further understanding, measuring, and altering the soil N cycle. Here, we review important insights with respect to the soil N cycle that have been made over the last decade, and present a personal view on the key challenges of future research. We identify three key challenges with respect to basic N cycling processes producing gaseous emissions: 1. quantifying the importance of nitrifier denitrification and its main controlling factors; 2. characterizing the greenhouse gas mitigation potential and microbiological basis for N2O consumption; 3. characterizing hotspots and hot moments of denitrification Furthermore, we identified a key challenge with respect to modelling: 1. disentangling gross N transformation rates using advanced 15N / 18O tracing models Finally, we propose four key challenges related to how ecological interactions control N cycling processes: 1. linking functional diversity of soil fauna to N cycling processes beyond mineralization; 2. determining the functional relationship between root traits and soil N cycling; 3. characterizing the control that different types of mycorrhizal symbioses exert on N cycling; 4. quantifying the contribution of non-symbiotic pathways to total N fixation fluxes in natural systems We postulate that addressing these challenges will constitute a comprehensive research agenda with respect to the N cycle for the next decade. Such an agenda would help us to meet future challenges on food and energy security, biodiversity conservation, water and air quality, and climate stability.