bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Holy Rood in the Netherlands and North Germany A comparative study of nine Middle Dutch and two Middle Low German recensions of the legend about the Provenance of the Cross
Authors: Roeleveld Annelies
Published: January 2016

A comparison was made of all the known recensions and fragments in Middle Dutch (9) and Middle Low German (2) of the medieval legend of the Provenance of the Cross. Variants were written and weighted, and a computer-assisted stemma was produced. The stemma arranges the recensions into a few groups, but only a small number of conclusions can be drawn from it, e.g. that the two Low German texts, not surprisingly, are to be found at a larger distance from their nearest relatives than any of the Middle Dutch recensions. Both were very obviously translated from Middle Dutch, and it was already clear from the differing ways they solve translating problems that one was not copied from the other, nor did they have a close common ancestor; this is corroborated in the stemma. The dialects of the Middle Dutch texts were then determined by means of the computer-controlled method Rem and Wattel developed for the Corpus of 14th century charters and deeds; the results were entered into the stemma. It now turned out that one of the Low German recensions was relatively closely related to a Dutch text with Northern and Eastern traits. Both Low German texts, however, have as their second closest relatives early recensions which localise in Southern Brabant. All the early Middle Dutch recensions do in fact localise in Southern Brabant. The obvious conclusion is that an archetypical text must have been written in Southern Brabant.
BECKETT IN TRANSITION: , Little Magazines, and Post-War Parisian Aesthetic Debate
Authors: Hatch David A.
Published: January 2016

fits into a larger dialogue on aesthetics that occurs in and around magazine following World War II. In the text Samuel Beckett and Georges Duthuit not only dismiss the modernist agenda established by Eugene Jolas in the previous transition journal, but they also critique discussions about contemporary art exhibitions and enter into the Jean-Paul Sartre/Surrealist debate.
Beckett and Kurtág
Authors: Laws Catherine
Published: January 2016

Hungarian composer György Kurtág has completed three significant Beckett-based compositions. Kurtág includes in his works numerous associative references to people, events, ideas, and other music. This treatment of reference and meaning parallels aspects of Beckett's work; a comparative examination of the role of memory in Beckett and Kurtág sheds light upon the work of both. Additionally, the article considers the performative quality of the finding (or remembering) of words in Joseph Chaikin's and Ildikó Monyók's readings of the Beckett and Kurtág versions of , relating this to the discussion of the relationship between reference, memory and meaning.
Never Been Properly Jung
Authors: Melnyk Davyd
Published: January 2016

Beckett's attendance at one of Jung's lectures and his adoption of a phrase he heard there have long been well known in Beckett Studies. By returning to the transcript of the lecture, however, I demonstrate that the nature of this incident has long been misunderstood. Beckett's creative rewriting of what he saw and heard at the Tavistock Institute is outlined, and I explore the consequences of this. I also consider the way in which some critics have sketched the relation between Jung's theories and Beckett's writing, and emphasise that the difference between the two needs to be recognised.
À L'épreuve de L'image : 'beginning life behind the eyes'
Authors: Lüscher-Morata Diane
Published: January 2016

This essay examines the correspondence between Beckett and Duthuit in the light of the unpublished notes that Beckett took in Germany in 1936-37. The underlying issue that Beckett's reflections on the image seems to address is the reorientation of his creative writing and the development of a new aesthetic. There is, when Beckett is confronted to an image, a double movement that can be discerned in the way he beholds the image, of fascination, first, but also of mistrust towards this painting. In stripping paintings of their narrative of fIgurative intention, Beckett's comments seem to aim at a situation of mankind in the world, apprehended outside of all preoccupations with its causes or as the effect of an absent cause.
Les Archives de Krapp: enregistrement, traduction, langue
Authors: Katz Daniel
Published: January 2016

According to James Knowlson, Beckett wrote at the same time that he was working on what he found to be the extremely painful task of translating into English. Given this context, this article studies as a drama not only of memory and repetition, but also of translation. On the biographical level, Beckett the self-translator is at this time conducting a return to an English which, on the level of personal history and early memories, can only remain originary for him, despite his decision to compose so often in French. Indeed, dramatizes English as the language of the personal archive, while also insisting on the exteriority of this idiom, giving us a "mother tongue" or "native language" which has been reified and mechanized in the most literal fashion.
Paradoxes De La Confiance Foncière : dans l'œuvre De Samuel Beckett
Authors: Meitinger Serge
Published: January 2016

We think that the relation between the beckettian heroes and the world is founded on a series of paradoxes. They live on the basis of a fundamental confidence in the space where they are, though they experience in the same time the (often painful) limits of their possible investment in this universe. Language, even when it is often reduced to a flux of words, is what permits them to continue anyways. It is in this experience of language that potential incarnations may emerge in what we propose to call their 'formance'.
Neomorts Et Faux Vivants : Communautés dépeuplées Chez Beckett et Agamben
Authors: Jones David Houston
Published: January 2016

This article reworks and recontextualises the problematic of the unspeakable in Beckett's by reference to the recent work of Giorgio Agamben, and in particular the analysis of the figure of the Muselmann in As well as producing textual parallels with the 'vaincu' in the association of the Muselmann with unspeak-ability, exclusion and exception in Agamben's work allows new light to be shed on the elusive project of Beckett's text. In both cases, representation is avowedly impossible : while the narrative structure of turns on a series of internal 'errors', Agamben's theory in is based on the impossible testimony of the Muselmann, a figure who by definition cannot bear witness.
Parasites Et Autres Perturbations
Authors: Godeau Florence
Published: January 2016

A number of parasites proliferate in Beckett's work tickling in turn the reader's ears or body. Experiencing these with his mind and senses entails thinking on the part of the reader as well as the "talker" in fabula – thinking often close to the unbearable. A great many perturbations ensue, among them the fact that writing is deeply contaminated by parasitism and interferences. To examine their various manifestations implies going back to the text as system, as body – a body suffering from what it is necessarily dependent upon : language, a parasite itself, generating its own parasites.
Failure and Tradition: Coleridge / Beckett
Authors: Lawley Paul
Published: January 2016

Using a model of literary tradition derived from T. S. Eliot and mediated by J. L. Borges, this paper proposes a tradition of creative failure which would enable the work of Beckett to be read that of S. T. Coleridge, and vice-versa. Two texts by Coleridge are briefly considered in this context, and the problematic of creative failure in which they are implicated is related to key claims in Beckett's . A concluding statement suggests the benefits of reading Coleridge and Beckett within the common perspective of a literary tradition, the perception of which the two writers both shape and are shaped by.
The Long View: Beckett, Johnson, Wordsworth and the Language of Epitaphs
Authors: Barry Elizabeth
Published: January 2016

This article will investigate the idiom of death and memorialization in Beckett's work in relation to two particularly distinguished students of the epitaph, Samuel Johnson and William Wordsworth, and consider how Beckett negotiates the different expectations of writing about death that each figure has bequeathed. It will examine Beckett's exploration, following that of Wordsworth, of how far writing about the dead can borrow, imaginatively, from the 'dispassionate' and 'all-equalising' perspective of death itself, and also consider Beckett's particularly laconic treatment of the difficulty in avoiding, as the Romantic poet put it, a certain 'triteness' in the summation of a life.
Romantic Agony: Fancy and Imagination in Samuel Beckett's
Authors: Rodriguez Michael Angelo
Published: January 2016

In , Samuel Beckett contributes to a discussion regarding an important Romantic distinction between Fancy and Imagination, suggesting that no matter how much Fancy, particularly its passive aspect, predominates in this text, the dynamic function of Imagination is never absent. Contrary to popular scholarly consensus, therefore, a close examination of reveals a dynamic text that demonstrates the Romantic aspects of Beckett's own creative process, thereby aligning him more with the German and English Romantics than with the so-called post-modernists.
"En un lugar della mancha": Samuel Beckett's Reading of in the Notebook
Authors: Carrera María José
Published: January 2016

This article deals with Beckett's reading of Cervantes's in the 1930s. Sixteen notes that he took in the Notebook (MS 3000 of the Beckett Collection at Reading University), proceeding from the title of Cervantes's novel to chapter 18 of the Second Part, reveal that Beckett's attention focuses on a surprisingly small number of things for such a complex text. With three languages at play – English, French and Spanish – Beckett's manuscript entries betray his close dependence on Ferdinand de Brotonne's French translation of Cervantes's work (a mediating source which is not acknowledged in the notebook).
VOYONS VOIR BECKETT RÉALISATEUR: qui voit quoi où? ou: n'y a-t-il vraiment que nuages passant dans le ciel à la télévision?
Authors: Guilbard Anne-Cécile
Published: January 2016

……, one of the few television plays by Beckett that deviates from the law of the continuous shot, explicitly interrogates the conditions of the image's visibility. In this sense it exemplifies the contest between visual and literary image in Beckett's oeuvre. A close look at three of the work's constituents (its text, schema, and production) reveals a reciprocal relation between the vision of H and F, which recalls the problematic of and the pursuit of O by Œ. In the present instance, however, the poetic image appears the ideal and absent site of a possible union.
FUN DE PARTIE: Puns and Paradigms in
Authors: Ackerley Chris
Published: January 2016

Beckett's bilingual texts and self-translations raise awkward questions as to how two 'different' works can be equally parts of a greater whole or complementary aspects of the 'same' text. In this paper I consider how puns, allusions and other linguistic paradigms constitute points of resistance, particularly when sentiments originally written in one language seek expression in another. By describing the 'machinery' of the pun in terms of 'sameness' and 'difference,' I seek to identify its role in the dialectic of 'equivalence' and 'mis-matching' implicit in the binary relationship of and .
LES POINTS DE VUE DE SIRIUS DANS ET LES
Authors: Nishimura Izumi
Published: January 2016

In and , the absence of concrete personages and the plural nature of the subject are more obvious trends than in Beckett's previous works. The narrator of these texts (a simple head/a ball) contains an energy that is concentrated and liquid like an egg's, the symbol of potentiality. Like "the man from the underground" analyzed by Bakhtin, he has the introspective imagination that results in hypothetical subjects observing their own consciousness and adopting points of view from Sirius. Paradoxically, the Beckettian microcosm fosters the freedom of the macrocosm owing to its perfect closure.
IN AN IRISH CONTEXT
Authors: Sakauchi Futoshi
Published: January 2016

In , Mouth tells the story of a woman who is socially neglected, religiously controlled, economically invisible, and legally powerless. In this paper, I examine the interconnections between Mouth's story and Irish controversies in recent years about the treatment of women. Additionally, I claim that exemplifies the extent to which male writers can give voice effectively to women characters and their struggles.
ENTRE "MOTS MUETS" ET SILENCE BRUISSANT: le 'je' en tension
Authors: Siboni Julia
Published: January 2016

Throughout his oeuvre, Beckett wavers between "unspoken words" and murmurous silences questioning in this manner the nature of the existence of "true silence." The tension between these two poles reflects the perpetual (re)construction, (re)definition of an inside and outside, interiority and exteriority. Indeed, the limit between these two spaces turns out to be more often than not mobile and porous, letting sound pass through. Thus the Beckettian subject is called on to search for a place in this profoundly dynamic space of tension, which is both limit and border and the ground of a precarious and elusive identity.
Être de poussière et de souffle: L'intertexte biblique de l'anthropologie beckettienne
Authors: Eigenmann Eric
Published: January 2016

In Beckett's works, the body always seems to be drawn back to the earth which sustains it, whereas speech tends to become indistinguishable from a character's breath of life. It is for this reason that one recognizes in the work the presence of two fundamental elements: Earth and Air. Genesis (2:7) affirms that the "Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." This homology is analyzed for its theatricality and hermeneutic consequences, sometimes marked by subversion.
"No final script": Sur les carnets de mise en scène de Samuel Beckett
Authors: Soenen Dimitri
Published: January 2016

The study of Beckett's (and particularly of the fourth volume, dedicated to the "" or Shorter Plays) reveals how he prepared the direction of his plays: while bringing their rhythmic structure to light, Beckett tried to make it clear through the different stage elements. This meeting of numbers and bodies engenders a truly dramatic performance, always already written but nevertheless always to be played (again).
Beckett, l'espace vide et le théâtre phénoménologique
Authors: Dospinescu Liviu
Published: January 2016

Empty space appears as a key element of the text and stage strategies to be found in Samuel Beckett's short plays. Beckettian minimalism comes down to a phenomenological reduction of the theatrical figures. The elimination of the symbolic frees the stage figure from the semiotic and forces it to return to the first nature of the sign, its . Thus, the stage/auditorium space divide is dissolved, to allow the to take place. In Beckett's short plays, the result is the absorption of the spectator in the stage space. This article proposes to describe this unusual reception experience.
Beckett in the Country of the Houyhnhms: The Transformation of Swiftian Satire
Authors: Perloff Marjorie
Published: January 2016

Beckett's fictions and plays contain specific echoes of and parodic analogues to the famous incident in when the protagonist resists the sexual advances of the loathsome female Yahoo. But in such fictions as and , the narrator does not resist; indeed, he accepts his Yahoo status, as Gulliver never could, trying, nevertheless, to find a humanity that can come to terms with man's Yahoo nature. The Yahoo motif thus measures the difference between Swiftian satire, bent as it is on the excoriation of mankind that should know better, and Beckett's post-World War II ironic mode that refuses such firm value judgments about 'humanity.'
Reincarnations of Joyce in Beckett's Fiction
Authors: Murphy P. J.
Published: January 2016

We cannot answer the Joyce question in Beckett studies until we proceed beyond the stereotypical assumptions of the two dominant approaches: namely, the resistance to Joyce school and the poststructuralist identification with Joyce school. Instead, this essay will argue for a third approach in which Beckett's life-long engagement with Joyce is shown to be much more complex, collaborative and complementary in many ways, as well as contestatory in nature. A close examination of three portraits of Joyce in Beckett's fiction will support these contentions and lead us towards a revisionist critique in which there is an enhanced appreciation of some of the more affirmative dimensions of Beckett's work.
Bunyan and Beckett: The Legacy of in
Authors: Campbell Julie
Published: January 2016

This article will consider Samuel Beckett's and John Bunyan's as quest narratives, in terms of their similarities as well as their differences. An important point of comparison is the common genre background that these two texts share, and the very different treatments that the two writers give to this traditional theme and structure.
“Splendid Little Pictures”: Leibnizian Terminology in the Works of Samuel Beckett and Carlo Emilio Gadda
Authors: Wehling-Giorgi Katrin
Published: January 2016

Monadic spaces inhabit a significant number of both Beckett's and Gadda's narrative spaces. The refashioning and distortion of the Leibnizian concept of the monad in their oeuvres brings to light some essential features of both authors' critique of the traditional, unitary notion of the self. Indeed, the divergences which transpire in the reinterpretation of the rationalist concept of individual substance reveal a fascinating parallel relating to the fragmentation of subjectivity in both authors' writings. In this context, particular attention will be given to Gadda's early theoretical and fictional writings and Beckett's fiction up to the French Trilogy.
Beaufret, Beckett, and Heidegger: The Question(s) of Influence
Authors: Sharkey Rodney
Published: January 2016

This essay provides Beckett studies with biographical information, collated from a number of sources, regarding Beckett's friend and initial philosophy mentor, Jean Beaufret. Further, based on the new context these details provide, the essay posits that Beckett was familiar with Heidegger's philosophy and that his post-war aesthetics are, in part, a response to both Beaufret and Heidegger.
The Metronome of Consciousness
Authors: O'Hara Dan
Published: January 2016

Samuel Beckett's 1966 work is generally read as a prose dramatization of the experience of a consciousness near to death, and the word 'ping' itself is taken to be non-referential. This paper examines Beckett's use of 'ping' as one of a constellation of terms which, when taken together with his frequent hospitalization in the years leading up to 1966, suggest a directly referential reading.
Autonomy and the Everyday: Beckett, Late Modernism and Post-War Visual Art
Authors: Carville Conor
Published: January 2016

Beckett's work has been important to several generations of post-war visual artists, and continues to figure strongly in contemporary work. Although this relationship has often been seen in terms of a shared minimalist aesthetic, the present essay argues that a more significant engagement emerges in the work of several artists who emerged alongside and in reaction to minimalist art in the late 1960s. These artists saw Beckett's work as departing from Clement Greenberg's late modernist notion of the autonomous artwork, emphasizing instead an openness to the body, popular new technologies and everyday life. It is this version of Beckett, rather than the minimalist one, that remains influential in today's art world.
Beckett's Drama: Platonic 'Ideas' versus Aristotelian 'Shapes'
Authors: Beyad Maryam , Maniee Amir
Published: January 2016

In questioning representation, (post)modern literature and art emphasized meta-representation and the philosophy and critique of art. In the same vein, Samuel Beckett was concerned with the nature of art and the shape(s) to accommodate his message(s). Any attempt, however, to analyze 'idea' and 'shape' revives Plato's and Aristotle's classic debate about 'form' and 'content.' Through a close reading of and , as well as sketching a parallel between Beckett's techniques and the concept of mathematical limit, this article argues that although Platonic and Aristotelian notions on art appear to be far apart, they overlap in Beckett's drama.
“Ooftish”: Writing, Orality, and the Specter of Yiddish in an Early Poem by Samuel Beckett
Authors: Caplan Marc
Published: January 2016

This article discusses the 1938 poem “Ooftish,” Beckett's only work to use a Yiddish term. Its title derives from the expressions . The significance of these expressions, and the fact that Beckett only approximates their idiomatic usage, prompts a consideration of foreign-language titles in his early Anglophone poetry; this strategy signifies the deterritorialization of Beckett's English writing and figures the challenge of creating a poetic discourse between the abstractions of thought and the tangibility of experience. That dialectic finds resonance in the poem through a conflict between Jewish and Christian connotations of Scriptural allusion.
Beckett's Racinian Fictions: “Racine and the Modern Novel” Revisited
Authors: Moorjani Angela
Published: January 2016

Reading Beckett's fictions through Racine's tragedies is facilitated by Beckett's own reading of the seventeenth-century dramatist through the lens of the modern novel. Using the notes of three students in Beckett's 1931 course at Trinity College Dublin and Jorge Luis Borges's view on the 'creation' of literary precursors, this essay examines the effect of Beckett's Racines on his own fiction.
En d'une Métaphysique Parodique: Beckett lecteur de Descartes redux
Authors: Roesler Layla M.
Published: January 2016

I argue in this paper for a momentary return to a Cartesian prism, which can help to provide a more complete understanding of the absent first person singular of . Beckett, in equating the autobiography of the with fiction, dismantles Descartes's to reveal the presence of an unsayable first person hidden behind the 'I' which is the product of the . The narrative structure of is predicated on this non- subject as it is enacted through the characters of the text.
Beckett Between the Words: Punctuation and the Body in the English Prose
Authors: Williams James
Published: January 2016

This essay considers how some of Beckett's most important concerns are explored or expressed through his use of punctuation. Focusing on the English prose, the problems of starting and stopping, the representation of silence, and the individuation and disintegration of voices are considered. In particular it is argued that punctuation, by remembering the physical presence of absent speakers, is important to the way Beckett's writing situates itself ambiguously between the abstract and the bodily. Beckett's practice is examined through close readings, and set against a theoretical backdrop going back to Aristotle.
The Extended Mind and Multiple Drafts: Beckett's Models of the Mind and the Postcognitivist Paradigm
Authors: Van Hulle Dirk
Published: January 2016

Insofar as writing can be regarded as a form of thinking, authors' manuscripts may serve as tools for interdisciplinary research in the area between literary studies and cognitive philosophy. This article studies the manuscript versions of Beckett's late texts “Ceiling” and as a case study to analyze the ways in which genetic Beckett studies can contribute to recent “enactivist” developments in cognitive philosophy. In terms of methodology, the article proposes to extend Brian Richardson's concept of “denarration” with a genetic dimension in order to study the way Beckett “decreated” traditional models of the mind and prefigured new ones.
Beckett and Geulincx's Metaphysics: “Without knowing why exactly”
Authors: Frost Everett C.
Published: January 2016

This essay – the first in a two-part examination of why Beckett himself regarded the philosophy of the Cartesian occasionalist Arnold Geulincx as one of the “points of departure” for understanding his work – discusses Beckett's interest in the aspects of Geulincx's metaphysical theory that serve as a foundation for an ethics:

1. (Self-examination; ).

2. Absolute separation of body and mind.

3. (Whatever you do not in any way know how to do, that you cannot do).

A sequel, appearing separately in this issue, extends the discussion to “Beckett and Geulincx's Ethics.”
Informed Consent: Ezenwa–Ohaeto between Past and Future Uses of Pidgin
Authors: Zabus Chantal
Published: January 2016

The essay shows how Ezenwa–Ohaeto's poetry in pidgin, particularly in his collection (1988), emblematizes a linguistic interface between, on the one hand, the pseudo-pidgin of Onitsha Market pamphleteers of the 1950s and 1960s (including in its gendered guise as in Cyprian Ekwensi) and, on the other, its quasicreolized form in contemporary news and television and radio dramas as well as a potential first language.

While locating Nigerian Pidgin or EnPi in the wider context of the emergence of pidgins on the West African Coast, the essay also draws on examples from Joyce Cary, Frank Aig–Imoukhuede, Ogali A. Ogali, Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka, and Tunde Fatunde among others. It is not by default but out of choice and with their 'informed consent' that EnPi writers such as Ezenwa–Ohaeto contributed to the unfinished plot of the pidgin–creole continuum.
Parody of the Shakespearean Fool Tradition in an African Society
Authors: Adelek Durotoye A.
Published: January 2016

There is always a precursor in any well-established institution, and artistic institution is no exception. The fool tradition itself has its origin in Dionysian phallic rituals, or Greek, Roman and English festivals in general, thus serving as the springboard for the Shakespearean fool. Shakespeare then popularizes the fool character in his plays whereby he turns it into an institution. The Yorùbá playwrights, like others from any part of the world, seem to have been influenced by the Shakespearean fool tradition to a large extent. This essay, therefore, sets out to draw the Shakespearean parallel that is visible in the Yorùbá fool genre with special reference to the appearance, the role and language of fool. Copious examples are drawn from the written and film genres to back up the issue of parody. The essay concludes by paying attention to the mark of departure and what accounts for such a disparity.
Motherhood and Sundry Preoccupations in Hope Eghagha's
Authors: Awhefeada Sunny
Published: January 2016

A significant motif in African poetry which critics have ignored over the years is that of motherhood. This theme has been explored by many an African writer, depicting its various manifestations – physically, psychologically, and spiritually. However, the metaphoric aggregation of the many aspects of maternity has not been met with the appropriate critical response. The aim of this study is to examine the foregrounding of motherhood in Hope Eghagha's . What is revealed is not a romanticization of motherhood, but a tear-glazed threnodic articulation of a mother's last moments on earth, though with telling glances at the past which poeticize the essence of motherhood. Also discernible in this collection are other sundry themes which, often with a certain cynicism, re-create the nature of humanity, complementing Eghagha's versification of motherhood. These themes – greed, wickedness, love, betrayal – are largely ignored in the evaluation of African poetry. The present study excavates them, arguing that they deserve critical articulation for African poetry to be seen as representing life as it is lived and experienced.
Assessing the Dilemma of a Nation at the Crossroads Protest as Landscape in Chinua Achebe's
Authors: Akingbe Niyi
Published: January 2016

This essay interrogates the mediation of protest and literature in Chinua Achebe's . It further evaluates the preoccupation of the novel as a veritable record of various forms of protest. Protest and literature are seen to be closely related in the way in which human beings perceive of their society and the actions that they take as a result of those perceptions. Social protest can be said to refer to those mass movements, private initiatives, demonstrations, and other activities which support or oppose specific developments or situations in a given society, with a view to changing it for the better. Literature, for its part, refers to that body of written, verbal, or performed work which exercises the imagination and seeks to offer insights into the nature of the world and the place of humans in it.
Taxonomic and nomenclatural notes on Ligularia ghatsukupa, L. leesicotal and L. rumicifolia (Asteraceae, Senecioneae)
Authors: WANG LONG , LUO HONG-YI , REN CHEN , YANG QIN-ER
Published: January 2016

We clear up the taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion involving Ligularia ghatsukupa, L. leesicotal and L. rumicifolia (Asteraceae, Senecioneae). The independent specific status of Ligularia leesicotal, which has been previously placed in synonymy within L. rumicifolia, is reinstated. Ligularia rumicifolia (Good) S. W. Liu (1985) is the correct author citation, not L. rumicifolia S. W. Liu (1985). Ligularia ghatsukupa is found to be conspecific with L. rumicifolia and is thus synonymized.
Variability of Ratings in the Otolaryngology Standardized Letter of Recommendation
Authors: Kominsky Alan H. , Bryson Paul C. , Benninger Michael S. , Tierney William S.
Published: January 2016

Objective

To determine the variability of ratings given to students on the otolaryngology standardized letter of recommendation (SLOR).

Study Design

Retrospective review.

Setting

Academic otolaryngology training program.

Subjects and Methods

496 SLORs to the Cleveland Clinic Otolaryngology Training Program were reviewed. The SLORs were extracted from the applications and analyzed. The distributions of ratings across the 10 categories were statistically analyzed including distribution and standard deviation. Rankings were grouped into deciles for this analysis.

Results

Ratings across the 10 domains revealed clustering of results across the top 2 deciles. The distribution of the bell‐shaped curve was shifted significantly to the left, representing the upper deciles. No evidence of gender or geographic bias was found. Longer length of time of association between the applicant and the letter writer correlated to a higher ranking.

Conclusion

The explosion of applications being sent out by candidates for otolaryngology residency programs has prompted the implementation of the SLOR. The lack of variation in the ratings across the 10 domains does not allow for differentiation among student applicants. Reliance on the narrative letter of recommendation attached to the SLOR still remains the most significant way to differentiate among applicants. Refinements will need to be made in either the structure or use of the SLOR for it to be a more useful tool.
Bullying Perpetration, Victimization, and Demographic Differences in College Students: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Lund Emily M. , Ross Scott W.
Published: January 2016

Although bullying has been widely recognized as a serious issue in elementary and secondary school and in the workplace, little is known about the prevalence of bullying in postsecondary education. We conducted a comprehensive search of the peer-reviewed literature and found 14 studies that reported the prevalence of bullying perpetration, victimization, or both in college or university students. Prevalence estimates varied widely been studies, but on average about 20–25% of students reported noncyberbullying victimization during college and 10–15% reported cyberbullying victimization. Similarly, approximately 20% of students on average reported perpetrating noncyberbullying during college, with about 5% reporting cyber perpetration. Men were more likely to report perpetration, but no consistent gender differences in victimization were found. Few studies reported prevalence by sexual orientation or race/ethnicity, and none reported prevalence by disability status. Overall, these results indicate that bullying continues to be prevalent in postsecondary education, but more research needs to be conducted, particularly that which uses multiuniversity samples and examines demographic differences in prevalence rates.
Pathophysiology and treatment of pulmonary hypertension in sickle cell disease
Authors: Gordeuk Victor R. , Castro Oswaldo L. , Machado Roberto F.
Published: January 2016

Pulmonary hypertension affects ∼10% of adult patients with sickle cell disease (SCD), particularly those with the homozygous genotype. An increase in pulmonary artery systolic pressure, estimated noninvasively by echocardiography, helps identify SCD patients at risk for pulmonary hypertension, but definitive diagnosis requires right-heart catheterization. About half of SCD-related pulmonary hypertension patients have precapillary pulmonary hypertension with potential etiologies of (1) a nitric oxide deficiency state and vasculopathy consequent to intravascular hemolysis, (2) chronic pulmonary thromboembolism, or (3) upregulated hypoxic responses secondary to anemia, low O2 saturation, and microvascular obstruction. The remainder have postcapillary pulmonary hypertension secondary to left ventricular dysfunction. Although the pulmonary artery pressure in SCD patients with pulmonary hypertension is only moderately elevated, they have a markedly higher risk of death than patients without pulmonary hypertension. Guidelines for diagnosis and management of SCD-related pulmonary hypertension were published recently by the American Thoracic Society. Management of adults with sickle-related pulmonary hypertension is based on anticoagulation for those with thromboembolism; oxygen therapy for those with low oxygen saturation; treatment of left ventricular failure in those with postcapillary pulmonary hypertension; and hydroxyurea or transfusions to raise the hemoglobin concentration, reduce hemolysis, and prevent vaso-occlusive events that cause additional increases in pulmonary pressure. Randomized trials have not identified drugs to lower pulmonary pressure in SCD patients with precapillary pulmonary hypertension. Patients with hemodynamics of pulmonary arterial hypertension should be referred to specialized centers and considered for treatments known to be effective in other forms of pulmonary arterial hypertension. There have been reports that some of these treatments improve SCD-related pulmonary hypertension.
Variable selection for binary classification using error rate p-values applied to metabolomics data
Authors: van Reenen Mari , Reinecke Carolus J. , Westerhuis Johan A. , Venter J. Hendrik
Published: January 2016

Background

Metabolomics datasets are often high-dimensional though only a limited number of variables are expected to be informative given a specific research question. The important task of selecting informative variables can therefore become complex. In this paper we look at discriminating between two groups. Two tasks need to be performed: (i) finding variables which differ between the two groups; and (ii) determining how the selected variables can be used to classify new subjects. We introduce an approach using minimum classification error rates as test statistics to find discriminatory and therefore informative variables. The thresholds resulting in the minimum error rates can be used to classify new subjects. This approach transforms error rates into p-values and is referred to as ERp.

Results

We show that non-parametric hypothesis testing, based on minimum classification error rates as test statistics, can find statistically significantly shifted variables. The discriminatory ability of variables becomes more apparent when error rates are evaluated based on their corresponding p-values, as relatively high error rates can still be statistically significant. ERp can handle unequal and small group sizes, as well as account for the cost of misclassification. ERp retains (if known) or reveals (if unknown) the shift direction, aiding in biological interpretation. The threshold resulting in the minimum error rate can immediately be used to classify new subjects.

We use NMR generated metabolomics data to illustrate how ERp is able to discriminate subjects diagnosed with Mycobacterium tuberculosis infected meningitis from a control group. The list of discriminatory variables produced by ERp contains all biologically relevant variables with appropriate shift directions discussed in the original paper from which this data is taken.

Conclusions

ERp performs variable selection and classification, is non-parametric and aids biological interpretation while handling unequal group sizes and misclassification costs. All this is achieved by a single approach which is easy to perform and interpret. ERp has the potential to address many other characteristics of metabolomics data. Future research aims to extend ERp to account for a large proportion of observations below the detection limit, as well as expand on interactions between variables.
Multivariate fixed point theorems for contractions and nonexpansive mappings with applications
Authors: Su Yongfu , Petruşel Adrian , Yao Jen-Chih
Published: January 2016

The first purpose of this paper is to prove an existence and uniqueness result for the multivariate fixed point of a contraction type mapping in complete metric spaces. The proof is based on the new idea of introducing a convenient metric space and an appropriate mapping. This method leads to the changing of the non-self-mapping setting to the self-mapping one. Then the main result of the paper will be applied to an initial-value problem related to a class of differential equations of first order. The second aim of this paper is to prove strong and weak convergence theorems for the multivariate fixed point of a N-variables nonexpansive mapping. The results of this paper improve several important works published recently in the literature.
Existence of fixed points for Θ-type contraction and Θ-type Suzuki contraction in complete metric spaces
Authors: Liu Xin-dong , Chang Shih-sen , Xiao Yun , Zhao Liang Cai
Published: January 2016

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the notions of Θ-type contractions and Θ-type Suzuki contractions and to establish some new fixed point theorems for these two kinds of mappings in the setting of complete metric spaces. The results presented in the paper are an extension of the Banach contraction principle, the Suzuki contraction theorem, and the Jleli and Samet fixed point theorem. As an application, we utilize our results to study the existence problem of solutions of nonlinear Hammerstein integral equations.
ReCAP: Serum Tumor Marker Use in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors
Authors: Accordino Melissa K. , Wright Jason D. , Vasan Sowmya , Neugut Alfred I. , Tergas Ana , Hu Jim C. , Hershman Dawn L. , Accordino Melissa K. , Wright Jason D. , Vasan Sowmya , Neugut Alfred I. , Tergas Ana , Hu Jim C. , Hershman Dawn L.
Published: January 2016

QUESTION ASKED:

The objective of this study is to evaluate the frequency of tumor marker use in patients with advanced solid tumors.

SUMMARY ANSWER:

Over a 1-year period, the mean number of any individual test per patient was seven tests, and the maximum number was 35 tests; the mean number of total tests per patient was 12 tests, and the maximum number was 70 tests. In a 1-year time frame, 16.3% of patients had more than 12 individual tests, and 34.3% had more than one individual test in a 1-month span.

METHODS:

For each patient with a diagnosis of advanced solid tumor who had outpatient visits between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014, at Columbia University Medical Center, we recorded the dates of the following tumor marker tests: α-fetoprotein, CA-125, CA 15-3, CA 19-9, CA 27-29, and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).

BIAS, CONFOUNDING FACTOR(S), DRAWBACKS:

This was a 1-year evaluation of tumor marker use at a single institution. As a result, our findings may be skewed by the practice patterns of a few individual providers. Our cancer center is an urban academic tertiary care center; as a result, our experience may not be applicable to the general population.

REAL-LIFE IMPLICATIONS:

We found a high rate of serum tumor marker testing overuse in patients with advanced solid tumors. There is currently a lack of evidence supporting the effectiveness of frequent tumor marker testing, and additional studies are needed to inform practice. Interventions to reduce overuse could help reduce the financial burden of cancer care. Future research should define the minimal frequency of testing. In the meantime, efforts should be made to limit use of tumor marker testing in patients with advanced solid tumors. [Figure: see text]
By Design
Authors: Dillon Elizabeth Maddock
Published: January 2016

In response to Vincent Brown's contribution to this roundtable, this article argues for the importance of attending to issues of design in digital humanities projects that aim to recover and reassess the archives of slavery.
Mapping Space, Power, and Social Life
Authors: Saunt Claudio
Published: January 2016

The spatial and cartographic turn in the humanities invites experimentation with new modes of historical storytelling. Those modes—interactive, participatory, and ever evolving—may redefine our vision of scholarship by creating innovative ways to distribute and create historical knowledge. If the ultimate goal of many historians is to change the way individuals think about the past, then participatory sites may make truly significant contributions to the discipline of history.
Pannexin 3 and connexin 43 modulate skeletal development through their distinct functions and expression patterns
Authors: Ishikawa Masaki , Williams Geneva L. , Ikeuchi Tomoko , Sakai Kiyoshi , Fukumoto Satoshi , Yamada Yoshihiko
Published: January 2016

Pannexin 3 (Panx3) and connexin 43 (Cx43; also known as GJA1) are two major gap junction proteins expressed in osteoblasts. Here, we studied their functional relationships in skeletal formation by generating Panx3−/− and Panx3−/−;Cx43−/− mice and comparing their skeletal phenotypes with Cx43−/− mice. Panx3−/− mice displayed defects in endochondral and intramembranous ossification, resulting in severe dwarfism and reduced bone density. The skeletal abnormalities of Panx3−/−;Cx43−/− mice were similar to those in Panx3−/− mice. The gross appearance of newborn Cx43−/− skeletons showed no obvious abnormalities, except for less mineralization of the skull. In Panx3−/− mice, proliferation of chondrocytes and osteoblasts increased and differentiation of these cells was inhibited. Panx3 promoted expression of osteogenic proteins such as ALP and Ocn (also known as ALPL and BGLAP, respectively), as well as Cx43, by regulating Osx (also known as SP7) expression. Panx3 was induced in the early differentiation stage and reduced during the maturation stage of osteoblasts, when Cx43 expression increased in order to promote mineralization. Furthermore, only Panx3 functioned as an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ channel to promote differentiation, and it could rescue mineralization defects in Cx43−/− calvarial cells. Our findings reveal that Panx3 and Cx43 have distinct functions in skeletal formation.
Efficiency of Technological Modes in the Economy of the United Kingdom
Authors: Басовский  , Basovskiy Leonid , Басовская  , Basovskaya Elena
Published: January 2016

Through modeling the Kondratieff waves (cycles) the authors show, that the

upward half-wave of the third Kondratieff wave in the economic dynamics of the

UK emerged in 1887. Further, in 1926 emerged the upward half-wave of the

fourth Kondratieff wave in the economic dynamics of the UK. The upward halfwave

of the fifth Kondratieff wave in Britain’s economy emerged in 1985. The

fifth wave is in place till nowadays. Modeling of technological modes has allowed

to assess their efficiency as concerning the economy of the UK. The efficiency

of relic modes, measured in terms of per capita GDP equals to £2805 measured

in 2005 pounds sterling. The maximum efficiency of the fourth technological

mode equals to £1328, measured in 2005 pounds sterling. The maximum

efficiency of the fifth technological mode reaches £8739 measured in 2005

pounds sterling. The maximum efficiency of the sixth technological mode for the

economy of the UK reaches £19 811 measured in 2005 pounds sterling.
Kondratieff Cycles in the Economies of Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and France
Authors: Басовский  , Basovskiy Leonid , Иванова  , Ivanova O. , Басовская  , Basovskaya Elena
Published: January 2016

The paper concerns identifying Kondratieff cycles in the economies of Italy, the

Netherlands, Germany and France. Studied are the historical periods beginning

from the second half of the 19th century based on time series of real per capita

GDP. The study is made through construction of econometric models, including

the cyclical component. Modeling has helped to identify Kondratieff cycles in the

national production. The upward half-wave of the third Kondratieff cycle in Italy

emerged in 1897, in the Netherlands — in 1910, in Germany — in 1885,

in France — in 1881. The upward half-wave of the fourth Kondratieff cycle

emerged in Italy in 1948, in the Netherlands — in 1946, in Germany — in 1958,

and in France — in 1855. The upward half-wave of the fifth Kondratieff cycle

emerged in Italy in 1989, in the Netherlands — in 1990, in Germany — in 1999,

and in France — in 1994.
On Analyzing the Flow of Kondratieff Economic Cycles in France
Authors: Иванова  , Ivanova O.
Published: January 2016

The course of economic processes in all the industrialized countries is characterized

by cyclicality. Economic cycles affect the majority of spheres in any given national

economy and are characterized by a variety of distinctive features. The concept

of “long cycles” for a period of 40–60 years was introduced by the Soviet scientist

Nikolai Kondratieff, and further these cycles have become known as the “Kondratieff

long waves”. The change of cycles is associated with deep qualitative changes

in the economy. Kondratieff economic cycle comprises four phases: recovery,

boom, recession and depression. It is assumed that this theory of wave-like cyclical

development should be comprehended as applied to the economy of France.
The use of drugs in the first trimester of pregnancy: pharmacoepidemiologic study
Authors: Арчегова  , Archegova E. , Болиева  , Bolieva Laura
Published: January 2016

The article presents the results of pharmacoepidemiological study the main goal of which was to analyze the real practice of drugs prescription to the pregnant women during the first trimester of pregnancy in hospitals of North Ossetia-Alania. A retrospective descriptive study based on medical records of patients (n=284) admitted to hospitals in 2012 was performed. According to the obtained data the main problems were: high frequency of prescribing drugs in pregnancy; great number of drugs prescribed to every pregnant women at the same time; high percent of drugs, when the reliable information of safety is lacking during the pregnancy.
Troubled families – is it too good to be true?
Authors: O'Connell Suzanne
Published: January 2016

Following the riots in 2011, the issue of disaffected and troublesome young people made the headlines. The Troubled Families programme was heralded as a solution. With its continued expansion, do we know how successful this programme has actually been? Suzanne O'Connell reports
Supporting parents and carers through bereavement
Authors: Brombley Karen
Published: January 2016

Community nurses can be a huge support to those who have lost a child, writes Karen Brombley