bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Antihyperglycemic potential of homeopathic medicines Insulinum, Pancreatinum and Uranium nitricum in Streptozotocin Induced diabetic Rats.
Authors: Patil Aditya Dilipkumar , Patil Charusheela Dilipkumar , Patil Dilipkumar Kondiba
Published: April 2021

INTRODUCTION –
Diabetes Mellitus is an emerging endocrine and metabolic disorder which has affected millions of people globally. Homeopathy a science of ultra-molecular doses with a holistic approach is used in treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. Homeopathic medicines are prepared from plant, mineral, sarcodes, nosodes and animal parts. Insulinum, Pancreatinum and Uranium nitricum is used in homeopathy for treatment of Diabetes Mellitus. However no any preclinical studies have been investigated for the anti-diabetic effect and its safety.
METHODS –
Homeopathic medicines Insulinum, Pancreatinum and Uranium nitricum in 6C (1012) dilution factor were used to examine antihyperglycemic effects in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. After 28 days treatment bodyweight, Hematology, Biochemistry (serum glucose, urea, creatinine, SGPT, SGOT, ALP, Triglyceride and HDL-cholesterol), Oral Glucose Tolerance Test, HbA1C with histopathology of (Liver, Kidney, Pancreas) was measured.
RESULTS –
After Streptozotocin induction, the animals have shown significant increase in the fasting blood glucose level (p
Tracking COVID-19 burden in India using SMAART RAPID tracker
Authors: Joshi Ashish , Kaur Harpreet , Krishna L. Nandini , Sharma Shruti , Sharda Gautam , Lohra Garima , Bhatt Ashruti , Grover Ashoo
Published: April 2021

Objective- India has seen a rapid rise in COVID-19 cases. Examine spatiotemporal variation of COVID-19 burden Tracker across Indian states and union territories using SMAART RAPID Tracker.

Method: We used SMAART RAPID Tracker to visually display COVID-19 spread in space and time across various states and UTs of India. Data is gathered from publicly available government information sources. Data analysis on COVID-19 has been conducted from March 1 2020 to October 1 2020. Variables recorded include COVID-19 cases and fatality, 7-day average change, recovery rate, labs and tests. Spatial and temporal trends of COVID-19 spread across Indian states and UTs is presented. 

Result: The total number of COVID-19 cases were 63, 12,584 and total fatality was 86,821 (October 1 2020). More than 85,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported. There were 1,867 total COVID-19 labs throughout India. More than half of them were Government labs. The total number of COVID-19 tests was 76,717,728 and total recovered COVID-19 cases was 5,273,201. Results show an overall decline in the 7-day average change of new COVID-19 cases and new COVID-19 fatality. States such as Maharashtra, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Goa, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh continue to have high COVID-19 infectivity rate.

Discussion: Findings highlight need for both national guidelines combined with a state specific recommendations to help manage the spread of COVD-19.

Conclusion: India’s great diversity along with its vast population would help decide further actions to contain the spread of the disease, and can be crucial for the specific states only.
A Data Driven Approach for Prioritizing COVID-19 Vaccinations in the Midwestern United States
Authors: Arling Greg , Blaser Matthew , Cailas Michael , Canar John R. , Cooper Brian , Flax-Hatch Joel , Geraci Peter J. , Osiecki Kristin M. , Sambanis Apostolis
Published: April 2021

Considering the potential for widespread adoption of social vulnerability indices (SVI) to prioritize COVID-19 vaccinations, there is a need to carefully assess them, particularly for correspondence with outcomes (such as loss of life) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Public Health GIS team developed a methodology for assessing and deriving vulnerability indices based on the premise that these indices are, in the final analysis, classifiers. Application of this methodology to several Midwestern states with a commonly used SVI indicates that by using only the SVI rankings there is risk of assigning a high priority to locations with the lowest mortality rates and low priority to locations with the highest mortality rates. Based on the findings, we propose using a two-dimensional approach to rationalize the distribution of vaccinations. This approach has the potential to account for areas with high vulnerability characteristics as well as to incorporate the areas that were hard hit by the pandemic.
Analisis Determinan Kepatuhan Menjalani Hemodialisa Dengan Kualitas Hidup Pasien Gagal Ginjal Kronik
Authors: Andriati Riris , Aisyah Aisyah
Published: April 2021

In 2015, the number of cases of end stage chronic kidney failure in Indonesia was 70 thousand sufferers. Based on these figures, patients undergoing hemodialysis therapy are only 4000 to 5000 patients with renal failure. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between adherence to hemodialysis therapy and the quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure in the Hemodialysis Unit of Haji Hospital Jakarta. This research method is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional design. The number of samples was 54 people who were in the hemodialysis unit of the Jakarta Hajj Hospital during the last three months. The results of the study Respondents with good quality of life, moderate compliance were 1 respondent (%), and good quality were 10 respondents (%). The results of bivariate analysis using the Chi Square test, obtained p value = 0.468˃0.05. This means that there is no relationship between compliance undergoing hemodialysis with the quality of life of patients at the Jakarta Hajj Hospital.
Habitação de Interesse Social como política pública e implementação do Programa ‘Minha Casa, Minha Vida’ em cidades médias, o caso de Erechim, RS, Brasil
Authors: Silva Emerson dos Santos , Scotton Josiane Andréia , Dorneles Vanessa Goulart
Published: April 2021

This paper presents a brief contextualization of the recurrent Public Policies in Brazil, adopted as a guarantee of access to housing, as a right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution of 1988. The analysis is also made of how these Public Policies were reflected in the Municipality of Erechim, and it is evaluated how the City Hall, responsible for planning the land uses and manager of Public Policies, according to the City Statute of 2001, has acted in the regulation of these policies. The study was performed through non-systematic interviews with the technical staff of the Department of Housing and it was verified that the model adopted in the municipality is limited, due to the great complexity of the problem and the emerging demand. This study concludes that other measures could be taken concurrently, such as the mechanisms provided for in the City Statute to remedy the deficit for medium-sized cities, and in fact contributing to a housing policy and a more sustainable development.
Resenha: Um tipo diferente de animal: como a cultura transformou nossa espécie
Authors: Tryjanowski Piotr , Hromada Martin , Angeoletto Fabio
Published: April 2021

BOYD, Robert. A different kind of animal: how culture transformed our species. Princeton University Press, 2017. 248 p.
Sphincter-Saving Robotic Total Mesorectal Excision Provides Better Mesorectal Specimen and Good Oncological Local Control Compared with Laparoscopic Total Mesorectal Excision in Male Patients with Mid-Low Rectal Cancer
Authors: Aliyev Vusal , Goksel Suha , Bakır Barıs , Guven Koray , Asoglu Oktar
Published: April 2021

Introduction: Laparoscopic rectal resection with total mesorectal excision is a technically challenging procedure, and there are limitations in conventional laparoscopy. A surgical robotic system may help to overcome some of the limitations. The aim of our study was to compare long-term oncological outcomes of robotic and laparoscopic sphincter-saving total mesorectal excision in male patients with mid-low rectal cancer.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted as a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database. One-hundred-three robotic and 84 laparoscopic sphincter-saving total mesorectal excisions were performed by a single surgeon between January 2011 and January 2020. Patient characteristics, perioperative recovery, postoperative complications, pathology results, and oncological outcomes were compared between the two groups.
Results: The patients’ characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups. Median operating time was longer in the robotic than in the laparoscopic group (180 minutes versus 140 minutes, p=0.033). Macroscopic grading of the specimen in the robotic group was complete in 96 (93.20%), near complete in four (3.88%) and incomplete in three (2.91%) patients. In the laparoscopic group, grading was complete in 37 (44.04%), near complete in 40 (47.61%) and incomplete in seven (8.33%) patients (p=0.03). The median length of follow up was 48 (9–102) months in the robotic, and 75.6 (11–113) months in the laparoscopic group. Overall, five-year survival was 87% in the robotic and 85.3% in the laparoscopic groups. Local recurrence rates were 3.8% and 7.14%, respectively, in the robotic and laparoscopic groups (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Sphincter-saving robotic total mesorectal excision is a safe and feasible tool, which provides good mesorectal integrity and better local control in male patients with mid-low rectal cancer.
The Skirt and Collar of The Valsalva Graft: One Dress Fits All
Authors: Scaffa Raffaele , Weltert Luca , Salica Andrea , De Paulis Ruggero
Published: April 2021

In the original pre-formed Valsalva graft, the skirt is the defining feature. It is a self-expanding portion, obtained by 90° rotation of the Dacron fabric corrugation with respect to the rest of the graft. Due to this manufacturing feature, the skirt length is equal to the graft diameter and, once pressurized, it expands by 25-30% (up to 10 mm) from the nominal size. Proximal to this bulged portion, a small collar completes the prosthesis. By virtue of this anatomical design, the Valsalva graft is recommended for most aortic root surgeries including valve-sparing and Bentall procedures.
The skirt, by recreating the pseudo-sinuses, represents the key feature of the graft when used for aortic valve-sparing procedures (remodeling and reimplantation). However, in the Bentall procedure, the graft collar is an important feature because it is useful to attach the Valsalva graft to the valve prosthesis sewing ring when making a valved conduit. Moreover, once the graft is pressurized, the whole volume of the skirt better accommodates the struts and the leaflets of biological and mechanical prostheses. Furthermore, the expanded skirt reduces the distance and the tension on the coronary button anastomosis, increasing safety and possibly reducing complication rates.
This review demonstrates the versatility of the Valsalva graft in various scenarios of aortic root surgery, with special emphasis on different uses of the skirt and the collar.
XRD graphitization degrees: a review of the published data and new calculations, correlations, and applications
Authors: Vlahov Alexander
Published: April 2021

A system for transformation, correlation, and unification of subordinations between d002 (Å) of semi-graphite and graphite, graphitization degrees and metamorphic temperature was created. The existing equations in the literature were analyzed and new equations, which determine correlation relationships between these parameters, were formulated. The effect of factors that control graphitization processes (temperature, general pressure and tectonic stress, structure and origin of primary carbon matter, orientation of carbon formations, fluids, mineral and chemical composition, and duration of processes) was also considered. It was concluded that the structural state of semi-graphite and graphite is reversible, and this can be used for facies diagnostics and studying of metamorphic history of graphite-bearing metamorphic rocks. A new scale for graphitization degrees was proposed.
SNAP participants' purchasing patterns at a food co-op during the COVID-19 pandemic: A preliminary analysis
Authors: Parker Molly , Hedrick Valisa , Hedges Sam , Borst Elizabeth , Ledlie Johnson Meredith , Best Maureen , Misyak Sarah
Published: April 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the food system, increasing barriers to food access and exac­erbating food insecurity across the U.S. The Vir­ginia state government initiated a stay-at-home order to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, the Virginia Fresh Match (VFM) Nutrition Incentive Network partnered with food retail outlets to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants point-of-purchase incentives (e.g., Double Up Food Bucks, SNAP Match), which function as matching discounts on fresh fruits and vegetables (F/V). These can enable participants to increase their purchasing power and potentially reduce food insecurity. In response to COVID-19, VFM removed the limit on incentive discounts (previ­ously $10[1]) to further incentivize the purchase of fresh F/V by SNAP participants. This study sought to characterize the purchasing patterns of SNAP participants at a food co-operative (co-op) partnered with VFM before and during the Virginia stay-at-home order. A total of 654 transactions at the co-op were included. Independent t-tests were utilized to determine differences before and during the order. The results indicated a significant in­crease in the mean incentive discount received dur­ing the order (pre-shutdown=$3.95, inter-shut­down=$5.01, p=0.035); however, simultaneously there was a decrease in the mean number of fresh F/V purchased (pre-shutdown=3.08, inter-shut­down=2.39, p=0.015). Although F/V purchases decreased, the presence of unlimited point-of-pur­chase incentives at the food co-op may have helped prevent a greater decline in fresh F/V pur­chases and helped increase access to fresh F/V in this population during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cass Clay Food Partners: A networked response to COVID-19
Authors: Harden Noelle , Bertsch Bob , Carlson Kayla , Myrdal Megan , Bobicic Irena , Gold Abby , Lipetzky Kim , Hiller Tim
Published: April 2021

The Cass Clay Food Partners is a network of professionals, stakeholders, and residents serving Cass County, North Dakota, and Clay County, Minnesota, in creating a healthier, more just local food system. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Cass Clay Food Partners quickly implemented a multipronged response that leveraged three critical assets of our network: (1) our unique structure, (2) our nuanced understanding of the social ties across overlapping networks, and (3) our ability to quickly pivot our work to address community needs. In this paper, we describe how our network re­sponded to both the challenges and opportunities presented to our food system by the COVID-19 crisis. We also provide tools and recommendations for other food policy and food network practitioners.
Reestruturando o trabalho no bloco cirúrgico com a pandemia da COVID-19
Authors: Takeiti Marcia Hitomi , Oliveira Ricardo Cezar de , Cruz André Cordeiro da Santa
Published: April 2021

Editorial
Avaliação dos riscos psicossociais no centro de material e esterilização do norte do Brasil
Authors: Da Silva Valéria Moreira , Monteiro Janne Cavalcante , Pereira Priscilla Perez da Silva , Pontes Daniela Oliveira , Fernandes Ana Laura Salomão Pereira
Published: April 2021

Objetivo: Analisar o nível de riscos psicossociais dos trabalhadores do Centro de Material e Esterilização de um hospital de grande porte de Rondônia. Método:Estudo transversal, incluindo auxiliares, técnicos de enfermagem e enfermeiros, utilizando o questionário Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. As análises descritivas foramrealizadas no pacote estatístico Stata® versão 11. Resultados: Participaram 35 trabalhadores, sendo a maioria mulheres, com idade acima de 40 anos e técnicas de enfermagem.Das seis dimensões avaliadas, quatro tiveram risco médio. A dimensão sobre justiça e respeito apresentou elevado risco psicossocial, e a dimensão organizaçãodo trabalho e conteúdo, baixo risco. Conclusão: Os trabalhadores consideravam seu trabalho importante e significante, porém vivenciavam alto risco psicossocial no quese refere à exigência de atenção e exigência emocional das atividades desenvolvidas na unidade. Poucos estavam satisfeitos com o trabalho, com o ambiente e com a utilizaçãodas habilidades individuais pelo serviço. As informações sobre as relações psicossociais constituem um importante indicador para análise das situações de trabalho,gerando informações que apoiam intervenções seguras sobre o processo de trabalho.
Cancelamento cirúrgico: percepção de enfermeiros do bloco operatório
Authors: Pereira Emanuela Batista Ferreira e , Rangel Sâmia Tavares , Modesto Brenna Cavalcanti Maciel , Silva Júlia Larissa de Souza , Lima Maria do Amparo Souza , Aquino Jael Maria de
Published: April 2021

Objetivo: Identificar a percepção de enfermeiros do bloco operatório sobre os motivos para o cancelamento de cirurgias eletivas e as estratégias parareduzir as taxas de suspensão. Método: Estudo de abordagem qualitativa realizado em um hospital de alta complexidade do Recife, Pernambuco, Brasil, com enfermeirosatuantes no bloco operatório. A coleta de dados foi realizada por meio de entrevistas gravadas com sete enfermeiros responsáveis pelas cirurgias eletivas.Para o tratamento dos dados, utilizou-se a técnica da análise de conteúdo de Bardin. Resultados: Os discursos foram agrupados em duas categorias temáticas:lacunas no planejamento cirúrgico, com três subcategorias, e prevenção de situações evitáveis, com duas subcategorias. Conclusão: Os motivos para o cancelamentode cirurgias estavam relacionados ao planejamento do ambiente cirúrgico e à preparação clínica do paciente. Os enfermeiros identificaram esses motivoscomo situações evitáveis e consideraram que a comunicação efetiva e atitudes de liderança assertivas são estratégias que reduzem os índices de suspensão cirúrgica.
Fatores que interferem no tempo de intervalo entre cirurgias: opinião de profissionais de enfermagem
Authors: Peralta Talitha , Bourscheit Fernando , Treviso Patrícia
Published: April 2021

Objetivo: Conhecer a opinião de profissionais de enfermagem sobre os fatores que interferem no tempo de intervalo entre as cirurgias. Método:Estudo exploratório, descritivo, prospectivo, com análise qualitativa. A coleta de dados foi realizada em um complexo hospitalar no sul do Brasil, comaplicação de questionário sobre a percepção de profissionais de enfermagem que atuam no centro cirúrgico. Para o tratamento dos dados, utilizou-seanálise de conteúdo de Bardin. Resultados: Participaram do estudo 25 profissionais, sendo quatro enfermeiros e 21 técnicos de enfermagem. Foram elencadasduas categorias, fatores relacionados à equipe e fatores relacionados aos processos do centro cirúrgico, e sete subcategorias. Conclusão: Diversosfatores interferem no tempo de intervalo entre cirurgias, destacando-se: capacitação da equipe, dimensionamento de pessoal, colaboração entre as equipes,porte cirúrgico e processos burocráticos.
A scoping review protocol to map the evidence on self-reported health and neuroticism in older adults
Authors: Cachioni Meire , Alonso Vanessa , Cipolli Gabriela Cabett , Melo Ruth Caldeira de , Paúl Constança
Published: April 2021

OBJECTIVE: To identify the evidence on self-reported health and neuroticism in older adults. METHODS: Indexed literature published in English, Spanish and Portuguese will be systematically searched and retrieved from 10 databases; reference lists from included studies will be manually searched. Two authors will independently screen titles, abstracts, and full texts against the eligibility criteria. A customized data extraction form will be used to perform data extraction of the included studies, which will be: studies written in English, Portuguese, and Spanish; studies of older adults aged 55 years or over (mean age is 60 years at least); studies of community-dwelling older adults; studies that evaluated both self-reported health and personality; studies that evaluated self-reported health and personality with validated instruments; observational, review, and intervention studies. RESULTS: The results will be presented in a tabular format, accompanied by a narrative summary.
Environmental and Behavioral Modeling of Mitigating Light Pollution: Implication for a Better World
Authors: Hamdar Bassam , Meouchy Elie , Hamdar Zeinab
Published: April 2021

Light has always fascinated humans, thus they used to burn different materials to illuminate their indoors and outdoors as well at night for better visibility and safety. Nighttime lighting has rapidly proliferated throughout the cities and has kept the darkness away. Artificial light, which has become a necessity, contributes to the so-called Light Pollution. Light pollution is therefore a crucial aspect for lighting designers to consider while designing. Knowing how to accomplish ‘good’ lighting is considered a characteristic, and a distinctive skill of lighting professionals. The objective of this study is to highlight the causes behind light pollution, the groups that are contributing to its existence, and to identify ways and means for avoiding it. To achieve the objective of this study, the following three questions were adopted: What produces light pollution? How could light pollution be reduced? Finally, are lighting design companies helping in light pollution mitigation? A survey of lighting professionals was adopted to trace out the main causes of light pollution. The results show that lighting professionals are considered as the main responsible factor for light pollution, and play a major role in its mitigation.
Interfacing Independent Mind and ESP in STEM Education: Exploiting Discovery-Oriented Approach to Learning
Authors: Thakur Vijay Singh , Elahi Ehsan
Published: April 2021

As Mohan (1986) rightly argues, While the need for coordinating the learning of language and subject matter is generally recognized, just how this should be accomplished remains a problem and is one of particular concern for university ESL/EFL programs. In view of this vital pedagogical concern, skills-integrated content courses have been designed and experimented by many universities and individual academicians. In content-based curriculum the basic organizational unit is a theme or topic, rather than the more customary grammatical patterns or language functions. The main goal of this, as Bycina (1982) explains, is to provide meaningful contexts for language learning instead of focusing on language as an object of study. At the foundation of this approach is the Krashen’s (1984) notion that acquisition is best promoted when language is presented in comprehensible and interesting communicative contexts (p. 25). In a more crystalized view of English for STEM education, this paper revisits the concept of thinking and pedagogy of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) and emphasizes on the use of independent mind to promote focused ESP for the students of the Scientific Disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In the backdrop of the context of STEM education, we have developed a tripartite discussion in the paper focused on the primacy of independent mind and thinking skills; the need to facilitate language development in a contextualized, integrated, interactive framework; and the ways and means to exploit the richness of authentic scientific materials and discussion-led innovative tasks and activities to promote active ESP in STEM education.
Can a Home Care Package deliver a meaningful life? Challenges for rural home care delivery
Authors: Marsh Pauline , Fuller Amelie , Anderson Judith
Published: April 2021

Objective: To explore the capacity and responsiveness of the Home Care Package (HCP) Program to deliver the promise of a meaningful life for rural residents.Methods: In-depth interviews utilising appreciative enquiry in two local government areas in rural/outer regional Tasmania (MM2-6). Participants: Rural staff and residents who were either receiving, seeking or delivering support through the HCP Program.Results: Interviews revealed that positive impacts of being assisted to stay at home resulted when staff were able to provide support that was appropriate to need, and enabled the continuation of rural community engagement, individual autonomy and control. When the HCP did not provide these, or even hindered them, there were negative consequences, and feelings of confusion, mistrust, and disappointment for staff and residents. The rural context creates specific challenges for the HCP Program in its current form, related to service availability and choice, staff recruitment, training and availability, and client/provider needs mismatch.Conclusions: Older rural people are variously impacted upon by the HCP Program. Factors of rurality, including workforce issues, hamper the Program’s potential to positively contribute to a meaningful life. As demand grows, changes are needed. There is a need to examine the Program design for urban-centrisms, and gain a greater awareness of older rural people’s needs and rural service challenges.
Venous thromboembolism associated with combined oral contraceptive use: a single-institution experience
Authors: Jang Yong-Su , Lee Eun Sil , Kim Yang-Ki
Published: April 2021

Objective Combined oral contraceptives (COCs) are used for various reasons. However, venous thromboembolism (VTE), a significant side effect, can be fatal. This study reports the first case series in Korea involving patients with COC-associated VTE registered at a university hospital.Methods This study recruited 13 patients diagnosed with COC-associated VTE between June 2006 and May 2018. Risk factors, including age, body mass index, smoking habits, estrogen dosage, type of progestin, and duration of COC use, were evaluated.Results Among patients with VTE, 9 showed pulmonary embolism (PE) concomitant with deep vein thrombosis (DVT). However, the remaining patients showed DVT (1 patient), PE (1 patient), and cerebral venous thrombosis (2 patients). The median duration between the onset of symptoms and a hospital visit was 3 days, and it sometimes took as long as 32 days. Among the 10 patients with PE, 1 high-risk group and 2 intermediate-high risk groups were treated with tissue plasminogen activators before anticoagulants. There were no cases of recurrence among patients who continued to take anticoagulants for 3 months.Conclusion These findings emphasize that healthcare professionals who prescribe or dispense COCs to women must inform them of the risk of VTE, including the risk factors, differences in risk depending on the type of progestin present in the product, and pertinent signs and symptoms. Efforts should also be made to inform patients of VTE, even through information campaigns such as brochures. Most importantly, women should remain alert for signs and symptoms of VTE when using COCs.
Transformacija političkog pojma tranzicije u povijesnom lomu 1989./1991. u Hrvatskoj
Authors: Birač Dimitrije
Published: April 2021

Rad je pokušaj doprinosa istraživanjima transformacije političkih pojmova na primjeru pojma tranzicije. Razdoblje unutar kojeg se istražuje ovaj politički pojam odnosi se na tzv. povijesni lom 1989./1991. u tadašnjoj Socijalističkoj Republici Hrvatskoj, odnosno Republici Hrvatskoj. Postavljanjem metodološkog okvira na temelju koncepcija Michaela Freedena i Reinharta Kosellecka, u radu se pokušava odgovoriti na pitanja kako se odvijala transformacija političko-ekonomskog pojma tranzicije, koji su njegovi konstitutivni elementi, u kakvu su međusobnom odnosu te na koji su način izražavali tadašnju stvarnost. Osnova rada su analize tjednika Danas i mjesečnika Banka, uz različite druge znanstvene članke, intervjue i knjige. Pokazalo se da su tadašnji akteri svojim djelovanjem u pravcu razvoja političkog pojma tranzicije, kao krajnji rezultat pridonijeli kontekstu obnavljanja kapitalizma. Pritom su tadašnju stvarnost dijelili na dvije glavne sfere, na političku i ekonomsku, te su vlastite perspektive smještali unutar svake od spomenutih sfera. Njihove težnje u političkoj sferi bile su demokratizacija i pluralizam političkih stranaka, a njihove težnje u ekonomskoj sferi privatno vlasništvo i povećanje efikasnosti. Posljedica tog djelovanja jest formuliranje tadašnjih korjenitih promjena (povijesnog loma) kroz politički pojam tranzicije koji danas uvelike određuje našu koncepciju o nedavnoj prošlosti.
The Look on Their Faces
Authors: Joy Stuart ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

This essay offers a psychoanalytical reading of Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige (2006) by principally focusing on the discourse of lack. I argue that the visual, structural and thematic composition of the film provides a means to confront the fundamental sense of lack – a central tenant of Lacanian psychoanalysis – at the heart of being. In particular, I contend that Nolan foregrounds lack by using reflexive techniques that call attention to the film’s production processes which in turn, highlight the spectator’s desire for a sense of (unattainable) unity.
Différance and Paranoia
Authors: Love Kevin ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

This exploratory essay aims to open différance to a form of enquiry it has not seen coming. A consideration of the complex temporality that attends its historical emergence leads to a specifically différantial articulation of spatio-temporality. A residual element of spacing before/behind spati­otemporality provokes further consideration. The notion of verbality is introduced to provide analytical purchase. Analysis identifies a fundamen­tal mannerism in différance; a participative and orchestrative spacance. Dif­férance participates too determinately in this spacing, as this spacing. The paper thus urges différance to rewrite this element quasimetaphorically. In the ensuing drama, différance can rewrite the metaphor of spacing only by relying again on the spacing of metaphor. Unable to rewrite itself quickly enough, nonetheless compelled, an unexpected dimension opens.
Performing Philosophy: Beauvoir’s Methodology and its Ethical and Political Implications
Authors: Daigle Christine , Renée Louise ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Simone de Beauvoir’s contribution to ethics and politics is articulated through a methodology that successfully renders philosophy as literary and literature as philosophical. Her existential-phenomenological stance permeates her corpus and dictates a philosophical approach that avoids theoretical treatises in favour of philosophy as a way of life which is com­municated in a variety of modes of expression. The Ethics of Ambiguity furnishes us with an example of said philosophy insofar as it performs the philosophy it offers and thereby appeals to the reader to engage in ethical and political action in her own life.
The Spectacles of Pain and Their Contemporary Forms of Representation
Authors: Geniusas Saulius ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

This essay offers a phenomenological interpretation of symbolic violence. According to my thesis, the craving for violent imagery derives from the audience’s unconscious desire to liberate itself from pain’s destructive effects. I argue that this unrealizable project of liberation can take three forms: it can aim to express the inexpressible, escape the inescapable, or transfer the non-transferrable. I further contend that the audience’s approach to contemporary representations of violence is paradoxical: its irresistible craving for pain’s virtual manifestations is no greater than its incapacity to tolerate pain’s actual manifestations. After addressing some objections that my interpretation is bound to provoke, I conclude with some reflections regarding the possibility of an ethical engagement in symbolic violence.
The Primordial Affirmations of Literature
Authors: Brown Arthur A. ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Stephen Crane’s short story “The Open Boat”—a tale “intended to be after the fact”—affirms Merleau-Ponty’s conclusion that “The perceived world is the always presupposed foundation of all rationality, all value and all existence.” The story dramatizes and reflects on the men’s situation in the world, their inter-subjective experience against the background of non-human nature. In facing the imminent possibility of their own deaths as, for each of them, “the final phenomenon of nature,” the men become “interpreters” of what is primary in the human condition. The line between the world of the reader and the world of the story, like the line between consciousness and being, is less a line than a horizon.
Representations of Truth
Authors: Fox Heather ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Katherine Anne Porter submitted a group of stories called “Legend and Memory” to The Atlantic Monthly in 1934, but instead of the reception she hoped for, The Atlantic Monthly responded with a request for significant revisions. These recommendations, as Porter adamantly explained, would change the collective meaning of the stories. And yet, Porter ultimately chose to concede, publishing the stories separately in other magazines before finally collecting them together again in The Leaning Tower and Other Stories (1944). Over the next twenty years, Porter would publish the stories (later called The Old Order stories) in two more collections— The Leaning Tower and Other Stories, The Old Order: Stories of the South from The Leaning Tower, Pale Horse, Pale Rider, and Flowering Judas and The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. Each time she chose not to edit individual stories but rearranged the order of the stories. Individually, each story is like a sketch, or one component of the protagonist Miranda’s construct of identity from the perspective of an adult looking backward and remembering as a child. And yet collectively, these stories reveal memory’s process of reconstruction and how the perspective of time transforms event through addition, elimination, and arrangement. Using text, correspondence, manuscripts, and cognitive research to examine the progression of Porter’s work on The Old Order stories in three collections over more than thirty years, “Representations of Truth: The Significance of Order in Katherine Anne Porter’s The Old Order Stories” traces the progressive ordering of these stories from their original submission to their final collection in The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (1965). This essay argues that Porter’s rearrangements reflect a reconstructive process of memory. Over time, the reorganization of The Old Order stories demonstrate a shift in Miranda’s memories from a chronological positioning to a representational ordering, allowing Miranda to reexamine her perspective on past experiences.
Counter-Turning The Turn of the Screw
Authors: Hromulak Virginia ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

For over a century, critics have typically approached Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw from the perspective of its young governess, whose obsession with her charges and the spectral figures that allegedly haunt them ultimately leads to disaster, the death of Miles. This article, however, offers a reading atypical of those previously accomplished. Analyzing the novella from a psychoanalytic and narratological perspective, it argues for a shift in point of view, contending that the locus of the novel, the manuscript ostensibly documenting the harrowing experiences of the young governess, is not penned by a woman but rather by a man, the principle reader of the thing itself, Douglas. Given the shift in point of view, it becomes wholly evident that it is Douglas’s wildly erotic fantasy that becomes the substance of the manuscript, one culminating not in the death of a child but, rather, in the petite mort or the “little death” of sexual orgasm, the equivalent of a masturbatory episode on the child’s part while in the passionate embrace of his governess. Read in this manner, the narrative coheres as a young man’s romantic retrospective of desire, obsession and sexual initiation.
“Do you see the story?” Consciousness, Cognition and Cricis of Narration in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness
Authors: Parui Avishek ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

The aim of this article is to examine the ways Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness dramatizes an existential crisis that is psychologically as well as politically underpinned. It explores how the novel is reflective of the ideological complexities of its day while also corresponding to current ideas in cognitive psychology and philosophy of mind which examine the entanglements of embodied feelings, subjective sentience and the ability to narrativize experientiality in shared language. In investigating how the crisis of narration in Heart of Darkness is reflective of the psychological and existential alienation experienced by the protagonist in the novel, the article draws on debates on the role of the literary narrative as a vehicle to communicate the phenomenal quality of consciousness.
Simulation of Life
Authors: Snider Jessi ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Laughter takes a great many forms in the novel of manners, signifying different things at different times for different characters in different situations. Linguistics, philosophy, rhetoric, psychoanalysis, poetry, art, and film have all attempted to tackle the subject of laughter, yet in relation to manners, and the novel of manners, the matter remains fraught and underexplored. By examining laughter in Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the Country (1913), this paper attempts to show how laughter on a micro level mirrors the simulacra and simulations that comprise manners, characters, and even the progression of the novel on a macro level. What the study of laughter in The Custom of the Country reveals about knowledge, sign systems, and commodity and exchange, could nuance the way in which we read laughter in the novel of manners, a type literature built upon knowing and understanding the conditions of the personal and social simultaneously.
“Where Eyes Become the Sunlight”
Authors: Tate William ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

For the most part, interpreters of Martin Heidegger’s “The Origin of the Work of Art” have neglected his appropriation of C. F. Meyer’s “The Roman Fountain,” yet the poem deserves attention because its final description of water as it “streams and rests” provides a motif which Heidegger uses to work out his understanding of the relationship between “world” and “earth.” Richard Wilbur uses similar language to make a similar point in his own poem about Roman fountains, “A Baroque Wall- Fountain at the Villa Sciarra.” Juxtaposing Wilbur’s depictions of moving and resting water with Heidegger’s brings out a latent implication in Heidegger’s use of the imagery, the possibility that the moving and resting interplay will result in enhanced understanding.
Gilgamesh and Social Responsibility
Authors: Badalamenti Anthony F. ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

This paper proposes that the Gilgamesh epic is constructed as an encoded expression of the wish of the people where it arose to have a more responsible king. The decoding builds to a deeply encoded structure, emerging as a precursor from which all other encodings are derived. Enkidu, Utnapishtim, and the episode of a spiny bush in the Great Deep decode as three assaults on the king’s grandiose self-seeking, a character trait that supports his abuse and tyranny over Uruk’s people. Shamhat, the priestess of Ishtar, decodes as the king’s instrument with which to bring Enkidu under his own influence and to thwart Anu’s reason for creating him—to balance the king. Ishtar decodes as one who creates indebtedness from the king to her in order to later express how the king defaults on his responsibilities. The subtlety of the encoding structure reflects the depth of anxiety in the people of the epic’s time about their king sensing their anger, as well as the length of time over which the epic was elaborated.
“The Doctor’s Dilemma” and Bioethics in Literature
Authors: Kundu Pritha ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

The interface between literature and medicine has long been an area of interest for researchers. It is difficult to conceptualize any singular methodological approach for such an interdisciplinary field. However, the theoretical developments in Bioethics are promising. Besides, literary texts representing medical themes and characters have created a cultural discourse of Bioethical problems in the modern world. Borrowing its title from Shaw’s famous medical satire, The Doctor’s Dilemma, the present paper aims at exploring how far a bioethical approach—with special reference to the doctor-figures represented in some twentieth century literary works—can be helpful in delineating the complexities involved in issues like the doctor-patient relationship, medical ethics and the rapidly growing technological orientations in the modern world.
Who’s Afraid of Birth? Exploring Mundane and Existential Affects with Heidegger
Authors: Staehler Tanja ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

While certain levels of fear and anxiety seem quite appropriate to the experience of birth, it is detrimental if they become overwhelming. This article strives to understand birth-related affects more thoroughly by asking which affects are commonly involved, and how they come about. Martin Heidegger provides the most developed phenomenology of affects available to us. A phenomenological perspective proves useful because its close description allows categorising affects into mundane ones like fears—evoked by specific entities and circumstances—and existential ones like anxiety. Anxiety concerns our existence in its entirety and brings us face to face with the fact that we are finite beings in a groundless existence. Giving birth means needing to negotiate existential affects in a mundane situation. The birthgiving woman is dependent on others to take her seriously in her experience of affective turmoil in which anxiety and wonder, fears and anticipatory anxiousness come together.
Rousseau’s Languages: Music, Diplomacy, and Botany
Authors: Calderón Quindós Fernando , Calderón Quindós M. Teresa ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Little attention has been paid to some aspects of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s intellectual activity compared with others. His affairs as a diplomat, his contribution to music, and his affection for botany are only three of them. This article shows their connections with forms of expression in which words are replaced by other kinds of graphic representation, such as ideographic signs for their evocation and numbers for their efficiency and simplicity. These contributions were collected in his first and last intellectual projects: Project for Musical Notation (1742), a young man’s idealistic challenge presented before Paris Académie des Sciences–and rejected by them; and Characters of Botany (1776-1778), a private senescence enterprise.
A Review of the Theoretical Bases of the Beats’ Repudiation of Capitalism
Authors: Neyshaburi Ehsan Emami ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

The Beats perceived the ideals of corporate capitalism to be corrupting and destructive annihilating their individuality and freedom of choice. According to them, capitalism was as much of a dictatorship as communism. The Beats strived to introduce spirituality as an alternative to the materialism propagated by capitalism. They also believed that this system was so irrational that it led to wars and the invention and use of the nuclear bomb. They were discontented with American capitalism because it tried to socio-politically control the citizens. They claimed to have rejected or at least escaped capitalism which is debatable and the paper shows that in some cases they did not manage to do that.
Bravest Warriors Most Ethereal, Most Human
Authors: Wyatt Don J. ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Often depicted as pitted in cosmic struggle against nobler multitudes of spiritual or heavenly warriors, when viewed from our modernist perspective, the ghostly or demon warriors of Chinese tradition are stigmatized as being, at best, ambiguous in status and, at worst, as perverse beings of consummately evil ill repute. However, discoveries from investigation into the historical origins of these demonic soldiers or troopers demand that we regard them as much more enigmatic in their roles and functions than is initially suggested. Documented earliest references indicate not only how the concept of demon warrior first arose for the purposes of furthering and facilitating the immortality ethos of religious Daoism. Also evident from these first written mentions is the clear and unassailable fact that the prototypes for these ghostly beings were unmistakably and very often unremarkably human. Subsequent literature, especially that surviving in the genre of early medieval tales of the strange, only reinforces the notion of these sometimes real and other times fantastical purveyors of violence as occupants of the permeable vortex thinly separating the human and the supernatural worlds, allowing them to manifest themselves at will and freely in either venue. Furthermore, we learn foremost how their primal function was not unlike that of Western guardian angels in being principally tutelary, with the tacit expectation that they should serve dutifully in defense of those who either cultivated or conjured them forth, ensuring the wellbeing of the living by acting as a kind of collective bulwark against the forces of death.
Educating Self-Reflective Engineers
Authors: Zhu Qin , Woodson Sandy ,   Philosophy Documentation Center
Published: April 2021

Some engineering educators recognize the necessity and challenges of teaching students moral sensitivity. As recently pointed out by some scholars, along with moral sensitivity, promoting “self-knowledge” is significantly lacking in engineering curricula. We suggest that the “ethics autobiography” employed in some health and psychological science programs can serve as a useful tool for helping engineering students develop moral sensitivity and self-reflective competencies. First, this paper briefly discusses some unique potential strengths of introducing ethics autobiography as a tool for moral pedagogy to engineering education. Second, this paper provides five specific examples on how to implement ethics autobiography in the classroom. Among the five examples, two are directly related to engineering education and the other three can easily be adapted to meet the needs of engineering education. Finally, this paper concludes with some discussion of the implications of ethics autobiography for engineering ethics education reform and the limitations and ethical considerations of using autobiography in moral pedagogy.