bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cowley’s Essays
Authors: Edson Michael
Published: May 2024

Abraham Cowley’s “Several Discourses, by way of Essays in Verse and Prose” (1668, often referred to as Essays) is commonly viewed as a solemn vindication of classical otium and a stern warning about the emptiness of urban ambition. Cowley’s first biographer, Thomas Sprat, as well as generations of critics, have seen Cowley’s defense in the Essays of his country retreats, at Barn Elms and Chertsey, as full-throated endorsements of the rural retirement ideal from Horace and Virgil. In this essay, I question the seriousness of these celebrations of retreat and suggest we have mistaken the tone of his Essays. Analyzing tensions between Cowley’s actual retirement and his idealizing presentation of it, and his manipulations of the classical retirement paeans in his translations, I contend that Cowley takes a more playful, irreverent attitude toward retirement than anyone has noticed. Cowley at times mocks his own self-congratulatory, literal-minded vision. Politics made it impossible for Cowley and his friends to admit this self-mockery, but when we consider the prominence in the Essays of the Roman poet Martial, who mocked his own retirement fantasies and disliked his own retreat, Cowley’s self-subversion becomes noticeable.
Was Smollett into Body-Snatching?
Authors: Felsenstein Frank
Published: May 2024

The subtitle of this chapter denotes the addition of a new letter to the slender corpus of Smollett’s extant correspondence. The chapter endeavours to explore the significance of this hitherto unpublished letter insofar as it has been interpreted – and wrongly judged – to be evidence of the author’s involvement, directly or by proxy, in body snatching. The chapter proposes an alternative interpretation relating to Smollett’s treatment of and attitude to servants, which later finds vivid expression in Travels through France and Italy (1766) and The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771).
Byrd Studies, Past and Present
Authors: Bassler Samantha , Butler Katherine , Bank Katie
Published: May 2024

This introduction lays out the purpose of the volume and why it is still important to do reception history, anniversary studies, and especially gives context Byrd studies in the 21st century. It also contextualizes Byrd studies within English musicology, and the anniversary of Byrd within the milieu of 21st century musicology. Finally, the introduction sets out possible further avenues of research for this important English composer.
Byrd in the Age of Exploration and Exile
Authors: McCarthy Kerry
Published: May 2024

Byrd himself never left England, as far as we know, but his entire working life was shaped by the potent centrifugal forces of exploration and exile. As an early modern English artist close to the centers of power, he was influenced by the growing thirst for global exploration. As a politically and culturally engaged English Catholic, he was influenced by the ideal of the Counter-Reformation exile, to whom even the most devout recusant was sometimes considered a pale second-best. Those twin forces - exploration and exile - shaped Byrd’s relationships with his patrons, his colleagues, his family, the literature he read, and the art and business of musical composition.
William Byrd and the Elizabethan Tabernacle
Authors: Siso Alexandra
Published: May 2024

In the early Elizabethan reign, composers of the Chapel Royal and Westminster Abbey created Latin polyphonic settings of Psalm 14, Domine quis habitabit in tabernaculo tuo. The settings are one of the few examples of Elizabethan composers coming together to give voice to one unified message: “Who shall dwell in thy tabernacle?” For courtiers, the tabernacle was more than a biblical reference in Tudor England, it was a sacred space with a structure that guided
their life: the different chambers and their increasingly restricted access were a stark reminder of the physical and the social limitations of the Elizabethan court. This study brings a detailed analysis of William Byrd’s setting and studies the composer’s contribution to a repertory which communicated both advice and a warning to its audiences: only the right behavior would be rewarded with entry to the Elizabethan tabernacle, the private chambers of the court, and
ultimately to the monarch.
Byrd’s Apprentice Works
Authors: Williamson Magnus
Published: May 2024

Since the 1990s Byrd scholars have accepted John Harley’s revision of the composer’s birthdate from 1543 to c. 1540. In light of this revision, Byrd’s early works, especially the ‘crude’ Reges Tharsis and ‘colorless’ Sacris solemniis, are reconsidered and rehabilitated as apprentice essays made during Byrd’s teenage London years, probably under the tutelage of John Sheppard. In the process, the reliability of the Elizabethan copyist John Baldwin, called into question by Joseph Kerman and others, is reaffirmed.
Byrd Orchestrated
Authors: Sargent Joseph
Published: May 2024

In modern times William Byrd’s music has been repeatedly adapted for orchestral performance, from concise string arrangements to full-throated symphonic renderings. The motivations in crafting these pieces, as well as the ideals underlying the various orchestration techniques, vary significantly across different generations, and so a closer investigation of this repertory offers important nuances to Byrd reception history. This article proposes three general periods of development in orchestrating Byrd. In the early twentieth century, making Byrd symphonic was chiefly an act of
promotion and commemoration, embodying ideals of national heritage and civic pride. Composers of the following generation tended to co-opt Byrd for more individualistic purposes, which overshadowed any sense of historical or national interest. Recent works, meanwhile, signal yet
another shift in which orchestral adaptation is motivated by direct, personal encounters with Byrd, rooted in homage yet avowedly contemporary in nature.
The Incestuous Embodiment of Immigration and Identity: La filla estrangera by Najat El Hachmi
Authors: Folkart Jessica A.
Published: May 2024

Folkart analyzes the intricacies of Moroccan immigration to Spain through a single novel by Najat El Hachmi. It places El Hachmi’s novel in dialogue with Judith Butler and other leading theoreticians of incest in order to reveal, interrogate, and subvert the ways in which cultural constructions of the incest taboo propagate discursive notions of patriarchy, heteronormativity, and oppression as the foundation of society in Spain and Morocco. This chapter examines the novelistic rendering of immigration in the globalized world as an affective poetics of solitude and disconnection through the metaphor of incest, where love for the mother and the ties of tradition stymy and intensify the need to separate and embody the self. Through the subversion of sexual prohibition and abandonment of what we presume to be a natural drive to nurture what we propagate, El Hachmi unveils patriarchal taboo as a nebulous story, an after-the-fact construct of societies that define their identities based on oppression and exclusion.
How to Be a Pirate: A Conversation
Authors: Elbakyan Alexandra , Hall Gary , Briel Holger
Published: May 2024

This chapter offers a strong political raison d’être for the continuation of piratical practices, including how academic research is conducted globally via the website Sci-Hub. It emphasizes the support for the application of piracy to the body and tools of criticism of unjust social practices. It also describes a vision of society in which digital practices return to their original idea of developing sharing and caring communities, which is a way of providing content and interactions for dividuals (Deleuze) to grow digitally and beyond. The chapter highlights Alexandra Elbakyan’s outstanding work as founder of Sci-hub that reflects the metafunction of file sharing in society when it comes to determining how people want to share and build upon knowledge generation. It examines how piracy or infringement of copyright is not legally equivalent to theft.
Portraying Japan
Authors: Kawakami Akane
Published: May 2024

This chapter discusses Ferrier’s writings on Japan, initially placing him in the lineage of Japonisme but then showing how he goes beyond and above it, and how creates a new classification into which he himself fits perfectly, that of the ‘Coral Writers’. It then discusses all of Ferrier’s fictional works set in Japan: Kizu, Tokyo : Petits Portraits de l’aube and Sympathie pour le fantôme, as well as his critical essays on Franco-Japanese creative and cultural relations, and shows how Ferrier’s knowledge and experience of Japan – of modern, hybrid Japan as well as the more traditional Japan – have had a profound effect both on his portraits of the country, and on his own aesthetics and writing style. The chapter also analyses Ferrier’s website, Tokyo-Time-Table, which is not just an ‘author’s website’ but a site dedicated to disseminating knowledge about Japanese culture to a Francophone Internet audience, a kind of mapping out of his relationship with Japan in the continually evolving space of the Internet.
Challenging Space and Time
Authors: Kawakami Akane
Published: May 2024

This chapter is a joint analysis of the two works named in the title; a biography of Ferrier’s grandfather, and an autobiography. They are analysed in parallel through shared themes and structures, such as ‘the natural world’, ‘space and time’, ‘memory and identity’ and ‘war and the word’. Ferrier’s proliferating style that truly comes into its own in these works is also examined in detail. The notion of ‘inter-identity’ is created and offered as a new way of thinking about individuals and how they relate to their environments, both human and non-human, alive and not, in Ferrier’s work; the chapter offers a reading of both books using the framework of Environmental Humanities. Last but not least, Ferrier’s steadfast faith in the power of words to defeat death is introduced, in the context of the experience of war in both the biography and autobiography.
Bringing Back the Dead
Authors: Kawakami Akane
Published: May 2024

This chapter is about François, Portrait d’un absent, in which Ferrier gives us a portrait of his childhood friend, lost to a freak accident with his young daughter in 2013. The book shows Ferrier at his most hybrid, generically and stylistically speaking; it has a particularly strong link to film, which fits with François’s career as a filmmaker. It is also a visually striking work, although Ferrier never allows the visual to dominate entirely, thanks to his strong commitment to the aural aspect of language. The work is also shot through with a formal and thematic belief in the power of language to defeat death, or at least to cheat it of its finality, and the chapter shows how Ferrier makes expert use of ghosts, dreams and half-way states of consciousness, as well as a peculiarly performative use of language, to ‘bring back’ his friend to life.
Body Beautification and Black Ethiopians in Herodotus’ Ethiopian logos
Authors: Chesi Giulia Maria
Published: May 2024

Chapter 7 by Giulia Maria Chesi discusses an episode of male beautification in Herodotus’ Ethiopian logos (Hdt. III. 17-25). The Ethiopians have a fountain washing in which their skin becomes more shining and their life expectancy is enhanced up almost to immortality. The description of this wondrous cosmetic praxis is part of an ethnographic digression on the customs of the Ethiopians from which the picture of a utopian society emerges. Herodotus contrasts the utopian lifestyle of the Ethiopians with the wicked figure of the Persian king Cambyses. Ethiopian cosmetics and Persian commotics are contrasted. male beautification and male body enhancement is not per se a case for social marginalization: the Ethiopians, who enhance their beauty and life expectancy through cosmetics, are just people; the Persians, who practice commotics, by contrast are unjust.
Orchids, Lizards, and Lettuce: Aphrodisiacs and technosomata
Authors: Totelin Laurence
Published: May 2024

Chapter 12 by Laurence Totelin is a study of aphrodisiacs. Ancient Greek and Latin medical texts, and more generally technical texts, include much information on ingredients deemed to be aphrodisiac (or an-aphrodisiac), as well as recipes for aphrodisiac concoctions. This chapter examines ancient aphrodisiac recipes, focusing on those that had as their main ingredient orchids, the most powerfully aphrodisiac ingredient known in antiquity. It observes that orchids were often used in conjunction with animal products, such as eggs, milk, dung, penises, or testicles. It concludes that aphrodisiac preparations can help us further understand ancient popular classifications of living beings: classifications in which the boundary between animals and humans is relatively fluid and in which temporary ‘metamorphoses’ under the spell of desire are conceivable.
Lucian’s Lunar Tree-people: Between Sexual Technology and the Prosthetic Imagination
Authors: Mheallaigh Karen ní
Published: May 2024

Chapter 13 by Karen ní Mheallaigh explores Lucian’s True Stories as a site for fantasies of bionic and artificial life, within the context of philosophical speculation about extra-terrestrial life in antiquity, as well as the history of sexual technology.
The True Stories is exuberantly rich with fantasies of artificial life, prosthetic body-parts and anatomies that converge with technology. Tree-Men are an artificially-generated species that is cultivated on the Moon. A Priapic fantasy, these beings call attention to important conceptual boundaries between what is natural and artificial, what is organic and inorganic. It argues that argue that the separation of sexual performance on the one hand, from sexual pleasure and reproduction on the other, may be suggestive of later, liberating ideas about plastic sexuality.
Coda
Authors: Mendes Alexander
Published: May 2024

The Coda attempts to reach up and out from the Corsican situation toward other issues—theoretical and practical, varied and perhaps seemingly disparate—in order to illustrate wider implications of countervocalities, competing conceptualization of linguistic multiplicity, and the stakes of living in plurality and unity. I revisit core concepts that have grounded this work as a whole, such as language hierarchies, place and mobility, globalization, and homogenization and heterogenization. I ask, what do these have to teach us in other circumstances?
The First Step
Authors: DeYoung Elizabeth
Published: May 2024

Chapter One includes an explanation of the qualitative research methods used in the book, including ethnography, interview, participant observation and walking/flaneurism. It situates the research within a broader tradition of ethnographic work in Northern Ireland. It provides a detailed ‘field guide’ of the city and its many neighborhoods in order to ground the reader in place, with a particular focus on the Cliftonpark Avenue area of North Belfast where the Girdwood Barracks is located. The chapter goes on to explore the history of violence during the Troubles which resulted in physical segregation, boundary-making and attachment to place.
Ceiba pentandra : Axis of the Mesoamerican World / Mirror of Climate Change in the Caribbean
Authors: Paravisini-Gebert Lizabeth
Published: May 2024

This chapter explores the role of the ceiba pentandra as an iconic element in the natural and spiritual landscapes of tropical America. Beginning with a consideration of responses to the loss of ancient ceibas during Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the chapter goes on to examine the tree’s role as “charismatic megaflora”. Engaging a wide variety of textual and visual accounts of the ceiba, from colonial tracts to nineteenth-century paintings and contemporary photography, the chapter considers how discourses around the tree might rebuild resilience and enhance awareness of climate change.
Sky
Authors: Fuggle Sophie
Published: May 2024

This chapter will begin by considering the piercing blue sky captured in the photograph of the window frame. The blue sky is specific to the Provencal landscape and evokes the unforgiving summer sky of a French literary tradition. But it is the same sky, the same time zone as elsewhere across Europe. The sky provides a conduit first for thinking about the specificity of Les Milles and secondly for its role within the greater system of camps operating in Europe during WW2. The sky at Les Milles will be placed within a wider conception of alienation as explored across the work of Paul Virilio as he updates his analysis of aerial imagery in War and cinema with screen technologies and drone surveillance and war technologies of contemporary times. This movement from past to present will then shift to a focus on contemporary manifestations of the camp as temporary, ephemeral space. Drawing on Peter Sloterdijk’s work on atmospheres and especially foam and bubbles, the chapter looks at how the solid, brick structure of Les Milles will give way in the early twenty-first century to the temporary, organic structure of the camp as refugee or migrant ‘welcome’ centre including, most notably, ‘La Bulle’ in Paris.
Thinking with a Mountain
Authors: Lombard David
Published: May 2024

While the Anthropocene and the sublime are customarily linked to senses of excess, overwhelm, and disorientation (Purdy 2015, 421), the memoir is a privileged genre to investigate the Anthropocene sublime and these related affects. What is more, contemporary mountaineering memoirs provide new and more sustainable perspectives on the experience of sublime mountains as impacted by mass tourism. Through a close narratological and rhetorical analysis of Jon Krakauer's mountaineering memoirs, this essay evaluates the affordances and limits of using notions such as the "haptic" and "toxic" sublime to represent mountains. These notions will also be related to concepts pertaining to the field of environmental humanities such as Stacy Alaimo's "trans-corporeality", which emphasizes that humans are constantly "intermeshed" with the non-human world and thus provides an appropriate framework to examine the emotional and affective dimensions of representations of sublime mountains (2010, 2).
Decolonising Mountain Writing
Authors: Ives Sarah
Published: May 2024

This chapter focusses specifically on Instagram and on what can be called the “Mini-Memoirs” that the format affords. Groups such as @browngirlsclimb, @nativesoutdoors, @melaninbasecamp, and @brownpeoplecamping are attempting to use Instagram to widen the range of voices and, significantly, whose images—are heard and seen in the climbing world. Western mountaineering literature emerged in the nineteenth century Age of Imperialism. Images of white, male (and typically wealthy) men “conquering” peaks dominated mountain writing at the time. Tales of “exploration” and “heroism” erased the lives and perspectives of those who remained outside of this narrative, including Indigenous peoples and women. Centuries later, the image of conquering mountaineers stubbornly persists.
To explore the role of social media in creating new forms of mountain writing, the chapter will begin by showing how writing in conventional formats, such as nonfiction books and magazines, has configured mountains as white, male spaces.
Wanda Rutkiewicz and Ewa Matuszewska
Authors: Kaczmarek Agnieszka
Published: May 2024

To the Polish readership, recently more and more interested in mountain-travel literature, the salient primary source of information on Wanda Rutkiewicz’s mindset as well as the events regarding the momentous ascent of Everest she is remembered for is her account Na jednej linie [On One Rope]. First edited in 1986, the autobiographical work was written in close collaboration with journalist Ewa Matuszewska. As Rutkiewicz’s cooperation with Matuszewska constitutes a contentious issue, the paper aims at defining what roles each of them performed in preparing, writing, and editing the On One Rope manuscript while attempting to clarify the authorship of the autobiographical account. Since primary and secondary sources related to the Polish climber have not been translated into English, the article also intends to provide more information on Rutkiewicz’s ascent of Everest, a pivotal chapter of On One Rope.
Fatherhood, Emotional (Dis)Entanglements and Adventurous Masculinities
Authors: Gilchrist Paul
Published: May 2024

This chapter extends the analysis of the incommensurability of parenthood and mountaineering and the particular vitriol given to ‘mountaineering mothers’ (Frohlick, 2006; Gilchrist, 2007) through close textual reading of a memoir that is one of few to explicitly address the subject of fatherhood, family and a life of extreme adventuring. This chapter draws upon and analyses the memoir, Up: My Life’s Journey to the Top of Everest, written by British TV personality and adventurer Ben Fogle and his wife Marina Fogle. This dual-voiced memoir narrates Ben Fogle’s boyhood dream of summiting Everest, whilst revealing the emotional process of a grieving father confronting a recent stillbirth and missing his remaining children.
Introduction: Structure, Literature and Data Sources
Authors: Busteed Mervyn
Published: May 2024

The book traces the process whereby the Orange Order, founded in late eighteenth century Ireland, transplanted to Liverpool, put down deep roots in Protestant working class districts and came to play a key role in civic life until the mid-twentieth century. Detailed analysis of a range of sources, including archival material rarely available to earlier workers, is utilised to reveal the impact of local social, religious and cultural traditions the social basis, workings and attractions of lodge life, and the impact of local social and cultural traditions, lobby groups and personalities
Royalism, Patriotism, Empire and Commemoration
Authors: Busteed Mervyn
Published: May 2024

The chapter stresses the devotion of the Order to British royalty, Protestantism and the British state as expressed in ubiquitous use of the national flag and anthem and heavy recruitment into the services in wartime, when all activities were restructured in the absence of many members. Subsequent acquisition of war memorials and holding of commemoration events which were easily folded into the Order’s cultural calendar are discussed. The transmutation of Orange loyalty into imperial pride is explored, along with the development of an Orange diaspora through emigration facilitated by efforts to ensure migrant members linked up with lodges in their new homelands.
The Event in Stevens as Poetic Justification
Authors: Tan Ian
Published: May 2024

This chapter combines the French philosopher Alain Badiou’s writings on the concept of the event with Wallace Stevens’ neglected theatrical works Carlos Among the Candles and Three Travellers Watch a Sunrise. Beginning by considering how Stevens sits alongside other modernist poets whose theatrical works have been neglected, the chapter proceeds to think about how Badiou’s concept of ‘in-aesthetics’ illuminates Stevens’ theatrical performances. The chapter then considers how questions of theatricality and performance are not just relevant to Stevens’s underappreciated dramatic works, but relevant for Stevens’ spoetry too, through a detailed reading of ‘The Auroras of Autumn’
Stevens’s Queer Ecologies
Authors: Eeckhout Bart
Published: May 2024

This chapter considers how Steven’s poetry might be read through the contemporary theoretical intersection between queer theory and ecocriticism. Beginning with a survey of recent ecocritical approaches to Stevens, the chapter considers how Timothy Morton’s coinage of ‘queer ecology’ might be brought to bear upon a reading of Stevens, particularly by troubling the boundaries between the material and the immaterial, the organic and the inorganic, the sentient and the insensate. The chapter elaborates this approach through a novel and radical switch into the realm of quantum physics, in order to show how Stevens sensitises us to the queerness of matter itself.
The Pursuits of Philosophy and the Sounds of Poetry
Authors: Pietrzak Wit
Published: May 2024

This chapter takes up the question of how Stevens’s poetry and poetics yield multiple intersections and resonances with the philosophical project of the German thinker Martin Heidegger. After considering previous approaches to this intersection, the chapter focusses on how Stevens’s approach to sound and to music – especially in the poem ‘The Man with the Blue Guitar’ disclose senses of being-there much in the same way that Heidegger theorises the disclosure of being. The chapter makes an argument for attending to the sounds of poetry as well as to the meanings of the words.
What Stevens’s Poetry Can Offer to Theorists of Consciousness
Authors: Altieri Charles
Published: May 2024

This chapter considers how reading Stevens’s poetry can offer sophisticated accounts of consciousness that make up for shortfalls in contemporary philosophy of mind. The chapter begins by sketching out trends in this area of theory, especially around the influential work of David Chalmers, and the themes of experience, participation, and consciousness of qualitative relations. The chapter then argues that Stevens develops three primary ways of invoking consciousness through extended readings of poems: descriptive processes of relations, the self-conscious feel of thinking, and finally ways in which the mind finds dominance in its acts.
Two Cathedrals
Authors: MacPhail Kelly
Published: May 2024

This chapter considers how Stevens was influenced by his mentor, the philosopher George Santayana. It mounts this approach biographically, specifically through a close reading of the sonnets that Stevens and Santayana exchanged on the subject of cathedrals while Stevens was a student at Harvard. This comparative study therefore shows how the influence of Santayana helped Stevens develop his ideas around poetry at this formative stage in his career, including, for example, the aphoristic tendency that Stevens inherited from his mentor.
‘A war between the mind and sky’ Fictions, Fools and the Consequences of Empire
Authors: Skibsrud Johanna
Published: May 2024

This chapter meditates upon Stevens’s long, late poem ‘Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction’, and considers the way in which Stevens practices a mode of theoretical thinking there. It historically contextualises ‘Notes’ as it emerged in the wake of World War 2 and the new global settlement that it heralded. The chapter considers how Stevens’ long poem, philosophical though it is, adopts an ironic and ambivalent attitude towards philosophising best characterised in figures of the clown and the fool.
A Collect of Style
Authors: Ziarek Krzysztof
Published: May 2024

This chapter reads the question of style in Stevens alongside a comparison of the ontology of Martin Heidegger. The chapter argues that style is a neglected question in the history of philosophy, but a central theme that can shed fresh light on the overlaps between poetry and philosophy in general, and Wallace Stevens and Martin Heidegger in particular. The chapter considers how Heidegger’s distinctive use of language is inseparable from the manner of his thinking, and much the same for Stevens, arguing for the central role of style in the adumbration of philosophical reflection.
EXPLORING THE SYNERGY OF TECHNICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES: AN OVERVIEW OF PROFESSOR JOANICJUSZ NAZARKO’S 45-YEAR SCIENTIFIC JOURNEY
Authors: Wilczewska Martyna , Bokun Katarzyna , Ginevičius Romualdas
Published: May 2024

This article presents Professor Joanicjusz Nazarko’s outstanding achievements in research, scientific cooperation, teaching and organizational work, in celebration of the 45th jubilee of his scientific work. Over the years, Professor Nazarko has contributed significantly to the development of technical and social sciences in Poland. He authored more than 300 publications, which constitutes a substantial knowledge base on its own. Using bibliometric and statistical methods and techniques, we present an overview of Professor’s most important scientific achievements and major works. We also highlight his efforts to establish a national and international network for scientific cooperation. Lastly, we present his didactic successes. This jubilee serves as the opportunity to recognize and honour Professor Joanicjusz Nazarko’s significant contribution to the development of science in Poland.
Congenital Corneal Staphyloma: A Comprehensive Histopathologic Assessment Including Associated Anterior Segment Abnormalities
Authors: Assavapongpaiboon Buravej , Yeung Helen H. , Walton David S. , Stagner Anna M.
Published: May 2024

Congenital corneal staphyloma is a rare congenital malformation with guarded visual potential. The cornea is opaque, markedly ectatic, and lined by uveal tissue with a variety of associated anterior segment abnormalities. In this case report, the detailed histopathology of this condition is highlighted with an unusual finding of the malformed lens.

[
J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus
. 2024;61(3):e28–e32.]
Intelligent control of self-driving vehicles based on adaptive sampling supervised actor-critic and human driving experience
Authors: Zhang Jin , Ma Nan , Wu Zhixuan , Wang Cheng , Yao Yongqiang
Published: May 2024

Due to the complexity of the driving environment and the dynamics of the behavior of traffic participants, self-driving in dense traffic flow is very challenging. Traditional methods usually rely on predefined rules, which are difficult to adapt to various driving scenarios. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) shows advantages over rule-based methods in complex self-driving environments, demonstrating the great potential of intelligent decision-making. However, one of the problems of DRL is the inefficiency of exploration; typically, it requires a lot of trial and error to learn the optimal policy, which leads to its slow learning rate and makes it difficult for the agent to learn well-performing decision-making policies in self-driving scenarios. Inspired by the outstanding performance of supervised learning in classification tasks, we propose a self-driving intelligent control method that combines human driving experience and adaptive sampling supervised actor-critic algorithm. Unlike traditional DRL, we modified the learning process of the policy network by combining supervised learning and DRL and adding human driving experience to the learning samples to better guide the self-driving vehicle to learn the optimal policy through human driving experience and real-time human guidance. In addition, in order to make the agent learn more efficiently, we introduced real-time human guidance in its learning process, and an adaptive balanced sampling method was designed for improving the sampling performance. We also designed the reward function in detail for different evaluation indexes such as traffic efficiency, which further guides the agent to learn the self-driving intelligent control policy in a better way. The experimental results show that the method is able to control vehicles in complex traffic environments for self-driving tasks and exhibits better performance than other DRL methods.
The mediating role of customer attitudes in the linkage between e-commerce and the digital economy
Authors: Desalegn Goshu , Tangl Anita , Boros Anita
Published: May 2024

Recently, TechCrunch, a digital economy news site, noted that "Uber, the world's largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world's most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world's largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate, something interesting is happening." All these companies are involved in e-commerce business, namely the process of buying and selling products by electronic means, such as mobile applications and the Internet. In light of this, this study aimed to examine the relationship between e-commerce and digital economy, with a particular focus on the mediating role of customers' attitudes. To achieve this objective, the study employed a mixed research approach and adopted an explanatory research design. The target population consisted of all customers who are potential e-commerce users. Convenience sampling techniques were employed to collect data from respondents. The findings of the study revealed a positive and significant relationship between e-commerce and the digital economy, both in terms of direct and indirect effects. Additionally, the study identified the partial mediating role of customer attitudes in this relationship. Based on these findings, the study recommends that e-commerce companies should explore the potential of social networking media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram to further enhance overall e-commerce usage among customers. This strategic approach can complement their existing platforms and contribute to their growth and success in the digital economy.
Reframing Teacher Education Through International Collaboration
Authors: Knoblauch Christoph
Published: May 2024

This paper focuses on a multi-method study that investigates students’ attitudes and preferences toward project-based collaboration in diverse international contexts. The courses under scrutiny were developed and taught as part of an international blended learning collaboration in teacher education between Dr. Ambedkar University (AUD) in India and Ludwigsburg University of Education (LUE) in Germany. The primary focus of this paper is to analyze and discuss students’ experiences in international project-based environments, with a particular emphasis on the theme of diversity in teacher education. The discussed study employs a multi-method research design that incorporates qualitative interviews and various written feedback forms to gather data on different aspects of the collaborative processes. The findings of this study have the potential to develop future practices and enhance projectbased learning scenarios within higher education. The insights gained from this research can inform pedagogical approaches, and intercultural exchange, ultimately enriching the internationalization efforts within higher education institutions.
Towards a Formal MultipathP2P Protocol
Authors: Abassi Ryma , Riahla Mohamed Amine , Tamine Karim , Goumiri Sihem
Published: May 2024

Peer-To-Peer networks are becoming increasingly common as a mean of transferring files over Internet. In this paper, we describe, first, the design and implementation of our P2P system (MultiPathP2P). This latter is based on the social networks concepts where nodes are identified through their virtual addresses, we have designed our protocol based on 1) An architecture exploiting the principle of social networks where nodes are identified by virtual addresses and are able to randomly change their neighbors 2) A process of data request and file sharing differing from those supported in other P2P networks. Second, we present a formal validation of our proposal in order to prove its optimality and completeness.
Adoption of blockchain as a step forward in orthopedic practice
Authors: Rovere Giuseppe , Bosco Francesco , Miceli Angelo , Ratano Salvatore , Freddo Giuseppe , D'Itri Lorenzo , Ferruzza Massimo , Maccauro Giulio , Farsetti Pasquale , Camarda Lawrence
Published: May 2024

Blockchain technology has gained popularity since the invention of Bitcoin in 2008. It offers a decentralized and secure system for managing and protecting data. In the healthcare sector, where data protection and patient privacy are crucial, blockchain has the potential to revolutionize various aspects, including patient data management, orthopedic registries, medical imaging, research data, and the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This manuscript explores the applications of blockchain in orthopedics and highlights its benefits. Furthermore, the combination of blockchain with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and deep learning can enable more accurate diagnoses and treatment recommendations. AI algorithms can learn from large datasets stored on the blockchain, leading to advancements in automated clinical decision-making. Overall, blockchain technology has the potential to enhance data security, interoperability, and collaboration in orthopedics. While there are challenges to overcome, such as adoption barriers and data sharing willingness, the benefits offered by blockchain make it a promising innovation for the field.
Ameloblastic Fibro-odontoma - A Case Report of Two Uncommon Cases
Authors: Jihed Sghaier , Slim Afef , Charfeddine Abir , Smida Abdelkader , Abdellatif Chokri , Selmi Jamil
Published: May 2024

Rationale:

Ameloblastic fibro-odontoma (AFO) is a rare mixed odontogenic tumour with a preferential location in the posterior mandible and with a variety of radiological aspects. We report two clinical cases of AFO in two rare locations and with unusual radiological aspects.

Patient Concerns:

The first patient is a 37-year-old female with an asymptomatic intraoral swelling located in the anterior mandibular. The second patient is a 16-year-old girl with a chief complaint of missing maxillary canine.

Diagnosis:

Both cases were diagnosed with AFO.

Treatment:

For the first patient, a biopsy was performed, and for the second one, the lesion was surgically excised.

Outcomes:

The first patient is under regular surveillance and the other was followed up for one year without any evidence of recurrences.

Take-away Lessons:

Despite many efforts, the nature, histology and therapy of these lesions remain very confusing.
Characteristic Differences between Freeze-dried Tenogenic Secretomes and Freeze-dried Crude Secretomes of Mesenchymal Stem Cells under Hypoxic Conditions
Authors: Kresnadi Agus , Edward Mouli , Khang Gilson , Suroto Heri
Published: May 2024

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Tendons that are crucial for movement are struggling with self-healing. Regenerative medicine has been using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and their secretomes, and it offers promise. These secretomes, rich in growth factors, aid tissue healing. Tenogenic secretomes target tendon-specific healing, while crude ones provide a broader view of MSC signaling. The study aims to enhance targeted interventions in tendon regeneration and improve the quality of life for those with tendon-related issues.

Methods:

This laboratory study compares freeze-dried tenogenic and crude secretomes of MSCs under hypoxic conditions for regenerative potential. Stem cells from adipose tissue undergo isolation, culture, and multiplication then treated in hypoxic conditions. Characterization, Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-10 (IL-10) analysis with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) follow. The results, including organoleptic, pH, and scanning electron microscope assessments, were presented descriptively. Statistical analysis will enhance understanding.

Results:

Physical characteristics (odor, color, and pH) are similar in both groups. Tenogenic secretome has a more concave surface, potentially aiding cell migration compared to the crude secretome. There were significant differences in cytokine levels (P = 0.001). IL-6 levels expressed from tenogenic secretome were 10.2 ± 2.432 pg/mL compared to the crude one which 18.3 ± 3.175 pg/mL. Levels of IL-10 expressed from tenogenic and crude secretomes were 309.2 ± 50.973 pg/mL and 200.1 ± 32.030, respectively.

Conclusion:

The tenogenic secretome and crude secretome exhibit no differences in physical characteristics but differ in surface morphology. The concave surface of the tenogenic secretome facilitates cell migration more than the crude secretome. Under hypoxic conditions, the tenogenic secretome shows lower pro-inflammatory (IL-6) and higher anti-inflammatory (IL-10) effects than the crude secretome.
The effect of viral hepatitis B and C on the outcome of allogenic bone marrow transplantation of patients with adult acute myeloid leukemia (Egyptian sample)
Authors: Shazly Mohamed A , Azzazi Mohamed O , Mousa Mohamed M , Soliman Raafat A , Alnakeeb Sarah A E K , Sultan Almetwaly M
Published: May 2024

Background

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is now established as a standard therapeutic modality for different malignant and benign diseases. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has many complications. Infection and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remain the major source of morbidity and mortality in patients who undergo BMT.

Aim

The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of hepatitis B and hepatitis C (HCV) viral infection on the outcome of fully matched sibling donor peripheral blood stem cell transplantation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Patients and methods

A total of 328 patients with AML who received allogeneic PBSC transplantation using BU/CY or FLU/BU conditioning regimen after the consent of the Ethical Committee of Nasser Institute Hospital during the period from 1997 to December 2016 were included in this study with a follow-up of 12 months.

Results

In seropositive patients, neutrophil engraftment was reached at a median of 14.57 days and platelet engraftment was reached at a median of 12.7. However, in seronegative patients, neutrophil engraftment was reached at a median of 14.3 (P=0.287) and platelet engraftment was reached at a median of 12.66 (P=0.917). In seropositive patients, the incidence of SOS was 2.1%, acute GVHD grades 2–4 was reported in eight patients, whereas chronic GVHD was reported in nine patients. In seronegative patients, the incidence of SOS was 0.70% (P=0.33), acute GVHD grades 2–4 was reported in 30 patients (P=0.184), whereas chronic GVHD was reported in 45 patients (P=0.54). Overall survival for HCV seronegative and seropositive patients was 58.4 and 44.6%, respectively (P=0.001), whereas disease-free survival for HCV seronegative and seropositive patients was 56.9 and 43.4%, respectively (P=0.0001).

Conclusion

Analysis of 46 HCV-positive adult AML patients and 282 HCV seronegative patients who had peripheral blood stem cell transplantation shows that HCV infection does not affect platelet or neutrophil engraftment or the incidence of SOS. HCV viremia did not show a significant effect on the incidence of acute and chronic GVHD. We also documented that there is a significant effect of HCV on both the disease-free survival and overall survival.
Relation of junctional adhesion molecule-a in multiple myeloma patients with possible prognostic factors
Authors: Shaaban Ingy Ossama Ahmed , Sultan Hala K , Sultan Magda M , Gammal Maha M A El , Balbaa Ola A
Published: May 2024

Background

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a clonal plasma cell disorder characterized by the abnormal increase of monoclonal paraprotein leading to specific end-organ damage. Drug resistance is one of the major challenges in treating MM. As an emerging cell adhesion-mediated drug resistance (CAM-DR) agent, JAM-A (Junctional adhesion molecule-A), represents an exciting new potential drug target and biomarker for treating MM. However, the pathological role and clinical relevance of JAM-A in MM remains ambiguous.

Aim

To study the relation of JAM-A expression levels in MM patients with possible prognostic factors.

Patients and methods

The study was carried out on a total of 100 subjects divided into two groups. The first group included 50 multiple myeloma patients, while the second group included 50 patients performing aspiration of bone marrow for other conditions with normal plasma cell percentage. All subjects in the current study were subjected to full history taking and complete clinical examination, radiological studies, routine laboratory investigations, bone marrow aspiration/ biopsy, immunophenotyping, measurement of serum IL-6 levels and estimation of JAM-A expressions by Quantitative real-time PCR.

Results

JAM-A was overexpressed in newly diagnosed MM patients compared with post-treated patients and control group. Moreover, high JAM-A expression levels showed statistically significant correlations with plasma cell percentage in BM, serum β2-microglobulin and serum IL-6 levels.

Conclusion

JAM-A is overexpressed in MM and could be used as innovative prognostic biomarker.
Combined expression of WT1/PRAME genes and BIRC5/PRAME genes and their clinical significance in adult patients with acute myeloid leukemia
Authors: El-Meligui Yomna M , Ismail Abeer , Abd Elrhman Heba Allah E
Published: May 2024

Background

Several tumor-associated antigens have been recently recognized that qualify to monitor tumor burden of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or are used as antigen-specific approach for anticancer immunotherapy.

Aim

The current study was designed to assess the intracellular expression levels of the immunogenic tumor antigens (
WT1
, BIRC5, and PRAME genes) and clarify the prognostic effect of their combined overexpression, that is,
WT1
/PRAME and
BIRC5
/
PRAME
, on the clinical course, the outcome, and the response to treatment in patients with AML.

Settings and design

A total of 61 patients with AML were included in the study. All patients received induction chemotherapy. Detection of intracellular WT1, BIRC5, and PRAME genes in myeloid blast cells was done by real-time PCR on bone marrow samples. Their levels were correlated with the demographic data, the clinical and pathological data, the defined subgroups, the overall survival, and the response to treatment in patients with AML.

Results

WT1, BIRC5, and PRAME overexpression was detected in 73.8, 28, and 38.6% of patients, respectively. Nearly half of the patients (51.7%) were WT1+/PRAME− and significantly associated with absence of both favorable cytogenetic prognosis and complete remission. In addition, it expression was correlated with female sex, higher count of blasts in peripheral blood, positive CD34 expression, and higher FAB classification (M4) but with no statistically significant difference. Most patients were double negative BIRC5−/PRAME− (45.6%). A significant relation was found between BIRC5+/PRAME− and older age patients (P=0.003) and a lower overall survival (P=0.005) and also associated with higher count of blast cells but not statistically significant. Most BIRC5−/PRAME+ (72.7%) achieved complete remission at 28 days, followed by double negative BIRC5−/PRAME− (56.6%) at 28 days, most of BIRC5+/PRAME− patients died (77.8%).

Conclusion

In patients with AML, the expression levels of genes WT1, BIRC5, and
PRAME
were high, and these genes had a substantial correlation with poor prognostic factors, including a poor cytogenetic prognosis, incomplete remission, and a reduced survival rate. Therefore, they could be considered as targets for anticancer immunotherapy as well as possible markers for monitoring AML.
Traumatic Pseudoaneurysm of Anterior Tibial Artery Treated by Thrombin Injection
Authors: Salahuddin Salman , Janardhanan Sujith , Krishnakumar K. S. , Mattummal Shafeeq
Published: May 2024

Traumatic pseudoaneurysm of limb arteries are relatively rare. A 70-year-old gentleman, with history of mechanical aortic valve implantation on warfarin, presented to the emergency department with pain and swelling in the right leg. He had sustained blunt injury to the leg, a week prior to presentation. On examination, the lateral compartment of the leg was swollen, ecchymotic, and tense. Distal pulses were well palpable. An ultrasound Doppler evaluation revealed a large intramuscular hematoma in the lateral compartment with a pseudoaneurysm of a muscular branch of the anterior tibial artery. An ultrasound-guided compression of the pseudoaneurysm was initially attempted for 24 hours, which failed in closing off the pseudoaneurysm. He was subsequently taken up for thrombin injection into the pseudoaneurysm, which resulted in instant thrombosis of the pseudoaneurysm, with an uneventful clinical course thereafter. Thrombin injection is an effective and safe modality to treat pseudoaneurysms of limb arteries.