bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The effect of vitamin D on mental health – literature analysis
Authors: Kozyra Magdalena , Zimnicki Patryk , Kaczerska Justyna , Śmiech Natalia , Nowińska Martyna , Milanowska Joanna
Published: September 2020

Introduction: Many sources list a number of properties of vitamin D on human health. It seems that the benefits of using this vitamin include not only the regulation of the calcium-phosphate metabolism, but also a number of other applications, also in human mental health.The aim of the study: The aim of the study was to research about the influence of vitamin D on the mental health. The research was done on the problems such as depression, anxiety, psychoses, stress, mood and emotions. Material and method: The literature was found using websites such as PubMed or Google Scholar was used to develop this work.Description of the state of knowledge: A number of studies have confirmed that vitamin D can have a significant impact on reducing the level of depression. One example of a study on this topic is that high vitamin D supplementation in women in early pregnancy can protect them from late depression during the last weeks of pregnancy. Likewise, adequate vitamin D supplementation in older people can improve mental health and reduce the likelihood of depression and Seasonal Mood Disorder (SAD). In addition, vitamin D can reduce the probability of psychosis or anxiety disorders.Summary: Many sources report a positive correlation between vitamin D supply and mental health. Often the differences are also noticeable, but not statistically significant. This work sometimes shows divergent views of scientists, which is important to continue research into the effects of vitamin D on mental health in humans.
Sudden cardiac arrest as a result of anterior and lateral myocardial infarction at 16 weeks of gestation - case report
Authors: Wojcik Justyna , Obuchowska Karolina , Obuchowska Aleksandra , Ozga Alicja , Standyło Arkadiusz , Kimber-Trojnar Żaneta , Leszczyńska-Gorzelak Bożena
Published: September 2020

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is defined as a significant impairment of the mechanical function of the heart muscle, characterized by the patient's lack of response to stimuli, no perceptible pulse and apnea or agonal breathing, most often caused by acute coronary syndrome (ACS). ACS during pregnancy is a rare phenomenon and its incidence increases with the age of giving birth.The most common cause of ACS in pregnancy are typical changes in the etiology of atherosclerosis or coronary artery thrombosis. Other factors increasing the risk of a heart attack are arterial hypertension, diabetes, obesity and lipid disorders.    To describe a rare clinical case and demonstrate the importance of maintaining cardiac vigilance in pregnant patients.    A 32-year-old patient, at 16 weeks of gestation, hospitalized due to an anterior and lateral ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI), complicated by SCA due to the mechanism of ventricular fibrillation. The patient was qualified for invasive reperfusion treatment which included left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery surgery with drug eluting stent (DES) implantation and ballooning of the diagonal first coronary artery. Echocardiography done after treatment revealed apical hypokinesia and left ventricular ejection fraction of 70%. Subsequently the patient was kept under obstetrical and cardiological care. At 37 weeks of gestation, the pregnancy was finished by a successful caesarean section.      Pregnancy is a state of hypercoagulability and decreased activity of the fibrinolytic system.The clinical management in this case does not differ from the clinical procedure adopted for non-pregnant women. It is important to make a diagnosis quickly and implement a life-saving procedure as soon as possible.
COVID-19's dangerous legacy
Authors: Greener Mark
Published: September 2020

Mark Greener looks at the recent research into what the pandemic's lasting impact will be
Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles by Phyllanthus emblica Plant Extract and Their Antibacterial Activity
Authors: Meena Rajesh Kumar , Meena Risikesh , Arya Dinesh Kumar , Jadoun Sapana , Hada Renu , Kumari Roopa
Published: September 2020

The silver nanoparticle was successfully synthesized by using the help of Phyllanthus emblica plant extract as a reducing agent and aqueous silver nitrate as the precursor. Moreover, physical and chemical methods are widely used for the synthesis of nanoparticles, but these methods have expensive and not ecofriendly. This study highlights the green, rapid, facile, cost-effective, and ecofriendly synthesis and synthesized nanoparticles also investigate their antibacterial activity. Synthesized silver nanoparticles are analyzed by different techniques of modes like XRD, UV-Visible spectroscopy, TEM, FTIR, and photoluminescence (PL). The prepared AgNPs show characteristic absorption peak in UV-Visible spectroscopy due to SPR (surface plasmonic resonance) band between 400 to 450 nm wavelength, which was confirmed by TEM (transmission electron microscopy) image. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed the crystalline nature of AgNPs as well as the size of nanoparticles calculated with the help of TEM (20-25 nm) and XRD (25 nm). ATR spectroscopy identified the functional groups that are involved in the reduction of silver ion to AgNPs and the PL spectrum indicates higher emission in the green region and low emission peak in the UV region. Antibacterial activity of AgNPs analyzed against with the help of E.Coli bacteria and the result shows that a higher concentration of AgNPs is increasing as well as a zone of inhibition increased. This method is environmentally friendly, of low cost, and less expensive method for the fabrication of AgNPs in abundance which can be further helpful for biosensor devices as well as for other applications such as pollutant degradation, pharmaceutical, and hydrogen production, etc therefore can promote the application of green technology for the production of AgNPs.
Efficient Synthesis, Spectroscopic and Quantum Chemical Study of 2,3-Dihydrobenzofuran Labelled Two Novel Arylidene Indanones: A Comparative Theoretical Exploration
Authors: Shinde Rahul Ashok , Adole Vishnu Ashok , Jagdale Bapu Sonu , Pawar Thansing Bhavsing , Desale Bhatu Shivaji
Published: September 2020

Indanone and 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran scaffolds are considered as special structures in therapeutic science and explicitly associated with various biologically potent compounds. In the present disclosure, we report the synthesis of two new 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran tethered arylidene indanones via an environmentally adequate and viable protocol. The two compounds revealed in this have been characterized well by analytical methods; proton magnetic resonance (PMR), carbon magnetic resonance (CMR). The Density Functional Theory (DFT) study has been presented for the spectroscopic, structural and quantum correlation between (E)-2-((2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-5-yl)methylene)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one (DBDI) and (E)-7-((2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-5-yl)methylene)-1,2,6,7-tetrahydro-8H-indeno[5,4-b]furan-8-one (DBTI). Optimized geometry, frontier molecular orbital, global reactivity descriptors, and thermodynamic parameters have been computed for DBDI and DBTI. DFT/B3LYP method using basis set 6-311++G (d,p) has been employed for the computational study. Mulliken atomic charges are established by using 6-311G (d,p) basis set. Besides, molecular electrostatic potential for DBDI and DBTI is also explored to locate the electrophilic and nucleophilic centres.
A comparative review of 1,004 orthopaedic trauma patients before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Dayananda Kathryn S. S. , Mercer Scott T. , Agarwal Rishi , Yasin Tariq , Trickett Ryan W.
Published: September 2020

Aims

COVID-19 necessitated abrupt changes in trauma service delivery. We compare the demographics and outcomes of patients treated during lockdown to a matched period from 2019. Findings have important implications for service development.

Methods

A split-site service was introduced, with a COVID-19 free site treating the majority of trauma patients. Polytrauma, spinal, and paediatric trauma patients, plus COVID-19 confirmed or suspicious cases, were managed at another site. Prospective data on all trauma patients undergoing surgery at either site between 16 March 2020 and 31 May 2020 was collated and compared with retrospective review of the same period in 2019. Patient demographics, injury, surgical details, length of stay (LOS), COVID-19 status, and outcome were compared.

Results

There were 1,004 urgent orthopaedic trauma patients (604 in 2019; 400 in 2020). Significant reductions in time to theatre and LOS stay were observed. COVID-19 positive status was confirmed in 4.5% (n = 18). The COVID-19 mortality rate was 1.8% (n = 7). Day-case surgery comprised 47.8% (n = 191), none testing positive for COVID-19 or developing clinically significant COVID-19 symptoms requiring readmission, at a minimum of 17 days follow-up.

Conclusion

The novel split-site service, segregating suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases, minimized onward transmission and demonstrated improved outcomes regarding time to surgery and LOS, despite altered working patterns and additional constraints. Day-surgery pathways appear safe regarding COVID-19 transmission. Lessons learned require dissemination and should be sustained in preparation for a potential second wave or, the return of a “normal” non-COVID workload. Cite this article: Bone Joint Open 2020;1-9:568–575.
Use of endophytic bacteria from roots of Cyperus rotundus for biocontrol of Meloidogyne incognita
Authors: MARDHIANA MARDHIANA , PRADANA ANKARDIANSYAH PANDU , ADIWENA MUH , SANTOSO DWI , WIJAYA RIZZA , MURTILAKSONO ADITYA
Published: September 2020

Mardhiana, Pradana AP, Adiwena M, Santoso D, Wijaya R, Murtilaksono A. 2017. Use of endophytic bacteria from roots of Cyperus rotundus for biocontrol of Meloidogyne incognita. Biodiversitas 18: 1308-1315. Yield loss due to M. incognita infection in tomato plants cultivation can reach 60%. The problem is able to be solved through the application of endophytic bacteria. In this study, endophytic bacteria from root Cyperus rotundus were isolated using Tryptic Soy Agar media. The bacteria isolates were then tested their safety against plants and mammals. The phenotypic and physiological properties of selected isolates were characterized and tested to know their resistance to antibiotics, and their ability in suppressing the infection rate of M. incognita on tomato. Eighteen bacterial isolates were obtained and 8 of them are categorized as safe bacteria for plants and mammals, which could be used in further tests. A result of the physiological test showed that bacterial isolates were able to produce protease enzyme (87.5%), chitinase enzyme (62.5%), and HCN (37.5%), having urease activity (75%) and could dissolve phosphate (87.5%). Based on the test results, all endophytic bacteria effectively increased tomato growth and suppressed the severity of M. incognita infection with the most stable isolate as a biocontrol agent of M. incognita was CRS16.
Short communication: Diversity of tropical plants and their attractant properties for subterranean termite Coptotermes curvignathus
Authors: INDRAYANI YULIATI , MUIN MUSRIZAL , YOSHIMURA TSUYOSHI
Published: September 2020

Indrayani Y, Muin M, Yoshimura T. 2017. Short communication: Diversity of tropical plants and their attractant properties for subterranean termite Coptotermes curvignathus. Biodiversitas 18: 1353-1357. The effectiveness of bio-based attractant from different leaves of tropical plants on subterranean termites Coptotermes curvignathus was examined under laboratory conditions. Five kinds of leaves of tropical plant such as cajuput (Melaleuca leucadendron L.), cinnamon (Cinnamomum burmannii (Nees & Th. Nees) Nees ex Blume, clove (Syzygium aromaticum (L.) Merr. & L.M. Perry), bay (Syzygium polyanthum Wight) and basil (Ocimum sanctum L.) were serving as termite feeding bio-based attractants for C. curvignathus. Bio-based attractants were obtained by cross cut dry leaves into smaller particles (dry weight 200 g) and dipped in 70% ethanol solution for 3 x 24 hrs. The extracts were then subjected to a rotary evaporator at 60 ÂºC until the extract changed to gel condition. 50 workers and five soldiers of C. curvignathus were tested in a no-choice test bioassay to determine their preferred bio-based attractant under the concentration of 10% and 50%. No-choice bioassays chambers were assembled by connecting two clear plastic glasses (bottom diameter 5 cm, top diameter 7 cm) with clear plastic hoses (inner diameter 3 mm, outer diameter 5 mm). Clear plastic hoses connectors allowed termites to move freely between glasses. A laboratory bioassay determined that the response of subterranean termite C. curvignathus on clove leaf was greater than other five leaves as indicated by termite moving time, and did not differ significantly between concentrations. No direct relationships were noted between the speed of the first termite moving time and number of termites recruited to the bio-attractant chamber.
Changes in consumer decision-making resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Mason Andrew , Narcum John , Mason Kevin
Published: September 2020

Change is inevitable. As such, all global economies are susceptible to being impacted by a catalyst capable of altering the economy as well as the behaviours of consumers within that economy. COVID-19 may prove to be such an economic catalyst. This research examines the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 healthcare pandemic and the United States (US) government’s pandemic interventions on US consumers’ behaviours.This study provides a critical analysis of published findings across healthcare and marketing to examine macro changes in US consumer decision-making behaviours. To get a baseline for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on consumers’ perceptions, we collected survey data from consumers and compared their behaviours pre- and post-declaration of the pandemic. The findings suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic has altered consumers’ product needs, shopping behaviours, purchasing behaviours as well as their post-purchase satisfaction levels. For example, since the start of the pandemic, consumers are avoiding publically consumed products and have increased their virtual shopping and online purchasing behaviours. Findings also suggest that it may now be more difficult for marketers to gain customer loyalty because consumers’ satisfaction levels have decreased.Never before has a health pandemic caused the US to mandate business closings or to hinder marketing operations across so many economic sectors, simultaneously. As such, the novel coronavirus and the resultant US governmental pandemic mitigation actions are unique. This research offers original findings on shifts in consumers’ decision-making behaviours. Marketing implications concerning an emerging post-pandemic marketing landscape are provided.
CSR in Ghana’s gold-mining sector: Assessing expectations and perceptions of performance with institutional and stakeholder lenses
Authors: Amoah Prince , Eweje Gabriel
Published: September 2020

PurposeThis article examines community expectations and perceptions of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance of a multinational mining company following a unique incident of cyanide spillage from a tailings (processed ore effluents) storage facility. CSR remains a critical component of stakeholder management in developing countries due to the continuous environmental and social impacts of mining development. The article employs the stakeholder and institutional theories to assess the CSR manifestations of a large-scale mining company in the context of pressures at the plant level.Design/methodology/approachWe employ a mixed method design using survey and stakeholder interviews to collect, analyse, and present findings within legal, ethical, and discretionary CSR categories. The survey data were statistically analysed by calculating the standard deviations of the three CSR dimensions to compare and understand the data variations in respect of the perception ratings of respondents on a four-point Likert scale, while interview data was evaluated using an inductive approach based on thematic networks.FindingsThe findings suggest that unfulfilled expectations for employment generate wider consensus towards demands to share in mining benefits based on rising perceptions of inequity and social exclusion. Additionally, host communities within farming areas engage in speculative development in anticipation of CSR-related compensation resulting in a homogenised expectation. Further, this study reveals that reactive CSR practices are interpreted as both insincere and patronising, contributing to a negative perception of mining activities in affected communities.Research limitations/implicationsAs a single-case study, the findings may be inadequate for theoretical generalisations and therefore limited to the context of the study.ImplicationsRethinking stakeholder and institutional theories, and exploring new assumptions in the context of the mining industry in Ghana, may expand the current discourse within the academic, corporate, and statutory communities.ContributionThis study adds to and expands the assumptions of stakeholder and institutional theories in a mining context within local communities. It may also improve the knowledge of managers of large-scale mining companies on effective stakeholder management.
Quantum detector tomography of a 2×2 multi-pixel array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors
Authors: Schapeler Timon , Philipp Höpker Jan , Bartley Tim J.
Published: September 2020

We demonstrate quantum detector tomography of a commercial 2×2 array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. We show that detector-specific figures of merit including efficiency, dark-count and cross-talk probabilities can be directly extracted, without recourse to the underlying detector physics. These figures of merit are directly identified from just four elements of the reconstructed positive operator valued measure (POVM) of the device. We show that the values for efficiency and dark-count probability extracted by detector tomography show excellent agreement with independent measurements of these quantities, and we provide an intuitive operational definition for cross-talk probability. Finally, we show that parameters required for the reconstruction must be carefully chosen to avoid oversmoothing the data.
Light propagation through metamaterial temporal slabs: reflection, refraction, and special cases
Authors: Ramaccia Davide , Toscano Alessandro , Bilotti Filiberto
Published: September 2020

Time-varying metamaterials are artificial materials whose electromagnetic properties change over time. Similar to a spatial medium discontinuity, a sudden change in time of the metamaterial refractive index induces the generation of reflected and refracted light waves. The relationship between the incident and emerging fields at one temporal interface has been subject of investigation in earlier studies. Here, we extend the study to a temporal slab, i.e., a uniform homogeneous medium that is present in the whole space for a limited time. The scattering coefficients have been derived as a function of the refractive indices and application time, demonstrating that the response of the temporal slab can be controlled through the application time, which acts similarly to the electrical thickness of conventional spatial slabs. The results reported in this Letter pave the way to creating novel devices based on temporal discontinuities, such as temporal matching networks, Bragg grating, and dielectric mirrors, which exhibit zero space occupancy by exploiting the time dimension, instead of the spatial dimension.
Osteocytic Osteolysis in PTH-treated Wild-type and Rankl−/− Mice Examined by Transmission Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, and Isotope Microscopy
Authors: Hongo Hiromi , Hasegawa Tomoka , Saito Masami , Tsuboi Kanako , Yamamoto Tomomaya , Sasaki Muneteru , Abe Miki , Henrique Luiz de Freitas Paulo , Yurimoto Hisayoshi , Udagawa Nobuyuki , Li Minqi , Amizuka Norio
Published: September 2020

To demonstrate the ultrastructure of osteocytic osteolysis and clarify whether osteocytic osteolysis occurs independently of osteoclastic activities, we examined osteocytes and their lacunae in the femora and tibiae of 11-week-old male wild-type and Rankl−/− mice after injection of human parathyroid hormone (PTH) [1-34] (80 µg/kg/dose). Serum calcium concentration rose temporarily 1 hr after PTH administration in wild-type and Rankl−/− mice, when renal arteries and veins were ligated. After 6 hr, enlargement of osteocytic lacunae was evident in the cortical bones of wild-type and Rankl−/− mice, but not so in their metaphyses. Von Kossa staining and transmission electron microscopy showed broadly demineralized bone matrix peripheral to enlarged osteocytic lacunae, which contained fragmented collagen fibrils and islets of mineralized matrices. Nano-indentation by atomic force microscopy revealed the reduced elastic modulus of the PTH-treated osteocytic perilacunar matrix, despite the microscopic verification of mineralized matrix in that region. In addition, 44Ca deposition was detected by isotope microscopy and calcein labeling in the eroded osteocytic lacunae of wild-type and Rankl−/− mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that osteocytes can erode the bone matrix around them and deposit minerals on their lacunar walls independently of osteoclastic activity, at least in the murine cortical bone. (J Histochem Cytochem 68: –XXX, 2020)
‘Salute to Radio’: The self-reflexive artistry of Betty Comden and Adolph Green in Fun with the Revuers
Authors: Tsuji Sahoko
Published: September 2020

Betty Comden and Adolph Green are well-known librettists and lyricists of stage musicals and musical films; their artistic style and verbal expression are considered to bear urban witness to a period understanding of the 1940s and 1950s. Nonetheless, previous studies have scarcely investigated the aesthetic features of their dramaturgy, especially with regard to linguistic expression. This article focuses on the radio comedy Fun with the Revuers, for which they wrote scripts and lyrics. Through a close look at the scripts and sound recordings, it analyses the ‘interruptive sound and voice’ functions that construct the show, and examines how these satirize the conventions of the format, as well as the essential features of the medium. This article will offer a new perspective on the generational dynamics of Comden and Green’s artistry.
How far does the sound of a Pipa carry? Broadway adaptation of a Chinese classical drama
Authors: Stenberg Josh
Published: September 2020

The 1946 Broadway premiere of Lute Song represents a milestone in reception of the Chinese dramatic tradition in the United States. Despite its yellowface and ‘Oriental pageantry’, it must be situated at the beginnings of a more respectful relationship to China and Chinese people, as the American stage began to move beyond treatments of China dominated by racist vaudeville or fantastical fairy tales. Instead, Lute Song emerged from a classic text, the long drama Pipa ji – even as its own casting and staging inherited some of the same problematic habits of representing Asia. Lute Song, one of several indirect adaptations of Chinese dramas in the American mid-century, represents a milestone as the first Broadway show inspired by American immigrant Chinatown theatre and the first Broadway musical to be based on Chinese classical drama, mediated through European Sinology.
The Charcoal Quantification Tool (CharTool): A Suite of Open-source Tools for Quantifying Charcoal Fragments and Sediment Properties in Archaeological and Paleoecological Analysis
Authors: Snitker Grant
Published: September 2020

Sedimentary charcoal analysis is increasingly used in archaeological and paleoecological research to examine human-environmental relationships at multiple scales. The recent availability of low-cost digital microscopes and imaging software has resulted in the rapid adoption of digital image analysis in charcoal studies. However, most published studies include only minimal accounts of software configurations or utilize proprietary image analysis programs, thus hindering replication, standardization, and comparability of charcoal analyses across the field. In an effort to encourage replicable methods and a culture of open science, this paper presents the Charcoal Quantification Tool (CharTool), a free, open-source suite of charcoal and sediment quantification tools designed for use with ImageJ. CharTool blends standard methods in visual and digital charcoal analysis to increase the analyst’s participation in identifying and measuring charcoal metrics. Each CharTool module is described and demonstrated in a vignette using sedimentary charcoal collected from the Son Servera study area, Mallorca, Spain. A suggested workflow, user-guide, scripted analyses for processing outputs, and download instructions are included as supplementary materials to this article.
Toss Up
Authors: Miley Mike
Published: September 2020

This chapter discusses how game shows came to have a pitiful scholarly reputation after the quiz-show scandals of the 1950s. The chapter also discusses how an intermedial study of how game shows are used in fiction and film can illuminate the ways that game shows express and speak to American culture. The chapter then provides an analysis of how Woody Allen’s 1987 film Radio Days uses the game show intermedially as a metaphor for memory in an age of impermanence, encouraging viewers to recall every bit of trivia in order to stave off irrelevance.
Fear Factor
Authors: Miley Mike
Published: September 2020

The works discussed transpose the conceit of The Most Dangerous Game to the world of commercial broadcast entertainment, pitting characters against each other in competition for the ultimate prize: their own lives. Round Four discusses how the game show has come to represent the political and personal dangers of citizenship in an America governed by a late-capitalist consumerism that has morphed into a new brand of totalitarianism that turns people into trivial objects and trivial objects into subjects of the highest importance. The “reality” of these games and their rules represent a simulated and heavily mediated environment posing as real to conceal a sinister truth. In order to challenge the dominance of this inverted world order, the protagonists must first defeat totalitarianism’s synecdoche: the game show.
Final Jeopardy
Authors: Miley Mike
Published: September 2020

This final chapter discusses how the election of Donald Trump to the presidency alters the importance and influence of game shows on American life. The chapter examines works by Chuck Barris, Donald Barthelme, Max Apple, Philip K. Dick, and Jonathan Lethem to explore whether America will ever be free from the game show’s grasp, and how citizens can take control of the Land of the Game Show if escape is impossible. The chapter argues that resistance comes in the form of challenging the increasing triviality of American politics, encouraging readers to demand meaningful exchanges.
Jamette!: Women and Canboulay in 1881
Authors: Scher Philip W.
Published: September 2020

This essay contextualizes the Canboulay riots and highlights the role that women played not just in the action itself, but also in the life of what is commonly referred to as the Jamette Carnival. This essay concludesthat we might re-imagine these activities, at least in part, as political protests rather than simply riots.
Taking the Queen to the Streets: The Jaycees Carnival Queen Competition and the Pretty Mas’ Aesthetic
Authors: Noel Samantha
Published: September 2020

In this chapter, examines how the Jaycees Carnival Queen competition upheld upper and middle class mores in opposition to a largely black and working class aesthetic, thereby creating a national tradition. By the 1940s, the competition became the focus of the annual festival. It eclipsed the Calypso King competition, the hub of creative, social and political expression for the black masses.
From Devi to Diva: Indo-Caribbean Women Rising in Trinidad’s Chutney Soca
Authors: Baksh Darrell Gerohn
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores the conflicts and complexities of Indo-Caribbean femininity at a moment when the Indo-Caribbean woman is breaking away from embodiments of devi, traditional models of female representation strongly tied to religious patriarchy, to diva, a contemporary persona publicly expressed in the realm of chutney soca, a popular form of Indo-Caribbean music that has absorbed the Carnival aesthetic in Trinidad.
Disseminating Queer Theory
Authors: Parker-Hay Katherine
Published: September 2020

This chapter explores how Dykes to Watch Out For establishes a playful and deprecating relationship with queer theory that is simultaneously a hallmark of Alison Bechdel’s individual craft and something made possible by the unique formal properties of comics. Specifically, this chapter considers instances where Bechdel uses the gutters of the comic to represent how knowledge can be lost or obfuscated as it moves through (everyday, public) time that is teeming with distractions. As a result, the collected DTWOF is stirring, instructive even, for anyone invested in critical theory’s capacity to affect meaningful and sustained change. The method developed in the chapter draws on the significance of the gutter as identified in comics criticism; it advocates placing one’s attention on the gutters and focusing on how information is shown to be successfully, or unsuccessfully, transmitted across them.
Inchoate Kinship
Authors: Bradway Tyler
Published: September 2020

To illuminate Bechdel’s inchoate kinship, this chapter turns to Are You My Mother?. Bechdel refuses to position Are You My Mother? as an Oedipal rival or heteronormative complement to Fun Home. In fact, neither text is compositionally “finished” within the narrative present of Are You My Mother?. Throughout the memoir, Bechdel struggles with articulating a framework for her life writing that does not recapitulate heteronormative logics of similitude based on sexual difference or Oedipal plots of exclusivity, which demand the substitution of the mother by another love object. This chapter contends that Bechdel turns to relational psychoanalysis, and D.W. Winnicott in particular, to develop a queerer narrative for kinship; in this narrative, the mother is not a taboo love object but an object to be used, played with, even affectively assaulted with anger and disappointment. Through this “mutual cathexis,” Bechdel is ultimately able to forge a relation with her mother that is not defined by their absolute similitude or radical difference. But more importantly, Are You My Mother? figures a queerer narrative for the psychoanalytic narration of kinship itself—a narrative in which the child’s and parent’s stories can exist in productive tension, even opposition, without being legitimated by or finally resolved in an external reality.
Wonder Women and the Web: How Female Comics Creators Leap from Private to Public in a Single Bound
Authors: Valentine Aimee
Published: September 2020

Aimee Valentine provides an introduction to the patriarchal history of comics, while highlighting female creators who have found a new role in classrooms and in public consciousness.
Mindful Animation for Learning Awareness
Authors: Barton Graham , Hosea Birgitta
Published: September 2020

This co-authored chapter discusses a research project initiated at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London which investigates whether the making of drawn animation can be a mindful practice. The original intention of the project was to explore the potential application of Buddhist principles and practices such as mindfulness within a secular context to benefit art and design students who experience stress in the learning environment, thereby wishing to examine learning processes more closely. The design of the project led to the use of the repetitive, haptic procedures and collaborative processes of drawn animation in combination with short-form mindfulness meditation techniques. The project rests on the wider developments in UK Higher Education that seek to enable students to engage meaningfully with the affective and extra-rational dimensions of learning. The authors conclude that there is scope for more exploration as animation-making is about the analysis of change and awareness of momentary existence.
Interpreting Buddhist Influences in Kawamoto’s Puppet Animation
Authors: Yokota Masao
Published: September 2020

In the field of Japanese independent animation, the late Kawamoto Kihachiro (1925-2010) made tremendous contributions. This chapter discusses in particular his puppet animations which are steeped with Japanese native beliefs and elements of Buddhist thought. From a clinical psychologist’s perspective, the author analyzes the spiritual dimensions of his work, particularly highlighting the native traditions and assimilated foreign thought systems that are encased within his creations. Specifically, The Book of The Dead (2005) is examined in the essay as it was created when Kawamoto was eighty years old. Issues like mid-life crisis, death, and other related matters are explored as the author surveys the creative and personal life of the master-animator. The author’s interpretation posits that Kawamoto’s puppet animation essentially tried to express the concepts of suffering and enlightenment, and that his work is related to his profound connections to the Japanese people and the historical evolution of a new Japan after the Second World War.
Dividing Lines
Authors: Holdier A. G.
Published: September 2020

If you are interested in supervillains – or, for that matter, their wretched, do-good counterparts, the superheroes – then The Supervillain Readeris for you. Bringing together essays related to film, history, literature, and contemporary comics, The Supervillain Reader takes an interdisciplinary, multi-media approach to examining the deep history and current status of the supervillain. From witches, Darth Vader, and Voldemort, to The Kingpin, Cobra, and Bizarro, the evolution of the bad guy is an exciting, often surprising one, and the articles collected here – some new, some classics in the field – engage with the trope’s most pressing and central issues and offer the best possible starting point for supervillain studies.
Superheroes, “Moral Economy,” and the “Iron Cage”
Authors: Mosespeaslee Robert
Published: September 2020

This chapter focuses on the surge of interest in characters that span the gap between the two ethical poles of good and evil, filling the role of the anti-hero or anti-villain, and outlines a brief taxonomy for hermeneutical moral identity. By filtering an Aristotelian conception of morality through the lens of Paul Ricoeur’s philosophical anthropology (with some assistance from J.R.R. Tolkien and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn along the way), I argue that the external actions of a character must be considered in tandem with their internal self-conception in order to properly categorize their moral identity.
What Magneto Cannot Choose1
Authors: Jared Jared
Published: September 2020

This essay utilizes the work of British cultural historian E.P. Thompson and German sociologist Max Weber to unpack the “moral economy” of superheroism and, by association, supervillainy. Although not primarily concerned with villain characters, it contributes to our discussion about moral choices in superhero/villain texts, choices that often lead the subjects of such texts to reject what is “legal” for what is “right.”
Implacable Henchmen?
Authors: Mongrain Cait , Perlmutter David D.
Published: September 2020

Supervillains are an important part of superhero narratives. They are drawn to crime for a variety of reasons, including greed, sadism, selfishness, as well as psychological typologies. Villains often allow the heroes to fight openly for justice and the rule of law. There are several major types of villains: Straightforward Criminal, The Vengeful Villain, The Heroic Villain, and Sadistic Supervillain.
Aṅgulimāla
Authors: Thompson John N.
Published: September 2020

From Homer’s Iliad to modern digital gaming, people have long been familiar with the concept of hero and villain. Other characters, however, have played a role in the epic clashes of good and evil, of ourselves and enemy. Among them are the henchmen, the minions, the lackeys, and the companions of the villain. Since the dawn of storytelling through today, they also have exhibited familiar qualities, attitudes, behaviors, and paradoxes. On the one hand, they are implacable. They attack, they fight, and they commit horrific crimes, seemingly without question, at the order of their master. Less clear are their motivations. Besides sharing in the loot and basking in the notoriety, what exactly does a henchman gain? Are the rewards worth the risks, and is there a dental plan? Our study compares an ancient and a modern text to try to understand the psychology and cultural significance of the ubiquitous, but also mysterious, henchman.
“More Demon Than Man”
Authors: Magistrale Tony
Published: September 2020

This essay traces the history of Satan through both literary and Biblical sources to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Milton presents evil as real and traceable to a single evil one. However, his depiction of Satan as the author of all evil was not completely successful as critics have pointed out that his Satan does have heroic qualities.
How the Other Half Laughs
Authors: Cole Jean Lee
Published: September 2020

In the popular press of the early twentieth century, immigrant masses and the tenement districts were frequently portrayed as occasions for laughter rather than as objects of pity or problems to be solved. This distinctly comic sensibility, most visible in the form of the comic strip, merged the grotesque with the urbane and the whimsical with the cynical, representing the world of what Jacob Riis called the “Other Half” with a jaundiced, yet sympathetic, eye. Various forms of the comic sensibility emerged from a competitive, collaborative environment fostered at newspapers and magazines published by figures including William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Pulitzer, and S. S. McClure. Characterized by a breezy, irreverent style and packaged in eye-catching typography, vibrant color, and dynamic page design, the comic sensibility combined the performative aspects of vaudeville and the variety of stage, the verbal improvisations of dialect fiction, and a multivalent approach to caricature that originated in nineteenth-century comic weeklies, such as Puck and Judge. Though it was firmly rooted in ethnic humor, the comic sensibility did not simply denigrate or dehumanize ethnic and racial minorities. Stereotype and caricature was used not just to make fun of the Other Half, but also to engage in pointed sociopolitical critique. Sometimes grotesque, sometimes shocking, at other times sweetly humorous or gently mocking, the comic sensibility ultimately enabled group identification and attracted a huge working-class audience.
Professional Wrestling
Authors: Mazer Sharon
Published: September 2020

Professional wrestling is one of the most popular performance practices in the United States and around the world, drawing millions of spectators to live events and televised broadcasts. The displays of violence, simulated and actual, may be the obvious appeal, but that is just the beginning. Fans debate performance choices with as much energy as they argue about their favorite wrestlers. The ongoing scenarios and presentations of manly and not so-manly characters—from the flamboyantly feminine to the hypermasculine—simultaneously celebrate and critique, parody and affirm, the American dream and the masculine ideal.
Sharon Mazer looks at the world of professional wrestling from a fan’s-eye-view high in the stands and from ringside in the wrestlers’ gym. She investigates how performances are constructed and sold to spectators, both on a local level and in the “big leagues” of the WWF/E. She shares a close-up view of a group of wrestlers as they work out, get their faces pushed to the mat as part of their initiation into the fraternity of the ring, and dream of stardom. In later chapters, Mazer explores professional wrestling’s carnivalesque presentation of masculinities ranging from the cute to the brute, as well as the way in which the performances of women wrestlers often enter into the realm of pornographic. Finally, she explores the question of the “real” and the “fake” as the fans themselves confront it.
First published in 1998, this new edition of Professional Wrestling: Sport and Spectacle both preserves the original’s snapshot of the wrestling scene of the 1980s and 1990s and features an up-to-date perspective on the current state of play.
What the World Is Watching
Authors: Mazer Sharon
Published: September 2020

More than a vulgar parody of “real” sport, professional wrestling is a sophisticated theatricalized representation of the transgressive, violent urges generally repressed in everyday life. More than a staged fight between representatives of good and evil, at its heart is a Rabelaisian carnival, an invitation to every participant to share in expressions of excess and to celebrate the desire for, if not the acting upon, transgression against whatever cultural values are perceived as dominant and/or oppressive in everyday life. More than an elaborate con game in which spectators are seduced into accepting the illusion of “real” violence, wrestling activates and authorizes its audiences, makes them complicit in the performance. Matches can be described in conventional dramatic terms that remain consistent whether in Madison Square Garden or Gleason’s Arena. Because the fight is fixed, the contest is for heat—for the fans’ attention—rather than for victory per se.
Conclusion
Authors: Wales Freedman Eden
Published: September 2020

The conclusion explores how the theories of dual-witnessing and Venn liminality originated and summarizes how readers can position themselves to dual- versus anti-witness. This section also underscores the power of African American literature to promote dual-witnessing and explicates how readers may witness dually and communally black and female personhood, culture, trauma, and triumph through the African American literary tradition. Finally, the conclusion theorizes how dual-witnessing can extend out of the individual conversation between speaker-survivor and reader-listener into a larger, collaborative engagement with trauma, so that dual-witnessing serves not only as an intellectual exercise but also as a revolutionary response that helps redress racism, sexism, trauma, and other forms of violence.
Play as Work
Authors: Pargman Daniel , Svensson Daniel
Published: September 2020

Contemporary images of desirable work (for example at gaming companies or at one of the tech giants) foregrounds creativity and incorporates and idealises elements of play. Simultaneously, becoming one of the best in some particular leisure activity can require many long hours of hard, demanding work. Between on the one hand work and on the other hand leisure and play, we enter the domain of games and sports. Most classical sports originally developed from physical practices of moving the human body and these practices were, through standardization, organization and rationalization, turned into sports. Many sport researchers, (sport) historians and (sport) sociologists have pointed out that sports have gone through a process of “sportification”. Cross-country skiing is an example of an activity that has gone through a historical process of sportification, over time becoming progressively more managed and regulated. Computer games are today following a similar trajectory and have gone from being a leisure activity to becoming a competitive activity, “esports”, with professional players, international competitions, and live streams that are watched by tens of millions of viewers.
Working on and at Play
Authors: Scully-Blaker Rainforest
Published: September 2020

As media objects, video games are imbued with values held by their makers. This is done intentionally by serious games practitioners but also occurs independently of design goals. One of the more problematic manifestations of ‘values at play’ is playbour, a putting-to-work of play that recalls Agamben’s mourning the loss of ‘menuchah’, an inoperativity that is more than a means to prepare one for more work. But is there a way to rescue leisure from its subservience to labour? Or, if not, is there a way to make the work done through play operate against the logics of late capitalism? To make sense of the conversations around player, game, power, and labour, I articulate two concepts: visibility, or the degree to which a system can account for the actions of those operating within it, and perception, a measure of an actor’s understanding of the methods through which a system understands their movements. Through several gameplay examples, I use these concepts to lay the foundation for suggesting that play is a force for critique, for laying bare a game’s operational logics so that they may be subject to our scrutiny. To conclude, the concepts of glitch and queer failure are introduced to argue for a working on and at play that interrogates not only video game machines, but the larger machines of ideology that drive them.
“Good Icing can’t Change an Average Cake”
Authors: Gómez Sebastián
Published: September 2020

Research on the impact of gameful experiences on the automation of labour and value creation is in need of a critical reformulation. The results presented in this study developed from a critical reading of the current literature on gamification and its internal struggles. I question what the gamification of work is, this time including knowledge collected by decades of academic research in the field of digital cultures and society, converging in a diverse yet attuned corpus of neomaterialist, post-anthropocentric, anti-Humanist, and intersectional theories of politics, algorithmic cultures and social justice (see Braidotti/ Hlavajova 2017). Findings suggest the experimental development of gamification technologies materializes from an interest in governance through the automation of behavioural management, resulting in the forced correction of non-normative bodies through self-optimization. Beyond colonial, anthropocentric binaries, gamification’s genealogy is not found in the overcoming of the Eurocentric distinction between work and games, but in the algorithmic architecture of techno-capitalism.
Feeling for an Audience
Authors: Ruberg Bonnie , Cullen Amanda L. L.
Published: September 2020

The practice of live streaming video games is becoming increasingly popular worldwide (Taylor 2018). Live streaming represents more than entertainment; it is expanding the practice of turning play into work. Though it is commonly misconstrued as “just playing video games,” live streaming requires a great deal of behind-the-scenes labor, especially for women, who often face additional challenges as professionals within video game culture (AnyKey 2015). In this article, we shed light on one important aspect of the gendered work of video game live streaming: emotional labor. To do so, we present observations and insights drawn from our analysis of instructional videos created by women live streamers and posted to YouTube. These videos focus on “tips and tricks” for how aspiring streamers can become successful on Twitch. Building from these videos, we articulate the various forms that emotional labor takes for video game live streamers and the gendered implications of this labor. Within these videos, we identify key recurring topics, such as how streamers work to cultivate feelings in viewers, perform feelings, manage their own feelings, and use feelings to build personal brands and communities for their streams. Drawing from existing work on video games and labor, we move this scholarly conversation in important new directions by highlighting the role of emotional labor as a key facet of video game live streaming and insisting on the importance of attending to how the intersection of play and work is tied to identity.