bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The impact of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) and cranberry products on each component of the metabolic syndrome: a review
Authors: Thimóteo Nataly Simões Bandiera , Scavuzzi Bruna Miglioranza , Simão Andréa Name Colado , Dichi Isaias
Published: July 2017

Background

Some studies have shown that cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) has beneficial effects on the components of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), a condition characterized by a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors such as central obesity, hypertension, impaired glucose homeostasis, elevated triglycerides, and decreased HDL cholesterol levels. Cranberry is very rich in polyphenols, which may significantly reduce cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

Main body of the abstract

Nutritional intervention studies have indicated that the intake of cranberries and cranberry products may have the following impact on metabolic health: (1) attenuate markers of obesity such as body weight, body mass index, and waist circumference; (2) reduce systolic and diastolic pressures; (3) decrease plasma concentrations of triglycerides and oxidized LDL-cholesterol, as well as increase HDL cholesterol; and (4) promote glucose homeostasis. In addition, nutritional intervention with cranberries could confer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to reduce biomarkers of atherosclerosis associated with the MetS, such as homocysteine.

Short conclusion

Although there has been promising results, particularly related to lipid profile and blood pressure, further research is needed to support the recommendation of cranberry intake as a nutritional intervention for the treatment of MetS.
Implementation of the Marchenko method
Authors: Thorbecke Jan , Slob Evert , Brackenhoff Joeri , van der Neut Joost , Wapenaar Kees
Published: July 2017

The Marchenko method makes it possible to compute subsurface-to-surface Green’s functions from reflection measurements at the surface. Applications of the Marchenko method have already been discussed in many papers, but its implementation aspects have not yet been discussed in detail. Solving the Marchenko equation is an inverse problem. The Marchenko method computes a solution of the Marchenko equation by an (adaptive) iterative scheme or by a direct inversion. We have evaluated the iterative implementation based on a Neumann series, which is considered to be the conventional scheme. At each iteration of this scheme, a convolution in time and an integration in space are performed between a so-called focusing (update) function and the reflection response. In addition, by applying a time window, one obtains an update, which becomes the input for the next iteration. In each iteration, upgoing and downgoing focusing functions are updated with these terms. After convergence of the scheme, the resulting upgoing and downgoing focusing functions are used to compute the upgoing and downgoing Green’s functions with a virtual-source position in the subsurface and receivers at the surface. We have evaluated this algorithm in detail and developed an implementation that reproduces our examples. The software fits into the Seismic Unix software suite of the Colorado School of Mines.
Use of the Electronic Medical Record to Facilitate Intervention for Patients With Rising Prostate-Specific Antigen Values After Radical Prostatectomy: A Feasibility Study
Authors: Kishan Amar U. , Cheng Eric M. , Schmidt Eric , Saigal Christopher , Reiter Robert E. , Kupelian Patrick A. , Steinberg Michael L. , King Christopher R.
Published: July 2017

Purpose

Salvage radiotherapy (SRT) is the standard of care offered when postprostatectomy prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels are ≥ 0.2 ng/mL. However, emerging evidence suggests that early SRT (ie, SRT delivered at PSA values < 0.2 ng/mL, but generally ≥ 0.05 ng/mL) improves oncologic outcomes. We evaluated the feasibility of improving referral rates for discussion of early SRT by using a dynamic registry that identifies through the electronic medical record patients with rising postprostatectomy PSA levels.

Methods

We developed an iteratively updated registry that identifies patients who fall within two postoperative PSA strata: ≥ 0.05 to < 0.1 ng/mL and ≥ 0.1 to < 0.2 ng/mL. We compared referral rates to radiation oncology during a 3-year period before use of this registry with those during a 1-year period after promotion of the registry in multidisciplinary tumor board settings.

Results

Before promotion of the registry, referral rates for patients with PSA values ≥ 0.05 to < 0.1 ng/mL and ≥ 0.1 to < 0.2 ng/mL were 35% and 65%, respectively. After promotion of the registry, referral rates within each stratum increased significantly to 82% and 94%, respectively ( P < .05 for both by Fisher’s exact test). The overall rate of referral for patients with PSA values ≥ 0.05 to < 0.2 ng/mL rose from 48% to 90% ( P < .001).

Conclusion

The creation of a registry of patients with rising postprostatectomy PSA values can facilitate increased referral rates for early SRT without burdening providers with a clinical support tool embedded within the EMR itself. This is true even in the case of already high baseline rates of referral for early SRT. The changes reported herein most likely reflect a Hawthorne effect wherein the ability to track referrals rather than a direct function of the registry influenced practice patterns. Nonetheless, the registry provided an integral framework to allow for tracking.
Flowtrace: simple visualization of coherent structures in biological fluid flows
Authors: Gilpin William , Prakash Vivek N. , Prakash Manu
Published: July 2017

We present a simple, intuitive algorithm for visualizing time-varying flow fields that can reveal complex flow structures with minimal user intervention. We apply this technique to a variety of biological systems, including the swimming currents of invertebrates and the collective motion of swarms of insects. We compare our results to more experimentally-difficult and mathematically-sophisticated techniques for identifying patterns in fluid flows, and suggest that our tool represents an essential “middle ground” allowing experimentalists to easily determine whether a system exhibits interesting flow patterns and coherent structures without resorting to more intensive techniques. In addition to being informative, the visualizations generated by our tool are often striking and elegant, illustrating coherent structures directly from videos without the need for computational overlays. Our tool is available as fully-documented open-source code available for MATLAB, Python, or ImageJ at www.flowtrace.org.
Uncommon neoplasms of the biliary tract: radiological findings
Authors: Granata Vincenza , Fusco Roberta , Catalano Orlando , Filice Salvatore , Avallone Antonio , Piccirillo Mauro , Leongito Maddalena , Palaia Raffaele , Grassi Roberto , Izzo Francesco , Petrillo Antonella
Published: July 2017

Objective:

To report our cancer centre experience in the biliary tumours incidence other than cholangiocellular-carcinoma, emphasizing the radiological features.

Methods:

197 patients with biliary disease undergoing Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI were reviewed. Four radiologists evaluated retrospectively size, structure, anatomical site and signal intensity of lesions on MRI. Enhancement-pattern during the arterial-, portal- and late-phase on ultrasound, CT and MR study was assessed as well as the enhancement pattern during the hepatobiliary-phase on MRI.

Results:

23 patients were selected. The lesion was intraductal in 5 cases, periductal in 14 and intrahepatic in 4. 16 lesions were solid, 5 uniloculated cystic and 2 complex cystic. In five patients the lesion was simple cyst, with a signal intensity in T  1 weighted (T1W) and T  2 weighted (T2W) similar to the gallbladder. In two patients with complex cystic lesion, the solid component was heterogeneously hypointense in T  1 W, hyperintense in T  2 W with a restricted diffusion. The solid component showed heterogeneous contrast-enhancement on CT, MR and ultrasound. The tumour was intrahepatic in two patients, with signal hypointense in T  1 W and hyperintense in T  2 W. Diffusion was restricted. The lesions showed heterogeneous contrast-enhancement. The periductal lesions were hypointense in T  1 W, hyperintense in T  2 W with restricted diffusion. The lesion showed progressive contrast-enhancement. Peribiliary melanoma was hyperintense in T  1 W, hyperintense in T  2 W with restricted diffusion and progressively contrast-enhanced.

Conclusion:

Biliary tumours can have a wide spectrum of radiologic appearances and consequently represent a diagnostic challenge for the radiologist.

Advances in knowledge:

MRI is the technique of choice in diagnosing biliary tumours, including rare (non-CCC) tumours.
Βενιέρης Δ., 2015, Κοινωνική Πολιτική: Έννοιες και Σχέσεις, Αθήνα: Τόπος
Authors: Δημουλάς Κώστας
Published: July 2017

Μη Διαθέσιμη Περίληψη
Η Κρίση και τα Μνημόνια Ισοπεδώνουν την Εργασία
Authors: Κουζής Γιάννης
Published: July 2017

Οι αλλαγές που συντελούνται στο πεδίο της εργασίας κατά την περίοδο της κρίσης και των μνημονίων στην Ελλάδα χαρακτηρίζονται από μια βίαιη ανατροπή των εργασιακών σχέσεων  στην κατεύθυνση της εργασιακής απορρύθμισης που καταγράφεται σταδιακά, αλλά με βραδύτερους ρυθμούς, από τις αρχές της δεκαετίας του 1990 στη χώρα. Η περίοδος των μνημονίων που συνοδεύουν την κρίση αποτελεί την αφορμή για την ραγδαία εντατικοποίηση των ρυθμών απελευθέρωσης της «αγοράς εργασίας» σε βαθμό που, σε τόσο σύντομο χρονικό διάστημα, συμβάλλει στην διαμόρφωση ενός εντελώς νέου εργασιακού τοπίου. Οι εξελίξεις αυτές, σε συνάρτηση με τα πρωτοφανή μεταπολεμικά ποσοστά ανεργίας,  επηρεάζουν καθοριστικά το περιεχόμενο των εργασιακών σχέσεων και συνεπάγονται σοβαρές παρενέργειες στο πεδίο των συνθηκών εργασίας και διαβίωσης σε συνδυασμό με την συντελούμενη απορρύθμιση του ανέκαθεν ελλειμματικού κράτους πρόνοιας στην Ελλάδα. Η πλήρης αποδιάρθρωση του συστήματος των συλλογικών συμβάσεων και του τρόπου διαμόρφωσης των μισθών, η απελευθέρωση των ατομικών και ομαδικών απολύσεων, η ελαστικοποίηση των ωραρίων και η ενίσχυση των ευέλικτων μορφών εργασίας σε βάρος της πλήρους και σταθερής απασχόλησης αποτελούν τους κύριους άξονες στους οποίους κινούνται οι εν λόγω αλλαγές. Αυτές συμπληρώνονται και από δραστικά μέτρα περιορισμού της απασχόλησης  και υποβάθμισης  της εργασίας στον δημόσιο τομέα στο πλαίσιο της συντελούμενης σύγκλισης του εργασιακού καθεστώτος του Δημοσίου με το αντίστοιχο που ισχύει στις ιδιωτικές επιχειρήσεις με όρους συνολικής υποβάθμισης και απορρύθμισης της εργασίας. Οι επιβαλλόμενες αλλαγές  στην Ελλάδα από ισχυρούς εθνικούς και διεθνείς οικονομικούς κύκλους δημιουργούν  μια περιοχή χαμηλών δαπανών για την εργασία κατάλληλη για υψηλή κερδοφορία του κεφαλαίου εντός  του χώρου της ευρωζώνης. Παράλληλα αποτελούν το έναυσμα για την επέκταση του ελληνικού πειράματος  στον υπόλοιπο ευρωπαϊκό νότο  σε ένα γενικότερο πλαίσιο εργασιακής απορρύθμισης που καταγράφεται στην γηραιά ήπειρο, στο σύνολό της, κατά τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες και την υιοθέτηση από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση παρεμβάσεων στην αγορά εργασίας με στόχο την ανταγωνιστικότητα των επιχειρήσεων και με άξονα  την ευελιξία της εργασίας για την επίτευξη χαμηλότερου «εργατικού κόστους».
Η Εφαρμογή του Κοινωνικού Εισοδήματος Αλληλεγγύης στην Ελλάδα
Authors: Κωνσταντίνος Δημουλάς
Published: July 2017

Το Ελάχιστο Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα, μετά από τρεις αποτυχημένες προσπάθειες, εφαρμόζεται στην Ελλάδα ως αναπόσπαστο μέρος των υποχρεώσεων της χώρας απέναντι στους Δανειστές της. Το άρθρο εξετάζει τα χαρακτηριστικά του, τόσο στο πλαίσιο των προηγούμενων πρωτοβουλιών όσο και κατά τις φάσεις της πιλοτικής και σταδιακής εφαρμογής του μετά το 2014. Η ανάλυση περιστρέφεται γύρω από τον άξονα των προϋποθέσεων και κριτηρίων εφαρμογής του προγράμματος και την επίδρασή τους στα χαρακτηριστικά των δικαιούχων και την αναδιάρθρωση του προτύπου κοινωνικής προστασίας στην Ελλάδα προς ένα υπολειμματικό πρότυπο με την περαιτέρω υποβάθμιση των όρων αναπαραγωγής των κατώτερων κοινωνικών στρωμάτων.
Proteolytic processing of the L-type Ca2+ channel alpha11.2 subunit in neurons
Authors: Buonarati Olivia R. , Henderson Peter B. , Murphy Geoffrey G. , Horne Mary C. , Hell Johannes W.
Published: July 2017

Background: The L-type Ca2+ channel Cav1.2 is a prominent regulator of neuronal excitability, synaptic plasticity, and gene expression. The central element of Cav1.2 is the pore-forming α11.2 subunit. It exists in two major size forms, whose molecular masses have proven difficult to precisely determine. Recent work suggests that α11.2 is proteolytically cleaved between the second and third of its four pore-forming domains (Michailidiset al,. 2014).

Methods: To better determine the apparent molecular masses (MR)of the α11.2 size forms, extensive systematic immunoblotting of brain tissue as well as full length and C-terminally truncated α11.2 expressed in HEK293 cells was conducted using six different region–specific antibodies against α11.2.

Results: The full length form of α11.2 migrated, as expected, with an apparent MRof ~250 kDa. A shorter form of comparable prevalence with an apparent MRof ~210 kDa could only be detected in immunoblots probed with antibodies recognizing α11.2 at an epitope 400 or more residues upstream of the C-terminus.

Conclusions: The main two size forms of α11.2 are the full length form and a shorter form, which lacks ~350 distal C-terminal residues. Midchannel cleavage as suggested by Michailidiset al. (2014) is at best minimal in brain tissue.
Bioconductor workflow for single-cell RNA sequencing: Normalization, dimensionality reduction, clustering, and lineage inference
Authors: Perraudeau Fanny , Risso Davide , Street Kelly , Purdom Elizabeth , Dudoit Sandrine
Published: July 2017

Novel single-cell transcriptome sequencing assays allow researchers to measure gene expression levels at the resolution of single cells and offer the unprecendented opportunity to investigate at the molecular level fundamental biological questions, such as stem cell differentiation or the discovery and characterization of rare cell types. However, such assays raise challenging statistical and computational questions and require the development of novel methodology and software. Using stem cell differentiation in the mouse olfactory epithelium as a case study, this integrated workflow provides a step-by-step tutorial to the methodology and associated software for the following four main tasks: (1) dimensionality reduction accounting for zero inflation and over dispersion and adjusting for gene and cell-level covariates; (2) cell clustering using resampling-based sequential ensemble clustering; (3) inference of cell lineages and pseudotimes; and (4) differential expression analysis along lineages.
Innovation technologies of polymeric composite materials in mechanical engineering
Authors: Зубарев Ю. , Zubarev Yu. , Приемышев А. , Priyomyshev A.
Published: July 2017

The peculiarities of polymeric composite material cutting are considered: chip formation, wear of a cutter manufactured of different tool materials; forces of cutting and quality of a surface worked.
Improvement technologies of surface properties in products with complex geometry by low-temperature plasma impact
Authors: Бржозовский Борис , Brzhozovskiy Boris , Зинина Елена , Zinina Elena , Мартынов Владимир , Martynov Vladimir
Published: July 2017

Technologies ensuring the surface properties improvement of complex-profile products by the impact of low-temperature plasma of a combined discharge are shown. The technologies of strengthening and a passivating film formation on the surface are considered by the example of metal products. The technology of surface roughness improvement is considered by the example of metal and non-metal products. It is shown that for the achievement of maximum possible improvement of surface properties in products the development of special equipment is necessary.
Design of innovation technologies in metal shaping
Authors: Дёмин Виктор , Demin Virtor
Published: July 2017

The procedures of designing innovation technologies in metal shaping are considered. Particular attention is paid to the technological processes of manufacturing blanks approximated to ready-made products in the maximum possible way
Risk-Sensitive Asset Management and Cascading Defaults
Authors: Birge John R. , Bo Lijun , Capponi Agostino
Published: July 2017

We consider an optimal risk-sensitive portfolio allocation problem accounting for the possibility of cascading defaults. Default events have an impact on the distress state of the surviving stocks in the portfolio. We study the recursive system of non-Lipschitz quasilinear parabolic HJB-PDEs associated with the value function of the control problem in the different default states of the economy. We show the existence of a classical solution to this system via super-sub solution techniques and give an explicit characterization of the optimal feedback strategy in terms of the value function. We prove a verification theorem establishing the uniqueness of the solution. A numerical analysis indicates that the investor significantly accounts for contagion effects when making investment decisions, and that his strategy depends nonmonotonically on the aggregate risk level.
A Markov Model of a Limit Order Book: Thresholds, Recurrence, and Trading Strategies
Authors: Kelly Frank , Yudovina Elena
Published: July 2017

We analyze a tractable model of a limit order book on short time scales, where the dynamics are driven by stochastic fluctuations between supply and demand. We establish the existence of a limiting distribution for the highest bid, and for the lowest ask, where the limiting distributions are confined between two thresholds. We make extensive use of fluid limits to establish recurrence properties of the model. We use the model to analyze various high-frequency trading strategies, and comment on the Nash equilibria that emerge between high-frequency traders when a market in continuous time is replaced by frequent batch auctions.
Robust Adaptive Routing Under Uncertainty
Authors: Flajolet Arthur , Blandin Sébastien , Jaillet Patrick
Published: July 2017

We consider the problem of finding an optimal history-dependent routing strategy on a directed graph weighted by stochastic arc costs when the objective is to minimize the risk of spending more than a prescribed budget. To help mitigate the impact of the lack of information on the arc cost probability distributions, we introduce a robust counterpart where the distributions are only known through confidence intervals on some statistics such as the mean, the mean absolute deviation, and any quantile. Leveraging recent results in distributionally robust optimization, we develop a general-purpose algorithm to compute an approximate optimal strategy. To illustrate the benefits of the robust approach, we run numerical experiments with field data from the Singapore road network.

The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/opre.2017.1662 .
Characteristics of women with unplanned pregnancy: results from Botswana AIDS Impact Survey IV
Authors: Mogobe Keitshokile Dintle , Tshiamo Wananani
Published: July 2017

Background:

In sub-Saharan Africa, there are 40 million pregnancies each year. Of these, one-quarter are unplanned and have negative health and socio-economic consequences.

Aim:

The aim of this article is to share findings on demographic characteristics of childbearing women who reported unplanned pregnancy.

Methods:

Botswana AIDS Impact Survey IV data were used to respond to the question, ‘What are the demographic characteristics of women who reported unplanned pregnancy in Botswana?’ The data extracted related to 311 687 women who responded to the question, ‘Have you given birth in the past 5 years?’ The authors then focused on data for 160 482 women who responded to the question ‘Was the last pregnancy planned?’ Using SPSS version 22, frequencies, means and standard deviations were calculated and demographic characteristics were analysed.

Findings:

More women with low educational status, unemployed, never married or cohabiting and residing in rural areas reported unplanned pregnancy.

Conclusions:

Unplanned pregnancy in Botswana requires targeted interventions.
Fetal heart rate monitoring: the challenge in under-resourced settings
Authors: Jagau Anneke , Maughan-Brown Rebecca , Fawcus Sue R , Crede Sarah , Woods David , Lawn Joy E
Published: July 2017

Background:

Intrapartum-related deaths are the second most common cause of neonatal death, resulting in 1.2 million stillbirths each year, many of which could be prevented with improved intrapartum monitoring. The partograph was developed as a tool to help health professionals to provide better and more efficient care during labour. This study set out to address whether this low-cost tool was reaching under-resourced settings and whether it was being used correctly.

Aim:

To assess barriers and enablers for the use of a partograph in under-resourced settings, especially to monitor fetal heart rate.

Method:

Evaluation of 538 partographs as well as in-depth interviews and knowledge assessments with 24 midwives.

Findings:

The general score for partograph use and completion was 59.3%. The score for fetal heart rate assessment was 56%. The midwives interviewed felt that partograph use and fetal heart rate monitoring were important but also felt insecure and undertrained in this aspect of midwifery practice.

Conclusions:

This review showed that very few partographs were completed according to standard, despite the fact that the midwives knew the importance of fetal heart rate monitoring and were motivated to monitor well. Time constraints and a lack of training were identified as the biggest barriers to correct monitoring.
Journal Scan
Authors: Welyczko Nikki
Published: July 2017

Nikki Welyczko, Teacher Fellow and Principal Lecturer for Adult Nursing at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, De Montfort University, provides a brief overview of recently published nursing and health articles
Endoscopic treatment for Barrett's oesophagus dysplasia and early cancer
Authors: Pana Mirela , Sansone Stefano , Fernandez-Sordo Jacobo Ortiz , Ragunath Krish
Published: July 2017

Endoscopic treatment of early Barrett's oesophagus neoplasia is now proven to be a safe and effective alternative to oesophagectomy. An ideal candidate for endoscopic treatment should have dysplasia or carcinoma limited to the mucosa or superficial submucosa without lymphovascular invasion or poor differentiation. Two main types of endoscopic therapies are used: (1) endoscopic resection, which comprises of endoscopic mucosal resection or endoscopic submucosal dissection for removal of visible lesions en bloc and (2) endoscopic ablation utilising argon plasma coagulation, radiofrequency ablation or, more recently, cryotherapy. Although endoscopic resection is the cornerstone for Barrett's endotherapy, ablative techniques are complementary in achieving complete eradication of the columnar epithelium and dysplasia.
Political Economy of Agency Employment: Flexibility or Exploitation?
Authors: Abdullah Z. Sheikh
Published: July 2017

The proliferation of agency employment in Pakistan is a serious labour problem and a public policy concern because of the potentially negative implications for agency workers' basic statutory rights. Agency workers are normally given a vastly different, often negligible, package of benefits from their permanent counterparts. They are especially vulnerable to instant dismissal and are generally excluded from collective bargaining arrangements. Unions regard the use of agency employment as exploitative, and a threat to their jurisdiction and membership. This article reports on an in-depth study of “payrolling” agencies. Pay-rolling agencies are a particular form of employment intermediaries through which employers attempt to bypass statutory obligations concerning workers' benefit entitlements and trade union rights, simply by paying workers through an agency. A total of 97 interviews, undertaken in six case studies across three industrial sectors with employees, employers, agency and union officials, and industry specialists revealed sufficient evidence on the use of pay-rolling agencies. The results confirmed the anecdotal evidence that some employment agencies are not truly genuine. The evidence suggested that there is a growing trend for agencies to be simply a sham arrangement, refuting the notion that temporary agency work has only been a natural and inevitable response to changes in the economy.
Kyrgyzstan's Accession to the EEU: Why Do Apples Matter Anyway?
Authors: Deborah Dergousoff
Published: July 2017

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) came into effect in January 2015 with the goal of creating an integrated single market in the Central Asian region. Among the measures Kyrgyzstan needs to adopt for accession is reorganization of the agricultural and agro-processing sector to comply with EEU requirements. With this in mind, I apply a relational conception of food to examine and understand how a capital-dependent agricultural system comes to bear on smallholder production in Kyrgyzstan. Examining apples as relational allows me to illustrate and analyze what is changing, what may be unalterable, and why. My analysis demonstrates how food security and the impact of the EEU on agricultural production can be analyzed and understood so as to grasp the transformative potential of food through processes of abstraction, and to more concretely understand the small states problematic in the broader context of multipolarity.
The Buck Stops Here: The Return of US Decline
Authors: Michael Keaney
Published: July 2017

The widespread perception of the relative decline of the US as a global power in recent years was given particular impetus by the global financial crisis. This has prompted renewed reflection on how the US came to pre-eminence, how it exploited its dominant position, the processes and manifestations of decline, and the impact of decline on the domestic front. The position of the US dollar as global reserve currency remains for now, but increased awareness of the challenges it faces has prompted deeper consideration of the implications of any decline in its hegemonic status for global security, as well as for domestic politics.
Concepts of the database in contemporary media practice
Authors: Moran Ruth Alexandra
Published: July 2017

Contemporary remix practices in online video have flourished, due to the unprecedented access to our shared media culture that has been made possible by the databases underpinning online space. The technological and functional specificities of the database intercede our experiences in digital culture and influence how we understand our culture that increasingly occupies the database. They also influence how we express ideas about that culture through creative practices. The technological and, correspondingly, cultural significances of the database are articulated in the digitally specific remix video sub-genre, YouTube Poop. YouTube Poop relies on the database for the existing media content that it appropriates. Moreover, it narratively and aesthetically responds to the database by articulating the concepts of technological error, ahistoricism, multi-temporality, media abundance, the constant availability and the achronological, non-hierarchical, unclassified nature of media that the database has introduced to contemporary culture. In this article, the audio-visual narratives of three recent YouTube Poop videos are analysed in order to establish how they articulate the conceptual implications of the database in contemporary digital culture.
Da-Sein design: Linking phenomenology with Self-Determination Theory for game design
Authors: Conway Steven , Elphinstone Bradley
Published: July 2017

In this article we propose a phenomenological foundation for the application of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in game design. While SDT provides much value in describing why a person engages with and is motivated to continue engaging with games (of all types) as meaningful experiences, it currently lacks an overt definition of meaning and how it occurs. We argue that the Heideggerian phenomenology offers an explicit delineation of meaning in the human experience, and, furthermore, is already implicit in the conceptualization of SDT’s core needs, as we demonstrate. Finally, we show how this understanding of meaning (phenomenology) and needs (SDT) can be fruitfully linked to provide a robust set of theoretical concepts for comprehending the experience of gameplay through a short case study of the camera system as designed within digital games.
What you hear is what you (don’t) see. Mario Wienerroither’s Foley art in Musicless Musicvideos
Authors: Dotto Simone
Published: July 2017

Mario Wienerrother’s Musicless Musicvideos series have recently surfaced on the Internet and since 2006, they have gained millions of views as a humorous YouTube sensation. As a professional sound designer, he re-edits already released and often widely known music videos by depriving them of music and adding a different, entirely sonic audio track that he records himself. All of these reworkings seem to raise the same hypothetical question: what if these audio-visual excerpts were deprived of their most signifying aural expression, namely music? Would they still have the same meaning? Would they tell the same ‘story’? This article aims to explore Wienerroither’s practices and the effects they provoke on our understanding of the aesthetic conventions of the music video. As a first step, I will provide a detailed account of the process for realizing the Musicless Musicvideos by drawing on an interview I carried out with the author. Secondly, I will investigate a number of Wienerroither’s productions in relation to (1) the aesthetic conventions of music video and (2) the practical realm of Foley artistry. Through these comparisons, I will explore how the renewed sonic dimension in these videos matches the settings, objects and human figures we see on-screen and the extent to which this can change our understanding of the images themselves, through the production of a humorous effect and the construction of a sonic diegesis superimposed to the re-edited materials. The objective of the article is to demonstrate how, by relying on a sound-centred practice, Musicless Musicvideos undermine the overall balance between the visual and the aural elements in a typical music video.
‘Formation’ of the female author in the hip hop visual album: Beyoncé and FKA twigs
Authors: Barrett Ciara
Published: July 2017

This article explores how and why, from a feminist standpoint, two black female hip hop artists – Beyoncé and FKA twigs – have turned in recent years to the emerging audio-visual format of the visual album towards a radical expression of female authorship. This is ‘radical’, specifically, in two contexts: firstly hip hop, the genre with which these artists are traditionally associated and which has been associated, historically, with a repressive politics of gender and race representation through music videos and secondly, that of the classical paradigm of film style and narration, which the visual album as long-form video implicitly confronts. Synthesizing traditional feminist film theory with more recent theorization of music video aesthetics and representational trends, this article considers how Beyoncé and FKA twigs have remediated certain formal and narrative paradigms of film and music video to create a uniquely hybrid form. Beyoncé’s self-titled visual album from 2013 will be considered as an initial interrogation-cum-problematization of the sexist representational paradigms endemic to hip hop music videos and classical cinema from the inside out, while her more recent Lemonade and twigs’s M3ll155X will be analysed as radically formally innovative and assertive of a subjective, female authorial voice. These two artists will be seen to have self-consciously invoked a filmic mode of representation and spectatorship across the formally experimental audio-visual format of the video album to exert a remarkable degree of control over their audio-self-images’ narrativization and signification.
High-octave soprano to auto-tuned rapper: Item numbers and technologies of sonic eroticism
Authors: Mukherjee Silpa
Published: July 2017

The item number, a microfilmic musical form, has been shaped by a wide range of intersecting influences: the fashion industry, music video culture and the 24/7 music television format introduced with globalization in India. The name item number (a special song and dance sequence) is probably derived from the term ‘item’ (nowadays used for petite gay men as well), the Bombaiya equivalent of the slang ‘looker’, the worst way of objectifying a human body by disintegrating it into individual units (items). Item numbers tend to be big budget productions, like stand-alone attractions that are staged to have a life independent of the narrative. The production economy for these dances is intricately designed with a special focus on sets, costumes, make-up, digital technologies for lighting, music, cinematography and editing. The identifying marker of an item number is the way in which it foregrounds the body as a sexualized force. In this article, I locate the sensual affect of the item number in its sonic template. DJs, rappers, playback sopranos and mixing engineers are the assembling figures of this article. While questions of new media technologies, in terms of lip-syncing and digital mixing battles, form the vortex of enquiry here, cultural references to the gender and sexual charge of the voices are equally significant. I argue that the technical matrices of its circulation, sound amplification and the performative force of the item number conjure a new sonic ecology that heightens the wildness that is associated with its loud sound. The article also enquires into censorship debates that frame this sonic eroticism.
Finding meaning in data: Using data elements to sonify and visualize the found environment
Authors: Tsang Cissi
Published: July 2017

Visiting a natural setting can be a deeply visceral experience. Experiencing a landscape is a two-part process: firstly, the senses take in information from a three-dimensional world – for most of us, these take the forms of sights and sounds. Secondly, this information is translated into a mental landscape flecked with the nuances of personal meaning. How one interprets a landscape cannot be separated from the observer; our personal experiences (and biases) filter and colour our observations. Arguably, the use of landscapes in the creation of artefacts is a form of communicative expression, both between the artist and the landscape and between the artist and their own experiences. These considerations then raise the question of how an artist can then depict these visual and aural experiences, and the impact they have on the artist, as tangible artefacts that can be shared with others? One answer is through the creation of audio-visual works that combine the visual and aural aspects of a setting, and which then leads to another question: how do you create – or re-create – representations of a landscape? How does one establish relationships and associations between visual and aural information drawn from the found environment (i.e. the environment in situ as seen and heard through the eyes and ears of an observer) and place these into audio-visual compositions? This article explores the creation of audio-visual representations of the found environment using elements of data as methods of sonification, the compositional processes involved with organizing these data elements, using data as a structural process that informs the parameters of a composition and the use of music visualization. Multiple data elements such as hexadecimal data, field footage, field recordings and contours of a landscape can be used to sonify the found environment by creating multiple perspectives of the environment into the work. It also strengthens the connection between the aural and the visual by creating links between both mediums. This article will discuss these points through analysis of the creation of Civil Eyes // The Wild, an audio-visual performance that was commissioned by the You Are Here Festival in 2016 – using the performance as an example of how the found environment can be used as parameters for sonification and visualization.
‘Unmute This’: Captioning an (audio)visual microgenre
Authors: Harper Paula
Published: July 2017

I argue that ‘Unmute This’ videos constitute an Internet video microgenre, and as particular intersections of behaviour, devices and content, these videos function as an entry point into a number of broader issues within twenty-first–century audio-visual media and participatory behaviour. First, the moment of encounter with an ‘Unmute This’ video post elucidates a reframing of the digital sensorium: how ears and eyes, watching and listening, are configured and reconfigured in tandem with ubiquitous devices like smartphones and earbuds, and via the affordances and behaviours of various digital and social media platforms. Secondly, directives to ‘Unmute This’ point to a distinct mode of online socialization, a particular ‘sociality’ of social media. In collaboration with the devices and platforms of their everyday experience, users build a vernacular theory of media use based on their own behaviours and practices. They then implement that theory while seeking to impart an ideal content experience for others, platform users potentially far removed from the poster/commenter’s own acquaintances. In this article, then, I begin by unpacking the implementation of autoplaying video and the assemblage of the ubiquitous digital sensorium – that is, what sensory behaviours and practices map on to dealing with autoplaying video, at least as suggested by ‘Unmute This’ directives. I then consider ‘Unmute This’ videos as a genre, sketching out some patterns in the form and content of videos that one might be most likely directed to ‘UNMUTE IMMEDIATELY’, and interrogating how such stylistic and formal details might be emergent in response to platform affordances, ubiquitous devices and norms of Internet-mediated sociality. Finally, I suggest a theorization of vernacular media theory, drawn from the particulars of ‘Unmute This’ videos and their creators and disseminators, and I unpack some implications for the kinds of assumptions about sociality, behaviour and trust that are built into such theorizing and user responses to it.
Python como primer lenguaje de programación textual en la Enseñanza Secundaria
Authors: García Monsálvez José Carlos
Published: July 2017

Con la reciente introducción de la Programación en el currículo preuniversitario, se abre una oportunidad para incluir conceptos fundamentales de las Ciencias de la Computación. Este artículo presenta el origen y evolución de Python, las principales características que lo configuran como un lenguaje idóneo, así como una revisión y clasificación de herramientas educativas disponibles en su ecosistema. Dichas herramientas abarcan un amplio y variado abanico de recursos; desde libros interactivos hasta librerías que facilitan la creación de elaborados artefactos software por parte de los alumnos. En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta multidisciplinar para utilizar el lenguaje de programación Python en todos los niveles de Secundaria.
Experiencia de gamificación en Secundaria en el Aprendizaje de Sistemas Digitales
Authors: Díez Rioja Jesús Carlos , Bañeres Besora David , Serra Vizern Montse
Published: July 2017

El uso del juego, utilizado siempre en edades tempranas para motivar el aprendizaje, ha sido frecuentemente estigmatizado en edades más avanzadas al considerarse una pérdida de tiempo. Sin embargo, en los últimos años el fenómeno de la gamificación se ha convertido en una tendencia metodológica con una gran presencia en las aulas. En este artículo, además de realizar un estudio del estado del arte en gamificación en primaria y secundaria y estudios universitarios, se describe, también, la experiencia llevada a cabo en un instituto de Barcelona donde se ha utilizado una aplicación implementada ad hoc para enseñar, de una forma lúdica, contenidos de sistemas digitales en el contexto de la asignatura de Tecnología Industrial del bachillerato. Los resultados de la experiencia y opiniones de los estudiantes que han sido positivas se recogen en este artículo.
Cierta tendencia (nostálgica) del slow cinema
Authors: Muñoz Fernández Horacio
Published: July 2017

El slow cinema es una de las tendencias del cine contemporáneo más interesantes de los últimos años. Bajo esta categoría se intenta agrupar a un heterogéneo grupo de cineastas posnarrativos de diferentes nacionalidades que utilizan, principalmente, una duración muy elevada en los planos y formas poco narrativas o no-narrativas en sus películas. A pesar de la evidencia terminológica de la categoría, ésta ha generado numerosos debates y polémicas sobre su estética temporal y su genealogía. Este trabajo realiza una revisión crítica de las distintas corrientes teóricas del slow cinema para intentar exponer sus puntos de encuentro y diferencias. También se analizan algunas obras representativas de esta tendencia con la intención de demostrar la evidente melancolía primitiva que subyace en ellas, y se trazan posibles vínculos teóricos con los movimientos Slow Down. Y para finalizar, se defiende la necesidad de una estética de la lentitud que no consista solo en la tranquilidad y la calma ni en una simple inversión de la velocidad, sino en una búsqueda de sensorialidad, en una representación de cotidiano o en una crítica de la razón de la Historia
The Trail of ’98 (Clarence Brown, 1928) and the Klondike Gold Rush: The Last Big road show of Hollywood’s Silent Film Era
Authors: Guiralt Gomar Carmen
Published: July 2017

This paper consists in a study of The Trail of ’98 (1928), a film directed by Clarence Brown for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, whose plot deals with the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada, in 1898. Although this was one of the last great epic films produced by Hollywood in the late 1920s, it remains Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s biggest commercial failure to date. As a result, it is largely unknown and still undocumented today. This paper will aim to create a historical reconstruction of the shooting, establishing its chronology and researching the extreme circumstances of its location shooting. It will also scrutinise the merits of a new, albeit short-lived, widescreen process called Fantom Screen that was used specifically for its exhibition, and its distribution under the concept of road show. Finally, it will analyse the reasoning behind the film’s structure and the specific Hollywood context that led to its commercial failure.
O cinema existe e resiste. Longa duração, análise fílmica e espectatorialidade nos filmes de Lav Diaz
Authors: Ramos Monteiro Lúcia
Published: July 2017

A longa duração – de planos e filmes –, ao lado de uma sensação difusa de lentidão, vem sendo apontada pela crítica e pela academia como tendência do cinema independente contemporâneo, relacionada ao uso dos suportes digitais de gravação e exibição. Tal característica pode de modo geral ser encontrada em toda a obra do cineasta filipino Lav Diaz. Neste artigo, a questão será pensada sobretudo no estudo de dois de seus filmes, Florentina Hubaldo, CTE (2012) e A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery (2016), em primeiro lugar como dificuldade para a análise fílmica, exacerbando o paradoxo descrito por Raymond Bellour em “Le texte introuvable” (1979), e em seguida em meio às interrogações sobre a atualidade da sala de cinema. Para além da discussão à realidade e ao realismo do cinema a partir da ontologia proposta por Bazin (1993), aqui a questão do plano longo será abordada sobretudo do ponto de vista da postura espectatorial, tanto com relação a sua atenção – como os filmes de Diaz direcionam (ou abstêm-se de direcionar) a atenção do espectador? – quanto da experiência comunitária das salas de cinema.
'Waiting as Such': The Politics of Tarrying
Authors: Davis Glyn
Published: July 2017

This essay explores the subject of waiting in relation to cinema. It looks in particular at films that engage at length with waiting through extended duration, focusing on one 'black box' example (Lav Diaz's Death in the Land of Encantos) and one 'white cube' example (Wang Bing's Crude Oil). The essay outlines various ways in which waiting has been theorised, and interrogates how these can be related to cinema. In addition to exploring the ways in which waiting works in relation to the moving image in cinemas and galleries, the essay explores the politics of waiting. Even those films which concentrate on the oppressive political uses of waiting, it is concluded, may offer glimpses of ways in which waiting could be harnessed positively.
“What we do is not art, it is definitely storytelling”: An interview with producer Thomas Hellum on NRK’s Minutt for minutt television series
Authors: Thomson C. Claire
Published: July 2017

“Slow TV” has emerged as the label for a series of long-duration programmes showcasing Norway’s landscape and traditions, conceived in 2009 as an experiment for NRK, the national public service broadcaster. In this interview, producer Thomas Hellum explains the concept, principles and working methods behind Minutt for minutt. Ultimately, he insists, the extreme duration of many of the programmes is a function of the principles and culture of public service broadcasting in Norway. The slowness of Slow TV has little in common with the slowness of Slow Cinema. Minutt for minutt is not about art, says Hellum; it is about storytelling.
On Length: A Short History of Long Cinema
Authors: De Luca Tiago
Published: July 2017

The question of running time in the cinema has often been relegated to the margins throughout much of film history. This essay attempts to rectify this by opening up some preliminary avenues of thought towards a more systematic historicisation of the long film across different forms and practices. In so doing, the essay hopes to show some possible directions in which the study of long cinema and the question of cinematic length more broadly can be taken in the future.
ANALISIS PENGGUNAAN LAHAN DAN ARAHAN PENGENDALIAN PEMANFAATAN RUANG DI KABUPATEN BOGOR
Authors: Dani Ely Triwulan , Sitorus Santun R.P. , Munibah Khursatul
Published: July 2017

Bogor Regency has three strategic functions, as a buffer zone of Jakarta, water system conservation area, and agricultural development area. Rapid population growth led to the need for land better place to live and businesses, it triggers a change in land use that resulted in the violation of spatial pattern plan. Therefore, the spatial usage must be controlled, in order to be in line with the spatial pattern plan and support functions of Bogor Regency. The main purpose of this study was to formulate the control direction of spatial usage in Bogor Regency. The spatial analysis used to obtain information on land use, land ownership, location permits, and evaluation of land use on spatial pattern plan. Schallogram method used to determine the level of the hierarchy of the region, and factors affecting the inconsistency of land use on spatial pattern plan obtained by the analysis of field data. Formulation of the directives controlling spatial utilization is obtained by descriptive analysis. The results showed that 51.33% of exsisting land use in Bogor Regency has not been done and still can be directed in order to conform with the spatial pattern plan, the remaining 38.06% was suitable and unsuitable 10.62%. The factors that cause such inconsistency were the lack socialization policy less, the absence of licensing, housing needs, public facilities availability and accessibility, lands of usage before defined spatial pattern plan, the transfer of land ownership, and sortage of agricultural support facilities. The implications of these results were necessary to apply four control instruments, those are licensing, zoning regulations, provision of incentives and disincentives, and sanctions. Besides, the need for policy dissemination and surveillance, monitoring and evaluation periodically.