bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Sitwells and Sitwellism
Authors: Longworth Deborah
Published: January 2018

Few figures have been so renowned and yet so critically dismissed within the history of literary modernism as Edith, Osbert and Sacheverell Sitwell. For a time in the early 1920s they were the leading personalities of London’s immediately post-war modernist haut bohemia, and the embodiment of the modernist avant-garde as it was perceived in the popular imagination. One of the reasons for their disappearance from histories of the emergence of English modernism, is perhaps that the Sitwellian brand of avant-gardism was so distinct from the classicist aesthetic standard by which modernism would subsequently come to be defined. This chapter examines a cult of “ornamental modernism” in the 1920s, of which the Sitwells were the figureheads; an impulse that we find in works that embrace the extravagant, the theatrical, or the eccentric; that turn to the decadent, baroque, and rococo rather than the classical for their models, that foreground artistic celebrity rather than impersonality, and in which performance and façades dominate rather than formalist clean lines or the direct articulation of subjective consciousness. It is an alternative trend in experimental art that overtly positions itself in antagonism with the conservative artistic and cultural tendencies of the period, but that also sits awkwardly in relation to the standard and revisionary histories of avant-garde and modernist experiment, exemplifying instead an ornamental aesthetic that has been all but obliterated from subsequent literary and art history.
Introduction
Authors: Maring Heather
Published: January 2018

mongum reordum, wrencum singe

(with many voices, with stratagems, I sing)

In an allegory, J.R.R. Tolkien describes a tower’s beauty and integrity, overlooked by critics who lift away its every stone, searching for origins and what they expect (Monsters 7–8). Their methodology leads them to miss that the man who built the tower “had been able to look out upon the sea” (7). ...
Signifying the Coming of Christ in The Advent Lyrics
Authors: Maring Heather
Published: January 2018

Old English verse uses “ritual signs” as an expressive component that complements the hybridity of written oral-connected idioms and of the oral-literate versions of these idioms that benefit from metaphorical analysis. By expanding the theory of Immanent Art to the arena of ritual, it is possible to create a methodology for tracing ritual signification in works that have strong ties to oral traditions. This chapter suggests that just as hybrid, oral-related texts may resound for their audiences with the extra-textual associations created by oral metonyms, likewise such texts may resound with liturgical associations triggered by ritual metonyms. An aesthetic complexity that is not apparent when solely using traditional modes of literary analysis becomes apparent when applying the lenses of oral and ritual theory. Chapter 7 explores the aesthetic and expressive significance of ritual signs in the Advent Lyrics (Christ I) by comparing and contrasting the Latin antiphons for Advent with their Old English translations, a process that exposes the productive interplay of literate, oral, and ritual modes of signification in the Advent Lyrics.
Freedom and Resistance
Authors: Curry Christopher
Published: January 2018

A popular misconception about the American Revolution is that it was largely contained within the continental boundaries of North America. However, the American Revolution neither ended with the cessation of armed conflict in 1781 nor the Treaty of Versailles in 1783; rather it continued and mutated in unusual places, a revolution often carried by those who had the most to lose by being denied the freedom that was promised at the outset of the war. Freedom and Resistance: A Social History of Black Loyalists in the Bahamas studies the struggles for freedom of a group of black loyalists (those enslaved and free blacks loyal to the British causes), who settled in the non-plantation, slave-holding colony of the Bahamas, located on the periphery of the Caribbean region. By focusing on the struggles for freedom that black loyalists experienced in the Bahamas, this book not only aims to recover the social history of black loyalists but seeks to examine the nature of their contributions to Bahamian society. One of the major themes explored in this study is black resistance and political activism. Much of this activism was shaped by the racial discord which erupted in the Bahamas between black and white loyalists in two distinct locales: the previously uninhabited islands of Abaco and the older, more urban center of Nassau, located on the island of New Providence.
Disappearing Bodies in White Rose and the Red
Authors: Vetter Lara
Published: January 2018

In her second postwar novel, H.D. creates a layered historical narrative of the wars and uprisings of the mid-nineteenth century; the Crusades of the Middle Ages; and, implicitly, the Second World War and the partitioning of India and Pakistan. A story of Elizabeth Siddall and the Pre-Raphaelites, the novel relies upon the historical backdrop of the Crimean War and the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion in India to destabilize the narrative and to emphasize a series of dismemberments of female bodies. Siddall and India itself are fragmented, abstracted, and aetherialized to the point of nonexistence.
Facing the Past, Becoming l’autre
Authors: Vetter Lara
Published: January 2018

Bringing together two prose narratives that consider sexual betrayal in relationship to empire, Chapter 7 compares the treatment of the “other woman” in the 1926 “Hipparchia,” to that in Sword. The chapter argues that in earlier works H.D. is unable to tolerate alterity, fearing engulfment by or repudiating the other, and that she consistently casts Romans as other, as hostile conquerors of her beloved Ancient Greece. In Sword she creates an autobiographical character, by contrast, that inhabits the Roman body of the other woman. For H.D. in 1947, imaginatively embodying the position of l’autre Romain constitutes an attempt to understand, even embrace, the permeable and contingent nature of the relationship between self and other, to exorcise the “political onus” of German-ness.
Coda
Authors: Vetter Lara
Published: January 2018

A brief coda turns to H.D.’s memoir End to Torment, penned three years before her death in 1961. It explores how this late prose text picks up the threads of all of her postwar prose and weaves them into a meditation on the role of memory in personal and national narrative. In its spirit of disorder—in its rejection of chronology, its unabashed claims of radical uncertainty—the text resists “history” as we, as individuals and as citizens, tell it.
Health Status and Burial Status in Early China
Authors: Pechenkina Ekaterina , Xiaolin Ma , Wenquan Fan
Published: January 2018

This chapter quantifies and compares mortuary pattern grammars and skeletal health markers between the sites of Xipo (Yangshao culture, a Middle Neolithic chiefdom ca. 4000–3000 B.C.) and Xiyasi (a site participating in the state-level, stratified Eastern Zhou dynasty ca. 770–221 B.C.). At Xipo, health patterns display no statistically significant differences across the three archaeologically defined social strata, even when taking into consideration sex-based burial variation. In contrast, the Xiyasi sample from Bronze Age Zhou displays a mortuary program based on social status, age, and sex, dividing the population into four ranked groups. Elite burials (mostly men) evidently possessed worse oral health, likely owing to differential consumption of status-linked foods. Pechenkina and colleagues encounter yet stronger associations between sex and specific funerary contexts especially in the Eastern Zhou. Increasing social complexity appears to have been most directly associated with changes in sex (and by inference, gender)-associated social roles.
Hierarchy and Urbanism in Pre-Columbian Central Mexico
Authors: Storey Rebecca , Morfín Lourdes Márquez , Núñez Luis Fernando
Published: January 2018

The authors reconstruct biological stress patterns in pre-Hispanic urban settings at Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico (ca. 150 B.C.–650 A.D.) and at Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca (ca. 100 B.C.–A.D. 500). Archaeologically identified rank (via burial location, mortuary elaboration, and settlement pattern data) was reduced into two broad categories—high and low social status. Odds ratio analyses revealed no difference in overall health patterns by status or sex. In other comparisons, higher status individuals appear to have been buffered against various forms of stress. Overall, Storey and coauthors demonstrate potential expressions of “osteological paradox” outcomes, in that social status and health in urban societies is a complex affair: intervening factors (population density, nutrition, and hygiene) structured by an urban setting can crosscut social strata and exert more influence on health than social organization alone.
A Review of Research into the Intonation of the Lithuanian Language
Authors: Kundrotas Gintautas
Published: January 2018

The article deals with the development of research into the intonation of the Lithuanian language, the methods employed, and the results achieved compared with the history of research of intonation of other languages. The beginning of research into the intonation of the Lithuanian language is recorded only at the beginning of the twentieth century in the works of the linguists Jonas Jablonskis (1911) and Mykolas Durys (1927). Substantial research into intonations of other European languages (English, Russia) was conducted in the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries (English: John Hart (1551) and Charles Butler (1634); Russian: Mikhail Lomonosov (1755).
The beginning and the second half of the twentieth century, when the intonation of the Lithuanian language was studied by Lithuanian linguists syntacticians and phoneticians, was the most productive research period. A considerable amount of research was carried out using the methods of experimental phonetics. It resulted in the development of terminology of Lithuanian intonation, the establishment of its functions and of the main phonetic features. The key authors: syntactician Jonas Balkevičius (1963, 1998), phoneticians Vincas Pukelis (1972) and Petronėlė Bikulčienė (1976), Antanas Pakerys (2003), Aleksas Girdenis (1980; 2003).
A variant of the Lithuanian language intonation system inventory is presented in the works of Gintautas Kundrotas (2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012). It was found that the intonation system of the Lithuanian language consists of four elements: (1) a subsystem of seven units of intonation types; (2) a shift of intonation centre (marking of intonation centre); (3) syntagmatic spread, and (4) the pause as an additional element within the syntagma. The intonation system is a constituent part of phonetic (phonological) means of the whole language.
Introduction
Authors: Bolton David
Published: January 2018

In the Introduction, the author describes the background to the book and his personal experiences of violence in Northern Ireland - as a social worker and health and social services manager in Enniskillen and Omagh. He addresses the impact of loss and trauma linked to conflict and the implications for mental health and well-being. The structure of the book is outlined and the author sets the rest of the book in the argument that the mental health of conflict affected communities should be an early and key consideration in peace talks, politics and post-conflict processes.
La Parisienne in Cinema
Authors: Chaplin Felicity
Published: January 2018

While there have been significant contributions on la Parisienne in the fields of art history, fashion theory and culture, and cultural history, little is written on her appearance and function in cinema. This book is an attempt to address this gap in scholarship by examining the figure of la Parisienne in cinema.
The approach of this book is threefold: textual (the films), contextual (the history of the representations of the Parisienne type), and intertextual (the relationship between the films and other texts such as novels and paintings, extending to the star persona of the actress). However the overarching methodology of this book is iconographical, tracing the historical prefigurations of la Parisienne in the art, literature, and mass culture of nineteenth-century France.
The findings of this book are both general (la Parisienne as a cultural type) and specific (la Parisienne as a she appears in different films). La Parisienne can be defined as a figure of French modernity, understood both in its technological and cultural sense, and is recognisable in terms of six interconnected categories: art, cosmopolitanism, fashion, danger, prostitution, and stardom.
These categories reveal the way the Parisienne type is constantly evolving while at the same time possessing a set of recognisable motifs. By connecting the films discussed in this book to a cultural tradition to which they may not at first appear to belong, this book not only enriches our understanding of these films, it also offers new analytical and interpretative perspectives.
Haunted Presents
Authors: Nachmani Amikam
Published: January 2018

Relationships between Europe and its Muslim minorities constitute an extensive focus for discussion both within and outside the Continent. Europe’s readiness to coexist with its Muslim communities, not to exclude them from its culture and wealth, and not to forcibly Europeanize them, is repeatedly questioned. Likewise challenged is the ability and desire of Muslim migrants to change, to absorb, to adapt themselves to European standards and laws, to Western culture, etc. Europeans who have never been too tolerant of the “other,” now confront different ethnic groups who adhere to a different religion. Europe that for centuries marginalized religion now faces the active Muslim religion. The encounter often emphasizes the distinctions and differences between Europeans and Muslim immigrants, rather than existing or potential shared views and values. This work focuses on recent and past history, used by both sides, when describing present and future communal, racial and religious relations. This discourse often makes reference to European Jewry as a guiding precedent. As a result a very meaningful triangle of views, images, and insights has been formed. Among the topics one meets are the painful European-Jewish record and its implications for European–Muslim relations, the Holocaust, the European Right, mass Muslim immigration and its repercussions, contacts and reference to the State of Israel, Muslim violence, terror and anti-Semitic activity against European Jews and Jewish interests, European restrictions against Muslim and Jewish religious rites and worship, internal issues between states and a look into the future of Islam in Europe.
Disclosing the World
Authors: Inkpin Andrew
Published: January 2018

This book examines the disclosive function of language—what language does in revealing or disclosing the world. It takes a phenomenological approach to this question, defined by the need to accord with the various experiences speakers can have of language. Based on this commitment, it develops a phenomenological conception of language with important implications for both the philosophy of language and recent work in the embodied-embedded-enactive-extended (4e) tradition of cognitive science. The book draws extensively on the work of Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Ludwig Wittgenstein, showing how their respective conceptions of language can be combined to complement each other within a unified view. From the early Heidegger, it extracts a basic framework for a phenomenology of language, comprising both a general overall picture of the role of language and a more specific model of the disclosive function of words. Merleau-Ponty’s views are used to explicate the generic “pointing out”—or presentational—function of linguistic signs in more detail, while the late Wittgenstein is interpreted as providing versatile means to describe their many pragmatic uses. Having developed this unified phenomenological view, the book then explores its broader significance, arguing that it goes beyond the conventional realism/idealism opposition, that it challenges standard assumptions in mainstream post-Fregean philosophy of language, and that it makes a significant contribution not only to the philosophical understanding of language but also to 4e cognitive science.
Continuity Skepticism in Doubt: A Radically Enactive Take
Authors: Hutto Daniel D. , Satne Glenda
Published: January 2018

Radically Enactive Cognition, REC, holds that not all forms of cognition are content involving and, especially, not root forms. According to radical enactivists, only minds that have mastered special kinds of socio-cultural practice are capable of content involving forms of cognition. This paper addresses criticisms that have been leveled at REC’s vision of how content-involving cognition may have come on the scene. It responds, in the first section, to the charge that REC faces a fatal dilemma when it comes to accounting for the origins of content in naturalistic terms—a dilemma that arises from REC’s own acknowledgment of the existence of a Hard Problem of Content. In subsequent sections, the paper addresses the charge that REC entails continuity skepticism, reviewing this charge in its scientific and philosophical formulations. It is concluded that REC is not at odds with evolutionary continuity, when both REC and evolutionary continuity are properly understood. It is also concluded that although REC cannot completely close the imaginative gap that is required to answer the philosophical continuity skeptic it is, in this respect, in no worse a position than its representationalist rivals and their naturalistic proposals about the origins of content.
The Touched Self: Psychological and Philosophical Perspectives on Proximal Intersubjectivity and the Self
Authors: Ciaunica Anna , Fotopoulou Aikaterini
Published: January 2018

Is minimal selfhood a build-in feature of our experiential life (Gallagher 2005; Zahavi 2005, 2014; Legrand 2006) or a later socio-culturally determined acquisition, emerging in the process of social exchanges and mutual interactions (Fonagy et al. 2004; Prinz 2012; Schmid 2014)? This chapter, building mainly on empirical research on affective touch and interoception, argues in favor of a reconceptualization of minimal selfhood that surpasses such debates, and their tacitly “detached,” visuo-spatial models of selfhood and otherness. Instead, the relational origins of the self are traced on fundamental principles and regularities of the human embodied condition, such as the amodal properties that govern the organization of sensorimotor signals into distinct perceptual experiences. Interactive experiences with effects on “within” and “on” the physical boundaries of the body (e.g., skin-to-skin touch) are necessary for such organization in early infancy when the motor system is not as yet developed. Therefore, an experiencing subject is not primarily understood as facing another subject “there.” Instead, the minimal self is by necessity co-constituted by other bodies in physical contact and proximal interaction.
Mag Stripe
Authors: Stearns David L.
Published: January 2018

The plastic card is likely the most ubiquitous non-cash payment technology. It has been around since the mid-20th century, but may soon be obsolete. A key component of how plastic payment cards work in the United States is the magnetic stripe. Although a simple and effective, the “mag stripe” is much-maligned in the industry, as it is highly vulnerable to fraud. This chapter answers the questions: Why do US banks still issue magnetic stripe cards, and why did they adopt such a vulnerable technology in the first place? It also reviews alternative technologies for transmitting card information, such as chip and PIN, Optical Character Resolution (OCR), and Citibank’s patented “magic middle.”
Energy and Civilization
Authors: Smil Vaclav
Published: January 2018

Energy is the only universal currency; it is necessary for getting anything done. The conversion of energy on Earth ranges from terra-forming forces of plate tectonics to cumulative erosive effects of raindrops. Life on Earth depends on the photosynthetic conversion of solar energy into plant biomass. Humans have come to rely on many more energy flows—ranging from fossil fuels to photovoltaic generation of electricity—for their civilized existence. This book provides a comprehensive account of how energy has shaped society, from pre-agricultural foraging societies through today’s fossil fuel-driven civilization. Humans are the only species that can systematically harness energies outside their bodies, using the power of their intellect and an enormous variety of artifacts—from the simplest tools to internal combustion engines and nuclear reactors. The epochal transition to fossil fuels affected everything: agriculture, industry, transportation, weapons, communication, economics, urbanization, quality of life, politics, and the environment. This book describes humanity’s energy eras in panoramic and interdisciplinary fashion, offering readers a magisterial overview.
Coelacanth History: Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse and the Cybertext of Things
Authors: Moulthrop Stuart
Published: January 2018

This chapter reflects on John McDaid’s author traversal of his 1993 hypermedia novel, Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse, a groundbreaking work not just for its comprehensive exploration of Apple’s HyperCard authoring system, but also because of its principle of “modally appropriate” presentation, involving non-digital artifacts as well. Built around the science-fictional notion of time travel and multiverses, the Funhouse thus invites consideration of his own curious history, in which it figures as a kind of broken time machine. Comparing McDaid’s work with later, similar projects from the video game world, the chapter argues for an understanding of digital culture that moves beyond the harsh binaries of obsolescence. As McDaid says: “We win by losing.”
The Seamless Coupling of Bits and Atoms
Authors: Ishii Hiroshi , Plasencia Adolfo
Published: January 2018

Hiroshi Ishii conducts research in the MIT Media Lab in two principal areas: the field of Human-Computer Interactions, and the field of interface design linking human beings, digital information and the environment. In this dialogue, Hiroshi describes two of the basic concepts of the Media Lab: the first is to achieve ‘tangible bits’ in human-computer interaction, and the second concerns ‘affordance’, which refers to the possibility of an action on an object or environment, in particular, those of which we are aware. He also explains how they create ‘digitally augmented objects’ to improve our understanding and knowledge of objects and their immediate environment. Hiroshi later reflects on the difficulties of developing natural language interfaces, and whether ‘things can think’—he is co-director of Things That Think. He also discusses breakthroughs with his ‘radical atoms’ vision of developing materials that have a shape and appearance which can be digitally transformed to make them as reconfigurable as pixels on a screen. Finally, he outlines some of his projects, such as eg. one related to the use of kinetic memory, the ability to ‘record and playback physical motion’.
We Want Robots to See and Understand the World
Authors: Torralba Antonio , Plasencia Adolfo
Published: January 2018

Antonio Torralba, member of MIT CSAIL, opens the dialogue by describing the research he performs in the field of computer vision and related artificial intelligence (AI). He also compares the conceptual differences and the context of the early days of artificial intelligence—where hardly any image recording devices existed—with the present situation, in which an enormous amount of data is available. Next, through the use of examples, he talks about the huge complexity faced by research in computer vision to get computers and machines to understand the meanings of what they “see” in the scenes, and the objects they contain, by means of digital cameras. As he explains afterward, the challenge of this complexity for computer vision processing is particularly noticeable in settings involving robots, or driverless cars, where it makes no sense to develop vision systems that can see if they cannot learn. Later he argues why today’s computer systems have to learn “to see” because if there is no learning process, for example machine learning, they will never be able to make autonomous decisions.
Geometry of a Multidimensional Universe: Weightless Art and the Painting of the Void
Authors: Yturralde José María , Plasencia Adolfo
Published: January 2018

In this dialogue, which is also the epilogue of the book, the artist José María Yturralde, holds a conversation with the author in eight parts: In 1. He reflects on MIT, Art and Science; 2. He considers geometry and its absence; 3. He makes a moving reflection on the metaphysics of art and Mark Rothko; 4. He argues the veracity of the equation "Beauty ≠ truth" and whether the great poet Keats’ idea can be denied; 5. Yturralde expounds his arguments about the “Order versus chaos" dichotomy; 6. He answers the question of whether a painting can change the past, or contains regret; 7. The artist outlines his philosophy on the "void" (voidness), the “nothing” (nothingness), and “emptiness”, which are central concepts in all his works; and lastly, in 8, Yturralde reflects on science, art and scientific reductionism, and argues why art and science need each other.
Worried About the Wrong Things
Authors: Vickery Jacqueline Ryan , Watkins S. Craig
Published: January 2018

It’s a familiar narrative in both real life and fiction, from news reports to television storylines: a young person is bullied online, or targeted by an online predator, or exposed to sexually explicit content. The consequences are bleak; the young person is shunned, suicidal, psychologically ruined. In this book, Jacqueline Ryan Vickery argues that there are other urgent concerns about young people’s online experiences besides porn, predators, and peers. We need to turn our attention to inequitable opportunities for participation in a digital culture. Technical and material obstacles prevent low-income and other marginalized young people from the positive, community-building, and creative experiences that are possible online. Vickery explains that cautionary tales about online risk have shaped the way we think about technology and youth. She analyzes the discourses of risk in popular culture, journalism, and policy, and finds that harm-driven expectations, based on a privileged perception of risk, enact control over technology. Opportunity-driven expectations, on the other hand, based on evidence and lived experience, produce discourses that acknowledge the practices and agency of young people rather than seeing them as passive victims. Vickery first addresses how the discourses of risk regulate and control technology, then turns to the online practices of youth at a low-income, minority-majority Texas high school. She considers the participation gap and the need for schools to teach digital literacies, privacy, and different online learning ecologies. Finally, she shows that opportunity-driven expectations can guide young people’s online experiences in ways that balance protection and agency.
Historical Fears: Teens, Technology, and Anxiety
Authors: Vickery Jacqueline Ryan
Published: January 2018

This chapter considers the current moments of moral panic about technology from an historical context and argues that fears are not really about technology, but are driven by broader social changes. New technology and media often cause adults anxiety and are difficult to regulate; social and mobile media are no different. Looking back to youth in the 1920s America, this chapter demonstrates how changes in the role of the family and peer groups lead to social anxieties then and now. Through a discussion of networked publics, the chapter addresses teens’ desires to participate in society in visible ways that offer both risks and opportunities.
Evolving Enactivism
Authors: Hutto Daniel D. , Myin Erik
Published: January 2018

Evolving Enactivism argues that cognitive phenomena—perceiving, imagining, remembering—can be best explained in terms of an interface between contentless and content-involving forms of cognition. Building on their earlier book Radicalizing Enactivism, which proposes that there can be forms of cognition without content, Daniel Hutto and Erik Myin demonstrate the unique explanatory advantages of recognizing that only some forms of cognition have content while others—the most elementary ones—do not. They offer an account of the mind in duplex terms, proposing a complex vision of mentality in which these basic contentless forms of cognition interact with content-involving ones. Hutto and Myin argue that the most basic forms of cognition do not, contrary to a currently popular account of cognition, involve picking up and processing information that is then used, reused, stored, and represented in the brain. Rather, basic cognition is contentless—fundamentally interactive, dynamic, and relational. In advancing the case for a radically enactive account of cognition, Hutto and Myin propose crucial adjustments to our concept of cognition and offer theoretical support for their revolutionary rethinking, emphasizing its capacity to explain basic minds in naturalistic terms. They demonstrate the explanatory power of the duplex vision of cognition, showing how it offers powerful means for understanding quintessential cognitive phenomena without introducing scientifically intractable mysteries into the mix.
Voicetracks
Authors: Neumark Norie
Published: January 2018

Moved by Aboriginal or Indigenous understandings of tracks, Norie Neumark’s Voicetracks seeks to deepen understandings of voice through listening to a variety of media and contemporary art works from Australia, Europe, and the United States. The author aims to bring voice studies into conversation with new materialism to broaden thinking within both. Through a methodology based in listening, she brings theories of affect and carnal and situated knowledge into conversation with her examples and the theories she works with. Through her examples, Neumark engages with artists working with animal sounds and voices; voices of place, placed voices in installation works; voices of technology; and “unvoicing,” disturbances in the image/voice relationship and in the idea of what voice is. Neumark evokes both the literal—the actual voices within the works with which she engages—and the metaphorical—in a new materialist exploration of voice encompassing humans, animals, things, and assemblages. Not content with the often dry tone of academic writing, the author engages a “wayfaring” process that brings together theories from sound, animal, and posthuman studies in order to change the ways we think about and act with and within the assemblages of living creatures, things, places and histories around us. Finally, she considers ethics and politics, and describes how her own work has shaped her understandings and apprehensions of voice.
Tap
Authors: Ghose Anindya
Published: January 2018

How the smartphone can become a personal concierge (not a stalker) in the mobile marketing revolution of smarter companies, value-seeking consumers, and curated offers.

Consumers create a data trail by tapping their phones; businesses can tap into this trail to harness the power of the more than three trillion dollar mobile economy. According to Anindya Ghose, a global authority on the mobile economy, this two-way exchange can benefit both customers and businesses. In Tap, Ghose welcomes us to the mobile economy of smartphones, smarter companies, and value-seeking consumers.

Drawing on his extensive research in the United States, Europe, and Asia, and on a variety of real-world examples from companies including Alibaba, China Mobile, Coke, Facebook, SK Telecom, Telefónica, and Travelocity, Ghose describes some intriguingly contradictory consumer behavior: people seek spontaneity, but they are predictable; they find advertising annoying, but they fear missing out; they value their privacy, but they increasingly use personal data as currency. When mobile advertising is done well, Ghose argues, the smartphone plays the role of a personal concierge—a butler, not a stalker.

Ghose identifies nine forces that shape consumer behavior, including time, crowdedness, trajectory, and weather, and he examines these how these forces operate, separately and in combination. With Tap, he highlights the true influence mobile wields over shoppers, the behavioral and economic motivations behind that influence, and the lucrative opportunities it represents. In a world of artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, wearable technologies, smart homes, and the Internet of Things, the future of the mobile economy seems limitless.
Trajectory: Watch Where You’re Walking
Authors: Ghose Anindya
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines one of nine critical forces behind purchase decisions that make mobile advertising so powerful: trajectory. An individual's trajectory is the physical, behavioral trace of his or her offline movements. Firms can measure when we walk past their physical stores, when we come through the front door, when we walked up to the second floor, and so on. Trajectory has three dimensions: time, route, and velocity. Time includes the starting and ending point of the trajectory and the day of the week. Route is not location itself, but rather a way to determine how similar someone's spatial trajectory is to others. Velocity contains information about how fast the individuals are moving. Underlying these three dimensions is a fourth and far more granular dimension called semantics. Semantics takes a number of factors into account, such as the likelihood that someone may visit a certain store, how much time they spend there, how much time they spend moving to another location, and how related or unrelated those two stores are.
Weather: Creating the Perfect Storm
Authors: Ghose Anindya
Published: January 2018

This chapter examines one of nine critical forces behind purchase decisions that make mobile advertising so powerful: weather. Weather is ubiquitous and omnipresent. Scientific literature tells us just how strongly weather can influence our behavior, our moods, and our short-term, medium-term, and long-term decision making. One study showed that when our moods change, weather can account for as much as 40 percent of that change. Weather also offers that special ingredient that helps improve our understanding and find ways to make advertising a lucrative win-win for businesses and customers: lots and lots of data. The chapter introduces a mix of academic studies and business success stories, which show that the value of weather as a very influential driver of behavior. It discusses how weather affects mobile purchases and drives sales of big-ticket items.
E-Waste Work: Hierarchies of Value and the Normalization of Pollution in Guiyu
Authors: Lora-Wainwright Anna
Published: January 2018

The last substantive chapter examines a third case study which differs in important ways from the first two. Unlike Baocun and Qiancun, Guiyu town is a well-known, indeed a notorious environmental health hotspot. Pollution is caused by a vast and complex cottage industry processing electronic waste. Chapter 5 explores how such “e-waste work” became closely embedded within the local community, family and social relations, as domestic and work spaces were inextricably blurred. It disaggregates the black box of “e-waste work” to show how it evolved over time, the great diversity that composes the sector, how the government attempted to regulate particular activities within it and why their efforts were not fully effective. It shows that, as in Baocun and Qiancun, the economic benefits and environmental costs of these activities are unevenly distributed. By describing a range of diverse e-waste workers engaged in a spectrum of more or less polluting work, the chapter illustrates how locals fashion counter-discourses of relative harm to excuse their practices and avoid blame. In these circumstances, as in Baocun, toxicity is naturalised and parameters of health are adjusted to normalise and accept widespread pollution-induced ailments.
Vol. III
Authors: Shelley Mary
Published: January 2018

Day after day, week after week, passed away on my return to Geneva; and I could not collect the courage to recommence my work. I feared the vengeance of the disappointed fiend, yet I was unable to overcome my repugnance to the task which was enjoined me....
Chronology of Science and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Authors: Shelley Mary
Published: January 2018

The editors provide a brief chronology of important dates in the history of science in the context of Mary Shelley’s life and important aspects of the novel.
The Unintended Consequences of Individual Market Reinsurance
Authors: Drake Coleman , Anderson David M.
Published: October 2024

This Viewpoint discusses how reinsurance, a policy change made by 18 states to improve coverage affordability for unsubsidized Marketplace enrollees, has led to coverage losses among subsidized enrollees.
Proximity‐Induced Unconventional Superconducting Quantum Oscillation in WTe2/NbSe2 Heterostructures
Authors: Bi Xiangyu , Zhang Yilin , Ao Lingyi , Li Hongyi , Huang Junwei , Qin Feng , Yuan Hongtao
Published: October 2024

The electron pairing mechanisms in topological superconductors are pivotal for understanding the emergent topology‐related quantum states and play key roles in condensed matter physics. Theoretically, the quantization of magnetic flux in nano‐hole arrays within topological superconductors can be studied for understanding the Bogoliubov quasiparticles via the Little–Parks oscillation. However, experimental evidence of the quasiparticle states in such structures of topological superconductors remains elusive. Here, the unconventional superconducting quantum oscillation phenomena of the proximity‐induced 2D topological superconductivity (TSC) is demonstrated in a nano‐hole array of WTe2/NbSe2 heterojunction. The unconventional oscillation period in WTe2 is substantially smaller than that in the s‐wave superconductor NbSe2 (corresponds to Cooper pairs), implying the probable presence of novel quasiparticle states associated with TSC. Interestingly, such phenomena of multi‐charge flux quanta might be related to the multi‐particle bound states of TSC. These observations provide a new approach for exploring the unconventional superconducting quantum states in topological superconductors.
Tuning the Nucleophilicity of Anion in Lithium Salt to Enable an Anion‐Rich Solvation Sheath for Stable Lithium Metal Batteries
Authors: Zhou Pan , Ou Yu , Feng Qingqing , Xia Yingchun , Zhou Haiyu , Hou Wen‐hui , Song Xuan , Lu Yang , Yan Shuaishuai , Zhang Weili , He Yun , Liu Kai
Published: October 2024

Traditional lithium salts typically adhere to the designing principles of enhancing cation‐anion dissociation degree to obtain a high electrolyte conductivity. This promotes the invention of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI), where the symmetric electron‐withdrawing trifluoromethanesulfonyl groups significantly delocalize the negative charge density around the nitrogen atom, thereby weakening the electrostatic interaction between Li+ and the anion. Herein, deviating from the general principle, lithium (methanesulfonyl)(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (LiMTFSI) is deliberately designed by substituting a unilateral electron‐withdrawing trifluoromethyl (─CF3) group of LiTFSI with an electron‐donating methyl (─CH3) group, to tune the nucleophilicity of the anion. This modification enhances Li‐anion interaction, causing the anion to replace the solvent molecules in the Li+ solvation shell. Additionally, the MTFSI− anion exhibits an elevated donor number to facilitate the solubility of LiNO3 in carbonate‐based electrolytes. The synergistic effect of these changes suppresses the decomposition of solvent and helps construct a stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) enriched with multiple inorganic lithium salts (e.g., Li2S, Li3N, and LiNxOy) on the Li metal anode, which enables the 500 mAh Li||LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 pouch cell to operate steadily for 150 cycles. It is believed this work would provide new insights and another dimension for designing functional anions beyond their role as charge carriers.
Stable Droplet Manipulation in Multiple Directions on a Magnetically Responsive Micropillar Array Surface
Authors: Liu Xinyuan , Jia Li , Ding Yi , Dang Chao , Yin Liaofei , Xu Jinzhu , Zhang Ruiqi
Published: October 2024

Droplets constitute an essential discrete form of liquids and are prevalent in both natural and industrial fields. Droplet manipulation technologies have broad application prospects in various fields, including biomedical devices, chemical engineering, water collection, and so on. The manipulation of surfaces with magnetic responsiveness has emerged as a pivotal technique in droplet control owing to its flexibility and precision in remote operations. In this study, the dynamic rolling behavior of low‐surface‐tension working fluids and water droplets on a superhydrophobic magnetically responsive micropillar array (SMMA) is investigated, with a focus on the mechanisms that generate instabilities during the directional rolling motion of droplets. The factors influencing these instabilities are studied using data analysis. Moreover, techniques for capturing and releasing droplets are investigated, offering significant insights into the efficient handling of minute amounts of liquids in experiments and the automation of intricate chemical processes.
Nanomaterials for enhanced X‐ray‐triggered cancer therapy: Progress and prospects
Authors: Chen Yuanchun , Shangguan Shijie , Lin Zhongyu , Zeng Xuemei , Chan Siew Yin , Qin Xian , Yan Shuangqian
Published: October 2024

X‐rays, a form of ionizing radiation with high energy and significant penetration capability, are commonly used in clinical tumor treatment through radiotherapy. Despite their widespread use, optimizing X‐ray efficacy remains a critical challenge due to issues such as radiation resistance and damage to surrounding health tissues. Recent advancements in nanotechnology have introduced new opportunities and challenges in cancer diagnosis and treatment. This review summarizes the latest progress in nanomaterials for X‐ray‐triggered cancer therapy, highlighting their various advantages such as targeted delivery, reduced side effects, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy. We examine how nanomaterials, including metals, metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal fluorides, rare earth oxides, cluster compounds, metal‐organic frameworks, and nanohybrids, enhance the effectiveness of X‐ray‐triggered treatments. Furthermore, we address the current challenges and future prospects of efficient X‐ray‐triggered cancer therapy, aiming to provide a comprehensive overview for researchers and clinicians in the field.
Mathematical modelling, energy consumption, and quality evaluation of wheat seeds subjected to intermittent drying
Authors: Aranha Ana Caroline Raimundini , Defendi Rafael Oliveira , Suzuki Rúbia Michele , Júnior Oscar de Oliveira Santos , Madrona Grasiele Scaramal , Ferrari Andressa Lopes , Matias Gustavo de Souza , Mogollón Emerson Barrios , Molinari Deise , Ferreira Cintia Stefhany Ripke , Jorge Luiz Mario de Matos
Published: October 2024

This work aims to evaluate the kinetic profile of intermittent drying of wheat seeds using traditional models from the literature and the fractional calculus technique. Furthermore, it aims to verify the application of the intermittent drying process on the amount of antioxidant compounds, protein, and lipid content of the grain, in addition to energy consumption to obtain the desired final moisture content of the wheat. It was verified that the prediction of drying kinetics by Page and fraction order models were similar (modelling efficiency varying between the range of 0.917–0.995, varying the drying condition and wheat cultivar). Regarding antioxidant compounds for the three wheat cultivars, it can be seen that the higher fraction of ethanol (74.0% and 90.36%) used for extraction had greater process efficiency. Regarding the protein content in the three wheat cultivars, lower drying temperatures and intermittency periods result in lower quality losses of material (12.3% for BRS‐Atobá wheat, 9.89% for BRS‐Jacana wheat, and 18.71% for BRS‐Sanhaço wheat). In terms of lipids, it was found that the influence of temperature was greater on the lipid content than on the protein content of the material (for the best drying condition, there were percentage decreases for the best condition of 36.16% for the BRS‐Atobá wheat, 34.9% for BRS‐Jacana, and 52.2% for BRS‐Sanhaço). Regarding energy consumption during the drying process, it can be seen that the conditions used for intermittency and drying time, in addition to the sample conditions, directly impact energy consumption.
First person profile: Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD
Authors: Nierengarten Mary Beth
Published: October 2024

This news section offers Cancer readers timely information on events, public policy analysis, topical issues, and personalities. This issue features Dr Robert L. Ferris, who was one of the first adopters of developing neoadjuvant trials to understand the immune mechanisms of action of immunotherapy agents. In addition, a common diagnostic approach to identify endometrial cancer may not be reliable for Black women, and women with more severe forms of endometriosis have a nearly 10‐fold higher risk of ovarian cancer.
Inhibiting lncRNA NEAT1 Increases Glioblastoma Response to TMZ by Reducing Connexin 43 Expression
Authors: Liang Jinxing , Xie Jia‐xiu , He Junhui , Li Yi , Wei Dongmei , Zhou Rongfei , Wei Guining , Liu Xuehua , Chen Qiudan , Li Dongmei
Published: October 2024

Objectives

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is considered the most assailant subtype of gliomas, presenting a formidable obstacle because of its inherent resistance to temozolomide (TMZ). This study aimed to characterize the function of lncRNA NEAT1 in facilitating the advancement of gliomas.

Methods

The expression level of NEAT1 in glioma tissues and cells was detected by qRT‐PCR. RNA interference experiment, cell proliferation assay, FITC/PI detection assay, immunoblotting, bioinformatics prediction, a double luciferase reporter gene assay, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) assay, SLDT assay and correlation analysis of clinical samples were performed to explore the regulatory effects of NEAT1, miR‐454‐3p and Cx43 and their role in malignant progression of GBM. The role of NEAT1 in vivo was investigated by an intracranial tumor formation experiment in mice.

Results

The results showed that recurring gliomas displayed elevated levels of NEAT1 compared to primary gliomas. The suppression of NEAT1 led to a restoration of sensitivity in GBM cells to TMZ. NEAT1 functioned as a competitive endogenous RNA against miR‐454‐3p. Connexin 43 was identified as a miR‐454‐3p target. NEAT1 was found to regulate gap junctional intercellular communication by modulating Connexin 43, thereby impacting the response of GBM cells to TMZ chemotherapy. Downregulation of NEAT1 resulted in enhanced chemosensitivity to TMZ and extended the survival of mice.

Conclusions

Overall, these results indicated that the NEAT1/miR‐454‐3p/Connexin 43 pathway influences GBM cell response to TMZ and could offer a potential new strategy for treating GBM.