bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recent Research in the Upper Bradano Valley
Authors: Fracchia Helena , Mattioli Tommaso
Published: February 2013

In southern Italy, with particular reference to the upper Bradano river valley in ancient Eastern Lucania, agglomerated rural settlements are generally studied as part of the later third and fourth centuries AD when they become the protagonists in the late antique landscape in southern Italy. The late antique landscape, however, is usually considered to be an inorganic and discontinuous settlement manifestation. Yet, in many areas of southern Italy the growth and importance of agglomerated rural settlements in the Roman landscape predates the later third century. In the upper Bradano river valley, independent vici become important elements of the rural Roman landscape as early the second century AD , when some vici develop a specific productive function while others remain primarily residential. The growth in vici in the upper Bradano valley is clearly tied to architectural monumentalization and increased agricultural production at the excavated villa sites. The combination of these factors in the second century suggests a land concentration and intensification of production on villa sites and the presence of a substantial lower class living in vici . En Italie du Sud, et particulièrement dans la haute vallée du Bradano, en ancienne Lucanie orientale, les agglomérations rurales sont généralement étudiées comme un phénomène de la fin du III e siècle et du IV e siècle après J. C., alors qu'elles deviennent des protagonistes dans le paysage de l'Antiquité tardive en Italie du Sud. Le paysage de l'Antiquité tardive est pourtant habituellement considéré comme le produit d'un peuplement inorganique et discontinu. Toutefois, dans plusieurs régions de l'Italie du Sud, la croissance et l'importance des agglomérations rurales dans le paysage romain précède la fin du III e siècle. Dans la haute vallée du Bradano, les vici indépendants deviennent un élément important du paysage rural romain dès le II e siècle, lorsque certains vici développent une fonction productive spécifique, tandis que les autres demeurent principalement résidentiels. L'accroissement des vici dans la haute vallée du Bradano est clairement lié à la monumentalisation de l'architecture et à l'augmentation de la production agricole sur les sites des villas fouillées. La combinaison de ces facteurs au II e siècle suggère une concentration foncière et une intensification de la production sur le site des villas, ainsi que la présence substantielle dans les vici d'une population issue des basses classes.
A Return to Roccagloriosa (Province of Salerno, South Italy)
Authors: Gualtieri Maurizio , Mattioli Tommaso
Published: February 2013

The Canadian Excavations at Roccagloriosa supported by generous SSHRC Grants in the 1980s has produced a number of Field Reports and two substantial volumes on this important site of pre-Roman Italy. On-going research on the finds and the more recent campaigns of geophysical exploration have added crucial information on the level of complexity of the Lucanian site at the peak of its development. At the same time, the data emerging from the most recent field-work at the site provides a much more complete picture of the organization of the Central Plateau, the major agglomeration of buildings inside the massive fortification wall. Les missions archéologiques canadiennes à Roccagloriosa, généreusement supportées par les subventions du CRSH dans les années 1980, ont donné lieu à de nombreux rapports de fouilles, ainsi qu'à deux volumes substantiels sur cet important site de l'Italie préromaine. Les travaux de recherche en cours sur ces découvertes et les campagnes d'exploration géophysique plus récentes ont apporté un supplément d'information crucial concernant le niveau de complexité du site lucanien au faîte de son développement. Parallèlement, les données qui se dégagent de la plus récente campagne archéologique sur le site donnent une image plus complète de l'organisation du « plateau central », la principale agglomération d'habitations à l'intérieur des imposantes murailles.
Recycling in Late Roman Villas in Southern Italy: Reappraising Hearths and Kilns in Final Occupation Phases
Authors: Munro Beth
Published: February 2013

The recent excavation results from late Roman villas in southern Italy have enabled analyses of small workshops discovered in post-villa occupation phases, dating from the third to sixth centuries AD . The post-villa workshops, which included glass- and metalworking ovens and limekilns, are considered in relation to the former architecture of villas and compared with other similar-phase workshops at other sites in Italy and France. The workshop locations, their design and function, including the size and shape of ovens, and the operation and ownership of the villas in this phase are examined. The consistency in design and function of these features, in particular, indicates that the workshops were operated by skilled workers, perhaps contracted to recover and reprocess architectural materials for new construction projects or sale at market. By analyzing these workshops in isolation from other post-villa features, such as graves and post-holes, it can be further demonstrated that most villas had several sub-phases of activity and occupation after the decline of the sites. Les récents résultats de fouilles des villas romaines tardives en Italie du Sud ont permis l'analyse de petits ateliers découverts dans les phases d'occupations « post-villa », datant du III e au VI e siècle après J. C. Ces ateliers post-villa, qui comportent des fours pour le verre et les métaux, ainsi que des fours à chaux, sont étudiés en relation avec l'architecture de l'ancienne villa et comparés à des ateliers de construction similaire découverts sur d'autres sites en Italie et en France. L'emplacement des ateliers, leur conception et leur fonction - y compris la taille et la forme du four -, ainsi que l'exploitation et la possession des villas durant cette phase sont examinés. La cohérence qui existe en particulier dans la conception et la fonction de ces traits indique que les ateliers étaient gérés par des artisans qualifiés, peut-être engagés pour récupérer et réutiliser les éléments architecturaux, en vue d'un nouveau projet de construction ou pour être vendus au marché. Grâce à l'analyse de ces ateliers, indépendamment des autres caractéristiques d'occupation post-villa, telles que les tombes et les trous de poteau, il est possible également de démontrer que la plupart des villas ont eu plusieurs sous-phases d'activités et d'occupations après le déclin du site.
The Black-gloss Pottery from the Iron Age Site of San Felice, South Italy
Authors: Small Alastair , Small Carola
Published: February 2013

Sur les 1 257 fragments de céramiques à vernis noir trouvés à San Felice lors de la prospection au sol, 56 peuvent être classés par type et (selon des critères visuels) par méthode de fabrication. Les plus anciens sont des vases à boire—des coupes de type « ioniennes »et des skyphoi « métapontins »—en usage au VI e siècle avant J. C. Durant le V e siècle, ils firent place à de nouveaux types, fabriqués principalement à Métaponte et à Tárente à l'imitation de modèles attiques, en particulier des skyphoi et des cruches, destinés aux symposia . Ils attestent de l'hellénisation du site à cette période. Les « salières » utilisées lors de banquets sont courantes de la fin du V e au début du IIIe siècle et présentent un développement typologique significatif. D'autres pièces datent de la fin du IV e ou du début du III e siècle, mais l'absence de modèles plus typiques du III e siècle suggère que l'occupation du site a pris fin aux environs de cette période. Puisque San Felice dépendait vraisemblablement de Botromagno/Silvium, qui a été pillée par les Romains en 306 avant J. C., il est plausible que le site ait été abandonné à la suite de cet événement. Les quelques tessons plus tardifs sont probablement des débris provenant de la villa romaine située plus bas sur le versant du plateau. En plus de sa contribution à l'histoire de l'âge de fer tardif dans cette région, cette étude est importante pour comprendre le contexte de la fondation de la villa et du village de Vagnari situé plus bas dans la vallée.
Life, Death and Dining in Early Byzantine Sicily: UBC Excavations at Kaukana, 2008-2010
Authors: Wilson R.J.A.
Published: February 2013

Excavations in 2008-2010 near Punta Secca (RG), Sicily, have explored a building ("Building 6") in a late antique village first identified during the 1960s and claimed as the Kaukana of the sources. This paper provides an interim report of those excavations, which revealed seven phases of activity condensed into a comparatively short period, ca. AD 580/600-ca. 650. Domestic occupation in the two main rooms of the house was short-lived. Finds unsurprisingly indicate culture contact with Africa and with the eastern Mediterranean, including Asia Minor and Egypt. An African lamp may show the world's earliest depiction of a backgammon board. Another curious object (scoop or bee-smoker?) is also discussed. The most important discovery was that of a tombe privilégiée of ca. AD 625/630, which contained the bodies of a pregnant woman aged about 25 and of her daughter aged about four. Their Christian faith is suggested by a grave slab inscribed "holy" three times. A libation hole, a bench for banqueting, a table for offerings, and hearths for cooking (an assemblage unique in Sicily), show that periodic feasting took place in memory of the dead. The medical condition of the woman, who suffered from atretic cephalocele, may explain why she and her daughter were afforded such exceptional treatment in death and in such an exceptional location. Les fouilles menées en 2008-2010 près de Punta Secca (RG) en Sicile se sont concentrées sur une maison située dans un village de l'Antiquité tardive qui a été identifié, depuis sa découverte dans les années 60, comme étant la Kaukana des sources littéraires. Cet article est le rapport provisoire de ces fouilles qui ont permis d'identifier sept phases d'activité condensées dans une courte période de quelque 50-70 ans, soit de 580/600 à 650 ap. J.-C. L'occupation domestique des deux pièces principales de la maison a été de courte durée. Le matériel découvert témoigne des contacts, par ailleurs bien attestés, avec l'Afrique et la Méditerranée orientale, dont l'Asie Mineure et l'Égypte. Une lampe africaine est apparemment décorée de la plus ancienne représentation connue d'une planche de backgammon. Un autre objet assez curieux pourrait être identifié comme une cuiller ou un enfumoir. Mais la découverte la plus remarquable a été celle d'une tombe privilégiée, qui daterait de 625/630, contenant les restes d'une femme enceinte d'environ 25 ans et de sa fille d'environ 4 ans. Le remploi d'une stèle sur laquelle le mot « saint » est inscrit trois fois suggère qu'il s'agit d'une sépulture chrétienne. Un orifice pour les libations, un banc pour les banquets, une table pour les offrandes et des foyers pour la cuisson (un assemblage unique en Sicile) indiquent que l'on y festoyait périodiquement en leur mémoire. L'état physique de la femme, qui souffrait de céphalocèle atrétique, pourrait expliquer qu'elle et sa fille aient reçu une sépulture et des rituels hors du commun.
Old Europe, New Europe, Eastern Europe: Reflections on a Minor Character in Fassbinder's Ali, Fear Eats the Soul
Authors: Parvulescu Anca
Published: February 2013

In today's Europe, the term Eurosceptic often accompanies accusations of retrograde nationalism, irrational feelings, even fanaticism. When applied to Europe, skepticism, one of the critic's formative traits, acquires a bad reputation, as if it can only be an annihilating, rather than constructive, form of doubt. And yet skepticism is a much-needed critical affect, particularly when it comes to Europe. If we need to be skeptical of anything, it is Europe. Today one hears claims about Europe having become postnational, postracial, even post-Europe. How else can the literary and cultural critic welcome such claims other than with a healthy dose of skepticism?
Transforming Memory and the European Project
Authors: Rigney Ann
Published: February 2013

Ideas about the future of Europe have been articulated from the late 1940s in tandem with ideas about the European past and the need to overcome its violence. This has led to the gradual emergence of a master-narrative that found expression in the Nobel Peace Prize of 2012 as well as in the planning of a "European House of History" in Brussels, which sees the European Union as the outcome of an ability to overcome the divisions of the past. Despite the availability of such a master-narrative, however, policy-makers continue to express their concern about the failure of citizens to identify with the European project. This article builds on recent developments in cultural memory studies to engage critically with these ongoing public debates. While sharing their underlying premise that collective memory is a key resource in promoting present and future solidarity, it challenges the prevailing concept of memory, modeled on nineteenth-century nationalism, that sees it as a common legacy exclusively inherited by a pregiven group. It proposes instead a dynamic, performative, and affiliative model of memory production based on its capacity to renegotiate the borders of communities rather than merely express and enshrine old ones. This transformative view of memory is more appropriate when conceiving of new forms of citizenship within a rapidly changing European Union than the ethnic-nationalist models inherited from the nineteenth century.
An Agonistic Approach to the Future of Europe
Authors: Mouffe Chantal
Published: February 2013

The European Union is currently facing a crisis which requires that important institutional changes are made in order to allow for more integration among its different nations. Which road should the new stage of integration follow? Against those who believe that what is needed is the creation of a supranational Europe, I argue in favor of a process of integration that would establish an agonistic Europe. With this aim in mind, I discuss several proposals that I see as providing crucial insights for the elaboration and implementation of such a project.
The European Crisis in the Context of Cosmopolitization
Authors: Beck Ulrich
Published: February 2013

Are we heading toward a post-European age, a paradoxical revival of small-state particularism in the age of globalization? Has a feeling of threat and insecurity become so overwhelming that the "old clarity" is becoming attractive and people are fleeing into the future of the nineteenth century? Or might what feels like a sense of shock at the mortality of the European community mark the beginning of a historical turn away from a Europe dominated by the nation-state to a transnational European politics and society? The catastrophe threatening Europe has been analysed from the perspective of political institutions, the economy, elites, governments, and the law, but not from the perspective of the individual. What does Europe mean for individuals and what principles for a new social contract for Europe can be developed? In this essay I would like to design the thesis that Europe needs a new contrat social .
Decentering Europe, Recentering Islam
Authors: Göle Nilüfer
Published: February 2013

Focusing on public controversies around Islam in Europe and the emergence of Turkey as a model within the framework of the Arab Spring, this essay attempts to articulate an alternative conceptual and critical frame in order to recenter the conceptions of Europe from the perspective of Islamic difference. It seeks to understand the displacement of Islam from the margins to the center, from the postcolonial past to the European present, as it follows various historical trajectories and creates new interpenetrations and mixings between different cultural codes, values, and practices. Drawing on the interconnected histories of Muslims and Europe at different moments that raise issues of memory, identity, and religion, this essay invites a new critical turn—one that cannot be fully grasped in the mirror of the postcolonial, insofar as Islam and Europe exist face-to-face in the present time, relating and confronting their experiences in the same chronotope.
A Critique of Europe
Authors: Wieviorka Michel
Published: February 2013

The European Union arose out of humanist moral beliefs and, at the beginning, it was an economic much more than a directly political project. It is today in a deep state of crisis and is being challenged by nationalist or national-populist movements that have strong historical resources and can speak in the name of a cultural, linguistic, or religious past, on the one hand, and that have good reasons to criticize Europe from an economic perspective, on the other hand. Will Europe be able to survive, let alone develop, without implementing moral, cultural, ethical, and religious principles, rather than relying only on economic rationality?
European Cinema and the Postheroic Narrative: Jean-Luc Nancy, Claire Denis, and Beau Travail
Authors: Elsaesser Thomas
Published: February 2013

What is European cinema? First: European cinema does not exist, except as a bureaucratic dream or a promotional tool for national producers and distributors of art house films. Second: insofar as it is willed into existence, European cinema has over the past three decades been funded mainly by governmental subsidy schemes, public service television, or via the European Union, i.e. the taxpayer. Third: since the end of WWII, national cinema new waves have been created by Europe's leading festivals, such as Cannes and Venice, rather than emerging from their national film cultures, where on the whole, such auteurs and new waves were viewed by the film-going public as too difficult or elitist. Fourth: European cinema today, when considered as a counter-Hollywood, avant-garde or auteur cinema is best subsumed under the umbrella categories of "world cinema," "global art cinema," or "international festival cinema."
"Europe" as Utopia: Causes of Its Decline
Authors: Bohrer Karl Heinz
Published: February 2013

The inhabitants of the European continent thought and acted as Europeans long before they spoke of themselves as Europeans. Talk of European unity is relatively recent in historical terms, even though it has been practiced since the Renaissance, indeed since the early Middle Ages. Whether we think of the communion of Christian churches and universities, the rediscovery of Greek art and literature in the Renaissance, or, finally, the taken-for-granted social intercourse among the European elites, national differences only played a subordinate role in this commonality. Montaigne's Journals (ca. 1580), Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686), Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776-1789), Herder's Another Philosophy of History for the Education of Mankind (1774), Goethe's Italian Journey (1786-88)—to mention only these extremely diverse but highly emblematic texts documenting European experience—provide the most eloquent testimony of an early awareness of European civilization, not to mention of a dialogue among the leading philosophers in the eighteenth century or the grand tours of the scions of the upper classes.
Looking at the Meaning of Life Hydra-Scopically: Diderot and the Value of the Human
Authors: Domino Brian
Published: February 2013

Why do people still anguish over the meaning of life? Hasn’t philosophy had enough time to find the answer? In his First Critique , Kant famously wonders why science progresses while philosophy stagnates. Whereas the metaphysical questions he identifies could be rendered into antimonies, there is a bias toward thinking that life has meaning. Since this bias has not led to wholesale agreement among philosophers, it seems that something irrational has guided philosophers’ answers. Using Denis Diderot’s thought experiment about polyp-humans, I argue that the question of the meaning of life is a by-product of our species’ reproductive strategy.
The Philosophy of Casanova
Authors: Râmbu Nicolae
Published: February 2013

Trying to discover the “secret” of Casanova is not new; there have been many attempts to pursue this quest. What could be novel, the author hopes, is the answer provided by this essay to the eternal question: of what exactly did Giacomo Casanova’s seductive qualities consist? Let us risk this answer: his philosophy.
Reason and Value in Plato
Authors: Irani Tushar
Published: February 2013

I begin with a puzzle. According to some scholars, Plato’s view that the forms possess value as objects of desire gives rise to a problem in his metaphysics: how can forms of injustice and ugliness be considered desirable? To resolve this puzzle, I focus on Plato’s views on eros and argue that the philosopher’s love of forms is best understood as a kind of rational compulsion. Approaching the puzzle from this direction gives us an idea of how Plato’s forms might be viewed as value laden. It also suggests an understanding of his metaphysics that’s less otherworldly than is often thought.
History Plays as History
Authors: Stern Tom
Published: February 2013

History plays have a long history—about as long as the history of plays and about as long as the history of history. But philosophers of history have typically preferred to write about written history; and philosophers of literature have typically preferred to write about novels, occasionally historical novels. Yet, when we leave a performance of a history play, it still seems natural to ask: “I wonder if it happened like that?” The answer, I’ll argue, is “no.” But getting to that answer tells us something about history and something about drama.
The Inescapable Metaphor: How Time and Meaning Become Space When We Think about Narrative
Authors: Kemp Simon
Published: February 2013

Stories go places. It is impossible to talk about narrative without using spatial terms, such as “plotline,” “narrative thread,” “twists and turns,” “pacing,” or “circularity.” In such metaphors, the two essential elements of narrative, time and meaning , are consistently replaced by distance and direction . Drawing on Bergson’s ideas on the spatial representation of time and Boroditsky’s cognitive research into spatial metaphors in abstract thought, and using literary digression in Sterne and Diderot as illustration, I consider the pervasiveness of these metaphors in narrative theory, and the consequences of such spatial mediation in the discipline’s analysis of narrative form.
Beyond the Pale of Forgiveness: The Touchstone of Simon
Authors: Davis Thomas A.
Published: February 2013

What calls for thought today is radical yet ordinary thoughtlessness. But rather than become a touchstone, “the banality of evil” has been co-opted by the very thoughtlessness it would expose. Is a touchstone even possible here? Auden’s critique of Arendt’s inheritance of forgiveness points to a possibility: Jesus’ rebuke of Simon in Luke 7:36–50. Simon places himself beyond the pale of forgiveness, to which Jesus’ rebuke may recall him. How so? Will the answer that emerges introduce a touchstone that may help us become thoughtful in the face of how ordinary rootless evil has become?
Adam Bede ’s Dutch Realism and the Novelist’s Point of View
Authors: Gould Rebecca
Published: February 2013

In her first novel, Adam Bede (1859), George Eliot offered the first systematic defense of her literary aesthetic. Eliot turned to early modern Dutch painting to justify her choice to render the quotidian life of the non-elite, and thereby provocatively extended philosophical and literary approaches to representation. Whereas Hegel’s wariness toward the Dutch painterly aesthetic participates in modern philosophy’s quest to transcend the mundane, Eliot’s celebration of the mundane reveals the sublimity of everyday experience, and helps us overcome the “philosophy-as-epistemology” that, in Richard Rorty’s argument, characterizes and limits modern thought.
“All Drifting Reefwards Now”: Nietzsche, Stoker, and the Shock of the New
Authors: Redpath Philip
Published: February 2013

Bram Stoker’s Dracula has often been regarded as a progressive text in its dealings with such issues as female sexuality and madness. In the constrained moral atmosphere of Victorian England, where such issues were consciously avoided, the novel seemed to be articulating themes about which society preferred to remain silent. This article argues that, in fact, the very opposite is the case, that Dracula is dogmatically reactionary, and that it is reacting against the new intellectual climate emerging from Europe. With close reference to the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, this article demonstrates just how conservative Dracula is in the face of emergent Modernism and, indeed, from this perspective how it fails to stem the flow of intellectual challenges represented, at this time, by Nietzsche more than any other thinker.
Spinoza, Adam Bede , Knowledge, and Sympathy: A Reply to Atkins
Authors: Zenzinger Ted
Published: February 2013

This paper joins the conversation on the relationship between Spinoza and George Eliot. After critically examining Atkins’s claim that the novels of George Eliot, as exemplified by Adam Bede , are a presentation of Spinoza’s philosophy stripped of the geometrical method, the paper explores Eliot’s philosophical engagement with Spinoza’s views on sympathy and the imagination. Thus, Eliot is read as a philosopher engaging with the arguments of Spinoza, rather than as someone representing his views in novel form.
Human Nature and Holocaust: Understanding Levinas’s Account of Ethics Through Levi and Wiesel
Authors: Clancy Rockwell F.
Published: February 2013

Ethics occupies a central role in Emmanuel Levinas’s philosophy, although considerable controversy exists surrounding the nature of this centrality. I argue that Levinas’s concern with ethics is ultimately related to a reconceptualization of human nature, one in which living at another’s expense is a central feature. This becomes apparent through a close investigation of his notions of shame, creation, and substitution. Descriptions of Holocaust experiences in the work of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel corroborate this account, revealing metaphysical guilt as a central feature of human existence.
George Eliot, Kant, and Free Will
Authors: Newton K. M.
Published: February 2013

If George Eliot is a determinist, how can she justify judging her characters on moral grounds? The most influential discussion of her determinism concludes that she believed one overcomes its depressing effects by understanding it. But this view is contradicted by her assertion that free will is a “practical” necessity, even a necessary fiction. Kantian moral theory is strongly present in her work as is shown by her use of Kantian terms, but it is grounded nonmetaphysically. Rationality and the will are essential if one is to feel free to choose. Her concept of whole self in relation to moral choice has links with Bergsonian theory.
Ethics and the Third Party in Iris Murdoch’s The Green Knight
Authors: Şavkay Canan
Published: February 2013

Am I acting ethically if I refrain from judging my brother who has just attempted, and failed, to murder me? Maybe; but is my action still ethical if I side with my brother against the person who has risked his life and rescued me? Probably not. Iris Murdoch in her novel The Green Knight complicates this whole affair even further when she draws clear parallels between her characters and Emmanuel Levinas’s idea of ethics. This paper discusses Murdoch’s engagement with Levinas’s concept of ethics and sheds light on those places where Murdoch’s philosophy clearly diverges from Levinas’s.
Legal Abortion Levels and Trends By Woman's Age at Termination
Authors: Sedgh Gilda , Bankole Akinrinola , Singh Susheela , Eilers Michelle
Published: February 2013

Context

Assessments of abortion levels and trends by women's age at termination can be used to monitor trends in unintended pregnancy by age and can inform relevant programs and policies.

Methods

Legal abortion incidence data were compiled from national statistical offices and nationally representative surveys of more than 40 countries where legal abortion is generally available. Age‐specific abortion rates and percentage distributions of abortions by age were computed, and trends since 1996 and 2003 were examined. Subregional and regional estimates were developed for geographic areas where the majority of the population was represented by the data.

Results

The median year for the most recent estimates of abortions by woman's age was 2009. Adolescents accounted for a smaller share of abortions than their share of the population in the majority of eligible countries with data. In most countries, the highest age‐specific abortion rates and proportions of abortions were among women aged 20–29. Since 1996, adolescent abortion rates have increased the most in Belgium, the Netherlands and Scotland (22–42%), and have decreased the most in Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Slovakia and Slovenia (40–55%). The proportion of abortions obtained by adolescents was higher in North America (18%) than in Europe overall (11%), although the proportion in Northern Europe (18%) was the same as that in North America.

Conclusions

Higher abortion rates in particular age‐groups probably reflect higher‐than‐average levels of unmet need for contraception or difficulty using methods consistently and effectively, and a stronger desire to avoid childbearing. Each of the patterns observed has implications for service and information needs within countries.
Transcranial endoscope-assisted skull base surgery – posterior fossa
Authors: Schroeder Henry W. S.
Published: February 2013

Endoscope-assisted microsurgery is a promising technique combining the advantages of the operating microscope with those of the endoscope. For lesions, which are visible in a straight line, the operating microscope, which provides a high resolution, excellent color fidelity, as well as stereoscopic vision, is the optimal visualization tool. For dissecting in deep and narrow surgical corridors and for working “around a corner”, high-definition endoscopes with various angles of view are used to reduce the amount of retraction and skull base drilling. The endoscope-assisted microsurgical technique enables a safe surgery in the posterior fossa even when lesions are not visible in a straight line. Although the endoscope-assisted microsurgical technique reduces definitely the invasiveness of the approach, it still remains open whether it improves the results compared to standard microsurgery.
Innovative Neurosurgery – first issue
Authors: Grossmann Alexander , Lason Karin E. , Böttner Wolfgang
Published: February 2013

No abstract available.
Photonics meets excitonics: natural and artificial molecular aggregates
Authors: Saikin Semion K. , Eisfeld Alexander , Valleau Stéphanie , Aspuru-Guzik Alán
Published: February 2013

Organic molecules store the energy of absorbed light in the form of charge-neutral molecular excitations – Frenkel excitons. Usually, in amorphous organic materials, excitons are viewed as quasiparticles, localized on single molecules, which diffuse randomly through the structure. However, the picture of incoherent hopping is not applicable to some classes of molecular aggregates – assemblies of molecules that have strong near-field interaction between electronic excitations in the individual subunits. Molecular aggregates can be found in nature, in photosynthetic complexes of plants and bacteria, and they can also be produced artificially in various forms including quasi-one dimensional chains, two-dimensional films, tubes, etc. In these structures light is absorbed collectively by many molecules and the following dynamics of molecular excitation possesses coherent properties. This energy transfer mechanism, mediated by the coherent exciton dynamics, resembles the propagation of electromagnetic waves through a structured medium on the nanometer scale. The absorbed energy can be transferred resonantly over distances of hundreds of nanometers before exciton relaxation occurs. Furthermore, the spatial and energetic landscape of molecular aggregates can enable the funneling of the exciton energy to a small number of molecules either within or outside the aggregate. In this review we establish a bridge between the fields of photonics and excitonics by describing the present understanding of exciton dynamics in molecular aggregates.
Ultracompact vanadium dioxide dual-mode plasmonic waveguide electroabsorption modulator
Authors: Ooi Kelvin J.A. , Bai Ping , Chu Hong Son , Ang Lay Kee
Published: February 2013

Subwavelength modulators play an indispensable role in integrated photonic-electronic circuits. Due to weak light-matter interactions, it is always a challenge to develop a modulator with a nanometer scale footprint, low switching energy, low insertion loss and large modulation depth. In this paper, we propose the design of a vanadium dioxide dual-mode plasmonic waveguide electroabsorption modulator using a metal-insulator-VO2-insulator-metal (MIVIM) waveguide platform. By varying the index of vanadium dioxide, the modulator can route plasmonic waves through the low-loss dielectric insulator layer during the “on” state and high-loss VO2 layer during the “off” state, thereby significantly reducing the insertion loss while maintaining a large modulation depth. This ultracompact waveguide modulator, for example, can achieve a large modulation depth of ~10 dB with an active size of only 200×50×220 nm3 (or ~λ3/1700), requiring a drive-voltage of ~4.6 V. This high performance plasmonic modulator could potentially be one of the keys towards fully-integrated plasmonic nanocircuits in the next-generation chip technology.
High Partial Compression of 1-Butyl-3-Methylimidazolium Bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide Diluted in 2,6-Dimethylpyridine+Water Solvent
Authors: Marczak Wojciech , Serwicka Kamila , Pikuła Joanna
Published: February 2013

Phase properties, molar volumes, isentropic compressions and isobaric thermal expansions of the system 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [C4mim][Tf2N]+2,6-dimethylpyridine+ water were studied and interpreted in terms of molecular interactions. The solvation of [C4mim][Tf2N] diluted in the binary solvent consists most probably in the accommodation of the ions between pyridine rings of the hydrogen-bonded hydrates of 2,6-dimethylpyridine (C7H9N...H–OH)
n
. Cations and anions are located in the neighbouring voids forming ionic pairs. That process is dependent on the electric permittivity of the solvent, The higher is the permittivity, i.e. the lower is the concentration of 2,6-dimethylpyridine, the larger are limiting partial compression and volumes of [C4mim][Tf2N] due to weakened Coulomb forces that act between ions. That leads to gradual decay of the ion pairs. The effect on compression is particularly pronounced, while that on volume is small, but evident. Solvation of ions causes that the limiting partial expansion of [C4mim][Tf2N] is equal to zero or at least close to that value. With increasing concentration of the ionic liquid, the solvation shells undergo disruption that leads to the phase separation.
Modeling of Dopant Defect Interactions
Authors: Camarce C. , Radic L. , Keys P. , Brindos R. , Jones K.S. , Law M. E.
Published: February 2013

This paper presents a model for {311} defects based on in-situ experiments. The model fits the 311 dependence on silicon implant energy and doses. The surface dependence of the model is described in detail, and compared to previous literature data. New data is presented on the surface effect on {311} dissolution and the model is compared to that data. In addition, the model is also used to explain the effects of doping on {311} defect behavior. Doping does not influence the dissolution of {311} defects, but only influences their nucleation behavior.
Gettering by Overpressurized Bubbles Induced by High-Energy-He-Implantation In Silicon
Authors: Regula Gabrielle , Bouayadi Rachid El , Pichaud Bernard , Godey Sylvie , Delamare Romain , Ntsoenzok Esidor , Veen Anton Van
Published: February 2013

Silicon samples were implanted with He ions at 1.6 MeV using doses ranging from 1×1016 cm-2 to 1×1017cm-2 with different fluxes (0.4νA/cm2 - 2.0νA/cm2) and annealed at high (1000°C) and low temperatures (800°C). The implantation induced-defect structure and their distribution in the depth of the sample were studied by cross section electron microscopy (XTEM). An unexpected consequence of the flux on the defect population and density was found solely for 2×1016 cm-2, which is the upper threshold to get nano-bubbles at such large implantation depth. Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) were performed to measure the ratio of He remaining in the bubbles as a function of time and temperature anneal. Some samples were gold or nickel diffused at temperatures ranging from 870°C to 1050°C prior to He implantation. The gettering efficiency of the implantation-induced defects was measured by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), after a high temperature getter annealing. SIMS profiles exhibit a shape and a width closely related to the presence of the defects (observed by XTEM) which are very efficient sinks for all kinds of metal impurities. The bubbles were found to be more efficient traps than the dislocation loops.
Trapping and Detrapping of H in Si: Impact on Diffusion Properties and Solar Cell Processing
Authors: Sopori Bhushan , Zhang Y. , Reedy R. , Jones K. , Ravindra N. M. , Rangan S. , Ashok S.
Published: February 2013

Influence of trapping and detrapping on the diffusion behavior of H in Si is investigated using both experiment and theory. Experimental H (or D) diffusion profiles, produced by plasma and ion implantation processes, are fitted with a theoretical model. This model includes three kinds of traps – stationary, process-induced, and mobile. Excellent correlation between theory and experiment is observed. Best–fit parameters provide an insight into the trapping mechanisms. We also show how some of the problems resulting from trapping can be circumvented by suitable process conditions.
Simulations of Dislocation Dynamics in Aluminum Interconnects
Authors: Nicola Lucia , Giessen Erik Van der , Needleman Alan
Published: February 2013

A discrete dislocation simulation of plastic deformation in metallic interconnects caused by thermal stress is carried out. The calculations are carried out using a two dimensional plane strain formulation with only edge dislocations. A boundary value problem is formulated and solved for the evolution of the thermal stress field and the evolution of the dislocation structure in the cross-section of the line as cooling proceeds. For lines with a small cross section (height or width less than 1 μm), the local concentration of stresses due to dislocation patterning strongly affects the overall stress build up and relaxation. The results show a clear dependence of the transverse stress development on the line aspect ratio.
Modeling the Diffusion-Controlled Growth of Needle and Plate-Shaped Precipitates
Authors: Guo Z. , Sha W.
Published: February 2013

Various theories have been developed to describe the diffusion-controlled growth of precipitates with shapes approximating needles or plates. The most comprehensive one is due to Ivantsov, Horvay and Cahn, and Trivedi (HIT theory), where all the factors that may influence the precipitate growth, i.e. diffusion, interface kinetics and capillarity, are accounted for within one equation. However, HIT theory was developed based on assumptions that transformation strain/stress and interfacial free energy are isotropic, which are not true in most of the real systems. An improved growth theory of precipitates of needle and plate shapes was developed in the present study. A new concept, the compression ratio, was introduced to account for influences from the anisotropy of transformation strain/stress and interfacial free energy on the precipitate morphology. Experimental evidence supports such compression effect. Precipitate growth kinetics were quantified using this concept. The improved HIT theory (IHIT theory) was then applied to study the growth of Widmanstatten austenite in ferrite in Fe-C-Mn steels. The calculated results agree well with the experimental observations.
The Simulation of Copper Drift in SiO2 during Bias Temperature Stress (BTS) Test
Authors: Kwon Jang-Yeon , Kim Ki-Su , Joo Young-Chang , Kim Ki-Bum
Published: February 2013

In order to develop a reliable interconnect integration scheme by using Cu in ultra large scale integrated devices (ULSI), the evolutions of the concentration profile of copper ions in SiO2 was simulated under bias temperature stress (BTS) test. Diffusion equation was solved numerically in two electric field modes. One is constant electric field mode where copper drift was simulated with the assumption that electric field is constant within SiO2 film. In variable electric field mode, simulation was carried out considering the variation of electric field in SiO2 due to copper ions. The diffusion of copper ions in variable electric field mode is slower than that in constant electric field mode, because copper ions in SiO2 reduce electric field near the interface between Cu and SiO2. Flatband voltage shift ) (ΔVFB increases parabolically as BTS time increases in constant electric field mode. However, it has linear relation with BTS time in variable electric field mode, which is typically observed in experiments.
Reactive nitrogen inputs to US lands and waterways: how certain are we about sources and fluxes?
Authors: Sobota Daniel J , Compton Jana E , Harrison John A
Published: February 2013

An overabundance of reactive nitrogen (N) as a result of anthropogenic activities has led to multiple human health and environmental concerns. Efforts to address these concerns require an accurate accounting of N inputs. Here, we present a novel synthesis of data describing N inputs to the US, including the range of estimates, spatial patterns, and uncertainties. This analysis shows that human‐mediated N inputs are ubiquitous across the country but are spatially heterogeneous, ranging from < 0.1 to 34.6 times the background N input for individual water‐resource units (8‐digit Hydrologic Unit Codes). The Midwest, Mid‐Atlantic, central California, and portions of the Columbia River valley currently receive the highest N loads. Major opportunities to advance our understanding of N sources can be achieved by: (1) enhancing the spatial and temporal resolution of agricultural N input data, (2) improving livestock and human waste monitoring, and (3) better quantifying biological N fixation in non‐cultivated ecosystems.
A role for indirect facilitation in maintaining diversity in a guild of African acacia ants
Authors: Palmer Todd M. , Stanton Maureen L. , Young Truman P. , Lemboi John S. , Goheen Jacob R. , Pringle Robert M.
Published: February 2013

Determining how competing species coexist is essential to understanding patterns of biodiversity. Indirect facilitation, in which a competitively dominant species exerts a positive effect on one competitor by more strongly suppressing a third, shared competitor, is a potentially potent yet understudied mechanism for competitive coexistence. Here we provide evidence for indirect facilitation in a guild of four African Acacia ant species that compete for nesting space on the host plant Acacia drepanolobium, showing that a competitively dominant acacia ant species indirectly creates establishment opportunities for the most subordinate species that may help to maintain diversity. Using long‐term observational data and field experiments, we demonstrate that the competitively dominant ant species outcompetes two competitively intermediate species, while tolerating colonies of the subordinate competitor; this creates opportunities for local colonization and establishment of colonies of the subordinate species within the dominant species' territories. Host plants occupied by this subordinate species are then more likely to be colonized by the intermediate species, which in turn are more likely to be displaced by the dominant species. This process has the potential to generate a cyclical succession of ant species on host trees, contributing to stable coexistence within this highly competitive community.
Commentary on the Consensus Statement—Kudos to American Midwives
Authors: Amis Debby
Published: February 2013

In this column, Debby Amis provides expert commentary on the article “Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth: A Consensus Statement by ACNM, MANA, and NACPM.”
Commentary on the Consensus Statement—Centering the Norm: Let’s Make “Normal Birth” Usual Again
Authors: Armstrong Elizabeth Mitchell
Published: February 2013

In this column, Elizabeth Mitchell Armstrong provides expert commentary on the article “Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth: A Consensus Statement by ACNM, MANA, and NACPM.” The consensus statement on normal physiologic birth points the way to recenter social norms and expectations around birth.
My Birth Story is Like a Dream: A Childbirth Educator’s Childbirth
Authors: Isbir Gözde G.
Published: February 2013

Fear of childbirth is universal. Because of the stories of bad experiences passed down for years, many women fear childbirth. As a result, many women do not believe in the power of their own bodies and often hand over control of their bodies to health-care professionals, resulting in unhappy childbirth experiences because of unnecessary intervention during labor and birth. As a pregnancy trainer who prepares pregnant women for childbirth, the author wrote her personal childbirth story with an autoethnographic narrative method. Her aim is to help motivate pregnant women preparing for childbirth, health-care professionals preparing those pregnant women, and birthing staff.
Moving Forward: The Power of Collaboration
Authors: Lothian Judith A.
Published: February 2013

In this column, the associate editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education (JPE) discusses the joint statement of the American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM), Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA), and National Association of Certified Professional Midwives (NCPM)—“Supporting Healthy and Normal Physiologic Childbirth: A Consensus Statement by ACNM, MANA, and NCPM.” The statement is presented as a model of collaboration that has the potential to create needed change in maternity care. The associate editor also highlights the contents of this issue, which include birth stories (one, an autoethnography) as well as research on doulas, kangaroo mother care, and partners’ perceptions of prenatal care.
An Evaluation of Male Partners’ Perceptions of Antenatal Classes in a National Health Service Hospital: Implications for Service Provision in London
Authors: Shia Nessie , Alabi Oluseyi
Published: February 2013

Few studies have considered whether the gender of educator or same-gender classes have any influence on the participation of male partners, and even fewer studies have examined any factors that limit attendance from ethnic minority groups. The objective of this study was to investigate male partners’ initial experience and associated factors that limit attendance. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire given to 69 male partners in North London. In total, 49 male partners preferred to attend the same class with their partners even if all male forums were offered. The gender of the educator had no influence on their participation. Comments from 23 participants from three different ethnic minority groups indicated that they preferred to have a separate class from their partners.