bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Renal Insufficiency and Early Bystander CPR Predict In-Hospital Outcomes in Cardiac Arrest Patients Undergoing Mild Therapeutic Hypothermia and Cardiac Catheterization: Return of Spontaneous Circulation, Cooling, and Catheterization Registry (ROSCCC Registry)
Authors: Chelvanathan Anjala , Allen David , Bews Hilary , Ducas John , Minhas Kunal , Vo Minh , Kass Malek , Ravandi Amir , Tam James W. , Jassal Davinder S. , Hussain Farrukh
Published: January 2016

Objective.Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients are a critically ill patient population with high mortality. Combining mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH) with early coronary intervention may improve outcomes in this population. The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors of mortality in OHCA patients undergoing MTH with and without cardiac catheterization.Design.A retrospective cohort of OHCA patients who underwent MTH with catheterization (MTH + C) and without catheterization (MTH + NC) between 2006 and 2011 was analyzed at a single tertiary care centre. Predictors of in-hospital mortality and neurologic outcome were determined.Results.The study population included 176 patients who underwent MTH for OHCA. A total of 66 patients underwent cardiac catheterization (MTH + C) and 110 patients did not undergo cardiac catheterization (MTH + NC). Immediate bystander CPR occurred in approximately half of the total population. In the MTH + C and MTH + NC groups, the in-hospital mortality was 48% and 78%, respectively. The only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality for patients with MTH + C, after multivariate analysis, was baseline renal insufficiency (OR = 8.2, 95% CI 1.8–47.1, andp= 0.009).Conclusion.Despite early cardiac catheterization, renal insufficiency and the absence of immediate CPR are potent predictors of death and poor neurologic outcome in patients with OHCA.
An Innovative Wavelet Threshold Denoising Method for Environmental Drift of Fiber Optic Gyro
Authors: Zhang Qian , Wang Lei , Gao Pengyu , Liu Zengjun
Published: January 2016

Fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is a core component in modern inertial technology. However, the precision and performance of FOG will be degraded by environmental drift, especially in complex temperature environment. As the modeling performance is affected by the noises in the output data of FOG, an improved wavelet threshold value based on Allan variance and Classical variance is proposed for discrete wavelet analysis to decompose the temperature drift trend item and noise items. Firstly, the relationship of Allan variance and Classical variance is introduced by analyzing the drawback of traditional wavelet threshold. Secondly, an improved threshold is put forward based on Allan variance and Classical variance which overcomes the shortcoming of traditional wavelet threshold method. Finally, the innovative threshold algorithm is experimentally evaluated on FOG. The mathematical evaluation results show that the new method can get better signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and gain the reconstruction signal of the higher correlation coefficient (CC). As an experimental validation, the nonlinear capability of error back propagation neural network (BP neural network) is used to fit the drift trend item and find out the complex relationship between the FOG drift and temperature, and the final processing results indicate that the new denoising method can get better root of mean square error (MSE).
An Improved ARIMA-Based Traffic Anomaly Detection Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Yu Qin , Jibin Lyu , Jiang Lirui
Published: January 2016

Traffic anomaly detection is emerging as a necessary component as wireless networks gain popularity. In this paper, based on the improved Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model, we propose a traffic anomaly detection algorithm for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) which considers the particular imbalanced, nonstationary properties of the WSN traffic and the limited energy and computing capacity of the wireless sensors at the same time. We systematically analyze the characteristics of WSN traffic, the causes of WSN abnormal traffic, and the latest related research and development. Specifically, we improve the traditional time series ARIMA model to make traffic prediction and judge the traffic anomaly in a WSN. Simulated and real WSN traffic data gathered from University of North Carolina are used to carry out simulations on Matlab. Simulation results and comparative analyses demonstrate that our proposed WSN traffic anomaly detection scheme has better anomaly detection accuracy than traditional traffic anomaly detection algorithms.
Functional Integration between Salience and Central Executive Networks: A Role for Action Video Game Experience
Authors: Gong Diankun , He Hui , Ma Weiyi , Liu Dongbo , Huang Mengting , Dong Li , Gong Jinnan , Li Jianfu , Luo Cheng , Yao Dezhong
Published: January 2016

Action video games (AVGs) have attracted increasing research attention as they offer a unique perspective into the relation between active learning and neural plasticity. However, little research has examined the relation between AVG experience and the plasticity of neural network mechanisms. It has been proposed that AVG experience is related to the integration between Salience Network (SN) and Central Executive Network (CEN), which are responsible for attention and working memory, respectively, two cognitive functions essential for AVG playing. This study initiated a systematic investigation of this proposition by analyzing AVG experts’ and amateurs’ resting-state brain functions through graph theoretical analyses and functional connectivity. Results reveal enhanced intra- and internetwork functional integrations in AVG experts compared to amateurs. The findings support the possible relation between AVG experience and the neural network plasticity.
SGEF Is Regulated via TWEAK/Fn14/NF-κB Signaling and Promotes Survival by Modulation of the DNA Repair Response to Temozolomide
Authors: Ensign Shannon P. Fortin , Roos Alison , Mathews Ian T. , Dhruv Harshil D. , Tuncali Serdar , Sarkaria Jann N. , Symons Marc H. , Loftus Joseph C. , Berens Michael E. , Tran Nhan L.
Published: January 2016

Glioblastoma (GB) is the highest grade and most common form of primary adult brain tumors. Despite surgical removal followed by concomitant radiation and chemotherapy with the alkylating agent temozolomide, GB tumors develop treatment resistance and ultimately recur. Impaired response to treatment occurs rapidly, conferring a median survival of just fifteen months. Thus, it is necessary to identify the genetic and signaling mechanisms that promote tumor resistance to develop targeted therapies to combat this refractory disease. Previous observations indicated that SGEF (ARHGEF26), a RhoG-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), is overexpressed in GB tumors and plays a role in promoting TWEAK-Fn14–mediated glioma invasion. Here, further investigation revealed an important role for SGEF in glioma cell survival. SGEF expression is upregulated by TWEAK-Fn14 signaling via NF-κB activity while shRNA-mediated reduction of SGEF expression sensitizes glioma cells to temozolomide-induced apoptosis and suppresses colony formation following temozolomide treatment. Nuclear SGEF is activated following temozolomide exposure and complexes with the DNA damage repair (DDR) protein BRCA1. Moreover, BRCA1 phosphorylation in response to temozolomide treatment is hindered by SGEF knockdown. The role of SGEF in promoting chemotherapeutic resistance highlights a heretofore unappreciated driver, and suggests its candidacy for development of novel targeted therapeutics for temozolomide-refractory, invasive GB cells.

Implication: SGEF, as a dual process modulator of cell survival and invasion, represents a novel target for treatment refractory glioblastoma. Mol Cancer Res; 14(3); 302–12. ©2016 AACR.
Severity of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Nursing Home Residents
Authors: Helvik Anne-Sofie , Engedal Knut , Wu Bei , Benth Jūratė Šaltytė , Corazzini Kirsten , Røen Irene , Selbæk Geir
Published: January 2016

We aimed at assessing time shift in the severity of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in nursing home residents between 2004/2005 and 2010/2011 and associations between NPS and socio-demographic variables, physical health status, dementia severity, and the use of psychotropic drugs. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory Nursing Home Version was used in 2004/2005 (n = 1,163) and 2010/2011 (n = 1,858). Linear mixed model analysis was applied. There was no time shift in the severity of apathy, psychosis, and affective symptoms, but agitation did exhibit a time shift. Agitation was less severe in 2010/2011 than in 2004/2005 in residents with a Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) sum of boxes score ≤4, and more severe in residents with a CDR sum of boxes score >16. Higher CDR sum of boxes scores and use of psychotropic medication were associated with more severe apathy, agitation, psychosis, and affective symptoms. Poor physical health was associated with more severe apathy, psychosis, and affective symptoms. Women had more severe agitation and less severe affective symptoms than men. A longer stay in a nursing home was associated with more severe agitation and less severe affective symptoms. In conclusion, agitation was less severe in 2010/2011 than in 2004/2005 among nursing home residents with a milder degree of dementia, and more severe in residents with severe dementia.
Laparoscopic Radiofrequency Ablation versus Partial Nephrectomy for cT1a Renal Tumors: Long-Term Outcome of 179 Patients
Authors: Ji Changwei , Zhao Xiaozhi , Zhang Shiwei , Liu Guangxiang , Li Xiaogong , Zhang Gutian , Minervini Andrea , Guo Hongqian
Published: January 2016

Objectives: To compare the long-term functional and oncological results between laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation (LRFA) and laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) in selected clinical T1a (cT1a) renal tumor patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of patients with cT1a renal tumors who had LRFA or LPN at our institution between February 2006 and February 2015. Student's t test was used to compare the perioperative data between the two groups. Survival analyses were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: A total of 179 patients were included in the study. Patients in the LRFA cohort were significantly older and had higher American Society of Anesthesiologists sore than in the LPN cohort. The LRFA group had a significantly lower mean blood loss than the LPN group (p = 0.03). The percent decrease of GFR in the LRFA group was significantly lower than in the LPN group (p = 0.021). The 5-year overall, cancer-specific and disease-free survival were 93.3 vs. 94.6%, 98.0 vs. 98.5% and 97.1 vs. 97.3%, for LRFA and LPN, respectively (all p value >0.05). Conclusions: The excellent perioperative results, long-term functional and oncological outcomes of LRFA confirm that this technique is safe, nephron sparing and oncologically effective for the treatment of cT1a renal tumors.
Gastronomia e Sustentabilidade: uma análise da percepção da sustentabilidade ambiental em restaurantes buffet
Authors: Puntel Laura , Marinho Katarzyna Bortnowska
Published: January 2016

O presente artigo abordou o tema sustentabilidade no setor gastronômico com o objetivo de analisar a percepção dos gestores de restaurantes buffet com relação às 'boas práticas' de sustentabilidade ambiental. Este assunto na Gastronomia envolve questões como agricultura, fornecedores e transporte, economia de recursos naturais e utilização de tecnologias limpas, procedimentos corretos para manipulação, porcionamento e produção dos alimentos, além da correta gestão dos resíduos produzidos. A aplicação de um questionário aos gestores de dezoito restaurantes da tipologia referida nos bairros Lagoa da Conceição e Rio Tavares em Florianópolis, demonstrou que 72% consideram que o restaurante causa algum tipo de impacto ambiental, enquanto 28% consideraram não impactar o meio ambiente de forma negativa, porém, mesmo entre os estabelecimentos que consideraram não causar impactos, alguma ação é realizada no sentido de minimizar os efeitos nocivos, resultando em 94% das respostas positivas na aderência a sustentabilidade. A importância da elaboração deste trabalho ocorreu no sentido de identificar as ações sustentáveis por meio da pesquisa bibliográfica e posterior análise da percepção dos gestores, bem como chamar a atenção para a relevância da execução das ações identificadas.
Radiofrequency Ablation of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation
Authors: Hussein Ayman A. , Saliba Walid I. , Barakat Amr , Bassiouny Mohammed , Chamsi-Pasha Mohammed , Al-Bawardy Rasha , Hakim Ali , Tarakji Khaldoun , Baranowski Bryan , Cantillon Daniel , Dresing Thomas , Tchou Patrick , Martin David O. , Varma Niraj , Bhargava Mandeep , Callahan Thomas , Niebauer Mark , Kanj Mohamed , Chung Mina , Natale Andrea , Lindsay Bruce D. , Wazni Oussama M.
Published: January 2016

Background—

Various ablation strategies of persistent atrial fibrillation (PersAF) have had disappointing outcomes, despite concerted clinical and research efforts, which could reflect progressive atrial fibrillation–related atrial remodeling.

Methods and Results—

Two-year outcomes were assessed in 1241 consecutive patients undergoing first-time ablation of PersAF (2005–2012). The time intervals between the first diagnosis of PersAF and the ablation procedures were determined. Patients had echocardiograms and measures of B-type natriuretic peptide and C-reactive protein before the procedures. The median diagnosis-to-ablation time was 3 years (25th–75th percentiles 1–6.5). With longer diagnosis-to-ablation time (based on quartiles), there was a significant increase in recurrence rates in addition to an increase in B-type natriuretic peptide levels (
P
=0.01), C-reactive protein levels (
P
<0.0001), and left atrial size (
P
=0.03). The arrhythmia recurrence rates over 2 years were 33.6%, 52.6%, 57.1%, and 54.6% in the first, second, third, and fourth quartiles, respectively (
P
categorical
<0.0001). In Cox Proportional Hazard analyses, B-type natriuretic peptide levels, C-reactive protein levels, and left atrial size were associated with arrhythmia recurrence. The diagnosis-to-ablation time had the strongest association with the ablation outcomes which persisted in multivariable Cox analyzes (hazard ratio for recurrence per +1Log diagnosis-to-ablation time 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.14–1.43;
P
<0.0001; hazard ratio fourth versus first quartile 2.44, 95% confidence interval 1.68–3.65;
P
categorical
<0.0001).

Conclusions—

In patients with PersAF undergoing ablation, the time interval between the first diagnosis of PersAF and the catheter ablation procedure had a strong association with the ablation outcomes, such as shorter diagnosis-to-ablation times were associated with better outcomes and in direct association with markers of atrial remodeling.
MiR-125b Is Critical for Fibroblast-to-Myofibroblast Transition and Cardiac Fibrosis
Authors: Nagpal Varun , Rai Rahul , Place Aaron T. , Murphy Sheila B. , Verma Suresh K. , Ghosh Asish K. , Vaughan Douglas E.
Published: January 2016

Background—

Cardiac fibrosis is the pathological consequence of stress-induced fibroblast proliferation and fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition. MicroRNAs have been shown to play a central role in the pathogenesis of cardiac fibrosis. We identified a novel miRNA-driven mechanism that promotes cardiac fibrosis via regulation of multiple fibrogenic pathways.

Methods and Results—

Using a combination of in vitro and in vivo studies, we identified that miR-125b is a novel regulator of cardiac fibrosis, proliferation, and activation of cardiac fibroblasts. We demonstrate that miR-125b is induced in both fibrotic human heart and murine models of cardiac fibrosis. In addition, our results indicate that miR-125b is necessary and sufficient for the induction of fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition by functionally targeting apelin, a critical repressor of fibrogenesis. Furthermore, we observed that miR-125b inhibits p53 to induce fibroblast proliferation. Most importantly, in vivo silencing of miR-125b by systemic delivery of locked nucleic acid rescued angiotensin II–induced perivascular and interstitial fibrosis. Finally, the RNA-sequencing analysis established that miR-125b altered the gene expression profiles of the key fibrosis-related genes and is a core component of fibrogenesis in the heart.

Conclusions—

In conclusion, miR-125b is critical for induction of cardiac fibrosis and acts as a potent repressor of multiple anti-fibrotic mechanisms. Inhibition of miR-125b may represent a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of human cardiac fibrosis and other fibrotic diseases.
Full and Empty Readers
Authors: Starling David
Published: January 2016

In recent decades, a growing number of writers have argued for the claim that good interpretation requires not just skill but character; all else being equal, it is argued, virtuous people, whose interactions with the world are characterized by habits of attentiveness, charity, honesty, courage and humility, are most likely to understand and do justice to the texts they read. The book of Ruth offers a test case in the possibilities and limitations of virtue hermeneutics for biblical interpretation. Lurking just beneath the surface of the novella are a string of interpretive questions about how the commandments of the Torah are to be understood and applied, and about how the character of God is to shape the conduct of his people. Viewed from one angle, Boaz could be seen as the paradigm of the virtuous reader, a biblical parallel to Aristotle’s ‘magnanimous man’. But Boaz is not the only reader of God and God’s purposes within the book of Ruth. At least as important to the action are Naomi and Ruth; their interpretations of the words and actions of God and the readings that are generated by their interactions with Boaz offer a challenge to the sufficiency of ‘virtue’ as a category for biblical hermeneutics.What emerges is a hermeneutic of חֶסֶד that presupposes an expansive vision of the kindness of God, and flourishes within a social matrix radically different from the small circle of wealthy, freeborn, virtuous men imagined by Aristotle as necessary to safeguard the flourishing of good character.
SEVERING CONNECTIONS WITH IRELAND: Women and the Irish Free State in Beckett's Writing
Authors: Kim Rina
Published: January 2016

Beckett's female characterization in his early fiction is grotesque, devouring and sexually provocative. The intention of this article is to examine how such characterization is closely related to Beckett's resistance to the Irish Free State and the Celtic Revival movement by showing that the characterization can be attributed to the impulse to satirize the Celtic revivalists' portrayal of the idealized woman-as-Ireland. This article will argue that the male protagonists' attempt to achieve detachment from the possessive women in Beckett's early fiction gives expression to the author's desire for exile as well as to distance himself from the predominant literary nationalism.
REVISITED: Answering the Question
Authors: Adamou Christina
Published: January 2016

This article reads the two productions of for the screen, focusing on the ways in which they relate to modernism and postmodernism. The readings draw on methodologies developed for television drama and film and seek to draw attention to the role that aesthetics, production contexts and cultural assumptions may play in reading and 'classifying' a production.
"Scraps of German": Samuel Beckett Reading German Literature
Authors: Nixon Mark
Published: January 2016

This essay uses Beckett's 1936 reference to a specifically German 'associative complex' to examine its aesthetic and creative manifestations. Drawing on notebook material and correspondences from the 1930s, the essay reveals the importance of Beckett's extensive reading of German literature precipitating his move from a recondite mode of writing to one that would allow his writing to issue more directly from his own personal pressures. Beckett's project of self-writing is traced to its culmination in the German Diaries of 1936-37 and a new project entitled the "Journal of a Melancholic" formulated in its pages.
In Defense of the Integral Text
Authors: Overbeck Lois More , Fehsenfeld Martha Dow , Craig George
Published: January 2016

Beckett's letters show a struggle to write, his care with proofs, and his responses to rejection. But publication was not sought at any cost. Censorship was a central factor in Beckett's circumstance as a writer in Ireland. If a work was refused on this basis, used without his consent, or altered editorially, Beckett took umbrage. However, he did revise and reshape his work in translation and production. The archival legacy of these changes presents an evolving, not an iconic text. If we recognize and respect Beckett's act of making, defensiveness about the integral text may prove less necessary.
Beckett Face Au Surréalisme
Authors: Hunkeler Thomas
Published: January 2016

This contribution analyses the relationship between Beckett's early writings in the 1930s and surrealist aesthetics. It takes as a starting point Eugene Jolas' literary journal where Beckett published his first texts, and studies its connections, both personal and aesthetical, with surrealism. It then focuses on Beckett's translations of Breton, Eluard and Crevel for the special issue of (September 1932), for Nancy Cunard's anthology (1934) and for an anthology of Eluard's poetry, (1936), shedding new light on the importance of Eluard's poetry for the development of Beckett' s own poetics between 1932 and 1938.
"Père Céleste, La Créature Était Bilingue" ("Heavenly Father, the creature was bilingual"): Beckett De L'anglais Au Français
Authors: Bishop Tom
Published: January 2016

Beckett represents a unique case of bilingual writing, not only because he self-translated (or self-adapted) his writing in the other language, but also because, as of the time he decided to write in French (and after having written only in French for some ten years) he uses both languages as language of first composition for the remainder of his life. In Beckett, there is not just a double creation but in fact a quadruple creation. We view the period of and the reasons for this initial change and then examine and illustrate the singularities of these four variables in Beckett's work.
Beckett Resitué Dans L'Histolre
Authors: Gontarski Stan E.
Published: January 2016

A paradox lies at the core of Samuel Beckett's creative enterprise. As arguably the pre-eminent writer of the post-World War II era, a period we loosely call post-modem, his work is equally the culmination of the Romantic agony ; he is at once the emblematic deconstructive author and heir to Kant and Schopenhauer (despite their emphasis on the phenomenal world). In other words, his celebrated innovation and his assault on literary convention are themselves rooted in discemable literary and cultural traditions, as pre- as post-modem, his sensibility reaching back to the classical – that classicism leavened both by late Romanticism and post-humanism. Finally, his celebrated aporia may finally be more rooted in Scholasticist than in post-structuralist thought. One useful starting point for reading Beckett then may be Beckett's own reading, particularly those works he read as he struggled to invent himself as a writer.
La Figure Du Bilinguisme Dans L'Œuvre Théâtrale de Samuel Beckett
Authors: Louar Nadia
Published: January 2016

In this paper I try to analyze the bilingual principle as it shows up in Beckett's theatre. I am going to define first the bilingual phenomenon as I conceive it in my study so as to demonstrate its equivocal modalities of repetition. I shall continue by identifying the dramatic processes by which the principle of repetition is transferred on the scene. I take in account in the following the dantesque characteristics of the scenography such as it was conceived by Beckett with the intention to reconsider the literary filiations of 'his' Belacqua and to analyze its implications in the work.
Qu'est-ce Qu'une Archive? (Beckett, Foucault)
Authors: Grossman Évelyne
Published: January 2016

Beckett's references to Michel Foucault invite us to ask questions about the interferences that may exist between the two works. Starting from what Foucault calls "la pensée du dehors" we are going to examine their common exploration of a paradoxical space that signifies for Foucault an outward place where the speaking subject disappears (where he is melting away in the anonymous writing of the archive) and that is for Beckett – in for instance – the experimental space of strange interior exteriorities that his last texts point out.
Two Versions of : What Franz Schubert Tells Us about a Favourite Song of Beckett
Authors: Maier Franz Michael
Published: January 2016

The printed version of Franz Schubert's song shows two main improvements over the draft. The aesthetic principles that become visible in a comparison of the two versions of the song surprisingly are not at all unfamiliar to Beckett scholars. Hence, the link between Beckett and Schubert can be established on a philological basis.
Beckett's Sublime Ironies: The , , and the Remainders of Romanticism
Authors: Eastham Andrew
Published: January 2016

This essay theorizes the status of Romantic irony in Beckett's work according to its relationship with the sublime, which takes three different forms. First, in the "German Letter," irony is conceived of as the way to the sublime. I argue that a diagnostic account of this process emerges in , where Romantic irony is framed as the symptom of a moribund condition. Finally, I suggest that in Beckett works to ironize the rhetoric of Romanticism, whilst the Romantic irony of his narrators is constituted by an aspiration to repeat an irrecoverable sublime encounter.
Neitherways: Long Ways in Beckett's Shorts
Authors: Rathjen Friedhelm
Published: January 2016

Whenever Beckett used a certain word, he did so quite consciously, and if he used it again in another text we can be fairly sure that the repetition is intentional and serves a purpose. At least in Beckett's later works this is even true with respect to rather inconspicuous and unsuspicious words such as "way," "always" and "away." A close examination of the appearance of these words in some highly condensed and concentrated later texts shows that the lexeme 'way' usually occurs in clusters which establish a meaning significantly different from what is associated with these terms in everyday usage.
Beckett and "l'ordre naturel": The Universal Grammar of
Authors: Cordingley Anthony
Published: January 2016

A foundational myth of the clarity and precision of French prose, the theory of French word order "l'ordre naturel" grew out of Aristotelian grammars and sought its justification in Cartesian metaphysics, epistemology and physiology. Ironically, Beckett's "narrator/narrated" of uses a tattered syntax to insist that his discourse is a recitation in "the natural order" (l'ordre naturel) of the voice in his head, "the other above in the light" (l'autre dans la lumière). The aspirations of the "I" below to imitate his mysterious "ancient voice" interlace with the text's allusions to Enlightenment philosophy of mind and language, producing its unique, albeit debilitated, "geometric method."
"Alba" and "Dortmunder": Signposting Paradise and the Balls-aching World
Authors: Lawlor Sean
Published: January 2016

"Alba" and "Dortmunder" were "written above an abscess and not out of a cavity, a statement and not a description of heat in the spirit to compensate for pus in the spirit." (Beckett to MacGreevy, 18 October 1932) This paper explores the nature of this abscess and the way in which Beckett constructs his statements by linking obscured allusions to create a coherent and convincing hinterland for the poems.
"Holo and unholo": The Beckett Digital Manuscript Project
Authors: Van Hulle Dirk , Nixon Mark
Published: January 2016

The following short piece aims to introduce ongoing work on the Beckett Digital Manuscript Project, a prototype of which was presented at the Beckett at Reading 2006 conference. An overview of the benefits and some of the key (technical) features of the genetic electronic manuscript editions will be preceded by a short examination of Beckett's own attitude towards his manuscripts.
"The acute and increasing anxiety of the relation itself": Beckett, the Author-Function, and the Ethics of Enunciation
Authors: Smith Russell
Published: January 2016

It is widely agreed that Beckett's writing radically destabilizes the enunciation of linguistic subjectivity through the problematic status of the pronoun 'I' in his work. This is often read as an implicit critique of the 'author-function.' In this paper I examine four different formulations of the enunciative relation between author and text – by Beckett himself, Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, and Giorgio Agamben – and argue that Beckett's impossible "obligation to express" corresponds most closely to the theory of testimony outlined by Agamben, in which the shame experienced through an incapacity to speak responds to a post-war historical crisis of enunciation.
Rencontre de Charles Juliet avec Samuel Beckett: "Cette parole nue qui vient de la souffrance"
Authors: Cousseau Anne
Published: January 2016

In 1986, Charles Juliet published his , which included four interviews he had with the author. Juliet had discovered Samuel Beckett as early as 1965 by way of his writings. Reading Beckett, notably his , and , had a determinant influence on Charles Juliet's literary career. It is mostly in the company of Beckett that he finds his own voice. This article examines both the way in which Beckett's writings may have had an influence on the beginning of Charles Juliet's existential and poetic voyage, and the dialogue established between two related literary worlds.
À LA LIMITE…: lecture de de Samuel Beckett
Authors: Grossman Evelyne
Published: January 2016

In , the apparent circular confinement of discourse opens up and overflows: outside of space, outside of time. Beyond anxiety, every reader or spectator of passes through this erotization of limits. In order to read this text we must continuously replay the drama of separation, 'be in transit' (in several meanings of the term) in a temporary location, a location without a location. If the modern tendency, as Deleuze suggests, is to include the outside 'within' the world and not without, in a world beyond, Beckett's mad topologies perhaps are attempts at inventing the writing of another form of (atheistic? sacred?) infinity.
NOT RIGHTLY HUMAN: Beckett and Animality
Authors: Weller Shane
Published: January 2016

This essay examines Beckett's treatment of the distinction between human and animal, a distinction that is certainly not one among others, since it arguably founds an entire philosophico-religious tradition running from Aristotle to Levinas, and including Descartes, Malebranche, Kant, Hegel, and Heidegger. I focus in particular on the impact on Beckett of his reading about Wolfgang Köhler's experiments on chimpanzees during the First World War and aim to show that Beckett submits the human/animal distinction to a double pressure, thereby producing a new conception of the so-called 'political animal.'
"LITTLE PEOPLE" IN : Beckett and the Eighteenth Century
Authors: Inoue Yoshiyuki
Published: January 2016

This paper aims to study how eighteenth-century natural history operates in Beckett's . Regarding its "little people," I show that they can be compared to insects and animals. Firstly, I suggest that the bodies on the cylinder's floor can be regarded as animalcules under the microscope as in Diderot's . Secondly, I demonstrate similarities in the way insects are depicted in and in Voltaire's . Thirdly, I discuss the "dépeupleur" in connection with Swift. Lastly, Beckett is considered to be a writer who aims for "mindlessness" by reducing the number of animals in the brain.
…… AND A YEATSIAN PHANTASMAGORIA
Authors: Okamuro Minako
Published: January 2016

The woman in … quotes from Yeats's "The Tower," a poem in which Yeats, who was familiar with séances, recalls the dead. "The Tower" is closely related to Yeats's book of occult philosophy, , in which he refers to 'phantasmagoria,' projections of images of ghosts, in discussing "dreaming back" by the Spirit. By repeatedly reproducing scenes, M's voice, called V, seems to be dreaming back a solitary séance by M, conducted by his past self to see the woman without. For Beckett, television thus produced a version of Yeats's phantasmagoria, a projection of the inner ghost outward.
"Quelque chose d'arborescent ou de céleste": Poésie et poétique selon le jeune Beckett
Authors: Hunkeler Thomas
Published: January 2016

Beckett's poetry is often neglected in spite of its importance for the evolution of his writing. The author's interest in the elements is studied here in his poetics of the 1930s, and particularly in an important letter to his friend Thomas MacGreevy. This letter forms the starting point for an analysis of Beckett's early poems and his collection . Among the elements, earth and sky/air, reinterpreted through the dichotomy of inside/outside, are of special interest in this context.
Figures d'exclus, figures exclues chez franz kafka et samuel beckett
Authors: Godeau Florence
Published: January 2016

Ill seen, ill said, ill done, ill written, ill loved, ill heard. Against the old style, whose happy days are gone, Beckett's "figures" – that is, ways of being and saying – shape a language that deliberately denies all social and speech conventions. Excluded characters and figures behind the language assert themselves against all laws and rules. This article intends to show this feature while justifying the comparison between Beckett's and Kafka's works: we will also underline a difference between Kafka's "trial" – and process – of language and the reluctance of Beckett's characters.
Negative Allegory: Buning on Allegory and the
Authors: Uhlmann Anthony
Published: January 2016

This essay will discuss two areas of interest developed by Marius Buning that point towards doorways within Beckett studies: the idea of allegory, and the idea of the . It will consider how these two ideas might be thought to interrelate and open new insights in the field.
Beckett, Maritain, and Merton: The Negative Way
Authors: Bryden Mary
Published: January 2016

This essay begins by acknowledging Marius Buning's major contribution to understandings of Beckett's work in relation to negative theology. After situating the apophatic tradition as Beckett encountered it, the essay focuses on Thomas Merton (poet, writer, and Trappist monk), the fortieth anniversary of whose death was commemorated in 2008. Merton was acutely responsive to Beckett's writing, discerning in parts of it a radical ascesis and apophaticism. In analysing Merton's nuanced attitude to Beckett, the discussion draws in the figure of Jacques Maritain, demonstrating the divergences between Merton and Beckett in relation to this prominent French scholar of Thomas Aquinas.
A Sense of Unending: Samuel Beckett's Eschatological Turn
Authors: Gontarski Stan E.
Published: January 2016

Beginning with the post-War creative burst that Beckett so memorably dubbed the “siege in the room,” Beckett's work took an overt turn towards the apocalyptic and the eschatological. Beckett's sensibility remained riven between an inherently classical temperament that dominated much High Modernism in the first half of the twentieth century (and much of his own early work) and the spirit of the post-war annihilation that dominated the second half of the century (as well as the latter half of his oeuvre).
“Stuck in a Stagger”: Beckett and Cixous
Authors: Bryden Mary
Published: January 2016

Hélène Cixous and Samuel Beckett were contemporary writers in Paris for several decades, but are seldom considered together. Yet, in 2007, Cixous wrote , the most intensive of her recurrent glances towards Beckett's work so far. This latest text will here be discussed alongside her 1976 essay on Beckett, “Une Passion: l'un peu moins que rien,” in order to trace the roots of Cixous's guarded yet sustained interest in Beckett. The argument further focusses on theatre, and movement, to examine Cixous's continuing engagement with Beckett. The two writers' attachment to the suspension of positionality and fixed identity in particular seems to provide real common ground.
“Ill-Told Ill-Heard”: Aurality and Reading in
Authors: Sinoimeri Lea
Published: January 2016

This paper investigates the question of aurality in Beckett's narrative and radiophonic works of the early sixties. It focuses on and its English translation , considered here as a central work in Beckett's intermedial practice of hybridisation between genres and media. At the cross-roads between a novel and a radio play, between written and spoken word, enacts the performance of the reader as a silent listener. Corporality and language overlap in the text as the novel builds up the metaphor of the human body as a medium.
The Minstrel as Social Critic: A Reading of Ezenwa–Ohaeto's
Authors: Egya Sule E.
Published: January 2016

Ezenwa–Ohaeto is one of the modern Nigerian poets who, in their creative endeavours, have continued to tap the rich sources of orature in their culture, in what is now known as 'the minstrelsy tradition'. The maturity of his explorations of the minstrelsy tradition comes through in the last volume of poetry he published before his death, (2003). In a close reading of some selected poems from this volume, this contribution not only looks at the minstrelsy tradition so central to Ezenwa–Ohaeto's poetry, but, more broadly, explores the social vision of Ezenwa–Ohaeto as an African poet. Unlike his earlier volumes of poetry, takes a critical swipe at the inadequacies of advanced countries in Europe and America in what we may call the poet's transnational imagination. In his chants across the world (the volume is an outcome of his many travels), Ezenwa–Ohaeto examines the issues of racism, equity in international relationships and, as is characteristic of his oeuvre, the moral and ethical failures of leaders in Africa.
Léopold S. Senghor, Birago Diop et Chinua Achebe: Maîtres de la parole
Authors: Mabana Kahiudi Claver
Published: January 2016

Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906–2001), Birago Diop (1906–1989) and Chinua Achebe (1931–) were among the first African intellectuals to make their fellow Africans aware of the riches of their oral literature and proud of their cultural treasures. The two francophone writers from Senegal were major figures of the Négritude movement, while the anglophone Nigerian became famous with , the best-known African novel of the last century. The aim of this essay is to show the importance of the impact of African orature in the creative writing of African authors despite the ostensible differences in their colonial linguistic backgrounds.
Civil Society and the Struggle for Democratic Transition in Modern Nigerian Drama: Ken Saro–Wiwa's and Wole Soyinka's
Authors: Schulze–Engler Frank
Published: January 2016

In the wake of new democratic movements in Africa, the dynamic of democratic transition has become a key issue not only for the social sciences but also for literary studies. The following essay analyses the seminal role of the politics of civil society in two contemporary plays, Ken Saro–Wiwa's and Wole Soyinka's , reading them against the background of the turmoil undergone by Nigerian society in the 1980 s and 90 s. Not only have both authors been heavily involved as 'public intellectuals' in Nigeria's democratic transition, but they have also satirically highlighted the shortcomings of contemporary Nigerian society in their literary works. Both plays have contributed to setting up a public sphere shaped by the politics of civil society rather than those of ethnicity or religious fervour and have thus assisted in the 're-invention' of the Nigerian nation at an historical juncture where those responsible for ruling the country seemed about to destroy it altogether.
Aesthetic Metamorphosis Oral Rhetoric in the Poetry of Tanure Ojaide
Authors: Okuyade Ogaga
Published: January 2016

The writer's imaginative craft is usually inspired and shaped by the environment s/he hails from. This in turn gives room for constant communication between the creative mind and the immediate physical social world; the environment becomes a determinant of the writer's experiences. The influence of the Urhobo oral tradition on the poetic corpus of Tanure Ojaide is remarkable. The poet's cultural background occupies a looming space in his choices of generic style. Close examination of Ojaide's poetry reveals the exploration and appropriation of the orature of the Urhobo people, which ranges from myth, folksongs, proverbs, riddles, indigenous rhythms to folktales. Ojaide deploys orature to criticize contemporary ills as well as to locate solutions for Nigeria's socio-economic problems. The aim of this essay is essentially to demonstrate that orality accounts for the distinctiveness of Ojaide's writing. Also interrogate is the mingling of the oral and written in Ojaide's art. This approach will, it is hoped, open up what has been a restricted economy, through the inscribing of orature as a cardinal and integral constituent of the poet's art.
The Quest for Diplomatic Leadership in the Poetry of Tanure Ojaide
Authors: Eke Kola
Published: January 2016

The essay focuses on the issue of leadership in the poet's society. It is fascinating to note that Ojaide suggests leadership training courses for aspiring African leaders. Specifically, this study shows that the poet would like an aspiring leader to take lessons in diplomacy. This is because leadership involves knowing how to work with the people. At Edon, the student learns that the loyalty of the masses is essential to good governance. The aspiring leader is taught to study the people and their temperaments. He should be able to gain and hold the loyalty of the masses. Knowledge of the human temperament is indispensable in enabling leaders deal with, and better comprehend, the people. In working with people, leaders need to be tactful and careful. The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate Ojaide's quest for diplomatic leadership in Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular.
The Structure of Yorùbá Local Drug Advertising
Authors: Olateju Moji A.
Published: January 2016

This essay presents a breakdown of the analysis of the structure of the monologue of advertisers of local drugs in the ancient city of Ilé-Ifè, sun State, Nigeria. Since this practice of selling local drugs seems to solve some seemingly common health problems of some of the populace, people from all walks of life all over the country identify with this mode of drug selling. The data consists of texts from the advertisers of the drugs who move from city to city in motor vehicles. Both personal and non-personal contacts are used in the advertisement and sale of the local drugs. Since computer and internet facilities are still not within the reach of many people in Nigeria as a developing nation, advertising on the internet and benefiting from advertisement on the internet becomes a little difficult. Analysis of the data showed that the advertisers and sellers of these drugs enjoy the patronage of the restricted populace they serve probably because of the mode of advertisement, the supposed efficacy of the local drugs, the psychology of the not fully educated sets of people they serve, as well as the low cost arrangement ensured by the manufacturers and vendors.
Singing and Suffering in Africa A Study of Selected Relevant Texts of Nigerian Gospel Music
Authors: Adedeji Femi
Published: January 2016

A major aspect of African music which has often been underscored in Musicological studies and which undoubtedly is the most important to Africans, is the textual content. Its significance in African musicology is based on the fact that African music itself; whether traditional ethnic, folk, art or contemporary, is text-bound and besides, the issue of meaning 'what is a song saying?' is paramount to Africans, whereas to Westerners the musical elements are more important. This is why the textual content should be given more priority. In terms of the textual content, Nigerian gospel music, an African contemporary musical genre which concerns itself with evangelizing lost souls, is also used as an instrument of socio-political and economic struggle. One of the issues that have been prominent in the song-texts is the suffering of the masses in Africa. This essay aims at taking a closer look at the selected relevant texts in order to interpret them, determine their message, and evaluate their claims and veracity. Using ethnomusicological, theological, and literary-analytical approaches, the essay classifies the texts into categories, finding most of the claims in the texts to be true assessments of the suffering conditions of the Nigerian masses. The essay concludes by stressing the need to pay more attention to the voice of the masses through gospel artists and for people in the humanities to work energetically towards fostering permanent solutions to the problem of suffering in Africa in general.
The Indigenization of Military Music in Nigeria Issues and Perspectives
Authors: Olátúnjí Michael Olútáò
Published: January 2016

This essay investigates the development of European-style military music as practised in Nigeria with regard to the influence of its indegenization processes by its practitioners on the Nigerian soil. The areas in which the development is discussed include the new roles and functions of performance, the new thematic sources of military music arrangers, instrumentation, the stylistic and technical bases for orchestration as well as the overall institution of military music in Nigeria. It also raises an argument on the parameters for judging the African identity in a contemporary Nigerian military music composition and those of its allied genres. The essay concludes that, by virtue of its new contexts of performance as well as performance structure, Nigerian military music has shifted from being a substratum of the European music tradition in Nigeria to being a substratum of contemporary music on the Nigerian music scene.
Modern Trends in the Islamized Music of the Traditional Yorùbá Concept, Origin, and Development
Authors: Olátúnjí Michael Olútáò
Published: January 2016

Since the advent of Islam in Yorubaland in the seventeenth century, it has become an important phenomenon in the historical development of the Yorùbá race. This is also evident in the areas of musical cultures of the people. The conception of music differs from culture to culture. It therefore takes an open mind to recognize this and accept certain human behaviours as musical. The concept of music in Islamic worldview is guided by the ethics of Islamic religion. However, the concept of music of Yorùbá people has traditional backings, which differs from that of the 'missionaries' who brought Islam to the land. This concept is responsible for the hybridization of both Islamic and Yorùbá musical cultures. Both the primary and secondary sources of information collected and codified for this essay established that the contact and the harmony between Islamic and Yorùbá musical cultures produced new musical experience: i.e. islamized Yorùbá music, which is a vehicle not only for popularizing Yorùbá music but also for promoting it.