bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Making sense of game-play: How can we examine learning and involvement?
Authors: Iacovides Ioanna , Aczel James , Scanlon Eileen , Woods Will
Published: September 2017

It has been argued that there is still much to be understood about the game-play experience, while there is a need for more rigorous examination of how players interact with games and the sorts of thinking they engage in during play. This paper introduces a set of methods developed to explore these issues via a multiple case study approach, including; game-play observation, cued post-play interview, the collection of physiological data and the use of gaming diaries over a three week period. An examination of the strengths and limitations of the approach adopted is presented with reference to two particular methodological issues (i) how to identify breakdowns and breakthroughs that occur during game-play; (ii) how to identify learning occurring beyond game-play. The paper will conclude by emphasising the importance of taking both micro and macro level experiences into account when it comes to capturing learning and involvement within this context.
Player-reported Impediments to Game-based Learning
Authors: Harviainen J. Tuomas , Lainema Timo , Saarinen Eeli
Published: September 2017

This article addresses the question of how games function as learning tools, from the perspective of player-stated problems. It is based on interviews and essays, collected from university students who reported problems dealing with unrealistic levels of trust and competitive play leading to searching for the logic in the game as an artifact instead of considering decision alternatives which would work in real-world situations. According to the respondents, the main cause of problems appears to be that for many participants, games are framed as an activity that is to be done competitively. Along with reporting the impediments, the article discusses potential solutions.
From the board to the streets: a case study of Local Property Trader
Authors: Gazzard Alison , Lochrie Mark , Gradinar Adrian , Coulton Paul , Burnett Daniel , Kershaw Daniel
Published: September 2017

The boardgame of Monopoly has undergone various iterations since it was first published in 1934. Versions have included location-based varieties of the game, involving mobile media devices that have taken the boardgame to the city streets as a way of engaging players with location in new ways. This article examines a new version of Monopoly, titled Local Property Trader that works with NFC/QR code technologies in order to encourage players to move around the city and interact with local businesses. In doing so, the project hopes to highlight how location-based games can use social media data to update a traditional game into more contemporary contexts. Correspondingly, the differences and similarities of taking a boardgame and reworking it for the city streets are explored through ideas surrounding location, player and map as key points of intersection between the two media forms.
“Blackout!” Unpacking the Black Box of the Game Event
Authors: Conway Steven , Trevillian Andrew
Published: September 2017

In this article we propose a new ontology for games, synthesising phenomenology, Latourian Actor-Network Theory and Goffmanian frame analysis. In doing so we offer a robust, minimal and practical model for the analyst and designer, that clearly illustrates the network of objects within the 'Black Box' of any game, illuminating how each object (from player to memory card to sunlight) may move between three levels of the Game Event: Social World, Operative World and Character World. Abbreviating these worlds, a shorthand for the model is SOC (Social/Operative/Character).
Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side: Enacting femininity to avoid dying alone
Authors: Richards Tina
Published: September 2017

This paper examines the Japanese dating simulator video game, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side, the first female protagonist version in the Tokimeki Memorial series. Analysis of the game mechanics, characterisations, player options and their results demonstrate that the game assumes and reinforces a range of cultural norms and social expectations in relation to gender performativity, courting and dating, relationships and intimacy. I discuss how the gameplay actively produces particular heteronormative perspectives on how girls and young women should enact femininity if they are to avoid being alone at the end of the game, and, for that matter, in life.
Introduction: What ‘is’ Australian Game Studies?
Authors: Carter Marcus , Apperley Thomas , Crawford Laura , Gibbs Martin , Nansen Bjorn
Published: September 2017

This special issue of the Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association Journal represent approaches by contemporary Australian scholars in the study of digital games. They responded to the provocation ‘What is Game Studies in Australia?’ the topic of the inaugural conference of the Digital Games Research Association Australia (DiGRAA). This event, held on 17th of June 2014, was a meeting of academic researchers, critics, designers, developers, and artists focused on developing a discussion of what game studies ‘is’ in Australia. The conference focused special attentiveness both to diversity and any particular regional issues that delegates chose to address. These articles illustrate the breadth and variety of approaches which were discussed.
Introduction
Authors: Zagal José P. , Altizer Roger
Published: September 2017

The Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association (ToDiGRA) collects some of the finest work presented at the DiGRA conferences. This issue continues in that tradition, and further acknowledges the breadth and variety of the scholarly work presented at the 2014 edition of the DiGRA conference held in Snowbird, Utah (August 3-6).
The Use of Theory in Designing a Serious Game for the Reduction of Cognitive Biases
Authors: Barton Meg , Symborski Carl , Quinn Mary , Morewedge Carey K , Kassam Karim S , Korris James H
Published: September 2017

In the current study, a serious game was developed to address a training challenge: teaching players to recognize and mitigate their cognitive biases. Cognitive biases, which are human tendencies to commit systematic errors in thinking that lead to irrational judgments, are deeply ingrained and difficult to alter. This paper describes the theory-based approach we employed to create a game for the mitigation of cognitive biases – a challenging and abstract training topic. A cognitive bias framework that relates the target cognitive biases, their causes, and effective bias mitigation techniques was developed and incorporated into the game design. The resultant serious game, titled Missing: The Final Secret (hereinafter: Missing), pairs the most promising mitigation strategies with the primary causes of the targeted cognitive biases and incorporates them into game-play. Further, we present preliminary results from a game efficacy evaluation suggesting that Missing is an effective tool for training cognitive bias recognition and mitigation.
Postdigital Interfaces and the Aesthetics of Recruitment
Authors: Jayemanne Darshana , Nansen Bjorn , Apperley Thomas H
Published: September 2017

This paper analyses reconfigurations of play in emergent digital materialities of game design. It extends recent work examining dimensions of hybridity in playful products by turning attention to interfaces, practicesand spaces, rather than devices. We argue that the concept of hybrid playrelies on predefining clear and distinct digital or material entities that then enter into hybrid situations. Drawing on concepts of the ‘interface’ and ‘postdigital’, we argue the distribution of computing devices creates difficulties for such presuppositions. Instead, we propose thinking these situations through an ‘aesthetic of recruitment’ that is able to accommodate the intensive entanglements and inherent openness of both the social and technical in postdigital play.
Creating Stealth Game Interventions for Attitude and Behavior Change: An "Embedded Design" Model
Authors: Kaufman Geoff , Flanagan Mary , Seidman Max
Published: September 2017

Persuasive games tackling serious issues in a literal, explicit fashion are far less likely to succeed in changing attitudes or behaviors than are games that take the more “stealthy” approach of embedding persuasive messages within a game’s content or context. The “Embedded Design” model, developed by the design and research team at Tiltfactor Laboratory at Dartmouth College, offers novel, evidence-based strategies for including persuasive content in a game in ways that circumvent players’ psychological defenses, triggering a more receptive mindset for internalizing a game’s intended message, and do so without sacrificing players’ enjoyment or the game’s inherent replayability. Such techniques promise to revolutionize the repertoire of techniques that game developers should consider in broaching and presenting serious topics in games. Three original “Embedded Design” strategies are presented here: (1) Intermixing: balancing “on-message” and “off-message” content to render the former less overt or threatening; (2) Obfuscating: using framing devices or genres that divert expectations or focus away from the game’s persuasive intent; and (3) Distancing: employing fiction and metaphor to increase the psychological gap between players’ identities and beliefs, and the game’s characters and persuasive content.
Hackers and Cyborgs: Binary Domain and Two Formative Videogame Technicities
Authors: Keogh Brendan
Published: September 2017

Through the course of Binary Domain’s action-packed narrative, it becomes increasingly unclear who is human, who is machine, and who is somewhere in between. Ultimately, such a distinction is futile when our everyday experiences are so ubiquitously augmented by technologies—even the act of playing Binary Domain by coupling with a virtual character through a videogame controller challenges any clear distinction between human and machine. While such themes are not new to science fiction, the anxieties expressed by Binary Domain’s characters are relevant to what have emerged over the past twenty- five years as two formative modes of identifying with videogames: the dominant hacker and the integrated cyborg. The hacker, an identity that the dominant and hegemonic ‘gamer’ consumer identity can trace a clear lineage from, comes to represent the masculinist, mastery-focused identity that most blockbuster games celebrate. The cyborg emerges in resistance to the hacker, pointing to a diversity of forms and identities that are focused less on mastering the machine than participating with it. This paper uses Binary Domain’s complex anxieties towards technology as a lens through which to trace the histories of these constitutive modes of identifying with videogames, and to demonstrate the influence they have on videogame forms and audiences.
Video Games and Slavery
Authors: Mukherjee Souvik
Published: September 2017

What are the implications of freedom and agency when a player exercises agency to prevent another player or a non-player character fromacting freely? Such a scenario, taken to an extreme, would be that of slavery and in turn, would raise questions about the nature of freedom itself. Video games have recently begun to address questions of slavery in earnest although academic discussions on games have not yet caught up: the presence of slavers in Fallout 3, the portrayal of racism in Bioshock Infinite (Irrational Games 2014) and the direct depiction of the Caribbean slave trade in Assassin’s Creed: Freedom Cry (Ubisoft 2013) are extremely appropriate cases in point. This article compares the representation of slavery in video games to that of slave narratives in earlier media in order to examine how effectively digital games are able to convey the horrors of slavery as a human condition and what they can teach about the notion of human freedom and agency per se.
Ways of Being: Pervasive Game Design Ethos in Urban Codemakers
Authors: Conway Steven , Innocent Troy
Published: September 2017

In this article we describe our approach to pervasive game design and provide examples of how this ethos is embedded in practice vis-a-vis the Urban Codemakers game universe. The theoretical foundations for this approach are outlined and unpacked: moving from Heideggerian phenomenology to a Situationist aesthetic for intervention in urban spaces. We illustrate the necessity of emphasising an understanding of the player's thereness for design; best surmised in Heidegger's term Dasein (there-being). In so doing, we collapse any Cartesian distinction between virtual/real, material/ideal, and subject/object for game design, to instead, a comprehension of different phenomenological worlds within which the player is necessarily embedded and embodied.
Adolescents as Game Designers: Developing New Literacies
Authors: Lacasa Pilar , Cortés Sara , García-Pernía María Ruth
Published: September 2017

The main goal of this paper is to analyse adolescent activities when designing video games in an innovative school environment based on affinity spaces. We analyse the development of digital literacies, understood as a critical understanding of the game in terms of its dimensions and the relationships between them, which contribute to turning it into a system. Methodologically speaking, the study relies on ethnography and action research. The project was carried out at a secondary school in Madrid, during the 2012-2013 academic year as an extracurricular programme. The participants were a group of twenty adolescents (14 girls and 6 boys) aged 14 to16, and their teacher. The members of the research team acted as participant observers. The analysis carried out was two-fold, considering firstly the tasks that took place over the course of time in relation to the adolescents' representations of the game, and secondly the products of these activities, which were present in the creation of the game. The results show that the students developed critical skills in relation to the game which are related to digital literacy.
“Ruinensehnsucht”: Longing for Decay in Computer Games
Authors: Fuchs Mathias
Published: September 2017

There is no technical reason and no quality inherent to the medium of computer games that would require corrosion, dust, and ruins. Pixels do not corrode and 3D geometry is not affected by physical decay. Yet if we look at contemporary computer games we find an abundance of ruined buildings, of mould and of all forms of decay of organic matter and inorganic materials. It would be too easy to explain this fact by an attempt to increase realism, because some of these games clearly feature more decay than reality could ever produce. There must be a longing by designers and players to immerse themselves within an environment of disintegrating, decaying objects. The author investigates the longing for decay along four threads that are informed by computer games history, art history, psychoanalytic reasoning and the concept of transmedia megatext.
Playful Fandom: Gaming, Media and the Ludic Dimensions of Textual Poaching
Authors: Mavridou Orion
Published: September 2017

This paper discusses the idea that fandom, as the collection of activities and behaviours relating to the fan identity, has a ludic dimension, and that said dimension merits individual inquiry from a game-studies perspective. Furthermore, it is argued that there is mutual benefit in exploring the intersection between fan studies and game studies, which has so far been overlooked in research, design and direction.
A Review of Social Features in Social Network Games
Authors: Paavilainen Janne , Alha Kati , Korhonen Hannu
Published: September 2017

Although social network games on Facebook have become popular, their actual sociability has been questioned. In this paper, we review the social features of 16 social games and, as a result, present a list of 30 social features in three categories: presence, communication, and interaction. A common set of features, which was found in all of the examined games, is mainly focused on the presence and communication aspects, while neglecting player interaction. In addition, social features are primarily used for acquisition and retention purposes, rather than monetization. These findings are useful for the study and design of social features in social games and in other games with social network integration.
Kristianitas Inklusif atau Pluralis? Diskusi dengan Edward Schillebeeckx
Authors: Sunarko Adrianus
Published: September 2017

Confronted with the inescapable fact of plurality of religions, Christians are called out as well to reformulate their self understanding contextually. This challenge has been thought up by Edward Schillebeeckx as a task to rediscover Christian self understanding which is more open, undiscriminating to other religions, but in the same breath remains authentic to its colour and identity. On the one hand we might see some similarities of Schillebeeckx’s position with the pluralist theologians, given that revelation is viewed as both highlighting the limitless character of God as its subject and admitting human being’s limited horizon to receive it. On the other hand Schillebeeckx never claimed to have been a follower of pluralistic theory. His criticism of Paul Knitter shows a tendency that the former seems to be closer to those adopting inclusivistic theory. This proclivity is related with his christology that gives a unique place to Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the only saviour. Such position need not be discriminative to other religions in so far as the uniqueness of Jesus Christ is situated concretely in relation to the universal character of his salvation and providing that the grace characteristic of faith is not neglected.
Chronicles - April 2015
Authors: Tedjoworo Hadrianus
Published: September 2017

'Chronicles' is a journal column of "MELINTAS" which contains information about the various events, congresses, conferences, symposia, necrologies, publications, and periodicals in the fields of philosophy and theology.
Membaca Ulang 'Waiting for Godot' dengan Hermeneutika Paul Ricoeur
Authors: Pranowo Yogie
Published: September 2017

This paper presents an attempt of a philosophical exploration using Paul Ricoeur’s theory of text interpretation on Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. When viewed in a glance, Waiting for Godot does not appear much as a conceptual drama. It talks about so many things, ranging from things that sound trivial to things that smell theological. However, if one delves deeper through different interpretation, this drama is indeed intricate enough to provoke fresh insights. Its complexity is reinterpreted here insofar this drama is imagined within the genre of absurd drama. According to Ricoeur, one of the goals of interpretation is not only to understand the mind of the author behind the text, but the text itself with its circulating meanings around its interpretation, that is, within its interpretative world. The text gives rise to things for the understanding of the reader or interpreter. In the light of Ricoeur’s hermeneutics, this article attempts to reread some of the depths of Waiting for Godot. It is not so much of interpreting the intention of Samuel Beckett in writing the text as searching for different meanings in some parts of the dialogues in the text by way of engaging in its eventful discourse.
The Quick Growth of the Catholic Church in Manggarai: A Phenomenology of Conversion and Some Explanations
Authors: Borgias M. Fransiskus
Published: September 2017

Since the arrival of Christianity together with the colonial rulers, Manggarai, Flores, Indonesia, undergoes physical and spiritual changes. These changes can be explained with theory of intellectual voluntarism (the free will of the repentant) and theory of structural determinism (enforcement by external factor). It appears that the changes in Manggarai happen because of the mixture of both factors in their diverse variants, such as the political-economical, educational, social-services related, and religious-theological factors. There are two horizons in the whole process of encounter and transformation in this area. On the one hand, there is the horizon of European Christian missionaries (supported by government), and on the other hand, the horizon of the Manggarain, with their cultural life in the broadest sense of the word. The two horizons fuse to each other in one drama of cultural encounter throughout the growth of the Church. Following the hermeneutical discourse of Gadamer, it might be said that the fusion of the two horizons results in the emergence of a new face of unique local and contextual Christianity. In its uniqueness and locality, it has also something to be contributed to the universal Church.
Klaim-Klaim Kebudayaan dalam Pemikiran Seyla Benhabib
Authors: Mudzakkir Amin
Published: September 2017

Whether the model of citizenship based on the national nation-state can stand in the increasingly pluralistic contemporary society might be one of the important questions at the beginning of the 21st century. Liberal thinkers are quite pessimistic on the prospect of a democratic rule of government among the states torn by ethnic, religious, identity-related differences. Issues concerning culture and religiosity are often understood within the framework of security and order. In the recent cultural contexts, Seyla Benhabib develops three normative conditions to be a model of deliberative cosmopolitan democracy, i. e., egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription, and freedom of exit and association. With her anti-essentialism view, she defends the opinion that culture is a social construct that is mixed and plural. The term social construct is not meant to be a conjecture, but a term that has certain normative dimension to be the guideline to live through the interaction process among the autonomous human beings, including their relations with different groups. For Benhabib, the individual remains at the central position whether morally or politically, so that the groups, including the state, do not have strong justification to impose their own regulations in ways that limit the rights of a human being.
Humanisasi dan Divinisasi dalam Seni dan Ritual
Authors: Heatubun Fabianus Sebastian
Published: September 2017

Metaphysically speaking, human being is a homo ritualis or a ritual being, and not simply because of the need for any ritual, but because of one’s ontological structure. At the same time, human is also a homo sapiens artisticus. One’s way of being and one’s mode of thinking is always artistic. One might also say that ritual is always artistic and art is always ritualistic. In this sense ritual and art are inseparable, for ritual and art are sui generis. Both exist in the area of human experience and are in touch with cognition, affection, knowledge, action, and enjoyment. Art and ritual are the hermeneutical site of meanings and values that simultaneously become the same place to find the answers. Imagined within the realness of life, art and ritual are a field of meanings. When human beings slip away from their humanity, art and ritual become the medium to restore it. Not only can art and ritual create a balance between the physical and the mental aspects, between the body and the soul that have been dehumanised, they also can exalt human beings towards the divine level as the culmination of the humanisation process.
Iman di Tengah Penderitaan: Suatu Inspirasi Teologis-Biblis Kristiani
Authors: Hidayat Elvin Atmaja
Published: September 2017

Suffering is a reality experienced by every human being as an integral part of their life. As part of one’s life, suffering is inevitable. Some people whose faith in the benevolent God has been shaken by their worst suffering ask the question: “Why does not God eliminate suffering if He is gracious and omnipotent?” This article sheds light on the problem of suffering using the Scriptures and theology, to find the different meanings behind it. From the biblical perspective, it will explore a number of meanings of suffering that essentially assert how suffering also serves to bring goodness to human life. These meanings are then complemented with a theological perspective which is based on the three aspects of soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. Through this exploration, Christians are invited to “make peace” with their suffering by way of finding its different meanings. Suffering as a ‘gift’ might help the believers embrace life in its fullness and accept their being human. The concept of God as the ‘Loving Father’ could also help them find strength in facing suffering and grow in their faith as God’s children.
Análisis de la Política Integral en Salud
Authors: Restrepo Chavarriaga Guillermo León , González Quiñones Juan Carlos
Published: September 2017

Por considerarlo un deber para con nuestros lectores y un deber de divulgación con el país, este artículo expone un resumen del documento “Política de Atención Integral en Salud” (incluyendo algunos comentarios personales entre paréntesis y al final un breve análisis). Como siempre, las opiniones que acá se exponen, en ningún momento reflejan la postura de la Fundación Universitaria Juan N Corpas. Son tan solo expresiones de las posturas de los que firman el artículo.En la página del Ministerio de Salud https://www.minsalud.gov.co/Paginas/politica-integral-de-atencion-en-salud.aspx puede encontrar los tres documentos bases de este resumen. Le recomendamos leerlos. En tanto lo hace, esperamos que este resumen lo motive.
Mohala i ka wai
Authors: Kana‘iaupuni Shawn Malia , Ledward Brandon , Malone Nolan
Published: September 2017

The framework of cultural advantage calls researchers and leaders to reexamine the structures, paradigms, and practices of effective education. We argue that the moral imperative in this challenge is to critically scrutinize and counter the way education systems perpetuate systematic inequities in opportunities and outcomes afforded to certain groups in society, in effect curtailing cultural and linguistic diversity and innovation. Our findings from research conducted in Hawai‘i indicate that learners thrive with culture-based education (CBE), especially Indigenous students who experience positive socioemotional and other outcomes when teachers are high CBE users and when learning in high-CBE school environments. Educational progress will come from forward-oriented research and leadership that embraces the cultural advantages of students with diverse experiences of racism, poverty, cultural trauma, and oppression. By cultivating culturally vibrant and affirming learning environments in lieu of “one-size-fits-all” approaches, educators honor assets found in Indigenous knowledge, values, and stories as models of vitality and empowerment for all.
Rural Cross-Sector Collaboration
Authors: Miller Peter M. , Scanlan Martin K. , Phillippo Kate
Published: September 2017

Schools throughout the United States apply comprehensive community partnership strategies to address students’ in- and out-of-school needs. Drawing from models like the Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods, and full-service community schools, such strategies call for diverse professionals to reach beyond their own organizations to collaborate with complementary partners. Extant research on cross-sector collaboration focuses disproportionately on urban settings. This qualitative study examined three years of cross-sector collaboration in “Midvale,” a rural community in the western United States. Applying the conceptual framework of social frontiers, it illuminates how issues of difference, competition, and resource constraint impacted cross-sector collaboration in Midvale’s rural context.
Embodied Brains, Social Minds, Cultural Meaning
Authors: Immordino-Yang Mary Helen , Gotlieb Rebecca
Published: September 2017

Social-affective neuroscience is revealing that human brain development is inherently social—our very nature is organized by nurture. To explore the implications for human development and education, we present a series of interdisciplinary studies documenting individual and cultural variability in the neurobiological correlates of emotional feelings. From these studies, we derive educational research hypotheses and a theoretical framework that facilitates integrating sociocultural and neurobiological levels of analysis. Our overarching aim is to begin to conceptualize a role for neurobiological evidence in educational studies of sociality, emotion, culture, and identity. Overcoming the historical distance between educational and neuroscientific research on social-affective development would enable a more complete science of human experience and enhance appreciation of cultural learning, benefiting both fields.
Toward Projects in Humanization
Authors: San Pedro Timothy , Kinloch Valerie
Published: September 2017

In this article, we argue that co-constructing knowledge, co-creating relationships, and exchanging stories are central to educational research. Relying on humanizing and Indigenous research methods to locate relational interactions in educational research allows us to engage in transformative praxis and storying, or Projects in Humanization (PiH). We contend that PiH focus on the creation and sustenance of relationships; the human capacity to listen to, story with, and care about each other; and the establishment of more inclusive, interconnected, and decolonizing methodologies that disrupt systemic inequalities found in Western constructs of educational research. More specifically, in this article, we rely on research vignettes to argue for a necessary commitment that researchers must have to sustain, extend, and revitalize the richness of the languages, literacies, histories, cultures, and stories of and by those with whom they work.
Transforming Educational Experiences in Low-Income Communities
Authors: Galindo Claudia , Sanders Mavis , Abel Yolanda
Published: September 2017

Full-service community schools aim to reduce educational inequality by addressing the multifaceted needs of low-income children and youth. Critical to this task is the ability of these schools to generate sufficient social capital to provide students, families, and teachers with essential resources. Using data from a qualitative case study, this article explores how social capital was manifested in an urban full-service community elementary school. Findings show that the principal, teachers, and staff were important sources of school-based social capital, which enabled the provision of services to students and families. However, resource scarcity and interethnic tensions threatened the expansion of social capital and the school’s transformative potential. We discuss implications of these findings for the theory, research, and practice of full-service community schools.
Dr. Polio: Revisiting FDR's Medical Legacy
Authors: Dorfman Robert G. , Orkaby Asher , Desai Sukumar P.
Published: September 2017

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), the March of Dimes, and the Georgia Warm Springs Resort were reflections of Franklin D. Roosevelt's (FDR) complicated and personal relationship with polio. Between 1934 and 1957, significant advances were made in the care of polio survivors, and new and innovative medical fields gained both public attention and funding. The plight of disabled Americans and questions of accessibility also received widespread national attention. The NFIP helped establish a new prototype for grassroots philanthropy and personified FDR's vision for national health insurance. Drawing upon a variety of archival and primary sources, this article aims to revisit Roosevelt's contribution to the medical field. Rather than condone or defend FDR's public persona as a survivor of polio, this article argues that Roosevelt and his affiliated organizations played an important medical role during this period.
Why Is Melanctha Black?: Gertrude Stein, Physiognomy, and the Jewish Question
Authors: Jung Yeonsik
Published: September 2017

This article reads Gertrude Stein’s “Melanctha” as a racial, if not racist, text—a text not solely about blacks but also about Jews in the sense that black characters work as a mask for the author’s concern about her own Jewishness. Nineteenth-century pseudoscientific medical discourses link blackness, Jewishness, and homosexuality—the trinity of “difference”—based on their biological connectedness and similarities. Examining the racism and misogyny particularly inherent in the theories of physiognomy, this article will demonstrate the ways in which Stein employs and manipulates representative prejudices of her time in the portrayal of female characters in Q.E.D., as well as the black Melanctha, through which she reveals and conceals her own racial and sexual identity as a Jewish-American lesbian woman. Arguing that the aesthetic experimentation of “Melanctha” grows out of the author’s concerns about her racial and sexual marginality, this article further offers a context in which the black Melanctha may be read as a character Stein created to treat her racial self-hatred, a problematic phenomenon exhibiting the productive power of fear.
Potential Applicability of Impact Echo Method on Pavement Base Materials as a Nondestructive Testing Technique
Authors: Mahedi Masrur , Hossain Sahadat , Faysal Mohammad , Khan Mohammad Sadik
Published: September 2017

The use of both recycled asphalt pavement and recycled concrete aggregates is increasing considerably in pavement construction. These materials are relatively weak and have to be stabilized with cement or other stabilizers. However, because of product variability and lack of strength and stiffness, their applicability has to be evaluated extensively. Traditionally practiced methods of evaluation might be unreasonable in terms of time, cost, reliability, and applicability. Rapid nondestructive methods, such as the spectral analysis of surface wave, impact echo, pulse velocity, and so forth, have the potential to be inexpensive and less time-consuming, as well as offering low variability of the test results. The objective of the study was to assess the potential applicability of the impact echo method in evaluating recycled pavement base materials. Six combinations (0%–100%, 10%–90%, 30%–70%, 50%–50%, 70%–30%, and 100%–0%) of recycled asphalt pavement and recycled concrete aggregates, respectively, treated by four amounts of portland cement (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%), were evaluated by impact echo, unconfined compression, and repeated-load triaxial test. From the test results, the range of P-wave velocity was between 5,500 in./s and 18,000 in./s, the compressive strength varied from 10 pounds per square inch (psi) and 415 psi, and the tangent modulus range was from 2.8 kips per square inch (ksi) to 41 ksi. Statistical models based on P-wave velocity data were derived for predicting elastic modulus, compressive strength, and resilient modulus. It was found that impact echo has significant potential in characterizing the strength and stiffness properties of cement-treated recycled base materials, which confirms the effectiveness of recycled materials in pavement applications.
Tschüss, Perfidious Albion: German Reactions to Brexit
Authors: Lagenbacher Eric
Published: September 2017

Observers across Europe and the world were shocked when British
voters decided in June 2016 to leave the European Union. Since the Brexit
decision, British politics have been in disarray and the government’s incoherent
negotiation positions have created much economic and political uncertainty.
Germans and others have had to formulate policy based on assumptions
and predictions. Despite slightly different emphases, all mainstream German
parties have endorsed a harder line rejecting British efforts to cherry pick the
most desirable aspects of a relationship with the EU. This stance accords with
the preferences of European Union actors and the vast majority of member
states. Moreover, the likely effects on the German economy will not be catastrophic.
Thus, as much as Germans prefer that the UK remain in the EU, there
is also little desire to accommodate British demands—and there may even be a
sense of relief.
Surgical intervention for pituitary apoplexy: an analysis of functional outcomes
Authors: Rutkowski Martin J. , Kunwar Sandeep , Blevins Lewis , Aghi Manish K.
Published: September 2017

OBJECTIVE

Pituitary apoplexy is a clinical syndrome consisting of neurological and endocrine abnormalities secondary to hemorrhage or ischemia of an underlying pituitary adenoma. The authors investigated whether there was a significant difference in neurological, endocrine, and nonneuroendocrine outcomes for patients with pituitary apoplexy, based on the time between symptom onset and surgical intervention.

METHODS

The authors retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 32 patients who had presented to their institution with acute pituitary apoplexy and subsequently undergone endonasal transsphenoidal resection in the period from 2003 to 2014. All patients had undergone preoperative MRI demonstrating evidence of apoplexy in the form of intratumoral hemorrhage, ischemia, and necrosis. Neurological deficits, partial or complete endocrinopathy, and nonneuroendocrine abnormalities were analyzed both pre- and postoperatively.

RESULTS

Preoperatively, neurological deficits including visual loss and cranial nerve palsies were found in 31 (97%) of the 32 patients, endocrinopathy in the form of partial or panhypopituitarism was seen in 28 patients (88%), and nonneuroendocrine signs and symptoms were seen in 32 patients (100%). Thirteen patients (41%) underwent surgery within 72 hours of symptom onset (“early”), whereas 19 patients (59%) underwent surgery more than 72 hours from symptom onset (“delayed”). Early versus delayed resection did not appear to significantly improve visual deficits, total visual loss, resolution of oculomotor palsy, recovery from hypopituitarism, or nonneuroendocrine signs and symptoms such as headache and encephalopathy. Overall, visual improvement was seen in 77% of patients, complete restoration of normal vision in 38% of patients, and resolution of preoperative oculomotor palsies in 81% of patients. Only 6 (21%) of 28 patients showed evidence of partial hormone recovery following preoperative hypopituitarism. An absence of benefit for early surgery held true even when considering time to surgery from symptom onset as a continuous variable.

CONCLUSIONS

Neurological deficits such as visual loss and cranial neuropathies show moderate improvement following surgical decompression, as does preoperative hypopituitarism. The timing of surgical intervention relative to the onset of symptoms does not appear to significantly affect the resolution of neurological or endocrinological deficits.
Biomechanical effects of hybrid stabilization on the risk of proximal adjacent-segment degeneration following lumbar spinal fusion using an interspinous device or a pedicle screw–based dynamic fixator
Authors: Lee Chang-Hyun , Kim Young Eun , Lee Hak Joong , Kim Dong Gyu , Kim Chi Heon
Published: September 2017

OBJECTIVE

Pedicle screw-rod–based hybrid stabilization (PH) and interspinous device–based hybrid stabilization (IH) have been proposed to prevent adjacent-segment degeneration (ASD) and their effectiveness has been reported. However, a comparative study based on sound biomechanical proof has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was to compare the biomechanical effects of IH and PH on the transition and adjacent segments.

METHODS

A validated finite element model of the normal lumbosacral spine was used. Based on the normal model, a rigid fusion model was immobilized at the L4–5 level by a rigid fixator. The DIAM or NFlex model was added on the L3–4 segment of the fusion model to construct the IH and PH models, respectively. The developed models simulated 4 different loading directions using the hybrid loading protocol.

RESULTS

Compared with the intact case, fusion on L4–5 produced 18.8%, 9.3%, 11.7%, and 13.7% increments in motion at L3–4 under flexion, extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation, respectively. Additional instrumentation at L3–4 (transition segment) in hybrid models reduced motion changes at this level. The IH model showed 8.4%, −33.9%, 6.9%, and 2.0% change in motion at the segment, whereas the PH model showed −30.4%, −26.7%, −23.0%, and 12.9%. At L2–3 (adjacent segment), the PH model showed 14.3%, 3.4%, 15.0%, and 0.8% of motion increment compared with the motion in the IH model. Both hybrid models showed decreased intradiscal pressure (IDP) at the transition segment compared with the fusion model, but the pressure at L2–3 (adjacent segment) increased in all loading directions except under extension.

CONCLUSIONS

Both IH and PH models limited excessive motion and IDP at the transition segment compared with the fusion model. At the segment adjacent to the transition level, PH induced higher stress than IH model. Such differences may eventually influence the likelihood of ASD.
The impact of the 2006 Massachusetts health care reform law on spine surgery patient payer-mix status and age
Authors: Villelli Nicolas W. , Yan Hong , Zou Jian , Barbaro Nicholas M.
Published: September 2017

OBJECTIVE

Several similarities exist between the Massachusetts health care reform law of 2006 and the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The authors’ prior neurosurgical research showed a decrease in uninsured surgeries without a significant change in surgical volume after the Massachusetts reform. An analysis of the payer-mix status and the age of spine surgery patients, before and after the policy, should provide insight into the future impact of the ACA on spine surgery in the US.

METHODS

Using the Massachusetts State Inpatient Database and spine ICD-9-CM procedure codes, the authors obtained demographic information on patients undergoing spine surgery between 2001 and 2012. Payer-mix status was assigned as Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, uninsured, or other, which included government-funded programs and workers’ compensation. A comparison of the payer-mix status and patient age, both before and after the policy, was performed. The New York State data were used as a control.

RESULTS

The authors analyzed 81,821 spine surgeries performed in Massachusetts and 248,757 in New York. After 2008, there was a decrease in uninsured and private insurance spine surgeries, with a subsequent increase in the Medicare and “other” categories for Massachusetts. Medicaid case numbers did not change. This correlated to an increase in surgeries performed in the age group of patients 65–84 years old, with a decrease in surgeries for those 18–44 years old. New York showed an increase in all insurance categories and all adult age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

After the Massachusetts reform, spine surgery decreased in private insurance and uninsured categories, with the majority of these surgeries transitioning to Medicare. Moreover, individuals who were younger than 65 years did not show an increase in spine surgeries, despite having greater access to health insurance. In a health care system that requires insurance, the decrease in private insurance is primarily due to an increasing elderly population. The Massachusetts model continues to show that this type of policy is not causing extreme shifts in the payer mix, and suggests that spine surgery will continue to thrive in the current US health care system.
Head impact exposure measured in a single youth football team during practice drills
Authors: Kelley Mireille E. , Kane Joeline M. , Espeland Mark A. , Miller Logan E. , Powers Alexander K. , Stitzel Joel D. , Urban Jillian E.
Published: September 2017

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the frequency, magnitude, and location of head impacts in practice drills within a youth football team to determine how head impact exposure varies among different types of drills.

METHODS

On-field head impact data were collected from athletes participating in a youth football team for a single season. Each athlete wore a helmet instrumented with a Head Impact Telemetry (HIT) System head acceleration measurement device during all preseason, regular season, and playoff practices. Video was recorded for all practices, and video analysis was performed to verify head impacts and assign each head impact to a specific drill. Eleven drills were identified: dummy/sled tackling, install, special teams, Oklahoma, one-on-one, open-field tackling, passing, position skill work, multiplayer tackle, scrimmage, and tackling drill stations. Generalized linear models were fitted to log-transformed data, and Wald tests were used to assess differences in head accelerations and impact rates.

RESULTS

A total of 2125 impacts were measured during 30 contact practices in 9 athletes (mean age 11.1 ± 0.6 years, mean mass 44.9 ± 4.1 kg). Open-field tackling had the highest median and 95th percentile linear accelerations (24.7g and 97.8g, respectively) and resulted in significantly higher mean head accelerations than several other drills. The multiplayer tackle drill resulted in the highest head impact frequency, with an average of 0.59 impacts per minute per athlete, but the lowest 95th percentile linear accelerations of all drills. The front of the head was the most common impact location for all drills except dummy/sled tackling.

CONCLUSIONS

Head impact exposure varies significantly in youth football practice drills, with several drills exposing athletes to high-magnitude and/or high-frequency head impacts. These data suggest that further study of practice drills is an important step in developing evidence-based recommendations for modifying or eliminating certain high-intensity drills to reduce head impact exposure and injury risk for all levels of play.
Neurosurgical management of a rare congenital supratentorial neurenteric cyst with associated nasal dermal sinus: case report
Authors: MacMahon Paul , Iacob Stanca , Bach Sarah E. , Elwood Eric T. , Lin Julian J. , Avellino Anthony M.
Published: September 2017

The authors describe the case of a patient with the classic clinical presentation and radiographic features of a nasal dermal sinus with an associated intracranial cyst; however, histopathology revealed that the intracranial cyst was neurenteric instead of the typical epidermoid or dermoid cyst. Preoperative assessment included CT and MRI, which revealed a direct communication between the patient’s nasal polypoid lesion and the anterior skull base via the foramen cecum. At the hands of a multidisciplinary plastic surgery and neurosurgery team, the patient underwent concurrent gross-total resection of the nasal polypoid lesion, the intracranial intradural cystic lesion, and their interconnecting tract.
The Laki and Tambora Eruptions as Revealed in Greenland Ice Cores from 11 Locations
Authors: Clausen H.B. , Hammer C.U.
Published: September 2017

Major volcanic eruptions deposit large amounts of strong acids in polar ice. Two such volcanic eruptions are Laki, A.D. 1783, at high latitude (64 °N), and Tambora, A.D. 1815, close to the Equator (8°S). The acid ice layers from these eruptions are easily reached by shallow drilling, and the acidity of the ice cores obtained has been determined by a solid electrical conductivity method (ECM), and in some cases by liquid pH measurements. The strong acid is identified by chemical anion analysis. Sulfate is the dominant anion in both of these volcanic events.

Atmospheric thermonuclear-bomb tests ejected radioactive debris into the atmosphere. Two major groups of such tests are those carried out by the Americans in 1952-54 at low latitude (11°N) and by the Russians in 1961-62 at high latitude (75°N). Radioactive debris from these events was deposited in polar snow, and can be detected by specific total β activity measurements. The radioactive layers serve as dating horizons in the firn. The total β activities were measured at least 10 years after ejection, thus the measured activities were mainly due to 90Sr and 137Cs.

The amount of 90Sr and 137Cs ejected into the atmosphere is known. We assumed a similar global distribution pattern of bomb-produced total β activity and strong acids from violent volcanic activity, and were able to calculate that both major volcanic events produced some 300 million tons of sulphuric acid. This is in agreement with other estimates of the Tambora eruption, which are based on studies of ice cores from Antarctica.