bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
INTRODUCTION: THE METAPHOR OF HISTORICAL DISTANCE
Authors: DEN HOLLANDER JAAP , PAUL HERMAN , PETERS RIK 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTWhat does “historical distance” mean? Starting with Johan Huizinga, the famous Dutch historian who refused to lecture on contemporary history, this introductory article argues that “historical distance” is a metaphor used in a variety of intellectual contexts. Accordingly, the metaphor has ontological, epistemological, moral, aesthetic, as well as methodological connotations. This implies that historical distance cannot be reduced to a single “problem” or “concept.” At the same time, this wide variety of meanings associated with distance helps explain why an easily recognizable tradition of scholarly reflection on historical distance does not exist. In a broad survey of nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century historical theory, this article nonetheless attempts to show that distance has been a major, if seldom explicitly articulated, theme in European and American philosophy of history. In doing so, it pays special attention to those few authors who in recent years have taken up the metaphor for critical study. Finally, the paper summarizes some of the main arguments put forward in the articles comprising this issue on historical distance.
WHY HISTORICAL DISTANCE IS NOT A PROBLEM
Authors: BEVIR MARK 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTThis essay argues that concerns about historical distance arose along with modernist historicism, and they disappear with postfoundationalism. The developmental historicism of the nineteenth century appealed to narrative principles to establish continuity between past and present and to guide selections among facts. In the twentieth century, modernist historicists rejected such principles, thereby raising the specter of historical distance: that is, the distorting effects of the present on accounts of the past, the chasm between facts and narrative. The modernist problem became: how can historians avoid anachronism and develop accurate representations of the past? Instead of using narrative principles to select facts, modernist historicists appealed to atomized facts to validate narratives. However, in the late twentieth century, postmodernists (Frank Ankersmit and Hayden White) argued that there was no way to close the distance between facts and narratives. The postmodern problem became: how should historians conceive of their writing given the ineluctable distance between facts and narratives? Today, postfoundationalism dispels both modernist and postmodernist concerns with historical distance; it implies that all concepts (not just historical ones) fuse fact and theory, and it dissolves issues of conceptual relativism, textual meaning, and re‐enactment.
CONTEMPORARY HISTORY AND THE ART OF SELF‐DISTANCING
Authors: DEN HOLLANDER JAAP 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTThe metaphor of historical distance often appears in discussions about the study of contemporary history. It suggests that we cannot see the past in perspective if we are too near to it. According to founding fathers like Ranke and Humboldt, temporal distance is required to discern historical “ideas” or forms. The argument may have some plausibility, but the presupposition is plainly false, since we cannot see the past at all. This leaves us with the question of what to make of the so‐called historical forms. This article discusses three different views. The first, historicist, view is objectivist and localizes historical forms in the past. The second, narrativist, view is subjectivist and localizes historical forms in the realm of imagination and representation. The third view goes beyond the other two in that it considers both sides. It does not use a one‐sided but a two‐sided concept of form, which hinges on the idea of a distinction. This means that historical forms occupy both sides of the subject–object distinction or the present–past distinction. Because the subject–object terminology is confusing, the essay employs an alternative distinction between first‐ and second‐order observation. With the help of this distinction, it is possible to redescribe the distance metaphor in such a way that the theoretical status of contemporary history becomes less enigmatic.
INDIRECT REFERENCE AND THE CREATION OF DISTANCE IN HISTORY
Authors: ZELEŇÁK EUGEN 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTIn his discussion of David Hume and historical distance, Mark Salber Phillips points out that in the process of distance‐creation there is a distinction between something occurring “within the text” and “outside the text.” In this paper I draw on this distinction and introduce a semantic mechanism (namely, meaning) that allows a certain distance to be designed within a historical text. This mechanism is highlighted in a view of reference that sees it as indirect (in distinction from a view of reference that sees it as direct and that has no room for the notion of meaning). According to the indirect reference view, meaning opens up a space for what might be called historical distance. However, this is not to say that everything with regard to the immediacy and remoteness of this historical distance is analyzable solely in terms of what is happening at the level of the text. In fact, I argue that distance‐effects can be understood only if we also take into account contexts of the writing and reading of history. The semantics of indirect reference allows for distance‐construction, but its span depends on the circumstances governing the creation and reception of historical representation. I conclude with the observation that the view presented here should not be interpreted as disconnecting historical work from past reality.
GADAMER AND COLLINGWOOD ON TEMPORAL DISTANCE AND UNDERSTANDING
Authors: KOBAYASHI CHINATSU , MARION MATHIEU 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTIn this paper, we begin by suggesting an intuitive model of time embodying a notion of temporal distance that we claim is at work in Gadamer's hermeneutics, while it is rejected in Collingwood's theory of interpretation. To show this, after a brief review of the influence of Collingwood on Gadamer and of their disagreement over the possibility of recovering an author's intention, we examine in turn their answers to the problem of transposition, upon which the philosophy of Dilthey supposedly foundered. We show that Gadamer embraced the idea of temporal distance in his solution, which consisted in claiming that the distance between an author from the past and us is filled in by tradition, which opens access to the text for us, while Collingwood considered explanations of the actions of historical agents, and by extension understanding of a text, in intentional or rational terms. Furthermore, he thought that such explanations are not causal, and that the thoughts involved in them do not stand within the flow of physical time, which is involved in any notion of temporal distance. This is why Collingwood felt entitled to anti‐relativistic conclusions about the recovery of authorial intentions, conclusions that prompted Gadamer to claim that “the dimension of hermeneutical mediation which is passed through in every act of understanding” escaped him. We then discuss the underlying notions of time at work in both Gadamer and Collingwood, showing that Ricœur had a better appreciation of the issue, since he saw that Collingwood's moves parallel, up to a point, Heidegger's critique of “vulgar time,” albeit with an entirely different result. We also point to the importance in Collingwood's thinking of his notion of “incapsulation.”
DISTANCE AND SELF‐DISTANCIATION: INTELLECTUAL VIRTUE AND HISTORICAL METHOD AROUND 1900
Authors: PAUL HERMAN 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTWhat did “historical distance” mean to historians in the Rankean tradition? Although historical distance is often equated with temporal distance, an analysis of Ernst Bernheim's Lehrbuch der historischen Methode reveals that for German historians around 1900 distance did not primarily refer to a passage of time that would enable scholars to study remote pasts from retrospective points of view. If Bernheim's manual presents historical distance as a prerequisite for historical interpretation, the metaphor rather conveys a need for self‐distanciation. Self‐distanciation is not a Romantic desire to “extinguish” oneself, but a virtuous attempt to put one's own ideas and intuitions about the working of the world between brackets in the study of people who might have understood the world in different terms. Although Bernheim did not explicitly talk about virtue, the article shows that his Lehrbuch nonetheless considers self‐distanciation a matter of virtuous behavior, targeted at an aim that may not be fully realizable, but ought to be pursued with all possible vigor. For Bernheim, then, distance requires epistemological virtue, which in turn calls for intellectual character, or what Bernheim's generation considered scholarly selfhood (wissen‐schaftliche Persönlichkeit). Not a mapping of time onto space, but a strenuous effort to mold “scholarly characters,” truly able to recognize the otherness of the past, appears to be characteristic of Bernheim's view of historical distance.
THE TRANSFIGURATION OF DISTANCE INTO FUNCTION
Authors: ANKERSMIT FRANK 
Published: December 2011

ABSTRACTThe point of departure of this essay is the intuition that the relationship between the past and the present (or between the past as the object of historical investigation and what is said about it by the historian) should be conceived of in terms of temporal distance. The spatial metaphor of distance at work in this intuition is thought to provide the basis for the epistemological model appropriate for understanding the nature of historical knowledge. This results in two claims: 1) epistemology is the philosophical instrument we must rely upon for understanding historical writing, and 2) the metaphor of distance is—whether one is aware of it or not—the model for most, if not all, epistemological thought. This essay discusses the pros and cons of these two claims. It argues that the two claims are indeed the best way to begin our analysis of the relationship between the past and the historical text or representation. However, we cannot afford to stop there; indeed, we must ask ourselves where the associations we have with the metaphor of temporal distance may, in the end, be misleading. This will enable us to recognize that the notion of distance will, finally, have to yield its prerogatives to that of the notion of function. Historical writing is functionalist in the sense that the historical text is a substitute for the past discussed in it. That is its function. Hence the essay's title.
Using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) to model human neuromuscular connectivity: promise or reality?
Authors: Thomson Sophie R. , Wishart Thomas M. , Patani Rickie , Chandran Siddharthan , Gillingwater Thomas H. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractMotor neuron diseases (MND) such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and spinal muscular atrophy are devastating, progressive and ultimately fatal diseases for which there are no effective treatments. Recent evidence from systematic studies of animal models and human patients suggests that the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) is an important early target in MND, demonstrating functional and structural abnormalities in advance of pathological changes occurring in the motor neuron cell body. The ability to study pathological changes occurring at the NMJ in humans is therefore likely to be important for furthering our understanding of disease pathogenesis, and also for designing and testing new therapeutics. However, there are many practical and technical reasons why it is not possible to visualise or record from NMJs in pre‐ and early‐symptomatic MND patients in vivo. Other approaches are therefore required. The development of stem cell technologies has opened up the possibility of creating human NMJs in vitro, using pluripotent cells generated from healthy individuals and patients with MND. This review covers historical attempts to develop mature and functional NMJs in vitro, using co‐cultures of muscle and nerve from animals, and discusses how recent developments in the generation and specification of human induced pluripotent stem cells provides an opportunity to build on these previous successes to recapitulate human neuromuscular connectivity in vitro.
The erection mechanism of the ratite penis
Authors: Brennan P. L. R. , Prum R. O. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractThe erection mechanism of the penis in most vertebrates is blood vascular. A major evolutionary transition occurred in birds, where the erection mechanism changed from blood vascular to lymphatic. Within birds, however, the erection mechanism of the ratite penis has remained unknown. Early work suggested that the erection mechanism in ostrich Struthio camelus was blood vascular while no description existed for the emu Dromaius novaehollandiae or the rhea Rhea americana. Because the penis in all other described birds has a lymphatic erection mechanism, clarifying that the erection mechanism of ratites is of great importance to understanding one of the major evolutionary transitions of penis morphology within amniotes. Here, we show that the erection mechanism of ratites is lymphatic, confirming that the evolutionary transition to lymphatic erection occurred in the last common ancestor of Aves.
The effect of warble flies on reindeer fitness: a parasite removal experiment
Authors: Ballesteros M. , Bårdsen B.‐J. , Langeland K. , Fauchald P. , Stien A. , Tveraa T. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractParasites extract part or all their resources from their host depriving them of energy that could be normally used for growth, self‐maintenance or reproduction. Thus, parasites are playing a major role in the evolution of life‐history traits of their host through direct or indirect fitness costs. The current experiment investigated the effect of parasitic warble flies (Hypoderma tarandi), on the life‐history traits of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus). In autumn‐winter 2005, 52 free‐ranging female reindeer were administrated with an anti‐parasite drug (treatment group), whereas 56 females remained untreated (control group). Subsequently, body mass, reproductive success and calf body mass were recorded in summer and winter the following year for all individuals. Reproductive success, measured as the probability of producing an offspring, was not affected by the treatment. However, the manipulation positively affected female body mass in the summer but not in the winter and a positive trend was observed for the calves during the same season. Overall, our findings indicate that warble flies have a negative impact on reindeer through their effect on body mass and consequently, are likely to affect reindeer life history and population dynamics.
Large, Single‐Center Experience in Transvenous Coronary Sinus Lead Extraction: Procedural Outcomes and Predictors for Mechanical Dilatation
Authors: DI CORI ANDREA , BONGIORNI MARIA GRAZIA , ZUCCHELLI GIULIO , SEGRETI LUCA , VIANI STEFANO , DE LUCIA RAFFAELE , PAPERINI LUCA , SOLDATI EZIO 
Published: December 2011

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate procedural outcomes of coronary sinus (CS) lead extraction, focusing on predictors and need for mechanical dilatation (MD) in the event that manual traction (MT) is ineffective.
Methods: The study assessed results in 145 consecutive patients (age 69 ± 10 years; 121 men)—a total of 147 CS pacing leads—who underwent transvenous CS lead removal between January 2000 and March 2010.
Results: All leads but one (99%) (implantation time 29 ± 25 months) were successfully removed. MT was effective in 103 (70%), and MD was necessary in the remaining 44 (30%) procedures. In multivariate analyses, unipolar design (odds ratio [OR] 3.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.43–7.7; P = 0.005) and noninfective indication (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.8–13, P = 0.002) were independent predictors for MD (P < 0.0001), with a predictive trend for prior cardiac surgery (OR 2.2, 95% CI 0.98–5.26; P = 0.06). Five (3.4%) complex procedures required a transfemoral vein approach (TFA) or repeat procedure. No deaths occurred, and there was one major complication (0.7%), cardiac tamponade, after MT. No complication predictors were identified.
Conclusions: CS leads were safely and effectively removed in nearly all patients, and 70% were removed with MT alone; 30% required MD. Preoperative predictors suggesting the need for MD or TFA were noninfective indication and unipolar lead design. Complications were rare, and there was no predictable pattern among MT or MD removal techniques. (PACE 2012; 35:215–222)
Gender‐Specific Differences in Susceptibility to Low‐Dose Methadone‐Associated QTc Prolongation in Patients with Heroin Dependence
Authors: CHANG KUAN‐CHENG , HUANG CHIEH‐LIANG , LIANG HSIN‐YUEH , CHANG SHIH‐SHENG , WANG YU‐CHEN , LIANG WEN‐MIIN , LANE HSIEN‐YUAN , CHEN CHU‐HUANG , STEPHEN HUANG SHOEI K. 
Published: December 2011

Methadone and QT Prolongation. Background: Methadone is associated with QTc prolongation and sudden death in susceptible patients. We sought to investigate whether there is a gender‐based difference in susceptibility to methadone‐associated QTc prolongation in heroin‐dependent patients receiving a low‐dose treatment regimen.Methods: A cross‐sectional assessment of dose and gender effects was performed in 283 patients (229 males, 54 females) who received a 12‐lead ECG for QTc measurement 59 days (interquartile range: 36–288 days) after methadone treatment. To determine the effects of methadone over time, a subset of 150 participants (126 men, 24 women) who underwent a 12‐lead ECG before and 37 days (interquartile range: 32–44 days) after methadone treatment were selected.Results: In the cross‐sectional study, a significant dose‐dependent interaction between methadone and QTc (r = 0.201, P = 0.0007) was observed in individuals receiving a median methadone dose of 40 mg/day (interquartile range: 30–60 mg/day). The methadone‐QTc correlation was significant in males (r = 0.210, P = 0.0014) but not in females (r = 0.164, P = 0.2363). The longitudinal assessment of methadone's effects over a 6‐month period showed that 60.7% of individuals experienced an increase in QTc compared to baseline data. The adjusted QTc significantly increased from 418.5 to 426.9 milliseconds in males (P < 0.0001), compared to an insignificant change in females (437.7 milliseconds vs 441.1 milliseconds, P = 0.468).Conclusions: Low‐dose methadone therapy shows dose‐dependent QTc prolongation and is associated with significant QTc lengthening within 6 months of treatment initiation. Men are more susceptible than women to low‐dose methadone‐associated QTc prolongation. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 23, pp. 527‐533, May 2012)
Continuing dental education: evaluation of the effectiveness of a disinfection and decontamination course
Authors: Bailey S. E. R. , Wilson M. J. , Griffiths R. , Bullock A. D. , Cowpe J. G. , Newcombe R. G. , Lewis M. A. O. 
Published: December 2011

AbstractAim:  To evaluate a disinfection and decontamination dental postgraduate course run by the Wales Dental Postgraduate Deanery between 2008 and 2010.Methods:  Pre‐ and post‐course multiple choice questionnaires were completed by 1177 course attendees. Mean scores before and after participation on the training course were compared and analysed.Results:  Mean pre‐course score was 45.3%, rising to 87.0% in the post‐course assessment, reflecting an improvement of 41.8%. Prior to training, 30.7% achieved a satisfactory score of 13/20 (65%) compared to 98.3% on completion of training. Dental technicians were found to score significantly lower than other occupation groups both before and after course attendance. Decade of graduation had no effect on results. Theoretical microbiology was the question area which showed least improvement.Conclusion:  Attending the disinfection and decontamination course significantly improved participants’ knowledge. Theoretical microbiology, as a topic area, may be targeted for improvements in future courses to improve results further.
Autobiographical Ecocritical Practices and Academic Environmental Life Writing: John Elder, Ian Marshall, and Catriona Mortimer‐Sandilands
Authors: Edlich Micha Gerrit Philipp 
Published: December 2011

AbstractAs ecocriticism emerged as a distinct discourse in literary and cultural studies in North America and in Great Britain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many scholars working in this burgeoning field were compelled to reconsider the viability of contemporary critical and theoretical frameworks and tried to establish new analytical paradigms that would be appropriate for ‘the study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment’ (Glotfelty xviii). In a 1994 proposal for the future direction of the increasingly interdisciplinary and institutionalized field, influential first‐generation ecocritic Scott Slovic urged his peers to practice narrative scholarship, that is, to ‘tell stories,’ to ‘use narrative as a constant or intermittent strategy for literary analysis,’ to ‘[e]ncounter the world and literature together,’ and to ‘report about the conjunctions, the intersecting patterns’ (‘Ecocriticism’). Although some (eco‐)feminists and ecocritics questioned the originality of this proposal and some even pointed to the potential harm that an overtly autobiographical approach might cause in an academy highly skeptical of new referential discourses such as ecocriticism, Slovic’s ideas have nevertheless exerted considerable influence on environmental literary and cultural studies in the U.S.‐American academy. Although they do not use Slovic’s designation, prominent first‐generation ecocritics such as John Elder and Ian Marshall have published monographs that can be regarded as narrative scholarship or, more accurately, as complex composite texts that transgress the boundaries of autobiographical environmental literary scholarship and full‐fledged ‘ecobiographical’ or ‘eco‐autobiographical’ self‐representation (the terms are Cecilia Konchar Farr’s and Peter F. Perreten’s, respectively). The Canadian critic Catriona Mortimer‐Sandilands, in an article entitled ‘Eco Homo: Queering the Ecological Body Politic’ (2007), also fuses different modes of writing, but in contrast to Marshall and Elder, she ‘deploys queer theories of corporeal materialization (Butler), and queer histories of corporeal‐ecological abjection, toward a political account of embodiment oriented to creative opening and transgression’ (19), thereby positing a radical re‐conceptualization of human identity with profound political implications. In their textual hybrids, Mortimer‐Sandilands, Elder, and Marshall thus also explore ecological or embodied conceptions of human identity. In this respect, their narratives represent, on the one hand, distinct types of relational and academic autobiography as well as ecobiographical or eco‐autobiographical writing and, on the other hand, provocative new contributions to the long tradition of autobiographical criticism.