Interdisciplinary Focus Research Articles

From Digital Shop floor to Real-Time Reporting: an IIoT Based Educational Use Case

The Smart Production Lab (Lab)at the FH JOANNEUM in Kapfenberg, Austria, is a digital learning and research factory with an interdisciplinary focus on vertical and horizontal IT-integration. It is aiming at a higher transparency and productivity by applying latest digital technologies. The key technology is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Therefore, research driven IoT use cases are further developed such as hybrid IoT-concepts and architectures involving edge and cloud computing. State-of-the-Art use cases apply of-the-shelf technologies for ready-to-use implementations and teaching purposes. This paper introduces a case-based teaching concept in the area of IIoT. It provides students with a hands-on experience as well as deep insights in what is meant by modelling and implementing an IoT data flow from the shop floor to real-time reporting. For this purpose, on the operational technology (OT) layer IoT nodes were attached to the machinery in the Lab gathering and providing data for the IoT middleware layer, based on Open Platform Communication Unified Architecture (OPC UA). This central middleware-layer is represented by the open source platform Node-RED. In the respective use case the data is transformed in order to be stored in a NoSQL database, from where it can be accessed for real-time reporting either by cloud or on premise applications. The interdisciplinary nature of these use case consists of integrating the different aspects of a digital production, involving disciplines such as automation, digital retrofitting, operational technology, and informational technology. Thus, it provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the benefits and limitations of IIoT.

YOUTH AS THE SUBJECT OF VANDAL ACTIVITY IN THE GRAFFITI SUBCULTURE

This article attempts a theoretical analysis of youth vandalism. It reveals the psycho - social features of this age group, considers vandal practices (graffiti) in accordance with the characteristics of young people and analyzes the dependence of reflection on socio - cultural processes and the activity of creative destructive self - expression of the young generation. The study has an interdisciplinary focus, examines the issues of graffiti in the youth environment from the point of view of sociology, cultural studies, psychology, and philosophy. The article analyzes the dual status of graffiti, which is located on the border between art and a specific form of destructive behavior. This aspect is expressed in the peculiar features of psycho - pedagogical, social, and cultural development of the demographic group. A typology of graffiti based on the analysis of specific objects in the city of Ekaterinburg is carried out by the authors. It is noted that the urban environment is a symbolic space that serves as a means of formation of the worldview of young people, as well as an object of artistic practices. Special attention is paid to the duality of the impact of vandal art practices in the city space: the novelty of socio - cultural processes depends on the creativity of changing the environment and the ability to interpret it. The authors use a broad research methodology: analysis and synthesis of information, typological method, semiotic analysis, and structural - functional approach.

The Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016: what is the role for allied health professionals?

Advance care planning is increasingly common practice in contemporary health care for individuals living with a chronic condition. Currently, limited research has been conducted into how newly adopted legislation in Victoria, Australia, facilitates advance care planning. The purpose of this study was to explore the uptake of the Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 in the primary care setting. The study also aimed to explore barriers that allied health professionals encounter when practicing advance care planning with patients. Four interdisciplinary focus groups and two in-depth interviews with participants were conducted and thematically analysed using an interpretivist inquiry paradigm. Analysis revealed two key themes: promoting client wellbeing and scope of practice. The data suggest that advance care planning by allied health professionals in the primary care setting is limited. Focussing on enhancing clients' wellbeing was more important than the development of advanced care directives. Attempting to promote the wellbeing of patients may foster hesitation to commence advance care planning in primary care. This study demonstrated that knowledge of the fundamental legislative changes are evident among allied health professionals which provides a foundation for successful development of advance care planning post implementation of the new Act.

Clinical reasoning - an approach for decision-making in education and training for biomedical scientists.

Aim: Explicitly addressing clinical reasoning (CR) is seen as a promising opportunity in the teaching of the biomedical sciences to enable students to acquire the skills to meet the challenges posed by ever more complex health care processes. The quality of diagnostic decisions plays an essential role here. Our aim is to examine if biomedical scientists recognize the practical relevance of CR and are able to apply it as a reflective framework for their professional practice.Method: In two different educational settings, biomedical science students were asked to look closely at CR in the context of the degree program and to indentify the different forms of reasoning used in their internships and professional practice. The written descriptions were analyzed for content and discussed in the seminars.Results: In both scenarios, the analyses of the students’ descriptions and discussions showed that examining the different forms of CR helped to raise conscious awareness of thought and decision-making processes, encouraging students to think critically about them and to articulate insights about them, as well as recognize the importance of different reasoning strategies when making specific medical decisions.Conclusion: CR for biomedical scientists could help make decision-making processes visible for other occupational groups and thus advantageously integrate specific professional expertise into health care.Over the long term, an interdisciplinary focus on CR could foster and promote the development of a shared discourse and interprofessional collaboration.

Project-Based Learning through Information and Communications Technology and the Curricular Inclusion of Social Problems Relevant to the Initial Training of Infant School Teachers

Project-based learning (PBL) is considered to be one of the most highly valued methods in the development and acquisition of competencies at all educational levels. From an interdisciplinary and collaborative focus, pupils acquire knowledge and skills through investigative tasks, with a view to responding to a problem or challenge, in the form of a final product. The methodological implementation of PBL in specific teacher-training contexts is especially useful for curricular inclusion and the didactic treatment of relevant contemporary social problems and socially alive questions. In this investigation, the assessment of the perceived learning of a group of infant-education teacher trainees (n = 59), following a teacher-training program on social problems, is analyzed. The program is designed on the basis of the principal methodologies of PBL and the operational integration of information and communications technology (ICT) (WebQuests). The study begins with the pre-experimental quantitative designs of a cross-cutting prospective nature with a control group. The results provide information on the special didactic potential of active methodologies, including PBL, for the creative development of thought processes and the acquisition of social competencies and good citizenship in relation to social problems on interdisciplinary curricular projects for infant education. Likewise, it is evident that PBL methodology through ICT facilitates the acquisition of technological competencies, linked to the development of social and communicative competencies, as well as cooperative–collaborative work.

Ethnobotanical research at Klasies River linking past, present, and future

Background: Klasies River is a prominent archaeological site on the South African southern Cape coast, with a unique and continuous occupation spanning the Middle and Late Pleistocene into the Holocene. Ethnobotanical research was undertaken with the objective of enabling a deeper understanding and contextualisation of the palaeo-ethnobotanical finds retrieved during ongoing excavation. Methods: Research into ethnobotanical usage enables extrapolation of the uses to which archaeobotanicals may have been put. Semi-structured interviews and walks in the veld with six local participants, selected for their knowledge of the local plants, were conducted. An interdisciplinary focus, with a pragmatic and abductive grounded theory approach was used. Results: Of the Klasies taxa reported in use today by participants 84% are confirmed by other published research into Khoi and San indigenous plant knowledge in the three Cape Provinces and 42% of these useful taxa are reported as finds in published archaeological research in the Cape Provinces, indicating ongoing usage from past to present. Conclusions: Our research indicates the need for thorough and systematic collection of ethnobotanical data (particularly from Khoi and San descendants), which is under-studied in the South African context. We consider that environment and behaviour of the past, present and future is not only shaped by climate, but by adaptive human-plant interactions through intergenerational and inter-cultural learning. Keywords: Useful plants; medicinal plants; archaeobotany; Khoi and San; indigenous knowledge;

Group Treatment of Fecal Incontinence: A Description of an Interdisciplinary Intervention.

Approximately 5% of children in the United States have chronic fecal incontinence. Unfortunately, standard medical management of fecal incontinence fails in 20% to 60% of cases. A combined medical-behavioral model is often recommended in these cases. The purpose of this pilot study was to describe an interdisciplinary group-based treatment for fecal incontinence in school-aged children, and to present a description of changes in treatment adherence rates that affect clinical effectiveness. Poop group employed a developmentally appropriate model of care in which caregivers and children participated in separate but simultaneously held therapy groups. This interdisciplinary 6-week protocol is designed to increase appropriate stooling, decrease soiling events, and increase medication adherence pre- to post-treatment. Group sessions focus on the GI system, medication, toilet sitting posture, hydration, fiber, and behavior contracts. In addition, participant families consult with an Advanced Nurse Practitioner privately at each session discussing symptoms and making medication modifications as needed. Nineteen families completed the 6-week protocol. Appropriate stool frequency was improved (P ≤ 0.01), and soiling was reduced (P ≤ 0.00). Medication adherence was also improved (P ≤ 0.04). Treatment results were maintained at 1-month follow-up. A developmentally targeted intervention and interdisciplinary focus of treatment likely account for treatment successes. Poop group may be an effective interdisciplinary treatment option for families of children who fail traditional outpatient treatment.

The Premier League-globalization nexus: notes on current trends, pressing issues and inter-linked “-ization” processes

ABSTRACTThe English Premier League (EPL) has proved to be an incontestable rich site of analysis for the understanding of globalization processes in sports, and more specifically, football. However, the global forces in the EPL persist. These continuing forces compose the starting point for this article, which focuses on a number of tentative, but fruitful, scholarly directions for the continued social analysis of the EPL. Through an unpacking of recent developments and emerging trends in what Millward called the “global football league”, this study examines how inter-linked processes of globalization, commercialization and securitization perpetuate, and influence the ways in which the “current game” is organized, consumed and played. As we are entering the 2020s, the paper argues for an inter-disciplinary focus, which takes a bottom-up approach and asks critical questions about the steadily continuing global processes in the EPL, and how it affects supporters and the league more holistically.

Development of a Healthy Lifestyle Assessment Toolkit for the General Public.

The prevalence of age-related non-communicable chronic diseases has increased worldwide, being the leading causes of morbidity and death in many world regions, including in Europe. Innovative models and strategies focused on preventive care, including early identification of risk factors underlying disease onset and progression, and proper modification of lifestyle habits and behaviors, might contribute to promote quality of life, healthy living and active aging. Healthy Lifestyle Innovative Quarters for Cities and Citizens (HeaLIQs4cities) is an EIT Health-funded project aiming to engage, empower and educate citizens toward healthy lifestyles. One of the major objectives of this project was to develop a toolkit for a rapid and informal assessment of healthy lifestyles, to be used at different levels of care pathways, including in informal public environments. In this paper, we describe the methodology underlying the development of the toolkit, which resulted from the collaboration of an interdisciplinary focus group of academic experts, from medicine, sport sciences, psychology, health economics, and innovative technologies applied to health. The following eight components were included in the toolkit: (1) anthropometric assessment and cardiometabolic parameters; (2) physical activity and exercise; (3) well-being, social cohesion, and functional independence; (4) nutrition; (5) mental health; (6) smoking, drinking, and use of illicit substances; (7) sleep habits and quality; and (8) health and disease. A traffic light rating system indicating the risk score was used (low: green; moderate: yellow; and relevant: orange) for each of the 8 components, together with recommendations for the toolkit users. After completing the reduced version of the toolkit, individuals showing moderate or relevant risk in one or more of the 8 dimensions, were invited to participate in a more detailed assessment (toolkit long version), based on deeper and scientifically validated tools. The toolkit was incorporated in eVida, a web-based platform that focuses on delivering services to personalized health and well-being. The validation of the current toolkit has been applied in wide-ranging public events in three different European Regions. Large scale deployment of the toolkit is expected to profit from the Reference Site Collaborative Network of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging (EIP on AHA).

Interdisciplinary doctoral research networks: enhancers and inhibitors of social capital development

ABSTRACT Interdisciplinary research networks are increasing, with professionals encouraged to undertake research across disciplines to increase innovation, creativity and knowledge. More recently, this interdisciplinary focus is being mirrored by the establishment of interdisciplinary doctoral research networks. But do these networks work? And if so, how and why? We employ social capital theory to (a) understand the lived experiences of students in interdisciplinary doctoral programmes and (b) build programme design theory to support the development of social capital within such programmes. We present the results of 28 semi-structured interviews conducted with doctoral students from three European Union funded interdisciplinary research training networks to understand how they perceive the enhancers, inhibitors and manifestations of social capital within their networks. Key themes revolve around ‘extracting value from the interdisciplinary process’, ‘motivating students throughout the interdisciplinary programme journey’, and ‘relating to others both within and external to the programme’. We propose a framework for interdisciplinary programme design.

La mondialisation de la Révolution française (vers 1930-1960): Origines et éclipse d’un paradigme historiographique

RésumésCet article entend proposer une nouvelle lecture des origines de l’historiographie mondiale de la Révolution française. De fait, alors que la thèse de Robert Palmer et de Jacques Godechot situe la « révolution transatlantique » dans les années 1950, ce changement de paradigme fut en réalité préparé par les débats qui avaient animé la France de l’entre-deux-guerres. Les historiens français ont commencé à prendre ce « tournant global » en 1936, l’année de la création de l’Institut international d’histoire de la Révolution française (Iihrf). L’objectif de ses membres fondateurs, Philippe Sagnac et Boris Mirkine-Guetzévitch, était de faire de l’historiographie de 1789 un instrument qui permette de développer les relations internationales dans une période de grande fragilité diplomatique. L’Iihrfjoua un rôle de précurseur dans l’étude de la Révolution en vertu de sa dimension interdisciplinaire et de l’étendue géographique et chronologique de ses travaux. Cela dit, l’Institut demeurait profondément lié aux intérêts géopolitiques français et à l’idée d’une supériorité culturelle, elle-même indissociable du concept de « civilisation ». Fermé à cause de l’Occupation, l’Iihrfdéménagea à New York, inaugurant un chapitre particulièrement remarquable des échanges intellectuels franco-américains. Après la guerre, non seulement l’institution n’avait plus de raison d’être diplomatique, mais son projet intellectuel fut très vite éclipsé par le défi de la décolonisation et par la montée en force de nouvelles approches de l’histoire mondiale. L’évolution et la disparition finale de l’Iihrfsoulèvent des questions intéressantes sur trois points, qui traverseront de part en part cet article : le sens de 1789 en tant que repère politique ; les différentes méthodologies des histoires « internationale », « mondiale » et « atlantique » ; la reconfiguration des paradigmes de la recherche historique à l’aube de la guerre froide.

Learner and educator experiences and priorities in paediatric airway education: A qualitative study.

Paediatric airway management is a challenging area of anaesthesia practice to learn. Techniques and skills required need modification from adult practice and gaining experience through exposure takes considerable time. Preparation to manage airway emergencies can be particularly difficult as these events are rare in paediatric practice. This study aimed to examine what educational approaches health professionals of varying backgrounds find useful when learning or teaching paediatric airway management. This qualitative study involved the conduct of five interdisciplinary focus groups; each group consisted of four to six health professionals from nursing, anaesthetic, simulation and critical care backgrounds. After transcription, focus group content was analysed using a qualitative method to identify common themes expressed within the interviews. Five themes were most prominent. These included the high value of hands-on learning, the challenges created by variability in exposure, the importance of developing basic airway skills, the potential for simulation to cover rare situations, and the problems of current airway models. These themes were evident in comments from both experienced and novice practitioners, clinicians with different subspecialty backgrounds and both medical and nursing staff. Learners and educators have similar priorities in airway education. This includes a strong recognition of the importance of spending time mastering basic airway techniques, a role for simulation in building non-technical skills and noted deficiencies in current airway models.

Implementing screening interventions in community pharmacy to promote interprofessional coordination of primary care - A mixed methods evaluation.

Screening is a critical component of efforts to reduce the population burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD), by facilitating early use of cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. While international evidence suggests that screening in community pharmacies improves screening access and identifies at-risk individuals, concerns from medical organisations about the absence of interdisciplinary coordination and related lack of continuity of care with general practice have significantly contributed to reluctance from some stakeholders to endorse, and engage with, pharmacy-based screening initiatives. The Cardiovascular Absolute Risk Screening (CARS) study was designed to address these challenges and promote an interprofessional approach to screening for cardiovascular disease risk by pharmacists. This study describes the impact of the CARS implementation model on interdisciplinary coordination and continuity of care. In addition to clinical training, pharmacists at eleven participating pharmacies were provided with implementation training, resources and support to promote interprofessional coordination. Completion of training and pharmacy implementation plans, both of which highlighted GP engagement strategies, were pre-requisites for screening commencement. Using mixed methods approaches, data were analyzed from screening records (n = 388), researcher interviews with patients at 6-10 weeks post-screening (n = 248, 64%), and pharmacist interviews (n = 10). Screening records suggested that 94% of screened individuals were advised to seek formal GP assessment, and 98% consented to sharing of results. Among interviewed participants, 81% recalled direct pharmacist action to facilitate GP engagement. Among interviewees who had seen their GP already (n = 70), 79% reported that their GP was aware of the results (another 16% were uncertain). Pharmacists reported positive GP feedback stemming from efforts at early engagement, but an absence of ongoing collaboration. Use of implementation planning by pharmacists, alongside clinical training, can effectively promote an interdisciplinary coordination focus by pharmacists.

Hip and Groin Injuries in Professional Basketball Players: Impact on Playing Career and Quality of Life After Retirement.

Professional basketball players are at increased risk of hip and groin pain. Epidemiologic data exist on the prevalence of hip and groin issues among players in the National Basketball Association (NBA), but little is known about how these injuries affect athletes after retirement. A high proportion of retired NBA athletes would have hip and/or groin pain. Cross-sectional survey. Level 4. A survey was developed through an interdisciplinary focus group. The survey was developed to capture data regarding demographics, collegiate and professional athletic injuries, and current quality of life and musculoskeletal health. The questionnaire was electronically distributed to all members of the National Basketball Players Association using SurveyMonkey (N = 900). A total of 108 (12%) retired NBA players completed the survey. More than one-third (36.3%) of athletes report currently experiencing hip and/or groin pain, and 17.6% had received injections for hip or groin conditions since retiring from the NBA. Since retiring, 14.7% of respondents had undergone total hip arthroplasty. The median Tegner activity level scale was 3 out of 10. Nearly one-third (32.4%) of athletes report moderate to severe problems with mobility, and close to half (48%) had moderate to extreme pain/discomfort. Hip and groin injuries are common among NBA athletes, affecting players throughout their careers and into retirement. A subset of athletes may exist in whom intra-articular hip pathology is not appropriately identified and treated while playing in the NBA. Retired NBA athletes are at high risk of hip and groin pain after retirement and are more likely to require total hip arthroplasty compared with the general population.

Social-cognitive antecedents of new venture internationalization

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the social-cognitive antecedents of an entrepreneur’s internationalization intent and a firm’s behavior. Building on the insights of social-cognitive psychology, the author develops a conceptual model linking an entrepreneur’s positive orientation, self-efficacy beliefs, internationalization intent and actual behavior of the firm.Design/methodology/approachThe author tests this model with a sample of 310 Polish firms (including 241 domestic and 69 international new ventures), drawing on data collected first in 2006 and then in 2007.FindingsThe author finds that self-efficacy mediates between positive orientation and internationalization intent, and that an entrepreneur’s internationalization intent predicts a firm’s behavior (i.e. foreign market entry). Moreover, firm age moderates the relationship between an entrepreneur’s positive orientation and internationalization propensity among new ventures.Research limitations/implicationsOverall, the findings demonstrate that social-cognitive theory is useful in predicting new venture internationalization.Practical implicationsBased on the findings, the author recommends that managerial education in international management combines the development of “formal” skills and cross-cultural competencies with experiential and vicarious learning.Originality/valueThe study combines insights from psychology and international business, thus responding to numerous calls for a more interdisciplinary and cognition-oriented focus on the international behavior of firms.

Effect of Molecular Composition of Head Group and Temperature on Micellar Properties of Ionic Surfactants with C12 Alkyl Chain

The paper analyses influences of the temperature and hydrophilic groups on micellar properties of ionic surfactants with 12-carbonic hydrophobic chains. The aim is to assess the impact of hydrophilic groups and temperature on thermodynamic parameters and micellization. This knowledge is indispensable for the formulation of new dosage forms. The method uses conductometric measurements. The following hydrophilic groups are analyzed: trimethylammonium bromide, trimethylammonium chloride, ethyldimethylammonium bromide, didodecyldimethylammonium bromide, pyridinium chloride, benzyldimethyl-ammonium chloride, methylephedrinium bromide, cis and trans-[(2-benzyloxy)-cyclohexyl-methyl]-N, N-dimethylammonium bromide, sodium sulphate and lithium sulphate. Except for a few cases, there is a good agreement between values of critical micellar concentrations (CMC) and critical vesicle concentration (CVC) obtained here and those which were obtained by other authors and/or by other physicochemical methods. Values of the CMC are compared with respect to the molar masses of hydrophilic groups. It was found that CMC values increased non-linearly with increasing system temperature. The degrees of counterion binding and thermodynamic parameters, like the standard molar Gibbs energy, enthalpy and entropy of micellization are determined and discussed in detail. The results obtained will be incorporated into in silico processes of modeling and design of optimal dosage forms, a current interdisciplinary research focus of the team.

Prenatal Nutrition in Team-Based Care: Current Practices and Opportunities for Optimization of Care.

Purpose: To describe prenatal nutrition care currently delivered by Family Health Teams (FHTs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) in Ontario, from the perspectives of health care providers, and to identify opportunities for improving care. Methods: Ten 1-hour, interdisciplinary focus groups were conducted in FHTs and CHCs, involving a total of 73 health care providers. Focus groups ranged in size from 3 to 11 team members, and at least 3 different professions participated in each group. The shared perspectives and experiences on prenatal nutrition care were collected using a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Limited time was spent on prenatal nutrition education and counselling. Two themes emerged describing gaps in care: (i) providing care in "borderline" high-risk pregnancies (i.e., impaired glucose tolerance) and (ii) providing care around gestational weight gain. Providers envisioned improving services offered by increasing preventative care, empowering providers to provide more nutrition care, facilitating patient self-care, and building a 1-stop shop "medical home". Conclusions: This study's findings can guide strategies to mobilize current nutritional knowledge into routine prenatal care, and the shared vision for improvement will inform the routes for new practice that are supported by health care professionals.

Samuel Beckett and Cinema by Anthony Paraskeva

Reviewed by: Samuel Beckett and Cinema by Anthony Paraskeva Colin Gardner Samuel Beckett and Cinema. Anthony Paraskeva. London: Bloomsbury, 2017. Pp. 195. $108.00 (cloth); $37.95 (eBook). In a 1967 interview with Cahiers du cinéma, Jean-Luc Godard revealed: "I once intended to make a film of Happy Days. … I'd have liked to do it because I had a text and all I needed to do was film it. I'd have had just a single tracking shot beginning in long shot and ending in close-up. It would have started at precisely the distance necessary to bring me into close shot in an hour and a half, to end on the last sentence. It was just a matter of elementary arithmetic, a simple calculation of speed in relation to time."1 Although Beckett was notoriously opposed to cinematic adaptation of his stage plays (he once rejected Ingmar Bergman's request to direct a film version of Waiting for Godot, arguing that he did not want the play "Bergmanized"), Godard's strict harnessing of the gestic expressiveness of the diegetic action to the spatiotemporal exigencies of the cinematic apparatus would probably have been fully approved by the playwright. Indeed, after Film (1965) and the 1966 film adaptation of Play (Marin Karmitz's Comédie), his writings and directorial style had already begun to break the clear distinction between mechanical reproducibility and the contingency of the fluid theatrical event. This interdisciplinary focus on exact precision of timing and gestic movement—as well as the complete eschewal of improvisation—is central to Anthony Paraskeva's brilliant new book, which situates Beckett's methods as a writer-director within a historical double register of two [End Page 225] key moments in cinematic modernism. As he puts it, "Beckett did not write and direct for stage and screen in isolation … but within the context of a culture of interconnected representations between film, theatre and literature. Beckett's theatre practice, from the beginning of his work as a director in the mid-sixties, belongs to a modernist tradition of hybrid interactions between theatre and cinema" (Samuel Beckett and Cinema, 2). The first wave of such interactions is marked by the young Beckett's interest in the pictorial and temporal innovations of silent film, influenced by the work of Soviet directors such as Sergei Eisenstein (Paraskeva begins with Beckett's 1936 letter to the latter requesting admission to the Moscow State School of Cinematography), Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Dziga Vertov. Equally important were the robotic biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold (which, with Kleist's writings on the marionette theater, were to become an important influence on the seemingly effortless lack of self-awareness in Ronald Pickup's performance in Ghost Trio); French impressionist filmmakers such as Jean Epstein, Germaine Dulac, and Marcel L'Herbier; and the vaudevillian slapstick of silent comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton (who would go on to star in Beckett's Film). Drawing upon references in Beckett's letters and other archival material, Paraskeva shows that there is clear evidence Beckett was a regular film-goer and that he was also familiar with the theoretical writings of the day, most notably the avant-garde film journal Close-Up (1927–33) and the work of Rudolf Arnheim, whose 1933 book Film is predicated on the fact that the unique virtues of film as an art form derive not from its indexical realist properties but from the exploitation of its limitations: lack of sound and color and the inherent flatness of the cinema screen. These limitations were superseded by the coming of the sound film, whose overdetermined synchronization of dialog and image turned all formal innovation into pure spectacle, a case of true cinema being killed in the cradle. Antonin Artaud, for example, fought against the completion of the open-ended "meaning" of the image by speech—the major encumbrance of sound cinema—by developing his vision of a "language of signs, gestures and attitudes having an ideographic value as they exist in certain unperverted pantomimes."2 As Paraskeva argues, "For Artaud, the transition to sound had obstructed the development of an anti-naturalist silent cinema still in its infancy...

Deep Residual Networks for Plant Identification

Advancing the knowledge and understanding of plants growing around us plays a very important and crucial role in medicinally, economically and in a sustainable agriculture. The identification of plant images in the field of computer vision has become an interdisciplinary focus. Taking benign conditions of quick advancement in computer vision and deep learning algorithms, convolutional neural networks (CNN) approach is taken into consideration to learn feature representation of 185 classes of leaves taken from Columbia University, the University of Maryland, and the Smithsonian Institution. For the large-scale classification of plants in the natural environment, a 50-layer deep residual learning framework consisting of 5 stages is designed. The proposed model achieves a recognition rate of 93.09 percent as the accuracy of testing on the LeafSnap dataset, illustrating that deep learning is a highly promising forestry technology.

Exposing Diversity: A Methodological Approach to the Use of Video Narratives in Interdisciplinary Practices

This article explores the potential of ethnographic video narratives for collaborative learning in an interdisciplinary context. Previous research describes the area between tacit knowing and explicit knowledge as an area of “muddy water” that creates a space for constructing new understandings and knowledge. In this regard, video narratives can be seen as a pathway to feelings and other sensations, and therefore to tacit commonsense notions about the nature of practices. The question is how the methodical use of video narratives contributes to new understandings of practice. The article outlines a study in which two video narratives were presented in interdisciplinary focus groups in a nursing-home setting. The multilayered complexity of the video narratives, combined with different professional approaches to elderly care, opens up for diverse, opposing and detailed understandings of practice in the dialogue about the narratives. This diversity raises new questions about the nature of practice and seems to fuel a collaborative learning process. In conclusion, the article suggests that future interventions using video narratives would benefit from firmer facilitation and categorization of this diversity in order to enhance the potential for collaborative learning.