Iron Man Research Articles

American Heroes

Abstract An analysis of 2008 Hollywood superhero blockbusters. Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk are humorous and often light-hearted; but the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, which reinvents The Joker in Heath Ledger's performance, is much more grim and morally complex—a dark entertainment for pessimistic times.

FeNCN and Fe(NCNH)2: Synthesis, Structure, and Magnetic Properties of a Nitrogen‐Based Pseudo‐oxide and ‐hydroxide of Divalent Iron

Iron man challenge: Iron carbodiimide, FeNCN, and its precursor iron (bis)monohydrocyanamide, Fe(NCNH)(2), have been synthesized and physically characterized. Both FeNCN and Fe(NCNH)(2) exhibit nitrogen-mediated antiferromagnetic superexchange interactions with reduced magnetic moments very similar, but not identical, to the correlated 3d oxides.

Seeking Africa's First Iron Men

Archaeologists are battling over when--and how--ancient African cultures entered the Iron Age.

Plastic Posthumanism

Page 4 American Book Review Plastic Posthumanism Robert Tobin In numerous cultural spheres, it is evident that the posthuman is an increasingly significant concern. Hollywood blockbusters such as the Batman series, the X-Men series, and Iron Man (2008) seemingly cannot fail at the box office, testifying to an enduring popular interest in superheroes who transcend humanity in ways that blur the boundary between humans, animals, and technology. At the same time, human rights have become an organizing force of progressive energy in many areas of the world, reinforcing traditional humanistic ideals and raising the question of the limits of the human. In her invigorating and thought-provoking book, Kim Toffoletti brings together the theoretical work of Donna J. Haraway and Jean Baudrillard to provide an insightful analysis of the question of the human and the posthuman in popular culture. Ultimately, Toffoletti urges us to accept and even celebrate images such as Barbie and Marilyn Manson as loci for cultural discussion about the nature of the posthuman. Toffoletti begins by analyzing the challenge that the posthuman—particularly in the form of technological enhancements to the body—presents to humanism. At the same time, she attends to the concerns about the interface between technology and the human that feminism has expressed. Laying out the complex relationship that feminism has had both with technology and with humanism, Toffoletti makes clear that it is imperative to resist a dialectical structure that opposes man and technology against woman and nature. She concludes that “In a posthuman landscape, technology is neither friend nor foe, but emerges as a possibility or potentiality to refigure bodies and identities outside of self/Other relations.” Who better to help one refigure bodies and identities outside of self/Other relations than Jean Baudrillard? For Toffoletti, no one! Her second chapter outlines the contribution that Baudrillard’s work on the simulacrum can make to an analysis of gender and popular culture today. Knowing that many feminists have been hostile to Baudrillard’s approach, she aims to show how his work can be used for a feminist agenda. While Toffoletti’s argument is largely convincing, it did seem to me that she misreads Jane Gallop’s critique of Baudrillard—as I understand it, Gallop is not rejecting Baudrillard simply because he is a male, but because he does not acknowledge that he is writing from within a gendered system. Cyborgs and Baby Dolls does more to explain Baudrillard to a feminist audience than it does to explain feminism to a reader of Baudrillard. Toffoletti’s first case study is the Barbie doll. Well aware that there is already a strong tradition within feminism and gender studies of rehabilitating Barbie from the initial censorious accusation that she embodied everything that was wrong and oppressive about the treatment of women, Toffoletti makes her mark with original insights regarding Barbie’s “plasticity.” Toffoletti uses plastic to help clarify her understanding of Baudrillard’s concepts: “Plastic does not strive for equivalence with the real, rather the simulacra is reality.As a substance of simulation, plastic dissolves the opposition between the real and what it represents.” Thus, debates about the merits or demerits of plastic are just as futile as analyses of whether Barbie is demeaning or empowering to little girls. Instead,Toffoletti argues that Barbie’s plasticity “confounds the ‘truth’ or ‘meaning’ of woman.” On the 1998 album MechanicalAnimals (which incidentally features a song called “Posthuman,” which I don’t believe Toffoletti mentions), Manson appears with a weirdly plastic, androgynous body that looks like a twisted Barbie doll. Toffoletti puts Manson in a long line of part-human monsters, but insists that while earlier monsters participated in an order of signification in which they clearly departed Cyborgs and Barbie Dolls: Feminism, Popular Culture and the Posthuman Body Kim Toffoletti I.B. Tauris http://www.ibtauris.com 205 pages; paper, £17.99 Tobin continued on next page masquerading as the model for all humanity. From this perspective, humanism served (and continues to serve) as an ideological tool in the propaganda of Western imperialism (the contemporary rhetoric urging the spread of freedom in the Middle East is a chilling reminder of the legacy of imperialist thought, as well...

Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River

Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River

Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River (review)

Reviewed by: Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River Cyril M. Lagvanec Earthen Walls, Iron Men: Fort DeRussy, Louisiana, and the Defense of Red River. By Steven M. Mayeux. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2007. ISBN 978-1-57233-576-9. Maps. Photographs. Illustrations. Appendixes. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xiv, 370. $45.00. Earthen Walls, Iron Men by Steven M. Mayeux is a detailed account of the history of Fort DeRussy and the fighting that occurred in its vicinity during the American Civil War. The history of the fort previously had been only “little tidbits here and there” (p. xiii), but over the span of eleven years Mayeux collected these pieces together and transformed them into a monograph of some real worth. Indeed, the book is something of a labor of love for the author, and contains a very personal note as he is a direct descendant of a participant in the events described in the narrative. Mayeux begins with the origins of Fort DeRussy, which was first named Fort Taylor in honor of the commander of the district, Richard Taylor. The author writes of the fort’s construction and armament. Its composition was quite stout and its armament capable of dealing great destruction to wooden vessels. However, it was no Confederate Gibraltar. [End Page 958] Not once, but twice, Fort Derussy was taken by Union forces and systematically demolished. The first time occurred in May of 1863 during Nathaniel Banks’s Bayou Teche campaign when the Rebels abandoned the fort. The drive up the Bayou Teche played itself out as a major raid against Louisiana’s sugar parishes, and when the Yankee marauders departed, the Confederates reoccupied, rebuilt, and rearmed Fort DeRussy. Then in March of 1864, Banks’s army again took the fort after a brief, yet sharp, assault as part of the unfolding Red River campaign. After Banks’s defeat upriver and his subsequent retreat, the twice-destroyed site was finally abandoned. Along with the construction and composition of the fort and the Union captures, Mayeux delves into numerous aspects of the times and of related places. He provides the reader with an entire chapter on Fort DeRussy’s outer works, such as Fort Humbug and the raft of felled trees collected in the waters of the Red River. This does much to explain the fortification’s successes and failures as the location was never taken by the United States Navy, but rather by the Army. There are detailed passages about winter quarters, the cotton trade between the opponents, the cotton-stealing expeditions of the Federal navy, Joseph Bailey’s dam at Alexandria, the status and conduct of Confederate prisoners of war kept in New Orleans, and various accounts of the riverine fights that took place up and down the Red. The author concludes with a chapter on redeeming the site as a historical landmark. Mayeux succeeds paying homage to a moment in history that possesses true meaning for him. The detail he provides is nothing short of exhaustive, and should prove most useful to the serious scholar. In addition, his writing style, which sometimes slips and becomes a tad folksy, is nevertheless up to the challenge of engaging and entertaining the reader. His retelling of the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianola by the C.S.S. Queen of the West and the Webb is simply superb. Anyone interested in the period of the American Civil War would do well to add Mayeux’s book to their library. Cyril M. Lagvanec Loyola University New Orleans, Louisiana Copyright © 2008 The Society for Military History

A Camera on the Banks: Frederick William Wallace and the Fishermen of Nova Scotia (review)

Reviewed by: A Camera on the Banks: Frederick William Wallace and the Fishermen of Nova Scotia Carol Payne M. Brook Taylor . A Camera on the Banks: Frederick William Wallace and the Fishermen of Nova Scotia. Goose Lane. 147, $24.95 In mid-December 1912, the decrepit schooner Effie M. Morrissey hit rough waters en route to the fishing banks out of Portland, Maine. Frederick William Wallace, a Montreal-based writer and novice seaman aboard ship, thrilled to that 'inspiring sight': 'We could feel the vessel trembling throughout her hard-driven hull. And when she topped a big comber, we hung like bats to the jack-stay and caught our breaths as she swooped down into the sea with the suds boiling up and through the hawse pipes.' Although I read this passage from M. Brook Taylor's engaging A Camera on the Banks while sitting in sheltered safety by the still waters of an Ontario lake, I could all but feel the North Atlantic's unforgiving gusts as I clung for dear life to my beach chair and SPF 30. A Camera on the Banks is a popular social history of the Canadian maritime fishery during the waning days of unassisted sail. Told in image and text, it often reads like the boys' seafaring adventure stories that made Frederick William Wallace, the figure at the core of Taylor's narrative, famous almost a century ago. Taylor, a historian at Mt Allison University, eulogizes the fleet of fishing schooners based in Digby, Nova Scotia, on the shore of the Annapolis Basin during the 1910s. Taylor provides rich historic detail about these majestic vessels and the 'masculine world of work' aboard: schooner design, financing, the intricacies of navigation, the workings of a two-man dory, even the seamen's daily menu. But the early years of the twentieth century were the last for unassisted sail. Even as the [End Page 334] Effie M. Morrissey fought the waves and earned an impressive $1,500 for its catch in late 1912, steamships were the future of the fishery; sail was already the stuff of romantic legend. It was the romance of sail that captivated Frederick William Wallace, through whose words and photographs we see the Digby fleet. Wallace, the son of a much-storied maritime captain, longed for the sea, but parental trepidation and frail health confined him to the land-locked existence of a writer. With an invitation to report on the 1911 Digby regatta for Canadian Century magazine, that changed. Wallace talked his way on board the Dorothy M. Smart, a Digby schooner, for a three-week fishing trip to the banks and followed this with six more voyages on Digby fishing schooners over the next five years. On each he carried notepad and camera to record his thoughts and make illustrations for future publications. Wallace's experiences in the 1910s fuelled a stream of sea narratives, including the non-fiction Wooden Ships and Iron Men (1924) as well as the popular novels Blue Water: A Tale of the Deep Sea Fishermen (1914) and Captain Salvation (1925). As its title suggests, A Camera on the Banks features Wallace's photographs prominently. Portraits of the weathered seamen, dramatic perspectival views of the great schooners, and celebratory documents of their catch fill the pages. In writing the book and organizing an accompanying exhibition at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Taylor was initially 'inspired by an academic question: what would a historical narrative look like if one began with photographs rather than documents, put images rather than words at the centre of the tale?' Yet, as happens all too often in historical writing, discussion of Wallace's photographic technique, the visual language of his images and their subsequent use are underdeveloped here. Instead, the images are made to stand as flat factual documents of a passing practice rather than enunciations from a distinct perspective. This aside, A Camera on the Banks is a rollicking account of the last days of unassisted sail in the east coast fishery that could sweep even the most hopeless landlubber up in the romance of sea and sail. Carol Payne School for Studies in Art, Carleton University Copyright © 2008...

The science behind Iron Man's super suit

The science behind Iron Man's super suit

If Public Art Communicates, Who Chooses the Message?: Birmingham’s Iron Man as a Case Study in Selection Processes for Public Art

If Public Art Communicates, Who Chooses the Message?: Birmingham’s Iron Man as a Case Study in Selection Processes for Public Art

Blood lactate, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion responses of elite surf lifesavers to high-performance competition

A paucity of empirical research exists into surf lifesaving competition from which coaches and athletes may formulate training and recovery strategies. Seventeen (male=9; female=8) high-performance surf lifesavers (21.2+/-3.9 years) contested multiple rounds of team and individual events at a 2-day surf lifesaving competition. Individual events consisted of the multi-discipline ironman (IRON), paddle board (BOARD) and surf swim (SWIM). Blood lactate (BLa), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) were determined following heats, semi-finals and final. IRON HR and RPE following semi-finals (153.0+/-21.6beatsmin(-1) and 14.4+/-1.5) and final (171.0+/-9.1beatsmin(-1) and 19.1+/-0.2) were greater than heats (141.8+/-17.2beatsmin(-1) and 12.0+/-1.9; p<0.05) and final BLa (10.5+/-2.8mmolL(-1)) was greater than heats (5.8+/-3.6mmolL(-1); p<0.05). BOARD BLa and HR were greater after the final (9.0+/-2.8mmolL(-1) and 159.0+/-19.9beatsmin(-1)) compared to heats (4.7+/-2.4mmolL(-1) and 133.0+/-17.1beatsmin(-1); p<0.05). No significant differences were identified for SWIM. RPE-HR relationships were identified for pooled IRON and BOARD results following semi-finals (0.668; p<0.05) and finals (r=0.741; p<0.05). In conclusion, high-performance surf lifesavers employ race strategies with all-out maximal exercise limited to semi-finals and finals.

Leviathan: the history of whaling in America

The epic history of the iron men in wooden boats who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme, Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry-from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades.

Tender Machos: Masculine Contrasts in the Mexican Baseball League

Tender Machos: Masculine Contrasts in the Mexican Baseball League

The iron man

Kieron O'Hara argues that David Cameron is more of a Conservative than Thatcher ever was

Iron men and tin fish: the race to build a better torpedo during World War II

Iron men and tin fish: the race to build a better torpedo during World War II

Dean of Umpires: Bill McGowan (review)

Reviewed by: Dean of Umpires: Bill McGowan Lee Lowenfish Bob Luke. Dean of Umpires: Bill McGowan. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2005. 213 pp. Paper, $29.95. Author Bob Luke grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, a Washington, DC, suburb where renowned American League umpire Bill McGowan was a neighbor. [End Page 142] In the summer of 1954, in what would be the last year of McGowan's life, the ailing arbiter occasionally invited Luke and his older brother to watch Washington Senators games on television. Thus the seed was planted for Bob Luke to one day write a book about one of the most colorful umpires in baseball history. The story of McGowan is an enthralling one. Born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1896, he was the son of a beer and whiskey storeowner who had emigrated from Ireland. Young McGowan grew up to be a lifelong teetotaler and a mediocre ballplayer. After trying his hand as a boxer and manager of prizefighters, McGowan embarked on his career as an umpire. He served a ten-year Minor League apprenticeship that was blemished by expulsion from the International League for engaging in a fistfight with a player. Yet in 1925, McGowan was added to the American League roster of umpires. A man of hot temper and great confidence, his first ejection was none other than Babe Ruth in a spring training game. Blessed to break in under the tutelage of two great arbiters, Billy Evans and Tom Connolly, by 1928 Bill McGowan was umpiring in a World Series. He would go on to become an iron man, working in 2,532 consecutive games (only 100 short of Cal Ripken's mark for a player). In 1938 he founded an umpire school that, after his death in 1954, was passed on to his chief instructor Al Somers (today, it is run by retired National League umpire Harry Wendelstedt). One of the valuable aspects of this slim volume is the reprinting of the full textbook used by McGowan's umpiring school in 1949. It comes complete with the imprimatur "approved by the Veterans Administration under G. I. Bill of Rights." In 1947 McGowan's school was so popular, Luke notes, that it graduated 251 future umps—95 percent of whom were veterans of World War II—and about one hundred of its graduates got jobs in some level in baseball. American League ump Bill McKinley was the first graduate of the school in 1946, followed not long after by future National League arbiter Augie Donatelli, who had survived a term as a POW in a German camp. Aspiring umpires will enjoy McGowan's discussion of the nuts and bolts of positioning, gesturing, and overall game management. There is also a section on rules interpretations that, together with Billy Evans' classic Knotty Problems of Baseball, should be on any arbiter's bookshelf. McGowan's philosophy was simple: "Keep control of the players or they'll control you." He earned the respect of many of the game's great stars like Ted Williams, who said the ump's home plate calls were correct nearly 100 percent of the time. During a rare slump, Williams even received quiet advice from McGowan. "You're trying to break the ball," he said. "Just hit it." Until a Major League rule was passed in 1952 forbidding umpires from recommending players [End Page 143] to teams, McGowan freely mentioned the names of prospects, and his tips led to the signing of such future American League stars as infielder Jimmy Dykes and outfielder Leon "Goose" Goslin. There are many fascinating pieces of information in Dean of Umpires, but a coherent narrative flow is missing. Like a pitcher hesitant to throw the ball over the plate, Luke doesn't trust his stuff enough and utilizes too many quotes from his sources. All in all the restoring of Bill McGowan, belatedly inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992, is a worthy enterprise. He shone like a star in an age when Major League Baseball was played mainly in the daytime in two deeply-entrenched, eight-team leagues, when the World Series was "The Biggest Show on Earth," and no act on the baseball field...

Advanced Biochemistry Course teach students how to make and criticize science

In this work we are reporting a course of University of Brasilia called “Topics in Biochemistry”. It is offered to second semester medicine and nutrition students (around 12) who have just finished the Basic Biochemistry Course (BioBio), plus one or two third semester students, who are taking the course for the second time, as “coordinators”. This course is composed of two parallel activities: weekly meetings for scientific discussions and the peer-tutor activity.In each meeting, one student presents an article. The topics are mostly on metabolic biochemistry, but can range from animal adaptability to Alzheimer Disease. The requisite is that the article was published in a recognized international journal (as Nature, American Journal of Physiology, New England Journal of Medicine) and is adequate for group discussion. The emphasis of the discussion is greater on the methodology of science, instead of on specific details about particular subjects. What did the authors want to prove? How did they do it? Were the conclusions valid? What were the experimental errors and omissions? How could it be a better article? Also, it’s a good opportunity to discuss statistics, methodology, and to exercise the sense of criticism. Overall, the objective of these discussions is to teach students how to make science and criticize science. The second attribution of the course is the peer-tutor activity. Each student is responsible for tutoring a BioBio group on a seminar/poster presentation (Hermes-Lima et al., Biochem. Mol.Biol.Educ. 30: 30-34,2002) and is responsible for evaluating their group, always supervised by the coordinating professor. Moreover, they must elaborate a “true or false” exam (Sé et al. Are tutor-students capable of writing good biochemistry exams? SBBq 2004, abstract K-18) and help with other activities as the 9-hour exam elaboration (Sé et al. A 9-hour biochemistry exam. An iron man competition or a good way of evaluating undergraduate students? SBBq 2005, abstract K-6), both exams are applied in BioBio, they also participate on the exams correction.

The Biochemistry Show: a new and fun tool for learning

The traditional methods to teach biochemistry in most universities are based on the memorization of chemical structures, biochemical pathways and reagent names, which is many times dismotivating for the students. We presently describe an innovative, interactive and alternative method for teaching biochemistry to medical and nutrition undergraduate students, called the Biochemistry Show (BioBio Show).The Biobio show is based on active participation of the students. They are divided in groups and the groups face each other. One group faces another one group at a time, in a game based on true or false questions that involve subjects of applied biochemistry (exercise, obesity, diabetes, cholesterol, free radicals, among others). The questions of the Show are previously elaborated by senior students. The Biobio Show has four phases, the first one is a selection exam, and from the second to the fourth phase, eliminatory confrontations happen. On a confrontation, the first group must select a certain quantity of questions for the opponent to answer. The group who choses the questions must know how to answer and justify the selected questions. This procedure is repeated on all phases of the show. On the last phase, the questions used are taken from an exam previously performed by the students: either the 9-hour biochemistry exam (Sé et al. A 9-hour biochemistry exam. An iron man competition or a good way of evaluating undergraduate students? SBBq 2005, abstract K-6) or the True-or-False exam (TFE) (Sé et al. Are tutor-students capable of writing good biochemistry exams? SBBq 2004, abstract K-18). The winner group receives an extra 0,5 point on the final grade. Over 70% of the students informed on a questionnaire that the Biobio Show is a valuable tool for learning biochemistry. That is a new way to enrich the discussion of biochemistry in the classroom without the students getting bored. Moreover, learning is powered by critical and applied biochemistry emphasis during the Biobio Show. Financial Support: CNPq and PIBIC.

Personal and Interpersonal Aspects of Ultra-En durance Tri athlete Couples

PURPOSE: The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to conduct a qualitative study of relationships of dual triathlete couples competing at the Ironman (IM) World Championships. This study examines ultra-endurance tri couples in terms of gender equity and time management issues. The lifestyle of IM triathletes involves tremendous work, discipline, and sacrifice. How this demanding lifestyle is negotiated within couples has been largely overlooked in the literature. METHODS: Six heterosexual married couples were interviewed ranging in age from 30–60 years. Number of years married ranged from 0.16 to 36 years; two couples had children. Participants had competed in at least one IM triathlon in the past year. Both partners in two couples and one partner in three couples were competing at the 2004 World IM Championships. Recruitment was by flyers posted in the Expo area and by word of mouth. Interviews were 15–30 minutes and conducted using open-ended questions. Consent forms were completed prior to the interview. Hand written notes were taken with no video or tape recording during the interview. The PI's reflections and interview notes were coded using constant comparative analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). This analysis or coding method allows broad categories of data to emerge, whereby the research continually compares data to initial codes from which patterns/ similarities and differences/variations can be identified (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). RESULTS: Couples in dual triathlete marriages tended to endorse egalitarian attitudes, behaviors, and roles in their relationships and their training. A supportive role emerged for many couples and tended to “rotate” depending on who was competing in a particular race. These triathlete couples indicated wide agreement in terms of their relationship and training priorities. Their training schedules and their commitment to training and competing tended to dictate daily activities such as what to eat and how to spend time. Due to the demands of IM training, couples discussed constraints or sacrifices they chose to make in order to compete. They especially mentioned the intense demands the “tri” lifestyle has on their finances and time resources. CONCLUSIONS: This exploratory study adds to the literature by examining relationships of dual Ironman triathlete couples. Egalitarian roles emerged as a main theme. The study was cross-sectional in design, based upon only those who volunteered, and interviews were brief. The PI recommends expansion of this exploratory study to a more complex investigation of dual IM triathlete couples and development of a closed-end questionnaire to use with a larger, representative sample.

Popliteal adventitial disease in a triathlete -- a case report.

Extracted from text ... S E Verkuijl, R V P de Villiers, D Revelas, D Pantanowitz A 37-year-old recreational long-distance triathlete complained of right leg pain during uphill running since early 2002. The pain was cramp-like with tightness, loss of power and numbness in the foot. After rest running was possible for a short period. He had previously had three deep venous thromboses (DVTs) in the right leg, which leg showed signs of chronic venous incompetence with good peripheral pulsations. Factor V-Leiden had been demonstrated and treated with coumarine anticoagulants. The patient did not smoke. In August 2002, during an Ironman triathlon, the patient was unable to run because of pain in the anterior compartment and ..

Physiology at the Ironman

Physiology at the Ironman