Single Issue Research Articles

Total knee replacement without patellar resurfacing: about 60 cases

Lors de la mise en place d’une prothèse totale du genou (PTG), une des principales problématiques de la technique chirurgicale est le choix à faire entre la conservation de la patella ou son resurfaçage avec remplacement du cartilage patellaire par une prothèse. Cette problématique continue à faire l’objet d’une controverse au sein de la communauté orthopédique. Il n'y a pas de consensus clair sur la gestion optimale de la rotule pendant arthroplastie totale du genou (PTG). Ce travail est une étude rétrospective concernant 60 arthroplasties totales du genou sans resurfaçage de la rotule, implantées au Service de Chirurgie Traumatologique et Orthopédique (B) du CHU Hassan II de Fès, depuis janvier 2009 à décembre 2015. L’âge moyen de nos patients était de 58 ans avec des extrêmes allant de 20 ans à 80 ans. La prédominance féminine est nette avec 41 femmes soit (72%) et 16 hommes soit (28%). Cliniquement, nos malades se plaignaient de douleurs de type mécanique dans la majorité des cas et tous nos patients ont bénéficié d’un examen clinique et radiologique. Le score IKS a été utilisé pour évaluer l’état du genou avant et après l’intervention. L’acte opératoire a consisté en une arthroplastie totale du genou par prothèse totale du genou sans resurfaçage de la rotule. Les complications post-opératoires étaient marquées par 7 cas de douleur antérieur de genou, 2 cas d’infections cutanées superficielles traitées par une antibiothérapie adéquate et 3 cas de raideur. Aucun cas d’hématome ou de phlébite ou de sepsis n’a été signalé. Les résultats cliniques après un recul de 18 mois ont été satisfaisants. À la lumière de ces résultats, la conservation de la patella a permis d’obtenir des résultats très satisfaisants à moyen terme concernant la douleur et la fonction. De plus, les complications potentielles des prothèses patellaires ont été évitées. Une seule contrainte demeure concernant l’avenir de ces prothèses implantées sans resurfaçage est l’apparition ou parfois la persistance de la douleur antérieur du genou d’où la nécessité d’un resurfaçage secondaire.

Inaugural Issue of the IEEE Open Journal of Circuits and Systems: Welcome Note

IT IS with great pleasure that I welcome you to the inaugural issue of the IEEE Open Journal of Circuits and Systems (OJ-CAS). This is a new gold fully open access journal, spanning the full scope of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society’s field of interest, covering the theory, analysis, design, tools, and implementation of circuits and systems. This includes their theoretical foundations, applications, and architectures, as well as circuits and systems implementation of algorithms for signal and information processing. OJ-CAS has a single issue a year, consisting of online articles only, promptly accessible through <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">IEEE Xplore</i> as soon as they are ready for publication.

Competitive priorities to address optimisation in biomass value chains: The case of biomass CHP

Policy and industry decision makers place high priority on the contribution of biomass to the emerging low carbon, circular economy. Optimisation of performance, from the perspectives of environmental, social and economic sustainability and resource efficiency, is essential to successful development and operation of biomass value chains. The complexity of value chains, which comprise interrelated stages from land use to conversion and multiple end products, presents challenges.To date, decision makers have approached from the viewpoints of single market sectors or issues, such as market shares of bioeconomy and reduction of carbon emissions to mitigate climate change. This approach does not achieve a full understanding of value chains and their competitive priorities, limits consumer awareness, and poses risks of sub-optimal performance and under-development of potential local capacity.This paper presents a conceptual framework that combines value chain analysis and competitive priority theory with indicators suitable to measure, monitor and interpret sustainability and resource efficiency at value chain level. The case of biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is used to illustrate how optimisation strategies can be focused to address challenges in value chain stages which will lead to better performance and uptake of sustainably sourced, widely accepted biomass options.

Institutional Perspectives on the Productive Use of Resources

There is increasing evidence that climate change is a growing social and economic burden. Moreover, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are at risk of falling short of their intended tar­gets. The difficulties will only be made worse as the climate and economic burdens grow. A growing literature suggests that the problems largely stem from the non-productive use of resources which erode our social and economic well-being—especially over the long haul. These huge inefficiencies include the non-productive use of capital, materials, water, food, and especially energy. One as­sessment notes that, depending on how we ignore global ecosystems or, more hopefully, how we might build up a more healthy and resilient environmental capacity, “the global value of ecosystem services can decline by $51 trillion/yr or increase by $30 trillion/yr” by the year 2040 (with values in 2007 dollars). At the same time, moving to a smarter and more productive use of all resources requires a larger number of institutional changes. Such changes range from the use of new metrics to assess future opportunities to an array of policies and perspectives that promote these changes. In this special issue we review a number of different ways that institutional changes might create opportunities in which all resources might be managed more productively. While no single special issue can cover all elements of the necessary institutional changes, nor can even a series of books on the topic, this is another step forward to open up thinking more along the lines of human and cultural dimensions toward a better understanding of how resources might be more productively used for social and economic benefits.

A better tomorrow: towards human-oriented, sustainable transportation systems

In a rapidly changing world, transportation is a big determinant of quality of life, financial growth and progress. New challenges (such as the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic) and opportunities (such as the three revolutions of shared, electric and automated mobility) are expected to drastically change the future mobility landscape. Researchers, policy makers and practitioners are working hard to prepare for and shape the future of mobility that will maximize benefits. Adopting a human perspective as a guiding principle in this endeavor is expected to help prioritize the “right” needs as requirements. In this special issue, eight research papers outline ways in which transportation research can contribute to a better tomorrow. In this editorial, we position the research within the state-of-the-art, identify the needs for future research, and then outline how the included contributions fit in this puzzle. Naturally, the problem of sustainable future transportation systems is way too complicated to be covered with a single special issue. We thus conclude this editorial with a discussion about open questions and future research topics.

О гармонии лингвокогнитивного и лексико-стилистического компонентов в художественном переводе (на примере двух переводов повести Дж. Сэлинджера “The catcher in the rye”)

In this paper we shall focus on the two most well-known Russian versions of J. D. Salinger’s 1951 “The Catcher in the Rye”, produced by Rita Rait-Kovaleva and Maxim Nemtsov. Although Salinger’s magnum opus was rendered into Russian four times within only 12 years (1998–2010), it is in its old, yet still relevant Rait-Kovaleva’s version that Holden Caulfield’s voice resonates with the Russian reader. Moreover, none of the new translations has received enthusiastic reviews from interpreters or critics thus far. Nor has any of those updated and upgraded renditions won recognition of philologists. While Rait-Kovaleva’s “Over the Abyss in Rye” (back-translated) is by default considered more adequate, the comparative linguistic analysis tends to revolve around the single issue of the novel’s stylistically marked language. New versions often draw criticism due to the crude manner in which the outdated teenage slang is conveyed in them. That is especially true for Nemtsov’s version, which provoked furious public response when it came out, which is why we have opted for it to be compared against Rait-Kovaleva’s. No less significant, but more neglected is the question of the novel’s moral and philosophical value and the role it should be assigned in translation. The cognitive analysis of both texts, conducted with due regard to the original’s “stratum of schematized aspects” (R. Ingarden), has revealed conformity of Rait-Kovaleva’s text to the essential messages in Salinger’s novel. This proves she had succeeded in capturing the novel’s unfading merit. This assertion is substantiated by the comparative study of the two renditions, Rait-Kovaleva’s and Nemtsov’s. More importantly, the research has demonstrated the rightful priority the text’s moral and philosophical value should be assigned in translating a classic, which Salinger’s novel definitely is.

Mass-Listening and the Diaspora: The Year in Puerto Rico

Mass-Listening and the DiasporaThe Year in Puerto Rico Ricia Anne Chansky (bio) Since the hurricane, I've been able to see that there is an incredible emotional need. It's up to us as individuals to try to fulfill this emotional need by listening. —Félix Serrano Villegas, San Juan1 We in Puerto Rico are now over two years from the successive landfalls of Hurricanes Irma and María in September 2017, and we still linger in a fraught aftermath. Looking beyond the sites photographed for glossy tourism campaigns reveals a different reality. Hospitals and schools remain closed, electricity and other utility services are precarious, and lasting instability combined with a dire lack of social services leave many citizens languishing in medical and mental health crises. The relief and rebuilding funds voted into existence by the United States Congress have yet to be fully released, leaving the majority of the $45.2 billion approved for disbursement sitting in an account instead of reaching people in need. In a more publicized aspect of this immoral—if not illegal—process, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, better known as HUD, purposely missed the deadline to initiate the process for distributing billions of dollars' worth of relief funds earmarked for the archipelago. As I complete this essay, we are now in the midst of another disaster. An ongoing swarm of over 1,800 earthquakes has been recorded just off the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, the largest to date registering at a magnitude of 6.4. This seismic activity is causing destruction on land and forcing thousands of Puerto Ricans to flee their homes for the "safety" of cars, streets, and tent cities. Locations far from the southwestern region are experiencing tremors, aftershocks, and power outages. This new disaster comes at a time when we are not yet anywhere near a recovery from the catastrophic hurricane season of 2017. The abysmal lack of government relief in the aftermaths of María has spawned population-wide anxiety, as many know all too well that we cannot rely upon local or national government [End Page 144] agencies for response, relief, or rebuilding. The layers of disaster are numerous and remain interwoven in our life stories—no matter how much time passes from the event—while the ways we narrate, disseminate, and receive life stories of disaster and its aftermaths are complex, nuanced, and endless. The invitation to contribute to an annual "International Year in Review" of narrated lives is especially helpful when it comes to noting patterns that signify phases of processing collective trauma. In the piece that I contributed to last year's feature, I explored narratives wrought in the urgency of the immediate aftermath of disaster. In this year's contribution, I will discuss briefly the production, circulation, and reception of Puerto Rican auto/biographical narratives over the past year in the contexts of what I call mass-listening projects. I define mass-listening projects as those that collect several life narratives related to a single issue or event for the purpose of curating multivoiced assemblages—in any modality or genre—for public dissemination. In other words, they are narrative transactions that have site-specific points for multiple speakers to conduct exchanges with multiple listeners.2 The reading witness or the act of receiving a disaster narrative is paramount to its function, as these life stories by their nature request forms of response, the most desired of which is action. In order to discuss a shift in diasporic identity constructions that I have observed since the hurricane, I will first examine a post on a Facebook page that I position as exemplary of this type of digital mass-listening project and then comment briefly upon three print anthologies as a means of extending my analysis of some of the ways this form of auto/biographical undertaking reshapes communal identity constructions that integrate home-space (experienced or imagined) with lived-space. I will focus on specific projects within digital and print publications to make larger arguments related to critical disaster studies, including the functions of diasporic communities, modes of narration, and listeners as witnesses to collective trauma. In the...

Natural Resources and Natural Law Part II: The Public Trust Doctrine

Natural Resources and Natural Law Part I: Prior Appropriation analyzed claims by some western ranchers, grounded in natural law, that they have property rights in grazing resources on federal public lands through prior appropriation. Those advocates asserted their position in part through civil disobedience, sometimes including armed standoffs with federal officials. They also asserted that their duty to obey theistic natural law overrode any duty to obey the Nation’s positive law. Similar claims that individual religious beliefs override positive law have been made recently regarding a range of other controversial issues, such as same-sex marriage, public insurance for birth control, and the right to bear arms. Prior appropriation doctrine is consistent with secular natural law theory. Existing positive law, however, accepts prior appropriation for western water rights but rejects its application to grazing rights on federal public lands, for reasons consistent with secular natural law. Natural law doctrine allows citizens advocate for change but requires them to respect the positive law of the societies in which they live. Separation of church and state also bars natural law claims based on religious doctrine unless those principles are also adopted in secular positive law. This sequel addresses claims from the opposite side of the political-environmental spectrum that natural law provides one justification for the public trust doctrine, and that courts should enforce an atmospheric public trust to redress catastrophic global climate change. Although some religious groups have embraced environmental agendas supported by religious doctrine, public trust claims are secular in origin. Just as natural law provides support for prior appropriation, it supports the idea that some resources, such as water, wildlife, and air, should be held in common rather than made available for private ownership. From this perspective, the two doctrines merge into a single issue of resource allocation. Which resources are best made available for appropriation as private property, and which are best left in common? Natural law theory helps to explain the liberty and welfare goals that inform those choices. Positive law embraces the public trust doctrine with respect to some natural resources and does not preclude its applicability to the atmosphere or other common resources.

Figurations of the Feminine in the Early French Women's Press, 1758-1848 by Siobhán McIlvanney

MLR, .,   Figurations of the Feminine in the Early French Women’s Press, –. By S MI. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. .  pp.£. ISBN ––––. In this volume Siobhán McIlvanney traces the evolution of the early women’s press in France over a period of ninety years from its beginnings in  to the revolution of . She bridges a significant gap in scholarship by synthesizing a rich array of previous work on specific authors, periodicals, and historical contexts in a finely craed comparative study subtended by strong theoretical readings of the ways in which the women’s press, consisting for the most part of women journalists, gave voice to the concerns of their gender. e book examines representations of womanhood, both conventional and radical, in women’s journals, as well as the extratextual realities of women’s lives. e author is especially attentive to the implied readers of these journals, including their contributions in letters and articles. McIlvanney defines the term ‘feminist’ capaciously as that which challenges the pre-eminence of the masculine in culture and society. Aer an Introduction to the volume, a preliminary chapter provides socio-political context, tracing the roles ascribed to women as well as women’s actions to improve their position in what was a period of political volatility. e volume then focuses more specifically on the rise of the women’s press from its elitist origins to a medium with increasingly broader appeal and more diverse readership. Since the period from  to  was one of the most turbulent in French political and intellectual history, this chapter necessarily presents it using broad strokes. However, despite a certain unevenness, the focus on social class, gender, and journalism lends coherence to this historical overview and prepares the ground for subsequent chapters. e author structures the remaining chapters to reflect the multiple feminist strategies used in these journals, highlighting particular characteristics in various kinds of journal, from the first publications targeted at an elite group of wealthy, educated women to reformist journals such as the single issue of Les Étrennes Nationales des Dames (), La Femme Libre (–) associated with Saint-Simonian women, or La Voix des Femmes (), with its calls for cross-class solidarity. e volume unfolds in large part chronologically, reflecting fluctuations in the political and social climate, although it also highlights common projects, such as the interpellation of women readers to enter into dialogue and thus become textual producers, beginning with Le Journal des Dames (–). ere are also common themes, in particular the call for better education for girls and women, although the journals that appealed to working-class readers in the nineteenth century figured education as a means to a woman’s financial independence as well as an important component in her self-worth or when serving as a moral role model. McIlvanney’s analyses reveal that early fashion journals heightened the reader’s consciousness of herself as a consumer contributing to the national economy as well as a ‘sujet en devenir’ (p. ), active in her own self-construction. e author signals that the seemingly conservative turn to marriage and motherhood in the early domestic press included a feminist thrust: within the private sphere, letter writers could  Reviews express their feelings about their personal lives and marriages. As McIlvanney points out, ‘the radicalness of providing women readers with the opportunity to construct their own intimate subjectivities textually for the first time should not be underestimated’ (p. ). Ultimately, the dichotomy of private and public spheres breaks down in the liminal space of these journals, which offered readers a gendered community and raised awareness of women’s civic contributions to French society. B C M R-DF Writing the Landscape: Exposing Nature in French Women’s Fiction –. By C M. Cambridge: Legenda. .  pp. £. ISBN – –––. Recovering the works of women writers from the past and incorporating them into an established field of scholarship happens in stages. It begins with the crucial excavation work that leads to the publication of modern editions of texts, thereby increasing their accessibility. Next comes a period in which synthesizing overviews appear, introducing these new names, their lives and texts to wider audiences. In the final stage scholars...

Right First Time Improvement in Agco Mexico Pdi – Dmaic Method

Tractors / Units which are reaching to the Dealer end from the plant after passing the mandatory checks &amp; Inspection. The Quality requirement involves various elements process, people, material, resources and logistics which is more important to meet the customer satisfaction. The feedbacks are received in terms of pre delivery inspection (PDI) observations from AGCO Mexico team. The adequacy and adherence are to be strengthened from receipt to dispatch / transit of end product till dealer point at Mexico. The sustainable actions are initiated using the RCA and problem solving tools and 6 sigma tools to reduce the variance at various stages of manufacturing plant and transit. Quick wins are implemented for the single cause issues as well as low cost actionable issues. Hence the desired enhancement of Right first time (RFT) at dealer / Mexico can be achieved which is under progress.The Pre-Delivery inspection (PDI) is process of checking the units before dispatch to the requested customer when the time of sale. Basically it is a Check sheet kind of documents which carried by a specially qualified engineers. They are basically check all functional parameters of the tractors and cross examine the aesthetics of the products based on customers’ expectations. PDI will vary from product to product and classified based on the features inbuilt in the units, but essentially a complete and thorough examination of every aspect of the tractor which basically exterior panels to the interior, mechanical parts and electricals functions. A complete road test is also included by a professional driver, and if there by any minor issues, that will be fixed immediately before given to customers. Customer satisfaction is the key playing a biggest role in now a day’s business and is the key to sustain in the market. It is one of the leading indicator to evaluate customer loyalty, identify unhappy customers, reduce churn and increase business revenue. It is a main difference that helps us to grasp new business and customers in very competitive environments. This will give on positive sign for customer centric approach to sustain in the business in long term.

High Performance Network Intrusion Detection System

In this paper, we present intrusion detection system for finding the variant types of attacks in the network. It is the way to enhance the functionality in the network by reducing the chances of risks. ICMP protocol and AES encryption algorithm are used to report the error messages and manage the information being sent from source to destination. If there is any malicious activity occurred in the network, the user will be alerted of it by specifying them the type of malicious activity. As a result it reduces the chances of intrusions and contacting multiple resources for resolving single issue.

MIMO BASED HIGH SPEED OPTICAL FIBER COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

As the telecommunication services totally relies on the optical fiber for extending communications, it necessary that the optical communication system be capable of handling high speed, multiple channels and long haul signal transmission. recently the emergence of the optical coherent 100 GB/s and the digital signal processing has made possible the perfect signal transmission even for the MIMO (multiple input multiple output system) as they are well reformed to permit multiple wireless signal that holds different carrier frequencies. So the optical fiber system has become prominent among the applications like, large universities, banks and other private networks. However the speed in the transmission of the multiple wireless signals through single cable experiences performance issues in terms of speed, so the proposed method utilizes the 60 GHz, radio over fiber MIMO with effective spectrum allocation and the return zero differential phase shift keying to improve the communication speed and suppress the crosstalk respectively. The proposed system enriches the seamless communication with the QPSK-OFDM MIMO channels achieving 85 % in the data transmission rate, reducing the error correction rate to 5%.

The Lancet Oral Health Series: Implications for Oral and Dental Research

“Oral health matters” was the clear and emphatic message on the front cover of The Lancet on July 20, 2019. In this single issue of The Lancet, in addition to the front cover, oral health was the focus of an editorial (The Lancet 2019), an Oral Health Series comprising 2 major papers (Peres et al. 2019; Watt et al. 2019), 2 associated commentaries (Beaglehole and Beaglehole 2019; Kearns and Bero 2019), a perspective piece on the historical origins of modern dentistry (Barnett 2019), and a profile of a dental public health researcher (Davies 2019). Never before in the 196-year history of The Lancet—one of the most prestigious medical journals in the world—has oral health been given such a high profile. This is, without doubt, a watershed moment for global oral health. It is also, however, a profoundly important opportunity for the oral and dental research community. This commentary highlights the key messages from The Lancet Oral Health Series and considers the implications for the oral and dental research agenda globally.

Pluralizing the Non-dual: Multilingual Perspectives on Advaita Vedānta, 1560–1847

With a textual record spanning dozens of languages—to say nothing of its oral histories—Advaita Vedānta’s multilingual archive presents obvious and daunting challenges for scholars of South Asian intellectual and religious histories. The papers in this issue build on recent multilingual and contextual approaches to South Asian intellectual history by reading a rich corpus of Advaita Vedānta material in Persian, Marathi, Tamil, Sanskrit and Braj Bhasha. In bringing these sources and their authors into conversation with one another, this issue acknowledges Advaita Vedānta’s broad appeal in early-modern and colonial South Asia; but it also attests to Advaita Vedānta’s heterogeneous, textured, and even contested historical development. The following papers chart Advaita Vedānta across five unique social, linguistic, intellectual, and geographical spaces from the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century. While no single issue could contextualize something as historically recalcitrant as Advaita Vedānta, we see this special issue as a step on the long and necessary road to historicizing Vedānta, broadly, and Advaita Vedānta, specifically.

Leopold Land Ethics’ Application in Environmental Education

Due to the rapid growth of global population, humans cause destruction to nature increasingly. The environmental loss is always irreversible. Nevertheless, scientific knowledge and technology are incapable to make these misfortunes avoidable. When exploring ways to deal with hidden catastrophes, there is a necessity to revert back to the theoretical level, which requires a reference made to the great environmental ethics of the pioneer Aldo Leopold, who has a widespread influence and made outstanding contribution to environmental preservation. In this paper, the author probes the land ethics apply to environmental education. Different from the previous analysis of single issues, this paper summarizes the application of earth ethics in environmental education in a horizontal way. The brilliance of his theory has always provided enlighten to environmental education.

Client protection and sustainable performance in microfinance institution

PurposeMicrofinance institutions (MFIs) provide credit to low-income beneficiaries, enabling them to gain access to financial assistance. To ensure that clients are protected, all MFIs should adhere to basic corporate governance principles to guarantee uniform standards, transparency and good corporate governance practices in their institutions. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to explore the client protection practices and sustainable performance of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM), a leading MFI in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachClosed-ended questionnaires were distributed to managers and assistant managers at 76 AIM branches across the peninsular Malaysia. A response rate of 68 per cent was achieved from the total questionnaires distributed.FindingsThe result shows that the level of client protection in AIM is high. It shows that accountability and debt collection process have a significant influence on the level of sustainable performance of AIM, whereas transparency and transaction costs have an insignificant impact on the level of sustainability of AIM. Consistent with the agency theory and institutional theory, the result also implies that having better debt collection process policy and structure, and accountability among management will enhance the level of sustainability of AIM.Originality/valuePrevious studies focused on the single issue of sustainability in microfinance, such as on repayment performance among the poorest people whom AIM served as clients. However, studies on the accountability towards clients are still underdeveloped by researchers. Hence, the current study fills the gap by examining whether client protection affects the sustainability of AIM.

Textualism, Materialism, Immersion, Interpretation

Krzysztof Uniłowski passed away earlier this December. For the last twenty years, he has been crucial to Polish literary studies. Writing on a broad range of topics – from reviews of contemporary Polish novels to essays on the idea of modernity, from class-oriented analyses of sci-fi books and TV shows to comments on the politics and ethics of literary criticism – he developed an impressive and highly unique critical perspective, or indeed: a unique language of criticism, one that has managed and will undoubtedly still manage to inspire countless critics of all generations. Throughout his work, Uniłowski drew heavily on historical materialism, constantly balancing his instinctive focus on the political – and, specifically, on class – with his equally instinctive conviction as to the irreplaceability of literary form. While we might not have agreed on every single issue – as is always the case on the Left – we in “Praktyka Teoretyczna” are proud to have called him not just an inspiration, but a comrade. Uniłowski passed away while putting finishing touches to the essay we’re presenting below. Unfortunately, he never managed to send us the finished abstract/summary for this article, so it falls to us to try and summarise its main theses. Krzysztof Uniłowski passed away earlier this December. For the last twenty years, he has been crucial to Polish literary studies. Writing on a broad range of topics – from reviews of contemporary Polish novels to essays on the idea of modernity, from class-oriented analyses of sci-fi books and TV shows to comments on the politics and ethics of literary criticism – he developed an impressive and highly unique critical perspective, or indeed: a unique language of criticism, one that has managed and will undoubtedly still manage to inspire countless critics of all generations. Throughout his work, Uniłowski drew heavily on historical materialism, constantly balancing his instinctive focus on the political – and, specifically, on class – with his equally instinctive conviction as to the irreplaceability of literary form. While we might not have agreed on every single issue – as is always the case on the Left – we in “Praktyka Teoretyczna” are proud to have called him not just an inspiration, but a comrade. Uniłowski passed away while putting finishing touches to the essay we’re presenting below. Unfortunately, he never managed to send us the finished abstract/summary for this article, so it falls to us to try and summarise its main theses.Krzysztof Uniłowski passed away earlier this December. For the last twenty years, he has been crucial to Polish literary studies. Writing on a broad range of topics – from reviews of contemporary Polish novels to essays on the idea of modernity, from class-oriented analyses of sci-fi books and TV shows to comments on the politics and ethics of literary criticism – he developed an impressive and highly unique critical perspective, or indeed: a unique language of criticism, one that has managed and will undoubtedly still manage to inspire countless critics of all generations. Throughout his work, Uniłowski drew heavily on historical materialism, constantly balancing his instinctive focus on the political – and, specifically, on class – with his equally instinctive conviction as to the irreplaceability of literary form. While we might not have agreed on every single issue – as is always the case on the Left– we in “Praktyka Teoretyczna” are proud to have called him not just an inspiration, but a comrade. Uniłowski passed away while putting finishing touches to the essay we’re presenting below. Unfortunately, he never managed to send us the finished abstract/summary for this article, so it falls to us to try and summarise its main theses. The issues raised in this erudite and formally complex piece include such fundamental questions as: in what sense do the fictional worlds resemble the non-fictional one, and how do we inhabit them? What’s the relationship between immersion and interpretation? What real-life figures can help us imagine or visualise our intimate yet inherently social relationship with the fictional (are we guests, dwellers, passersby...)? Uniłowski looks for answers in contemporary Marxist criticism (Eagleton, Jameson, Berardi), sci-fi and fantasy writing (Lem, Sapkowski, Martin), as well as modern continental philoso phy (Gadamer, Heidegger) and – in the last part of the essay – contemporary game studies. We’re happy to be able to present Uniłowski’s piece in two versions, the original Polish as well as its English translation (by Jakob Ziguras). In order to preserve the unmistakable flow of Uniłowski’s thought in English, small changes were introduced – with the author’s full approval – in the English version. We trust that our Polish-speaking readers will fin the comparison of the two versions interesting and instruc tive, as they seem to give a unique insight into Uniłowski’s writing process.

Agricultural and rural development in China during the past four decades: an introduction

The past four decades have witnessed unprecedented economic growth and rapidly rising food demand in China. This paper provides an introduction to readers with useful information summarising the development of China’s agricultural sector and the transformation of its rural economy over the 40 years of economic reform. It is, however, impossible to cover all aspects of this recent and rich history in a single journal special issue. Nevertheless, we are of the view that these papers address the most fundamentally important and insightful topics including: land reform and rural development; technology progress and productivity growth; changing food consumption patterns; rural education and human capital accumulation; and poverty alleviation.

Energy and environmental assessment of plastic granule production from recycled greenhouse covering films in a circular economy perspective

Plastic films can be considered as a high-value auxiliary material in agriculture with multiple important uses to fulfil, including covering films in greenhouse cultivation system. Such an application enables several benefits and, therefore, it is going through an important upsurge, especially in regions where protected crop cultivation is highly widespread. However, the increased demand for these covering films arouses concerns for their post-use treatment with regard to both the consumption of Non-Renewable Primary Energy (NRPE) resources and the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs). Therefore, environmental analysis is needed to find and follow cleaner paths for the management and treatment of this kind of Agricultural Plastic Waste (APW), especially in the light of the gap currently existing in the specialised literature.In this context, this paper reports upon findings from a combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of single environmental issues (i.e., energy and water consumption, and GHG emissions) applied to a Sicilian firm, representative of APW collection and recycling to obtain Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) granules.The results showed that electricity consumption for the whole recycling process is the most NRPE resource demanding and the most GHG emitting input item. Moreover, the washing phase of disused covering films is the highest water demanding within the recycling process. Potential improvements could be achieved by shifting from fossil energy source to renewable one. The installation of a wind power plant would lead to around 56% and 85% reduction in NRPE resource exploitation and GHG emission, respectively. Finally, despite the huge consumption of water and NRPE resources and the resulting GHG emissions, the production of recycled-LDPE granules is far more sustainable than the virgin counterpart.

Exploring Smart Glasses for Augmented Reality: A Valuable and Integrative Tool in Precision Livestock Farming.

Simple SummaryIntroducing new technologies in the agricultural and livestock field does not always lead to straightforward on-farm activities. Smart glasses for augmented reality are a new technology that may assist workers in many operations, allowing them to visualize, in the glasses’ lens, diverse information related to a single subject (e.g., animal, plant, feed stock, machinery) or to receive assistance in real-time through video-calls. Using commercially available smart glasses, we explored their potential usefulness in livestock farms. The device was tested using all the functions available in different conditions, both in laboratory and open field environments. The results obtained highlighted the important contribution to assist workers in on-farm daily activities, thanks to the clear and rapid data visualization and to the good quality of audio-video streaming. Specifically, smart glasses enable real time file consulting, data collection, data sharing and remote assistance, all done while working hands-free. The growing interest in Augmented Reality (AR) systems is becoming increasingly evident in all production sectors. However, to the authors’ knowledge, a literature gap has been found with regard to the application of smart glasses for AR in the agriculture and livestock sector. In fact, this technology allows farmers to manage animal husbandry in line with precision agriculture principles. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performances of an AR head-wearable device as a valuable and integrative tool in precision livestock farming. In this study, the GlassUp F4 Smart Glasses (F4SG) for AR were explored. Laboratory and farm tests were performed to evaluate the implementation of this new technology in livestock farms. The results highlighted several advantages of F4SG applications in farm activities. The clear and fast readability of the information related to a single issue, combined with the large number of readings that SG performed, allowed F4SG adoption even in large farms. In addition, the 7 h of battery life and the good quality of audio-video features highlighted their valuable attitude in remote assistance, supporting farmers on the field. Nevertheless, other studies are required to provide more findings for future development of software applications specifically designed for agricultural purposes.