Slow Motion Research Articles

Polar Low Motion and Track Characteristics over the North Atlantic

Abstract Polar lows (PLs) are intense mesoscale cyclones over high-latitude oceans. The PL motion and track characteristics over the North Atlantic in the cold season are examined based on ∼1700 PLs during 1979–2016. Our analysis shows that PL motion is mainly controlled by the environmental flow in the lower troposphere. In particular, the steering flow defined over 950–550 hPa within a 450-km radius best matches the PL motion. Meanwhile, 700 hPa is an optimal single level to assess the steering flow. Cluster analysis based on a linear regression mixture model is utilized to describe the PL tracks. Four distinct clusters are identified, and they are characterized by northeastward motion (NE), eastward motion (E), southward motion (S), and slow motion without a dominating direction (SM), respectively. Although PLs in the four clusters have similar lifespans, SM-type PLs have much shorter tracks than the other clusters, due to their slow translation speeds. Further analysis shows that there are no distinctive geographic differences in genesis locations for the four clusters. The track differences can be largely explained by the associated synoptic-scale environmental circulations. Additionally, the S-type PLs tend to develop in a reverse shear environment, the NE-type and E-type PLs are associated with forward shear and left shear environments, respectively, while the SM-type PLs do not show a preference in the environmental shear. The link between the PL tracks and the North Atlantic weather regimes is also investigated. The NAO+ regime is associated with the most frequent PL occurrence over the North Atlantic, while the Scandinavian blocking regime is associated with lowest PL frequency. Significance Statement Polar lows (PLs) are intense mesoscale cyclones and pose hazards to high-latitude coastal areas. A better understanding of polar low motion can help improve polar low forecasts and reduce the hazardous impacts of the storms. Based on a PL track dataset over the North Atlantic basin during 1979–2016, it is found that PL motion is mainly controlled by the environmental flow in the lower troposphere and that the steering flow defined over 950–550 hPa within a 450-km radius best matches the PL motion. In addition, four distinct types of tracks are identified using cluster analysis, and they are characterized by northeastward motion, eastward motion, southward motion, and slow motion without a dominating direction, respectively. The different background flows can largely explain the propagation directions of different track types. Furthermore, the links between the PL motion and the North Atlantic weather regimes are also investigated.

Tracking X-Ray Source Movement in a Retracting Flux Tube

Solar flares produce sources of localized, enhanced X-ray emission, thought to be due to the acceleration of nonthermal electrons and the transport of energy away from the reconnection site. The 2002 November 28 C1.6 limb flare showed clear X-ray source motion in the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager observations at 3–10 keV propagating from the apex of the flaring arcade, down toward the footpoints, and then rising back into the corona. Previous work attempted to model this motion using simulations driven by heating with an electron beam or thermal conduction front, finding reasonable agreement only if there were large initial densities. This work extends the previous model by considering a flux tube that retracts through a current sheet away from a magnetic reconnection site. The retraction model includes drag to slow motion in the current sheet, which allows us to vary the energy released by the retraction. This retraction causes a dense and superhot plug of material to form at the loop apex, naturally causing a thermal X-ray source to form in the corona. We find that the observed X-ray source motion, however, is most likely thermal and a signature of the evaporation fronts after initially filling the flux tube.

Design and Development Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Disease Using IoT Technology

Parkinson's disease (PD) stands as one of the most prevalent conditions, impacting approximately 6.3 million individuals globally. This disorder becomes even more complex due to commonly associated non-motor symptoms like depression, cognitive impairments, and disruptions in sleep patterns. The root of PD remains largely unclear as a significant portion of cases lack a specific cause. In the initial phases of the illness, prominent indicators encompass tremors, rigidity, slowed motion, and difficulties in mobility. Presently, patients are obligated to have appointments with their medical practitioner at intervals of six months to a year, typically for brief consultations. The visit to the medical facility offers a limited glimpse into the patient's state, frequently failing to capture the day-to-day obstacles they encounter. The current evaluation methods are insufficient in comprehending this matter. This highlights the significance of promptly identifying PD, as it allows for the early implementation of treatment measures and management tactics. Additionally, this suggested approach contributes to the enhancement of human life within the healthcare framework and holds the potential to identify Parkinson’s disease swiftly and precisely.

Statistical Investigation about the SDRE Optimality for Satellites with Nonlinearities

The Attitude Control System (ACS) of a Satellite can be designed with success by linear control theory if the satellite has slow angular motions. However, for fast maneuvers, the linearized models are not able to represent the effects of the nonlinear terms. One candidate technique to design the ACS of the satellite under fast maneuvers is the State-Dependent Riccati Equation (SDRE), which provides an effective algorithm for synthesizing nonlinear feedback control taking into account the nonlinearities. Nonetheless, much criticism has been leveled against the SDRE method since it does not assure global asymptotic stability (GAS), because there are situations in which global asymptotic stability cannot be achieved (e.g., systems with multiple equilibrium points). One way to study the GAS is by estimating the region of attraction (ROA) which in turn is fundamental to investigate the performance of the controller designed by the SDRE method The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) is responsible to build a Remote-Sensing Satellites, called Amazonia-1. The ACS of the Amazonia-1 satellite must be stabilized in three axes so that the optical payload can point to the desired target. In this paper, one investigates the performance of the Amazonia-1 ACS using a statistical test (unpaired t-test) that compares the optimality inside the ROA controlled by LQR and SDRE. By several simulations running a full Monte Carlo perturbation satellite model one observes a significant difference between the optimality of the two controllers in favor of SDRE when nonlinearities are accounted for.

On the effect of vibrational capture of rotation of an unbalanced rotor

The dynamics of an unbalanced rotor with a vibrating suspension axis and driven by an asynchronous electric motor of limited power is considered. Stationary (near stationary) modes of rotation of the rotor with a frequency equal to the vibration frequency of the axis are investigated. An explanation of the phenomenon of vibrational capture of rotation of an unbalanced rotor is given. The proposed mechanical interpretation of the effect allows deeper understanding of the classical results and conclusions. The obtained condition for the existence of a stationary mode allows us to estimate the frequency capture interval of the rotor. The case when the mode of vibration capture of rotation is not set is considered. For such a case, an expression for the vibrational moment is obtained, as well as an equation for slow motions. Attention is drawn to the possibility of occurrence in the considered modes of motion of slow (relative to the rotation frequency) rotor oscillations with sufficiently large amplitudes. It is demonstrated that the vibrational capture mode has the property of self-regulation; allows to stabilize the rotation frequency of an unbalanced rotor during load oscillations. Attention is drawn to the fact that in this mode of motion, there is certainly a transfer of energy either from the source of vibration to the rotor, or vice versa. The Sommerfeld effect in an oscillatory system with an inertial vibration exciter is represented by vibration capture of rotation of the vibration exciter by resonant oscillations of the carrier body. The theoretical results are confirmed by numerical modelling.

Study of RPC ionic signal properties with different read-out methods

The simultaneous measurement of the ionic charge (induced by the slow motion of positive ions inside the gas gap) and of the fast/prompt charge (induced on the read-out electrodes by the drift of electrons) is fundamental for the understanding of the working principles of the RPC detector. Typical RPC electrodes are made of resistive material with the voltage applied on a thin graphite layer, which however alters the reading of the ionic charge depending on the discharge position. We have therefore realized a small RPC detector with a metallic grid deployed in one of the resistive electrodes. The prompt charge is measured by means of typical read-out copper strips with 1.4 cm pitch. The purpose of the study described in this presentation is to test different ion signal read-out systems and the comparison with the prompt signal read out with traditional techniques, to improve the detector knowledge and for possible future applications.

Taekwondo Poomsae practise in slow motion and the balance of healthy older adults: A Pre-Experimental Study.

Poor balance confidence and functional balance can lead to falls in community-dwelling older adults. Exercises utilising slow movements have been shown to improve balance in this population. It is hypothesised that by superimposing the use of slow movements onto Taekwondo Poomsae, there could be similar benefits in improving balance confidence and functional balance in older adults. This was a pre - experimental study. Fifteen community-dwelling older adults received 11weeks of Slow Poomsae (SP) training using a proposed 50-min protocol. Pre- and post-intervention scores of the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Simplified Scale (ABC-S), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Dynamic Gait Index (DGI), and 'Timed Up and Go' test (TUG) assessments were recorded and compared. Fifteen eligible participants with mean and standard deviation (SD) of age 73.8 (6.05) years completed the study. Significant improvements (p<0.05) were seen in the pre-post differences between ABC-S, BBS, DGI, and TUG, with median score changes of 15 points (Z=-3.408), 3 points (Z=-3.306), 3 points (Z=-2.852), and 3.5s (Z=-3.296) respectively. The preliminary findings support the efficacy of SP as a potential balance training programme that is safe for healthy older adults to improve their balance confidence and functional balance. More research is required on this topic that leans towards a large population blinded randomised controlled trial with a longer intervention period and inclusion of a follow-up to further elucidate the effects of long-term practice and novelty of SP.

Slow-motion smartphone video improves interobserver reliability of gait assessment in ambulatory cerebral palsy.

Structured visual gait assessment is essential for the evaluation of pediatric patients with neuromuscular conditions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefit of slow-motion video recorded on a standard smartphone to augment visual gait assessment. Coronal and sagittal plane videos of the gait of five pediatric subjects were recorded on a smartphone, including four subjects with ambulatory cerebral palsy and one subject without gait pathology. Twenty-one video scorers were recruited and randomized to evaluate slow-motion or normal-speed videos utilizing the Edinburgh Visual Gait Score. The slow-motion group (N = 11) evaluated the videos at one-eighth speed, and the normal-speed group (N = 10) evaluated the same videos at normal speed. Interrater reliabilities were determined by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients for each group as a whole, for each Edinburgh Visual Gait Score item, and after stratification by evaluator experience level. The slow-motion group exhibited an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.65 (95% confidence interval: 0.58-0.73), whereas the normal-speed group exhibited an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.57 (95% confidence interval: 0.49-0.65). For less-experienced scorers, intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.62 (95% confidence interval: 0.53-0.71) and 0.50 (95% confidence interval: 0.40-0.59) were calculated for slow motion and normal speed, respectively. For more-experienced scorers, intraclass correlation coefficients of 0.69 (95% confidence interval: 0.61-0.76) and 0.67 (95% confidence interval: 0.58-0.75) were calculated for slow motion and normal speed, respectively. Visual gait assessment is enhanced by the use of slow-motion smartphone video, a tool widely available throughout the world with no marginal cost. level I, randomized study.

On flow close to cavern boundaries in yield stress fluids - revisited. Current interpretation

About 30 years ago, Professor Alvin W. Nienow co-authored an experimental paper which reported slow motion of tracer particles, both close inside and outside of a cavern boundary formed in stirred Carbopol 940 microgel, however no theoretical explanation of the motion outside the cavern was given. Here, the motion of the particles outside the cavern was explained based on current knowledge, supported by rheological measurements and CFD modelling. According to current understanding of the yield stress fluids and the results of numerical simulation, the flow outside the cavern can result from presence of slip velocity of solid microgel at vessel wall and/or from periodic radial fluctuations of cavern boundaries during rotation.

InSAR and airborne LiDAR for monitoring slow vertical land motion

InSAR and airborne LiDAR for monitoring slow vertical land motion

Deuteron off-resonance rotating frame relaxation for the characterization of slow motions in rotating and static solid-state proteins

We demonstrate the feasibility of deuterium solid-state NMR off-resonance rotating frame relaxation measurements for studies of slow motions in biomolecular solids. The pulse sequence, which includes adiabatic pulses for magnetization alignment, is illustrated for static and magic-angle spinning conditions away from rotary resonances. We apply the measurements for three systems with selective deuterium labels at methyl groups: a) a model compound, Fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl methionine-D3 amino acid, for which the principles of the measurements and corresponding motional modeling based on rotameric interconversions are demonstrated; b) amyloid-β1-40 fibrils labeled at a single alanine methyl group located in the disordered N-terminal domain. This system has been extensively studied in prior work and here serves as a test of the method for complex biological systems. The essential features of the dynamics consist of large-scale rearrangements of the disordered N-terminal domain and the conformational exchange between the free and bound forms of the domain, the latter one due to transient interactions with the structured core of the fibrils. and c) a 15-residue helical peptide which belongs to the predicted α-helical domain near the N-terminus of apolipoprotein B. The peptide is solvated with triolein and incorporates a selectively labeled leucine methyl groups. The method permits model refinement, indicating rotameric interconversions with a distribution of rate constants.

Effect of osmolytes on the EcoRI endonuclease: Insights into hydration and protein dynamics from molecular dynamics simulations

Osmolytes play an important role in cellular physiology by modulating the properties of proteins, including their molecular specificity. EcoRI is a model restriction enzyme whose specificity to DNA is altered in the presence of osmolytes. Here, we investigate the effect of two different osmolytes, glycerol and DMSO, on the dynamics and hydration of the EcoRI enzyme using molecular dynamics simulations. Our results show that the osmolytes, alter the essential dynamics of EcoRI. Particularly, we observe that the dynamics of the arm region of EcoRI which is involved in DNA binding is significantly altered. In addition, conformational free energy analyses reveals that the osmolytes bring about a change in the landscape similar to that of EcoRI bound to cognate DNA. We further observe that the hydration of the enzyme for each of the osmolyte is different, indicating that the mechanism of action of each of these osmolytes could be different. Further analyses of interfacial water dynamics using rotational autocorrelation function reveals that while the protein surface contributes to a slower tumbling motion of water, osmolytes, additionally contribute to the slowing of the angular motion of the water molecules. Entropy analysis also corroborates with this finding. We also find that the slowed rotational motion of interfacial waters in the presence of osmolytes contributes to a slowed relaxation of the hydrogen bonds between the interfacial waters and the functionally important residues in the protein. Taken together, our results show that osmolytes alter the dynamics of the protein by altering the dynamics of water. This altered dynamics, mediated by the changes in the water dynamics and hydrogen bonds with functionally important residues, may contribute to the altered specificity of EcoRI in the presence of osmolytes.

Robust retrospective motion correction of head motion using navigator-based and markerless motion tracking techniques.

This study investigated the artifacts arising from different types of head motion in brain MR images and how well these artifacts can be compensated using retrospective correction based on two different motion-tracking techniques. MPRAGE images were acquired using a 3 T MR scanner on a cohort of nine healthy participants. Subjects moved their head to generate circular motion (4 or 6 cycles/min), stepwise motion (small and large) and "simulated realistic" motion (nodding and slow diagonal motion), based on visual instructions. One MPRAGE scan without deliberate motion was always acquired as a "no motion" reference. Three dimensional fat-navigator (FatNavs) and a Tracoline markerless device (TracInnovations) were used to obtain motion estimates and images were separately reconstructed retrospectively from the raw data based on these different motion estimates. Image quality was recovered from both motion tracking techniques in our stepwise and slow diagonal motion scenarios in almost all cases, with the apparent visual image quality comparable to the no-motion case. FatNav-based motion correction was further improved in the case of stepwise motion using a skull masking procedure to exclude non-rigid motion of the neck from the co-registration step. In the case of circular motion, both methods struggled to correct for all motion artifacts. High image quality could be recovered in cases of stepwise and slow diagonal motion using both motion estimation techniques. The circular motion scenario led to more severe image artifacts that could not be fully compensated by the retrospective motion correction techniques used.

Impact of motion correction on [18F]-MK6240 tau PET imaging

Objective. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of tau deposition using [18F]-MK6240 often involves long acquisitions in older subjects, many of whom exhibit dementia symptoms. The resulting unavoidable head motion can greatly degrade image quality. Motion increases the variability of PET quantitation for longitudinal studies across subjects, resulting in larger sample sizes in clinical trials of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) treatment. Approach. After using an ultra-short frame-by-frame motion detection method based on the list-mode data, we applied an event-by-event list-mode reconstruction to generate the motion-corrected images from 139 scans acquired in 65 subjects. This approach was initially validated in two phantoms experiments against optical tracking data. We developed a motion metric based on the average voxel displacement in the brain to quantify the level of motion in each scan and consequently evaluate the effect of motion correction on images from studies with substantial motion. We estimated the rate of tau accumulation in longitudinal studies (51 subjects) by calculating the difference in the ratio of standard uptake values in key brain regions for AD. We compared the regions’ standard deviations across subjects from motion and non-motion-corrected images. Main results. Individually, 14% of the scans exhibited notable motion quantified by the proposed motion metric, affecting 48% of the longitudinal datasets with three time points and 25% of all subjects. Motion correction decreased the blurring in images from scans with notable motion and improved the accuracy in quantitative measures. Motion correction reduced the standard deviation of the rate of tau accumulation by −49%, −24%, −18%, and −16% in the entorhinal, inferior temporal, precuneus, and amygdala regions, respectively. Significance. The list-mode-based motion correction method is capable of correcting both fast and slow motion during brain PET scans. It leads to improved brain PET quantitation, which is crucial for imaging AD.

Water-Soluble Gd(III)-Porphyrin Complexes Capable of Both Photosensitization and Relaxation Enhancement.

With the aim of developing more stable Gd(III)-porphyrin complexes, two types of ligands 1 and 2 with carboxylic acid anchors were synthesized. Due to the N-substituted pyridyl cation attached to the porphyrin core, these porphyrin ligands were highly water-soluble and formed the corresponding Gd(III) chelates, Gd-1 and Gd-2. Gd-1 was sufficiently stable in neutral buffer, presumably due to the preferred conformation of the carboxylate-terminated anchors connected to nitrogen in the meta position of the pyridyl group helping to stabilize Gd(III) complexation by the porphyrin center. 1H NMRD (nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion) measurements on Gd-1 revealed high longitudinal water proton relaxivity (r1 = 21.2 mM-1 s-1 at 60 MHz and 25 °C), which originates from slow rotational motion resulting from aggregation in aqueous solution. Under visible light irradiation, Gd-1 showed extensive photoinduced DNA cleavage in line with efficient photoinduced singlet oxygen generation. Cell-based assays revealed no significant dark cytotoxicity of Gd-1, while it showed sufficient photocytotoxicity on cancer cell lines under visible light irradiation. These results indicate the potential of this Gd(III)-porphyrin complex (Gd-1) as a core for the development of bifunctional systems acting as an efficient photodynamic therapy photosensitizer (PDT-PS) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) detection capabilities.

Monitoring and analysis of Woda landslide (China) using InSAR and Sentinel-1 data

Detecting the slow motions of highly elevated landslides in remote mountain areas has always been a problem. This paper takes the Woda landslide along the Jinsha River as an example to monitor landslide movement. Although some parts of the landslide body have been found to have moved in recent years, the timing and magnitude of motion have not been systematically monitored or interpreted. Here, we apply the SBAS time series strategy using 65-scene Sentinel-1A/B satellite InSAR images and study the spatial distribution and temporal behaviour of landslide movements between July 4, 2018, and August 29, 2020. Our research results show that the cumulative deformation on the left side of the landslide body with concentrated deformation was approximately 200 mm during the 2-year observation period. By calculating the relationship between the InSAR time series and the precipitation around the landslide, it is found that the landslide deformation is closely related to precipitation. GNSS technology is also deployed on the landslide mass and effectively complements InSAR technology. Simultaneously, based on the results of field surveys and hydrological data analysing the landslide's spatial deformation characteristics and deformation factors, the landslide deformation can also be inferred to be related to precipitation.

Dim and Small Space-Target Detection and Centroid Positioning Based on Motion Feature Learning

The detection of dim and small space-targets is crucial in space situational awareness missions; however, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) targets and complex backgrounds pose significant challenges to such detection. This paper proposes a space-target detection framework comprising a space-target detection network and a k-means clustering target centroid positioning method. The space-target detection network performs a three-dimensional convolution of an input star image sequence to learn the motion features of the target, reduces the interference of noise using a soft thresholding module, and outputs the target detection result after positioning via the offsetting branch. The k-means centroid positioning method enables further high-precision subpixel-level centroid positioning of the detection network output. Experiments were conducted using simulated data containing various dim and small space-targets, multiple noises, and complex backgrounds; semi-real data with simulated space-targets added to the real star image; and fully real data. Experiments on the simulated data demonstrate the superior detection performance of the proposed method for multiple SNR conditions (particularly with very low false alarm rates), robustness regarding targets of varying numbers and speeds, and complex backgrounds (such as those containing stray light and slow motion). Experiments performed with semi-real and real data both demonstrate the excellent detection performance of the proposed method and its generalization capability.

Single-pulse terahertz spectroscopy monitoring sub-millisecond time dynamics at a rate of 50 kHz

Slow motion movies allow us to see intricate details of the mechanical dynamics of complex phenomena. If the images in each frame are replaced by terahertz (THz) waves, such movies can monitor low-energy resonances and reveal fast structural or chemical transitions. Here, we combine THz spectroscopy as a non-invasive optical probe with a real-time monitoring technique to demonstrate the ability to resolve non-reproducible phenomena at 50k frames per second, extracting each of the generated THz waveforms every 20 μs. The concept, based on a photonic time-stretch technique to achieve unprecedented data acquisition speeds, is demonstrated by monitoring sub-millisecond dynamics of hot carriers injected in silicon by successive resonant pulses as a saturation density is established. Our experimental configuration will play a crucial role in revealing fast irreversible physical and chemical processes at THz frequencies with microsecond resolution to enable new applications in fundamental research as well as in industry.

Institutional Adaptation in Slow Motion: Zooming In on Desertification Governance

Abstract The ability of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to keep pace with their changing circumstances is crucial for a more effective global environmental governance. Yet, we know little about how new institutional design features are taken up by MEAs, allowing them to evolve over time. Building on Kingdon’s multiple streams theory, I conceive the development of new institutional design features as the association between streams of problems, solutions, and political receptivity at critical moments. I apply this framework to two features introduced within the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) framework and find that the main design entrepreneurs were the UNCCD Secretariat and independent scientists. The article provides important insight into characteristics that can make MEAs more adaptive. Namely, treaty bodies able to generate feedback about problems, push for solutions, and provide windows of opportunity for advocates to present and revise their proposals are found critical to the development of new design features.

The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier

Reviewed by: The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier Thomas Nolden LAURENT MAUVIGNIER The Birthday Party Trans. Daniel Levin Becker. Oakland, California. Transit Books. 2023. 444 pages. LAURENT MAUVIGNIER'S 444-pagelong novel is a painfully slow burn, and yet it provides for a most compulsive read. Mauvignier, the prolific French author of a dozen novels, has chosen a remote hamlet in the French provinces for the setting of his thriller, revisiting a setting of which French writers are quite fond. While Mathias Énard introduced the readers of his novel The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers' Guild to the quaint sides of country life, largely from the perspective of a young Parisian anthropologist striving to translate the mores of the provinces into a dissertation, Mauvignier's humorous depiction of life in the French boonies does so entirely without the wink of the eye. Instead, he pulls out the gun of psychological scrutiny and puts four inhabitants of a small hamlet into the crosshairs of a relentless tour de force of narrative reckoning. Mauvignier finds them in the geographical isolation of a few houses ominously called "Three Lone Girls"—a setting that slowly but surely will be revealed as a trap. Patrice Bergogne, an overweight and underappreciated farmer, tries to make a living off the little land he has inherited, lovingly devoted to his young daughter, Ida, and to his mystifyingly indifferent wife, Marion. With her fortieth birthday advancing, Marion for her part had never succeeded in reciprocating her husband's patient advances and innumerable attempts at creating a marital life that may meet even the lowest of expectations. The reader learns that Patrice's sexual and emotional frustration are hardly a recent twist in the story of their marriage. From the beginning of their relationship, Patrice was painfully yet acceptingly aware of the mismatch between him, the bumbling peasant, and his much more mundane wife who returns from her office jobs late in the evening. In contrast to her meek husband, Marion is not one to accept any crap from her male colleagues and supervisors at work. Instead, she calls them out for their misogynist attitudes and pursues them with an unrelenting drive, to the admiration of her female colleagues with whom she likes to party after work. Initially, the couple's neighbor, an older painter who had left Paris to resettle in the quietude of the Three Lone Girls, appears to be the narrative's target: Christine has been receiving threatening letters, which she reports, to little avail, to the police. The [End Page 73] artist is close to the young child of their busy neighbors, friendly with Patrice, and heedful of withdrawn and inaccessible Marion, who remains a mystery to her just as much as to the readers. With the pace, the persistence, and the sheer power of a cutterhead drilling a tunnel through the darkness of a mountain, Mauvignier penetrates the past and the present of his characters' private lives and feelings. The slow motion of his narrative may at first annoy his readers who, several chapters into the novel, have become most intimately acquainted with a set of characters without being afforded even a hunch of what this all will lead up to. Only when the preparations for Marion's fortieth birthday slowly but finally come into focus do they get a grasp of what's to come. Without increasing what students of cinema call the frames-per-second technique, Mauvignier has a new set of characters join the preparation for the celebration of Marion's birthday. With the unexpected arrival of three violent young men, the readers feel almost relieved as the portentous mood that has been evoked in an almost suffocating manner gets lifted at last. Of course, when the heavy clouds that have been hovering so low over the hamlet lift, it is not for the better. On the contrary. Following the meticulously prepared introduction of the setting and the characters, Mauvignier redirects the drill head of the novel to take aim at Marion's life before entering this marriage of unequals. Her past catches up with her in the form of three violent brothers who are out to get her, to get even...