Temporal Interruption Research Articles

BECKETT’S TRILOGY AND THE DEATHS OF (AUTO)BIOGRAPHICAL FORM

It is an often told story: the period of modernism corresponds to an exhaustion of nineteenth-century models of narrative development, temporal progression, and historical continuity. In contradistinction to such models, modernism in literature and culture more generally has been associated with temporal interruption, immobilization, or spatial form. As exemplary of this tendency of modernist culture, might cite Stephane Mallarme's Preface to Un Coup de des (1895), which states Everything happens by a shortcut, hypothetically; storytelling [le recit] is avoided (105), or Walter Benjamin's unfinished Arcades Project: history decays into images, not into stories (476). Developing from this broad picture, critical descriptions of the novel in this period see modernist fiction as marking the obsolescence of nineteenth-century developmental forms, most prominently the Bildungsroman,1 and accounts of Beckett's fiction have echoed this alignment of literary modernism. In Samuel and the Postcolonial Novel, Patrick Bixby writes, Beckett rewrites the plot of the Bildungsroman so that narrative is directed less toward successful individual development and social assimilation than toward the cancellation of these terms, which are written even further into dissolution and disintegration (8).2Jed Esty has recently provided a critical counter-narrative, arguing that modernist fiction, and in particular the modernist meta- bildungsroman, develops a critical perspective on nineteenth-century developmental and its literary forms, even as it retains elements of them: one way to conceptualize the historical specificity of modernism itself, in fact, is to locate it at the dialectical switchpoint between residual nineteenth-century narratives of global development and emergent twentieth-century critiques of universalist and evolutionary thought (35). This intervention usefully places on the critical agenda the question of how to account for modernism's ongoing engagement with diachronic forms, departing from (or calling for a more nuanced account of) the critical narrative of modernism as antidevelopmental, or invested in spatial or imagistic models. But a lingering problem here is the motivation for modernist fiction's involvement with this strand of nineteenth-century thought. Esty's principal response to this question is that the ideology of developmental historicism retains its purchase more generally in culture, economics, and politics, and the modernist anti-developmental metabildungsroman registers this situation. One danger here, however, is the reduction of inherited developmental forms to the status of ideology or false consciousness.3An alternative approach is to foreground that such forms are not just ideological, but also involve normative or emancipatory impulses, both in their nineteenth-century and modernist versions, and this move opens up another avenue to address the problem of why developmental paradigms retain their currency for modernism. Pursuing this line of thought, the central claim in the following reading of and Theodor Adorno is that modernist narrative might be construed as ambiguously perpetuating normative impulses that structure nineteenthcentury developmental and the novel form - for an accommodation between the subjective organization of experience and the boundlessness of capitalist modernity, between meaningful forms and modernity's denial of such forms. To say this much is not to make a claim for a stable mechanism of subject formation, or to presume a critical autonomy or distance for cultural forms. Rather, an underlying proposition of my discussion is that the literary reflections of and Adorno proceed through the reification, or what Adorno calls neutralization, of cultural forms. For this strain of modernism, the possibility of aesthetic autonomy and critical distance becomes a problem inscribed within the language and interpretive dilemmas of these texts. …

Résultats préliminaires d’une tomothérapie hélicoïdale adjuvante avec boost intégré dans le cadre d’un traitement conservateur d’un cancer du sein

PurposeTo evaluate the dosimetry and acute toxicity of helical tomotherapy for locoregional irradiation of patients after breast-conserving surgery. Patients and methodsTwenty breast cancer patients with breast-conserving surgery treated by helical tomotherapy have been studied. The median age was 49 (min: 25, max: 69). The whole breast, tumour bed and lymph nodes were prescribed 52.2Gy, 63.8Gy and 50.4Gy, all in 29 fractions. The dose per fraction was 2.2Gy to the boost, 1.8Gy to the breast and 1.74Gy to the lymph node volumes. The reproducibility was analysed by recording the daily shifts in x, y and z directions and roll rotation. All toxicities were described using the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Effects v3.0. ResultsTwenty-two tumours were irradiated. Six-eight percent were located in the inner quadrant. In 90 % of patients supraclavicular and internal mammary nodes were treated. The coverage of planning target volumes (PTV) was as follows: PTV boost: V107=0.3 %±0.5 SD, V95=98.4 %±1.9 SD; PTV breast: −V107=7.8 %±17.3 SD, V95=96.8 %±2.2 SD; PTV LN: V107=2.5 %±4.2 SD, V95=92.7 %±13.2 SD. The mean V20 of the homolateral lung was 18.9 %±3.5 SD. For left side lesion, the mean V30 of the heart was 0.9 %±0.8 SD. The mean V5 was: V5 homolateral lung: 73.1 %±11.8 ET, controlateral lung: 38.9 %±21, heart (left side breast): 57.3 %±21, controlateral breast: 15.5 %±9.6. Median shifts were as follow: x-axis –0.04mm (IC 95: –0.4 +0.38), y-axis –0.37mm±5.51 (IC 95: –0.88 +0.14), z-axis 2.90mm±5.42 (IC 95:+2.4+3.4) and roll rotation 0.22±1.10 (IC 95: –0.1+0.32). The treatment tolerance was acceptable with 1 definitive interruption couple of fractions before the end and 3 temporal interruptions for skin toxicity. No grade 3 or 4 toxicity. Ninety-five percent of patients experienced skin toxicity: 45 % grade 2. There were 3 cases of oesophagitis. The median follow-up of presented series is 9.7 months and all of the patients are free of disease without any residual early or late toxicity. ConclusionsHelical tomotherapy can achieve full target coverage while protected to the heart and ipsilateral lung. This treatment was well tolerated and reproducible. However, the low doses to normal tissue volumes need to be reduced in future studies.

Assessing the quality of reports about randomized controlled trials of acupuncture treatment on Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy.

BackgroundTo evaluate the reports’ qualities which are about randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture treatment on Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN).Methodology/Principal FindingsEight databases including The Cochrane Library(1993–Sept.,2011), PubMed (1980–Sept., 2011), EMbase (1980–Sept.,2011), SCI Expanded (1998–Sept.,2011), China Biomedicine Database Disc (CBMdisc, 1978–Sept., 2011), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1979–Sept., 2011 ), VIP (a full text issues database of China, 1989–Sept., 2011), Wan Fang (another full text issues database of China 1998–Sept., 2011) were searched systematically. Hand search for further references was conducted. Language was limited to Chinese and English. We identified 75 RCTs that used acupuncture as an intervention and assessed the quality of these reports with the Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials statement 2010 (CONSORT2010) and Standards for Reporting Interventions Controlled Trials of Acupuncture 2010(STRICTA2010). 24 articles (32%) applied the method of random allocation of sequences. No article gave the description of the mechanism of allocation concealment, no experiment applied the method of blinding. Only one article (1.47%) could be identified directly from its title as about the Randomized Controlled Trials, and only 4 articles gave description of the experimental design. No article mentioned the number of cases lost or eliminated. During one experiment, acupuncture syncope led to temporal interruption of the therapy. Two articles (2.94%) recorded the number of needles, and 8 articles (11.76%) mentioned the depth of needle insertion. None of articles reported the base of calculation of sample size, or has any analysis about the metaphase of an experiment or an explanation of its interruption. One (1.47%) mentioned intentional analysis (ITT).Conclusions/SignificanceThe quality of the reports on RCTs of acupuncture for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is moderate to low. The CONSORT2010 and STRICTA2010 should be used to standardize the reporting of RCTs of acupuncture in future.

Spermatogenesis is seasonal in the large hairy armadillo, Chaetophractus villosus (Dasypodidae, Xenarthra, Mammalia)

Very little is known about the distinct reproductive biology of armadillos. Very few studies have investigated armadillo spermatogenesis, with data available only for Euphractus sexcinctus and Dasypus novemcinctus. In the present study, we analysed male germ cell differentiation in the large hairy armadillo Chaetophractus villosus throughout the year, describing a cycle of the seminiferous epithelium made of eight different stages. Evaluation of the testis/body mass ratio, analysis of the architecture of the seminiferous epithelium and the frequency of defective seminiferous tubules allowed identification of a temporal interruption of spermatogenesis during the period between mid-May to July (mid-end autumn) in correlation with very low testosterone levels. Overall, these results suggest that spermatogenesis is seasonal in C. villosus.

Voltammetric detection of metals and metal compounds on surfaces following a new sampling technique using alkali amalgam droplets

We propose a new method for the voltammetric detection of metals and metal compounds on surfaces of sold materials. The method is based on the reduction of oxidized metal compounds using an alkali amalgam droplet, the dissolution of the metals in the amalgam droplet, finally followed by recording the voltammetric anodic dissolution of the metal. The sample collection and all the following steps, including the voltammetric measurement, are performed at the same site of the sample and without any temporal interruption as one and the same electrode system is used for all steps. The proposed method is as an easy to handle, non-destructive express analysis for a wide range of samples.

Retrospective space-time analysis of H5N1 Avian Influenza emergence in Thailand

BackgroundThe highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus remains a worldwide threat to human and animal health, while the mechanisms explaining its epizootic emergence and re-emergence in poultry are largely unknown. Data from Thailand, a country that experienced significant epidemics in poultry and has recorded suspicious cases of HPAI on a daily basis since 2004, are used here to study the process of emergence. A spatial approach is employed to describe all HPAI H5N1 virus epizootics from 2004 to 2008 and to characterize the pattern of emergence: multiple independent introductions of the virus followed by moderate local spread vs. very rare emergences followed by strong local spread and rare long range diffusion jumps. Sites where epizootics originate (by foreign introduction, local persistence, or long range jump) were selected from those to which the disease subsequently spreads using a filter based on relative date and position. The spatial distribution of these selected foci was statistically analyzed, and to differentiate environmental factors from long range diffusion, we investigate the relationship of these foci with environmental exposure factors and with rearing characteristics.ResultsDuring each wave of epizootics, the temporal occurrence of cases did not show a temporal interruption of more than a week. All foci were globally clustered; i.e., more than 90% of cases had a previous case within a 10 km range and a 21 day period of time, showing a strong local spread. We were able to estimate 60 km as the maximum distance for the local farm to farm dissemination process. The remaining "emergent" cases have occurred randomly over Thailand and did not show specific location, clusters, or trends. We found that these foci are not statistically related to specific environmental conditions or land cover characteristics, and most of them may be interpreted as long range diffusion jumps due to commercial practices.ConclusionWe conclude that only a few foci appear to have been at the origin of each HPAI epidemic wave, leading to the practical action that surveillance and control must focus on farm to farm transmission rather than on emergence or wild fauna.

Between Motion and Rest: Encountering Bodies in/on Display

Between Motion and Rest: Encountering Bodies in/on Display

Movement related cortical potentials in a face naming task: Influence of the tip-of-the-tongue state

The aim of the present study was evaluate the movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) associated with manual and speech movements during a face naming task carried out by the same participants as in a previous study, in order to: 1) determine whether the slowing down of the reaction time observed in the tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) state was caused by motor processes; 2) compare the MRCPs among the three response categories (tip-of-the-tongue, successful retrieval and not knowing the name); and 3) determine whether the MRCPs modulated the differences in amplitude of the late negative wave among response categories. The first component of readiness potential, the negative slope, the motor potential and the reafferent potential associated with the manual response, and two components associated with the verbal responses—the speech-related motor potential and the speech-related reafferent potential—were identified. The slowing down of reaction time observed in the TOT category may be due to a temporal interruption in the motor programming of the responses due to the TOT state. The longer latency in speech-related components in the KNOW with respect to the TOT category can be attributed to the greater cognitive demands involved in the retrieval of proper names in the former category. The brain activity associated with the preparation and execution of the responses had a differential modulatory effect on the amplitude of the LNW component, which may partially explain the differences between the categories observed in the previous study by Díaz et al. [Díaz, F., Lindín, M., Galdo-Álvarez, S., Facal, D., Juncos-Rabadán, O., 2007. An event-related potentials study of face identification and naming: the tip-of-the-tongue state. Psychophysiology 44, 50–68].

LOTKA–VOLTERRA TWO-SPECIES SYSTEM WITH PERIODIC INTERRUPTION OF COMPETITION

We consider the two-species Lotka–Volterra competition system with a temporally periodic interruption of competition coefficient. We assume that the competition coefficient is constant in a time interval of fixed length τ+, while it is zero in the other time interval of length τ-. The temporal variation of the competition coefficient is rigorously periodic with period τ+ + τ-, in which the competition coefficient becomes a given positive constant and zero by turns, the other parameters being constant in time. We analyze the system analytically and numerically, and derive the condition for the permanence of the whole system, the coexistence of two competing species, and the change of the species-dominance in terms of the competition. We discuss some interesting natures of our system, distinguished from the original two-species Lotka–Volterra competition system with constant competition coefficients. The temporal interruption of competition could cause the change of the destiny of competing species.

Moving Beyond the Name: Defining Corporate Entities to Support Provenance-Based Access

SUMMARY The second edition of the International Standard Archival Authority Records for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (ISAAR(CPF)2) focuses on describing entities as they exist in reality, rather than on establishing authorized terms. This change allows authority records to include multiple authorized terms representing an entity as it changed over time. Traditionally, an authority record has been created for a corporate body each time its name changed. This practice results in an artificial, fragmented view of the entity, concentrating on heading control rather than on providing contextual information necessary to assist with the provenance-method of retrieval and the interpretation of the records. In order to describe entities as ISAAR(CPF)2 allows and better reflect records-creating environments, the author proposes that an authority record describe a definable unit that performs a distinct function without major temporal interruption.

Temporally Interruptive Interaction Allows Mutual Invasion of Two Competing Species Dispersing in Space

With a reaction-difiusion system, we consider the dispersing two-species Lotka- Volterra model with a temporally periodic interruption of the interspeciflc competitive re- lationship. We assume that the competition coe-cient becomes a given positive constant and zero by turns periodically in time. We investigate the condition for the coexistence of two competing species in space, especially in the bistable case for the population dynamics without dispersion. We could flnd that the spatial coexistence, that is, the spatially mutual invasion of two competing species appears with two opposite-directed travelling waves if a condition for the temporal interruption of the interspeciflc relationship is satisfled. Further, we give a suggested mathematical expression of the velocity of travelling waves.

Neural mechanisms of visual backward masking revealed by high temporal resolution imaging of human brain

Backward masking is one of the potent ways to reveal the neural mechanism of visual awareness in humans. Although previous neuroimaging studies have reported that the visual masking involves the attenuation of hemodynamic signals to the masked stimulus in visual ventral regions such as the fusiform and inferior temporal gyrus, the temporal profiles of this attenuation as a whole neural population is mostly unclear. Here we used magnetoencephalography and investigated the neural response changes in higher visual region induced by backward masking. The combination of our previous random dot blinking method with the sensor-based analysis isolated the neural responses in the higher visual cortex relating to shape perception. The results revealed that, as the visibility of the target stimulus was reduced by the mask following it, the neural response to the target in the ventral regions showed gradual decreases both in its peak amplitude and peak latency. Furthermore, this decrease in the peak amplitudes was significantly correlated with the behavioral accuracy of the target identification, while the peak latency was not. These results indicate that backward masking simultaneously produces two types of neural changes in higher visual regions: attenuation of the populational neural activity itself and temporal interruption of this activity by the subsequent mask response. Especially, our data suggest that the response attenuation in higher visual response is a main cause of the perceptual impairment observed in the backward masking paradigm.

Temporal interruption of uterine artery using endovascular clip in laparoscopical resection of adenomyosis uteri

Temporal interruption of uterine artery using endovascular clip in laparoscopical resection of adenomyosis uteri

Beam smoothing and temporal effects:Optimized preparation of laser beams for direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

Direct-drive laser fusion received a number of setbacks from the experimental observation in the 1960s and 1970s of very complex interactions in laser plasma experiments caused by a number of nonlinear and anomalous phenomena. Although smoothing methods were introduced intuitively or empirically–succeeding in reducing these difficulties–it was not until a few years ago that the 20-ps stochastic pulsation mechanism was discovered. We assume here that this 20-ps stochastic pulsation may be the major obstacle to achieving direct-drive fusion, even though it is now generally assumed that the major challenge to the achievement of direct-drive fusion is the Rayleigh-Taylor instability. While we do not discount the importance of the Rayleigh-Taylor mechanisms, we concentrate here on the analysis of the pulsation process. A method of analysis was developed, using time-dependent real-time computations employing a genuine two-fluid model, which includes the interior electric fields and the very large amplitude longitudinal plasma oscillations that are driven by the laser field. These mechanisms, which were first suggested in 1974, reveal themselves now as self-generated von-Laue gratings, preventing the propagation of laser radiation through the outermost plasma corona and preventing energy deposition by temporal interruption caused by thermal relaxation and the subsequent reestablishment of these gratings, and so on. The abolition of this pulsation by broad-band laser irradiation or other smoothing methods is now well understood. A synopsis of these developments is presented here, consistent with Rubbia's proposition of using the MJ drivers for laser fusion, the technology for which is now available.

Neurolinguistic features of spontaneous language production dissociate three forms of neurodegenerative disease: Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's

An analysis of the temporal (prospective) form (silent and filled hesitations, repetitions, incomplete phrases, context-related comments, interjections), syntactic form, and lexical (retrospective) form (verbal deviations, open and closed class phrases) of spontaneous language production of early and middle stage Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's patients was made. Results showed that the language structure was disrupted in each disease, but in different ways. Temporal interruptions of varying types were frequent in the language of Alzheimer's and Huntington's Disease patients; only long-duration silent hesitations were frequent in Parkinson's language samples. Syntactic complexity was reduced in Huntington's Disease. Verbal paraphasias were found in both the language of Alzheimer's patients, as well as moderately advanced Huntington's patients. Closed class phrases were predominant in the language of Alzheimer's patients and Huntington's patients, and open class phrases in the language of Parkinson's patients. Taken together, the results suggest that (1) there is a unique neurolinguistic profile for spontaneous language production for each neurodegenerative disease, (2) pathology of the neostriatum disrupts syntactic organization, (3) adaptive strategies are used to cope with verbal and speech-motor difficulties, and (4) adaptive strategies fail to be effective with increasing disease severity.