Journal articles on the topic 'Monte baldo'

During ecological investigations on saproxylic beetle communities at Monte Baldo (Veneto, Verona province), two specimens of <em>Epuraea</em> <em>deubeli</em> Reitter, 1898 (Coleoptera, Nitidulidae) were recently collected. It is the first known sure record of this species in Italy (previously known from Northern, Eastern, and Central Europe, southwards to Austria, and from Western Siberia).

Sattleria karsholti Huemer & Hebert, 2011 is re-examined based on recently collected material, museum vouchers, and DNA barcodes. Adult and male genitalia morphology and molecular data of the COI barcode region support the existence of two allopatric species, S. karsholti, from the type locality of Pizo Arera in the Orobian Alps (Bergamo Province, Italy), and S. enrosadira sp. nov. from Monte Baldo, Adamello and the Brenta group (Trento and Verona Provinces, Italy). Adults and male genitalia of both species are figured; the females of both species are unknown.

The taxonomy of Sattleria, a genus restricted to European high mountain systems, is critically revised based on morphology, DNA barcodes and phylogeography. Adult morphology combined with sequence information for the barcode region of COI supports the existence of 14 species. The full 658bp fragment of COI was obtained from 43 specimens representing 11 species and three shorter sequences were obtained from another two species. An illustrated key to the male genitalia of all species is provided. Three new species are described: Sattleria karsholti sp. nov. (Alpi Orobie, Adamello and Monte Baldo, Prov. Bergamo, Trento and Verona, Italy), Sattleria cottiella sp. nov. (Cottian Alps, Prov. Cuneo, Italy), and Sattleria graiaeella sp. nov. (Alpi Graie, Prov. Aosta, Italy; Savoie, France). Sattleria basistrigella Huemer, 1997 bona sp., stat. rev. is raised from subspecies rank of Sattleria triglavica Povolný, 1987 to species rank.

Abstract The late 16th century saw the publication of two descriptions of Monte Baldo written by apothecaries working in the nearby town of Verona. Both texts were published in Latin and Italian and have come to the attention of scholars for the vibrant descriptions of the mountain they contain, as well as for the insight they allow into the European networks of natural philosophers. A more detailed examination of the circumstances that produced Latin and Italian versions of these two descriptions of the same mountain, containing the same type of scientific investigation by men engaged in the same profession and from the same town, makes for a neat case study in considering the issues surrounding translation and authorship in the natural philosophical literature of the early modern period. By setting the study’s findings into the context of the recent ›translation turn‹ in literary studies - and Neo-Latin studies in particular - the case study reveals interesting data for the use of Latin in early modern natural philosophy, as well for the dynamics of northern Italy’s scientific community in the period.

The discovery of the wreck of the brig Mercurio, which sank in 1812 in the waters of the north Adriatic, is of major significance for the study of Italic Kingdom vessels from the Napoleonic era. The underwater excavations carried out in 2004–11 led to the recovery of many small finds, among which are several gunflints of different size and shape. The Mercurio gunflints were produced mainly from blades using a technique in use in Britain and France, but also in the workshops of the Lessini Hills around Ceredo (Verona province, northern Italy). We suggest that the flint employed for their manufacture probably came from Monte Baldo, in the Trentino, or perhaps from the River Tagliamento, in Friuli. We can exclude the possibility that the specimens recovered from the shipwreck were made from French flint because of the typically north Italian manufacturing technique and the character of the grey Treveti-derived flint. Given the complexity of the period during which the Grado (or Pirano) battle took place, the study of even such small items can contribute to a better interpretation of the dramatic events that characterised the beginning of the nineteenth century in that part of the Mediterranean.

A commented catalogue of Coleoptera Staphylinidae present in Verona province (Veneto, Northern Italy) is provided. It is based on published as well as mostly unpublished records, with the Sette collection at the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Verona as main source. These records are filed in a freely downloadable database (http://www.societaentomologicaitaliana.it/it/archivio-comunicazioni/78-archiviati/269-database-staphylinidae-verona.html). Verona province is a very diverse area, with habitats ranging from montane/alpine to hill and plain, which are natural, seminatural or anthropogenic. A total of 988 species are listed. Localities, habitats, microhabitats, collecting methods, altitudinal range, months of capture, latest year of capture and number of specimens are given for each species. Comments are added for 149 remarkable species or genera (<em>i.e</em>. new to Italy, endemic, with particular geographic distribution, living in particular habitats, introduced, problematic from a taxonomic point of view), 7 species are new records for Italy (<em>Tachyporus corpulentus J.</em> Sahlberg, 1876, <em>Aleochara bellonata</em> Krása, 1922, <em>Aleochara marmotae</em> Sainte-Claire Deville, 1927, <em>Atheta (Ceritaxa) flavipes</em> (Hochhuth, 1860), <em>Atheta (Philhygra) pseudoelongatula</em> Bernhauer, 1907, <em>Stenomastax platygaster</em> (Kraatz, 1859), <em>Carpelimus boops rondaensis</em> (Fagel, 1957)), one is very probably new to science (<em>Leptusa</em> sp.). The biogeographic analysis of the data is mostly based on the comparison of the main areas of the province (Monte Baldo, Lessinia, Morene del Garda, course of Adige river, and plain). The presence of a good percentage (5%) of endemic species is pointed out. The communities inhabiting the principal habitats and microhabitats are commented on, and remarkable species living in the protected areas of the province are listed.

Ba’do Katupat celebration is a tradition of Jawa Tondano (Jaton) village hold annually. It has a deep meaning to strengthen the relationship, forgive each other, as well as be grateful for the success of fasting for the whole month. No wonder the celebration is always crowded with thousands of people from different areas, ages and beliefs, and carried out for the whole day. Ba’do Ketupat is an inherited tradition from Diponegoro, Kiai Mojo, and his followers. This Javanese tradition heritage can be found in Tondano, Minahasa as a ceremonial event held annually by people in Jaton village one week after Eid Ba’do Ketupat contains cultural values that include local and cultural values, as the icon and identity of Jaton in Minahasa, as well as the acculturation resulting in solidarity and tolerance. This culture unites the minority of Jaton people with the majority of Minahasa people. The religious ritual performed by Jaton people and other Muslim accomplishes religious obligations in order to increase devotion towards Allah SWT and not to create difference.

ABSTRACT The International Bird Rescue Research Center coordinated a six-month-long oiled bird rehabilitation program that spanned three seasons. Over 1,600 migrating, breeding, nesting, and fledgling oiled birds, representing 71 species, were presented for care to four rehabilitation centers. Many of these species, including puffins, cormorants, shearwaters, murrelets, petrels, and bald eagles, have rarely, if ever, been treated in large numbers in an oil spill rehabilitation effort. Bald eagles, oiled and secondarily poisoned by the ingestion of oil-laden food sources, were of major concern. Their successful rehabilitation required special handling, caging, cleaning, and release criteria. Extensive clinical and pathological evaluations of the effects of oil contamination were ongoing. The findings spirited the development of new techniques and equipment that enhanced survival rate. These new developments and knowledge will greatly benefit affected animals in future oil spill rescue and rehabilitation endeavors.

L'utilisation du sol de Soria, adapté à l'altitude, au climat froid et à la pauvreté du terrain, se fit avec une grande mobilité sur la superficie de cer terres depuis leur utilisation, au XIIIeme siècle. Ces terres en friche représentaient la plus grande partie du territorire, où l'on pratiquait l'élevage ainsi que l’agriculture de «monte hueco». L'occupation permanente des terres, utilisées en pâturages, délimitèrent lentement la mosaïque des propriétés individuelles et collectives. Dès le milieu du XVeme siècle, la dynamique d'expansion économique que connut la Couronne de Castille affecta ces terres pour les convertir en exploitations d'élevage et de production forestière. La dénonciation d'usurpation de terres, entre autres de la part de l'oligarchie urbaine de Soria, rend manifeste l'attribution de ces terrains à l'élevage. Vers la fin du XVeme siècle, des conflits se déclarèrent entre la Mesta pour l'utilisation de ces jachères comme pâturages, l’oligarchie urbaine désirant délimiter ces propres pâturages et les municipies de certaines villes et villages cherchant à préserver l’exploitation forestière. Les habitants des lieux, de petits ou «moyens» agriculteurs et éleveurs, furent les plus lésés en perdant leur mobilité et en devant faire face à la concurrence des élevages «mesteño» dans l'utilisation de ces jachères.

ZusammenfassungSeit Beginn der Corona-Impfkampagne in Deutschland am 27. Dezember 2020 waren knapp drei Monate später 10,5 Mio. Dosen verimpft. Das waren durchschnittlich 126.000 Dosen pro Tag mit steigender Tendenz: Am 15. März 2021 waren es schon mehr als 250.000 täglich. Damit konnten aber erst 3,2 Mio. Personen vollständig immunisiert werden. Um Herdenimmunität zu erreichen, die wegen der hoch infektiösen Mutanten eine Immunisierungsquote der Bevölkerung von etwa 80 % erfordern dürfte, müssten aber gut 65 Mio. Personen mit 130 Mio. Dosen geimpft sein. Beim jetzigen Impftempo würde es noch bis in den Sommer 2022 dauern, um das Immunitätsziel zu erreichen. Kommt es nach dem Impfstoffmangel bald zu einer Knappheit der Impfkapazitäten? Könnte die Herdenimmunität an mangelnder Impfbereitschaft scheitern?

Background: Leukoplakia is one of potentially malignant disorders that can be found on oral mucosa. Speckled leukoplakia is a rare type of leukoplakia with a very high risk of premalignant growth. Approximately 3 % of worldwide population has suffered from leukoplakia, 5-25% of which tend to be malignant leukoplakia. Purpose: This case report was aimed to discuss about early detection of speckled leukoplakia as one of potentially malignant disorders. Case: A 62 year old male patient came with chief complaint of bald and painful tongue since one month ago. The patient has a history of allergic reaction, hypertension, uric acid, and hepatitis B. He had been a heavy smoker since young until 10 years ago. Intra oral examination showed a firm, rough, non scrapable white plaque lesion with a size of 1 x 1.5 cm, surrounded by painful erosion with diffuse boundary. Case Management: Based on cytology examination, the patient was reffered to oncologist to get an excisional biopsy. Next, the patient succesfully underwent the excisional biopsy and came for control. The results showed the healing process of the lesion with a minimal complaint of bald tongue, especially when eating spicy or hot meal. To improve healing process, the patient then was given an antibacterial mouth rinse containing zinc and mulvitamin. Conclusion: Speckled leukoplakia could show high malignant transformation rate, therefore, early detection and treatment are necessary.

In this study we have analyzed the use of finasteride which is a type P-selective 5a-reductase inhibitor. By decreasing dihydroxytestestrone (DHT) level, it is found to be effective in the treatment of male androgenic alopecia. In this study, we compared the effect of topical vs. systemic finasteride in the treatment of androgenic alopecia. Our study is a randomized clinical trial study having 30 male patients. They have come for alopecia treatment at Nesam hospital, Coimbatore, India. We have selected male patients with androgenic alopecia and divided them into two groups (A, B), randomly having 15 patients in each group. For group A, Topical finasteride (0.1%) with minoxidil (5%) solution was given. Group B patients received topical minoxidil with oral finasteride (1mg) tablets. All patients were regularly followed up till the end of 6 months. A Patient had a first review in the first week followed by monthly follow up. Following parameters were taken into account: size of bald area, total hair count, and terminal hair. Data was analyzed by Chi-square statistical test. Each month the terminal hair, size of bald area and hair count between the two groups were compared. In the initial few months group, A showed good improvement. But Serial measurements indicated that a significant increase in hair counts and terminal hair counts is seen in both groups. This study showed that on long term follow-up of more than 3 months, both topical and systemic finasteride groups had similar results.

Proper irrigation practices are important in the production of container-grown woody ornamentals. When choosing irrigation methods, nurserymen must attempt to maximize production and comply with public policies mandating decreased water usage and runoff. One of these methods schedules irrigation based on plant demand, using tensiometers to measure matric potential of the substrate. While tensiometers have been used successfully with agronomic crops in the field, their effectiveness in irrigation management of large container-grown woody ornamentals has not been extensively tested. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of four irrigation treatments (7 cb tensiometer setting, 14 cb tensiometer setting, 1 time a day application, 4 times a day application) on the production of the ornamental tree Bald Cypress over a 9-month period. Growth differed significantly among treatments. The highest growth index was observed in the 4 times a day and the 7 cb tensiometer treatments, followed by the 1 time a day and 14 cb treatments, respectively. Effluent and leachate (pH, EC, N, P, K) were also measured. Percent effluent volume was highly variable, with maximum volume occurring in June for the 7 cb setting (82%) and in October for the 1 time a day treatment (47%). Higher pH values (7.0 to 8.0) initially occurred in the timed irrigation treatments and higher EC values (2.0–6.0 mmhos) were found in tensiometer treatments; over time, differences among treatments decreased for both variables. Substrate concentrations of N, P and K varied significantly among treatments, while no significant differences were found in the leaf tissue analysis.

ABSTRACT Context: Brow lifting is an essential element in the rejuvenation of the ageing face. Various surgical techniques have been described. Among these, the direct brow lifting is an easy and effective technique that is often neglected because the scar can remain visible. Thus, this approach is usually reserved for elderly patients and males, with thick bushy brows. Aims: The authors present their result from a series of fifty consecutive patients treated over 2 years with direct brow lift. The aim is to demonstrate when the hairline is high or temporal alopecia is present and whether this technique is the best in bald patients, when some surgical steps are carefully adhered to. In these cases, the scar is less visible, hidden in the brow and is a good solution in women too. Subjects and Methods: Between January 2011 and January 2013, fifty patients underwent direct brow lift surgery. All were men. In all the cases, brow lifting was undertaken together with an upper blepharoplasty. The amount of brow elevation produced was assessed by comparing the vertical distances between the superior eyebrow hairline and the inter-pupillary line, pre- and post-operatively. The result and the scar quality were assessed both by the patient and the surgeon. Statistical Analysis Used: The paired t-test. Results: The authors obtained statistically significant results in brow elevation in 98% of the patients after a 12-month follow-up. The main complication associated with this procedure was visibility of the scar in two patients. Conclusions: The direct brow lift technique in bald men and with a high anterior hairline provides excellent and long-lasting results.

The geographically uniform Texas Panhandle is dotted with shallow, ephemeral water bodies (playas), that quickly expand and contract in size. Numerous playas have been incorporated into the storm and surface-water management plan for the City of Lubbock, Texas; these playas often are surrounded by public parks. In the past, trees were planted around playas without regard to their flood tolerance. For these reasons, the objectives of this study were to catalogue trees around city playas and to determine which of these tree species survived inundation. The trees in the flood zones of eight city parks were catalogued by species in 1995, immediately after a 5-inch rain event. The water levels in all parks were monitored for the subsequent 4-month period to determine inundation time for each tree. The health of these trees was visually assessed annually. Bald cypress, mulberry, American elm, and sycamore improved in health, while the other tree species declined. Surprisingly, weeping willow and corkscrew willow, along with cedar elm, suffered the greatest decline in health.

People with alopecia areata lose their scalp hair in smooth round patches typically causing bald spots about an inch (2cm) across. Recently Al-Jaff et al demonstrate the association of free radicals in the pathogenesis of alopecia areata, and the role of nutrient antioxidants in protecting the immune system from the damaging effect of these radicals.Any imbalances between free radical production and antioxidant deficiency can result in an injury.This clinical study designed to study the role of nutrient antioxidants in protecting the body from damaging effect of radicals and the effect of two month treatment with antioxidants (vitamin A, E, &C) on oxidative stress variable levels and their effect on rate of hair growth in patients with alopecia areata. Treatment with antioxidants significantly elevated body antioxidant defenses component levels, increased Zn levels and decreased Cu levels and corrected the inbalance in these trace metals metabolism in alopecia after 1and 2 months of treatment compared to pretreatment values. The most important point isthe clinical significance of antioxidants in improving the hair response of patients with alopecia areata; this may be due to an inhibition of oxidative stress associated with the state of the disease.

Escolas são espaços, que geram diariamente uma grande quantidade de resíduos sólidos. Diante disso, existe a necessidade assim como diversos municípios, que instituições de ensino possuam um plano de gerenciamento de resíduos, de acordo com suas necessidades. A presente pesquisa avaliou a percepção do alunado sobre assuntos relacionadas a coleta seletiva e como é feito o gerenciamento dos resíduos sólidos em unidades escolares. A partir de um estudo descritivo e de uma abordagem quali-quantitativa, como forma investigativa foram aplicados questionários semiestruturados com oito questões fechadas para 30 alunos do Ensino Fundamental (9º ano), 30 alunos do Ensino Médio (3º ano), assim como oito questões para 18 professores das duas escolas públicas, ambas localizadas no município de São Joaquim do Monte–PE. A partir da metodologia aplicada, e os dados obtidos, ficou perceptível que o problema do gerenciamento/gestão dos resíduos sólidos, é bem parecido nas duas escolas e mesmo havendo uma discrepância para algumas questões, existe um déficit em relação ao serviço de coleta seletiva e gerenciamento nessas instituições. Por outro lado, mesmo os professores trabalhando de forma efetiva com ações direcionadas de Educação Ambiental, reciclagem e coleta seletiva, a problemática toma dimensões maiores, pois na própria cidade o serviço de coleta municipal, faz a destinação de todos os resíduos, inclusive os escolares em terreno baldio, sem nenhuma condição de tratamento/reciclagem. A fim de sensibilizar as duas turmas, foram realizadas palestras voltadas para questão do descarte sustentável, importância da coleta seletiva, reciclagem e principalmente o incentivo a mudança de atitudes e comportamento perante o meio ambiente.

IntroductionA trauma is an uncommon experience of violence in which the physical and psychological integrity of an individual or group has been threatened. Intentional violence in general and terrorist attacks in particular are a perfect example of this. It turns out that during the year 2015 Tunisia was shaken by a series of terrorist attacks as sudden as violent. What impact would these actions have on the profile of consultants at the Razi hospital?MethodsA retrospective and descriptive study of the consultants between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015, while determining the socio-demographic, clinical and therapeutic profile of the consultants for the first time at the outpatient clinic of the Razi psychiatric hospital, and indicating the different changes during the month following each attack; Bardo 18 March, Sousse 26 June and Mohamed V 24 November.ResultsOur study pointed to an increase in the number of consultants at the hospital (31%) and outpatient (128%) levels during the year 2015, without increasing the number of consultants New consultants. The new consultants are younger with a strengthening of the female predominance (56.8). In the months following the attacks from the same period of the previous year, we found that diagnoses of acute and post-traumatic stress disorders (151%) and (93%) increased in percentage.ConclusionThe impact of terrorist attacks is harmful to people directly exposed but also to vulnerable people. It imposes the necessity of a preventive activity involving multidisciplinary interventions in order to develop the concept of resilience.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Background: Alopecia Areata is a T-cell–mediated autoimmune, often reversible disease in which the gradual loss of protection provided by immune privilege of the normal hair follicle plays an important role. It manifests as smooth, slightly erythematous (peach color) or normal-colored alopecic patches with short broken hair at the margins. It involves scalp most commonly, although other regions of body may be affected. Platelet rich plasma is an autologous concentration of platelets with a greater count in a small volume of plasma. Study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PRP therapy in Alopecia Areata.Methods: In this randomised, placebo controlled, split patch study, 30 patients of AA were recruited and injected with 1-1.5ml of autologous PRP made by double spin method into half the bald patch area and other half with placebo using insulin syringe once a month for 3 months. Outcome was assessed at the end of study by clinical photographs as regrowth of hair, dermoscopy findings as reduction in black dots, yellow dots and exclamation hair and Physician and patient self-assessment score.Results: Administration of autologous PRP has led to observable improvement in 20% case of PRP and only 3.3% of control cases. Decrease in number of dystrophic hair and hair regrowth with PRP was seen in 20% cases and in 17% patches.Conclusions: PRP in our setting was found to be minimally effective, but more efficacious than no treatment, and safe for AA patients.

„Da stimmt etwas nicht“, dachte sich Gerhard Schweizer, als er am 8. August 2012 abends mit seiner linken Hand die Tasten der PC-Tastatur nicht mehr richtig traf. Er suchte den Grund dafür in seiner großen Müdigkeit, denn tagsüber hatte er Brennholz gespalten. Also begab er sich recht bald ins Bett. Als er nach ca. vier Stunden die Toilette aufsuchen wollte, fiel er der Länge nach hin und stellte fest, dass er weder Bein noch Arm bewegen konnte. Seine Lebensgefährtin verständigte sofort den Notarzt, der ihn umgehend ins Krankenhaus brachte. Es folgten drei Tage auf der Stroke Unit sowie eine Woche auf der neurologischen Station. Dort musste er aus dem Bett gehoben werden, und auch auf die Toilette konnte er nicht selbstständig gehen. Nach der Woche ging es nach Lenggries in die stationäre Reha. Die erste Zeit verbrachte er weiterhin im Rollstuhl und bekam Sonderkost wegen der Schluckprobleme. Nach sieben Wochen verließ er die Rehaklinik gehend – die Strecke von der Station zum Auto auf dem Parkplatz schaffte er „gerade so“. Nach wenigen Wochen zu Hause besuchte er für weitere drei Monate eine ambulante neurologische interdisziplinäre Reha-Einrichtung. Während dieser Zeit konnte er viele Verbesserungen erreichen, z. B. wieder Auto fahren. Nur die linke Hand blieb trotz Fortschritten (s)ein Sorgenkind, und das geliebte Hobby Segeln musste er aufgeben. Dafür suchte er sich eine neue Freizeitaktivität, um sportlich aktiv zu sein, und entdeckte seine Leidenschaft für lange Fahrradtouren.

In introduction studies, it is urgent to determine how favorable the water balance of the species studied is under defined environmental conditions. The research aimed to scrutinize the water regime of Chrysanthemum × hortorum Bailey and select drought-resistant varieties to replenish the range of plants used for floriculture in the Republic of Bashkortostan on grey forest (Haplic Greyzems) loamy soil. The studies were conducted in 2018‒2020. Irrigation frequency – twice a week. After each watering, soil loosening was carried out. One week before sampling for analysis, we stopped watering flowers. Water regime indicators were analyzed according to the method of artificial wilting (V. N. Tarenkov et al. 1990) and methodology of saturation of plant samples (V. P. Moiseev et al. 2009). Sublethal water deficit was determined by the method of T. K. Goryshina et al. 1965 modified by N. I. Bobrovskaya 1971. Observations and analyses were carried out once a month from May to September in the regrowth, budding and flowering phases. The value of the sublethal water deficit was clarified (28.4 %). During the growing season, the varieties did not experience irreversible moisture deficit in the tissues. Chrysanthemum varieties under identical soil-climatic and agrotechnical conditions had the following range of indicators of total water content and water-holding capacity – 70.0‒90.4 % and 19.00‒64.6 %, respectively. It indicates a considerable degree of adaptation. Analysis of variance revealed that varietal differentiation significantly affects the indicators of the water regime; the share of influence varied from 21.17 to 31.72 %. Direct dependence of the indicators of the content of ‘mobile’ moisture on the total water content (y = 0.74x – 21.377) was revealed, as well as the inverse one ‒ the indicators of the content of ‘mobile’ moisture and water-holding capacity (y = 0.74x – 21.377). According to the scale developed by Denisova S. G. and Reut A. A. (2020), four highly drought-tolerant varieties ‘Volny Agideli’, ‘Regina’, ‘Sakmara’, ‘Bardo’ were identified.

BACKGROUND The various factors involved in Monteggia fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) were studied in patients presenting to Government Medical College, Trichur. Its distribution based on age, gender, and nature of trauma, were observed in the patients. METHODS This study was a prospective descriptive study, conducted in Department of Orthopaedics, Medical College, Thrissur from 1, January, 2016 to 1, July, 2017. Patients were assessed according to age, sex, side of injury, co-morbidities and final functional assessment was made according to Broberg and Morrey score. A total of 37 patients were observed. The patients were assessed, deemed fit for the study, and subjected to operation. Radial head reduction, fixation if needed, then ulna fracture was opened, reduced, and fixed with plate and screws. Postoperative plaster slab was applied, then converted to full above elbow cast, and retained for as long as needed. Post-operative mobilization was by home physiotherapy only. RESULTS Our study showed that open reduction and internal fixation of ulna outcome in Monteggia fractures leads to good elbow function and minimal loss of physical capacity. Immobilization of more than 2 months have very high chances of elbow stiffness. Early active mobilization after surgery is necessary for good functional outcome. Other than mild stiffness and loss of range of motion in some cases, very few other complications were found in our series. CONCLUSIONS Rigid internal fixation of ulna and early active mobilization is the key to achieve a good functional outcome and minimal loss of physical capacity in Monteggia fractures. Very few of the complications that were described in the literature were seen in the study. Even with restricted resources and minimal facilities, almost no permanent or debilitating morbidity or complications were seen in our series. Early active mobilization after surgery was the most important deciding factor for good functional outcome. Prolonged immobilization of more than one month consistently produces poor results. KEYWORDS Monteggia, Broberg and Morrey, Bado Classification, Internal Fixation, Ulna Fracture

BACKGROUND The various factors involved in Monteggia fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) were studied in patients presenting to Government Medical College, Trichur. Its distribution based on age, gender, and nature of trauma, were observed in the patients. METHODS This study was a prospective descriptive study, conducted in Department of Orthopaedics, Medical College, Thrissur from 1, January, 2016 to 1, July, 2017. Patients were assessed according to age, sex, side of injury, co-morbidities and final functional assessment was made according to Broberg and Morrey score. A total of 37 patients were observed. The patients were assessed, deemed fit for the study, and subjected to operation. Radial head reduction, fixation if needed, then ulna fracture was opened, reduced, and fixed with plate and screws. Postoperative plaster slab was applied, then converted to full above elbow cast, and retained for as long as needed. Post-operative mobilization was by home physiotherapy only. RESULTS Our study showed that open reduction and internal fixation of ulna outcome in Monteggia fractures leads to good elbow function and minimal loss of physical capacity. Immobilization of more than 2 months have very high chances of elbow stiffness. Early active mobilization after surgery is necessary for good functional outcome. Other than mild stiffness and loss of range of motion in some cases, very few other complications were found in our series. CONCLUSIONS Rigid internal fixation of ulna and early active mobilization is the key to achieve a good functional outcome and minimal loss of physical capacity in Monteggia fractures. Very few of the complications that were described in the literature were seen in the study. Even with restricted resources and minimal facilities, almost no permanent or debilitating morbidity or complications were seen in our series. Early active mobilization after surgery was the most important deciding factor for good functional outcome. Prolonged immobilization of more than one month consistently produces poor results. KEYWORDS Monteggia, Broberg and Morrey, Bado Classification, Internal Fixation, Ulna Fracture

Abstract The aim of this study was to evaluate the integrity of the coronal seal of Temp-Bond and compare it to Cavit and IRM after post space preparation using S. faecalis as a microbial tracer. In addition, the affect of two methods of gutta percha removal on the apical seal of root canal fillings was also evaluated. Forty extracted human single rooted teeth were prepared chemomechanically and obturated with gutta percha and AH26 sealer cement using the lateral cold condensation technique to a standardized working length of 15 mm. About 10 mm of the coronal gutta-percha was removed with either Peeso-reamer or a hot plugger. The roots were divided into three experimental groups of 10 roots and a control group. Each experimental group was subdivided equally into two groups of 15 each according to the method of post space preparation. Cavit, IRM, and Temp-Bond were used to seal the access opening. Each root was fixed in a cuvette containing Tryptic Soya Broth which, covered 2 mm of the root apex. Bacterial suspension was introduced through pipette. Fresh bacterial suspension was added every week, and the system was monitored daily for the growth of microorganisms for a period of one month. The results showed there was no significant difference in terms of coronal leakage between the three coronal materials used (P=0.478), but the methods of gutta-percha removal did have an impact on the apical leakage (P=0.047). The mean value showed the Peeso-reamer provided less leakage compared to using a hot plugger during the 30-day experimental time period. It was concluded the temporary type of coronal seal of endodontically treated teeth will not prevent coronal leakage if left for a long period of time. In addition, permanent cementation of the post with the coronal restoration should be carried out as soon as possible to prevent recontamination of the root canal. Citation Balto H, Al-Nazhan S, Al-Mansour K, Al-Otaibi M, Siddiqu Y. Microbial Leakage of Cavit, IRM, and Temp Bond in Post-prepared Root Canals Using Two Methods of Gutta-percha Removal: An In Vitro Study. J Contemp Dent Pract 2005 August;(6)3:053-061.

Leta 2022 je švicarski del mednarodne založbe Springer izdal knjigo, in sicer zbornik del z naslovom Military Geoscience: A Multifaceted Approach to the Study of Warfare. Sestavljajo jo izbrani prispevki mednarodnih raziskovalcev s področja vojaške geoznanosti, predstavljeni na 13. mednarodni konferenci o vojaški geoznanosti, ki je potekala junija 2019 v Padovi. Prvi prispevek je delo urednikov Aldina Bondesana in Judy Ehlen. V njem na kratko predstavita razumevanje pojma vojaške geoznanosti kot aplikacijo geologije in geografije na vojaškem področju ter zgodovinski razvoj te znanosti. Pri tem je treba poudariti tudi, da Mednarodno združenje za vojaške geoznanosti (ICMG), ki organizira to bienalno mednarodno konferenco, v zadnjih dveh desetletjih pokriva tudi druge vidike, na primer konfliktno arheologijo. Publikacija je naprej razdeljena na tri dele. Prvi del obsega tri prispevke, ki predstavljajo vojaško geoznanost do 20. stoletja. Prvi prispevek, delo Chrisa Fuhrimana in Jasona Ridgewaya, prinaša spoznanje glede bitke pri Maratonu z vizualizacijo topografije. Geografska danost Maratonskega polja, doline med gorama Kotroni in Agrieliki, je namreč omogočila grškim branilcem, da so izničili prednost perzijske konjenice in lokostrelcev, ki niso mogli popolnoma razviti svojega potenciala. Sledi prispevek Judy Ehlen, ki raziskuje geološko ozadje angleško-britanskega sistema obalnih fortifikacij vzdolž Rokavskega preliva, s poudarkom na območju Portsmoutha v Hampshiru. Avtorica tako poudari, da je sprememba artilerijske tehnologije in pomorske taktike med 16. in 19. stoletjem zahtevala spremembe v gradnji obalnih fortifikacij tako glede oblike fortifikacij in načina gradnje, vključno z izbiro osnovnega gradbenega materiala, kot tudi umestitve fortifikacij v prostor. Naslednji prispevek je posvečen raziskavi trdnjave Monte Baldo v severovzhodni Italiji med Gardskim jezerom in reko Adižo. Francesco Premi v prispevku analizira prisotnost trdnjave na prehodnem prostoru med germanskim svetom in Sredozemljem ter pomen tega dela Italije (na skrajnem južnem delu predalpskega gorovja) v vojaški zgodovini, kar se kaže v večjem številu pomembnejših vojaških in vojnih ostalin ter spomenikov. Drugi del knjige, ki je najobsežnejši, se osredotoča na obe svetovni vojni in ga sestavlja devet prispevkov. Prvi prispevek v tem delu analizira delovanje kampov za usposabljanje za bojevanje v jarkih na območju francoske regije Aube. Skupina avtorjev, Jérôme Brenot, Yves Desfossés, Robin Perarnau, Marc Lozano in Alain Devos, sprva ugotavlja, da do zdaj kampi za usposabljanje za statično vojskovanje niso bili deležni večje pozornosti. S pomočjo zračnega fotografiranja omenjene regije iz leta 1948 in ohranjenega slikovno-fotografskega gradiva iz svetovne vojne so tako identificirali približno 20 območjih, na katerih so se vojaki antantnih sil v jarkih usposabljali za frontno službo. Sledilo je tudi kombinirano arheološko-sociološko terensko delo, ki je potrdilo prisotnost teh kampov, tako prek ohranjenih ostalin kot tudi kolektivnega spomina. Tudi drugi prispevek iz tega dela se nanaša na preučevanje strelskih jarkov, in sicer iz severne Italije na območju Tridentinske Benečije. Avtorji Luigi Magnini, Giulia Rovera, Armando De Guio in Giovanni Azzalin v prispevku s pomočjo digitalne klasifikacijske metode in arheologije ugotavljajo, kako so se italijanski in avstroogrski strelski jarki iz prve svetovne vojne ohranili, oziroma če so izginili, zakaj je do tega prišlo, tako z vidika naravnih danosti kot antropologije, z vidika obnovitve predvojnega stanja. Naslednji prispevek, delo Paola Macinija in Paola Sammurija, analizira delovanje minerjev in pionirjev italijanskega korpusa inženircev med prvo svetovno vojno, še posebej glede inovativnih pristopov k minersko-podzemnemu vojskovanju. Na območju Dolomitov so italijanski inženirci z različnimi prisluškovalnimi napravami, vrtalno mehanizacijo in uporabo geofizikalnih metod razvili sistem vrtanja podzemnih minskih komor, s katerimi so nameravali in tudi uničili dele avstro-ogrskih položajev. Prispevek Elene Dai Prà, Nicole Gabellieri in Mattea Boschiana Baila se nanaša na delovanje italijanske kopenske vojske med prvo svetovno vojno, in sicer glede uporabe taktičnih zemljevidov s poudarkom na tipološki klasifikaciji in uporabi simbolov ter digitalne analize kartografije. Avtorji so analizirali taktične zemljevide italijanske 3. armade, ki so bili nenehno posodabljani z vrisovanjem sprememb položajev in taktičnih premikov obeh strani, pri čemer so raziskali spremembe tako z vidika uporabe novih simbolov kot tudi analize premikov. Sledi prispevek z geografsko predstavitvijo delovanja italijanske kopenske vojske med prvo svetovno vojno. Avtorji Paolo Plini, Sabina Di Franco in Rosamaria Salvatori so zbrali 21.856 toponimov z analizo dokumentov in zemljevidov. Lokacije so tudi geolocirali in tako prišli do pregleda krajev, v katerih je med prvo svetovno vojno delovala italijanska kopenska vojska. Analiza je sprva pokazala kompleksnost dogodkov na bojiščih, pa tudi, da so viri napačno ugotavljali kraje delovanja, saj je prišlo do napačne identifikacije toponimov, še posebej v primeru homonimov, in tako tudi do napačne identifikacije območja delovanja. Pri tem so izpostavili tudi primer Vipave, ki se lahko nanaša tako na reko kot na naselje. Naslednji prispevek je prvo poglavje, ki se nanaša na obdobje druge svetovne vojne, in sicer delo H. A. P. Smita o italijanskih vojnih ujetnikih v Južni Afriki. Avtor predstavi okoliščine, v katerih so italijanski vojaki prispeli na jug afriške celine in tam živeli, ter tudi, kakšen prispevek so imeli na lokalno okolje in družbo ter ostaline njihove prisotnosti, ki so se ohranile do današnjih dni. V prispevku avtorja William W. Doe III. in Michael R. Czaja analizirata zgodovino, geografijo in pomen kampa Hale v zvezni državi Kolorado. Pri tem se osredotočata na analizo vojaške organizacije in vpliva na lokalno skupnost. Kamp Hale je bila tako prva vojaška inštalacija ameriške kopenske vojske, namenjena testiranju in usposabljanju ameriških vojakov za gorsko in alpinsko bojevanje. Tu so izoblikovali ameriško 10. gorsko divizijo, ki je svojo vojno pot končala tudi na slovenskih tleh. Prisotnost divizije v tem nekdanjem kampu, ki je bil po vojni v vojaški uporabi vse do leta 1965, ter v okolici je še vedno vidna prek številnih spomenikov. Sledi prispevek, delo Hermanna Häuslerja, ki se ukvarja s tematiko nemške vojaške geografije in geologije na vzhodni fronti druge svetovne vojne. Dobro leto pred nemškim napadom na Sovjetsko zvezo so nemški in avstrijski vojaški geologi začeli analizo topografije, prebivalstva in infrastrukture evropskega dela Sovjetske zveze, kar je privedlo do izdaje serije publikacij, vključno z zemljevidi, ki so prikazovali primernost terena za vojaške operacije. Med vojno so nato vojaško-geološke skupine sledile frontnim enotam in opravljale geotehniške naloge, kot so oskrba z vodo, gradnja fortifikacij, preskrba z gradbenim materialom za transportno infrastrukturo in analiza primernosti terena za vseterensko vožnjo za gosenična ter druga vozila. Isti avtor je prispeval še naslednje poglavje, ki se tokrat osredotoča na delovanje nemških vojaških geologov na območju Jadrana. Podobno kot v prvem prispevku avtor predstavi delo vojaških geologov na območju severne Italije kot tudi severozahodne Slovenije. Pri tem se osredotoči tudi na gradnjo fortifikacijskih sistemov v severni Italiji in delovanje kraških lovcev v operacijski coni Jadransko primorje. Tretji del opisuje 21. stoletje, in sicer s petimi različnimi prispevki (poglavji). Prvi prispevek avtorja Alexandra K. Stewarta se nanaša na delovanje posebnih skupin ameriške kopenske vojske v Afganistanu. Te ekipe za razvoj agrarne industrije (Agribusiness Development Team) so izvajale specializirano obliko protigverilskega bojevanja, ko so prek pomoči lokalnemu prebivalstvu na področju kmetijstva poskušali izboljšati pogoje za razvoj lokalnih skupnosti in tako hkrati izničiti podporo za talibane. Avtor ugotavlja, da je imel projekt v desetletju po začetku programa le 19-odstotno uspešnost, toda kljub temu poudari, da bi take oblike civilno-vojaškega sodelovanja morale biti prisotne tudi v prihodnjih operacijah. Naslednje poglavje, delo Francisa A. Galgana, je namenjeno analizi delovanja sodobnih piratov prek vojaško-geografskih oziroma geoloških metod. Pirati, ki pomenijo veliko mednarodno varnostno grožnjo, so v štirih regijah sveta: v južni in jugovzhodni Aziji, vzhodni Afriki in Gvinejskem zalivu. Na podatkih o piratskih napadih med letoma 1997 in 2017 tako avtor pokaže časovne in prostorske vzorce delovanja piratov ter tudi, kako geografija obalnih območij vpliva na njihovo delovanje. Sledi še eno poglavje s pomorsko vsebino. Mark Stephen Blaine obravnava geografijo teritorialnih sporov v Južnokitajskem morju. Prek predstavitve mednarodne zakonodaje, strateške pomembnosti morja (pomorske poti, naravni viri) in prekrivajočih se teritorialnih zahtev Kitajske, Tajvana, Malezije, Vietnama ter Indonezije avtor pokaže naraščajočo stopnjo konflikta na tem območju in poziva k čim večjemu prizadevanju za preprečitev izbruha sovražnosti oziroma vojne. Prispevek M. H. Bulmerja se nanaša na analizo delovanja turških oboroženih sil v Siriji z vidika vojaške geologije. Tako se avtor osredotoča na obrambne projekte kurdskih sil, ki so se ukvarjale predvsem z gradnjo strelskih jarkov, opazovalnih stolpov oziroma točk, vkopanih tunelov in podzemnih objektov, ter tudi na delovanje turških oboroženih sil proti tej vojaški infrastrukturi. Pri tem je prišlo do spopadov tako v gorskem svetu kot v podzemlju. Medtem ko se je ta obrambna infrastruktura izkazala za uspešno v obdobju gverilskega bojevanja, pa so neposredni turški napadi na te objekte pokazali njihovo ranljivost. Zadnje poglavje se nanaša na trenutne operativne potrebe in omejitve vojaških geoznanosti z vidika avstrijskih oboroženih sil. Friedrich Teichmann izpostavi, da globalni interes delovanja držav določa potrebo po točnih geopodatkih in geopodporo v primeru hitro razvijajočih se zahtev. Pri tem se mora geoznanost odzivati na nove oblike groženj, tako asimetričnih kot kibernetičnih, in to v času, ko so sredstva za geostoritve omejena, kar zahteva tudi večjo sinergijo in inovativen pristop k iskanju rešitev med več deležniki. K temu spada tudi večja digitalizacija, vključno z uporabo satelitske in druge vesoljske tehnologije. Število poglavij v publikaciji nazorno prikazuje obsežnost in globino vojaške geoznanosti ter tudi pomen geoznanosti za pretekle, sedanje in prihodnje konflikte oziroma vojaške operacije in misije. Sedanje vojaške operacije v Ukrajini dokazujejo, da je treba upoštevati geografsko-geološke danosti okolja in da je teren še vedno eden odločilnih dejavnikov za uspeh na bojišču, ne glede na tehnološki razvoj vojaške tehnike in tehnologije. To pa je lahko tudi spodbuda za slovenske raziskovalce in tudi za Slovensko vojsko za povečanje raziskovalne dejavnosti na področju vojaške geoznanosti, še posebej glede na bogato vojaško in vojno zgodovino na geografsko oziroma geološko raznolikem ozemlju Slovenije.

In 2022, the Swiss branch of the international publishing house Springer published a book, a collection of papers entitled Military Geoscience: A Multifaceted Approach to the Study of Warfare. It consists of selected contributions by international researchers in the field of military geoscience, presented at the 13th International Conference on Military Geosciences, held in Padua in June 2019. The first paper is by the editors, Aldin Bondesan and Judy Ehlen, and provides a brief overview of understanding the concept of military geoscience as an application of geology and geography to the military domain, and the historical development of the discipline. It should also be pointed out that the International Conferences on Military Geosciences (ICMG), which organises this biennial international conference, has over the past two decades also covered other aspects, such as conflict archaeology. The publication is further divided into three parts. The first part comprises three contributions covering military geoscience up to the 20th century. The first paper, by Chris Fuhriman and Jason Ridgeway, provides an insights into the Battle of Marathon through topography visualisation. The geography of the Marathon field, the valley between Mt. Cotroni and Mt. Agrieliki, allowed the Greek defenders to nullify the advantage of the Persian cavalry and archers, who were unable to develop their full potential. This is followed by a paper by Judy Ehlen, who explores the geological background of the Anglo-British coastal fortification system along the English Channel, focusing on the Portsmouth area of Hampshire. The author thus points out that changes in artillery technology and naval tactics between the 16th and 19th centuries necessitated changes in the construction of coastal fortifications, both in terms of the form of the fortifications and the method of construction, including the choice of basic building materials, as well as the siting of the fortifications in space. The next article is then dedicated to the Monte Baldo Fortress in north-eastern Italy, between Lake Garda and the Adige River. In his article, Francesco Premi analyses the presence of the fortress in the transition area between the Germanic world and the Mediterranean, and the importance of this part of Italy (at the southernmost part of the pre-Alpine mountains) in military history, as reflected in the large number of important military and war relics and monuments. The second part of the book, which is the most comprehensive, focuses on the two World Wars and consists of nine papers. The first paper in this part provides an analysis of the operation of trench warfare training camps in the Aube region of France. The group of authors, Jérôme Brenot, Yves Desfossés, Robin Perarnau, Marc Lozano and Alain Devos, initially note that static warfare training camps have not received much attention so far. Using aerial photography of the region dating from 1948 and surviving World War II photographic material, they identified some 20 sites where soldiers of the Entente forces were trained for front-line service in trenches. Combined archaeological and sociological fieldwork followed, confirming the presence of these camps, both through preserved remains and the collective memory. The second paper in this volume also concerns the survey on trenches, located in northern Italy in the Venezia Tridentina Veneto area in northern Italy. The authors Luigi Magnini, Giulia Rovera, Armando De Guio and Giovanni Azzalin thus use digital classification methods and archaeology to determine how Italian and Austro-Hungarian First World War trenches have been preserved or, in case they have disappeared, why this was the case, both from the point of view of the natural features as well as from the anthropological point of view of the restoration of the pre-war settings. The next paper, by Paolo Macini and Paolo Sammuri, analyses the activities of the miners and pioneers of the Italian Corps of Engineers during the First World War, in particular with regard to innovative approaches to underground mine warfare. In the Dolomites, the Italian engineers, using various listening devices, drilling machinery and geophysical methods, developed a system for drilling underground mine chambers, which they intended to use and actually used to destroy parts of Austro-Hungarian positions. The paper by Elena Dai Prà, Nicola Gabellieri and Matteo Boschian Bailo concerns the Italian Army's operations during the First World War. It focuses on the use of tactical maps with emphasis on typological classification, the use of symbols, and digital cartography. The authors thus analysed the tactical maps of the Italian Third Army, which were being constantly updated by plotting the changes in positions and tactical movements of both sides. These changes were examined both in terms of the use of new symbols and the analysis of the movements. This is followed by a geographical presentation of the Italian Army's activities during the First World War. The authors Paolo Plini, Sabina Di Franco and Rosamaria Salvatori have thus collected 21,856 toponyms by analysing documents and maps. The locations were also geolocated to give an overview of the places where the Italian Army operated during the First World War. The analysis initially revealed the complexity of the events on the battlefields, but also that the sources had misidentified the places of operation, as toponyms were misidentified, especially in the case of homonyms. Consequently, the area of operation was misidentified as well. In this respect, the case of Vipava was highlighted, which can refer to both a river and a settlement. The following paper is the first on the Second World War. It is the article by H. A. P. Smith on Italian prisoners of war in South Africa. The author outlines the circumstances in which Italian soldiers arrived to and lived in the southern African continent, and the contribution they made to the local environment and the society, and the remnants of their presence preserved to the present day. In their article, William W. Doe III and Michael R. Czaja analyse the history, geography and significance of Camp Hale in the state of Colorado. In doing so, they focus on the analysis of the military organization and its impact on the local community. Camp Hale was thus the first military installation of the U.S. Army, designated to test and train U.S. soldiers in mountain and alpine warfare. It was here that the U.S. 10th Mountain Division was formed, which concluded its war path on Slovenian soil. The Division's presence in this former camp, which was in military use also after the war until 1965, and in the surrounding area is still visible through numerous monuments. This is followed by a paper by Hermann Häusler, who deals with German military geography and geology on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. A good year before the German attack on the Soviet Union, German and Austrian military geologists began an analysis of the topography, population and infrastructure of the European part of the Soviet Union, which led to a series of publications, including maps showing the suitability of the terrain for military operations. During the war, military geological teams then followed the frontline units and carried out geotechnical tasks such as water supply, construction of fortifications, supply of building materials for transport infrastructure, and analysis of the suitability of the terrain for all-terrain driving of tracked and other vehicles. The same author also authored a paper in the next chapter, this time focusing on the activities of German military geologists in the Adriatic area. Similarly to his first contribution, the author presents the work of military geologists in northern Italy and north-western Slovenia. He also focuses on the construction of fortification systems in northern Italy and presents the work of karst hunters in the Operational Zone of the Adriatic Littoral. Part 3 covers the 21st century with five different papers (chapters). The first paper by Alexander K. Stewart deals with the operations of the U.S. Army specialised teams in Afghanistan. These Agribusiness Development Teams (ADTs) carried out a specialised form of counter-guerrilla warfare in which they sought to improve the conditions for the development of local communities through agricultural assistance to the local population. In this way, they were also counteracting support for the Taliban. The author notes that, in the decade after the programme's launch, the project had only a 19% success rate. However, he stresses that such forms of civil-military cooperation should be present in future operations. The next chapter, by Francis A. Galgan, analyses the activities of modern pirates through military-geographical or geological methods. Pirates, who pose a major international security threat, are present in four regions of the world: South and South-East Asia, East Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. Building on the data on pirate attacks between 1997 and 2017, the author shows the temporal and spatial patterns of pirate activities, as well as the influence of the geography of coastal areas on their activities. This is followed by another chapter with a maritime topic. Mark Stephen Blaine discusses the geography of territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Through a presentation of international law, the strategic importance of the sea (sea lanes, natural resources) and the overlapping territorial claims of China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, the author shows the increasing level of conflict in the area and calls for the utmost efforts to be made to prevent the outbreak of hostilities or war. M. H. Bulmer's paper analyses the Turkish Armed Forces' activities in Syria from the perspective of military geology. The author focuses on the Kurdish forces' defence projects, which mainly involved the construction of gun trenches, observation towers or points, tunnels and underground facilities, as well as on the Turkish armed forces' actions against this military infrastructure. This involved both mountain and underground warfare activities. While these defensive infrastructures proved to be successful during the guerrilla warfare period, direct Turkish attacks on these installations demonstrated their vulnerability. The last chapter deals with the current operational needs and limitations of military geosciences from the perspective of the Austrian Armed Forces. Friedrich Teichmann points out that the global operational interest of states determines the need for accurate geo-data as well as geo-support in case of rapidly evolving requirements. In this context, geoscience must respond to new forms of threats, both asymmetric and cyber, at a time when resources for geospatial services are limited, which also requires greater synergy and an innovative approach to finding solutions among multiple stakeholders. This also includes increased digitisation, including the use of satellite and other space technologies. The number of chapters in the publication illustrates the breadth and depth of military geoscience, as well as the relevance of geoscience to past, present and future conflicts or military operations and missions. The current military operations in Ukraine demonstrate the need to take into account the geo-geological realities of the environment and that terrain remains one of the decisive factors for success on the battlefield, irrespective of the technological developments in military engineering and technology. This can also be an incentive for Slovenian researchers and the Slovenian Armed Forces to increase research activities in the field of military geosciences, especially in view of the rich military and war history in the geographically and geologically diverse territory of Slovenia.

Resumos escolhidos para publicação. Nessa edição, os títulos foram: Amifostina reduz ativação da MAPK p38 durante a sinalização da apoptose em células da medula óssea irradiadas in vivo; Aumento do controle do carcinoma de próstata com irradiação de vesículas seminais em pacientes de risco intermediário e de alto risco; Toxicidade urinária tardia em pacientes com carcinoma de próstata tratados com radioterapia conformada; Estudo da viabilidade de realização de braquiterapia de alta taxa de dose em próstata com utilização de anestesia local; Nanotecnologia: perspectivas de aplicações em oncologia; O enfermeiro nas orientações ao paciente submetido à radioterapia; Validação de um espectro de 6MV e 15MV para um acelerador linear Varian Clinac 2300 C/D para a utilização em planejamentos radioterápicos com simulação de Monte Carlo; O uso de TLD LiF na dosimetria in vivo em radioterapia; Avaliação do planejamento tridimensional (3D) de pacientes com prótese femoral no tratamento de câncer de próstata; Proposta de consenso de sistematização de condutas no tratamento do câncer de próstata com radioterapia conformacional em 3 dimensões; Carcinoma de pequenas células de colo de útero: relato de caso; Abordagem preventiva integrada de enfermagem e odontologia dos pacientes em radioterapia de cabeça e pescoço no Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual de São Paulo (HSPE); O câncer e a sexualidade da mulher; Câncer de mama: impactos da mastectomia; Tratamento adjuvante do câncer gástrico com radioquimioterapia: experiência da Liga Norte Rio-Grandense Contra o Câncer/LNRCC; Análise da dose na pele para o feixe de fótons de 6MV para diferentes posicionamentos clínicos; Medidas do fator rendimento para campos de elétrons colimados em tratamentos individualizados; Dosimetria pós-implante de próstata com Iodo- 125: experiência do Hospital Sírio-Libanês (SP); Braquiterapia de baixa taxa de dose no câncer de próstata; Avaliação das doses de nêutrons em aceleradores lineares clínicos; Estudo da dose no músculo cardíaco devido à radioterapia do câncer de mama; Remodelamento cardíaco em ratos wistar irradiados: uma análise temporal; Fisioterapia durante a radioterapia em mulheres em tratamento por câncer de mama; Balão retal para radioterapia de próstata - benefício ou detrimento?; Situação das instalações com PET no Brasil; Controle de qualidade de placas de SR-90 para uso dermatológico; Rede brasileira de calibração de ativímetros; Velocidade de PSA não é fator preditivo significante na evolução do câncer de próstata em população heterogênea; Avaliação preliminar de pacientes com câncer de próstata submetidos à 3D-CRT; Dosimetria para construção do filtro utilizado em radioterapia intra-operatória de mama; Análise da distribuição de dose para a utilização de materiais superficializadores em feixes de elétrons; Efeitos adversos tardios da radioterapia na função sexual feminina; Uma sucinta determinação de desempenho de uma unidade de teleterapia de quilovoltagem - "Stabilipam II Siemens”; Avaliação de margens no planejamento tridimensional de câncer de pulmão; Comparação entre planejamentos convencional e conformacional utilizados em tratamento de tumores de cabeça e pescoço com invasão de cavidade nasal; Modelo em ratos Wistar para avaliação morfológica de efeitos cardíacos radioinduzidos; Radioterapia conformacional nos adenocarcinomas de próstata - experiência da Liga Norte Rio-Grandense Contra o Câncer; Avaliação imunológica em pacientes com câncer de mama tratados com quimioterapia e radioterapia; Avaliação dos danos em SNC causados pela radioterapia através da quantificação de transferência de magnetização; Respostas celulares ao estresse genotóxico causado pela radiação ionizante em linhagens de glioma proficientes e mutantes para o gene TP53; Construção de uma fonte de referência de dosimetria, utilizando placa de 90Sr da rotina do serviço de radioterapia; Verificação de dose em radioterapia de câncer de cabeça e pescoço utilizando dosimetria termoluminescente; Diferentes técnicas de tratamento da fossa supraclavicular avaliadas por dosimetria termoluminescente; Comparação da distribuição de dose para campos alargados e irregulares em acelerador linear de 10 MV; Radioterapia conformacional em adenoma de hipófise: experiência do serviço de radioterapia do HC-FMRP-USP; Como reduzir os custos financeiros de um serviço de radioterapia em uma oficina de moldagem; Influência da colimação usada em campos de elétrons para a complementação de dose em região cervical posterior; Cálculo de Monte Carlo para a determinação da atividade de fonte de 192Ir imersa em Solução Fricke; Paracoccidiodomicose linfático-abdominal simulando neoplasia primária das vias biliares; Câncer de testículo: dose testicular na irradiação abdominopélvica e paraaórtica; Dose testicular durante radioterapia conformacional em 3 dimensões (RTC3D) de câncer de próstata (CAProst); Braquiterapia de alta taxa de dose no tratamento de tumor de colo uterino com envolvimento vaginal distal e resposta completa à radioterapia externa: qual a dose e a extensão vaginal necessárias no tratamento?; Análise do sistema de tratamento de malformação arteriovenosa com radiocirurgia; Perfil dos atendimentos de radioterapia de urgência no Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA); Cuidados de radioterapia em paciente com obesidade mórbida e adenocarcinoma de endométrio; Planejamento radioterápico com campos moduladores para o câncer de mama; Avaliação retrospectiva da eficácia da radioterapia como segunda linha neo-adjuvante em pacientes com câncer de mama localmente avançado que falharam ao tratamento primário com antraciclínicos; Câncer de mama em homens: análise de 66 casos; Cutaneous metastasis from renal cell carcinoma: a case report; Radioterapia com intensidade modulada (IMRT) em câncer de colo uterino: regressão e mobilidade tumoral; Correlação entre achados de ressonância magnética pélvica pré-operatória e peça cirúrgica em pacientes com neoplasia de colo uterino: estudo preliminar; Estudo comparativo nas técnicas de tratamentos radioterápicos convencional e conformacional em pacientes com neoplasia gástrica; Verificação da função de anisotropia da fonte de 192Ir utilizada pelo sistema de planejamento de braquiterapia; Radioterapia em tumores sincrônicos de bexiga e próstata: comparação entre planejamento conformacional e radioterapia com intensidade modulada (IMRT); Avaliação das alterações no desenvolvimento dentário após irradiação em crianças com rabdomiossarcoma [RMS] de cabeça e pescoço [CP]; Estudo sobre a reutilização do cerrobend; Linfoma cutâneo: irradiação de toda a pele; Radiocirurgia com acelerador linear: experiência do Hospital Araújo Jorge de 158 pacientes utilizando Sistema de Microlâminas Brainlab®; Objeto simulador (Phantom) antropomórfico para o controle de qualidade de radiocirurgia estereotáxica; Avaliação postal com TLD para a radiocirurgia; Resultados preliminares do uso de heterojunções de polianilina-silício em dosimetria; Desenvolvimento de um plugin para planejamento computadorizado de tratamentos com campos de radiação irregulares; Determinação de distribuições de doses radioterápicas através de dosimetria termoluminescente e simulação Monte Carlo; Alças intestinais na proximidade do volume de planejamento de radioterapia conformacional de câncer de próstata: uma inclusão subestimada; Perfis de campos filtrados para feixes de fótons de 6MV medidos com o Dosímetro Fricke Gel modificado; Determinação das doses administradas em irradiação de corpo inteiro e estudo de uma metodologia para dosimetria in vivo em radioterapia; Medida de dose de nêutrons em labirintos de salas de aceleradores lineares médicos; Calibração de dosímetros TL em feixes de elétrons aplicados à radioterapia; Simulação da distribuição de doses absorvidas pelo coração de ratos tipo Wistar utilizando o código MCNP.

Caríssimos(as) leitores(as). A Geoingá: Revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia (PGE) da Universidade Estadual de Maringá (UEM) apresenta a publicação do segundo número do 12º volume. Com essa publicação, a revista encerra este ano, que embora tão conturbado teve a conquista de implantação do DOI em suas publicações. Neste número temos oito artigos, além da entrevista. No primeiro artigo, Silva e Ludka enfatizam o turismo pedagógico como ferramenta para o Ensino de Geografia, tendo como cenário o Santuário de São Miguel Arcanjo no município de Bandeirantes, estado do Paraná. Para as autoras, o turismo pedagógico se tornou uma importante ferramenta no Ensino da Geografia para estudar e compreender os fenômenos sociais, culturais que ocorrem no espaço e que transformam a paisagem. Santos e Rocha, no segundo artigo, debatem o fluxo de mobilidade escolar do Aglomerado Urbano de Maringá e a sua articulação com as principais Políticas Públicas Educacionais. Os autores consideram que os principais estímulos à mobilidade escolar são as Políticas Públicas Educacionais que proporcionam o ingresso de jovens e adultos à rede superior de ensino. Na sequência, Soares e Ferreira, apresentam aspectos biogeográficos relacionados à vegetação arbórea nas vias públicas no município de Maringá-PR, a partir de uma escala temporal entre os anos de 1940 e 2015. Segundo os autores, o processo de arborização viária de Maringá, a partir do plantio original no Plano Piloto, seguiu a dimensão estética da floração e passou a priorizar o aspecto do sombreamento, amenizar a temperatura e oportunizar qualidade de vida no ambiente urbano aos seus citadinos. O quarto artigo, de Eduvirgem, Parolin e Villwock, apresenta a aplicação do Índice de Vegetação por Diferença Normalizada (NDVI) e o Índice de Vegetação ajustado ao Solo (SAVI), no Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, localizado no município de Ponta Grossa, Paraná. Assim, os autores avaliaram a cobertura vegetal, com a finalidade de verificar se houve degradação da vegetação, regeneração ou mesmo nenhuma alteração com base em imagens Lansat correspondentes a julho de 2007, 2013 e 2019. Com os resultados, os autores do artigo recomendam que as avaliações espaciais sejam continuadas para verificação das alterações e do desenvolvimento da vegetação, tanto do estrato herbáceo quanto dos estratos superiores. Em seguida, Albertin, Silva e Viotto avaliaram o aterro sanitário da cidade de Sarandi-PR, a fim de apontar potencialidades e fragilidades. Segundo os autores, até meados do ano de 2006 a cidade de Sarandi-PR depositava seus resíduos sólidos urbanos em um lixão a céu aberto, então, no ano de 2008, deu-se início a um projeto para a instalação de um Aterro Sanitário no município, de responsabilidade de uma empresa privada. Já Bertolino e Bortolo, no sexto artigo, refletem acerca da mobilidade urbana na vertente das calçadas como espaços de uso público a partir de uma análise de determinados locais na cidade de Montes Claros-MG. Nas observações empíricas, os autores constataram que muitos espaços não obedecem às normas e aos critérios municipais e federais no que se refere à calçada corretamente construída. O sétimo artigo, Viceli demonstra as dinâmicas geoeconômicas da cadeia produtiva do suco de laranja na Mesorregião do Norte Pioneiro do Paraná e a sua relação com o capital de crédito oriundo do Bando Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES). Os resultados apontam, segundo o autor, para novas dinâmicas geoeconômicas na região a partir da implantação da planta industrial de processamento de suco de laranja da Cooperativa Integrada em Uraí e a dinamização de demais elementos da referida cadeia no Norte Pioneiro e em outras localidades do Paraná e do Estado de São Paulo. Por fim, Schmitt, busca identificar os principais conteúdos de Geografia em que a Educação Ambiental é trabalhada nas Escolas do Campo pertencentes ao Núcleo Regional de Educação de Francisco Beltrão. Segundo a autora, não se pode pensar em mudar a Escola do Campo apenas teoricamente no Projeto Político Pedagógico, mas tanto a escola como o professor precisam ter clareza na opção político-pedagógica que referencia os seus saberes e práticas educativas. Logo, Schmitt entende que a formação política pedagógica do professor se apresenta em sua intencionalidade e finalidade e é o que caracteriza decisivamente sua práxis. A seção Conversa na sala do café chega à sétima entrevista. Nesta edição, o Prof. Dr. Pedro Henrique Carnevalli Fernandes entrevistou a Profa. Dra. Jaqueline Telma Vercezi, docente do Departamento de Geociências da Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), estudiosa da temática metropolitana. Desejamos que este número da Revista Geoingá promova inquietações e reflexões acerca do espaço geográfico e, de modo geral, sobre a condição em que nos encontramos quando esta edição é publicada. Boa leitura! Cuidem-se! Maringá (PR), 11 de dezembro de 2020.

It is well-recorded that nuclear attacks happened twice in history, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but it is often overlooked that nuclear explosions were more frequent, with over 2,000 tests taking place in more than 60 locations worldwide. These special circumstances prompted the General Assembly to adopt a comprehensive ban treaty (CTBT) in 1996, which has yet to enter into force. Borrowing from Kelman’s social conformity theory, this article explains how and why states chose to conform to a non-binding agreement. It argues that, as interested parties developed an anti-testing narrative that seemed simultaneously hopeful and realistic, they stabilized actor’s reaction and catalyzed a shift in attitudes towards nuclear testing from forbearance to an authoritative global moratorium, which accounts for the complete eradication of the atmospheric experiments. C’est un fait bien établi que l’histoire a connu deux attaques nucléaires, à Hiroshima et Nagasaki. Ce que l’on sait moins, c’est que les explosions nucléaires étaient bien plus fréquentes, avec plus de 2 000 tests effectués sur une soixantaine de sites de par le monde. Ces circonstances particulières ont poussé l’Assemblée générale des Nations unies à adopter, en 1996, un traité d’interdiction complète des essais nucléaires (TICE), qui n’est pas encore entré en vigueur. S’inspirant de la théorie du conformisme social de Kelman, cet article explique comment et pourquoi des États ont choisi de respecter un accord non contraignant. Il avance que, à mesure que les parties intéressées développaient un discours anti-essais nucléaires qui paraissait à la fois réaliste et porteur d’espoir, elles ont stabilisé les réactions des acteurs et déclenché un changement des mentalités à l’égard des essais nucléaires, passant de l’indulgence à un moratoire général faisant autorité, ce qui explique la disparition complète des essais atmosphériques. Het is algemeen bekend dat er in de geschiedenis twee kernaanvallen zijn geweest, in Hiroshima en Nagasaki, maar vaak wordt over het hoofd gezien dat er nog andere kernexplosies hebben plaatsgevonden, met ruim 2000 proeven op meer dan 60 locaties over de hele wereld. Deze bijzondere omstandigheden hebben de Algemene Vergadering ertoe aangezet om in 1996 een alomvattend verbodsverdrag (CTBT) goed te keuren, dat nog steeds niet in werking is getreden. Aan de hand van de sociale-conformiteitstheorie van Kelman wordt in dit artikel uitgelegd hoe en waarom staten ervoor kiezen zich te conformeren aan een niet-bindende overeenkomst. Het betoogt dat, naarmate de betrokken partijen een narratief tegen kernproeven ontwikkelden dat tegelijk hoopvol en realistisch leek, zij de reactie van de actoren stabiliseerden en als katalysator werkten voor de verschuiving in de houding ten opzichte van kernproeven van gedoging naar een wereldwijd officieel moratorium, wat de volledige uitroeiing van de atmosferische experimenten verklaart. Está bien documentado que los ataques nucleares han sucedido dos veces en la historia, en Hiroshima y Nagasaki, pero en ocasiones pasa desapercibido que las explosiones nucleares han sido más frecuentes, con más de 2.000 ensayos llevándose a cabo en más de 60 emplazamientos a escala mundial. Estas circunstancias especiales llevaron a la Asamblea General a adoptar el tratado de prohibición completa (TPCEN) en 1996, el cual aun no ha entrado en vigor. Basándose en la teoría de la conformidad social de Kelman, este artículo explica cómo y porqué los Estados eligieron conformarse con un acuerdo no vinculante. Se argumenta que a medida que las partes interesadas desarrollaron una narrativa anti-ensayo que parecía esperanzadora y realista a la vez, ello mismo llevó a apaciguar la posible reacción de los actores y a catalizar un cambio en relación a los ensayos nucleares que fuera de la tolerancia a una moratoria global fidedigna, lo cual equivale a una completa erradicación de los experimentos atmosféricos. É ben noto che nella storia siano avvenuti due attacchi nucleari, a Hiroshima e Nagasaki, ma è spesso trascurato che le esplosioni nucleari siano state molto più frequenti, con oltre 2000 test che hanno avuto luogo in più di 60 sedi nel mondo. Queste circostanze speciali hanno indotto l'Assemblea generale nel 1996, ad adottare un trattato di messa al bando globale (CTBT), che deve ancora entrare in vigore. Prendendo spunto dalla teoria della conformità sociale di Kelman, questo articolo spiega come e perché gli Stati hanno scelto di conformarsi a un accordo non vincolante. Sostiene che, dato che le parti interessate hanno sviluppato una narrativa anti-test che sembrava allo stesso tempo speranzosa e realistica, esse hanno stabilizzato la reazione degli attori e catalizzato un cambiamento negli atteggiamenti nei confronti dei test nucleari dalla tolleranza a un'autorevole moratoria globale, che spiega la completa eliminazione degli esperimenti atmosferici. Es ist bekannt, dass es in der Geschichte zweimal zu nuklearen Angriffen kam, in Hiroshima und Nagasaki. Es wird aber oft übersehen, dass es häufiger nukleare Explosionen gegeben hat, mit über 2.000 Tests an mehr als 60 Orten weltweit. Diese besonderen Umstände veranlassten die Generalversammlung 1996 zur Verabschiedung eines umfassenden Verbotsvertrags (CTBT), der noch nicht in Kraft getreten ist. In Anlehnung an die soziale Konformitätstheorie von Kelman erklärt dieser Artikel, wie und warum Staaten sich dafür entschieden haben, sich einem unverbindlichen Abkommen zu fügen. Er argumentiert, dass je nachdem die beteiligten Parteien ein Anti-Test-Narrativ entwickelten, das gleichzeitig hoffnungsvoll und realistisch erschien, diese die Reaktion der Akteure stabilisierten und eine Verschiebung in der Haltung gegenüber Atomtests von der Duldung zu einem autoritativen globalen Moratorium herbeiführten, was die vollständige Abschaffung der atmosphärischen Experimente erklärt.

Nel presente lavoro viene descritta Halbherria carlini nuova specie del massiccio del Monte Baldo, appartenente ad un genere di Cholevidae leptodirinae finora noto del settore delle Prealpi Venete compreso tra i fiumi Brenta e adige. La scoperta di Halbherria sul M. Baldo riapre la discussione sul ruolo di “barriera” della Valle dell’adige, che potrebbe essere stata superata da parte dei precursori di alcuni taxa alla fine del Pliocene, comunque anteriormente alle glaciazioni pleistoceniche, quando l’assetto idrografico della valle era diverso dall’attuale.

Abstract Alopecia areata, one or more round bald patches appear suddenly, most often on the scalp. It can affect males and females at any age. It starts in childhood in about 50%, and before the age of 40 years in 80%. The exact mechanism is not yet understood. There is not yet any reliable cure for alopecia areata. Several topical treatments used for alopecia areata are reported to result in temporary improvement in some people. Their role and efficacy are unknown. Injections of triamcinolone acetonide 2.5–10 mg/ml into patchy scalp, its efficacy is temporary. Oral and pulse intravenous steroids in high dose can lead to temporary regrowth of hair. The sensitisers diphenylcyclopropenone provoke hair growth in treated areas Now, superficial cryotheray is introduced as a possible treatment for Alopecia Areata. With minimial side effects and being less painful. So, this study clarifies the therapeutic efficacy and safety of superficial cryotherapy for treatment of patchy Alopecia areata. Aim of the study The aim of the study is to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of Superficial Cryotherapy and Intralesional corticosteroids in the treatment of patchy Alopecia Areata. Patients and methods study included 20 patients complaining of Alopecia Areata. 3 patches of scalp alopecia areata will be randomly subjected to either superficial cryotherapy twice monthly for 3 months (3 cycles, 2-3 seconds) or intralesional steroid injections once monthly for 3 months (triaminoclone acetonide 1:7, 1ml) or intralesional saline (1 ml). Assessment for the response to treatment will be done at one month and three month following treatment by digital photography and by phototrichogram by comparing number of Terminal, and vellus and hair thickness, Also assessment for side effects of therapy will be done. Results Patients treated with TCA showed statistically significant high response compared to patients treated with cryotherapy. Also, side effects assessment showed minimal side effects with treatment with TCA compared to cryotherapy. Conclusion TCA treatment of alopecia areata is much tolerable than treatment with cryotherapy with also better response rates.

Zusammenfassung Einleitung Der demografische Wandel in der Gesellschaft und innerhalb der Ärzteschaft ebenso wie sich ändernde gesellschaftliche Vorstellungen und Normen in Bezug auf das Verhältnis von Beruf und Freizeit führen zu Herausforderungen in der Arbeitsplatzgestaltung im Krankenhaus. Daneben steht die Organisation der ärztlichen Weiterbildung unter dem zunehmenden Einfluss einer sich immer weiter spezialisierenden Medizin sowie einer zunehmenden Ökonomisierung der ärztlichen Tätigkeit. Vor diesem Hintergrund haben wir junge Ärztinnen und Ärzte in der pneumologischen Weiterbildung zu verschiedenen Aspekten der Weiterbildungsqualität und Arbeitsorganisation befragt. Methoden Von September bis November 2019 wurde über 2 Monate eine Online-Befragung junger Pneumologinnen und Pneumologen durchgeführt. Die Aufforderung zur Teilnahme wurde über wiederholte E-Mails (initiale E-Mail und 2 Erinnerungen nach 2 und 6 Wochen) durch die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pneumologie (DGP) bzw. den Bund deutscher Pneumologen (BdP) versendet. Der Fragebogen umfasste 7 Themenbereiche und maximal 62 Fragen. Neben eigens entwickelten Fragen, die sich an ähnlichen Befragungen anderer Fachdisziplinen orientierten, wurde auch das Modell beruflicher Gratifikationskrisen zur Messung psychosozialer Arbeitsbelastung angewendet (16 Fragen). Ergebnisse An der Befragung nahmen n = 224 Teilnehmer teil (33,8 ± 4,5 Jahre alt, 5,4 ± 2,9 Weiterbildungsjahr, 54,4 % weiblich, 86,8 % mit deutscher Nationalität). Etwas weniger als die Hälfte der Befragten (n = 103, 46 %) gab an, mit den Arbeitsbedingungen grundsätzlich zufrieden zu sein, n = 60 (27 %) zeigten sich unentschlossen. Die hingegen eher oder sehr unzufriedenen Teilnehmer gaben als hauptsächliche Gründe für ihre Unzufriedenheit eine hohe zeitliche Arbeitsbelastung, Arbeitszeitverdichtung (Zeitdruck) sowie eine fehlende Ausrichtung der Arbeitsabläufe an den Bedürfnissen der ärztlichen Berufsgruppe an. Trotz der überwiegenden Zufriedenheit ergab der Gratifikationsquotient (ER-Ratio) für die Mehrheit der Teilnehmer (n = 166; 88,3 %) ein ungünstiges Verhältnis von erbrachtem Aufwand zu erfahrener Belohnung (adjustierter Durchschnittswert 1,89 ± 2,18). Diskussion Im europäischen und internationalen Vergleich verfügt das deutsche Gesundheitssystem nicht nur über eine hohe Qualität der Patientenversorgung, sondern auch der Arbeitsplatzqualität. Steigende Ansprüche an die Beschäftigten und ihre Auswirkung im Sinne einer Gratifikationskrise stellen allerdings nicht nur eine Gefahr für die Gesundheit und Leistungsfähigkeit der angestellten Ärztinnen und Ärzte dar, sondern können auch die Attraktivität des Berufs reduzieren und Abwanderung in andere Tätigkeitsfelder oder Länder begünstigen. Gerade in der Pneumologie, einem Fach mit stetig wachsender Bedeutung in der klinischen Versorgung, ist die Sicherung eines pneumologischen Nachwuchses von besonderer Bedeutung, und beeinflussbare Faktoren bez. der Arbeitsplatzgestaltung und Weiterbildungsqualität sollten deshalb so gut und so bald wie möglich positiv gestaltet werden. Die Ergebnisse der hier durchgeführten Befragung können den Weiterbildungsverantwortlichen und Entscheidern im Gesundheitssystem helfen, die notwendigen Maßnahmen möglichst nah an den tatsächlichen Bedürfnissen der Zielgruppe, der nachwachsenden Ärzteschaft, zu orientieren.

Ni siquiera el primer Presidente del Ecuador nació en nuestro país. Juan José Flores, venezolano de nacimiento casado con Mercedes Jijón, (dama de la aristocracia Quiteña), fue un gran aliado para lograr la libertad del país. Pero fue un “outsider”, característica que ha marcado las tendencias políticas de nuestra historia, desde la Fundación del Ecuador. La desconfianza que de ahí surge suscita, a su vez, problemas de identidad y supone un impedimento para la creación de una cultura política propia que esté bien arraigada y se apegue a lo que nosotros en realidad somos y a cómo funcionamos.Cultura e identidad política¿Qué es cultura política? Según Arturo Fernández, una serie de conceptos fundamentales en una sociedad que explica cómo el sistema político interno funciona bajo creencias, concepciones, sentimientos y evaluaciones de un pueblo, basándose en un conjunto de objetos propiamente políticos[1]. Se construye bajo los tópicos de poder, influencia y autoridad, mientras que también existe la contraparte, que viene a ser la resistencia y la rebelión. Este ‘set’ de conceptos le da direccionalidad y sentido “…A la cultura cívica, valga decir, a una forma específica de cultura política que condicionaría o facilitaría el desarrollo y el funcionamiento de los sistemas democráticos. Pero al mismo tiempo, para adquirir un claro estatuto en el discurso científico, el concepto de cultura política requiere convertirse en un instrumento neutro, que sirva para analizar o investigar la diversidad de esas matrices culturales que permiten orientar la actividad política en una sociedad en un momento dado”[2], ¿Cómo crear una cultura política fuerte y duradera en una nación? Lo primordial es educar a la sociedad. En nuestro país, éste es un reto significativo debido a la falta de acceso a la misma, sea en un sistema público o privado. Pero es la educación el elemento fundamental para que la sociedad aprenda a formar criterios y argumentos para defender su punto de vista. Es, también, esencial para la organización en grupos, lo que a su vez fomenta la discusión y el debate, generando mayor conocimiento y apertura hacia los criterios de otras personas.En particular, la formación del criterio es imprescindible para que el pueblo aprenda a discernir qué puede ser plausible y qué no, evitando caer en los mismos errores. En este sentido, cabe destacar la tendencia de los ecuatorianos a elegir candidatos que no están preparados y que muchas veces solo persiguen perpetuarse en el poder, poniendo en peligro el bienestar de todo el país. Asimismo, el fortalecimiento de la reflexión lo mantendría firme en su lineamiento político. El objetivo que éste persigue es evitar las innumerables instancias en que un individuo de izquierda, por ejemplo, cambia de bando a la derecha cuando su candidato le ofrece “el oro y el moro”, vendiendo su postura ideológica por premios o tratos. Al defender las creencias frente a la politiquería, se podrían evitar fenómenos como el famoso “Camisetazo”*.El efecto de la cultura política en la formación de un paísPara comprender mejor qué es cultura política, tomemos a los EstadosUnidos como ejemplo. En ese país, según autores como WJ Mackenzie y Femando Barrientos del Monte, existe una tendencia hacia el centro, en la cual se mantiene la posición política, independientemente de las circunstancias; es decir, todo aquel que es republicano siempre será republicano y todo aquel que es demócrata siempre será demócrata. Esto se refleja en las elecciones presidenciales[4]; ciertos estados siempre serán azules (demócratas) y ciertos estados serán siempre rojos (republicanos). Este sistema surgió tras un proceso largo y extenuante, impulsado desde el sistema central de gobierno cuyo rol, en este caso, consistía en fortalecer la educación de calidad para la consolidación de la cultura política. Como lo expresan autores como Albuquerque, la educación se convierte así en el patrón central para desarrollar y crear cultura política en los individuos que carecen de ella.Tomando en cuenta la escasa educación de calidad en nuestro país, podemos afirmar que la cultura política ecuatoriana es inexistente. Este hecho impide la formación de parámetros firmemente definidos para defender aquella postura que más se acerca a lo que realmente pensamos. Mientras no poseamos la capacidad de crear bloques fuertes que sustenten las posturas promulgadas, nuestra cultura política estará destinada al fracaso y la sociedad continuará saltando de un bloque a otro dependiendo de lo que convenga más, tomando nuestra política aún más inestable e incierta.ConclusionesComo ecuatorianos, solemos pensar más en el corto que en el largo plazo. Por ello nos basta recibir las simples dádivas de los candidatos o actuales mandatarios, nos quedamos felices y permitimos que se abusen y pisoteen nuestra voluntad ciudadana. El Ecuador poseerá una cultura política fuerte cuando logremos construir y pulir nuestro criterio y el de los futuros participantes de las elecciones, fortaleciendo una consciencia que tome en cuenta no sólo el presente, sino también el futuro, con ambición y ánimos de salir adelante. Cada bloque defenderá su postura, cada persona la consolidará y la protegerá con pasión fundamentada y criterio argumentado, propio.Para llegar allá necesitamos fortalecer y expandir la cobertura de nuestro sistema de educación, así como promover la calidad para motivar a los ecuatorianos a culiminar, por lo menos, sus estudios de secundaria. Y, poco a poco, ir elevando la barra y cultivando en la población el deseo de completar y alcanzar mayores niveles de estudio. Es así como podremos convertimos en personas más cultas; con más cultura empezaremos a apegamos más a lo que verdaderamente creemos y sentimos.

Rodrigo Sarmiento es licenciado en Historia del Arte y candidato a magíster en Literatura Peruana y Latinoamericana por la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Perú. Su tesis de licenciatura, “Felipe Pinglo y la canción criolla. Estudio estilístico de la obra musical del Bardo Inmortal”, ganó el Premio a la Investigación 2018 otorgado por el Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Posgrado y fue publicada por el Fondo Editorial de esta casa de estudios. Es también autor del libro encargado por el Ministerio de Cultura, Llegó rasgando cielos, luz y viento. Vida y obra de Chabuca Granda, para celebrar el centenario del nacimiento de la compositora peruana, así como de diversos artículos y ponencias que giran en torno a la música peruana y su historia cultural. Actualmente, se encuentra investigando sobre la canción popular americana de finales del siglo XIX e inicios del siglo XX, en el marco del programa de Doctorado en Música con mención en Etnomusicología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Natalia Elisa Díaz es Licenciada en Sociología por la Universidad Siglo XXI, especialista en estudios de performance y Doctora en Ciencias Antropológicas por la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. Desarrolla tareas de investigación en el Instituto de Humanidades de la misma universidad. Además, se desempeña como productora de contenidos en línea para el Instituto Superior de Estudios Pedagógicos de la provincia de Córdoba. Sus áreas de investigación abarcan los estudios socio-antropológicos sobre músicas populares, en especial, le interesan los procesos de creación de sentido en la producción y recepción del folklore argentino desde una perspectiva socio-discursiva. Actualmente trabaja sobre las culturas afectivas en el campo del folklore y el rock argentino desde los estudios de performances y el género. Gimena Pacheco es maestranda en Antropología Social por la Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Argentina. Es música, etnomusicóloga, profesora de artes en música y miembro del equipo de investigación de la sección Etnohistoria del Instituto de Ciencias Antropológicas, UBA. Participa en dos proyectos de Investigación UBACyT y PICT, que abordan los usos y apropiaciones en torno al culto a la Virgen de Copacabana en Argentina, siglos XIX al XXI. Sus investigaciones han estado centradas en las prácticas musicales y performáticas vinculadas con procesos de (re)definiciones identitarias en Argentina, enmarcados en el área de los estudios etnomusicológicos contemporáneos con perspectiva antropológica. Actualmente investiga los procesos de apropiación de la música folklórica involucrados en la construcción de identidades étnico-nacionales con foco en el Noroeste argentino. Becaria del Fondo Nacional de las Artes, (2019) y del Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, Argentina (2020/21). Luciano Oyarzún es antropólogo por la Universidad de Concepción (2014) y magíster en musicología latinoamericana por la Universidad Alberto Hurtado (2018). Su formación académica está complementada con estudios particulares de música, participando en proyectos locales como Pichicahuin y Concepción 14, lo que le otorga un campo de observación privilegiado en su área de investigación en música popular. Ha colaborado con el colectivo Historia Mapuche de la ciudad de Concepción en el área etnomusicológica y lleva a cabo investigaciones arqueomusicológicas con aerófonos líticos del wallmapu, a partir de las colecciones CAP del laboratorio de arqueología de la Universidad de Concepción y la muestra de aerófonos líticos del MHNCO. Actualmente se desempeña como músico e investigador de música popular chilena. Aníbal Fuentealba Acuña es sociólogo por la Universidad ARCIS, magister en sociología y diplomado en estudios de música popular por la Universidad Alberto Hurtado. Docente e investigador independiente en temas de sociología de la música, en particular vinculado a temáticas de género, política y movimientos sociales, además ha trabajado en metodologías de investigación cualitativa. Se desempeñó como coordinador de proyectos y en el archivo de la Fundación Víctor Jara por más de diez años. Luis Pérez Valero es doctorando en música por la Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, compositor, musicólogo, director de orquesta, docente y productor musical. Posee un máster universitario en música española e hispanoamericana por la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2012), un magíster en música por la Universidad Simón Bolívar (2009) y una licenciatura en música, mención composición por IUDEM-UNEARTE (2005). Como investigador ha publicado los libros Producción musical. Pedagogía e investigación en artes (2020) y El discurso tropical. Industrias culturales y producción musical (2018), así como artículos en diversas revistas arbitradas. Como compositor su obra es publicada y distribuida por la editorial estadounidense Cayambis Music Press. Es docente e investigador de la Universidad de las Artes del Ecuador en Guayaquil. Néstor Dueñas-Torres es Magister en Musicología por la Universidad Nacional de Colombia y egresado del programa de Music Business y Recording Arts de Full Sail University. Fue chelista de la Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil de Colombia y bajista en grupos de música popular; actualmente toca tiple. Ha compuesto música para documentales y tiene experiencia en producción musical, postproducción de audio para audiovisuales, diseño de sonido y sonido directo. Actualmente investiga temas relacionados con la industria cultural, el rock en español y la historia de la música. También es docente y administra su estudio de grabación. Además, colabora con el manejo de redes, produce y edita los podcasts de la Maestría en Musicología de la Universidad Nacional, y es miembro de la IMS –International Musicological Society–. María Jesús Silva es Licenciada en Educación y Pedagogía en Música por la Facultad de Artes y Educación Física de la Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación de Santiago de Chile. Actualmente opta al título de Profesora de Música con una memoria vinculada a cancioneros del siglo XX como herramienta pedagógica. Es guitarrista y cantante de la banda Sargento Merkén www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZQbIuEag8U Javier Paredes es Magister en Musicología Latinoamericana por la Universidad Alberto Hurtado y Licenciado en Música por la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile con mención en Interpretación en Guitarra Clásica y Musicología. Su área de interés está enfocada en los estudios en música popular, específicamente, el desarrollo de géneros musicales en Chile y el análisis musical. Ha trabajado como ayudante de investigación en proyectos Fondecyt relacionados con la música popular chilena y publicado artículos en revistas académicas y medios independientes. Sus investigaciones recientes están enfocadas en la emergencia y desarrollo del Nuevo Pop Chileno en los años ochenta y el análisis musical del LP Pájaros de Arcilla de la banda chilena de fusión Congreso. Este número fue arbitrado por Agustín Ruiz, Alejandro Gana, Ana María Alarcón, Eileen Karmy, Ignacia Cortés, Jaime Camilo Ramírez, Javier A. Silva-Zurita, Juan Carlos Poveda, Juan David Luján, María de los Ángeles Montes, Martín Farías, Renato Romero y Viviana Silva.

En Occident, la ruse (en tant que raison raisonnée, délibérée, contextuelle) fut progressivement, et surtout depuis Descartes, reléguée aux oubliettes d’une rationalité calculatrice, économique, quantitative. La raison rusée semble survivre, dans nos sociétés, à la périphérie des rapports sociaux, de manière indicible, voir inaudible, car nous n’aurions plus les mots pour en saisir les vertus. Déclassée, bien souvent considérée comme suspecte face aux principes de la démocratie, nous en avons perdu la compréhension, à la suite d’un rapprochement analogique entre la ruse et l’idée de mal. Ainsi, dans la Grèce antique, la raison possédait à la fois un volet d’une intelligence pratique rusée, la Mètis (Detienne et Vernant 1974), considérée comme un support du politique, et un autre fait de rationalité calculatrice. Progressivement l’esprit de calcul triomphera du raisonnable et deviendra le mode de pensée hégémonique en Occident (Latouche 2004). La bonne ruse, soit celle qui était impliquée dans la gestion de la Cité (Vernant et Vidal-Naquet 1992) et donc dans la politique, a été considérée comme une pratique obsolète : floue et ambiguë, la ruse serait devenue indigne de la raison. Dès lors en Occident, les seules ruses reconnues seraient plutôt les fourberies. Celles-ci prennent la forme de calculs, de stratégies et d’abus. L’intelligence rusée se retrouve ici au service d’une efficacité sans principe éthique, c’est-à-dire sans discernement ni prudence. Dans ce sens, la fourberie a fréquemment rendez-vous avec la corruption et les pratiques maffieuses. Si la trajectoire du concept de ruse tend à dévoiler une tension entre deux types de raison, elle exprime aussi une tension entre deux épistémologies. Courtois-l’Heureux (2009) pointe dans les travaux de Certeau une manière particulière d’envisager les phénomènes sociaux. La ruse, en tant que concept analytique, rompt avec une épistémologie quantitative. Face aux approches statistiques et sociologiques de sociétés aux facettes supposées quantifiables, la ruse introduit le détournement, rompt la verticalité définissant l’axe de propagation d’une « culture » sur des individus. Si la ruse parait comme l’opposé et l’opposant de la rationalité, c’est que là où cette dernière veut encadrer les phénomènes, la première s’en joue et les déjoue. Elle introduit dans l’analyse le contextuel, le local, le particulier, la déclinaison. Elle focalise sur la manière dont les individus usent « d’arts de faire » au quotidien, détournent, se dérobent, se jouent, bricolent avec ce qui semble s’imposer à eux. Elle s’intéresse à toutes les distorsions que les locaux, en sourdine, font subir à tout ce qui leur échappe en apparence. La ruse rattache ainsi chaque phénomène au local, focalise l’attention sur les déclinaisons particulières ; elle se concentre sur le contexte, sur la vitalité et la créativité d’un détournement. La ruse enclenche une approche pragmatique des manières de faire et de dire (ou de ne pas faire et de ne pas dire). En cela, la ruse est un concept susceptible d’éclairer de multiples réalités. Cela parce qu’elle se niche dans de nombreuses pratiques, quotidiennes ou occasionnelles. Elle est l’art de jouer avec l’inattendu. Elle est dissimulée dans les rapports sociaux, et peut être explicite dans des récits cosmogoniques, reconnue comme le trait archétypique de certains animaux ou d’êtres mythologiques ; elle peut motiver une attitude particulière envers des divinités, voire encore opérer dans une relation maîtrisée et silencieuse avec la nature (Artaud 2013). Ainsi, si on ruse avec le fort (ou le plus fort que soi) – souvent pour tourner sa force contre lui-même – on ruse en général avec tout ce qui parait se passer de nous pour fonctionner et se mettre en place. Mais c’est sa dimension politique qu’elle évoque le plus spontanément, éclairant d’un jour singulier les usages populaires du pouvoir. La ruse se tisse en effet dans l’ombre des hiérarchies sociales et donc du pouvoir. À l’instar du don qui survit à l’échange marchand (sur le rapport entre don, dette et ruse, voir Laurent 1998), la ruse semble résister aux effets de la globalisation. La ruse populaire, de nature tactique, largement spontanée, indicible, voire parfois inconsciente, ne peut pas être assimilée tout de go à de la fourberie mal intentionnée. Il doit exister une différence irréductible entre l’idée de la ruse digne, comprise ici comme un détournement, dans le sens de « tourner dans une autre direction » et la corruption qui renvoie à un enrichissement personnel à partir d’une place d’autorité (Laurent 2000). La ruse populaire participe pleinement à la construction de l’identité des groupes dominés, comme une manière originale de traiter avec le pouvoir et d’accéder à des ressources. Ceci renvoie à une façon de se mouvoir dans un environnement qui n’est pas possédé en propre (de Certeau 1990, 1994) ; que fait-on, lorsque l’espoir d’accéder aux biens de consommation est grand, mais que ceux-ci resteront inaccessibles, dès lors qu’on participe à des mutations techniques, technologiques, sociales, culturelles, politiques, etc. comme derrière une vitrine ? La ruse est une arme au service du faible. Son efficacité est sa discrétion. L'ordre en place, abusé par l'universalité de son explication du monde, ne peut s'imaginer être joué par un sens pratique. Celui-ci demeure inaudible, invisible, indicible, inavouable pour qui, du dehors, ne partage pas le secret des "coups" et des bricolages. La ruse populaire appartient dans une forte mesure à des groupes situés à la marge de l'ordre établi. Elle troque l'absence de lieu propre, c'est-à-dire la possession d'un espace sur lequel imposer son autorité, son hégémonie, ses décisions, contre le temps, celui de l'occasion, du braconnage, de l'affût, de la dérobade (de Certeau 1990, 1994). La ruse synthétise trahison, intelligence, finesse, secret, subtilité, comédie, mensonge, discrétion. Les actions populaires rusent par une invention quotidienne qui se compose d'une pratique du "coup par coup", c'est-à-dire de l'acuité à se saisir de l'occasion et de la transformer en opportunité, d'un fort sentiment d'autonomie vis-à-vis de l'ordre institué qui peut s'exprimer par de l'indocilité, de la résistance et de l'élaboration de réseaux de relations institués à la faveur de dons, du recours et de la dépendance réciproque (dans le sens ici de prestations et de contre-prestations). La ruse, si elle procède d'un calcul évident, n'en demeure pas moins une élaboration caractérisée par une logique situationnelle. Elle constitue l’arme privilégiée des pratiques populaires, car elle est la manière la plus sûre de cadrer ou de parer au flux événementiel. Déploiement stratégique et anticipatif de plusieurs facteurs contextuels, elle devient une disposition, une manière de poser un regard teinté d’opportunisme sur les alentours pour y dénicher des opportunités (Simon 2012). Les Peuls, guidés par leurs troupeaux à travers les pâturages sahéliens, incarnent par excellence l'idée de "l'ailleurs dans le dedans" (de Certeau 1990, 1994). Le peuple peul ne possédant pas à proprement parler de lieux propres, opère sur le territoire de l'autre. Traversant des régions où vivent des agriculteurs sédentaires, les pasteurs se sentent toujours étrangers, c'est-à-dire extérieurs aux sociétés côtoyées, mais profitant de leurs pâturages. Le sommet de la ruse est atteint lorsque le grand génie Gaari-Jinne conseille au jeune couple peul de dérober chez les voisins ses premières vaches pour constituer son troupeau, avec certes une infinie prudence et avec toutes les formes requises (Le Pichon et Balde 1990). La notion de jamfa - traduit par le mot trahison - se trouve au cœur du pulaaku, c'est-à-dire de l'identité peul. Le jamfa constitue une éclatante démonstration de la capacité d'un peuple à se trouver toujours "ailleurs", c'est-à-dire jamais là où on croit le rencontrer. Il est ici question de survie. La notion de jamfa se situe au cœur du mythe fondateur de la société peul et comme le montre Vidal-Naquet à propos des éphèbes de la Cité, la ruse est consubstantielle aux cadets ou à ces groupes dominés (Vidal-Naquet 1992). Le pasteur peul ne s'oppose pas, le rapport de force ne penche pas en sa faveur, il ruse. Il traverse des espaces qui ne lui appartiennent pas en propre, mais dont il tire sa subsistance. Ceci illustre parfaitement en quoi consiste cet art du dominé, capable de se jouer d’un contexte a priori défavorable. Le champ de l’aide, des projets, de l’assistance, du bénévolat met par définition en contact des acteurs souvent étranger l’un pour l’autre. C'est par exemple le cas des paysans mossi du Burkina Faso et des offreurs d’aide de la coopération au développement. Pour comprendre les relations s’établissant entre ces deux groupes, il convient de s’écarter du discours officiel et du registre de la justification, pour prendre en considération l'informel des pratiques et apercevoir l'inédit qui se tapit au cœur de l'ordre institué par les dispositifs de l’aide (Laurent 1998). Le monde de l’aide, des projets, de la coopération, est aussi celui de la recherche de « la participation des populations bénéficiaires à la base » (souvent appelé dans le jargon de la coopération au développement « les partenaires »). Il est alors utile de se demander ce qui se passe lorsque deux « socio-logiques » se croisent (Latour 1989). Selon Hume « on ne peut établir des normes de justice abstraites et formelles qu’entre gens à peu près égaux. » (Hume 1993). Autrement dit, la négociation entre des partenaires issus de mondes différents, dont les uns aident et les autres reçoivent, sera généralement difficile à établir pour ne pas dire, a priori, impossible, sans autres artifices. Pour analyser le vaste secteur de l’aide, mieux vaut partir de l’absence d’un véritable partage des règles d’un jeu commun. Ceci conduit à la mise en spectacle, en forme de trompe-l’œil, des croyances (normes et valeurs) des donateurs par « les aidés ». La communication entre offreurs d’aide et bénéficiaires repose d’emblée sur une asymétrie qui peut conduire à des malentendus. Elle s'établit à l'insu des évidences, des stratégies et des "projets" des offreurs d'aide (Bourdieu 1980) et à la faveur de la perception du décalage, pour ne pas parler de l’inadéquation de l'offre, dans l'invisibilité, l'ambiguïté, la ruse, l'esquive, la tactique, l'occasion, le bricolage des bénéficiaires ou des « aidés ». Autrement dit, les offreurs d’aide, parfois abusés par l’évidence de leurs propositions d’actions, s’imaginent collaborer avec des partenaires, animés des mêmes perspectives qu’eux. Sachant que l’aide hiérarchise et subordonne, les donateurs n’entrevoient pas vraiment l’existence de l’autre scène régie par d’autres conventions. Cette situation conduit à des équivoques. Les acteurs locaux - à défaut de maîtriser par eux-mêmes le jeu - miment une adhésion aux conventions des offreurs d’aide, en vue d’accéder aux ressources offertes, sans pour autant partager les mêmes valeurs et avec le risque de les détourner à leurs propres fins, afin de les rendre compatibles avec leurs stratégies de survies.

'He did what the cipher could not, he rescued himself.' -- Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination (23) On many levels, the new Nine Inch Nails album The Fragile is a gritty meditation about different types of End: the eternal relationship cycle of 'fragility, tension, ordeal, fragmentation' (adapted, with apologies to Wilhelm Reich); fin-de-siècle anxiety; post-millennium foreboding; a spectre of the alien discontinuity that heralds an on-rushing future vastly different from the one envisaged by Enlightenment Project architects. In retrospect, it's easy for this perspective to be dismissed as jargon-filled cyber-crit hyperbole. Cyber-crit has always been at its best too when it invents pre-histories and finds hidden connections between different phenomena (like the work of Greil Marcus and early Mark Dery), and not when it is closer to Chinese Water Torture, name-checking the canon's icons (the 'Deleuze/Guattari' tag-team), texts and key terms. "The organization of sound is interpreted historically, politically, socially ... . It subdues music's ambition, reins it in, restores it to its proper place, reconciles it to its naturally belated fate", comments imagineer Kodwo Eshun (4) on how cyber-crit destroys albums and the innocence of the listening experience. This is how official histories are constructed a priori and freeze-dried according to personal tastes and prior memes: sometimes the most interesting experiments are Darwinian dead-ends that fail to make the canon, or don't register on the radar. Anyone approaching The Fragile must also contend with the music industry's harsh realities. For every 10 000 Goth fans who moshed to the primal 'kill-fuck-dance' rhythms of the hit single "Closer" (heeding its siren-call to fulfil basic physiological needs and build niche-space), maybe 20 noted that the same riff returned with a darker edge in the title track to The Downward Spiral, undermining the glorification of Indulgent hedonism. "The problem with such alternative audiences," notes Disinformation Creative Director Richard Metzger, "is that they are trying to be different -- just like everyone else." According to author Don Webb, "some mature Chaos and Black Magicians reject their earlier Nine Inch Nails-inspired Goth beginnings and are extremely critical towards new adopters because they are uncomfortable with the subculture's growing popularity, which threatens to taint their meticulously constructed 'mysterious' worlds. But by doing so, they are also rejecting their symbolic imprinting and some powerful Keys to unlocking their personal history." It is also difficult to separate Nine Inch Nails from the commercialisation and colossal money-making machine that inevitably ensued on the MTV tour circuit: do we blame Michael Trent Reznor because most of his audience are unlikely to be familiar with 'first-wave' industrial bands including Cabaret Voltaire and the experiments of Genesis P. Orridge in Throbbing Gristle? Do we accuse Reznor of being a plagiarist just because he wears some of his influences -- Dr. Dre, Daft Punk, Atari Teenage Riot, Pink Floyd's The Wall (1979), Tom Waits's Bone Machine (1992), David Bowie's Low (1977) -- on his sleeve? And do we accept no-brain rock critic album reviews who quote lines like 'All the pieces didn't fit/Though I really didn't give a shit' ("Where Is Everybody?") or 'And when I suck you off/Not a drop will go to waste' ("Starfuckers Inc") as representative of his true personality? Reznor evidently has his own thoughts on this subject, but we should let the music speak for itself. The album's epic production and technical complexity turned into a post-modern studio Vision Quest, assisted by producer Alan Moulder, eleventh-hour saviour Bob Ezrin (brought in by Reznor to 'block-out' conceptual and sonic continuity), and a group of assault-technicians. The fruit of these collaborations is an album where Reznor is playing with our organism's time-binding sense, modulating strange emotions through deeply embedded tonal angularities. During his five-year absence, Trent Reznor fought diverse forms of repetitious trauma, from endogenous depression caused by endless touring to the death of his beloved grandmother (who raised him throughout childhood). An end signals a new beginning, a spiral is an open-ended and ever-shifting structure, and so Reznor sought to re-discover the Elder Gods within, a shamanic approach to renewal and secular salvation utilised most effectively by music PR luminary and scientist Howard Bloom. Concerned with healing the human animal through Ordeals that hard-wire the physiological baselines of Love, Hate and Fear, Reznor also focusses on what happens when 'meaning-making' collapses and hope for the future cannot easily be found. He accurately captures the confusion that such dissolution of meaning and decline of social institutions brings to the world -- Francis Fukuyama calls this bifurcation 'The Great Disruption'. For a generation who experienced their late childhood and early adolescence in Reagan's America, Reznor and his influences (Marilyn Manson and Filter) capture the Dark Side of recent history, unleashed at Altamont and mutating into the Apocalyptic style of American politics (evident in the 'Star Wars'/SDI fascination). The personal 'psychotic core' that was crystallised by the collapse of the nuclear family unit and supportive social institutions has returned to haunt us with dystopian fantasies that are played out across Internet streaming media and visceral MTV film-clips. That such cathartic releases are useful -- and even necessary (to those whose lives have been formed by socio-economic 'life conditions') is a point that escapes critics like Roger Scruton, some Christian Evangelists and the New Right. The 'escapist' quality of early 1980s 'Rapture' and 'Cosmocide' (Hal Lindsey) prophecies has yielded strange fruit for the Children of Ezekiel, whom Reznor and Marilyn Manson are unofficial spokes-persons for. From a macro perspective, Reznor's post-human evolutionary nexus lies, like J.G. Ballard's tales, in a mythical near-future built upon past memory-shards. It is the kind of worldview that fuses organic and morphogenetic structures with industrial machines run amok, thus The Fragile is an artefact that captures the subjective contents of the different mind produced by different times. Sonic events are in-synch but out of phase. Samples subtly trigger and then scramble kinaesthetic-visceral and kinaesthetic-tactile memories, suggestive of dissociated affective states or body memories that are incapable of being retrieved (van der Kolk 294). Perhaps this is why after a Century of Identity Confusion some fans find it impossible to listen to a 102-minute album in one sitting. No wonder then that the double album is divided into 'left' and 'right' discs (a reference to split-brain research?). The real-time track-by-track interpretation below is necessarily subjective, and is intended to serve as a provisional listener's guide to the aural ur-text of 1999. The Fragile is full of encrypted tones and garbled frequencies that capture a world where the future is always bleeding into a non-recoverable past. Turbulent wave-forms fight for the listener's attention with prolonged static lulls. This does not make for comfortable or even 'nice' listening. The music's mind is a snapshot, a critical indicator, of the deep structures brewing within the Weltanschauung that could erupt at any moment. "Somewhat Damaged" opens the album's 'Left' disc with an oscillating acoustic strum that anchor's the listener's attention. Offset by pulsing beats and mallet percussion, Reznor builds up sound layers that contrast with lyrical epitaphs like 'Everything that swore it wouldn't change is different now'. Icarus iconography is invoked, but perhaps a more fitting mythopoeic symbol of the journey that lies ahead would be Nietzsche's pursuit of his Ariadne through the labyrinth of life, during which the hero is steadily consumed by his numbing psychosis. Reznor fittingly comments: 'Didn't quite/Fell Apart/Where were you?' If we consider that Reznor has been repeating the same cycle with different variations throughout all of his music to date, retro-fitting each new album into a seamless tapestry, then this track signals that he has begun to finally climb out of self-imposed exile in the Underworld. "The Day the World Went Away" has a tremendously eerie opening, with plucked mandolin effects entering at 0:40. The main slashing guitar riff was interpreted by some critics as Reznor's attempt to parody himself. For some reason, the eerie backdrop and fragmented acoustic guitar strums recalls to my mind civil defence nuclear war films. Reznor, like William S. Burroughs, has some powerful obsessions. The track builds up in intensity, with a 'Chorus of the Damned' singing 'na na nah' over apocalyptic end-times imagery. At 4:22 the track ends with an echo that loops and repeats. "The Frail" signals a shift to mournful introspectiveness with piano: a soundtrack to faded 8 mm films and dying memories. The piano builds up slowly with background echo, holds and segues into ... "The Wretched", beginning with a savage downbeat that recalls earlier material from Pretty Hate Machine. 'The Far Aways/Forget It' intones Reznor -- it's becoming clear that despite some claims to the contrary, there is redemption in this album, but it is one borne out of a relentless move forward, a strive-drive. 'You're finally free/You could be' suggest Reznor studied Existentialism during his psychotherapy visits. This song contains perhaps the ultimate post-relationship line: 'It didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, did it?' It's over, just not the way you wanted; you can always leave the partner you're with, but the ones you have already left will always stain your memories. The lines 'Back at the beginning/Sinking/Spinning' recall the claustrophobic trapped world and 'eternal Now' dislocation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder victims. At 3:44 a plucked cello riff, filtered, segues into a sludge buzz-saw guitar solo. At 5:18 the cello riff loops and repeats. "We're in This Together Now" uses static as percussion, highlighting the influence of electricity flows instead of traditional rock instrument configurations. At 0:34 vocals enter, at 1:15 Reznor wails 'I'm impossible', showing he is the heir to Roger Waters's self-reflective rock-star angst. 'Until the very end of me, until the very end of you' reverts the traditional marriage vow, whilst 'You're the Queen and I'm the King' quotes David Bowie's "Heroes". Unlike earlier tracks like "Reptile", this track is far more positive about relationships, which have previously resembled toxic-dyads. Reznor signals a delta surge (breaking through barriers at any cost), despite a time-line morphing between present-past-future. At 5:30 synths and piano signal a shift, at 5:49 the outgoing piano riff begins. The film-clip is filled with redemptive water imagery. The soundtrack gradually gets more murky and at 7:05 a subterranean note signals closure. "The Fragile" is even more hopeful and life-affirming (some may even interpret it as devotional), but this love -- representative of the End-Times, alludes to the 'Glamour of Evil' (Nico) in the line 'Fragile/She doesn't see her beauty'. The fusion of synths and atonal guitars beginning at 2:13 summons forth film-clip imagery -- mazes, pageants, bald eagles, found sounds, cloaked figures, ruined statues, enveloping darkness. "Just like You Imagined" opens with Soundscapes worthy of Robert Fripp, doubled by piano and guitar at 0:39. Drums and muffled voices enter at 0:54 -- are we seeing a pattern to Reznor's writing here? Sonic debris guitar enters at 1:08, bringing forth intensities from white noise. This track is full of subtle joys like the 1:23-1:36 solo by David Bowie pianist Mike Garson and guitarist Adrian Belew's outgoing guitar solo at 2:43, shifting back to the underlying soundscapes at 3:07. The sounds are always on the dissipative edge of chaos. "Just like You Imagined" opens with Soundscapes worthy of Robert Fripp, doubled by piano and guitar at 0:39. Drums and muffled voices enter at 0:54 -- are we seeing a pattern to Reznor's writing here? Sonic debris guitar enters at 1:08, bringing forth intensities from white noise. This track is full of subtle joys like the 1:23-1:36 solo by David Bowie pianist Mike Garson and guitarist Adrian Belew's outgoing guitar solo at 2:43, shifting back to the underlying soundscapes at 3:07. The sounds are always on the dissipative edge of chaos. "Pilgrimage" utilises a persistent ostinato and beat, with a driving guitar overlay at 0:18. This is perhaps the most familiar track, using Reznor motifs like the doubling of the riff with acoustic guitars between 1:12-1:20, march cries, and pitch-shift effects on a 3:18 drumbeat/cymbal. Or at least I could claim it was familiar, if it were not that legendary hip-hop producer and 'edge-of-panic' tactilist Dr. Dre helped assemble the final track mix. "No, You Don't" has been interpreted as an attack on Marilyn Manson and Hole's Courntey Love, particularly the 0:47 line 'Got to keep it all on the outside/Because everything is dead on the inside' and the 2:33 final verse 'Just so you know, I did not believe you could sink so low'. The song's structure is familiar: a basic beat at 0:16, guitars building from 0:31 to sneering vocals, a 2:03 counter-riff that merges at 2:19 with vocals and ascending to the final verse and 3:26 final distortion... "La Mer" is the first major surprise, a beautiful and sweeping fusion of piano, keyboard and cello, reminiscent of Symbolist composer Debussy. At 1:07 Denise Milfort whispers, setting the stage for sometime Ministry drummer Bill Reiflin's jazz drumming at 1:22, and a funky 1:32 guitar/bass line. The pulsing synth guitar at 2:04 serves as anchoring percussion for a cinematic electronica mindscape, filtered through new layers of sonic chiaroscuro at 2:51. 3:06 phase shifting, 3:22 layer doubling, 3:37 outgoing solo, 3:50-3:54 more swirling vocal fragments, seguing into a fading cello quartet as shadows creep. David Carson's moody film-clip captures the end more ominously, depicting the beauty of drowning. This track contains the line 'Nothing can stop me now', which appears to be Reznor's personal mantra. This track rivals 'Hurt' and 'A Warm Place' from The Downward Spiral and 'Something I Can Never Have' from Pretty Hate Machine as perhaps the most emotionally revealing and delicate material that Reznor has written. "The Great Below" ends the first disc with more multi-layered textures fusing nostalgia and reverie: a twelve-second cello riff is counter-pointed by a plucked overlay, which builds to a 0:43 washed pulse effect, transformed by six second pulses between 1:04-1:19 and a further effects layer at 1:24. E-bow effects underscore lyrics like 'Currents have their say' (2:33) and 'Washes me away' (2:44), which a 3:33 sitar riff answers. These complexities are further transmuted by seemingly random events -- a 4:06 doubling of the sitar riff which 'glitches' and a 4:32 backbeat echo that drifts for four bars. While Reznor's lyrics suggest that he is unable to control subjective time-states (like The Joker in the Batman: Dark Knight series of Kali-yuga comic-books), the track constructions show that the Key to his hold over the listener is very carefully constructed songs whose spaces resemble Pythagorean mathematical formulas. Misdirecting the audience is the secret of many magicians. "The Way Out Is Through" opens the 'Right' disc with an industrial riff that builds at 0:19 to click-track and rhythm, the equivalent of a weaving spiral. Whispering 'All I've undergone/I will keep on' at 1:24, Reznor is backed at 1:38 by synths and drums coalescing into guitars, which take shape at 1:46 and turn into a torrential electrical current. The models are clearly natural morphogenetic structures. The track twists through inner storms and torments from 2:42 to 2:48, mirrored by vocal shards at 2:59 and soundscapes at 3:45, before piano fades in and out at 4:12. The title references peri-natal theories of development (particularly those of Stanislav Grof), which is the source of much of the album's imagery. "Into the Void" is not the Black Sabbath song of the same name, but a catchy track that uses the same unfolding formula (opening static, cello at 0:18, guitars at 0:31, drums and backbeat at 1:02, trademark industrial vocals and synth at 1:02, verse at 1:23), and would not appear out of place in a Survival Research Laboratories exhibition. At 3:42 Reznor plays with the edge of synth soundscapes, merging vocals at 4:02 and ending the track nicely at 4:44 alone. "Where Is Everybody?" emulates earlier structures, but relies from 2:01 on whirring effects and organic rhythms, including a flurry of eight beat pulses between 2:40-2:46 and a 3:33 spiralling guitar solo. The 4:26 guitar solo is pure Adrian Belew, and is suddenly ended by spluttering static and white noise at 5:13. "The Mark Has Been Made" signals another downshift into introspectiveness with 0:32 ghostly synth shimmers, echoed by cello at 1:04 which is the doubled at 1:55 by guitar. At 2:08 industrial riffs suddenly build up, weaving between 3:28 distorted guitars and the return of the repressed original layer at 4:16. The surprise is a mystery 32 second soundscape at the end with Reznor crooning 'I'm getting closer, all the time' like a zombie devil Elvis. "Please" highlights spacious noise at 0:48, and signals a central album motif at 1:04 with the line 'Time starts slowing down/Sink until I drown'. The psychic mood of the album shifts with the discovery of Imagination as a liberating force against oppression. The synth sound again is remarkably organic for an industrial album. "Starfuckers Inc" is the now infamous sneering attack on rock-stardom, perhaps at Marilyn Manson (at 3:08 Reznor quotes Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain'). Jungle beats and pulsing synths open the track, which features the sound-sculpting talent of Pop Will Eat Itself member Clint Mansell. Beginning at 0:26, Reznor's vocals appear to have been sampled, looped and cut up (apologies to Brion Gysin and William S. Burroughs). The lines 'I have arrived and this time you should believe the hype/I listened to everyone now I know everyone was right' is a very savage and funny exposure of Manson's constant references to Friedrich Nietzsche's Herd-mentality: the Herd needs a bogey-man to whip it into submission, and Manson comes dangerous close to fulfilling this potential, thus becoming trapped by a 'Stacked Deck' paradox. The 4:08 lyric line 'Now I belong I'm one of the Chosen Ones/Now I belong I'm one of the Beautiful Ones' highlights the problem of being Elect and becoming intertwined with institutionalised group-think. The album version ditches the closing sample of Gene Simmons screaming "Thankyou and goodnight!" to an enraptured audience on the single from KISS Alive (1975), which was appropriately over-the-top (the alternate quiet version is worth hearing also). "The danger Marilyn Manson faces", notes Don Webb (current High Priest of the Temple of Set), "is that he may end up in twenty years time on the 'Tonight Show' safely singing our favourite songs like a Goth Frank Sinatra, and will have gradually lost his antinomian power. It's much harder to maintain the enigmatic aura of an Evil villain than it is to play the clown with society". Reznor's superior musicianship and sense of irony should keep him from falling into the same trap. "Complication" juggernauts in at 0:57 with screaming vocals and a barrage of white noise at 1:56. It's clear by now that Reznor has read his psychological operations (PSYOP) manuals pertaining to blasting the hell out of his audiences' psyche by any means necessary. Computer blip noise and black light flotation tank memories. Dislocating pauses and time-bends. The aural equivalent of Klein bottles. "Complication" juggernauts in at 0:57 with screaming vocals and a barrage of white noise at 1:56. It's clear by now that Reznor has read his psychological operations (PSYOP) manuals pertaining to blasting the hell out of his audiences' psyche by any means necessary. Computer blip noise and black light flotation tank memories. Dislocating pauses and time-bends. The aural equivalent of Klein bottles. "The Big Come Down" begins with a four-second synth/static intro that is smashed apart by a hard beat at 0:05 and kaleidoscope guitars at 0:16. Critics refer to the song's lyrics in an attempt to project a narcissistic Reznor personality, but don't comment on stylistic tweaks like the AM radio influenced backing vocals at 1:02 and 1:19, or the use of guitars as a percussion layer at 1:51. A further intriguing element is the return of the fly samples at 2:38, an effect heard on previous releases and a possible post-human sub-text. The alien mythos will eventually reign over the banal and empty human. At 3:07 the synths return with static, a further overlay adds more synths at 3:45 as the track spirals to its peak, before dissipating at 3:1 in a mesh of percussion and guitars. "Underneath It All" opens with a riff that signals we have reached the album's climatic turning point, with the recurring theme of fragmenting body-memories returning at 0:23 with the line 'All I can do/I can still feel you', and being echoed by pulsing static at 0:42 as electric percussion. A 'Messiah Complex' appears at 1:34 with the line 'Crucify/After all I've died/After all I've tried/You are still inside', or at least it appears to be that on the surface. This is the kind of line that typical rock critics will quote, but a careful re-reading suggests that Reznor is pointing to the painful nature of remanifesting. Our past shapes us more than we would like to admit particularly our first relationships. "Ripe (With Decay)" is the album's final statement, a complex weaving of passages over a repetitive mesh of guitars, pulsing echoes, back-beats, soundscapes, and a powerful Mike Garson piano solo (2:26). Earlier motifs including fly samples (3:00), mournful funeral violas (3:36) and slowing time effects (4:28) recur throughout the track. Having finally reached the psychotic core, Reznor is not content to let us rest, mixing funk bass riffs (4:46), vocal snatches (5:23) and oscillating guitars (5:39) that drag the listener forever onwards towards the edge of the abyss (5:58). The final sequence begins at 6:22, loses fidelity at 6:28, and ends abruptly at 6:35. At millennium's end there is a common-held perception that the world is in an irreversible state of decay, and that Culture is just a wafer-thin veneer over anarchy. Music like The Fragile suggests that we are still trying to assimilate into popular culture the 'war-on-Self' worldviews unleashed by the nineteenth-century 'Masters of Suspicion' (Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche). This 'assimilation gap' is evident in industrial music, which in the late 1970s was struggling to capture the mood of the Industrial Revolution and Charles Dickens, so the genre is ripe for further exploration of the scarred psyche. What the self-appointed moral guardians of the Herd fail to appreciate is that as the imprint baseline rises (reflective of socio-political realities), the kind of imagery prevalent throughout The Fragile and in films like Strange Days (1995), The Matrix (1999) and eXistenZ (1999) is going to get even darker. The solution is not censorship or repression in the name of pleasing an all-saving surrogate god-figure. No, these things have to be faced and embraced somehow. Such a process can only occur if there is space within for the Sadeian aesthetic that Nine Inch Nails embodies, and not a denial of Dark Eros. "We need a second Renaissance", notes Don Webb, "a rejuvenation of Culture on a significant scale". In other words, a global culture-shift of quantum (aeon or epoch-changing) proportions. The tools required will probably not come just from the over-wordy criticism of Cyber-culture and Cultural Studies or the logical-negative feeding frenzy of most Music Journalism. They will come from a dynamic synthesis of disciplines striving toward a unity of knowledge -- what socio-biologist Edward O. Wilson has described as 'Consilience'. Liberating tools and ideas will be conveyed to a wider public audience unfamiliar with such principles through predominantly science fiction visual imagery and industrial/electronica music. The Fragile serves as an invaluable model for how such artefacts could transmit their dreams and propagate their messages. For the hyper-alert listener, it will be the first step on a new journey. But sadly for the majority, it will be just another hysterical industrial album promoted as selection of the month. References Bester, Alfred. The Stars My Destination. London: Millennium Books, 1999. Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction. London: Quartet Books, 1998. Van der Kolk, Bessel A. "Trauma and Memory." Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society. Eds. Bessel A. van der Kolk et al. New York: Guilford Press, 1996. Nine Inch Nails. Downward Spiral. Nothing/Interscope, 1994. ---. The Fragile. Nothing, 1999. ---. Pretty Hate Machine. TVT, 1989. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Alex Burns. "'This Machine Is Obsolete': A Listeners' Guide to Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/nine.php>. Chicago style: Alex Burns, "'This Machine Is Obsolete': A Listeners' Guide to Nine Inch Nails' The Fragile," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/nine.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Alex Burns. (1999) 'This machine is obsolete': a listeners' guide to Nine Inch Nails' The fragile. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/nine.php> ([your date of access]).