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"Fairy tales begin with conflict because we all begin our lives with conflict," famously states Jack Zipes. And yet, this statement does not always seem to apply to non-Western story structures. An example of this is the East Asian Kishōtenketsu, which implies a story development that does not necessarily revolve around conflicts, but that interprets potential clashes more as contrasts that can be somehow harmonized. In many of Hayao Miyazaki's movies (e.g., My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, The Secret World of Arietty), it is possible to detect, on the one hand, the widespread presence of Western fairy-tale tropes, and, on the other hand, a plot strongly influenced by the Kishōtenketsu model. This article argues that: 1.) The way in which Miyazaki's stories represent conflictual situations is less dichotomous than in the Western tradition, and conflicts in his movies are depicted in the forms of open riddles, implying an interrogative attitude, a playful and flexible state of mind; and 2.) The employment of unusual narrative patterns in Miyazaki's movies, mixing up together Eastern and Western frames of reference, gives rise to stories that puzzle the mind of spectators, working as complex narrative riddles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to quantify volumetric variations of cortical and subcortical brain structures after Vim ablation using MRgFUS, and correlate them with the patients' clinical features and treatment outcomes. For this pilot retrospective study we enrolled 31 patients with a mean age of 70.86 years who were eligible for unilateral Vim thalamotomy. Clinical evaluation included tremor severity assessment using the FTM scale and cognitive assessment using the MoCA score. MRI data were acquired with a 3T scanner, using a dedicated 32-channel coil and acquiring a volumetric sequence of T1 3D IR FSPGR (BRAVO), before treatment and one year after MRgFUS thalamotomy. Image processing and volume data extraction were conducted with dedicated software. A volumetric analysis showed a significant reduction (p < 0.05) of the left thalamus 1 year after the treatment in patients with ET. Other significant results were found on the same side in the other nuclei of the basal ganglia and in the cerebellar cortex. In confronting the two groups (ET, PD), no significant differences were found in terms of age, FTM, MoCA scores, or brain volumes. Similarly, no significant correlations were found between the FTM and MoCA scores and the brain volumes before the treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital representation of our past has long been an important tool in the interpretation of cultural heritage in museums. The recent rise in the use of Augmented Reality (AR) has seen various approaches to adding dynamic information to existent artefacts. The challenge is even greater when uncertainty further complexifies the represented history. This paper presents a critical analysis of an AR installation in the Sacra Infermeria museum in Valletta, Malta. After a description of the AR configuration of the installation, we present a thematic analysis carried out from a multidisciplinary focus group of 11 researchers in the field of Interactive Digital Narratives (IDN), from three perspectives: the technological implementation of the AR experience, the historical accuracy, gamification and the influence of social media-centred design, and the representation of the complexity arising from the uncertainty of history. In the light of the results of the multidisciplinary focus group, we provide a list of recommendations and heuristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]