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This essay explores the intentio operis in the use of transatlantic bridges that are sometimes real, other times rhetorical, and others imaginary that Alberto Ruy Sánchez draws between his country and Morocco. It also looks at the representation of Moroccan space and women, arguing that Ruy Sánchez falls into exoticizing Orientalism with tints of colonial nostalgia, particularly when portraying Moroccan women. Finally, it explores how the author creates his own precursors through the quotes and literary references in his five novels. Presenting himself as a reader of Arab erotic literature and Sufi sacred texts, Ruy Sánchez suggests that he is rewriting classic literary texts, thus creating his own literary lineage and diachronically situating his work within a literary tradition that remains on the margins of Mexican national coordinates to approach, instead, the canon of Arabic literature. [Article copies available for a fee from The Transformative Studies Institute. E-mail address: journal@transformativestudies.org Website: http://www.transformativestudies.org ©2023 by The Transformative Studies Institute. All rights reserved.]

This essay traces the genealogy and evolution of the category of the subject as it developed in the thought of Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, and Alain Badiou. As will be seen, within the fruitful and complementary dialogue about the subject and subjectivity formation among these three French thinkers, there are major discrepancies in their approaches, from Althusser’s seemingly passive view of the subject as a victim of state oppression, to Foucault’s one, embedded in power but with the capacity of resistance, and, finally, to Badiou’s understanding, in his book Théorie du sujet (Theory of the Subject, 1982), of the subject as the one who courageously takes risks to put into practice the truth brought about by the event in order to radically transform the present situation.

Reseña

Dándole un giro a la teoría de Fredric Jameson sobre la importancia de la lucha de clases para acceder al inconsciente político en los estudios literarios y sobre el uso de la narrativa como método para reprimir colectivamente las contradicciones históricas, en este ensayo propongo desviar o añadir otro tipo de contradicción histórica reprimida: las luchas y conflictos étnicos con los que las sociedades mayoritarias latinoamericanas han oprimido y marginado por medio del colonialismo interno, e incluso deportado a comunidades de origen asiático. En este contexto, este ensayo explora qué se esconde o reprime, de manera consciente o inconsciente en el discurso literario diaspórico de las comunidades asiático-latinoamericanas.

Background: Different pulmonary pathologies may require a partial or total lung lobectomy as treatment. This study compared two techniques for performing a caudal pulmonary lobectomy: a traditional lateral thoracotomy (LT) and a novel transdiaphragmatic (TD) approach. Methods: TD and LT approaches were performed on each of 18 canine cadavers. The operator and order of intervention were randomised at the beginning of the study. To compare both techniques, surgical time, percentage of area of lobe removed, incision length and iatrogenic damage were recorded. Results: The mean length of surgery for the TD approach (1155 ± 232.8 seconds) was non‐inferior to the LT approach (1126.8 ± 180.6 seconds) (p = 0.6131). The mean percentage of the area of caudal lobe that was successfully removed during the TD approach was 25.83 ± 8.95% (range 10.55‒40.72%) of the lobe surface, while 100% of the caudal lobe was removed during the LT approach. There was no statistical difference in iatrogenic damage between the procedures. Limitations: This is a non‐inferiority ex vivo study carried out by three different surgeons, and no leak test was performed after lobectomies. Conclusion: Partial caudal lung lobectomy can be performed in dogs by the TD approach without greater iatrogenic damage or longer surgical duration than the traditional LT approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new construction of a seventeen-storey building, a provisional prop of fourteen-meter height, horizontally braced on two intermediate levels, has been used. Despite the fact that structural logic suggests that it can be cut without having any added safety precautions, the structure of the building, made up of cores and reinforced concrete slabs working spatially, indicates that certain mechanisms be introduced so that, in the event that different and worse behaviors than expected are detected, the process can be stopped and the consequences of the new situation observed can be analyzed. For this purpose, two pairs of four metallic cantilevers were introduced at mid-height with four hydraulic pistons. In addition, the best position of a series of strain gauges as well as transducers were analyzed. At first, a load test was carried out to check that the brackets worked correctly. Once this step was verified, the abutment was cut, and the results were read. The results of stresses and deformations were compared with those expected, always being satisfactory. Finally, four provisional profiles were placed in case after a few days the structure suddenly gave way. The research focuses on obtaining an efficient control system and achieving total security throughout the process, with the comparison of the results strictly necessary for this case. Few resources were used so as not to make the work excessively expensive. We have found important divergences, on the side of security, between calculation and reality. We have also considered that the construction process has an impact on the final results. In the same way, the rigidity of the temporal abutment must be considered before the calculation. All these factors have generated a lower-than-expected deformation in an 8 m cantilever. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]