Search

Giacomo Puccini’s operas have a long history of being hailed as “cinematic.” Such descriptions began to appear during his lifetime and persisted in the years following his death, and more recent scholarship has continued to echo them. Associations between Puccini and film also extend to the cinematic screen: there are numerous filmed versions and adaptations of his operas, and his music has been featured in film soundtracks since the 1930s. Nevertheless, even though Puccini’s career roughly coincided with the first three decades of film history, surprisingly little is known about his attitude toward film or how it may have influenced his oeuvre. Taking La fanciulla del West as a case study, I investigate the complex historical relationship between early cinema, Puccini, and his operas, focusing particularly on the connections between Fanciulla and three American silent film genres that were popular in the years leading up to the opera’s premiere: early or “Eastern” Westerns, chase films, and lynching or execution films. I begin by investigating the filmic world to which Puccini and his creative team were exposed, tracing the evolution of cinema to 1910. I then turn specifically to the chase scene and attempted lynching in act 3 of Fanciulla, which I analyze in relation to the aforementioned genres, as well as to Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West, on which the libretto is based. Finally, I offer new perspectives on what it means—and meant—to understand Puccini’s operas as cinematic. In so doing, I demonstrate that the meaning of the adjective “cinematic” is historically contingent, not determined by immutable characteristics or qualities.

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is a growing research field, particularly over the last decade. Measuring the level of ESD that is currently embedded in curricula is useful for planning the further implementation of sustainability-related teaching. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a useful benchmark for sustainability topics and so this paper follows a methodology in which a keyword scanning tool was created to quantify the level of SDG coverage within a list of learning outcomes for a module. The aim of the research is to further develop this methodology and compare the results from the keyword tool with results from a survey of the academic staff who deliver the modules. SDG-related keyword lists were collected from multiple sources for a meta-analysis, examining the performance of various lists. These lists were then compiled into one list of over 12,000 SDG keywords and a team of reviewers conducted a critical analysis on the relevancy of the context in which the keywords were found when scanned. This process reduced the list to 222 “crucial keywords” and gave the keywords a relevancy label based on the STARS definitions, the sustainability tracking assessment and rating system. Finally, ChatGPT was also investigated as a method of enriching the critically analysed list with contextually relevant synonyms. A survey was carried out within the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Galway. It asked staff to rate the level of SDG coverage within their own modules, in their own opinion. This gave results which could be compared with the keyword scanning tool. The findings show success in improving the accuracy of the SDG keywords. ChatGPT added synonyms to the crucial keywords identified and this list was the most accurate out of all keyword lists used in the study. Using these keywords and the modules that staff rated in the survey, a correlation was found in the SDG trend.

Construction robotics 2022, 1-13 (2022). doi:10.1007/s41693-022-00066-3, Published by Springer International Publishing, [Cham]

In this review article I consider Kenneth Einar Himma’s argument that law is necessarily coercive. While casting doubt on Himma’s framing of the issues as well as on his specific claims in support of that conclusion, I suggest some alternate avenues for arguing that law is a coercive institution.

Background COVID-19 comprises several severity stages ranging from oligosymptomatic disease to multi-organ failure and fatal outcomes. The mechanisms why COVID-19 is a mild disease in some patients and progresses to a severe multi-organ and often fatal disease with respiratory failure are not known. Biomarkers that predict the course of disease are urgently needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate a large spectrum of established laboratory measurements. Patients and Methods Patients from the prospective PULMPOHOM and CORSAAR studies were recruited and comprised 35 patients with COVID-19, 23 with conventional pneumonia, and 28 control patients undergoing elective non-pulmonary surgery. Venous blood was used to measure the serum concentrations of 79 proteins by Luminex multiplex immunoassay technology. Distribution of biomarkers between groups and association with disease severity and outcomes were analyzed. Results The biomarker profiles between the three groups differed significantly with elevation of specific proteins specific for the respective conditions. Several biomarkers correlated significantly with disease severity and death. Uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) analysis revealed a significant separation of the three disease groups and separated between survivors and deceased patients. Different models were developed to predict mortality based on the baseline measurements of several protein markers. A score combining IL-1ra, IL-8, IL-10, MCP-1, SCF and CA-9 was associated with significantly higher mortality (AUC 0.929). Discussion Several newly identified blood markers were significantly increased in patients with severe COVID-19 (AAT, EN-RAGE, myoglobin, SAP, TIMP-1, vWF, decorin) or in patients that died (IL-1ra, IL-8, IL-10, MCP-1, SCF, CA-9). The use of established assay technologies allows for rapid translation into clinical practice., Graphical Abstract

Betavoltaics are direct conversion energy devices that are ideal for low, micropower and long-lasting, uninterruptable applications. Betavoltaics operate similarly to photovoltaics where a radioisotope irradiates beta particles into a semiconductor p-n junction that converts the kinetic energy into electrical energy. Betavoltaics are limited by their power output from the radioiso-tope. The source density can be increased by the selection of solid-state substrates. While solid-state substrates can be selected from simulations, the viability of the substrate to absorb tritium has to evaluated. The development of a hydrogen loading system was performed to evaluate different film types to understand how they perform during the hydrogen/tritium loading process. The hydrogen loading system utilizes the Sievert method, where the initial pressure and volume is constant and pressure drop in the system is used to determine hydrogen uptake of a film substrate. The procedures of the hydrogen loading system are detailed. To test the procedures of the hydrogen loading system, old, palladium films were loaded. Results show uptake of hydrogen by the thin palladium films, as well as cycles of hydrogen absorption and desorption. Hydrogen loading of palladium was compared to a prior result and was shown to have similar results.

Contains fulltext : 237261.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Adherence to national and international clinical practice guidelines is suboptimal throughout Europe. The European Association of Urology Guidelines Office project "IMAGINE" (IMpact Assessment of Guidelines Implementation and Education) has been developed to measure baseline adherence to urological guideline recommendations across Europe and to identify issues that drive nonadherence.

Public policy decisions made over the past 10–15 years have significantly impacted the resiliency of Canadian and European energy systems. Rightly or wrongly, these decisions have included shifts away from coal and nuclear energy for electricity in favour of wind and solar, scuttling oil pipeline developments in all directions in Canada, how world governments responded to the pandemic, and increased reliance on Russian and US energy networks. The pandemic and subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine have significantly tested the resiliency of these systems and caused major impacts on prices and everyday life. It has revealed weaknesses in Western energy security, and Europe is scrambling to adjust to sudden and drastic reductions in imports of Russian energy. In this perspective, I review the challenges to our energy systems. Then, I propose the creation of a Trans-Atlantic energy bridge to Europe and highlight some technologies and strategies Canada can use to create it.