144 research outputs found
Susumu Hani (1950-1960): la aportación teórico-práctica al documental y al cine juvenil japonés. Una aproximación al caso de Hani como precursor de la nueva ola,
No full textRESUMEN
La tesis reúne por primera vez una antología del director japonés Susumu Hani. En ella, se saca a la luz diecisiete de sus documentales realizados en los estudios Iwanami Eiga entre 1950 y 1960 para cine y televisión, en su mayoría desconocidos en Occidente. El análisis de estas obras se acompaña con las lecturas de los ensayos originales escritos por Hani, que se ponen en el contexto de las discusiones teóricas que tuvieron lugar en el Japón de la época.
La PARTE 1 trata de la aportación teórico-práctica de Hani al cine de no ficción. El Apartado 1.1 es un recorrido por los debates en los que participó respecto al documental de vanguardia, el realismo (recuperando el enfrentamiento de los teóricos marxistas de los años treinta, Taihei Imaura y Akira Iwasaki), la "discusión de la subjetividad" (shutaiseiron), la naturaleza de la imagen (eizo), el "arte de síntesis" (sogo geijutsu), la ruptura ideológico estética de los autores con la vieja izquierda a partir de 1956 y la influencia del género "documental de la vida" (seikatsu kiroku). Se ponen de relieve dos posturas enfrentadas en el grupo "Kiroku Geijutsu no Kai" ["Asociación del Arte Documental"] a partir de 1957: la corriente deformativa de Toshio Matsumoto y la corriente naturalista de Susumu Hani. Por un lado, Matsumoto seguía la preocupación formal de Kiyoteru Hanada, Kobo Abe y Taro Okamoto, la inclinación hacia el surrealismo y el subconsciente. Por su parte, Hani, critica el objetivismo pero traslada el problema de la subjetividad del interior del autor al interior de los personajes. No propone una síntesis con otras artes sino con otros medios de comunicación, incorporando una exploración del universo emocional que tuvo múltiples fuentes de inspiración: desde Flaherty a Robert Bresson, pasando por el movimiento documentalista británico (Grierson, Rocha, Wright, Cavalcanti) o incluso por autores que confluyeron en la Guerra Civil Española (fotografía de Capa o el periodismo literario de Hemingway).
El Apartado 1.2 es un análisis de los documentales realizados en Iwanami Eiga puestos en diálogo con los propios textos de Hani, quien escribió no sólo sobre cine (entre 1955 y 1967) sino también sobre el medio televisivo (1959-1960), infancia (1963-1979), el mundo animal (1965-1966 y 1973-1981) o la juventud (1974, 1975, 1982). El corpus fílmico se clasifica en:
-Las primeras "películas de ciencias sociales" (shakaika kyoiku eiga), donde se pone de relieve la influencia de su mentor, el veterano documentalista Keiji Yoshino, de quien Hani aprendió la combinación de mirada científica y preocupación social.
-Los documentales del mundo infantil: las consideradas como sus obras maestras "Children in the Classroom" (Kyoshitsu no kodomotachi, 1954) y "Children who Draw" (E o kaku kodomotachi, 1956) pero también las menos conocidas "Estudio de Gemelos" (Soseji gakyu, 1956) y "Dirección de grupos" (Gurupu no shido, 1956), en los que se registran innovadoras experiencias psicoeducativas. El análisis se acompaña con el contexto de la reforma educativa de la posguerra, los ensayos de Hani sobre educación, infancia y paternidad (1960-1979), la influencia de las escuelas reformistas como Jiyu Gakuen (fundada por sus abuelos), la llegada a Japón de las teorías sobre el arte y la psicología infantil o la aparición del “Movimiento de Educación Creativa y Artística” (Sozo Biiku Undo).
-El primero de sus trabajos sobre el mundo animal: "Diario de zoológico" (Dobutsuen nikki, 1957), cuyo análisis es acompañado por las reflexiones de Hani sobre el universo interior de los animales (1965-1966 y 1973-1981).
-Las obras sobre el Japón tradicional: tres documentales cinematográficos y cinco documentales televisivos. Hani perteneció a una primera generación de directores que trabajaron en televisión y se mostraron entusiastas con las posibilidades del nuevo medio. Se recupera su noción de "terementari" (documental televisivo), que para él no implica sólo un nuevo formato sino también un nuevo estilo, que permitiría un acercamiento más honesto a la realidad (debates de 1959-1960).
- Los reportajes gráficos de "Iwanami Shashin Bunko" (1950-1958). Se analiza el tránsito de imágenes entre la fotografía y el cine documental.
-El documental "Tokyo 1958" (1958), una obra colectiva y multidisciplinar en el que se plantea una crítica mediante la parodia de la modernidad en la capital japonesa, combinando elementos del ukiyoe, la pintura, teatro o la publicidad.
La PARTE 2 aborda el salto a la ficción de Hani en "Bad Boys" (Furyo shonen, 1960), desde dos enfoques distintos. Por un lado, un estudio de la adaptación del método documental en la ficción (el Apartado 2.1, centrado en el aspecto formal). Por otro, la constitución de cine juvenil que reacciona contra un cine adolescente estrenado unos años antes (el Apartado 2.2, centrado en el aspecto narrativo).
En el Apartado 2.1 se describe cómo el método documental impulsó la renovación del lenguaje cinematográfico de los sesenta y la inauguración de la nueva ola. Se encuadra el papel de la subjetividad en la construcción de la modernidad cinematográfica en Japón y se intenta matizar su equivalencia con la noción de autoría europea, liderada por las corrientes francesas de la " politique des auteurs", así como las diferencias entre el concepto de sujeto japonés y el sujeto proveniente de la semiótica europea. La lectura de los textos de Hani pone de evidencia su relación con las nuevas olas extranjeras, de las que fue un gran divulgador (textos entre 1959 y 1961): el New American Cinema o la nouvelle vague francesa pero sobre todo la admiración por la Escuela Polaca (Kawalerowicz, Wajda y Munk) y por el cine de Fellini y Antonioni, aunque él mismo se considera heredero del neorrealismo italiano (especialmente de Rossellini).
Se propone un análisis comparativo de "Bad Boys" con el libro "Tobenai tsubasa" (1958), perteneciente al “seikatsu kiroku”, el género de escritura amateur autobiográfica, en el que la psicóloga Aiko Jinushi reúne textos de los internos del reformatorio de Kurihama, que escriben sobre sus propias experiencias. Inspirado en sus historias y siguiendo el mismo método, Hani hizo que los protagonistas de "Bad Boys" proyectaran a través de la interpretación una reescritura cinematográfica de sus propias vivencias. El film entra en la modernidad mediante las llamadas fórmulas acinematográficas y antidramáticas rompiendo con los arquetipos y la noción de “recorrido” (kosu) en las acciones. El método documental desemboca en un nuevo realismo en dos dimensiones: un realismo narrativo, dominada por la incoherencia del azar, las dudas existenciales, orden acronológico de las escenas. Un realismo formal, dominado por el ascetismo que caracterizaba la producción documental de Iwanami Eiga (el uso de iluminación natural, sin decorados ni actores profesionales, rodaje con equipos ligeros o con cámara al hombro).
Lo sugerente del estilo de "Bad Boys" hizo que todas las miradas se dirigieran hacia el método documental, eclipsando que el film fue el origen de un "cine juvenil" (seishun eiga) que reaccionó contra el cine adolescente (el taiyozoku) de 1956. En el Apartado 2.2 se propone una distinción entre estos cines adaptando metodológicamente el siguiente proceso:
-Primero, describir estos cines a partir de las definiciones de juventud y adolescencia, como grupo no fisiológico sino socio-cultural (Morin, Gillis), incluyendo la aplicación al caso japonés (Namba, Kon, Okuno) y las reflexiones del propio Hani sobre estas fases del ser humano.
-Segundo, se define el taiyozoku como el nacimiento de esta cultura adolescente en Japón, entendida como un fenómeno multidimensional: su origen literario en las novelas de Shintaro Ishihara, las adaptaciones cinematográficas, el escándalo en la prensa, la constitución como cultura popular en las revistas semanales, los debates desde la literatura y la creación del star system juvenil. El estudio de esta producción cultural se hace de forma transversal, atendiendo no sólo a su dimensión transmediática sino también transcultural (dadas las reminiscencias de la cultura popular americana y ecos en la cultura adolescente europea).
- Tercero, se propone un análisis comparativo de "Bad Boys" con "Season of the Sun" (Taiyo no kisetsu, Takumi Furukawa, 1956), la primera de las cinco películas taiyozoku estrenadas el verano de 1956. Se establece como ejes estudio: primero, el retrato de la delincuencia juvenil; segundo, el derrumbamiento de la gerontocracia que Morin identifica en dos fenómenos: la emancipación de la mujer y el fin de la autoridad paternal.
- Cuarto, se establece como hipótesis que el paso de una cultura adolescente a una juvenil se puede entender como la sustitución de una "subcultura" por una "contracultura" (no subordinada a los discursos hegemónicos sino que reacciona contra ellos), lo cual explica las representaciones contradictorias del "milagro económico japonés", estudiado aquí como un imaginario o "frame" (en el sentido propuesto por Goffman, pero aplicado por Namba al caso japonés).
-Quinto, se establece un “Periodo de Transición” (1956 a 1960) en el que se trata de describir una trayectoria que va del taiyozoku burgués de Shintaro Ishihara (1956), siguiendo por el taiyozoku proletario de Yasuzo Masumura y Kon Ichikawa (1957 y 1958) a lo que hemos definido como una suerte de taiyozoku lumpenproletario de Hani (1960). En estas visiones del "fin de la posguerra", la cuestión de la japonesidad cobra protagonismo y en ella se ponen de relieve los traumas, complejos y ensoñaciones de la juventud japonesa respecto a Occidente.
En CONCLUSIÓN, las referencias a las obras más conocidas de Hani son frecuentes en la bibliografía del cine japonés, pero hasta ahora, la mayor parte del corpus filmográfico realizado en su década como documentalista ha sido ignorado por los autores. Como consecuencia, Hani es paradójicamente una figura de referencia y a la vez un autor en gran medida desconocido. Los films aquí estudiados muestran cómo Hani adelantó el carácter innovador y rupturista de la nueva ola, desafió las consideraciones sobre la autoría de la época y el objetivismo previo en el documental, otorgando a la cámara la capacidad para registrar el mundo interior escondido tras la imagen. Lo hizo con un sugerente realismo subjetivo, que acabaría por ubicar al cine en un lugar indefinible entre la realidad y la ficción. Hizo un uso dual de su capacidad para crear y reflejar la realidad al mismo tiempo, mediante una exploración psicológica ajena al director.
Asimismo, al acompañar las obras cinematográficas con el estudio de sus ensayos se observa cómo Hani se convirtió en una figura clave para entender los cambios que tuvieron lugar en el cine japonés de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Pero dada la falta de traducciones y compilaciones posteriores de sus textos, estas contribuciones teóricas acabaron por ser olvidadas tanto por los autores occidentales como por los japoneses. La relectura de sus textos evidencia el nacimiento de un nuevo tipo de director, que siendo a la vez crítico, teórico y divulgador del cine, liderará la emergente modernidad cinematográfica en la esfera nacional e internacional.SUMMARY
This thesis brings for the first time an anthology of the Japanese director Susumu Hani. It brings to light the documentary films for cinema and television, made in Iwanami Eiga studios between 1950 and 1960, most of them unknown in the West. The analysis of these works is undertaken together with the reading of the original essays written by Hani, which are put into context within the theoretical discussions taking place in Japan at that time.
PART 1 deals with the theoretical and practical contribution of Hani to the non-fiction cinema. Section 1.1 is an study of the debate in which he participated regarding the avant-garde documentary, realism (recovering the conflict of the Marxist theorists of the 1930s, Taihei Imamura and Akira Iwasaki), the “discussion of subjectivity” (shutaiseiron), the nature of the “image” (eizo), the “art of synthesis” (sogo geijutsu), the ideological and aesthetical rupture of authors with the “Old Left” from 1956 and the influence of the “document of life” (seikatsu kiroku”). Two competing positions are ididentified within the "Kiroku Geijutsu no Kai" ["Asociación del Arte Documental"] group from 1957: the deformative leaning of Toshio Matsumoto and the naturalistic current of Susumu Hani. Matsumoto followed Kiyoteru Hanada, Kobo Abe and Taro Okamoto’s formal concern, their unconscious and surrealist interest, aiming at dismantling perceptive habits.
On the other hand, Hani criticized the objectivism but moved the problem of subjectivity from the interior of the author to the interior of the characters. He does not propose a synthesis with other arts but with other mass media, together with the exploration of an emotional universe which had multiple sources of inspiration: from Flaherty to Robert Bresson, the British documentary movement (Grierson, Rocha, Wright, Cavalcanti) or even the works produced during the Spanish Civil War (Capa’s photography or Hemingway’s literary journalism).
Section 1.2 is an analysis of the documentaries made during that decade, which are put in dialog with Hani’s own texts. He wrote not only about cinema (between 1955 and 1967) but also aobut television (1959-1960), childhood (1963-1979), the animal’s world (1965-1966 and 1973-1981) or youth (1974, 1975, 1982). The film corpus is classified in:
-The early “films of social science” (shakaika kyoiku eiga) in which the influence of his mentor is revealed, the veteran documentary maker Keiji Yoshino, from who Hani learnt the combination of the scientific view and social concern.
-The documentary on the world of children: the considered as his masterpieces "Children in the Classroom" (Kyoshitsu no kodomotachi 1954) and "Children who Draw" (E o kaku kodomotachi, 1956) but also the lesser known “Soseji Gakyu” (1954) and “Gurupu no shido” (1956) in which innovative physiological and educational experiences are registered. The analysis is undertaken together with the context of the Postwar educational reform, Hani’s writings on education, childhood and paternity (1960-1979), the influence of the alternative schools like Jiyu Gakuen (founded by his grandparents), the arrival in Japan of the theories on art and child psychology or the emergence of the “Movement of Creative and Artistic Education” (Sozo Biiku Undo).
-The first of his works on the animal’s world: Dobutsuen nikki (1957), whose analysis is carried out together with Hani’s reflections on the interior universe of animals (1965-1966 y 1973-1981).
-The films about Traditional Japan: three cinematographic documentaries and five television documentaries. Hani belonged to the first generation of directors who worked in television and became enthusiastic about the possibilities of the new medium. His notion of “terementari” (television documentary) is taken into account. It did not only mean a new format but also a new style which would allow a more honest approach to reality (debates of 1959-1960).
-The graphic reports of the "Iwanami Shashin Bunko" collection (1950-1958).The transit of images between photography and documentary film is analyzed.
-The documentary “Tokyo 1958” (1958), a collective and multidisciplinary work which displays a parody on the notion of modernity in the Japanese capital, combining elements from the ukiyoe, painting, theater or advertising.
PART 2 deals with Hani’s jump to fiction in “Bad Boys” (Furyo shonen, 1960) made from two different perspectives. On the one hand, the study of the adaptation of the documentary method in fiction (Section 2.1, focused in the formal aspect). On the other, the constitution of youth cinema reacting against teen cinema released some years before (Section 2.2, focused on the narrative aspect).
In Section 2.1 it is described how the documentary method prompted the renewal of the cinematographic language in the 1960s and the inauguration of the New Wave. It is framed the role of subjectivity in the construction of the cinematographic modernity in Japan, its equivalence with the notion of European authorship, led by the French trends of the “politique des auteurs” as well as the differences between the Japanese concept of subject and the subject coming from the European semiotics. The reading of Hani’s texts shows evidence of his relation with other foreign new waves, of which he was a great disseminator (texts between 1959 and 1961): the New American Cinema or the French Nouvelle Vague but especially the Polish School (Kawalerowicz, Wajda, Munk) as well as Fellini and Antonioni’s cinemas, although he regarded himself as the heir of the Italian Neorealism (mainly of Rossellini). It is proposed a comparative analysis between “Bad Boys” and the book “Tobenai tsubasa” (1958) which belongs to the “seikatsu kiroku”, the genre of autobiographic and amateur writing in which the psychologist Aiko Jinushi gathers the texts of the inmates from the Kurihama reformatory, who wrote about their own lives. Inspired by their stories and following the same method, Hani made the stars of “Bad Boys” project throughout their performance a cinematographic rewriting of their own experience. Hani entered in modernity throughout acinematographic and antidramatic formulas, breaking with stereotypes and challenging the notion of “course” (kosu) in the actions. The documentary method crystallized in a new realism in two dimensions: a narrative realism, dominated by the achronological order of actions and the character’s existential doubts; a formal realism, dominated by an asceticism which was characteristic of Iwanami Eiga documentary production (natural lighting, without sets or professional actors, filming with light equipment or with the hand-held camera).
In Section 2.2 it is highlighted that the suggestive documentary style of “Bad Boys” eclipsed the fact that this film was the origin of a “youth cinema” (seishun eiga) which reacted against a teen cinema (the taiyozoku). In order to make this distinction the following methodological procedure was carried out:
-Firstly, describing these films from the definitions of adolescence and youth not as physiological but as a socio-cultural group (Morin, Gillis) including the application to the Japanese case (Namba, Kon, Okuno) and Hani’s reflections on these stages of the human being.
-Secondly, the taiyozoku is defined as the birth of teen culture in Japan, understood as a multidimensional phenomenon: its literary origin with Shintaro Ishihara’s novels, the film versions, the press scandal, the constitution of popular culture in the weekly magazines, the debates in the literary circles and the creation of a juvenile star system. A transversal study is proposed, paying attention not only to its transmedia but also its transcultural dimension (given the reminiscence of the American popular culture and the echoes of European teen culture).
-Thirdly, a comparative analysis is undertaken between “Bad Boys” and "Season of the Sun" (Taiyo no kisetsu, Takumi Furukawa, 1956), the first of the five taiyozoku films released in the Summer of 1956. The axes of study are: 1. the depiction of juvenile delinquency; 2. The fall of gerontocracy, which according to Morin is produced by two facts: the emancipation of woman and the end of paternal authority.
-Fourthly, as a hypothesis, it is established that the transition from teen to youth culture can be understood as a substitution of a “subculture” by a “counterculture” (which is not under the hegemonic discourses but against them), which explain the contradictory representations of the so-called “Japanese Economic Miracle”. It is studied here as an imaginary or “frame” (proposed by Goffman but applied by Namba to the Japanese case).
-Finally, a “Period of Transition” (1956-1960) is delimited in which a trajectory can be defined from Shintaro Ishihara’s bourgeois taiyozoku (1956), followed by Yasuzo Masumura and Kon Ichikawa’s proletarian taiyozoku (1957 and 1958) to Hani’s lumpenproletarian taiyozoku (1960). In these views of the “end of postwar”, the problem of Japaneseness gains prominence, pointing out the traumas, complexes and daydreams of Japanese youth towards the West.
In CONCLUSION, a number of references to Hani’s most recognized works frequently appear in the literature of Japanese Cinema, but a big part of the filmography made during his decade as a documentary maker has been ignored by scholars to date. As a consequence, Hani has paradoxically been a referential author and at the same time a largely unknown figure. The films studied here show how Hani was ahead of the innovative and breaking nature the New Wave would have in years to come. Hence, he challenged previous documentary objectivism but also considerations on authorship of the time, giving the camera a capacity to register the inner world hidden behind the scenes. He did so with suggestive realism which would end up relocating cinema in an undefined place between reality and fiction, making dual use of its capacity to create and reflect reality through a psychological exploration alien to the author. Regarding his essays, when putting his publications into context, it can be seen how Hani became a key figure of the changes that took place in Japanese cinema in the second half of the last century. But given the lack of translations or later compilations of his texts, his theoretical contributions ended up being forgotten by most Western and Japanese scholars. Nevertheless, the re-reading of his texts shows evidence of the birth of a new kind of director, being simultaneously a cinema critic,
Predictors of surgical site infection following reconstructive flap surgery: A multi-institutional analysis of 37,177 patients
No full textPurpose: Rates of surgical site infection (SSI) following reconstructive flap surgeries (RFS) vary according to flap recipient site, potentially leading to flap failure. This is the largest study to determine predictors of SSI following RFS across recipient sites. Methods: The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database was queried for patients undergoing any flap procedure from years 2005 to 2020. RFS involving grafts, skin flaps, or flaps with unknown recipient site were excluded. Patients were stratified according to recipient site: breast, trunk, head and neck (H&N), upper and lower extremities (UE&LE). The primary outcome was the incidence of SSI within 30 days following surgery. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression were performed to determine predictors of SSI following RFS. Results: 37,177 patients underwent RFS, of whom 7.5% (n = 2,776) developed SSI. A significantly greater proportion of patients who underwent LE (n = 318, 10.7%) and trunk (n = 1,091, 10.4%) reconstruction developed SSI compared to those who underwent breast (n = 1,201, 6.3%), UE (n = 32, 4.4%), and H&N (n = 100, 4.2%) reconstruction (p <.001). Longer operating times were significant predictors of SSI following RFS across all sites. The strongest predictors of SSI were presence of open wound following trunk and H&N reconstruction [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.82 (1.57–2.11) and 1.75 (1.57–1.95)], disseminated cancer following LE reconstruction [aOR (CI) 3.58 (2.324–5.53)], and history of cardiovascular accident or stroke following breast reconstruction [aOR (CI) 16.97 (2.72–105.82)]. Conclusion: Longer operating time was a significant predictor of SSI regardless of reconstruction site. Reducing operating times through proper surgical planning might help mitigate the risk of SSI following RFS. Our findings should be used to guide patient selection, counseling, and surgical planning prior to RFS. 2023 Hassan, Abou Koura, Makarem, Abi Mosleh, Dimassi, Tamim and Ibrahim
A National Study on Nurses' Exposure to Occupational Violence in Lebanon: Prevalence, Consequences and Associated Factors.
No full textHealthcare institutions have commonly reported exposure of employees, particularly nurses, to high levels of occupational violence. Despite such evidence in the Middle East Region, there is a dearth of national studies that have systematically investigated this phenomenon. This study investigates the prevalence, characteristics, consequences and factors associated with nurses' exposure to occupational violence in Lebanon.A cross-sectional design was utilized to survey a nationally representative sample of 915 nurses registered with the Order of Nurses in Lebanon. Stratified random sampling by governorate was utilized. Individually-mailed questionnaires collected information on exposure to violence, degree of burnout and demographic/professional background. The main outcome variables were exposure to verbal abuse (never, 1-3, 4-9 and 10+ times) and physical violence (never, ever) over the past 12-months. Descriptive statistics were used to estimate prevalence of violence. Multivariable, binomial and multinomial regression models were carried out to investigate the correlates of exposure to verbal abuse and physical violence, respectively.Response rate was 64.8%. Over the last year, prevalence of nurses' exposure to verbal abuse was 62%, (CI: 58-65%) and physical violence was 10%, (CI: 8-13%). Among respondents, 31.7% of nurses indicated likelihood to quit their jobs and 22.3% were undetermined. Furthermore, 54.1% reported high levels of emotional exhaustion and 28.8% reported high levels of depersonalization. Compared to nurses with no exposure to verbal abuse, nurses reporting high exposure had high levels of emotional exhaustion (OR:6.4; CI:1.76-23.32), depersonalization (OR:6.8; CI: 3-15) and intention to quit job (OR:3.9; CI: 1.8-8.3). They further reported absence of anti-violence policies at their institutions (OR: 3; CI: 1.5-6.3). Nurses that were ever exposed to physical violence were more likely to be males (OR: 2.2; CI: 1.1-4.3), working day and night shifts (OR: 2.8; CI: 1.4-5.5) and subject to ten or more incidents of verbal abuse per year (OR: 46.7; CI: 10.1-214).An alarming two-thirds of respondents reported exposure to verbal abuse which was found to be a significant predictor of the three subscales of burnout, intention to quit and exposure to physical violence. The prevalence of exposure to physical violence is disconcerting due to its severe consequences. Policy and decision-makers are urged to use study findings for policy and practice interventions to create safe work environments conducive to nurses' productivity and retention
Harmony with the Land: Explorations in Graphic Narratives
No full textHarmony with the land is a series of explorations of graphic narratives based on my lived experience and received knowledge relating to my homeland of Yunnan. The narrations are rooted deeply within the memory, culture and sensation that inhabit my engagements with flora and fauna of Yunnan, as well as my experience with people that are deeply connected to this land. As I trace my memories with the land throughout the years, deeper and further, divergences begin to emerge. I find intricate connections between my experience and the experience of other people. Through reading and studying ethnic materials such as literature and poetry, observing and participating in activities and events, I find similarities based on our interactions with familiar objects that come from the land. Whether it is a pine tree in the woods, a mushroom under the leaves or a bush of berries. The idea of placing my lived experience with the land in the context of people who are also closely connected to the land is intriguing. Among the ethnic materials I studied, there is an epic poem about the arduous historical migration of Hani People of Yunnan. The poem tells the stories of resilience, humility and responsiveness of the Hani people throughout the migration. I relate myself to the land that Hani people travelled through about 1,000 years ago, as the places, animals, plants, people in the poem have also been essential to my lived experience. I base my explorations of graphic narratives on the interactions and inspirations of personal memory and the knowledge from the Hani migration poem. My studio work, as well as this writing, is an oscillating process between my lived experience and received knowledge; it is a space where intrapersonal and interpersonal dialogues happen, all of which are based on the land and things that have come from the land. Through these explorations of storytelling, I hope to convey the harmonious, earth-centered relationship of people and the land to my audience, to investigate the potential application of such storytelling experience, and also to reconnect myself to the memory that shaped my view of the world
A comparative study of the Balochi story of Hani and Shaymorid with Laila and Majnun of Nizami
No full textIntroductionStorytelling has a significant and prominent place in Iranian literature and its history dates back to the Pre-Islamic era. Fiction poetry is a part of Iranian poetic literature. In Persian literature, Fiction Poetry began with Wameq and Azrai Onsori (Death, 431), Vargheh and Golshah Ayoughi and Weiss and Ramin. It reached its climax with Khosrow and Shirin by Nizami (607-535). (Zolfaghari, 1394: 74) Laila and Majnun is the third fiction poem in Khamseh poem collection (a collection of five narrative poems) written by Nizami and is considered as one of his most brilliant works. The origin of this story should be sought in Arabic literature and Nizami put it in such a fascinating way that later numerous poets imitated this masterpiece work of poetry. Storytelling and fiction poetry are essential features of Balochi literature and a significant part of traditional Balochi poetry consists of poetic stories. There are dozens of romantic poems in Balochi literature, among which Hani and Shaymorid are the most famous. The place and role of this story in Balochi literature is the same as Laila and Majnun in Persian literature.In this article, two poetic stories have been compared and evaluated, on the one hand, "Laila and Majnun" by Nizami, as one of the most famous and important poetic stories in Persian literature, and on the other hand, the story of "Hani and Shaymorid" as one of the most famous Balochi romantic story. MethodologyThe method of collecting data in the story and poems of "Hani and Shaymorid" is rather field-based. The author has heard the poem from the song of musicians and the story behind it from narrators. After compiling this story and its poems, using analytic and comparative methods, he has studied the characters and events of the stories and has used library resources for content analysis. DiscussionThe story of "Hani and Shaymorid" is about five centuries old and there are forty semi-long and short poems that were accessible to the author. This is the most famous Balochi story popular with the people and there are two main narrations and several sub-narrations about it. One of the main narrations is of southern Balochistan, i.e., the land of Makoran. The other one is the narration of northern Balochistan. Each of these narrations has its unique features. It is worth mentioning that there are more poems about the first narrative than the second.The main characters of this story are Hani and Shaymorid and Mir Chakar. Hani is the daughter of Dinar, the cousin, fiancé, and lover of Shaymorid, who eventually becames his wife. Shaymorid is the son of Mubarak and Mir Chakar Rind, who is Shaymorid's love rival in this story, is the son of Sheyhak.Hani and Shaymorid were cousins and had been engaged since childhood. Even though the two played together as children, Shaymorid did not meet Hani after childhood, so he did not discover her beauty. Mir Chakar, the chief of the tribe, heard the description of Hani's beauty and sought to choose her as the lady of his palace. Hani was engaged to Shaymorid, and it was a major obstacle to Mir Chakar's decision, so he tricked Shaymorid and dissuaded him from marrying Hani. Hani became aware of Mir Chakar's deception, and although she agreed to an unwanted marriage with Mir Chakar, she refused even to sit next to him and was still in love with Shaymorid in her heart. After the marriage, Shaymorid was able to see Hani and at first sight, he was enchanted by her beauty.Obviously, Shaymorid was not able to fight Mir Chakar, so at his father's suggestion, he went for the Hajj journey (the house of God in Mecca) to get rid of this mad love. He wrote letters and sent messages to Hani during these years, and Hani also replied to his letters. Thirty years passed and Shaymorid returned to his house. Hani was still waiting for him to come. No one would recognize Shaymorid until some people could identify him according to the signs in his appearance and informed Hani about Shaymorid’s presence. She happily sent a messenger to take Shaymorid to the house of Hani's parents. She then sent intermediaries to Mir Chakar, asking for divorce and Mir Chakar immediately divorced Hani. The two lovers then left while holding hands, and no one found a sign of them. They joined the myth and the Baloch people believe that they are "the living old (holy eternal life)" and have reached to the water of life and drank it.The second narration is based on the same as the first one, with the difference that the amount of extraordinary and mythical elements in the second narration is significantly more than the first one. Here we try to summarize the general cases that are not mentioned in the above narration.When Hani was taken from Shaymorid, Shaymorid wanted to fight against Mir Chakar because he was angry with him, but his father stopped him and advised Shaymorid that his strength would not be enough to confront Mir Chakar. Shaymorid then went to Mir Chakar’s Palace to visit Hani. Hani was asleep and did not notice his presence. Shaymorid desperately returned and made a promise to God to go to Mecca (the house of God) to get rid of his emotional dependency on Hani.Hani was told that Shaymorid had come to her and she could not notice. She crazily and barefoot went out of the palace and followed Shaymorid. On the way, she saw a deer and asked whether it had seen a well-dressed, charming man riding a horse. The deer replied: "Last night, under the moonlight, I was sleeping next to a bush that smelled like a human being. I got up and saw a man with the same characteristics, along with six dervishes."Hani said to the deer, "Come and convey my message to him that why did you turn your back and left me alone? Come back”! The deer immediately found Shaymorid and conveyed Hani's messages to him. Shaymorid replied: “I made a promise to my God that I would leave my city and country and be near the house of God for seven years and then only I shall return”. The deer conveyed Shaymorid's message to Hani. Upon hearing this, Hani took it as a bad omen and attempted to kill the deer, but he escaped.Desperately, Hani made her way to the mesquite tree, which people used to ask for their wishes by tying a piece of cloth to its branches. Hani said to the tree: “O tree, fulfill my wish”. Of course, she did not hear any response and involuntarily uprooted the tree and continued on her way until she reached an old woman and said: “O kind old woman, I have a traveler on my way, tell me when he will reach.” The old woman took the rosary in her hand to fortune-tell and said: “Your traveler is on his way to Mecca, and he will stay there for seven years and then only he shall return. Like before, the result of the omen was not pleasant for Hani, and she killed the unfortunate woman. Seven years later, Shaymorid returned home and after his identity got examined, it was revealed that Shaymorid had come back. When Hani made sure that her beloved was by her side, they both put their hands around each other's necks and got united. There appeared a green camel before them. They both rode on it, and departed from that place, and never returned. Folks say that they will remain alive until the Day of Judgment. They would be wandering in the deserts and mountains till then.Laila and Majnun is the third poem of Nizami’s Khamseh, written eight years after Khosrow and Shirin in 584 AH. Nizami put this story in poetic order in less than four months. This story was famous during The Age of Ignorance (jāhilīyah) in Arabia and before Nizami’s era. Some scholars have provided evidence of its authenticity and have even attributed a Divān (poem collection) to Majnun Qais Ameri. (Zolfaghari, 1392: 707). Laila and Majnun has an Arabic origin, but it is pretty prominent in Iranian literature and Persian. Nizami had composed this story artistically and he also did many manipulations in the story while writing the poem (Safa, vol. 2, 1989: 802).The plot of the story in Nizami’s narrative is that a love affair begins between a child named Qais and his contemporary school girl Laila. The pride and prejudice that was quite ingrained in the Arabs’ culture of that time, created obstacles in the way of this passionate innocent love. Laila goes to the house of a greedy husband named Ibn Salam, and Qais, who does not benefit from his father's intervention and Nofal's mediation, goes insane and heads to the desert and becomes acquainted with animals (that’s why the local people gave him the title of Majnun). Neither his parents’ death, who die away in the grief of his absence, recovers him from insanity, nor the demise of Ibn Salam; brings him back to his lover. Laila, who lost her hope, dies in despair. Hearing about Laila’s death, Majnun approached her grave and said "O friend" repeatedly and then he also passed away. (Rezaei Ardani, 2012: 49)There are common features, events, and similarities, in the two stories "Hani and Shaymorid" and "Laila and Majnun" and here we will try our best to point out some of them.- Being companions and being in the same school got "Qais (Majnun) and Laila acquainted with each other in childhood which in result the fell in love" (Saeedi Sirjani, 1377: 117). Hani and Shaymorid were engaged and playmates since childhood. Of course, their relationship did not lead to falling in love during this period.- When Majnun fell in love, this tragic love lasted for thirty years. (Servatiyan, 1395: 53). Hani and Shaymorid s’ ever-lasting love, which was during the separation period, according to the narrations of the people of southern Balochistan, lasted for thirty years.-Although Laila was insanely in love with Majnun, she was forced to marry a wealthy man named "Ibn Salam," who offered her many precious gifts. (Saeedi Sirjani, 1998: 117). Hani was also deeply in love with Shaymorid and like Laila, she was unwillingly married to Mir Chakar through the cunning and sophistries of intermediaries. - Laila was uninterested in her husband and hated him. However, Ibn Salam knew that Laila was not in love with him. He had no choice but to get along and be patient (Saeedi Sirjani, 1998: 117). Mir Chakar, the chief of the tribe, like Ibn Islam, was a wealthy man. Hani hated Mir Chakar and did not approach him throughout her life.- Both lovers are known mainly by their titles or nicknames, Majnun's real name is "Qais" and Shaymorid's real name is "Pirbaksh" (/pɪrbækʃ/). Majnun means mad and rebellious and Shaymorid also literally means mad and unconscious. - In the following poem, which is the translation of its Farsi original, Laila "laments that she has been created as a woman who is doomed to be helpless:“ A woman even though she is a fighterA woman, even though she is brave hearted She is just an incapable creature after all"A woman remains a woman, even though she is a lion." (Saeedi Sirjani, 1998: 123)In a message sent to Shaymorid, Hani laments her inability as a woman and says:“I am a bewildered and helpless woman sitting hereI do not have the strength to fight in Mir Chakar’s Palace and break the doors of the palace and get out of hereand accompany the pilgrims of Haj on barefootand come there and embrace you I am a woman and it is not my fault; my excuse is validI am like a mourning dove whose wings are broken by Mir Chakar” - Shaymorid's parents went blind as they were in so much grief that their son was being away and separated. Majnun's parents also died, one after the other, out of suffering from their son’s absence and madness. -Laila and Majnun sometimes used to meet each other secretly. During his displacement, Shaymorid stayed in Mecca for a long time. Sometimes, he disguised himself as beggars or dervishes and came to Hani's house, met her, and returned without introducing himself.-Majnun's father took him to Mecca for the Hajj pilgrimage to get rid of love but visiting the house of God not only failed to diminish his love; instead, it added to his passion and affection for Laila. Shaymorid also spent many years near the house of God in Mecca to get rid of Hani's love, but even this proximity to God’s house had no effect on reducing his agitated love.-People call Qais insane because of his mad behavior. When Majnun sent his envoys to Laila's father to propose Laila on his behalf, Laila's father rejected his proposal by arguing that Qais was crazy. He said:“Although your son is cheerful and healthy, he behaves insanely and a madman does not deserve to be with us.” (Nizami, 1389: 90)-People also called Shaymorid Diwanag (dɪwʌnæg), which means mad or crazy because of his insane behavior, and this title is repeated many times in the other following poems such as:“Come O mad Murid!Come! so our great time has returned”. (Jahandideh, 1390: 146)-Some critics and narrators of Laila and Majnun consider Majnun, a poet and attribute poems to him. Others are skeptical of attributing these poems to him.Some of Hani and Shaymorid's poems or poem collections are addressed to a dove or a nightingale to convey the messages to each other. - Laila gets sick after Ibn Salam's death and finally dies. Upon hearing the news of Laila's death, Majnun grieved and cried a lot at her grave, then said “O friend” and died. He is then buried next to Laila's grave. The union of Hani and Shaymorid was not physical, their disappearance from the sight of people, causing them to be called holy livings and people believed that they were alive like Khedr (A prophet in Islam religion). - Majnun was full of Platonic or pure love (in Arabic: عشق عُذری Eshq-e Ozri). This love was nurtured among the tribes living in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula (Krachkovsky, 1999: 64)Hani and Shaymorid s’ union is a kind of Platonic love, i.e., a kind of love that is not sexually oriented. Throughout the story of Hani and Shaymorid, we see no sign of sexuality and there is no word mentioning it even when they are united. ConclusionFiction in Iran is not limited to the Persian language and literature, but in various Iranian ethnic groups and dialects, there are poetic stories that are very important in terms of Iranian literature, anthropology, and sociology. Comparing these stories, which are often anonymous, with the narrative poem collections of Persian literature will open a new chapter in the study of ethnic and national literature. The story of Hani and Shaymorid - the most important Balochi love story and its narratives and poems have been common among the Baloch people for hundreds of years.Significant results can be achieved by matching the two stories of Laila and Majnun and Hani and Shaymorid; The characters of both stories have many features in common, and there are various similarities in the course of events and actions of both stories too. Some of these characteristics and commonalities can be stated as follow: chastity and purity in love, having pure love, the loyalty of lovers towards their beloveds, both the lovers were addressed with their pseudonyms, both the lovers made a pilgrimage to the House of God (Mecca), both the lovers fought to achieve their beloveds, both the lovers showed insane behaviors, both the lovers were threatened to be killed, attributing poetic art to lovers of both stories, forced marriage of two beloveds and their hatred towards their unwanted husbands and secret meetings between lovers and their beloveds. The story of Laila and Majnun in Persian literature and Hani and Shaymorid in Balochi literature both have a high status and their heroes are a symbol of true love and affection. There is an obstacle to connecting the lover to the beloved in both stories, and it takes thirty years to overcome. The end of the two stories is that Laila and Majnun died in the grief of separation and at the height of their true love. Hani and Shaymorid, although they finally reached a sacred connection and away from physical desires, but hide from view. They turn and achieve eternal life
Using mobile health to enhance outcomes of noncommunicable diseases care in rural settings and refugee camps: Randomized controlled trial
No full textBackground: Rural areas and refugee camps are characterized by poor access of patients to needed noncommunicable disease (NCD)–related health services, including diabetes and hypertension. Employing low-cost innovative eHealth interventions, such as mobile health (mHealth), may help improve NCDs prevention and control among disadvantaged populations. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of employing low-cost mHealth tools on the accessibility to health services and improvement of health indicators of individuals with NCDs in rural areas and refugee camps in Lebanon. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial study in which centers were allocated randomly into control and intervention sites. The effect of an employed mHealth intervention is assessed through selected quality indicators examined in both control and intervention groups. Sixteen primary health care centers (eight controls, eight interventions) located in rural areas and Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon were included in this study. Data on diabetic and hypertensive patients—1433 in the intervention group and 926 in the control group—was extracted from patient files in the pre and postintervention periods. The intervention entailed weekly short message service messages, including medical information, importance of compliance, and reminders of appointments or regular physician follow-up. Internationally established care indicators were utilized in this study. Descriptive analysis of baseline characteristics of participants, bivariate analysis, logistic and linear regression were conducted using SPSS (IBM Corp). Results: Bivariate analysis of quality indicators indicated that the intervention group had a significant increase in blood pressure control (P=.03), as well as a significant decrease in the mean systolic blood pressure (P=.02), mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c; P<.01), and in the proportion of HbA1c poor control (P=.02). Separate regression models controlling for age, gender, and setting showed a 28% increase in the odds of blood pressure control (P=.05) and a 38% decrease in the odds of HbA1c poor control (P=.04) among the intervention group in the posttest period. Females were at lower odds of HbA1c poor control (P=.01), and age was statistically associated with annual HbA1c testing (P<.01). Regression models for mean systolic blood pressure, mean diastolic blood pressure, and mean HbA1c showed that a mean decrease in HbA1c of 0.87% (P<.01) pretest to posttest period was observed among the intervention group. Patients in rural areas belonging to the intervention group had a lower HbA1c score as compared with those in refugee camps (P<.01). Conclusions: This study underlines the importance of employing integrative approaches of diseases prevention and control in which existing NCD programs in underserved communities (ie, rural and refugee camps settings) are coupled with innovative, low-cost approaches such as mHealth to provide an effective and amplified effect of traditional NCD-targeted care that can be reflected by improved NCD-related health indicators among the population. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03580330; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03580330 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/70mhVEUwQ). © Shadi Saleh, Angie Farah, Hani Dimassi, Nour El Arnaout, Joanne Constantin, Mona Osman, Christo El Morr, Mohamad Alameddine
Performance of polypropylene fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) utilizing Portland limestone cement
No full textThe purpose of this study is to investigate the applicability of Type IL Portland Limestone cement for bridge deck and accelerated construction applications as a replacement of the traditional Type I/II cement. Traditional cement production contributes to a significant percentage of the total carbon emissions produced worldwide. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2020 an estimated 4.3 gigatons of cement had been produced globally, 0.59 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) were produced for every ton of cement. For this reason, more research of Type IL Portland Limestone cement (PLC) is required especially that this type of cement produces 10% less carbon emission during production compared to traditional cement and is readily available. This is because PLC consists of 5-15% of limestone while Type I/II cement contains around 5%. In this study, the author evaluates strength and durability properties of the concretes in accordance with several ASTM and AASHTO testing standards. These tests include compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic properties, flexural strength, surface resistivity, rapid chloride permeation, and multiple types of shrinkage. Furthermore, restrained shrinkage test in accordance with AASHTO T334 is conducted for Type IL based concrete and compared to the identical mixtures with Type I/II cement. Results show that PLC concrete overwhelmingly outperformed traditional Type I/II concrete which would allow a 1:1 ratio substitution of PLC concrete. At an age of 28 days, nonfibrous high-performance PLC concrete achieved higher strength parameters than Type I/II concrete in compression (+12%), tension (+7%), modulus of elasticity (+18%), and flexure (+22%). It also had a higher surface resistivity (+9%) and a lower rapid chloride permeability (-28%) which indicates better performance against chlorides. In addition, all HPC Portland Limestone Cement mixtures outperformed the control mix in terms of restrained shrinkage with the hybrid fibrous mix performing the best.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
Long-Term Phonatory Instability in Ataxic Dysarthria
No full text<i>Aims:</i> Long-term phonatory instability can be quantified using cyclical and noncyclical measures. The objective of this study is to evaluate phonation in ataxic dysarthria and a control group of normal speakers to answer two main questions: (1) How common is elevated cyclical and noncyclical instability in ataxic dysarthria compared to that in a normal control group? (2) Is cyclical instability predictive of noncyclical instability? <i>Methods:</i> Vowel prolongations of ataxic-dysarthric and normal speakers were compared using the Motor Speech Profile module of the Computerized Speech Lab. Cyclical measures included tremor rate, amplitude and periodicity. Noncyclical measures included the coefficient of variation for loudness and frequency. <i>Results:</i> Noncyclical measures are elevated in a subset of speakers with ataxic dysarthria regardless of whether cyclical instability (vocal tremor) is present. Cyclical instability was detected in nearly half the patients. Interestingly, elevations in both types of measures also described phonation of a number of the participants in the control group. <i>Conclusion:</i> Combined use of cyclical and noncyclical measures can document aspects of phonation in ataxic dysarthria that have clinical implications.</jats:p
the case of a tertiary hospital in Lebanon
No full textBackground: As health care costs continue to increase worldwide, health care systems, and more specifically
hospitals are facing continuous pressure to operate more efficiently. One service within the hospital sector whose
cost structure has been modestly investigated is the Emergency Department (ED). The study aims to report on the
distribution of ED resource use, as expressed in charges, and to determine predictors of/contributors to total ED
charges at a major tertiary hospital in Lebanon.
Methods: The study used data extracted from the ED discharge database for visits between July 31, 2012 and July
31, 2014. Patient visit bills were reported under six major categories: solutions, pharmacy, laboratory, physicians,
facility, and radiology. Characteristics of ED visits were summarized according to patient gender, age, acuity score,
and disposition. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted with total charges as the dependent variable.
Results: Findings revealed that the professional fee (40.9 %) followed by facility fee (26.1 %) accounted for the
majority of the ED charges. While greater than 80 % of visit charges went to physician and facility fee for low acuity
cases, these contributed to only 52 and 54 % of the high acuity presentations where ancillary services and
solutions’ contribution to the total charges increased. The total charges for males were 113 higher than ages 0–18 after controlling for all other variables.
Conclusion: Understanding the components and determinants of ED charges is essential to developing costcontainment
interventions. Institutional modeling of charging patterns can be used to offer price estimates to ED
patients who request this information and ultimately help create market competition to drive down costs.PublishedN/
The Candida albicans Hwp2 is necessary for proper adhesion, biofilm formation and oxidative stress tolerance
No full textCandida albicans is an important fungal pathogen of humans that is responsible for the majority of mucosal and systemic candidiasis. The host–pathogen interaction in C. albicans has been the subject of intense investigation as it is the primary step that leads to establishment of infection. Hwp2 is a cell wall GPI-anchored cell wall protein that was previously shown to be necessary for hyphal and invasive growth on solid media. The purpose of the current study is to further characterize the protein as far as its role in oxidative stress, sensitivity to cell wall disrupting agents, adhesion to human epithelial and endothelial cells, biofilm formation and chitin content. It appears that Hwp2 is necessary for proper oxidative stress tolerance, adhesion and biofilm formation as an hwp2 null is more susceptible to increasing doses of hydrogen peroxide, unable to adhere efficiently to epithelial and endothelial cell lines and unable to form wild type biofilm levels.PublishedN/
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