Philosophy’s Mother Envy:Has There Yet Been a Deconstruction of the Mother Tongue?

This essay approaches the problem of untying the mother tongue using Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe’s critique of onto-typology, along with the concept of the outre-mère (the ‘beyond-mother’), a limit-figure he and Jean-Luc Nancy devised in their critical assessments of psychoanalysis and its relationship to politics and the problem of mimesis. The essay argues that it will not be possible to deconstruct the figure of the mother tongue, or to untie ourselves from it, as long as we leave unquestioned both the theoretical dependence on figuration and our affective tie ( Gefühlsbindung) to theory.Michael Eng, ‘Philosophy’s Mother Envy: Has There Yet Been a Deconstruction of the Mother Tongue?’, in Untying the Mother Tongue, ed. by Antonio Castore and Federico Dal Bo, Cultural Inquiry, 26 (Berlin: ICI Berlin Press, 2023), pp. 25-43 <https://doi.org/10.37050/ci-26_2

Don’t Touch that String! There Went the Databases

Web discovery tools can change not only the way users search and retrieve information, but also, how libraries and librarians work with information. When the University of North Florida implemented web scale discovery tools, we discovered that the technical implementation was challenging, but the most difficult changes were related to the library culture. Our students were “early adopters” moving from over 26 different entry points to finding most library materials in one search. But our staff and faculty were more resistant to the change. Technical challenges related to implementation included coordinating the various technology pieces to customize the search interface, convert link resolvers, and to maintain interaction with the proxy server. Because of the complicated nature of web-scale discovery, we learned that no matter how much you prepare for implementation, there will be new and unexpected issues to resolve. Solutions for these problems require input from external entities and not just the library. Cultural challenges involved library faculty and staff that had the perception that the discovery tool did not produce comparable results to a search done directly in a specific database. When we analyzed this issue, we found that not only did the discovery tool return more accurate results, but also more relevant results. In addition, the results were from databases faculty and staff would not have normally thought to use. The issue then demonstrated the need for more training for library faculty and staff to learn how to refine searches in the discovery tool to achieve maximum results. By implementing web scale, we essentially untied the string that contained our expectations and experience regarding how search engines work and how users interact with them--and this unraveled all our previously held assumptions about how the library provides research service. The University of North Florida Library’s internet presence consisted of access points to over 300 databases which were available to users only by subject grouping and alphabetized lists. The Library realized that we were limiting access to content by forcing users to choose a database before starting a search. Therefore, relevant content in databases that the user might not think to search was excluded. Additionally, it was difficult to becomingly increasingly difficult to maintain the subject access approach using a list. In the past, UNF Library had dabbled unsuccessfully with federated search services. We chose to look for a technical solution that could unite our databases, make access to content easy, and make searching less cumbersome for our users. So we chose to look at new web scale discovery tools to answer our needs. We looked at emerging library discovery tools such as EDS by EBSCO, Summon by Serials Solutions, and Primo Central by Ex Libris

The role of media socialization agents in increasing obesity health literacy among Malaysian youth

Obesity is a global emerging issue. In Malaysia, there has been a significant increase in such cases in the past few years. It is a big challenge for authorities to find out the effectiveness of newspaper as a medium for disseminating obesity information among Malaysian youth. This study aimed to examine the influences and effectiveness of newspaper in conveying health literacy of obesity among Malaysian youth. It focused on their awareness level and perception towards obesity. In this study, 300 Malaysian youth aged 18-25 participated in a survey. It was found that the newspaper-oriented respondents have higher awareness of obesity than the non-newspaper oriented respondents. However, the awareness among the overall respondents is still mainly average. The results also indicate that newspaper is still resourceful in disseminating health information. It is significantly positively related to the youth health literacy

A Qualitative Study of the Day-to-Day Lives of Families of Indian Squatters in Desa Mentari Hardcore Poor Housing Scheme in Taman Medan, Selangor

This study focuses on the impact of migration of Kampung Gandhi and Kampung Medan squatter residents to Desa Mentari Hardcore Poor Housing scheme in Taman Medan. This study also examined the factors behind the continued resurfacing of urban poverty among the squatter residents and the impact towards their daily lives in a city. To achieve the study’s objectives a qualitative methodological approach was adopted which included the use of intensive interviews. Finding shows that a number of challenges are being faced by the squatter residents ranging from poor sanitation services to the challenge of social vices in Desa Mentari flats. Furthermore, findings also shows that a number of factors ranging from escaping high living costs, increasing family sizes and escaping the impacts of urban poverty were some of the factors that are behing the continued social ill problems resurfacing among the squatter residents in Desa Mentari Hardcore Poor Housing in Taman Medan

The Effects of Changing Attention and Context in an Awake Offline Processing Period on Visual Long-Term Memory

There is accumulating evidence that sleep as well as awake offline processing is important for the transformation of new experiences into long-term memory (LTM). Yet much remains to be understood about how various cognitive factors influence the efficiency of awake offline processing. In the present study we investigated how changes in attention and context in the immediate period after exposure to new visual information influences LTM consolidation. After presentation of multiple naturalistic scenes within a working memory paradigm, recognition was assessed 30 min and 24 h later in three groups of subjects. One group of subjects engaged in a focused attention task [the Revised Attentional Network Task (R-ANT)] in the 30 min after exposure to the scenes. Another group of subjects remained in the testing room during the 30 min after scene exposure and engaged in no goal- or task-directed activities. A third group of subjects left the testing room and returned 30 min later. A signal detection analysis revealed no significant differences among the three groups in hits, false alarms, or sensitivity on the 30-min recognition task. At the 24-h recognition test, the group that performed the R-ANT made significantly fewer hits compared to the group that left the testing room and did not perform the attention ask. The group that performed the R-ANT and the group that remained in the testing room during the 30-min post-exposure interval made significantly fewer false alarms on the 24-h recognition test compared to the group that left the testing room. The group that stayed in the testing room and engaged in no goal- or task-directed activities exhibited significantly higher sensitivity (d′) compared to the group that left the testing room and the group that performed the R-ANT task. Staying in the same context after exposure to new information and resting quietly with minimal engagement of attention results in the best ability to distinguish old from novel visual stimuli after 24 h. These findings suggest that changes in attentional demands and context during an immediate post-exposure offline processing interval modulate visual memory consolidation in a subtle but significant manner

Modeling nonlinear optical interactions of focused beams in bulk crystals and thin films: A phenomenological approach

Coherent nonlinear optical micro-spectroscopy is a frequently used tool in modern material science, as it is sensitive to many different local observables, which comprise, among others, crystal symmetry and vibrational properties. The richness in information, however, may come with challenges in data interpretation, as one has to disentangle the many different effects like multiple reflections, phase jumps at interfaces, or the influence of the Guoy-phase. In order to facilitate interpretation, the work presented here proposes an easy-to-use semi-analytical modeling ansatz, that bases upon known analytical solutions using Gaussian beams. Specifically, we apply this ansatz to compute nonlinear optical responses of (thin film) optical materials. We try to conserve the meaning of intuitive parameters like the Gouy-phase and the nonlinear coherent interaction length. In particular, the concept of coherence length is extended, which is a must when using focal beams. The model is subsequently applied to exemplary cases of second-harmonic and third-harmonic generation. We observe a very good agreement with experimental data and furthermore, despite the constraints and limits of the analytical ansatz, our model performs similarly well as when using more rigorous simulations. However, it outperforms the latter in terms of computational power, requiring more than three orders less computational time and less performant computer systems

Health Literacy and Patient Reported Outcomes in Orthopaedic Surgery Patients

Background: Health literacy may be an important factor in patient health outcomes, however, prior research has primarily focused on primary care patients with research in orthopaedic specific populations lacking. Questions/purposes: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between health literacy and patient reported outcomes in an orthopaedic patient population. Patients and Methods: 183 patients \u3e18 years of age who presented to our institution’s sports orthopaedic surgery clinic with shoulder or knee complaints were analyzed. The primary outcomes were physical function recorded using Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) physical function and Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE) scores. Health literacy was determined utilizing Health LiTT, a self-administered multimedia touchscreen test based on item response theory that provides a numerical score of 0-100 with a score \u3e50 suggestive of health literacy. In addition, demographic data including age, race, gender, highest level of education, injury location, and surgery status were collected. Results: Bivariate analysis revealed that low health literacy (Health LiTT score Conclusions: Our data showed that PROMIS scores are less reliant on health literacy and more dependent on age, employment status, having surgery and low education level achieved. Adaptations to clinical practice may be necessary to better guide these select populations and improve patient-reported physical function. Furthermore, PROMIS measures can be administered successfully to patients regardless of health literacy. Level of Evidence: Level I