Texture, realism, performance: exploring the intersection of transtexts and the contemporary sitcom

Contemporary US sitcom is at an interesting crossroads: it has received an increasing amount of scholarly attention (e.g. Mills 2009; Butler 2010; Newman and Levine 2012; Vermeulen and Whitfield 2013), which largely understands it as shifting towards the aesthetically and narratively complex. At the same time, in the post-broadcasting era, US networks are particularly struggling for their audience share. With the days of blockbuster successes like Must See TV’s Friends (NBC 1994-2004) a distant dream, recent US sitcoms are instead turning towards smaller, engaged audiences. Here, a cult sensibility of intertextual in-jokes, temporal and narrational experimentation (e.g. flashbacks and alternate realities) and self-reflexive performance styles have marked shows including Community (NBC 2009-2015), How I Met Your Mother (CBS 2005-2014), New Girl (Fox 2011-present) and 30 Rock (NBC 2006-2013). However, not much critical attention has so far been paid to how these developments in textual sensibility in contemporary US sitcom may be influenced by, and influencing, the use of transmedia storytelling practices, an increasingly significant industrial concern and rising scholarly field of enquiry (e.g. Jenkins 2006; Mittell 2015; Richards 2010; Scott 2010; Jenkins, Ford and Green 2013). This chapter investigates this mutual influence between sitcom and transmedia by taking as its case studies two network shows that encourage invested viewership through their use of transtexts, namely How I Met Your Mother (hereafter HIMHM) and New Girl (hereafter NG). As such, it will pay particular attention to the most transtextually visible character/actor from each show: HIMYM’s Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris, and NG’s Schmidt, played by Max Greenfield. This chapter argues that these sitcoms do not simply have their particular textual sensibility and also (happen to) engage with transmedia practices, but that the two are mutually informing and defining. This chapter explores the relationships and interplay between sitcom aesthetics, narratives and transmedia storytelling (or industrial transtexts), focusing on the use of multiple delivery channels in order to disperse “integral elements of a fiction” (Jenkins, 2006 95-6), by official entities such as the broadcasting channels. The chapter pays due attention to the specific production contexts of both shows and how these inform their approaches to transtexts. This chapter’s conceptual framework will be particularly concerned with how issues of texture, the reality envelope and accepted imaginative realism, as well as performance and the actor’s input inform and illuminate contemporary sitcoms and transtexts, and will be the first scholarly research to do so. It will seek out points of connections between two (thus far) separate strands of scholarship and will move discussions on transtexts beyond the usual genre studied (i.e. science-fiction and fantasy), as well as make a contribution to the growing scholarship on contemporary sitcom by approaching it from a new critical angle. On the basis that transmedia scholarship stands to benefit from widening its customary genre choice (i.e. telefantasy) for its case studies and from making more use of in-depth close analysis in its engagement with transtexts, the chapter argues that notions of texture, accepted imaginative realism and the reality envelope, as well as performance and the actor’s input deserve to be paid more attention to within transtext-related scholarship.

Effect of blood contamination on the shear bond strength at resin/dentin interface in primary teeth

Purpose: To assess in vitro the shear bond strength at the resin/dentin interface in primary teeth after contamination with fresh human blood. Methods: 75 crowns of primary molars were embedded in acrylic resin and mechanically ground to expose a flat dentin surface. The specimens were randomly assigned to five groups (n=15), according to the surface treatment. Group I (control) had no blood contamination. The other groups were blood-contaminated and subjected to different post-contamination protocols: in Group 2, the surfaces were rinsed with water; in Group 3, the surfaces were air-dried; in Group 4, the surfaces were rinsed and air-dried; and in Group 5, no post-contamination treatment was done. In all groups, a 3-mm dentin bonding site was demarcated, Single Bond adhesive system was applied and resin composite cylinders were bonded. After 24 hours in distilled water, shear bond strength was tested at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/minute. Results: Means (in MPa) were: Group 1: 7.1 (+/- 4.2); Group 2: 4.0 (+/- 1.8); Group 3: 0.9 (+/- 0.7); Group 4: 3.9 (+/- 2.2) and Group 5: 1.3 (+/- 1.5). Data were analyzed statistically by the Kruskal-Wallis test at 5% significance level. Groups 2 and 4 were similar to each other (P > 0.05) and both ware similar to Group 1 (P > 0.05). These groups (2, 3 and 4) had statistically significantly higher bond strengths than Groups 3 and 5 (P < 0.05). Blood contamination negatively affected the shear bond strength to primary tooth dentin. Among the blood-contaminated groups, water-rinsed specimens had higher bond strengths than those that were exclusively air-dried or not submitted to any post-contamination protocol before adhesive application.

Shear strength of the bond to primary dentin: influence of Er:YAG laser irradiation distance

The aim of this study was to assess in vitro the influence of Er:YAG laser irradiation distance on the shear strength of the bond between an adhesive restorative system and primary dentin. A total of 60 crowns of primary molars were embedded in acrylic resin and mechanically ground to expose a flat dentin surface and were randomly assigned to six groups (n = 10). The control group was etched with 37% phosphoric acid. The remaining five groups were irradiated (80 mJ, 2 Hz) at different irradiation distances (11, 12, 16, 17 and 20 mm), followed by acid etching. An adhesive agent (Single Bond) was applied to the bonding sites, and resin cylinders (Filtek Z250) were prepared. The shear bond strength tests were performed in a universal testing machine (0.5 mm/min). Data were submitted to statistical analysis using one-way ANOVA and the Kruskal-Wallis test (p < 0.05). The mean shear bond strengths were: 7.32 +/- 3.83, 5.07 +/- 2.62, 6.49 +/- 1.64, 7.71 +/- 0.66, 7.33 +/- 0.02, and 9.65 +/- 2.41 MPa in the control group and the groups irradiated at 11, 12, 16, 17, and 20 mm, respectively. The differences between the bond strengths in groups II and IV and between the bond strengths in groups II and VI were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Increasing the laser irradiation distance resulted in increasing shear strength of the bond to primary dentin.

Influence of water flow rate on shear bond strength of resin composite to Er : YAG cavity preparation

Purpose: To evaluate in vitro the influence of water flow rate on shear bond strength of a resin composite to enamel and dentin after Er:YAG cavity preparation. Methods: Ten bovine incisors were selected and roots removed. Crowns were sectioned in four pieces, resulting in 40 samples that were individually embedded in polyester resin (n=10), and ground to plane the enamel and expose the dentin. The bonding site was delimited and samples were randomly assigned according to cavity preparation: (1) Er:YAG/1.0 mL/minute; (2) Er:YAG/1.5 mL/minute; (3) Er:YAG/2.0 mL/minute and (4) High speed handpiece/bur (control group). Samples were fixed to a metallic device, where composite resin cylinders were prepared. Subsequently, they were stored for 24 hours and subjected to a shear bond strength test (500N at 0.5 mm/minute). Results: Means (MPa) were: enamel: 1: 12.8; 2: 16.8; 3: 17.5; 4: 36.0 and Dentin: 1: 13.6; 2: 18.7; 3: 12.1; 4: 21.3. Data were submitted to ANOVA and Tukey`s test. Adhesion to enamel was more efficient than for dentin. The cavities prepared with conventional bur (control) presented higher statistically significant bond strength values (P<0.05) than for Er:YAG laser for both enamel and dentin. No significant differences were observed between water flow rates employed during enamel ablation. For dentin, the shear bond strength of 2.0 mL/minute water flow rate was lower than for 1.5 mL/minute and 1.0 mL/minute rates. The Er:YAG laser adversely affected shear bond strength of resin composite to both enamel and dentin, regardless of the water flow rate used.

DYNAMIC AND STEADY-SHEAR RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS DISPERSED IN YELLOW PASSION FRUIT PULP (Passiflora edulis f. flavicarpa)

Yellow passion fruit pulp is unstable, presenting phase separation that can be avoided by the addition of hydrocolloids. For this purpose, xanthan and guar gum [0.3, 0.7 and 1.0% (w/w)] were added to yellow passion fruit pulp and the changes in the dynamic and steady-shear rheological behavior evaluated. Xanthan dispersions showed a more pronounced pseudoplasticity and the presence of yield stress, which was not observed in the guar gum dispersions. Cross model fitting to flow curves showed that the xanthan suspensions also had higher zero shear viscosity than the guar suspensions, and, for both gums, an increase in temperature led to lower values for this parameter. The gums showed different behavior as a function of temperature in the range of 5-35 degrees C. The activation energy of the apparent viscosity was dependent on the shear rate and gum concentration for guar, whereas for xanthan these values only varied with the concentration. The mechanical spectra were well described by the generalized Maxwell model and the xanthan dispersions showed a more elastic character than the guar dispersions, with higher values for the relaxation time. Xanthan was characterized as a weak gel, while guar presented a concentrated solution behavior. The simultaneous evaluation of temperature and concentration showed a stronger influence of the polysaccharide concentration on the apparent viscosity and the G` and G `` moduli than the variation in temperature.

Cosmic shear requirements on the wavelength dependence of telescope point spread functions

Cosmic shear requires high precision measurement of galaxy shapes in the presence of the observational point spread function (PSF) that smears out the image. The PSF must therefore be known for each galaxy to a high accuracy. However, for several reasons, the PSF is usually wavelength dependent; therefore, the differences between the spectral energy distribution of the observed objects introduce further complexity. In this paper, we investigate the effect of the wavelength dependence of the PSF, focusing on instruments in which the PSF size is dominated by the diffraction limit of the telescope and which use broad-band filters for shape measurement. We first calculate biases on cosmological parameter estimation from cosmic shear when the stellar PSF is used uncorrected. Using realistic galaxy and star spectral energy distributions and populations and a simple three-component circular PSF, we find that the colour dependence must be taken into account for the next generation of telescopes. We then consider two different methods for removing the effect: (i) the use of stars of the same colour as the galaxies and (ii) estimation of the galaxy spectral energy distribution using multiple colours and using a telescope model for the PSF. We find that both of these methods correct the effect to levels below the tolerances required for per cent level measurements of dark energy parameters. Comparison of the two methods favours the template-fitting method because its efficiency is less dependent on galaxy redshift than the broad-band colour method and takes full advantage of deeper photometry.

Intraplate earthquake swarm in Belo Jardim, NE Brazil: reactivation of a major Neoproterozoic shear zone (Pernambuco Lineament)

Intraplate earthquakes in stable continental areas have been explained basically by reactivation of pre-existing zones of weakness, stress concentration, or both. Zones of weakness are usually identified as sites of the last major orogeny, provinces of recent alkaline intrusions, or stretched crust in ancient rifts. However, it is difficult to identify specific zones of weakness and intraplate fault zones are not always easily correlated with known geological features. Although Northeastern Brazil is one of the most seismically active areas in the country (magnitudes 5 roughly every 5 yr), with hypocentral depths shallower than similar to 10 km and seismic zones as long as 30-40 km, no clear relationship with the known surface geology can be usually established with confidence, and a clear identification of zones of weakness has not yet been possible. Here we present the first clear case of seismic activity occurring as reactivation of an old structure in Brazil: the Pernambuco Lineament, a major Neoproterozoic shear zone. The 2004 earthquake swarm of Belo Jardim (magnitudes up to 3.1) and the recurrent activities in the nearby towns of Sao Caetano and Caruaru (magnitudes up to 4.0 and 3.8), show that the Pernambuco Lineament is a weak zone. A local seismic network showed that the Belo Jardim swarm of 2004 November occurred by normal faulting on a North dipping, E-W oriented fault plane in close agreement with the E-W trending structures within the Pernambuco Lineament. The Belo Jardim activity was concentrated in a 1.5 km (E-W) by 2 km (downdip) fault area, and average depth of 4.5 km. The nearby Caruaru activity occurs as both strike-slip and normal faulting, also consistent with local structures of the Pernambuco Lineament. The focal mechanisms of Belo Jardim, Caruaru and S. Caetano, indicate E-W compressional and N-S extensional principal stresses. The NS extension of this stress field is larger than that predicted by numerical models such as those of Coblentz & Richardson and we propose that additional factors such as flexural stresses from the nearby Sergipe-Alagoas marginal basin could also affect the current stress field in the Pernambuco Lineament.

Chaotic transport in reversed shear tokamaks

For tokamak models using simplified geometries and reversed shear plasma profiles, we have numerically investigated how the onset of Lagrangian chaos at the plasma edge may affect the plasma confinement in two distinct but closely related problems. Firstly, we have considered the motion of particles in drift waves in the presence of an equilibrium radial electric field with shear. We have shown that the radial particle transport caused by this motion is selective in phase space, being determined by the resonant drift waves and depending on the parameters of both the resonant waves and the electric field profile. Moreover, we have shown that an additional transport barrier may be created at the plasma edge by increasing the electric field. In the second place, we have studied escape patterns and magnetic footprints of chaotic magnetic field lines in the region near a tokamak wall, when there are resonant modes due to the action of an ergodic magnetic limiter. A non-monotonic safety factor profile has been used in the analysis of field line topology in a region of negative magnetic shear. We have observed that, if internal modes are perturbed, the distributions of field line connection lengths and magnetic footprints exhibit spatially localized escape channels. For typical physical parameters of a fusion plasma, the two Lagrangian chaotic processes considered in this work can be effective in usual conditions so as to influence plasma confinement. The reversed shear effects discussed in this work may also contribute to evaluate the transport barrier relevance in advanced confinement scenarios in future tokamak experiments.

Texture analysis and classification using deterministic tourist walk

In this paper, we present a study on a deterministic partially self-avoiding walk (tourist walk), which provides a novel method for texture feature extraction. The method is able to explore an image on all scales simultaneously. Experiments were conducted using different dynamics concerning the tourist walk. A new strategy, based on histograms. to extract information from its joint probability distribution is presented. The promising results are discussed and compared to the best-known methods for texture description reported in the literature. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Texture analysis using graphs generated by deterministic partially self-avoiding walks

Texture is one of the most important visual attributes for image analysis. It has been widely used in image analysis and pattern recognition. A partially self-avoiding deterministic walk has recently been proposed as an approach for texture analysis with promising results. This approach uses walkers (called tourists) to exploit the gray scale image contexts in several levels. Here, we present an approach to generate graphs out of the trajectories produced by the tourist walks. The generated graphs embody important characteristics related to tourist transitivity in the image. Computed from these graphs, the statistical position (degree mean) and dispersion (entropy of two vertices with the same degree) measures are used as texture descriptors. A comparison with traditional texture analysis methods is performed to illustrate the high performance of this novel approach. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Orthodontic brackets removal under shear and tensile bond strength resistance tests - a comparative test between light sources

We have investigated if a new LEDs system has enough efficient energy to promote efficient shear and tensile bonding strength resistance under standardized tests. LEDs 470 +/- 10 nm can be used to photocure composite during bracket fixation. Advantages considering resistance to tensile and shear bonding strength when these systems were used are necessary to justify their clinical use. Forty eight human extracted premolars teeth and two light sources were selected, one halogen lamp and a LEDs system. Brackets for premolar were bonded through composite resin. Samples were submitted to standardized tests. A comparison between used sources under shear bonding strength test, obtained similar results; however, tensile bonding test showed distinct results: a statistical difference at a level of 1% between exposure times (40 and 60 seconds) and even to an interaction between light source and exposure time. The best result was obtained with halogen lamp use by 60 seconds, even during re-bonding; however LEDs system can be used for bonding and re-bonding brackets if power density could be increased.

Texture analysis based on maximum contrast walker

Recently, the deterministic tourist walk has emerged as a novel approach for texture analysis. This method employs a traveler visiting image pixels using a deterministic walk rule. Resulting trajectories provide clues about pixel interaction in the image that can be used for image classification and identification tasks. This paper proposes a new walk rule for the tourist which is based on contrast direction of a neighborhood. The yielded results using this approach are comparable with those from traditional texture analysis methods in the classification of a set of Brodatz textures and their rotated versions, thus confirming the potential of the method as a feasible texture analysis methodology. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Major shear zones of southern Brazil and Uruguay: escape tectonics in the eastern border of Rio de La plata and Paranapanema cratons during the Western Gondwana amalgamation

The Mantiqueira Province represents a series of supracrustal segments of the South-American counterpart formed during the Gondwana Supercontinent agglutination. In this crustal domain, the process of escape tectonics played a conspicuous role, generating important NE-N-S-trending lineaments. The oblique component of the motions of the colliding tectonic blocks defined the transpressional character of the main suture zones: Lancinha-Itariri, Cubato-Arcadia-Areal, Serrinha-Rio Palmital in the Ribeira Belt and Sierra Ballena-Major Gercino in the Dom Feliciano Belt. The process as a whole lasted for ca. 60 Ma, since the initial collision phase until the lateral escape phase predominantly marked by dextral and subordinate sinistral transpressional shear zones. In the Dom Feliciano Belt, southern Brazil and Uruguay, transpressional event at 630-600 Ma is recognized and in the Ribeira Belt, despite less coevally, the transpressional event occurred between 590 and 560 Ma in its northern-central portion and between ca. 625 and 595 Ma in its central-southern portion. The kinematics of several shear zones with simultaneous movement in opposite directions at their terminations is explained by the sinuosity of these lineaments in relation to a predominantly continuous westward compression.

The Sphene-Centered Ocellar Texture: An Effect of Grain-Supported Flow and Melt Migration in a Hyperdense Magma Mush

The sphene-centered ocellar texture consists of leucocratic ocelli with sphene (titanite) crystals at the center, enclosed in a biotite-rich matrix. This texture has been recognized worldwide in hybrid intermediate rocks. On the basis of structural, petrological, and geochronological data from selected outcrops of the Variscan Ribadelago pluton (NW Iberian Massif), we propose that the ocelli were formed by migration and accumulation of a residual melt through a plagioclase- and biotite-dominated crystalline framework. At the late stage of crystallization, the magma acted as a hyperdense suspension and reacted to the pressure gradient caused by the regional stress field, entering the domain of grain-supported flow. Microstructures reveal that aligned crystal domains arose in the crystal framework from the shearing and compaction of the crystal mush and behaved as magmatic microshears. Relative displacement of adjacent crystal clusters along these microshears corresponded to the onset of Reynolds dilatancy that generated an expansion of the crystal mush, involving melt migration and pore aperture. The mineralogy of the ocelli, dominated by andesine and sphene, represents the composition of the migrating melt. The chemistry of this late, Ti-rich melt stems from the incongruent melting of biotite. Magmatic sphene from the ocelli yields a U-Pb age of 317 +/- 1 Ma, which represents the final crystallization of the hybridized magmatic system. Moreover, this texture offers an opportunity to better understand the rheological behavior of highly crystallized magmas.

Deformation and geochronology of syntectonic granitoids emplaced in the Major Gercino Shear Zone, southeastern South America

The Major Gercino Shear Zone is one of the NE-SW lineaments that separate the Neoproterozoic Dom Feliciano Belt, of Brazil and Uruguay, into two different domains: a northwestern supracrustal domain from a southeastern granitoid domain. The shear zone, striking NE, is composed of protomylonites to ultramylonites with mainly dextral kinematic indicators. In Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, the shear zone is composed of two mylonite belts. The mylonites have mineral orientations produced under greenschist fades conditions at a high strain rate. Strong flattening and coaxial deformation indicate the transpressive character, while the role of pure shear is emphasized by the orientation of the mylonite belts in relation to the inferred stress field component. The quartz microstructures point out that different dynamic recrystallization regimes and crystal plasticity were the dominant mechanisms of deformation during the mylonitization process. Additionally, the fabrics suggest that the glide systems are activated for deformation conditions compatible with the metamorphism in the middle greenschist facies. Elongated granitoid intrusions belonging to two petrographically, geochemically and isotopically distinct rock associations occur between the two mylonite belts. The structures observed in the granites result from a deformation range from magmatic to solid-state conditions points to a continuum of magma straining during and just after its crystallization. Conventional U-Pb analysis of multi-crystal zircon fractions yielded essentially identical ages of 609 +/- 16 Ma and 614 +/- 2 Ma for the two granitic associations, and constrain the transpressive phase of the shear zone. K-Ar ages of biotites between 585 and 560 Ma record the slow cooling and uplift of the intrusions. Some K-Ar ages of micas in regional mylonites are similar, suggesting that thermo-tectonic activity was intense up to this time, probably related to the agglutination of the granite belt to the supracrustal belt NW of the MGSZ. (C) 2009 International Association for Gondwana Research. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.