Contemporary Descriptions Research Articles

Titian's Bacchus and his two loves

AbstractTitian's Bacchus and Ariadne represents not only Bacchus' attraction to Ariadne, as has long been recognized, but also his infatuation with a boy‐satyr, Ampelos, who struts at the centre of the composition. The little satyr's identity, recognized in the seventeenth century, but overlooked by modern scholars, is confirmed by newly revealed pentimenti. Titian was probably the first to embed this homoerotic love story in a painting depicting the Bacchus and Ariadne myth. The textual impetus for Titian's inclusion of the Ampelos myth was Nonnos' Dionysiaca. Guided by Nonnos' text, Titian alludes not only to Bacchus' love for Ampelos, but to the boy's transformation into a grapevine. His metamorphosis prompted Bacchus' discovery of wine, which precipitated his identity as the god of wine, hence his prominent position in the painting. Titian's portrayal of Bacchus' overwhelming ardour for the negligently dressed Ariadne, along with his former dalliance with the engaging, rosy‐cheeked boy‐satyr Ampelos, was never meant to represent celestial or marital love as has been claimed. Such an ennobling interpretation is disproved through an analysis of contemporary descriptions of the picture and its ancient literary sources.

Paamiut (Frederikshåb) Greenlandic in 1836: a Small Glimpse

Abstract The accounts of the La Recherche expedition (1st voyage, 1835–2nd voyage, 1836) include two Greenlandic wordlists that offer the opportunity to catch a glimpse (one admittedly small) of the local lect of Paamiut. The comparison with contemporary dialectological descriptions allows for interesting conclusions about the linguistic history of this region on the southwest coast of Greenland. Of the four diagnostic features traditionally ascribed to Paamiut Greenlandic, that is, (1) i-effect, (2) retention of the /s/ vs /ʂ/ opposition, (3) shortening of geminates in sequences of the type VVCCV(V), and (4) a kind of “vowel harmony” whereby /ua/ > /awa/ & /ui/ > /iwi/, the wordlists confirm fully (1) and partially (2). There is inconclusive evidence for (3) and no trace of (4) whatsoever.

Making of Nooses: Accentuating Vulnerability, Resilience, and Violence in K.R. Meera’s <i>Hangwoman </i>

Contemporary descriptions of female embodiment are rife with images of violence, domination, and subjugation. Often bracketed as vulnerable, women are constantly subjected to patriarchal and gendered violence. Vulnerability, however, is an ontological condition of humanity and can yield multifarious responses – abuse, love, disarray, violence, generosity, and contempt – making human life precarious. This precariousness, when situated in the Indian context, exposes humans to varied practices of violence enmeshed in vicious systems of caste, class, region, and religion as demonstrated in K. R. Meera’s Hangwoman (2014). Owing to their centuries-old lineage of hangmen, Grddha Mullicks began making nooses right away in their mother’s wombs. Chetna, the first hangwoman in her family, is staged as the successor to her familial duty to the Nation only because of her brother’s tragic amputation of limbs. Subjected to a shrewd media lens and patriarchal manipulation, the struggle of constructing a new-feminist-styled ‘angel of the house’ depicted in the novel whirls poignant questions to corporeal vulnerability. This article scrutinises the societal treatment of vulnerability and explores physical, interpersonal, and epistemic violence haunting the book’s pages. It further adds nuances to the engagement of media and identity while examining the precarity of the novel’s characters.

Ritual Sweat Bath in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

AbstractThis article traces differences and similarities in the ritual sweat bath usage through a comparative perspective that includes contemporary practice in Poland and the central and the north American traditions that inform it. I argue that there exist continuity and consistency of representations related to sweat bathing across time and space, which can be identified by the metaphors designating certain elements of the ritual. The bathhouse from a cross-cultural perspective can be considered a sacred and liminal space, a gateway that enables the transcending of ordinary space–time dimension and interaction with primordial creation–destruction forces. Fertility appears as only one aspect of these ambivalent forces. It manifests itself in the main metaphors of the Mother Earth’s womb and death–rebirth process in ritual’s contemporary descriptions in Poland. The similarities in the way the sweat bath experience is conceptualised reveal the influence of particulr elements of the ritual that induce specific bodily sensations, intrinsically related to the human organism conditions.

Best billiard ball in the 19th century: Composite materials made of celluloid and bone as substitutes for ivory.

The demystification of how 19th-century novelly designed materials became significant elements of modern technological, economic, and cultural life requires a complete understanding of the material dimensions of historical artifacts. The objects frequently described as the earliest manufactured plastic products-the billiard balls made by John Wesley Hyatt and his associates from the late 1860s-are examined closely for the first time and are found to be more complex and functionally more successful than has been described. Modern analytical techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, micro-Fourier transformed infrared, and handheld/micro-Raman spectroscopies were used to reveal the complex composition of the Smithsonian Institution's "original" 1868 celluloid billiard ball. Comparisons with billiard and pool balls commercialized from the 1880s to the 1960s showed an unexpected consistency in material formulations. All specimens were made of an unprecedented composite material prepared with a mixture of cellulose nitrate, camphor, and ground bone; the source of the bone was identified as cattle by peptide mass fingerprint (ZooMS). Patent specifications and contemporary journal descriptions explained how and when these formulations emerged. Combining the technical analyses of compositions with a careful reading of the historical record and contemporary descriptions reveals the key elements of the first successful efforts to substitute materials to assist the survival of endangered animals.

"Svag elev" som social representation i Statens offentliga utredningar

Classifications of pupils as ‘weak’ have featured during the last century in Sweden and are still present in contemporary descriptions of pupils. This study aims to develop knowledge about how ‘weak pupil’ as a social representation has been (re)produced in governmental inquires during 1923–2019 and explores how a temporal perspective might deepen the knowledge on a current classification such as ‘weak pupil’. In focus are the governmental inquiries concerning current or historical compulsory school forms. The following research questions are posed: To what extent has ‘weak pupil’ been present as a classification? How has ‘weak pupil’ as a social representation been (re)produced? Which patterns of stability and change can be identified in the (re)production of ‘weak pupil’ as a social representation? Through social representations theory, this study suggests that classifications and social representations of pupils as “weak” have been present during the last century. There are elements of both stability and change in the themes that construct “weak pupil” as a social representation, but there are indicators that ‘weak pupil’ as a social representation is more fossilized in contemporary writings. Perceptions of pupils in relation to perceptions of ’normality’ seem to be a stable construction over the last century.

Assay and refining of gold in the post-medieval Islamic world: Potential and reality

This paper describes the analysis of the Moroccan gold coins, jewellery and ingots from the 17th-century Salcombe Bay Treasure. Their trace element content gives information on the likely provenance of the gold and their fineness gives information on both quality control and refining methods. These can be compared to the methods described in the contemporary Al-asdāf al-munfadda can ahkām cilm sancat addīnār wal-fidda, an important Moroccan treatise on gold assay and refining, complied by al-Djaznā’ī. The treatise is both technical and practical and relates specifically to gold coins, jewellery and ingots. The methods outlined in the treatise are compared with other contemporary descriptions from Europe and India.

Principal Component Analysis can Be Used to Discriminate Between Elite and Sub-Elite Kicking Performance.

Contemporary descriptions of motor control suggest that variability in movement can be indicative of skilled or unskilled performance. Here we used principal component analysis to study the kicking performance of elite and sub-elite soldiers who were highly familiar with the skill in order to compare the variability in the first and second principal components. The subjects kicked a force plate under a range of loaded conditions, and their movement was recorded using optical motion capture. The first principal component explained >92% of the variability across all kinematic variables when analyzed separately for each condition, and both groups and explained more of the variation in the movement of the elite group. There was more variation in the loading coefficient of the first principal component for the sub-elite group. In contrast, for the second principal component, there was more variation in the loading coefficient for the elite group, and the relative magnitude of the variation was greater than for the first principal component for both groups. These results suggest that the first principal component represented the most fundamental movement pattern, and there was less variation in this mode for the elite group. In addition, more of the variability was explained by the hip than the knee angle entered when both variables were entered into the same PCA, which suggests that the movement is driven by the hip.

Trooping the (School) Colour

Trooping the (School) Colour

Envisager Méduse. Condensation et métamorphose dans la Tête de Méduse de Caravage

Various elements suggest that not only Medusa’s beheading, but also her metamorphosis is present on the parade shield that Caravaggio painted in 1597-1598 and that his patron, Cardinal del Monte, offered to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando de’ Medici. Scholars have recently insisted that the famous rotella shares many features with an engraving by Cornelis Cort, now attributed to Antonio Salamanca, a possible copy of a lost work by Leonardo. Interestingly, this engraving comes with a description of Medusa’s metamorphosis, taken from a passage of Boccaccio’s Genealogy of the Pagan Gods where the Ovidian myth is associated with the legend of the beautiful queen Medusa. Indeed, the Cort-Salamanca’s print shows the metamorphosis in progress: a terrified woman transforming into a monstrous hybrid of humanity and bestiality. While emphasizing the Gorgone’s double nature, Caravaggio pushes her representation in an even more naturalistic direction. Such a naturalization of Medusa, who seems to have lost even her petrifying power, fits with the apotropaic function of the shield as it is exposed in contemporary descriptions of the Grand Duke’s rotella and symbolical interpretations of the gorgoneion.

Quantum affective processes for multidimensional decision-making

In modeling the human affective system and applying lessons learned to human–robot interaction, the challenge is to handle ambiguous emotional states of an agency (whether human or artificial), probabilistic decisions, and freedom of choice in affective and behavioral patterns. Moreover, many cognitive processes seem to run in parallel whereas seriality is the standard in conventional computation. Representation of contextual aspects of behavior and processes and of self-directed neuroplasticity are still wanted and so we attempt a quantum-computational construction of robot affect, which theoretically should be able to account for indefinite and ambiguous states as well as parallelism. Our Quantum Coppélia (Q-Coppélia) is a translation into quantum logics of the fuzzy-based Silicon Coppélia system, which simulates the progression of a robot’s attitude towards its user. We show the entire circuitry of the Q-Coppélia framework, aiming at contemporary descriptions of (neuro)psychological processes. Arguably, our work provides a system for simulating and handling affective interactions among various agencies from an understanding of the relations between quantum algorithms and the fundamental nature of psychology.

The Magmatic Evolution and the Regional Context of the 1835 AD Osorno Volcano Products (41°06’S, Southern Chile)

Abstract Osorno volcano (41°06’S, 72°20’W) is a composite stratovolcano of the Central Southern Volcanic Zone of the Chilean Andes. It is the southernmost member of a NE–SW trending alignment of volcanic edifices including La Picada and Puntiagudo volcanoes and the Cordón Cenizos chain. According to contemporary descriptions recorded by Charles Darwin in 1835, two eruptive events occurred: the first during January–February, and the second during November–December 1835 and January 1836. The volcano erupted basaltic andesite lavas and tephra fall deposits (52.4 to 52.9 SiO2 wt. %), which contain phenocrysts of olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and spinel. The compositions of these phenocryst phases, together with those of olivine-hosted melt inclusions, allowed us to constrain intensive parameters for the pre-eruptive magmas. These varied from 1060°C to 1140°C, with an oxygen fugacity buffer of ~ΔQFM +1.1, dissolved water concentrations of up to 5.6 wt. % (average of ~4.2 wt. %) and maximum pressures equivalent to ~7-km depth. Textural relations, such as crystal accumulations and clots, zoning in crystals and other indications of disequilibrium, lead us to infer the involvement of a crystal mush, rich in individual crystals and clots of crystals, which underwent a degree of disaggregation and entrainment into the transiting magma prior to eruption. Comparison of trace element abundances, including rare earth elements, fluid-mobile elements, and relatively fluid-immobile elements, combined with 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotope ratios, allows us to consider variations in slab-derived fluid input and the minor role of crustal contamination on the Osorno eruptive products and those from neighboring volcanic systems. Our results suggest both a greater contribution from slab-derived fluid and a higher degree of partial melting in the systems supplying stratovolcanoes (Osorno, Calbuco, and La Picada) relative to those supplying small eruptive centers built over the major regional Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault Zone.

Der deutsch-dänische Kreis in der deutschsprachigen Literaturgeschichtsschreibung

Zusammenfassung Taking the example of the “Kopenhagener Kreis”, “Deutscher Kreis” or “Klopstock-Kreis”, the article examines to which extent the international network at the Danish royal court played a relevant role in German-language literary history at the middle of the 18th century. From the early 19th to the 21st century German-language literary historiography has rarely taken into account the cooperation and mutual exchange between German and Danish intellectuals and writers but instead has focused on Klopstock himself and his significance for German literature. Rather than revising the narrative, the one-sided reconstruction of this chapter of German-Danish literary history is still being upheld in contemporary descriptions. Apart from a few exceptions, global literary historiography also clearly reveals this tendency. The article advocates a reassessment of the German-Danish circle in Copenhagen in order to recognize its particular relevance as an example of productive transcultural exchange.

Clinical scenarios of HCM-related mortality: relevance of age and stage of disease at presentation

Abstract In the early days, Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has long been considered a malignant disease. However, contemporary descriptions of HCM report low mortality rates, largely due to heart failure-related complications (HF), while sudden cardiac death (SCD) rates are consistently low. Ageing with HCM is not uncommon and competing risk of acquired cardiovascular (CV) and non-CV diseases becomes relevant over time. Purpose To describe the disease stage at presentation and the modes of death in a cohort of consecutive HCM patients followed at a national referral centre over the last two decades. Stages of disease were defined according to Circ. Heart Fail. 2012, as follows: 1) “Classic HCM phenotype” characterized by LV ejection fraction (EF) >65%. 2) “Adverse remodeling” characterized by LVEF in the range of 50% to 65%. 3) “Overt dysfunction” is the end-stage clinical evolution characterized by a LVEF <50%. Methods By searching our centralized database, we identified 1491 HCM patients with at least >1 year of follow-up between January 2000 and December 2020, 191 of whom died in the same period. In 30 the cause of death could not be ascertained. The remaining 161 constituted our study cohort. Results Of the 161 patients who died, 103 (64%) died due to HCM-related causes, whereas 58 (36%) died from non-HCM-related causes such as coronary artery disease (other CV) or other non CV causes. Modes of death varied based on the stage of disease at diagnosis: – Fifty-six (35%) patients had a “classic” HCM phenotype at diagnosis. Of these, about half died of HCM-related causes (n=30; 54%), versus 45% with non-HCM-related death. Differently from the other 2 stages, the single most common cause of death was “other non-CV related” mortality, in 44%. Among HCM-related causes, SCD prevailed (n=15; 27%) while HF-related events were only 8 (14%). – Of the 86 (53%) patients with “adverse remodeling” at diagnosis, more than half died of HCM-related causes (n=57, 66%), largely due to HF (n=33, 38%); SCD occurred in 18 (21%) individuals. This stage included the highest percentage of patients who died of stroke (n=6; 7%). – Of the 19 (12%) patients in “overt dysfunction” at diagnosis, HF represented the cause of demise in almost three quarters (n=14, 74%); SCD and non-HCM causes accounted for only 10% and 16% respectively. Conclusions Most HCM patients die due to complications of their own disease, mainly in the context of HF. Modes of death vary with the stage of disease, with SCD becoming less prevalent in more advanced phases of progression, when competitive risks of HF-related events become overwhelming. These data highlight an unmet medical need in the prevention of disease progression associated with HCM. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding sources: None.

Revisiting the case for ‘feral’ humans under the light of the human self-domestication hypothesis: Focusing on language

Contemporary descriptions of ‘feral’ children generally preclude any insightful inference about the language deficits exhibited by these children, as well as the ultimate causes of their problems with language. However, they have been regularly used to support the view that language acquisition requires a proper social environment in order to occur. In this paper, we revisit the case for ‘feral’ children with the viewpoint that human evolution entailed a process of self-domestication that parallels what we find in domesticated animals. Because feralization commonly occurs in nature and because it entails a partial reversion of features of domestication, this self-domestication approach to the evolution of language reassesses the case for ‘feral’ children, particularly when compared with present-day conditions involving abnormal patterns of socialization, whether they are genetically-triggered as in autism spectrum disorder, or environmentally-triggered, as in reactive attachment disorder.

De aanleg van regenbakken in vroegmodern Deventer

In recent years, many old cisterns for the collection of rainwater have been discovered in Dutch cities, in particular in Amsterdam. Such rainwater cisterns were for centuries an important source of fresh water. Most date from the second half of the sixteenth century onwards. They were especially prevalent in the western provinces, where the ground and surface water were mostly unpotable due to salinization and pollution. However, rainwater cisterns are also known to have existed in the eastern parts of the country. Yet very little is known about the architectural history of these cisterns in the Netherlands, especially for the period prior to the seventeenth century. While there are archaeological reports detailing specific aspects of their construction, the historical literature focuses on the use of rainwater cisterns by households and industry. There is a general lack of written sources describing the construction of cisterns prior to the seventeenth century.
 
 This article highlights one specific historical source that has not been fully studied, namely the accounts left by the stewards of the former ecclesiastical houses in the city of Deventer. After the city became part of the Dutch Republic in 1591, the ecclesiastical houses were confiscated by the city and extensively refurbished. This included the construction of rainwater cisterns in around 1600. The accounts of these works contain valuable notes regarding the construction process and maintenance of cisterns, the use of specific materials and the hiring of specialist workmen.
 The findings from these notes, as presented in this article, can be used to complement recent archaeological findings and contemporary architectural descriptions, thus providing insights for further research. The notes confirm, for example, that these rainwater cisterns were constructed underground by the same specialist, according to a specific design, using similar materials, such as bricks known as ‘klinkaerts’, and trass to create waterproof mortar. The construction of rainwater cisterns was sometimes accompanied by roof renovations designed to enhance the rainwater collection, as illustrated by an example. Ultimately, the article aims to show the relevance of such historical sources to furthering our knowledge of the construction history of rainwater cisterns in the Netherlands, in particular in the rather underexamined eastern parts of the country. Future research could aim to synthesize such historical sources with archaeological findings in order to arrive at a more comprehensive view of rainwater cisterns and their history in both the eastern and western Netherlands.

The mutability of fiction descriptors: the evolution of ‘pulp’

The term ‘pulp’ is rarely used in library cataloguing as a descriptor for fiction and does not appear in indexing vocabularies such as the Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT). In contrast, it is used extensively as a tag for large numbers of fiction titles in social cataloguing sites such as LibraryThing and Goodreads. We explore the reasons for the library world’s reluctance to adopt the term, with reference to the history of the term and the fiction it represents. We then report on a comparative thematic analysis of LibraryThing user reviews of ‘old’ and ‘new’ pulp, uncovering an evolution in the way the term has been used. Its more positive usage in contemporary descriptions suggests that pulp’s exclusion from LCGFT should be reviewed.

John Field's Russian Landscape and the Early Nineteenth-Century Piano Nocturne

This article examines the creation and early dissemination of John Field's nocturnes, tracing this œuvre through initial publications in St Petersburg by Dalmas (1812; H24–25) to the posthumous collected editions by Schuberth and Liszt first released in the 1850s. Inspired by discourse on music and environment, I take the peculiar qualities of Russian night landscapes as a key factor in understanding how these works were composed and then marketed internationally. Although little documentation remains of Field's Russian experiences as described in his own voice, it is possible to reconstruct the place in which he worked through his musical publications, related contemporary descriptions, images and recollections of friends and admirers. These sources shed fresh light on his shift in musical style on relocation from England to Russia. Viewing Field's nocturnes through the lens of this landscape, both real and as imagined by later promoters such as Liszt, offers the opportunity to reach a newly nuanced understanding of Field's array of national identities – Irish, English and Russian – and of his nocturne as a Russia-based idiom.

Enslaved by the Uniform: Contemporary Descriptions of Eighteenth-Century Soldiering.

A wide variety of eighteenth-century authors made comparisons to soldiering and slavery in newspapers, pamphlets and books. The analogy tended to be applied to highlight the lack of personal autonomy and inadequate wages of army service, as well as its harsh punishment and lifetime enlistment periods. While some commentators championed soldiers' rights to better treatment, many had other agendas in mind. It was particularly prominent in anti-abolitionist propaganda, for example. Regardless of their intentions, civilians' soldier-as-slave rhetoric took a toll on the actual men in uniform. The few rank-and-file writers to acknowledge it suggest that the metaphor shamed and humiliated them.

Larval, Pupal, and Adult Morphology of the Acorn Moth, Blastobasis glandulella (Riley, 1871) (Lepidoptera: Gelechioidea: Blastobasidae)

Contemporary descriptions of the larva, pupa, and adult of Blastobasis glandulella (Riley, 1871) are presented. Chaetotaxy, sensilla of antenna and maxillary palpus, labial complex and other structures of the larva, appendages of the pupa, wing venation, genitalia, antennal sex scales, and other features of the adult are illustrated with drawings and scanning electron micrographs. Synapomorphies for Blastobasis are reviewed.