Function Symbols Research Articles

The Prophet as Performer: An Analysis of Symbolic Acts in The Old Testament

The aim of this article is to investigate the potential relationships between the manifestations of Old Testament prophets and contemporary actionism, using the case study method, the hermeneutics of the artistic act and the performantive criticism method. The starting hypothesis is that the actions performed by biblical prophets can be described as performative acts, through the use of their own bodies, language, gestures, objects with symbolic functions, a specific scenography of the prophetic act, and even the ritualistic aspect of the manifestation, all intended to convey a supernatural message. The research results may indicate that by assigning a precise purpose to the action, using a well-defined scenography, and integrating gestures and language with symbolic-ritual characteristics, a correlation can be established between the biblical prophet and the actionist artist. The prophet could be attributed the qualities of a performer, and his manifestation could be defined as a performative act.

The integration of expressive languages for childhood education

The recovery of the importance of school, after the suspension due to the covid emergency, sees at the centre of the training activities those that make children active subjects, capable of interacting concretely and creatively. The object of this paper is to describe some elements of how the integration of artistic languages, such as dance-movement, narration, and pictorial-plastic production, represents a significant contribution in this direction as a “left hand pedagogy” centred on imagination and creativity. At the basis of every expressive production there is the creative process that concerns and makes possible the development of our inner world and the increasingly awareness of the perception of the uniqueness of one's own being. These processes are enhanced and implemented by the suitably proposed integration of different languages. In this paper, the above synthetically outlined, I will be discussing a specific method of dance-movement-therapy proposed with a pedagogical method, defined in Italy as symbolic-anthropological. It is an approach tested in different contexts and schools of all levels, in which the different expressive possibilities are proposed in a fluid way in relation to a symbolic theme and to an educational objective. In the workshops in which the positivity of these activities was assessed, it emerged how those activities were particularly appropriate to children's needs. For kindergarten children, the immersive activities of movement, dance, drawing and storytelling, interactively integrated with each other, support: the process of inhabiting the body, perceptive discrimination, the possibility of putting order in one's emotions, the processes connected to the symbolic function and the gradual adaptation to reality. Furthermore, with primary school children, the activities satisfy, among other things, the need to give shape to one's internal world, as well as the need for competence and emotional channelling.

Clothing as an Integral Part of the Bashkir Kalym

This article examines the Bashkir institution of kalym (bride price) in the 18th–19th centuries. Using the materials from the National Archive of the Republic of Bashkortostan (fund I-295 “Orenburg Mohammedan spiritual assembly”) and published sources, differences in the composition of kalym are identified depending on the local distinctions among the Bashkirs, as well as their economic and cultural types and socio-economic status. These differences were most apparent in the so-called “smaller” kalym, which consisted of summer and winter clothing with jewelry, headwear, and coin-coral pectoral ornaments. The results of the literature and archival analysis yield a deeper understanding of the specifics of clothing and jewelry included in kalym. A pivotal role of the institution of kalym and dowry in the life of the Bashkirs is shown. The garments in the Bashkir kalym had both practical and symbolic functions — they regulated property rights and indicated the material well-being of a young family. Varying from one to another Bashkir settlement, they also shared similarities with the costumes of neighboring peoples, such as the Tatars. The exchange of clothing garments between the marrying parties, including members of different Bashkir clans and tribes, ended up in the formation of a unique cultural layer.

An Investigation into the Linguistic Landscape of Cultural Tourist Scenic Areas: A Case Study of Guandi Temple in Shanxi Province

This study aims to investigate empirically the linguistic landscape of Guandi Temple, a 4A cultural tourist scenic area located in Shanxi Province in China. The study has found that most of the language signs use two or more languages, and only a small number of signs are in Chinese. Among the five languages that appear in the scenic area, including Chinese, English, French, Japanese and Korean, Chinese is the "preferred code", performing informative function, while English, French, Japanese and Korean belong to the "marginalized code", mainly performing symbolic function and highlighting the "internationalization and linguistic diversity". The study has also found that the most obvious differences are reflected in the language types and signage design. The "top-down" signs are set up by the scenic spots and the government, which show a strong bilingual and multilingual tendency, while the "bottom-up" signs are set up by individual businesses, which show a strong monolingual tendency. Moreover, from the perspective of sign designing, "top-down" signs are consistent and elegant, while "bottom-up" signs are diverse and crude. Three issues could be identified in the linguistic landscape construction, such as uneven quality of translations, non-standardized use of language, and lack of overall planning. Accordingly, it is suggested that the scenic area management authority should take into account the diversity of the tourists source countries; and local cultural elements should be integrated into the "top-down" signs. Lastly, the "bottom-up" signs should increase the number of languages other than Chinese to improve the service capacity so as to better utilize the economic value of the linguistic landscape and promote the Guan Gong culture to the world market.

Accelerating graph-based tracking tasks with symbolic regression

Abstract The reconstruction of particle tracks from hits in tracking detectors is a computationally intensive task due to the large combinatorics of detector signals. Recent efforts have proven that ML techniques can be successfully applied to the tracking problem, extending and improving the conventional methods based on feature engineering. 
However, complex models can be challenging to implement on heterogeneous trigger systems, integrating architectures such as FPGAs.
Deploying the network on an FPGA is feasible but challenging and limited by its resources. An efficient alternative can employ symbolic regression (SR). We propose a novel approach that uses SR to replace a graph-based neural network. Substituting each network block with a symbolic function preserves the graph structure of the data and enables message passing. 
The technique is perfectly suitable for heterogeneous hardware, as it can be implemented more easily on FPGAs and grants faster execution times on CPU with respect to conventional methods.
While the tracking problem is the target for this work, it also provides a proof-of-principle for the method that can be applied to many use cases.

Beyond Typologies: Early Modern Italian Town Halls in Comparative Perspective (14th-17th Centuries)

By challenging the traditional, typological, approach to the history of town halls, we aim to place Italian civic architecture at the center of a cross-disciplinary study focused, on one hand, on the uses and functions of these buildings, and on the other, on their cultural and identity meanings. The papers gathered in this special collection do not present a history of architectural models and persistencies, but rather one of continuous transformations, conversions, and adaptations, shaped by the material and symbolic functions that public buildings fulfilled, and often continue to fulfill, in the places where they were built.

The traditional food of the Bulgarians from the Republic of Moldova: the problem’s historiography

This article presents a historiographic analysis of publications devoted to the study of the nutritional traditions of Bulgarians in the Republic of Moldova. The authors examine works written in the second half of the 19th – early 21st centuries. In addition to works published directly in the Republic of Moldova, the works of Ukrainian scientists, which contain information on the nutritional culture of Bulgarians in Ukraine, are also noteworthy. Since the second half of the 20th century, several articles and sections have appeared in collective collections on the nutritional traditions of Bulgarians in the historical region of Bessarabia. In a comparative aspect, some elements of the Bulgarian nutritional system are considered in Gagauz studies (M. Marunevich, S. Kuroglo, E. Sorochanu, D. Nicoglo, E. Kvilincova). This topic began to be studied in more detail at the beginning of the 21st century. Descriptions of ritual types of food and their symbolic functions are presented in the monograph by A. Kovalov “Calendar rituals of the Bulgarians of the Republic of Moldova”. The articles by E. Bancova are devoted to the everyday and ritual food of the Bulgarians of the Republic of Moldova. The main conclusion is that in the 19th and up to the second half of the 20th centuries, publications on this topic were fragmentary. The second half of the 20th century is characterized by few works, and only at the beginning of the 21st century, articles appear devoted directly to the nutritional traditions of the Bulgarians of the Republic of Moldova.

Order-Bounded Difference in Weighted Composition Operators Between Fock Spaces

There are two aims in this paper. The first aim is to characterize the order-bounded weighted composition operators between Fock spaces, and the second is to further characterize the order-bounded difference in weighted composition operators between Fock spaces. At the same time, six examples are given to illustrate the relations between boundedness and ordered boundedness. Moreover, an interesting result is found that differences in weighted composition operators defined by some special weighted functions and symbol functions are order-bounded between Fock spaces if and only if each weighted composition operator is compact between Fock spaces. Finally, two open questions are also put forward for converting larger Fock spaces into smaller ones.

Research on Natural Imagery and Emotional Expression in Classical Chinese Poetry

Classical Chinese poetry, with its rich natural imagery and profound emotional expression, is regarded as a treasure of Chinese culture. Natural imagery not only plays a significant artistic role in classical poetry but also serves as a unique vehicle for poets to express their emotions. This paper systematically reviews the origins and development of natural imagery in classical Chinese poetry, analyzes the intrinsic connection between its symbolic meaning and emotional expression, and explores its value and implications in contemporary poetry creation, cross-cultural communication, and literary education. The study finds that natural imagery in classical Chinese poetry has multiple symbolic functions and serves as an essential tool for emotional expression by poets. As time progresses, the characteristics of these expressions have also evolved. In the contemporary context, inheriting and innovating these natural images holds great significance for literary creation and cultural inheritance.

Theoretical Dimension of Modern Designers’ Conceptual Forms of Creativity

The aim of the article is to identify key characteristics of artistic and design practices interaction; to define directions of conceptual design development based on the results of analysing scientific and theoretical foundations of conceptualism as a special form of the artists’ creativity in the 20th century. Results. It is demonstrated that the focus of modern designers on conceptual forms of creativity is explained by the fact that they contribute to forming unique authors’ projects of aesthetic and value content, innovative searches in the context of cultural and civilisational shifts. A conceptual costume of the beginning of the 21st century is a kind of mediator between art practices of conceptual art and design practices in the sphere of project culture, synthesising social and psychological aspects of fashion, social and symbolic functions of clothing. A conceptual design narrativises philosophical, artistic and technological aspects of design, enriching design products with an expressive metaphoricity. It is revealed that in modern art history a clear definition of the term system of the conceptual direction in design has not been formed till now. The research of this complex phenomenon, synthesised by fashion and artistic clothing design, requires a complex interdisciplinary approach. The conceptual costume is studied as an art-design object from the standpoint of global and local tendencies in the society development, which declare certain worldview values in the form of a visual metaphor. Scientific novelty. For the first time, the theoretical understanding of the conceptual costume grounds on the interaction of design with culture and art as a special space of its direct functioning, which makes it possible to form project conceptualism as a special methodology. Conclusions. The authors’ concepts in the costume are extrapolated in different ways: as visual quotations or metaphors; as a transformation of the art object idea into the form of the costume. Actually, they need in-depth and detailed studying.

Ethnic identity construction through multimodal linguistic landscape at Ban Arunotai in Thailand

ABSTRACT Thailand is a country where ethnic diversity and multilingualism are deeply embedded in the cultural landscape, and understanding the construction of ethnic identity provides crucial insights into its social dynamics. This study investigates how ethnic identities are constructed and negotiated through multimodal resources within the linguistic landscape of Ban Arunotai, a multiethnic village in Chiang Mai. Utilizing a comprehensive multimodal framework, the research analyzes how public signage combines linguistic, visual, auditory, and spatial elements to articulate and reshape identity. The findings reveal a hierarchical structure of languages and modes, where dominant languages are visually prioritized, while minority languages serve more localized, symbolic functions. Moreover, a shift from static, monolingual systems to fluid, multilingual repertoires among speakers reflects broader sociocultural changes shaped by translanguaging practices. By framing public signs as dynamic resources in the active formation and reinforcement of ethnic identities, this study offers significant implications for understanding identity politics and social integration in multilingual settings.

Extension of Pochhammer symbol, generalized hypergeometric function and τ-Gauss hypergeometric function

Abstract We introduce new extension of the extended Pochhammer symbol and gamma function by using the extended Mittag-Leffler function. We also present extension of the generalized hypergeometric function as well as some of their special cases by using this extended Pochhammer symbol. Further, we define the extension of the τ-Gauss hypergeometric function. Integral and derivative formulas involving the Mellin transform and fractional calculus techniques associated with this extended τ-Gauss hypergeometric function are also given. Also, new extended τ-Gauss hypergeometric function also provides a few more interesting and well-known results. This enriches the theory of special functions. The obtained results are believed to be newly presented.

Dharmagita Dalam Pelaksanaan Upacara Yajña Di Kecamatan Tegallalang Kabupaten Gianyar

Dharmagita in the religious and social life of Hindus is a form of offering sound art as a form of offering. Dharmagita is always present in Hindu religious ceremonies in Tegallalang District, giving the impression that the dharmagita accompanies the yajña. This research aims to examine the use of dharmagita in the yajña ceremony in Tegallalang sub-district, Gianyar district, and to discover the elements of Hindu philosophy contained in dharmagita. In general, this research aims to explore and provide a clear understanding of dharmagita and its use in yajña ceremony in Tegallalang District, Gianyar Regency, Hindu philosophy studies. This research uses three theories, functional structural theory, religious theory, and symbol theory to examine the dharmagita problem in Tegallalang district. This research is qualitative research with a phenomenological approach, which took the research location in the tegallalang sub-district, because it is seen from the phenomenon of socio-religious life in communities located in the transition area between sub-district and rural areas. The data sources in this research use primary data sources and secondary data sources. The results of this research confirm that dharmagita is a form of sound art offered to God in the yajña ceremony, including the god yajña, butha yajña, manusa yajña, pitra yajña, and rsi yajña ceremonies. Hindu philosophy in the dharmagita includes tattwa teachings which emphasize the divine aspect and have implications for increasing the sraddha and bhakti of the people in the yajña ritual.

Chronotope of an thing or chronotope thing: a thing as a structurizer of space and time

INTRODUCTION. The study is a philosophical and cultural analysis of the “thing” concept as a cultural form that structures the space and time of an individual’s daily existence. The main focus is on the role of things in creating and representing the chronotope, which is a combination of space and time. Things act as structurizers of space and time and occupy two positions in relation to the chronotope: 1) as an internal thing within the chronotopic space, and 2) as an external thing outside the chronotope. This allows things to fully realize their symbolic functions. The aim of the study is to substantiate the argument that things, as carriers of meaning and symbolic objects, play a crucial role in structuring and stabilizing human culture through their chronotopic indicators.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The material obtained as a result of the analysis and synthesis of both philosophical and cultural studies of the thing as an object and phenomenon of culture is presented.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. Thing is a complex entity and cultural form that interacts with the chronotope bidirectionally, objectifying and subjectivizing it. It can act as an “thing” and as a “phenomenon”, and its symbolic meaning can be deep and multifaceted.CONCLUSION. The material presented in the study is intended to fund applied research on the spatial and temporal structure of human daily life, as well as for socio-cultural design in the field of preservation and actualization of cultural heritage.

Global output feedback control for uncertain nonlinear systems with input quantisation and sensor gain perturbation

A new quantised control method via output feedback is proposed by establishing two pairs of time-varying coupled matrix inequalities. Compared to relevant quantised control results, our control method has the novelty: (i) the sensor gain perturbation is allowed to be large and nondifferentiable; (ii) the growth constraint of system nonlinearities is relaxed to depend on unmeasured states and x 1 -polynomial function; (iii) a dynamic scaling technique, instead of backstepping design, is introduced to reduce the computational complexity of controller design. In particular, by using a symbolic function (or hyperbolic tangent function), global asymptotic stability is achieved under any hysteresis quantiser.

Stabilization of fractional nonlinear systems with disturbances via sliding mode control

AbstractIn this article, the sliding mode control (SMC) of fractional nonlinear systems (FNSs) with disturbances is studied. First, a useful fractional power‐rate inequality for is extended to a more general form . Based on the generalized inequality, the method of a modified fractional integral SMC is completed, in which the parameter of the symbolic function is extended to and . This increases the degree of freedom of the sliding mode surface (SMS). Then, the SMC of FNSs is studied for the cases of known and unknown disturbances. In the case of known disturbance, it is proved by the generalized inequality and quadratic Lyapunov function method that the state of the FNSs can converge asymptotically to zero on the SMS. For the case of unknown disturbance, a fractional disturbance observer is used to estimate the disturbance by introducing auxiliary variables . The disturbance estimation error of the proposed FNSs is proved to be bounded. An equivalent global control law is obtained and asymptotic convergence of the FNSs under the action of the controller is proved. Finally, two numerical simulation examples are given to verify the feasibility of the method proposed in this article.

Proving Confluence in the Confluence Framework with CONFident

This article describes the confluence framework, a novel framework for proving and disproving confluence using a divide-and-conquer modular strategy, and its implementation in CONFident. Using this approach, we are able to automatically prove and disprove confluence of Generalized Term Rewriting Systems, where (i) only selected arguments of function symbols can be rewritten and (ii) a rather general class of conditional rules can be used. This includes, as particular cases, several variants of rewrite systems such as (context-sensitive) term rewriting systems, string rewriting systems, and (context-sensitive) conditional term rewriting systems. The divide-and-conquer modular strategy allows us to combine in a proof tree different techniques for proving confluence, including modular decompositions, checking joinability of (conditional) critical and variable pairs, transformations, etc., and auxiliary tasks required by them, e.g., joinability of terms, joinability of conditional pairs, etc.

Hilbert’s tenth problem for term algebras with a substitution operator

The analogue of Hilbert’s 10th Problem for a first-order structure A with signature L asks whether there exists an algorithm that given an L-sentence of the form ∃ x → [ s = t ] decides whether ∃ x → [ s = t ] is true in A. In this paper, we consider term algebras over a finite signature with at least one constant symbol and one function symbol of arity at least two. We investigate the structure we obtain by extending the term algebra with a substitution operator. We prove undecidability of the analogue of Hilbert’s 10th problem without relying on the solution to the original Hilbert’s 10th Problem.

Analysis of Linguistic Landscape: Holy Child College of Education Campus

The aim of the paper is to analyze the linguistic landscape of Holy Child College of Education. Drawing of data from first-hand fieldwork, this paper explores the display of language and multimodal on signage on the College campus. In all, it was found out that English language is prevalent on all types of surfaces (walls, doorpost, buildings, cenotaph, billboard) to aid in the identity of occupants as well as associate identity to the properties of the institution. There were also a few private shops which have names on them. The study employs qualitative and quantitative content analysis of a data of about 74 signages from the College. It looked into issues such as top-down, bottom-up approach as well as symbolic and informational function. It also examined if there are instances of the use of only one language or more than a language on a signage. The theory that supported this investigation was Linguistic Landscape Theory foundered by Landry and Bourhis (1997). This theory has it that the study of linguistic landscapes refers to the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region. Landry and Bourhis argue that the linguistic landscape of an area can serve as an indicator of the relative power and status of different linguistic communities within that area. This theory suggests that the languages displayed in public spaces can reflect broader social, cultural, and political dynamics, such as the dominance of one language over another, and it can affect the perception of language status and identity among community members.

Improved Sliding Mode Model Reference Adaptive System Observer

In order to improve the accuracy and stability of sensorless control system of permanent magnet synchronous motor, considering the influence of external load torque on system performance, the symbol function of sliding mode control system of vehicle-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor is prone to chattering and the robustness of traditional PI control is insufficient. In this paper, a method of combining Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode (NFTSM) and Model Reference Adaptive System (MRAS) is proposed. A Non-singular Fast Terminal Sliding Mode Controller (NFTSMC) is designed. A control strategy combining NFTSMC and Model Reference Adaptive System Observer (MRASO) (NFTSMC-MRASO) converts the observed torque value into torque current feedforward compensation to the current loop input. The large sliding mode gain is avoided, and the chattering problem of the system is overcome when the external disturbance is suddenly added. At the same time, the robustness of the system is improved under the premise of suppressing the chattering.