Traditional Text Research Articles

The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal. Edited by Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong

A Bengali proverb says that there cannot be any song, without Kṛṣṇa (Kānu bine gān nāi). In a historical and cultural region that is so relevant for the study of Tantric Yogic traditions, Goddess cults, and South Asian Islam, even devotion to Śakti and the life of Prophet Muhammad are impregnated by Vaiṣṇava tropes and aesthetic sensibilities. The literary history of, and intellectual debates on the love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Bengal are not only indispensable to understand Kṛṣṇa bhakti in its transnational and global declensions, but also to appreciate their pervasive aesthetic and affective influence across regions and religions. For these and many other reasons, The Legacy of Vaiṣṇavism in Colonial Bengal, based on a 2015 workshop held at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, is a welcome contribution. It comprises eleven chapters discussing not only the complicated trajectories of Vaiṣṇavism in colonial Bengal, but also the legacy of colonialism in the taste and ethical regime of new Vaiṣṇava agents, communities, and institutions. The so-called revival of Vaiṣṇava devotionalism initiated by Caitanya (1486–1534) and his followers gave way to multiple religious orientations and contrasting interpretations. This edited volume does not give readers the illusion of a standardised phenomenon that might be unequivocally called Bengali Vaiṣṇavism. Rather, it takes into account a variety of textual traditions and life stories to include various Vaiṣṇavism-s, differently transmitted, practiced, and embodied by diverse communities. The introduction by Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong suggests that much research in this area assumed that modern manifestations constitute a rupture from the precolonial past, induced by the influence of Western education and Christian ideas. They argue instead that pre-existing Hindu sampradayic currents continued to play significant roles throughout the colonial period. Therefore, providing us with a fruitful path for future research, they suggest that explorations of the legacy of sampradayic Hindu streams in colonial South Asia can offer a richer picture of religious life than that afforded by analyses that rely on the ‘Renaissance paradigm’ (pp. 5–6).

Ecological diversity methods improve quantitative examination of student language in short constructed responses in STEM

We novelly applied established ecology methods to quantify and compare language diversity within a corpus of short written student texts. Constructed responses (CRs) are a common form of assessment but are difficult to evaluate using traditional methods of lexical diversity due to text length restrictions. Herein, we examined the utility of ecological diversity measures and ordination techniques to quantify differences in short texts by applying these methods in parallel to traditional text analysis methods to a corpus of previously studied college student CRs. The CRs were collected at two time points (Timing), from three types of higher-ed institutions (Type), and across three levels of student understanding (Thinking). Using previous work, we were able to predict that we would observe the most difference based on Thinking, then Timing and did not expect differences based on Type allowing us to test the utility of these methods for categorical examination of the corpus. We found that the ecological diversity metrics that compare CRs to each other (Whittaker’s beta, species turnover, and Bray–Curtis Dissimilarity) were informative and correlated well with our predicted differences among categories and other text analysis methods. Other ecological measures, including Shannon’s and Simpson’s diversity, measure the diversity of language within a single CR. Additionally, ordination provided meaningful visual representations of the corpus by reducing complex word frequency matrices to two-dimensional graphs. Using the ordination graphs, we were able to observe patterns in the CR corpus that further supported our predictions for the data set. This work establishes novel approaches to measuring language diversity within short texts that can be used to examine differences in student language and possible associations with categorical data.

A Drift-Sensitive Distributed LSTM Method for Short Text Stream Classification

Real-world applications especially in the fields of social media have produced massive short text streams. Unlike traditional normal texts, these data present the characteristics of short length, high-volume, high-velocity and variable data distribution etc, which lead to the issues of data sparsity and concept drift. It is hence very challenging for existing short text classification algorithms. Therefore, we propose a flexible Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) ensemble network based short text stream classification approach, which is implemented in a distributed mode while maintaining the high-accuracy advantage of deep learning models. More specifically, external resource based short text embedding using a pretrained embedding model and CNN is first proposed for the solution to the data sparsity of short texts. Second, to adapt to the high-volume and high-velocity short text streams, a flexible LSTM network is developed and implemented in a distributed mode for classifying short text data streams. Third, a concept drift factor is introduced for adapting to the concept drifts caused by the changing of data distributions. Finally, experiments conducted on three real short text data sets demonstrate that as compared with several state-of-the-art short text (stream) classification approaches, the proposed approach can classify short text streams effectively and efficiently while adapting to concept drifts.

Canopy-MMD Text Clustering Algorithm Based on Simulated Annealing and Canopy Optimization

<p>Aiming at the problems that traditional K-means text clustering cannot automatically determine the number of clusters and is sensitive to initial cluster centers, this paper proposes a Canopy-MMD text clustering algorithm based on simulated annealing and silhouette coefficient optimization. The algorithm uses the simulated annealing algorithm combined with the silhouette coefficient to optimize the Canopy algorithm to find the optimal number of clusters, and uses the optimal number of clusters to determine the scale coefficient in the MMD algorithm, and finally achieves a better text clustering effect. The Sohu News dataset of Sogou Lab is experimentally analyzed and compared with the clustering results obtained by traditional K-means and algorithms in the literature. The experimental results show that the clustering performance of the algorithm is better than the traditional K-means algorithm and the algorithm in the literature, and the accuracy, precision, recall and F value are improved by 8.02%, 8.91%, 8.02%, 9.51% compared with the traditional K-means algorithm, which can be widely used in fields such as text mining, knowledge graph and natural language processing.</p> <p> </p>

Eastern Sages in Roman Egypt

Scholars have long been curious about the transmission of religious and philosophical ideas across Eurasia in antiquity. It is well known that Mani named a number of important figures from “Eastern” religious traditions—such as Buddha and Zoroaster—among his list of prophetic forerunners in an effort to establish his own authority as a religious teacher. Recently published portions of the Dublin codex of the Manichaean Kephalaia provide an additional attestation of this prophetological paradigm in an even more amplified form, as it includes figures not previously attested. Textual analysis of this new testimonium invites us to reflect on how Mani and his early followers imagined their relationships to other religious traditions. It will be shown that, while Manichaean textual traditions were an important conduit of religious information across Eurasia, modern interpreters should be cautious about supposing that ancient readers of Manichaean texts made any meaningful association between the names of these prophetic forerunners and particular doctrines, which by then had been fully naturalized as “Manichaean” teachings.

Electronic Flipped Classrooms as a Solution to Educational Problems Caused by COVID 19: A Case Study of Research Course in Iran Higher Education

A review of the related literature shows that flipped learning has greatly affected the students’ academic progress. However, despite a large number of studies on different forms of electronic learning, electronic flipped classrooms and traditional electronic(virtual) learning have not been compared to date. This study was an attempt to investigate the impact of traditional electronic, text flipped, and video flipped learning on improving the graduate students' theory and practical knowledge of research methodology. To meet the goal, the researchers employed a quasi-experimental research method, which is quantitative. The researcher selected three intact classes consisting of 48 postgraduate students majoring in social sciences and communication sciences and exposed each class to one form of electronic learning. The findings showed that flipped classrooms were more effective than traditional electronic learning, and text flipped learning was more effective than video flipped classes. The findings can be used by universities as well as university teachers to use electronic flipped classes as an alternative form of electronic learning It can be concluded that the universities need to encourage flipped classrooms in graduate and postgraduate courses as far as the universities can offer face-to-face classes.

Chinese Buddhist Narratives in Light of Indian Sources: A Case Study of the Sudāna/Vessantara Jātaka’s Reception in Early Medieval China

Abstract The Vessantara jātaka (also called the Sudāna jātaka in its Chinese versions) is one of the most highly renowned and widely circulated jātakas, or birth stories of the Buddha, in the Buddhist world. During the fifth and sixth centuries CE, the story was frequently depicted in Chinese murals and reliefs. Among a few sixth-century reliefs, scenes showing Prince Sudāna in exile appear to have been selected to crystallise the whole story, replacing the focus on Sudāna’s gifting of his children in the previous tradition. This study integrates early Indian sources with other relevant scholarship to explore the reason why Sudāna’s exile was selected. I argue that the choice of depicting Sudāna’s exile was shaped by two historical contexts. The first relates to a specific rhetorical strategy of integrating indigenous Chinese accounts of immortals into the story’s textual tradition in the third century. The second refers to the underlying religious mentality that focused on the quest for transcendence in the mountains, an idea that grew more popular during the flourishing of Buddhist meditation practice in the early sixth century. This article provides further methodological reflections on the study of Chinese Buddhist art, focusing on how important it is to incorporate more Indian sources and scholarship. It therefore engages with ongoing methodological reflections on China-India studies.

The Impact of Video-Based Educational Materials with Voiceovers on Preferences for Glucose Monitoring Technology in Patients with Diabetes: A Randomised Study.

Ensuring patients have enough information about healthcare choices prior to completing a preference study is necessary to support the validity of the findings. Patients are commonly informed using text-based information with supporting graphics. Video-based information may be more engaging for the general patient population. This study aimed to assess (1) the impact that educating patients using video-based educational materials with a voiceover has on patient preferences compared to traditional text, and (2) whether this impact is consistent between two countries. A video-based educational tool was developed to inform patients prior to completing a discrete choice experiment assessing preferences for glucose monitors. Patients with diabetes from the Netherlands and Poland were recruited through an online research panel. Respondents were randomised to receive information in either a text or a video with animations and a voiceover. Data were analysed using a mixed-logit model. N = 981 completed surveys were analysed from the Netherlands (n = 459) and Poland (n = 522). Differences were found between the countries, but no interpretable pattern of differences was found between the two types of educational materials. Patients spent less time in the educational material than would be necessary to fully review all of the content. Simply providing educational material in a video with animations and voiceovers does not necessarily lead to better engagement from respondents or different preference outcomes in a sample of diabetes patients when compared to text. Increasing engagement with educational materials should be a topic of future research for those conducting patient preference research as no amount of educational material will be helpful if respondents do not access it.

The Virtues of the Mass: A Taxonomy of a Late Middle English Genre of Liturgical Significance

ABSTRACT The Virtues of the Mass is a literary corpus comprising around forty-four known Middle English texts. These writings expound the liturgical sequences of the Mass and/or its spiritual and physical benefits for both clerical and lay audiences, whether literate or illiterate. This article traces 107 manuscripts containing variants of the Virtues of the Mass (as examined in the appendix) to contend that this corpus of texts should be viewed as a comprehensive genre. It proposes a new taxonomy that categorizes the texts into two traditions: the first textual tradition focuses on the benefits of attending mass, while the second focuses on explaining the liturgical ceremony. This article contextualizes the genre in light of the renewed interest in corporate worship and communal devotional practices in England in the first half of the fifteenth century, and considers key themes associated with the genre such as prayer, soulhele, and liturgical habitus.

Evaluation of seasonal variation in Veerya of visha dravya Kuchala

Introduction - Medicinal plants, as well as poisonous plants, have different alkaloid compositions in every season. According to the traditional texts of Ayurveda, Visha Dravya have greater potency in Varsha Ritu, which reduces due to Agasti rising in Sharad Ritu. Objective - To evaluate the potency of Visha in Varsha and Sharad Ritu through estimation of the concentration of Strychnine in Strychnos nux- vomica L. Materials and Methods – Quantitative analysis of Strychnine in Varsha and Sharad Ritu by HPTLC. Results – The concentration of Strychnine was observed higher in Varsha Ritu than in Sharad Ritu. Conclusion – The study confirms that the potency of Visha is greater in Varsha Ritu than in Sharad Ritu.

"Beata in purpura nobiliter educata": Textual tradition of Saint Elisabeth of Hungary in 13th century Castille

The presence of the cult of saint Elisabeth of Hungary is well documented in the Kingdom of Aragon, but has not been properly addressed in Castile. Using manuscript Paris, BnF, Nouvelles Acquisitions Latines 868 as starting point, this article examines the possible routes of arrival of texts dedicated to saint Elisabeth in the Castilian territories. It addresses the role of Beatrice of Swabia as passive agent in the spreading of the cult mostly through her burial at the Cistercian monastery of Las Huelgas in Burgos, as well as the part played by Franciscan author Juan Gil de Zamora. This article provides, for the first time, a material analysis of London, BL, Add MS 41070, the only surviving manuscript that contains this author’s Legende Sanctorum.

Wirkungsgeschichte izmantošana Bībeles pētniecībā: priekšrocības un trūkumi

This article discusses the Wirkungsgeschichte approach in biblical studies, its advantages and disadvantages. Hans Georg Gadamer actualized the idea of Wirkungsgeschichte in philosophical hermeneutics and made it the basis of all understanding. His student Hans Robert Jauss, based on Gadamer’s ideas, developed the method of Wirkungsgeschichte in literary studies, exploring the ways how a literary work lives on in the reception of subsequent generations and what makes it relevant today. Ulrich Luz, following the concepts of Gadamer and Jauss, adapted their ideas into a study of the reception of biblical texts. Luz’s main argument is that the Wirkungsgeschichte approach helps to explore the biblical text from new angles and to perceive other inter-pretations of the text in tradition and culture. The disadvantages of Wirkungsgeschichte listed in the article do not invalidate the impor-tance of this approach, but emphasize the fact that it must be skilfully used in combination with other methods, while clearly defining the meaning of Wirkungsgeschichte, the pur-pose and boundaries of the study. The considered advantages of the Wirkungsgeschichte approach actualize its use to enrich and broaden the understanding of the text and to approach it from new perspectives in order to better apply it in life.

A First Critical Edition of the Cycle of Epigrams on Herodotus in the Margins of Manuscript Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 70.6 and Some of Its Apographa

The aim of this article is to offer the first critical edition of 11 poems (49 dodecasyllables) found in the margins of 10 manuscripts of Herodotus’ Histories. The edition is preceded by the description of the manuscripts and their relationships. The article thus contributes to the study of Herodotus’ textual tradition, especially with regard to manuscripts recentiores. The edition and translation of the poems, on the other hand, makes available texts that witness the reception of Herodotus in Byzantium, as well as the Byzantine reading practices connected with writing poetry in the margins of manuscripts.

Dragon's Blood or the Red Delusion: Textual Tradition, Craftsmanship, and Discovery in the Early Modern Period

This article explores the plurality of referents associated with the term “dragon's blood” (“sanguis draconis”), a legendary substance that brings together Greco-Roman and Arabic medical knowledge, local vernacular traditions and artisanal practices, and new Spanish and Portuguese botanical discoveries. The study of dragon's blood reveals the interface between overlapping epistemic paradigms governing the definition, use, and circulation of complex material substances in early modern Europe, ranging from humanist learned discussions and artisanal experimentation to vernacular narratives of discovery, along with the shifting criteria of truth, authenticity, and value advocated by different communities of learning and practice.

Males, adversidades e incomodidades en el escrito senecano sobre la providencia

In Seneca’s writing about providence three terms (mala, adversa, incommoda) are employed to build his philosophical arguments on supposed evils that occur to humanity, so that the divinity is liberated from being guilty of the «evils» existing in the world. Although the titles of ancient works are a matter of discussion, the currently edited version of this text goes for a title like «discomforts» based on the oldest codex evidence; however, in the light of Seneca’s own philosophical development and the textual tradition, it is possible to think of other proof in behalf and against each of terminology options. At the end, the Stoic creed allows to outline the most suitable choice to Seneca’s philosophical and discoursal project, which promotes moral perfection.

Iconography of Buddhism: The Tradition of Depicting the Old White Man

The Old White Man is a local deity revered by Buddhists in Russia. His image, based on textual traditions and Buddhist iconography, prompted the name — the Old White Man, now widely accepted. In the written sources he is also known as the “Conqueror and subduer of the [master spirits] of earth and water”. The early images appeared in Mongolia under the influence of the Chinese traditional pictures of Tú Dì, ancient deities associated with localities, while later they were influenced by traditional images of Shòuxing, the deity of longevity. At an early stage of the iconographic tradition, the Old White Man is depicted as a priest or a high official; his functions are rendered via the characters of his companions, the host spirits of mountains (sabdaks) that have the features of man and animal or animals, such as a pair of deer, chained leopard (wolf), as well as ritual objects, including a carved staff or a dragon head staff. At a later stage, there may be symbols associated with the giver of longevity and fertility (bald phallic head, cave, and peach). The text of the “Sutra of the Old White Man” includes the description of his appearance (a white-bearded, bare-headed old man in a white robe), attributes (a dragon head staff) and an allegorical landscape of a mountain and fruit trees. Neither early nor recent Mongolian and Buryat pictures fully correspond to the description. Much closer to it is the Kalmyk iconographic tradition. The Old White Man’s image of the Kalmyk nomads goes back to the ancient mythological idea of the deity as the keeper of domestic animals. Due to transformations in the religious sphere, the keeper of domestic animals becomes the Old White Man, the lord of all living beings and all earthly space. Traditionally, he is presented as a standing old man, bare-headed and his long gray hair gathered in the form of a triratna. He is dressed in a belted robe, with another swinging robe thrown on it. In his right hand, he holds a staff with a dragon’s head and a rosary in his left. There are no companions or animals. The symbolic landscape serves to enhance the grandiose figure of the old man. The details of the attire and the landscape refer to the former Chinese influence.

Accuracy and Utility of Internet Image Search as a Learning Tool for Retinal Pathology.

Purpose Ophthalmology residency training heavily relies on visual and pattern recognition-based learning. In parallel with traditional reference texts, online internet search via Google Image Search (GIS) is commonly used and offers an accessible fund of reference images for ophthalmology trainees seeking rapid exposure to images of retinal pathology. However, the accuracy and quality of this tool within this context is unknown. We aim to evaluate the accuracy and quality of GIS images of selected retinal pathologies. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed of GIS of 15 common and 15 rare retinal diseases drawn from the American Academy of Ophthalmology residency textbook series. A total of 300 evaluable image results were assessed for accuracy of images and image source accountability in consultation with a vitreoretinal surgeon. Results A total of 377 images were reviewed with 77 excluded prior to final analysis. A total of 288 (96%) search results accurately portrayed the retinal disease being searched, whereas 12 (4%) were of an erroneous diagnosis. More images of common retinal diseases were from patient education Web sites than were images of rare diseases ( p < 0.01). Significantly more images of rare retinal diseases were found in peer-reviewed sources ( p = 0.01). Conclusions GIS search results yielded a modest level of accuracy for the purposes of ophthalmic education. Despite the ease and rapidity of accessing multimodal retinal imaging examples, this tool may best be suited as a supplementary resource for learning among residents due to limited accuracy, lack of sufficient supporting information, and the source Web site's focus on patient education.

Discovery of drugs to combat covid-19 inspired by traditional Chinese medicine.

Contributions from traditional knowledge and history have proven useful in recent years to advance drug discovery. In response to the emergence of covid-19, scientists revisited traditional Chinese medicine. This source of inspiration for drugs to treat this new disease is described here at three different levels: traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, traditional Chinese medical formulas, and traditional Chinese medical texts. Drug discovery inspired by traditional Chinese medicine still faces serious resistance for various reasons, including its system of formulas and clinical trial design. A perspective that includes related issues would benefit the reasonable application of traditional knowledge in drug research and development.

Риторический потенциал фольклорного слова

The study is devoted to the analysis of a whole complex of factors that determine the formation of the rhetorical properties of a folklore word as a key component of a traditional folklore text. The relevance of the study is seen in the existing discrepancy between the stable nature of the folklore word as a unit of traditional culture and its resonant power, which causes emotional responsiveness of the audience and provides the rhetorical potential of the word in folk culture, which requires scientific understanding. In the course of the study, significant factors influencing the formation of the rhetorical properties of a traditional word were identified and substantiated. It is noted that a folklore word, like any word in traditional culture, having a high degree of generalization and semantic integrity, gives rise to a special aesthetic feeling in the recipient, based on a deep knowledge of the common traditional culture. Due to the meaningful dynamism, the folklore word acquires the ability to influence the performers and the audience, to arouse in them a sense of belonging to the ideal common for a given linguistic community. Under the conditions of the oral form of existence, the existence of a traditional word in a subject-aesthetized environment, the continuity of a folklore creative act, the special nature of communication based on the synchronism of the process of performing and perceiving the text, the simultaneity of the experiences of the performer and the listener, ensuring the active perception of a folklore work, subject to the common folklore tradition the performer and recipient of the traditional folklore word is provided with an increase in rhetorical potential and, ultimately, the preservation of the folklore tradition.

Spin-phonon coupling and magnetic relaxation in single-molecule magnets.

Electron-phonon coupling is important in many physical phenomena, e.g. photosynthesis, catalysis and quantum information processing, but its impacts are difficult to grasp on the microscopic level. One area attracting wide interest is that of single-molecule magnets, which is motivated by searching for the ultimate limit in the miniaturisation of binary data storage media. The utility of a molecule to store magnetic information is quantified by the timescale of its magnetic reversal processes, also known as magnetic relaxation, which is limited by spin-phonon coupling. Several recent accomplishments of synthetic organometallic chemistry have led to the observation of molecular magnetic memory effects at temperatures above that of liquid nitrogen. These discoveries have highlighted how far chemical design strategies for maximising magnetic anisotropy have come, but have also highlighted the need to characterise the complex interplay between phonons and molecular spin states. The crucial step is to make a link between magnetic relaxation and chemical motifs, and so be able to produce design criteria to extend molecular magnetic memory. The basic physics associated with spin-phonon coupling and magnetic relaxation was outlined in the early 20th century using perturbation theory, and has more recently been recast in the form of a general open quantum systems formalism and tackled with different levels of approximations. It is the purpose of this Tutorial Review to introduce the topics of phonons, molecular spin-phonon coupling, and magnetic relaxation, and to outline the relevant theories in connection with both the traditional perturbative texts and the more modern open quantum systems methods.