Slavs and Snakes: Material Markers of Elite Identity in Viking Age Poland

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Leszek Gardeła ◽  
Kamil Kajkowski

This article offers a new perspective on a diverse corpus of high-status Western Slavic objects from the domain of the Piast dynasty in Poland, dated between the tenth and eleventh centuries ad. It is proposed that the lavish zoomorphic decorations, often depicting snakes, found on jewellery, weapons, and equestrian equipment reflected Western Slavic pre-Christian religious ideas and served as material markers of elite identity. The results of this study lead to a more nuanced understanding of Western Slavic worldviews and their material expressions, paving the way for new investigations into cultural interactions both within and beyond the Slavic homelands.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albebson L. Lim ◽  
Philip Moos ◽  
Christopher D. Pond ◽  
Erica C. Larson ◽  
Laura J. Martins ◽  
...  

AbstractHIV-1 cDNA pre-integration complexes have been shown to persist for weeks in macrophages and to be transcriptionally active. Early and late gene transcripts are produced, along with some viral proteins, yet whole virus is not. While previous work has focused on the transcription and translation of HIV-1 genes; our understanding of cellular milieu that accompanies viral production is incomplete. We have used an in vitro system to model HIV-1 infection of macrophages, and single cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) to compare the transcriptomes of uninfected cells, cells harboring pre-integration HIV-1 complexes (PIC) and those containing integrated provirus and actively making late HIV proteins. These are also compared to control cells, not exposed to virus.Several observations provide new perspective on the effects of HIV-1 transcription from pre-integrated cDNA versus from integrated provirus. First, HIV-1 transcript levels do not necessarily correlate with virus production, cells harboring PIC cDNA have transcript loads comparable to cells transcribing from provirus and making p24, mCherry, and vpu proteins. Second, all HIV-1 transcripts are easily detectable in abundance from PIC cDNA transcription, as is the case with cells transcribing from provirus, although the frequency of PIC cells with detectable gag-pol, tat, env, and nef transcripts is higher than the corresponding frequencies observed for “Provirus cells”. Third, the background transcriptomes of cells harboring pre- integrated HIV-1 cDNA are not otherwise detectably altered from cells not containing any HIV- 1 transcript. Fourth, integration and production of p24, mCherry, and Vpu proteins is accompanied by a switch from transcriptomes characterized by NFkB and AP-1 promoted transcription to a transcriptome characterized by E2F family transcription products. While some of these observations may seem heretical, single cell analysis provides a more nuanced understanding of PIC cDNA transcription and the transcriptomic changes that support HIV-1 protein production from integrated provirus.Author SummarySingle cell analysis is able to distinguish between HIV-1 infected macrophage cells that are transcribing pre-integrated HIV-1 cDNA and those transcribing HIV-1 provirus. Only cells transcribing HIV-1 provirus are making p24, marker mCherry and Vpu proteins, which corresponds with a change in the host cell’s background transcriptome from one expressing viral restriction and immunological response genes to one that is expressing genes associated with cell replication and oxidative phosphorylation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Kelsey

Why is the human mind able to perceive and understand the truth about reality; that is, why does it seem to be the mind's specific function to know the world? Sean Kelsey argues that both the question itself and the way Aristotle answers it are key to understanding his work De Anima, a systematic philosophical account of the soul and its powers. In this original reading of a familiar but highly compressed text, Kelsey shows how this question underpins Aristotle's inquiry into the nature of soul, sensibility, and intelligence. He argues that, for Aristotle, the reason why it is in human nature to know beings is that 'the soul in a way is all beings'. This new perspective on the De Anima throws fresh and interesting light on familiar Aristotelian doctrines: for example, that sensibility is a kind of ratio (logos), or that the intellect is simple, separate, and unmixed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-214
Author(s):  
Kelhouvinuo Suokhrie

Abstract This is the first variationist study of clan intermarriage and intergenerational change in Nagaland (India). The study investigates clan as a sociolinguistic variable by drawing data from the Angami (belonging to the Kuki-Chin-Naga sub-group of Tibeto-Burman languages) community of Kohima village in Nagaland. The linguistic variables examined include two alveolar fricatives and three affricates showing variable palatalization. Like many other clan-based communities (cf. Stanford, 2007, 2008, 2009), Angamis practice exogamy. Women settle down in their husband’s clans in the same village after marriage, but continue to maintain their original clanlects despite being in contact with their husband’s clanlects for many years. Exogamy practices are however weakening in Kohima, resulting in intra-clan marriages. The study examines the linguistic implications of the inter-clan and intra-clan marriages, illustrating the patterns that young learners acquire under such circumstances and the way they respond to the new changes. Labov finds evidence for an “outward orientation of the language learning faculty” (2012, 2014). The Nagaland results build on this notion but provide a new perspective: In Nagaland, children’s language learning is inwardly oriented with respect to stable variation and outwardly oriented in the case of change in progress.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherry Ganon-Shilon ◽  
Schechter Chen

Educational reform implementation in today’s fast changing world requires a critical transition from individual to school sense-making processes. Managing expectations from above (e.g. external demands) and below (e.g. internal school goals) while performing within multiple overlapping contexts, principals seem pulled in many different directions simultaneously. This article proposes the concept of sense-making as a collaborative framework, explaining how principals make sense with their teachers through dialogue and negotiation to improve their schools as they constantly seek to understand the unique contexts in which they operate. This holistic approach invites a new perspective on how to develop models for reforming education systems while paving the way for a collaborative sense-making process within unique school contexts.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Lester

One of the primary goals of human spaceflight has been putting human cognition on other worlds. This is at the heart of the premise of what we call space exploration. But Earth-controlled telerobotic facilities can now bring human senses to other worlds and, in that respect, the historical premise of exploration, of boots on the ground, no longer clearly applies. We have ways of achieving remote presence that we never used to have. But the distances over which this must be achieved, by humans based on the Earth, is such that the speed of light seriously handicaps their awareness and cognition. The highest quality telepresence can be achieved not only by having people on site, but also by having people close, and it is that requirement that truly mandates human spaceflight. In terms of cost, safety, and survival, getting people close is easier than getting people all the way there. It is suggested here that to the extent that space exploration is best accomplished by achieving a sense of real human off-Earth presence, that presence can be best achieved by optimally combining human spaceflight to mitigate latency, with telerobotics, to keep those humans secure. This is culturally a new perspective on exploration.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivo Vlaev ◽  
Henry A Lee ◽  
Paul Dolan ◽  
Ara Darzi

Abstract Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is a broad category of phenomena that includes people’s emotional responses, domain satisfactions (e.g., health or work), and global judgements of life satisfaction. Measures of SWB offer a means to gauge the impact of events in the lives of individuals. This article examines for the first time the ways in which measures of SWB can be used within a healthcare setting, which brings a new perspective to the way that SWB is considered and applied in determining health policy. The research uses methods for SWB data collection developed through innovative empirical work. The study is a cross sectional survey of the adult inpatient population of an NHS hospital and the nurses caring for the patients, which was undertaken at two time points: summer and winter. This work on the SWB of the staff and inpatients of an acute NHS hospital generated new data sets in clinical populations. The SWB of patients was shown to be significantly affected by severe levels of EQ5D states. When considering the data on a ward-by-ward basis, it was shown that nurses health and job satisfaction were important determinants of patient SWB. We discuss the implications of this research and explain how, when and where SWB measures, when used in healthcare, can be used in health policy. We offer a novel perspective that ensures a greater focus is placed on the way that patients experience health interventions when developing health policy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 (133) ◽  
pp. 153-176
Author(s):  
Krishna Del Toso

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to provide a sketch on the way Nāgārjuna deals with the idea of 'relation'. The concept of 'relation' as expressed in the Pāli sources is here theoretically systematized according to three patterns: 1. (onto)logical, 2. strictly subordinative existential, 3. non-strictly subordinative existential. After having discussed Nāgārjuna's acceptance and treatment of these three patterns, particular attention is paid to the non-strictly subordinative existential relation. This kind of relation is meant to describe the way the factors of the conditioned co-origination are linked to each other and is exemplified by Nāgārjuna by means of the father-son bond. A possible way to explain the conditioned co-origination doctrine in the light of the father-son example is here suggested by having resource to the 'Cambridge change' theory. Even if in the Pāli Canon the non-strictly subordinative existential pattern is said to apply to all the other factors of the conditioned co-origination, there is no direct evidence that it concerns also the avidyā-saṃskāras link. It will be shown how Nāgārjuna, by applying it to the avidyā-saṃskāras link, seems to introduce a new perspective in the conditioned co-origination theory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Zeilig ◽  
Julian West ◽  
Millie van der Byl Williams

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept of co-creativity in relation to artistic practice with people with a dementia. The aim of the discussion is to outline how co-creativity offers fresh approaches for engaging artists and people with dementia, can contribute to less restrictive understandings of “creativity” and above all, expand the understanding of people with a dementia as creative, relational and agential. Design/methodology/approach In order to examine current conceptions of co-creativity and to inform the artistic practice, relevant literature was explored and eight expert interviews were conducted. The interviews were thematically analysed and are included here. Findings This paper consequently demonstrates that improvisation, structure, leadership and equality are central elements of co-creative processes and outlines how co-creativity can offer fresh insights into the way in which the arts can engage people with a dementia, the relationship between creativity and dementia and the transformative potential of the co-creative arts for those living with a dementia. Research limitations/implications The paper discusses some of the difficulties that are inherent a co-creative approach, including power relations and the limitations of inclusivity. Due to ethical restrictions, the paper is limited by not including the perspectives of people living with a dementia. Practical implications This paper paves the way for future research into co-creative processes in a variety of different contexts. Social implications A more nuanced understanding of co-creativity with people with dementia could challenge the dominant biomedical and social paradigms that associate “dementia” with irretrievable loss and decline by creating opportunities for creative agency. Originality/value This exploration of co-creativity with people with dementia is the first of its kind and contributes to the wider understanding of co-creativity and co-creative practice.


Author(s):  
Asma Hilali

Purpose: This paper addresses methodological issues related to the concept of ‘Qur’ānic variants and readings’ (qirā’a pl. qirā’āt and ḥarf pl. aḥruf, respectively). I investigate the way they have been depicted in early Islamic narratives, developed in the field of medieval Islamic Qur’ānic sciences (ʿulūm al-Qur’ān), and discussed in Western Qur’ānic studies scholarship in the last two decades. Methodology: The paper proceeds chronologically by discussing variants in the three aforementioned fields: early narratives, classical Islamic Qur’ānic sciences (ʿulūm al-Qur’ān), and modern Western scholarship. Findings: The paper shows the necessity of generating a new approach to studying the history of the Qur’ān and its main concepts. The epistemological tools used in Western Qur’ānic studies on the history of the text of the Qur’ān need to be renewed. Originality: The paper addresses epistemological issues related to Western Qur’ānic studies. It seeks to assess the progress in the field and offers a new perspective on the study of specific topics: Qur’ānic variants and readings.


Fahm-i-Islam ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-190

This article aims to explore the philosophical approach and the methods used by ‘Abdul-‘Azīz Firharvi in his valuable manuscript Al-tamyīz, which dealt with the philosophers and scholars differences about the interpretation of philosophy from Quran and Sunnah.‘Abdul-‘Azīz Firharvi was the famous Muslim scholar of British India in all over the world.He was adept in all Islamic sciences, but he is regarded as one of the greatest ever Mutakalim born in the land of Indo-Pak. He has written more valuable works on Ilm Al-Kla’m and Al-Tami’z is the part of his aims.This manuscript is infact the middle ground between the fanatical scholars and the philosophers who have the correct ideas, That is: philosophy should not be rejected outright because of prejudice, nor should any philosophical thought be adopted without weighing the criteria of thinking and the Qur'an and Sunnah.Allama Farharvi has adopted the same style in terms of occasion and place and has used Qur'anic and rational reasoning. This article is a link between philosophy and Islamic thought, which will not only eliminate violence from society, but will also pave the way for new scholars to examine philosophy and Islamic thought in a new perspective.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document