scholarly journals Pitfalls and Possibilities of Patinated Bronze: The Analysis of Pre-Roman Italian Armour Using pXRF

Minerals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 697
Author(s):  
Joshua Emmitt ◽  
Andrew McAlister ◽  
Jeremy Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Portable Xrf ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Manufacturing Techniques ◽  
Over Time

Despite the importance of weapons and armour as part of material culture in the Mediterranean during the first millennium BCE, such objects have generally not been studied beyond stylistic analyses. Bronze was extensively used in the construction of these materials; however, its characterisation is complicated due to patination and the different manufacturing techniques used. We used portable XRF (pXRF) to non-destructively characterise bronze material in a way that mitigates the distorting effects of patina. Analysis was conducted on 23 pieces of pre-Roman Italian bronze armour. Assays were taken using two different techniques; ‘single point’ assays and ‘cluster’ assays. There is variability visible across assays both on and between items, grouped both geographically and chronologically. We highlight significant trends visible in the results over time and different object types and discuss the utility of pXRF on ancient bronze with recommendations for best practice.

Diachronic trends in the evolution of civilizations in the Nile valley

2018 ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Элеонора Кормышева ◽  
Eleonora Kormysheva
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Social History ◽  
Contact Zone ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Mediterranean World ◽  
The Mediterranean

The diachronic trends in socio-economic and cultural development of the societies in the Nile valley are revealed based on the materials from Giza necropolis (the 3rd millennium BC) and the settlement of Abu Erteila (1st century AD). The research made it possible to trace the typological similarities in the evolution of the studied societies in cultural and historical contexts. The main fields of the research were epigraphy, iconography, social history, and material culture. Many previously unknown monuments discovered by Russian archaeologists in Egypt and Sudan were introduced into scientific discourse. The basis was created for studying the Nile valley as a contact zone between the Mediterranean world and Africa.

Adaptive Evolution in Rapid Assessments: A 25-Year Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
Paula Corabian ◽  
Bing Guo ◽  
Carmen Moga ◽  
N. Ann Scott
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Developmental Changes ◽  
Symbiotic Relationship ◽  
Health Ministry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Healthcare Environment ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
Alberta Health ◽  
Over Time

AbstractObjectivesThis article retrospectively examines the evolution of rapid assessments (RAs) produced by the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Program at the Institute of Health Economics over its 25-year relationship with a single requester, the Alberta Health Ministry (AHM).MethodsThe number, types, and methodological attributes of RAs produced over the past 25 years were reviewed. The reasons for developmental changes in RA processes and products over time were charted to document the push–pull tension between AHM needs and the HTA Program's drive to meet those needs while responding to changing methodological benchmarks.ResultsThe review demonstrated the dynamic relationship required for HTA researchers to meet requester needs while adhering to good HTA practice. The longstanding symbiotic relationship between the HTA Program and the AHM initially led to increased diversity in RA types, followed by controlled extinction of the less fit (useful) “transition species.” Adaptations in RA methodology were mainly driven by changes in best practice standards, requester needs, the healthcare environment, and staff expertise and technology.ConclusionsRAs are a useful component of HTA programs. To remain relevant and useful, RAs need to evolve according to need within the constraints of HTA best practice.

scholarly journals Architetture difensive nelle valli dello Ziz e del Todhra in Marocco

X ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marinella Arena ◽  
Paola Raffa
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Background ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Earthen Architecture ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Over Time

Defensive architecture in the Ziz and Todhra valleys in MoroccoThe earthen architecture of the Todhra and Ziz Valleys in Southern Morocco takes us back to the basic and archetypal forms of building in the Mediterranean. Architectural typology and language together form a cultural background that is strongly rooted in the territory and its inhabitants: the Berbers. The architectures, fragile and in constant decay, represent a treatise of living architecture in which the shapes, proportions and decorations are repeated over time with continuity.This research tries to verify, with data coming from direct and instrumental surveys, the quality and diffusion of the architectures that dot the valleys of the Todhra and the Ziz which, at same time, host the population and defend the most precious asset: water.  Along the valleys, united by the same language, we find: igherm, fortified citadels; tighremt, fortress houses.

scholarly journals Persistent disparities in antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage and virological suppression across Europe, 2004 to 2015

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (21) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamilla Laut ◽  
Leah Shepherd ◽  
Roxana Radoi ◽  
Igor Karpov ◽  
Milosz Parczewski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Best Practice ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Antiretroviral Treatment ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Virological Suppression ◽  
Hiv Care ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Eurosida Study ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Country Specific

Background: Direct comparisons between countries in core HIV care parameters are often hampered by differences in data collection. Aim: Within the EuroSIDA study, we compared levels of antiretroviral treatment (ART) coverage and virological suppression (HIV RNA < 500 copies/mL) across Europe and explored temporal trends. Methods: In three cross-sectional analyses in 2004–05, 2009–10 and 2014–15, we assessed country-specific percentages of ART coverage and virological suppression among those on ART. Temporal changes were analysed using logistic regression. Results: Overall, the percentage of people on ART increased from 2004–05 (67.8%) to 2014–15 (78.2%), as did the percentage among those on ART who were virologically suppressed (75.2% in 2004–05, 87.7% in 2014–15). However, the rate of improvement over time varied significantly between regions (p < 0.01). In 2014–15, six of 34 countries had both ART coverage and virological suppression of above 90% among those on ART. The pattern varied substantially across clinics within countries, with ART coverage ranging from 61.9% to 97.0% and virological suppression from 32.2% to 100%. Compared with Western Europe (as defined in this study), patients in other regions were less likely to be virologically suppressed in 2014–15, with the lowest odds of suppression (adjusted odds ratio = 0.16; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.13–0.21) in Eastern Europe. Conclusions: Despite overall improvements over a decade, we found persistent disparities in country-specific estimates of ART coverage and virological suppression. Underlying reasons for this variation warrant further analysis to identify a best practice and benchmark HIV care across EuroSIDA.

scholarly journals Votive altars: domestic signals to inhabit the Sacred

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Claudio Gambardella ◽  
Valentina Sapio
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Living Space ◽  
Mediterranean Countries ◽  
Catholic Religion ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Human World ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The City ◽  
Over Time

“Sacred” is an Indo-European word meaning “separate”. The Sacred, therefore, [. . . is] a quality that is inherent in that which has relation and contact with powers that man, not being able to dominate, perceives as superior to himself, and as such attributable to a dimension [. . . ] thought however as ”separate” and ”other” with respect to the human world » Galimberti, (2000). The so-called votive altar, autonomous or attached to a major building often present in the Mediterranean countries, belong to the dimension of the Sacred.Votive altars - present in an old neighborhood of peasant origin in the suburbs of Naples called Ponticelli - are almost always placed in the interstices between street and courtyard (a self-built residential typology modeled over time by the inhabitants and which often forms the matrix of many neighborhoods popular Neapolitan). They keep and exhibit little sculptures and drawings of Jesus, Madonnas, and Saints of the Catholic religion, mixed with ancestors portraits and photos of relatives dead of the inhabitants, drawing on the ancient domestic cult of the Romans of Lari and Penati; it is certainly not a consciously cultured reference, but a mysterious ”feeling” that is common among primitive and popular cultures and that unravels through the centuries unscathed. Placed at the entrance of the living space, the altar expresses the sign of a difference, of a territorial change, separates ”ours” from ”yours”, welcomes, does not reject, but marks an open and inclusive threshold.With the paper, we want to study this phenomenon of ”primitive” culture and not regulated by laws, a mix of diffuse sacredness and popular magic, deepening the ”design” aspects of it, building an abacus in which to highlight potential and free references to the visual arts of these ”design works without designers”, and finding out new signs of the Sacred in the City in our time.

Worth(Less)

2019 ◽  
pp. 103-126
Author(s):  
Adam Fracchia
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Current Mode ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Irish Immigrants ◽  
Industrial Town ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
Ethnicity And Race ◽  
The Town ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Mode Of Production

The small industrial town of Texas, Maryland, employed hundreds of Irish immigrants in the quarrying and burning of limestone during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This chapter by Adam Fracchia examines patterns of value based on categories of class, ethnicity, and race that were influenced by and necessary to ensure the profitability of the quarry industry. Historical records in combination with material culture illustrate shifts in these values over time and the patterns of marginalization that led to the removal of Texans and the destruction of their property. Ultimately, the preservation of the town is governed by similar notions of value tied to the current mode of production and a static perception of the town’s heritage that indirectly supports its continued destruction.

Making things on the side: creativity at a time of institutional decline

Hot Metal ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse Adams Stein
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
English Language ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Language Studies ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Institutional Decline ◽  
Customary Practices ◽  
Over Time

A ‘foreign order’ is an industrial colloquialism referring to a practice whereby workers produce objects at work – using factory materials and work time – without authorisation. This is an under-explored but global phenomenon that many names, including homers, side productions, government jobs, and la perruque. There are silences about these clandestine acts of creative production in English-language studies. This chapter considers this practice from the interdisciplinary perspective of labour history and material culture studies. Using oral and archival sources, the chapter traces the ancestry of foreign orders to seventeenth century English customary practices of the Commons. It provides an account of a playful and creative culture of pranks and making in a printing factory, and identifies the workers’ motivations for creating foreign orders. Finally, the chapter explains how the making of foreign orders became more overt and politicised over time, as workers sensed their insecurity. This practice of making ‘on the side’ enabled print-workers a degree of agency and the ability to narrativise their own plight.

The eQual Approach to the Assessment of E-Commerce Quality

2005 ◽  
pp. 161-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart J. Barnes ◽  
Richard Vidgen
Keyword(s):  
Web Sites ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Quality Evaluation ◽  
Iterative Refinement ◽  
The Other ◽  
Over Time

Understanding the customer is a key aspect of developing any e-commerce offering. In doing so, organizations can improve their offerings over time and benchmark against competitors and best practice in any industry. eQual is a method for assessing the quality of Web sites. The eQual instrument has evolved via a process of iterative refinement in different e-commerce domains. Two of the studies conducted have examined online bookshops as a domain for e-commerce quality evaluation, one based on eQual 2.0 and the other on eQual 4.0. In this chapter we aim to examine these studies, and, as a result, to evaluate the use of the instrument and the benchmarking of the bookshops on two separate occasions. Of particular note are whether the findings are consistent across the two studies and the implications of the findings for e-commerce practice. Finally, the paper rounds off with some conclusions and directions for further research.

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