Metrics and Prose Rhythm

The chapter deals with Byzantine metrics and prose rhythm. Byzantine poets used various meters; from the seventh century onward, primarily the Byzantine dodecasyllable, i.e., a meter with a stable number of (12) syllables, which is based on the iambic trimeter of Antiquity and Late Antiquity and is read after the word accent. Various authors (such as Ioannes Geometres, Theodoros Prodromos, and Theodoros Metochites) also wrote hexameters (not only for special occasions), but this meter was less frequently used because for the Byzantine audience the distinction between short and long syllables was lost. The fifteen-syllable verse (or political verse) represents an independent Byzantine development, which, as a combination of hemistichs of eight and seven syllables, may have its origin in early hymnography. Rhythm is part of verse and prose. The prose rhythm, an elementary element of rhetoric, describes the tendency in Greek prose to end clauses in a rhythmically patterned way. The position most suitable for rhythmical regulation of a prose text is at the end of a clause or a period, as also pointed out by Byzantine theoreticians. The so-called Meyer’s law (after Wilhelm Meyer from Speyer) describes the system of placing at least two unstressed syllables between the last two accents of a clause. The character of Byzantine cadences has been very much under debate, and recently, editors have begun to take into account the punctuation practice in manuscripts in order to get a better view of the relationship between punctuation and rhythm.

Effects of Touch Force Profiles and Waveforms of Electrostatic Tactile Feedback on Touchscreen Pan Operation

Electrostatic tactile feedback has an important role in improving touchscreen operations and user experience. In this paper, panning performance under different forces and different waveforms were explored using subjective and objective experiments. The effects of electrostatic tactile feedback under one linear force and three non-linear force profiles with the fixed waveform were studied. The results indicated that panning accuracy, efficiency and user experience under exponential force was superior to those under linear, quadratic or logarithmic forces. Second, the effects of four different waveforms under exponential force were studied. Results indicated that panning performance was better with square wave, compared to those with sinusoidal, triangular or sawtooth waves. The relationship between panning time and index of panning difficulties was also explored and found to be in agreement with the Steering law and Meyer’s law, with correlations of 0.9395 and 0.9397, respectively. The results suggest ways for designing touchscreens with tactile feedback that is useful in both research and end-user communities.

Notes on Procopivs of Caesarea

IN the Byzantinische Zeitschrift xxi. 52 Paul Maas states: ‘Es ist das Verdienst von H. B. Dewing, zuerst erkannt zu haben, dasz Prokop seine Satzschliisse rhythmisch reguliert.’ That this is only partly true appears from the remark of Heisenberg in the Berliner Philologische Wochenschrift, 1901, Sp. 1481, who comments on it, and that in a case of text–criticism, and likewise from a remark of Cronert in the Rheinisches Museum, 54, 1899, 593. Dewing was the first to point out the connection between the rhythm of Procopius and Meyer's law and to collect specific statistical material, although his numbers are to a great extent of no practical value. Compare in this connection Maas B.Z. xix. 593 (Maas himself came to the conclusion later that he exaggerated in this article: тά, μή, σύν, пΕρί should, according to Maas, here not be considered as accentuated). It appears to me that the correct statement of the end–rhythm of Procopius is that given by Maas for Constantinus Manasses, B.Z. xi. 505: ‘Im Ausgang der Satzglieder musz die Zahl der zwischen den letzten beiden Hochtonen stehenden Silben eine gerade sein,’ on condition that 0 is considered as an even number.