An eighteenth-century medical–meteorological society in the Netherlands: an investigation of early organization, instrumentation and quantification. Part 1

2005 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
HUIB J. ZUIDERVAART
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Meteorological Parameters ◽  
Academic Science ◽  
Mathematical Apparatus ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Infrastructure ◽  
Theoretical Insight

In many areas the eighteenth century was a starting point for the quantification of science. It was a period in which the mania for collecting led to the first attempts in systematization and classification. This penchant for collecting was not limited to natural history specimens or curiosities. Due in part to the development of mathematical and physical instruments, which became more widely available, scholars were confronted with the informative value of numbers. On the one hand, sequences of measurements appeared to be the key to the advancement of scientific knowledge, yet on the other hand the mathematical apparatus to deal with these data was still largely lacking. As a result of this the first meteorological networks organized in the eighteenth century all became bogged down in the large amount of information that was collected but could not be processed properly. This development is illustrated in a case study of an early Dutch meteorological society, the Natuur- en Geneeskundige Correspondentie Sociëteit (1779–1802). What were the factors that triggered this interest in the weather in the Netherlands? What were the goals and expectations of the contributors? What were their methodological strategies? Which instruments were used to measure which meteorological parameters? How was the stream of numbers generated by these measurements organized, collected and interpreted? An analysis of this process reveals that limits on the advancement of meteorology were not only imposed by instrumentation and organization. The financing, the scientific infrastructure of the old eighteenth-century Dutch Republic and the lack of a proper theoretical insight were also crucial factors that eventually frustrated the breakthrough of meteorology as an academic science in the Netherlands. This breakthrough was only achieved in the second half of the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Sets, lies, and analogy: a new methodological take

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Terzian
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Semantic Paradoxes ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Uniform Solution ◽  
The One ◽  
Graham Priest

Abstract The starting point of this paper is a claim defended most famously by Graham Priest: that given certain observed similarities between the set-theoretic and the semantic paradoxes, we should be looking for a ‘uniform solution’ to the members of both families. Despite its indisputable surface attractiveness, I argue that this claim hinges on a problematic reasoning move. This is seen most clearly, I suggest, when the claim and its underlying assumptions are examined by the lights of a novel, quite general and, I contend, promising take on inter-theoretic analogy. The ensuing discussion is intended to serve as both a possible case study and a first step towards the broader aim of the paper: namely, to initiate a wider conversation on the methodology of paradox-solving on the one hand, and the use of inter-theoretic analogies on the other.

scholarly journals DPSIR Model Applied to the Remediation of Contaminated Sites. A Case Study: Mar Piccolo of Taranto

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 5080 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Labianca ◽  
Sabino De Gisi ◽  
Francesco Todaro ◽  
Michele Notarnicola
Keyword(s):  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Complex Situation ◽  
Logical Scheme ◽  
Marine Litter ◽  
Heterogeneous Information ◽  
Mar Piccolo Of Taranto ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The One

The study critically analyses the complex situation of the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (South of Italy), considered one of the most polluted marine ecosystems in Europe. In order to investigate possible cause–effect relationships, useful to plan appropriate planning responses or remediation technologies to be adopted, the Driver–Pressure–State–Impact–Response (DPSIR) model was applied. Methodologically, about 100 references have been considered, whose information was organized according to the logical scheme of the DPSIR. The results showed how the Mar Piccolo is the final receptor of pollutants coming from all industrial and agricultural activities, especially due to its natural hydrogeological network conformation. The anthropic activity represents a critical impact on the ecosystem due to the subsequent marine litter. The mobility of contaminants from sediments to the water column showed the potential risk related to the bioaccumulation of organisms from different trophic levels, posing a threat of unacceptable magnitude to human safety. The paper concludes by discussing the actions currently implemented by the authorities in response to the anthropogenic impacts as well as the need for new ones concerning both plans, programs, and remediation interventions. The case study shows how the DPSIR is a useful framework to organize extensive and heterogeneous information about a complex environmental system, such as the one investigated. This preliminary organization of the available data can represent the starting point for the development of a DPSIR-based Environmental Decision Support System (EDSS) with robust cause–effect relationships.

scholarly journals ‘The New Downton Abbey’? Poldark and the Presentation and Perception of an Eighteenth-century Past

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-113
Author(s):  
Hannah Greig
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public History ◽  
Historical Drama ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Important Phenomenon ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Historical Dramas ◽  
Historical World

As soon as it was commissioned, Poldark, like a number of other recent historical dramas, was labelled as the ‘new Downton Abbey’ and the comparison has persisted. Given Downton Abbey's hit status such comparisons are surely welcomed by production companies. For historians, however, such associations highlight an important phenomenon: the grouping of diverse period dramas as broadly similar, all perceived as being ‘like’ Downton. In what ways, though, are such dramas part of the same genre? And what implications do such associations have for how we should approach and analyse period dramas as a form of public history? This article uses a case study of Poldark as a starting point for addressing these questions, exploring the history foregrounded in the Poldark narratives and examining what happens to audience perceptions of that history as the story moves from novel to screen. It argues that although Winston Graham created a deeply researched, revisionist historical world in his fiction, his historical innovation is rarely acknowledged when his stories are consumed. While this goes some way to explaining why it is that a drama set in the eighteenth century can be regarded as being ‘like’ Downton Abbey, this apparent lack of engagement with a drama's specific historical content raises important, if difficult, questions for historians keen to analyse historical drama as a form of public history.

Virtual Cities as Memoryscapes

2020 ◽  
pp. 236-256
Author(s):  
Maria Alexandra ◽  
Gago Da Câmara ◽  
Helena Murteira ◽  
Paulo Simões Rodrigues
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Lisbon Earthquake ◽  
Historical Awareness ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The City ◽  
Determining Factor ◽  
Over Time

The digital re-creation of a past city represents more than a mere depiction of its historical awareness; it also represents its imaginability. In retrospect, the imaginability of the city corresponds to the outcome of various perceptions that we have acquired of it over time, and which currently confers us with a certain degree of accuracy in its readability. The imaginability of the city is therefore a determining factor in virtually re-creating the latter and subsequently converting it into a memoryscape. This theory can be validated by the specific case study of Lisbon, Portugal, which has during the last few years been the subject of at least four projects that sought to virtually re-create the city’s past. Despite presenting themselves distinctively with different technological applications, the four projects held the same starting point; the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 (a major disruptive event in its history), and were all focused on presenting the cityscape that was lost as a result. Lisbon’s iconography from the sixteenth century to the mid-eighteenth century (drawings, engravings, and paintings) was used as crucial data.

TALL HISTORIES: HEIGHT AND GEORGIAN MASCULINITIES

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 79-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McCormack
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Human Body ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Health And Nutrition ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One

ABSTRACTHeight is rarely taken seriously by historians. Demographic and archaeological studies tend to explore height as a symptom of health and nutrition, rather than in its own right, and cultural studies of the human body barely study it at all. Its absence from the history of gender is surprising, given that it has historically been discussed within a highly gendered moral language. This paper therefore explores height through the lens of masculinity and focuses on the eighteenth century, when height took on a peculiar cultural significance in Britain. On the one hand, height could be associated with social status, political power and ‘polite’ refinement. On the other, it could connote ambition, militarism, despotism, foreignness and even castration. The article explores these themes through a case-study of John Montagu, earl of Sandwich, who was famously tall and was frequently caricatured as such. As well as exploring representations of the body, the paper also considers corporeal experiences and biometric realities of male height. It argues that histories of masculinity should study both representations of gender and their physical manifestations.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism Incorporated: Early Neoliberal Involvement in the Postwar Reconstruction: The Case Study of the Netherlands (1945–1958)

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-121
Author(s):  
Bram Mellink
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Think Tanks ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Press Coverage ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Postwar Reconstruction ◽  
Neoliberal Policies ◽  
The One

Although recent studies have extensively traced the development of neoliberal ideas in international think-tanks since the late 1930s, scholars of early neoliberalism have paid far less attention to the translation of these ideas into policy. Current scholarship predominantly identifies the introduction of neoliberal policies with a paradigm shift among policymakers in the late 1970s and depicts the early neoliberal movement as an idea-centred and isolated phenomenon that was unable to put its ideas into practice. This article argues instead that early neoliberals employed an idea-centred approach to politics to establish a coalition of like-minded academics, journalists, politicians and policy officials. Focusing on the Netherlands, it demonstrates how this strategy brought neoliberals press coverage, influence within the Christian democratic parliamentary parties and acknowledgement among professional economists. On the one hand, their struggle to exert influence over policy matters contributed to the implementation of pro-market industrialization policies, which, ironically, were pursued by a coalition of social democrats and Christian democrats. On the other hand, it also compelled them to include Christian-democratic views in their political agenda, leading to a corporatist-neoliberal policy synthesis whose features exhibit remarkable similarities to German ‘ordoliberal’ ideas.

scholarly journals База данных “Россия в западноевропейской прессе XVIII века”

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 8-19
Author(s):  
Виктор Борисов ◽  
Елена Смилянская
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Secretary Of State ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Western European

This paper presents the results of an educational and research project entitled “Russia in the Western European Press of the Eighteenth Century.” Between 2016 and 2020 students from The Higher School of Economics University in Moscow translated texts of eighteenth-century Western European periodicals related to Russia. In the first part, the authors describe how this work was organized and outline the manner in which the translations are presented on the project website. The second part provides a case study of some news sent by a correspondent in St. Petersburg to The London Gazette in 1714 and 1715. The authors argue that in this period the information received by The London Gazette from St. Petersburg was very close to the dispatches sent to the Secretary of State for the Northern Department by George Mackenzie, the official British resident in the new Russian capital. Although Mackenzie probably did not write to The London Gazette himself, he was apparently involved in the communications, since most of the Russian news was published during the time when the resident was in St. Petersburg. The same correlation between the publication of news received directly from Russia and the period when British diplomats were in residence in Moscow or St. Petersburg can be traced to at least the years between 1709 and 1728. The fact that the above-mentioned example from The London Gazette came to the authors’ attention when it was being edited for publication in “Russia in the Western European Press of the Eighteenth Century” gives hope that other news items included in the online project will become a starting point for more scholars of eighteenth-century Russia.

scholarly journals Contact-induced changes in cliticization and word order: the Cimbrian dialect of Luserna as a case study

2010 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Kolmer
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Local Varieties ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Sentence Form ◽  
Contact Situation ◽  
The One ◽  
Induced Changes ◽  
Mapping Information

AbstractWhich properties of a cliticization system can be borrowed relatively easily and which ones are harder to adapt due to external influence? This article examines the contact situation of the Cimbrian dialect spoken in Luserna as a starting point for a discussion of this question. It presents new data on a German variety which has been exposed to intensive contact with Italian and its local varieties over several generations. The article shows that certain peculiarities of the Cimbrian cliticization system result on the one hand from word order changes and on the other hand from the imitation and integration of the model language’s strategies for mapping information structure onto sentence form.

scholarly journals To Touch and Be Touched

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saara Hacklin
Keyword(s):  
Contemporary Art ◽  
Reality Television ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Museum Of Contemporary Art ◽  
The One ◽  
Conceptual Core ◽  
Multisensory Experience

In my article, I will present as a case study the collection exhibition shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma in 2016.[1] The starting point for the exhibition was the metaphor of touch. As a concept, touch is ambivalent: it is more intimate than sight, which has been the traditional metaphor for knowledge in Western thinking. Yet touching is also about grasping or understanding, as in it we are taking hold of something. Our curatorial team, Eija Aarnio, Arja Miller, and myself, was interested in touch early on, because with it the distance to the observed is lost: when touching something we, too, are being touched. To be clear, we did not want to create an exhibition where spectators are actually able to touch. Instead, we were looking at the collections of the museum and searching for artworks that would “touch” us—works that were able get under our skin. While forming the conceptual core of the exhibition, our curatorial team recognized a tension in the way in which “touchy issues,” affects and emotions, are perceived in our society. On the one hand, we were interested in emotions and affects raised by the artworks. We wanted to focus on the immersive dimension of the art that seems to escape verbalization, a dimension that makes use of the multisensory experience and addresses the viewer in a direct manner. On the other hand, we also became aware of how society in general has been taken over by an emotional surge. If previously feelings and emotions were not meant to be shown in public, today they have become commonplace. What was emotional and affective seems no longer to be private, but shared and public.[2] In fact, strong emotions seem to be a prerequisite for success, be it a matter of reality television or politics. This is also connected to the search for extreme emotions and experiences, an aspect we felt needed to be included in the exhibition—not the least because in museums’ competition for audiences, the experience-laden works are often seen as an answer.

scholarly journals The best interests of the child in “mixed” couples’ divorce in Belgium and the Netherlands: Filipino mothers’ socio-legal encounters about their children

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asuncion Fresnoza-Flot
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Migration Background ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Legal Assistance ◽  
Filipino Women ◽  
The One ◽  
Shed Light

Studies on the marital break-up of “mixed couples” in which partners have different nationalities and/or ethnicities pay little attention to how individual partners, notably the one with a migration background, experience the law and institutions concerning their children. Drawing on ethnographic observations and interviews with Filipino women in Belgium and the Netherlands, this paper investigates these migrants’ socio-legal experiences to shed light on their children’s situation during the divorce process. Paying attention to the principle of the “best interests of the child”, data analyses reveal that the children of women experiencing problematic divorce and/or domestic violence have more direct encounters with laws and/or institutions than those whose parents separated on good terms. Likewise, young people whose parent(s) resort to socio-legal assistance in their country of residence are more exposed to the legal aspects of divorce. This case study underlines the intersubjective dimension of divorce and suggests that state policies do shape individual lives.

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