Viollet-le-Duc and the body: the metaphorical integrations of race and style in structural rationalism

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Davis

At first glance, it might seem counterintuitive to insist upon Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc's (1814-79) critical interest in the human body as a metaphor for style in architecture. Not only did he oppose the anthropomorphic metaphors for style touted by Neo-Classical theorists at the École des Beaux-Arts, but he was most widely known in the nineteenth century for his preoccupation with the monumental and structural potential of modern materials such as iron. This reception of Viollet-le-Duc's thought persisted in the twentieth century with Sir John Summerson's estimation of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier's debt to the constructive principles of his architectural organicism. Such accounts have made it possible to interpret construction and/or structure as the main ‘body’ of Viollet-le-Duc's architecture theory. However, this reading confuses the eclipse of Neo-Classical anthropomorphic metaphors for style - which translated the proportional relationships between the human body's constituent parts into a compositional system of design - with the complete eclipse of critical references to the human body in the French style debates of the nineteenth century. As we trace the role of the human body in Viollet-le-Duc's style theory, it becomes clear that the principles of human variation in biology and ethnography enabled him to account for the cultural variations of national peoples in his conception of style.

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 71-96
Author(s):  
Peter Lindner

Since the publication of Nikolas Rose’s ‘The Politics of Life Itself’ (2001) there has been vivid discussion about how biopolitical governance has changed over the last decades. This article uses what Rose terms ‘molecular politics’, a new socio-technical grip on the human body, as a contrasting background to ask anew his question ‘What, then, of biopolitics today?’ – albeit focusing not on advances in genetics, microbiology, and pharmaceutics, as he does, but on the rapid proliferation of wearables and other sensor-software gadgets. In both cases, new technologies providing information about the individual body are the common ground for governance and optimization, yet for the latter, the target is habits of moving, eating and drinking, sleeping, working and relaxing. The resulting profound differences are carved out along four lines: ‘somatic identities’ and a modified understanding of the body; the role of ‘expert knowledge’ compared to that of networks of peers and self-experimentation; the ‘types of intervention’ by which new technologies become effective in our everyday life; and the ‘post-discipline character’ of molecular biopolitics. It is argued that, taken together, these differences indicate a remarkable shift which could be termed aretaic: its focus is not ‘life itself’ but ‘life as it is lived’, and its modality are new everyday socio-technical entanglements and their more-than-human rationalities of (self-)governance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 592-599
Author(s):  
Hamid Gheibollahi ◽  
Masoud Masih-Tehrani ◽  
Mohammadmehdi Niroobakhsh

In this study, adding a headrest to the conventional vehicle driver seat is investigated to improve the driver comfort and decrease the driver damages. For this purpose, a conventional biomechanical human body model of wholebody vibrations is provided and modified by adding a head degree of freedom to the body model and a headrest to the seat model. The basic model is in the sitting posture, lumped parameters and has nine DOFs for the human body, on contrary to the proposed model which has ten DOFs. The new human body DOF is the twisting motion of the head and neck. This new DOF is generated because of headrest adding to the driver’s seat. To determine the head discomforts, the Seat to Head (STH) indexes are studied in two directions: horizontal and vertical. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the STH in different directions. The optimization variables are stiffness and damping parameters of the driver’s seat which are 12 for the basic model and are 16 for a new seat. The integer programming is used for time reduction. The results show that new seat (equipped by headrest) has very better STH in both directions.


1997 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 455-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Flint

The Lifted Veil (1859) is a text concerned with the interplay between science and the imagination. It is informed by The Physiology of Common Life, the work that G. H. Lewes published in the same year, and in many ways is in a dialogue with this work, asking that if we could look into someone's mind with the same power that a physician can examine the body, would we choose to exercise this specular power? The essay shows how George Eliot employs some of the same language that Lewes uses in his scientific writing, especially in the context of the circulation of blood and the circulation of feeling. Blood is crucial to this novella, and its wider nineteenth-century implications are also raised. In particular, the blood transfusion scene in The Lifted Veil is shown not to be a piece of mere Gothic melodrama but to be rooted in contemporary debate about transfusion. Historical specificity is reinforced through showing that Meunier, the doctor, had an actual prototype in the figure of Brown-Séquard. Examining these aspects of the novella raises questions about gender and authority. It is argued that, despite the dialogue with Lewes's work that occurs in The Lifted Veil, George Eliot gives even greater priority than Lewes does to the role of the imagination and to the provocative nature of that which cannot be revealed by science.


Author(s):  
Ziyaeva E.R. ◽  

The article is devoted to a review of the topical problem of our time “Microbiocenosis of open cavities of the body and its role in the occurrence of many diseases of the human body ”. It has now been proven that the normal microflora of the human body plays a huge role in the normal course of life processes. The slightest violation of the composition of microorganisms leads to various irreversible defects in the normal course of human life, which are associated with the functions of the microbiocenosis and which no medicine can replace. The concept of microbiocenosis appeared in the 70s of the last century, although the first stone in this direction was put by Louis Pasteur, who proved the role of a microorganism in the process of fermentation and digestion. Many scientists contributed to the leap forward development of this science, which was forced due to errors in the use of antibiotics and chemotherapeutic drugs. Yes, indeed, the path of development of the science of biocenoses is closely related to the misuse of drugs, which often leads to dysbiosis. In addition, environmental pollution due to the uncontrollable development of urbanization plays a huge role in the development of dysbiotic processes.Therefore, with the aim of acquainting readers with the concept of biocenoses, certain pathways of pathogenetic links in the development of various diseases in violation of the composition of the normal microflora of the human body, we set ourselves the task of conducting a partial review of the achievement of the science of biocenoses of open cavities of the body.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 56-67
Author(s):  
S.V. Kursov ◽  
V.V. Nikonov ◽  
O.V. Biletskyi ◽  
O.I. Fedets ◽  
V.O. Homenko

The first part of the review presents data on the content of magnesium in organs and tissues of the human body, the role of magnesium in the implementation of multiple functions, and the peculiarities of its intake and excretion from the body. A significant part of the review is devoted to methods for determining the concentration of magnesium in biological fluids of the human body. The advantages, disadvantages and limitations of various methods are presented. The most common methods for studying the concentration of magnesium in biological fluids of the body, which are used in clinical medicine all over the world, are photometric methods with dyes. The role of the fraction of ionized magnesium in the body, the content of which is determined electrochemically, is still uncertain. Cellular magnesium studies are extremely complex and time-consuming. Cells of different organs and tissues normally contain very different amounts of magnesium. It is not possible to judge about the presence of magnesium deficiency in the body by its concentration in plasma or serum. To detect a decrease in the tissue content of magnesium, tests with magnesium load and the subsequent observation of the rate of its excretion from the body are used. The causes for the development of hypomagnesemia are extremely numerous. The main of them are: any severe stress, restriction of magnesium intake into the body, an increase in its losses through the gastrointestinal tract and the kidneys in various pathological conditions. The formation of hypomagnesemia is facilitated by therapy with numerous medications, which are very widely used in clinical practice, and especially in the intensive care. Studies on the distribution of magnesium in the body after its intravenous administration have shown that, despite the large size of hydrated magnesium ions, they can not only paradoxically quickly spread in the extracellular water space, but most likely are also able to quickly penetrate through cell membranes, spreading in the intracellular water compartment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Jamshidi-kia ◽  
Joko Priyanto Wibowo ◽  
Mostafa Elachouri ◽  
Rohollah Masumi ◽  
Alizamen Salehifard-Jouneghani ◽  
...  

Free radicals are constructed by natural physiological activities in the human cells as well as in the environment. They may be produced as a result of diet, smoking, exercise, inflammation, exposure to sunlight, air pollutants, stress, alcohol and drugs. Imbalanced redox status may lead to cellular oxidative stress, which can damage the cells of the body, resulting in an incidence of various diseases. If the endogenous antioxidants do not stop the production of reactive metabolites, they will be needed to bring about a balance in redox status. Natural antioxidants, for example plants, play an important part in this context. This paper seeks to report the available evidence about oxidative stress and the application of plants as antioxidant agents to fight free radicals in the human body. For this purpose, to better understand oxidative stress, the principles of free radical production, the role of free radicals in diseases, antioxidant defense mechanisms, and the role of herbs and diet in oxidative stress are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (38) ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
Z. M. Galeeva ◽  
O. F. Galiullin ◽  
E. G. Yeziukova ◽  
R. G. Tukhbatullina

The article presents scientific data on the role of ammonia in the human body, examines in detail the mechanism of formation and utilization of ammonia in the body. The questions of etiology and separate forms of pathogenesis of hyperammonemia, and its influence on the processes of fibrosis in the liver and the role of stellate liver cells in it are highlighted separately. The data on the influence of hyperammonemia on cognitive functions of the brain with the development of encephalopathy are presented, which is of great importance in clinical practice, during medical examination. The data of own observations are given, the questions of drug therapy are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Rachel McBride Lindsey

This chapter explores death and mourning pictures within a shifting memorial culture that was rooted in historical modes of representation and theologies of redemption. Over the course of the nineteenth century, photographic portraiture emerged within this memorial culture as both the preferred iconography of mourning in nineteenth-century America and, significantly, as a relic of the departed that disclosed future glory to the bereaved. In this chapter, I explore the role of photographs as relics that illuminated the communion of shadows by mediating the body of the deceased with the grieving body of the bereaved. Here, photographs were devised not as tokens of the moldering body of the deceased but of promise of celestial reunion in glory. As memorial portraiture focused attention on the body of the deceased, another facet within the communion of shadows purported to provide evidence of the soul’s survival after death.


1994 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. Gregan

The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika: A voluntary association or an association sui generis The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk is seen as a voluntary association in South African law which is founded on a contractual basis. Recent case law has re-affirmed this fact. This was not always the case. Earlier case law referred to the church as a legal person (universitas). Because of the influence of English law and also the role of De Mist in the Cape during the nineteenth century, the courts have adopted the view that the church is a voluntary association The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, however, disagrees with this view of the courts. According to the the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, one cannot simply talk of ‘voluntariness’ when membership of the church is at stake. The church is also not found on a contractual basis; Christ brought it together. The church is the communion of saints, because the believers, being members of the body of Jesus Christ, share in Christ and all He has. Recently an English court found that a church had the power to decide whether a preacher (rabbi) was fit to be a preacher and declared that the court will not interfere in such matters. This case could help to convince South African courts that the church differs from the ordinary voluntary association. The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk also has the task to convince the courts in this regard and should be adamant in its stance that it should not be considered as a voluntary association, but rather as an association sui generis.


2002 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 811-815
Author(s):  
Mary Bucholtz

The relationship between language and the body has become an increasingly prominent area of research within linguistics and related disciplines. Some investigators of this question have examined how facts about the human body are encoded in linguistic structure, while others have explored the use of the body as a communicative resource in interaction. Surprisingly little, however, has been written about the role of language in constructing the body as a social object. In Fat talk, Mimi Nichter, a medical anthropologist, addresses this issue by examining the discourse of dieting among American teenage girls. Although language itself is not the center of the analysis, Nichter draws on a wide range of sociolinguistic research to investigate how the body is constructed through talk – a question that will be of equal interest to scholars of language, culture, and society.


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