scholarly journals From paradigm to environment: The foreign rhythm and punctual catalysis of culture

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-431
Author(s):  
Pierluigi Basso Fossali

Lotman and Barthes created two different critically oriented semiotic traditions. Both of them wen t through an evolution in their thought, moving from systematic organization to living transformations in cultural systems. This allowed them to carry out a bilateral critique of codes and identities in favour of either anonymous hybridity (Lotman) or neutrality (Barthes), where heterogeneity becomes a principle of creative “disorder”. Though quite different as regards their theoretical production, both scholars meet in their refusal to turn descriptive practices (studium) into a model of any other form of behaviour, considering that the determination of textual or institutional perimetres is not always clear. In short, Barthes and Lotman anticipated current research trends on the semiotics of practices; Barthes because of a sort of self-reflexion on the behaviour of the interpreter in front of an object, and Lotman through his analytic interest in attitudes and ways of living.Barthes’s view on writing essentially reaches Lotman’s conception of culture as a “collective person”: we are looking for traces of breathing in the life of signs. More precisely, we can assert that, in the view of both scholars, inscribing speech events in history problematizes the dynamic and asynchronous relation between the structural frame of a culture and its textual heritage. The rhythm of fashion is not a side topic in their research, but, rather, it is the clearest exemplification of a dialectic between structural projection from the outside and local introjection of forms, depending on the conditions that make a difference.

2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Rykowska ◽  
W. Wasiak

AbstractConcern for the natural environment increasingly devotes more attention to growing potential hazards resulting from the release of various substances. Currently, one of the main problems associated with environmental pollution is the derivation of organic compounds from wastewater. Substances derived from sewage leaks into the environment in the form of a multicomponent mixtures often enhances the toxic effects caused by these compounds. While analyzing the reports in the literature of the last two decades it can be seen that substantial efforts are devoted to the determination of selected trace contaminants present in wastewater. Among the most marked there are endocrine disrupting compounds, residues of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, plastics and sunscreens. Recently, a new group of compounds joined the aforementioned contaminants, namely drugs, whose legality and availability is increasing every year. Exposure to these type of compounds, named in the literature as emerging contaminants (ECs), involves, among others, such effects as hormonal imbalance, reduction of the survivability of aquatic organisms and reproductive problems. This paper provides a review of the types of emerging organic groundwater contaminants (EGCs) which are beginning to be found in the natural environment in many countries all around the world.


2018 ◽  
Vol 199 ◽  
pp. 03008
Author(s):  
Rene Brueckner ◽  
Noah Ndugga ◽  
Tony C. Meri

The Nalubaale hydropower station was constructed between 1949 and 1954. Deterioration of the powerhouse structure was first noticed in 1964 when hairline cracking in the generator floor started to appear. The cracking progressively continued resulting in degradation of the generator floor, upper gallery and structural frame of the powerhouse. It was not until 1990 that alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in the mass concrete elements was identified to be the root cause of the deterioration. The condition of the powerhouse structure was reassessed in 2015 25 years after the investigations in 1990. The assessment comprised the determination of the concrete properties 50 years after ASR had initiated and a comprehensive evaluation of instrumentation data was undertaken to identify the effects of ASR on the powerhouse structure. This paper presents the findings of the condition assessment and provides an update on the concrete properties after more than 50 years of ongoing ASR. It also provides an assessment of the residual life of the structure and proposes rehabilitation methods to control the effects of ASR.


1966 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 93-97
Author(s):  
Richard Woolley

It is now possible to determine proper motions of high-velocity objects in such a way as to obtain with some accuracy the velocity vector relevant to the Sun. If a potential field of the Galaxy is assumed, one can compute an actual orbit. A determination of the velocity of the globular clusterωCentauri has recently been completed at Greenwich, and it is found that the orbit is strongly retrograde in the Galaxy. Similar calculations may be made, though with less certainty, in the case of RR Lyrae variable stars.


1999 ◽  
Vol 190 ◽  
pp. 549-554
Author(s):  
Nino Panagia

Using the new reductions of the IUE light curves by Sonneborn et al. (1997) and an extensive set of HST images of SN 1987A we have repeated and improved Panagia et al. (1991) analysis to obtain a better determination of the distance to the supernova. In this way we have derived an absolute size of the ringRabs= (6.23 ± 0.08) x 1017cm and an angular sizeR″ = 808 ± 17 mas, which give a distance to the supernovad(SN1987A) = 51.4 ± 1.2 kpc and a distance modulusm–M(SN1987A) = 18.55 ± 0.05. Allowing for a displacement of SN 1987A position relative to the LMC center, the distance to the barycenter of the Large Magellanic Cloud is also estimated to bed(LMC) = 52.0±1.3 kpc, which corresponds to a distance modulus ofm–M(LMC) = 18.58±0.05.


1961 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 29-41
Author(s):  
Wm. Markowitz
Keyword(s):  

A symposium on the future of the International Latitude Service (I. L. S.) is to be held in Helsinki in July 1960. My report for the symposium consists of two parts. Part I, denoded (Mk I) was published [1] earlier in 1960 under the title “Latitude and Longitude, and the Secular Motion of the Pole”. Part II is the present paper, denoded (Mk II).


1972 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
J. Hers

In South Africa the modern outlook towards time may be said to have started in 1948. Both the two major observatories, The Royal Observatory in Cape Town and the Union Observatory (now known as the Republic Observatory) in Johannesburg had, of course, been involved in the astronomical determination of time almost from their inception, and the Johannesburg Observatory has been responsible for the official time of South Africa since 1908. However the pendulum clocks then in use could not be relied on to provide an accuracy better than about 1/10 second, which was of the same order as that of the astronomical observations. It is doubtful if much use was made of even this limited accuracy outside the two observatories, and although there may – occasionally have been a demand for more accurate time, it was certainly not voiced.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 205-208
Author(s):  
Pavel Ambrož ◽  
Alfred Schroll

AbstractPrecise measurements of heliographic position of solar filaments were used for determination of the proper motion of solar filaments on the time-scale of days. The filaments have a tendency to make a shaking or waving of the external structure and to make a general movement of whole filament body, coinciding with the transport of the magnetic flux in the photosphere. The velocity scatter of individual measured points is about one order higher than the accuracy of measurements.


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