scholarly journals Who was buried with Nestor’s Cup? Macroscopic and microscopic analyses of the cremated remains from Tomb 168 (second half of the 8th century BCE, Pithekoussai, Ischia Island, Italy)

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0257368
Author(s):  
Melania Gigante ◽  
Alessia Nava ◽  
Robert R. Paine ◽  
Ivana Fiore ◽  
Francesca Alhaique ◽  
...  

Cremation 168 from the second half of the 8th century BCE (Pithekoussai’s necropolis, Ischia Island, Italy), better known as the Tomb of Nestor’s Cup, is widely considered as one of the most intriguing discoveries in the Mediterranean Pre-Classic archaeology. A drinking cup, from which the Tomb’s name derives, bears one of the earliest surviving examples of written Greek, representing the oldest Homeric poetry ever recovered. According to previous osteological analyses, the Cup is associated with the cremated remains of a juvenile, aged approximately 10–14 years at death. Since then, a vast body of literature has attempted to explain the unique association between the exceptionality of the grave good complex, the symposiac and erotic evocation of the Nestor’s Cup inscription with the young age of the individual buried with it. This paper reconsiders previous assessments of the remains by combining gross morphology with qualitative histology and histomorphometric analyses of the burnt bone fragments. This work reveals the commingled nature of the bone assemblage, identifying for the first time, more than one human individual mixed with faunal remains. These outcomes dramatically change previous reconstructions of the cremation deposit, rewriting the answer to the question: who was buried with Nestor’s Cup?.

Author(s):  
Rachel Ablow

The nineteenth century introduced developments in science and medicine that made the eradication of pain conceivable for the first time. This new understanding of pain brought with it a complex set of moral and philosophical dilemmas. If pain serves no obvious purpose, how do we reconcile its existence with a well-ordered universe? Examining how writers of the day engaged with such questions, this book offers a compelling new literary and philosophical history of modern pain. The book provides close readings of novelists Charlotte Brontë and Thomas Hardy and political and natural philosophers John Stuart Mill, Harriet Martineau, and Charles Darwin, as well as a variety of medical, scientific, and popular writers of the Victorian age. The book explores how discussions of pain served as investigations into the status of persons and the nature and parameters of social life. No longer conceivable as divine trial or punishment, pain in the nineteenth century came to seem instead like a historical accident suggesting little or nothing about the individual who suffers. A landmark study of Victorian literature and the history of pain, the book shows how these writers came to see pain as a social as well as a personal problem. Rather than simply self-evident to the sufferer and unknowable to anyone else, pain was also understood to be produced between persons—and even, perhaps, by the fictions they read.


Author(s):  
David Willetts

Universities have a crucial role in the modern world. In England, entrance to universities is by nation-wide competition which means English universities have an exceptional influence on schools--a striking theme of the book. This important book first investigates the university as an institution and then tracks the individual on their journey to and through university. In A University Education, David Willetts presents a compelling case for the ongoing importance of the university, both as one of the great institutions of modern society and as a transformational experience for the individual. The book also makes illuminating comparisons with higher education in other countries, especially the US and Germany. Drawing on his experience as UK Minister for Universities and Science from 2010 to 2014, the author offers a powerful account of the value of higher education and the case for more expansion. He covers controversial issues in which he was involved from access for disadvantaged students to the introduction of L9,000 fees. The final section addresses some of the big questions for the future, such as the the relationship between universities and business, especially in promoting innovation.. He argues that the two great contemporary trends of globalisation and technological innovation will both change the university significantly. This is an authoritative account of English universities setting them for the first time in their new legal and regulatory framework.


Author(s):  
Dominic Scott

This chapter presents a reading of Plato’s Republic. The Republic is among Plato’s most complex works. From its title, the first-time reader will expect a dialogue about political theory, yet the work starts from the perspective of the individual, coming to focus on the question of how, if at all, justice contributes to an agent’s happiness. Only after this question has been fully set out does the work evolve into an investigation of politics—of the ideal state and of the institutions that sustain it, especially those having to do with education. But the interest in individual justice and happiness is never left behind. Rather, the work weaves in and out of the two perspectives, individual and political, right through to its conclusion. All this may leave one wondering about the unity of the work. The chapter shows that, despite the enormous range of topics discussed, the Republic fits together as a coherent whole.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuhua Mo ◽  
Tobias A. M. Gulder

Over 30 biosynthetic gene clusters for natural tetramate have been identified. This highlight reviews the biosynthetic strategies for formation of tetramic acid unit for the first time, discussing the individual molecular mechanism in detail.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 2503
Author(s):  
Chiara Di Mauro ◽  
Aratz Genua ◽  
Alice Mija

In an attempt to prepare sustainable epoxy thermosets, this study introduces for the first time the idea to use antagonist structures (aromatic/aliphatic) or functionalities (acid/amine) as hardeners to produce reprocessable resins based on epoxidized camelina oil (ECMO). Two kinds of mixtures were tested: one combines aromatic/aliphatic dicarboxylic acids: 2,2′-dithiodibenzoic acid (DTBA) and 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid (DTDA); another is the combination of two aromatic structures with acid/amine functionality: DTBA and 4-aminophenyl disulfide (4-AFD). DSC and FT-IR analyses were used as methods to analyze the curing reaction of ECMO with the hardeners. It was found that the thermosets obtained with the dual crosslinked mechanism needed reduced curing temperatures and reprocessing protocols compared to the individual crosslinked thermosets. Thanks to the contribution of disulfide bonds in the network topology, the obtained thermosets showed recycling ability. The final thermomechanical properties of the virgin and mechanical reprocessed materials were analyzed by DMA and TGA. The obtained thermosets range from elastomeric to rigid materials. As an example, the ECMO/DTBA704-AFD30 virgin or reprocessed thermosets have tan δ values reaching 82–83 °C. The study also investigates the chemical recycling and the solvent resistance of these vitrimer-like materials.


Toxins ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annika Jagels ◽  
Viktoria Lindemann ◽  
Sebastian Ulrich ◽  
Christoph Gottschalk ◽  
Benedikt Cramer ◽  
...  

The genus Stachybotrys produces a broad diversity of secondary metabolites, including macrocyclic trichothecenes, atranones, and phenylspirodrimanes. Although the class of the phenylspirodrimanes is the major one and consists of a multitude of metabolites bearing various structural modifications, few investigations have been carried out. Thus, the presented study deals with the quantitative determination of several secondary metabolites produced by distinct Stachybotrys species for comparison of their metabolite profiles. For that purpose, 15 of the primarily produced secondary metabolites were isolated from fungal cultures and structurally characterized in order to be used as analytical standards for the development of an LC-MS/MS multimethod. The developed method was applied to the analysis of micro-scale extracts from 5 different Stachybotrys strains, which were cultured on different media. In that process, spontaneous dialdehyde/lactone isomerization was observed for some of the isolated secondary metabolites, and novel stachybotrychromenes were quantitatively investigated for the first time. The metabolite profiles of Stachybotrys species are considerably influenced by time of growth and substrate availability, as well as the individual biosynthetic potential of the respective species. Regarding the reported adverse effects associated with Stachybotrys growth in building environments, combinatory effects of the investigated secondary metabolites should be addressed and the role of the phenylspirodrimanes re-evaluated in future research.


Author(s):  
Krzysztof Pękala ◽  
Andrzej Kacprzak ◽  
Piotr Chomczyński ◽  
Jakub Ratajczak ◽  
Michał Marczak ◽  
...  

Both juvenile and adult criminal careers show regularities in the origins of delinquency, the dynamics of the criminal pathway, and the turning points that lead to desistance/persistence in crime. Research shows that family, education, and friendship environments contribute significantly to the individual choices that create criminal biographies. Our aim was to apply core aspects of life course theory (LCT): trajectory, the aged-graded process, transitions, institutions, and ultimately how desistance/persistence factor into explaining the criminal careers of Polish offenders. The research is based on in-depth interviews (130) carried out with both offenders (90) and experts (40). The offenders were divided into two groups: 30 were juveniles, and 60 were adults of whom half were sentenced for the first time (30) and half were recidivists (30) located in correctional institutions or released. The experts group (40) includes psychologists, educators, social rehabilitators, and prison and juvenile detention personnel working with offenders. We used triangulation of researcher, data, and methodology. Our data revealed that similar biographical experiences characterized by an early socialization, family and friends-based circles laid the groundwork for their entry and continued participation in criminal activity. Juvenile and adult first-time sentenced offenders led criminal careers significantly different from those of recidivists, who faced problems with social adaptation caused by lack of family and institutional support.


2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 4012-4018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel Maoz ◽  
Ralf Mayr ◽  
Siegfried Scherer

ABSTRACT The temporal stability and diversity of bacterial species composition as well as the antilisterial potential of two different, complex, and undefined microbial consortia from red-smear soft cheeses were investigated. Samples were collected twice, at 6-month intervals, from each of two food producers, and a total of 400 bacterial isolates were identified by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis. Coryneform bacteria represented the majority of the isolates, with certain species being predominant. In addition, Marinolactobacillus psychrotolerans, Halomonas venusta, Halomonas variabilis, Halomonas sp. (106 to 107 CFU per g of smear), and an unknown, gram-positive bacterium (107 to 108 CFU per g of smear) are described for the first time in such a consortium. The species composition of one consortium was quite stable over 6 months, but the other consortium revealed less diversity of coryneform species as well as less stability. While the first consortium had a stable, extraordinarily high antilisterial potential in situ, the antilisterial activity of the second consortium was lower and decreased with time. The cause for the antilisterial activity of the two consortia remained unknown but is not due to the secretion of soluble, inhibitory substances by the individual components of the consortium. Our data indicate that the stability over time and a potential antilisterial activity are individual characteristics of the ripening consortia which can be monitored and used for safe food production without artificial preservatives.


2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 3709-3725 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Andrich

The advantages of using person location estimates from the Rasch model over raw scores for the measurement of change using a common test include the linearization of scores and the automatic handling of statistical properties of repeated measurements. However, the application of the model requires that the responses to the items are statistically independent in the sense that the specific responses to the items on the first time of testing do not affect the responses at a second time. This requirement implies that the responses to the items at both times of assessment are governed only by the invariant location parameters of the items at the two times of testing and the location parameters of each person each time. A specific form of dependence that is pertinent when the same items are used is when the observed response to an item at the second time of testing is affected by the response to the same item at the first time, a form of dependence which has been referred to as response dependence. This paper presents the logic of applying the Rasch model to quantify, control and remove the effect of response dependence in the measurement of change when the same items are used on two occasions. The logic is illustrated with four sets of simulation studies with dichotomous items and with a small example of real data. It is shown that the presence of response dependence can reduce the evidence of change, a reduction which may impact interpretations at the individual, research, and policy levels.


2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Orlowsky

Abstract A large number of infrastructural concrete buildings are protected against aggressive environments by coating systems. The functionality of these coating systems is mainly affected by the composition and thickness of the individual polymeric layers. For the first time ever, a mobile nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensor allows a non-destructive determination of these important parameters on the building site. However, before this technique can be used on steel-reinforced concrete elements, the potential effect of the reinforcement on the measurement, i.e. the NMR signal, needs to be studied. The results show a shift of the NMR profile as well as an increase of the signals amplitude in the case of the reinforced samples, while calculating the thickness of concrete coating leading to identical results.


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