Ad astra: Graphic Signalling in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II (BM 55469)

2021 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 318-326
Author(s):  
Martina Schmidl

Abstract This article examines two orthographic features in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II. It aims to show that the text makes use of the possibilities of the cuneiform writing system to create various levels of meaning. The first example clarifies structure and content with regard to a difficult passage in the fourth and last stanza of the text, in which a possible change of actors is indicated by an orthographic feature. The second example shows how orthography is used in the first stanza of the text to augment its message. These examples demonstrate how structural elements and micro-features such as orthography were used creatively to enhance the message of the hymn.

Author(s):  
Jun Jiao

HREM studies of the carbonaceous material deposited on the cathode of a Huffman-Krätschmer arc reactor have shown a rich variety of multiple-walled nano-clusters of different shapes and forms. The preparation of the samples, as well as the variety of cluster shapes, including triangular, rhombohedral and pentagonal projections, are described elsewhere.The close registry imposed on the nanotubes, focuses attention on the cluster growth mechanism. The strict parallelism in the graphitic separation of the tube walls is maintained through changes of form and size, often leading to 180° turns, and accommodating neighboring clusters and defects. Iijima et. al. have proposed a growth scheme in terms of pentagonal and heptagonal defects and their combinations in a hexagonal graphitic matrix, the first bending the surface inward, and the second outward. We report here HREM observations that support Iijima’s suggestions, and add some new features that refine the interpretation of the growth mechanism. The structural elements of our observations are briefly summarized in the following four micrographs, taken in a Hitachi H-8100 TEM operating at an accelerating voltage of 200 kV and with a point-to-point resolution of 0.20 nm.


2003 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 201-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideaki Nagase ◽  
Keith Brew

The tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) are endogenous inhibitors of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), enzymes that play central roles in the degradation of extracellular matrix components. The balance between MMPs and TIMPs is important in the maintenance of tissues, and its disruption affects tissue homoeostasis. Four related TIMPs (TIMP-1 to TIMP-4) can each form a complex with MMPs in a 1:1 stoichiometry with high affinity, but their inhibitory activities towards different MMPs are not particularly selective. The three-dimensional structures of TIMP-MMP complexes reveal that TIMPs have an extended ridge structure that slots into the active site of MMPs. Mutation of three separate residues in the ridge, at positions 2, 4 and 68 in the amino acid sequence of the N-terminal inhibitory domain of TIMP-1 (N-TIMP-1), separately and in combination has produced N-TIMP-1 variants with higher binding affinity and specificity for individual MMPs. TIMP-3 is unique in that it inhibits not only MMPs, but also several ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase) and ADAMTS (ADAM with thrombospondin motifs) metalloproteinases. Inhibition of the latter groups of metalloproteinases, as exemplified with ADAMTS-4 (aggrecanase 1), requires additional structural elements in TIMP-3 that have not yet been identified. Knowledge of the structural basis of the inhibitory action of TIMPs will facilitate the design of selective TIMP variants for investigating the biological roles of specific MMPs and for developing therapeutic interventions for MMP-associated diseases.


Author(s):  
Sandra Godinho ◽  
Margarida V. Garrido ◽  
Oleksandr V. Horchak

Abstract. Words whose articulation resembles ingestion movements are preferred to words mimicking expectoration movements. This so-called in-out effect, suggesting that the oral movements caused by consonantal articulation automatically activate concordant motivational states, was already replicated in languages belonging to Germanic (e.g., German and English) and Italic (e.g., Portuguese) branches of the Indo-European family. However, it remains unknown whether such preference extends to the Indo-European branches whose writing system is based on the Cyrillic rather than Latin alphabet (e.g., Ukrainian), or whether it occurs in languages not belonging to the Indo-European family (e.g., Turkish). We replicated the in-out effect in two high-powered experiments ( N = 274), with Ukrainian and Turkish native speakers, further supporting an embodied explanation for this intriguing preference.


The issues of determining the estimated cost of capital construction projects with the involvement of Federal budget funds at the stage of development of project documentation, during verification of the accuracy of determining the estimated cost and the initial (maximum) contract price are considered. On the basis of the assessment of amendments to urban planning legislation for the purpose of implementing a state contract by the contractor ( based on the results of competitive procedures or without competitive procedures by decision of state authorities), the procedure for forming the estimate as part of a state (municipal) contract, the price of which is firm, is presented. For the purpose of mutual settlements between the customer and the contractor for the work performed, the formation of primary accounting documentation, as well as for checking the work performed by regulatory authorities, an example of drawing up an estimate of the state (municipal) contract on the basis of grouping costs according to structural elements and complexes of work is given. The result of the research conducted was the development of regulations and the formation of criteria for their practical application by state bodies, institutions, organizations and other participants in the investment-construction process, as well as recipients of budget funds, who perform the functions of the state (municipal) customer, developer and technical customer.


2008 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Lawson

This article highlights two features of Qur'anic style and content: duality/opposition and typological figuration, which can be seen as providing a continuous and consistent ‘narrative stream’ through the Qur'an. It is of some interest that both of these features have been singled out as distinctive of apocalypse as a genre in the study of numerous religious and cultural traditions. As debate on whether or not the Qur'an is a bona fide example of apocalyptic literature quietly continues, the interplay of conceptual and substantive oppositions and dualities is discussed in order to highlight the importance of this prominent feature to both the form and contents of the Book. It is suggested that its function is profoundly related to the typological figuration indispensable to the Qur'anic depiction of, for example, the character of the prophets and therefore prophethood. Whether or not this represents a genuine instance of apocalyptic literature, it nonetheless remains that the prominence of the motif renders the Qur'an susceptible of a reading expressive of something called an apocalyptic imagination. It is hoped that this article succeeds in demonstrating that in fact these apparently familiar subjects are stimulated to new life by considering them as defining, interlocking, structural elements of a distinctive Islamic apocalypse.


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