Unskilled beauty or ugly truth? A dialogic study of the indexical line

A skilled drawing elicits an elevated aesthetic pleasure that we tend to call beauty. However, conceptual approaches to art influenced by science in association with technology subverted the discipline of drawing and notions of skill and beauty by focusing on the phenomenal world, including the human mind, in a more abstract and schematic way through an indexical line. The displacement of skill and beauty through the notion of a ‘truthful’ and perhaps even ethical line may pluralize beauty (the eternal regulator) and disable – literally – traditional notions of what the body can or should do. This study follows dialogically a number of indexical lines, from the art historian Pliny the Elder twenty-one centuries ago, to the deaf contemporary artist Christine Sun Kim (b. 1980) whose work explores the notations of sound through drawing, including Etienne-Jules Marey’s (1830–1904) graphic recording machines and Irma Blank’s (b. 1934) conceptual drawn writings.

AS GRAVURAS RUPESTRES DA ÁREA ARQUEOLÓGICA DO SERIDÓ, NO ESTADO DO RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRASIL

Este artigo procura mostrar um perfil gráfico preliminar dos registros rupestres com gravuras na área arqueológica do Seridó (setor geográfico do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte), evidenciando as técnicas utilizadas, os suportes rochosos, as temáticas, a cenografia e discutir possíveis fatores ambientais nas escolhas das técnicas dos registros gráficos na paisagem natural das microrregiões (Seridó Oriental e Seridó Ocidental) da área da pesquisa. THE RUPESTRIC ENGRAVINGS OF THE SERIDÓ ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA, IN THE STATE OF RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRAZIL ABSTRACTThis paper aims to show a preliminary graphic profile of the engraved rupestrian records in the archaeological area of Seridó (geographic sector of the state of Rio Grande do Norte), highlighting the techniques used, the rocky supports, the themes, the scenography and discussing possible environmental factors in the choices of graphic recording techniques in the natural landscape of the micro-regions (Seridó Oriental and Seridó Oeste) of the research area.Keywords: Seridó archaeological area; rock engravings; landscape

The Experience of Lexicographic Recording of Ukrainian Eastern Steppe Dialects

The aim of the article is to highlight the concept and basic principles of compiling a dictionary of Eastern Steppe Ukrainian dialects. The aim implies reaching the following objectives: substantiating the criteria for selecting the empirical material; developing the dictionary compilation principles; defining the structure of the dictionary and the dictionary entry; describing the specific designation of variants of the dialect names of clothing; covering the semantic structure of the analysed dialect words; representing synonymy, polysemy and homonymy of the studied lexical units; recording expressive shades of the analysed dialect vocabulary; writing trial dictionary entries. The material for the article includes dialect recordings made by the author, mainly by the expeditionary method, in Donetsk Oblast settlements during 1997–2013. To track the degree of word spread in the studied dialects, the materials collected by students of the Philological Faculty of Vasyl Stus Donetsk National University have been used. The research metho-dology is based on the theoretical foundations of dialectology, lexicology and lexico-graphy. To achieve the aim, general and specific scientific methods have been used: analysis and synthesis; descriptive and analytical method for collecting, inventorying, systematising dialectal lexical units, as well as for interpreting linguistic facts; the com-parative method has been used to determine the peculiarities of the analysed dialectal vocabulary; the technique of modelling dialect vocabulary has been applied to construct dictionary entries. The article presents the concept and principles of compiling the re-gional dictionary of Eastern Steppe Ukrainian dialects, taking into account the existing developments in Slavic dialectology, describes the criteria for selecting the empirical material, characterises the dictionary type and its general structure, as well as features of dictionary entries (interpretation of meanings, grammatical characteristics, labels reflecting the peculiarities of the word functioning in the dialect, the originality of the illustrative material). The study contains trial dictionary entries which demonstrate the specifics of the vocabulary of the new-settlement Ukrainian dialects of Donetsk Oblast. Further research and thorough presentation of the principles of compiling the regional dictionary of Eastern Steppe Ukrainian dialects will be possible after extracting, selecting and analysing more lexical material. In this regard, the proposed principles of lexico-graphic recording of Eastern Steppe Ukrainian dialects can be expanded and refined.

Introduction: Knowledge in the Making: Drawing and Writing as Research Techniques

ArgumentDrawing and writing number among the most widespread scientific practices of representation. Neither photography, graphic recording apparatuses, typewriters, nor digital word- and image-processing ever completely replaced drawing and writing by hand. The interaction of hand, paper, and pen indeed involves much more than simply recording or visualizing what was previously thought, observed, or imagined. Both writing and drawing have the power to translate concepts and observations into two-dimensional, manageable, reproducible objects. They help to develop research questions and they open up an interaction between the gathering of phenomena and the formation of theses. Related to the manifold studies of representational activities in the sciences and the humanities, this topical issue tries to refine our understanding of the capacities of drawing and writing as research techniques; i.e. as productive epistemic practices. In particular the contributions address three aspects: the material conditions and configurations of the “scene of drawing and writing,” the involved procedures of production, and the languages of inscription.

Evaluation of the Monitor Cursor-Line Method for Measuring Pulmonary Artery and Central Venous Pressures

Objective To determine if the monitor cursor-line feature on bedside monitors is accurate for measuring central venous and pulmonary artery pressures in cardiac surgery patients. Methods Central venous and pulmonary artery pressures were measured via 3 methods (end-expiratory graphic recording, monitor cursor-line display, and monitor digital display) in a convenience sample of postoperative cardiac surgery patients. Pressures were measured twice during both mechanical ventilation and spontaneous breathing. Analysis of variance was used to determine differences between measurement methods and the percentage of monitor pressures that differed by 4 mm Hg or more from the measurement obtained from the graphic recording. Significance level was set at P less than .05. Results Twenty-five patients were studied during mechanical ventilation (50 measurements) and 21 patients during spontaneous breathing (42 measurements). Measurements obtained via the 3 methods did not differ significantly for either type of pressure (P > .05). Graphically recorded pressures and measurements obtained via the monitor cursor-line or digital display methods differed by 4 mm Hg or more in 4% and 6% of measurements, respectively, during mechanical ventilation and 4% and 11%, respectively, during spontaneous breathing. Conclusion The monitor cursor-line method for measuring central venous and pulmonary artery pressures may be a reasonable alternative to the end-expiratory graphic recording method in hemodynamically stable, postoperative cardiac surgery patients. Use of the digital display on the bedside monitor may result in larger discrepancies from the graphically recorded pressures than when the cursor-line method is used, particularly in spontaneously breathing patients.