Contra invidentium effascinationes: Prophylaxis and the evil eye in some gems of the republican Roman era with grotesque subjects

In the glyptic repertoire of roman-republican age, numerous subjects that must be recognized as amulets with probaskanica function. These objects are designed to protect the owner from the negative effects of the evil eye. The ridiculous and caricatural aspect often seen in these engraved gems characterized the grotesque and/or deformed beings such as hunchbacks, bald, dwarfs, pygmies. A further common typical element is the sexual hypertrophy, another characteristic that, in literature, has always been associated with a clear apotropaic function. From a functional perspective, all these features would contribute to identify these characters as useful expedients to ward off the charm. Instead, from a perspective of antithetical analogy, they communicate positive symbolic concepts, such as the fullness of life, fertility, rebirth and victory over death. Thanks to the analytical study of some pictures engraved in gems conducted by the authors, it has been possible to define a singular set similar for style, subject and type of material, produced between the second and first century BC in the Italian peninsula. The paper intends to explain the figurative and material elements, both constant or variable, that contribute to reinforce the symbolic and amuletic meaning of these gems.

THE ISSUE OF THE ADDRESSER AND THE ADDRESSEE IN THE ENGLISH PROGRAMMING DISCOURSE

The article offers an analysis of the interaction between the addresser and the addressee in the English programming discourse as a type of the so-called institutional or professional discourses. Both interactants are programmers. The research is performed in the context of anthropocentric paradigm in linguistics and is based on the analysis of modern English programming textbooks. It is established that the texts of the English programming discourse, along with a high amount of specific terminology and some programming language items, predominantly logical and consistent presentation of professional information, demonstrate a pronounced interactive nature aimed at ensuring the effectiveness of communication between specialists in this field. The conducted analysis confirms that the personalized manner of writing, various dialogical structures and rhetorical techniques are a typical element of modern English textbooks on programming. It is concluded that the construction of the English programming discourse is influenced not only by the personal experience, knowledge, emotions of the author of the text, but also the specific worldview and professional language culture of programmers as a special professional group, whose members are characterized by high intellectual abilities, perseverance, the desire to create their own world within the computing environment as well as the rejection of obstacles and prohibitions that exist in the real life.

A STUDY ON THE FUNDAMENTAL COMPONENTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MIZO TRADITIONAL FESTIVALS

The traditional Mizo had various community feasts and celebrations, which were performed at specific time and period of the year. The three principle celebrations are Chapchar Kut (celebration of spring), Mim Kut (celebration performed when the yields other than paddy is first procured), and Pawl Kut (celebration of harvest). The Mizo adored social gathering and bustles, and likewise, Kut was a typical element of their public activity. Here we will look at into what the traditional Mizo had thought about fundamental components for festivity of their celebrations.

Determining the lithogeochemical background concentrations of 39 elements in Bavarian rocks

Typical element background concentrations of rock units in Bavaria were evaluated by statistical means and presented in a lithogeochemical map, derived from the geological map at a scale of 1:25,000. The elements include 39 geogenic main and trace elements (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, P2O5 Li, Be, Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, La, Ce, Tl, Pb, Bi , Th and U). The distributions of element concentrations in the lithogeochemical units follow closely lognormal patterns in a large majority of cases. Statistical parameters (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th percentiles) of investigated elements were determined using the cenfit function of the NADA package within the open source program R. The investigation, based on 8,838 analysed samples, provided data for about 2/3 of the area of Bavaria. The lithogeochemical map with medians (50th percentiles) and background values (90th percentiles) of the investigated elements is available in a web map application. Thus, the regional geogenic background values of the investigated elements in Bavaria are publicly available for a large variety of applications.

The use of the mirror in speech therapy

The article begins the description of the history of a mirror: its origin, creation and use. Then the characteristics of the mirror as a typical element of the speech therapy room equipment were made. The article discusses the issue of its use in the opinion of speech therapists. Speech disorders specialists note that it should be used first of all for people with articulation disorders and less for people with mutism.

Climate Change in Literature, Television and Film from Norway

Environmental and climatic change has become a frequent motif in contemporary Norwegian literature, television and film, and Norway has the worldwide first organization of writers committed to climate action (The Norwegian Writers’ Climate Campaign, founded in 2013). In this article, we argue that Norwegian climate change fiction and related works draw on elements that relate to specific national and/or Nordic cultural, societal and historical aspects, and that these elements give these works their distinct identity. We focus on four such aspects: (1) references to Norwegian petroculture (since the Norwegian economy is largely based on the export of fossil fuels); (2) an (imagined) intimate connection between Norwegianness and nature, and thus of what often is seen as a typical element of Norwegian national identity; (3) notions of “Nordicity”, and (4) an atmosphere of gloom and melancholia in many of the works (which often has been ascribed to Nordic landscapes, and usually is characteristic for the genre of Nordic noir).

Design and Technology of Winding Curvilinear Pipelines from Sintered Polyimide-Fluoroplastic Film

This article deals with the issues related to designing and manufacturing light and reliable pipelines made of composite materials for missile technology, aircraft and land vehicles running on cryogenic fuel. Multi-layer straight and curvilinear pipelines made by winding polyimide films can significantly reduce the weight and level of bending loads. The article presents the geometry of a typical element of a curvilinear pipeline and the design of the flange of a cryogenic pipeline. A method for connecting the flange shank to the film shell is proposed and the results of testing pipelines made of polyimide-fluoroplastic films are presented. Cryogenic pipelines made of polyimide film PMF-352 have a smaller mass in comparison with metal analogues made of alloy AMg-6 and can be recommended as their replacement in pneumatic hydraulic systems of products operating on cryogenic fuels.

Fast and slow points of Birkhoff sums

We investigate the growth rate of the Birkhoff sums $S_{n,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}f(x)=\sum _{k=0}^{n-1}f(x+k\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC})$, where $f$ is a continuous function with zero mean defined on the unit circle $\mathbb{T}$ and $(\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC},x)$ is a ‘typical’ element of $\mathbb{T}^{2}$. The answer depends on the meaning given to the word ‘typical’. Part of the work will be done in a more general context.

Loropetalum flavum (Hamamelidaceae), a new species from northern Vietnam

Loropetalum flavum (Hamamelidaceae) is described and illustrated as a new species from Bat Dai Son Mountains situated in the northern Vietnam. Recently discovered plant was observed as a typical element of the rich primary forest found on the highly eroded karstic limestone mountain formations allied to the border with China. The new species is characterized by arboreous habit; stellately indumentum of branchlets, leaves and flowers; axillary, capitate, 4–12-flowered inflorescences; yellow, sessile, actinomorphic, bisexual, 4–6-merous flowers with 2-whorled perianth and 2–8 fleshy disc lobes; stamens with conspicuous subulate connective protrusion; anthers with 2 rectangular 2-sporangiate thecae, each dehiscing by 2 valves and syncarpous gynoecium with 2-locular inferior ovary bearing 2 very short separate styles. A key to all known species of Loropetalum species is given and lectotype of L. lanceum is proposed.

Dynamical versus diffraction spectrum for structures with finite local complexity

It is well known that the dynamical spectrum of an ergodic measure dynamical system is related to the diffraction measure of a typical element of the system. This situation includes ergodic subshifts from symbolic dynamics as well as ergodic Delone dynamical systems, both via suitable embeddings. The connection is rather well understood when the spectrum is pure point, where the two spectral notions are essentially equivalent. In general, however, the dynamical spectrum is richer. Here, we consider (uniquely) ergodic systems of finite local complexity and establish the equivalence of the dynamical spectrum with a collection of diffraction spectra of the system and certain factors. This equivalence gives access to the dynamical spectrum via these diffraction spectra. It is particularly useful as the diffraction spectra are often simpler to determine and, in many cases, only very few of them need to be calculated.