At Home in Renaissance Bruges

How did citizens in Bruges create a home? What did an ordinary domestic interior look like in the sixteenth century? And more importantly: how does one study the domestic culture of bygone times by analysing documents such as probate inventories? These questions seem straightforward, yet few endeavours are more challenging than reconstructing a sixteenth-century domestic reality from written sources. This book takes full advantage of the inventory and convincingly frames household objects in their original context of use. Meticulously connecting objects, people and domestic spaces, the book introduces the reader to the rich material world of Bruges citizens in the Renaissance, their sensory engagement, their religious practice, the role of women, and other social factors. By weaving insights from material culture studies with urban history, At Home in Renaissance Bruges offers an appealing and holistic mixture of in-depth socio-economic, cultural and material analysis. In its approach the book goes beyond heavy-handed theories and stereotypes about the exquisite taste of aristocratic elites, focusing instead on the domestic materiality of Bruges’ middling groups. Evocatively illustrated with contemporary paintings from Bruges and beyond, this monograph shows a nuanced picture of domestic materiality in a remarkable European city.

Interview with Jack Santino

Isabel Machado interviews Jack Santino on Public Performances: Studies in the Carnivalesque and Ritualesque (2017). Interview Date: Sep 17, 2020 Dr. Jack Santino is professor of folklore and popular culture and has served as director of the Bowling Green Center for Popular Culture Studies. He was the Alexis de Tocqueville Distinguished Professor at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, 2010–2011. He was a Fulbright Scholar to Northern Ireland and has conducted research in Spain and France. His documentary film on Pullman Porters, Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle, received four Emmy awards. His research centers on rituals and celebrations, with a particular focus on carnival and political and public ritual as reflective of political, social, and cultural identity. He is the author of numerous books and articles. (Maybe also mention that he is in the JFS board?)

Report from the 13th International Conference on Researching and Applying Metaphor: "Metaphorical Creativity in a Multilingual World" (Hamar, Norway, 18–21 June 2020)

Report from the 13th International Conference on Researching and Applying Metaphor: Metaphorical Creativity in a Multilingual World (Hamar, Norway, 18–21 June 2020)The RaAM 2020 conference on metaphor research was held online on 18–21 June 2020, hosted by the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN) in Hamar, Norway. The aim was to exchange ideas and research findings of historians, culture studies specialists, and cognitive linguists from all around the world. The theme of the event was Metaphorical Creativity in a Multilingual World, including the following areas: multimodal metaphor, metaphor in spoken discourse, metaphor in gesture, metaphor in cross-cultural communication, metaphor and translation, metaphor and film, metaphor in education. Among the large group of researchers, specialists from Lithuania and Latvia presented their findings in metaphor research based on local data (Lithuanian media, posters, advertisements and billboards, film translation into Lithuanian). Sprawozdanie z trzynastej międzynarodowej konferencji dotyczącej badania i zastosowania metafory pt. Metaphorical Creativity in a Multilingual World (Hamar, Norwegia, 18–21 czerwca 2020)Wirtualna konferencja naukowa RaAM 2020 poświęcona badaniom nad metaforą odbyła się w dniach 18–21 czerwca 2020 roku w Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (INN) w Hamarze w Norwegii. Celem spotkania była wymiana myśli i wyników badań naukowych historyków, kulturoznawców i językoznawców kognitywnych z całego świata. Tematem konferencji była kreatywność metaforyczna w wielojęzycznym świecie i obejmował on następujące obszary: metafora multimodalna, metafora w dyskursie mówionym, metafora w gestach, metafora w komunikacji międzykulturowej, metafora i przekład, metafora i film, metafora w edukacji. Wśród licznych badaczy byli również specjaliści z Litwy i Łotwy, którzy zaprezentowali wyniki badań nad metaforą na podstawie danych ze źródeł krajowych (media litewskie, plakaty, reklamy i bilbordy, tłumaczenie filmów na język litewski).

Historia, problematyka i związki studiów postkolonialnych z badaniami kultury popularnej

The article depicts the connectivity of popular culture studies in the field of cultural studies with issues of postcolonial studies. The aim of the work is to answer the question about a possibility to transplant Western cultural studies research to postcolonial popular culture analysis and interpretation. The study begins with a brief reconstruction of the history of pop culture research in the scope of postcolonial methodology — the most important works, conferences, and thematic issues initiating an interest in a research field new to postcolonialism around the 1990s and at the beginning of the following millennium. In the next part of the article, the author points out two main definitions of popular culture (“the popular”) in the scope of indicated optics — by Stuart Hall and John Fiske; the author also considers terminological issues with “the popular” and its non-existent equivalent in Polish. An ambiguous movement written in popular culture was considered as its most important feature (as Hall and Fiske claimed) — at the same time, a dominant system is contained (incorporation) and meets with resistance of people who revolt by the means of the system itself (exportation). Nonetheless, the author shows why believing in the possibility of resistance can be an illusion. Next, the author comments on the stand of Kwame Anthony Appiah, who problematized the relation of postcolonialism and pop culture. The analysis of connections between these two phenomena is followed by a few examples of intertextuality in Alain Mabanckou’s novels.

Effects of NAC and Gallic Acid on the Proliferation Inhibition and Induced Death of Lung Cancer Cells with Different Antioxidant Capacities

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a recognized antioxidant in culture studies and treatments for oxidative stress-related diseases, but in some cases, NAC is a pro-oxidant. To study the effect of NAC on cell proliferation in the presence or absence of ROS stress, we used the stable ROS generator gallic acid (GA) to treat CL1-0 lung cancer cell models with different antioxidant activities. Different antioxidant activities were achieved through the ectopic expression of different PERP-428 single nucleotide polymorphisms. GA increased ROS levels in CL1-0/PERP-428C cells and caused cell death but had no effect on CL1-0/PERP-428G cells within 24 h. We found that 0.1 mM NAC eliminated GA-induced growth inhibition, but 0.5 mM NAC enhanced GA-induced CL1-0/PERP-428C cell death. However, in the absence of GA, NAC exceeding 2 mM inhibited the growth of CL1-0/PERP-428G cells more significantly than that of CL1-0/PERP-428C cells. Without GA, NAC has an antioxidant effect. Under GA-induced ROS stress, NAC may have pro-oxidant effects. Each cell type has a unique range of ROS levels for survival. The levels of ROS in the cell determines the sensitivity of the cell to an antioxidant or pro-oxidant. Cells with different antioxidant capacities were used to show that the intracellular ROS level affects NAC function and provides valuable information for the adjuvant clinical application of NAC.

Unique Lassoing Scene from the Mastaba of Akhmerutnisut at Giza (G 2184)

This article analyzes a unique scene from the Giza mastaba of Akhmerutnisut (G 2184), which shows a life-size depiction of the tomb owner holding a rope, ready to throw a lasso. The active participation of the tomb owner in a lassoing scene is unique in the iconographic program of Fifth Dynasty elite tombs. The location of this scene within the mastaba is also unparalleled: it is the first scene on the right (west side) encountered by visitors as they enter the mastaba. To understand this innovative decorative choice, this paper starts by discussing the iconography of lassoing in the Old Kingdom and its meaning in the elite tombs of the same period. The second part of this paper analyzes Akhmerutnisut’s lassoing scene with an analytical framework drawn from visual and material culture studies and focusing on the concepts of monumentality, identity and agency. This study provides a number of possible explanations—none of which are mutually exclusive—to understand why Akhmerutnisut had himself depicted as a monumental lassoer by the entrance of his funerary complex, highlighting the importance of visitor experience and participation in the design of the funerary complexes of the Old Kingdom elite.

Personal Culture Orientation and Consumer Cosmopolitanism: The Moderating Effects of Product Involvement

<p>Cosmopolitan consumers generally refer to individuals who are open and unbiased towards foreign products and identify as citizens of the world. Despite growing relevance of understanding consumer cosmopolitanism (COS) in today’s changing international landscape, both the construct itself is still not that well understood and operationalized, as well as its social and psychographic antecedent. In terms of culture studies, recent culture studies within the IB discipline continue to debate over the appropriate definitions of culture, as well as its conceptualization, operationalization, and especially measurement. This research aims to explore the impact of personal cultural orientations (PCOs), as individual-level culture value concepts, on COS, as well as the potential moderating role of product involvement (e.g., high- vs low-involvement products). Young-adult consumers in Taiwan and New Zealand were chosen to provide a contrast between a typical Western, Anglo-Saxon-based perspective and a typical Eastern, Asian, Confucian-based cultural context. Overall, this study could not fully support PCOs as having a significant impact on COS, nor product involvement as a moderator. However, COS could not be tested as a second-order reflective latent construct as originally intended in the seminal paper by Riefler et al. (2012). Compared to Riefler et al. (2012)’s paper, differences can be observed in the sampling where Riefler et al. (2012) sampled respondents aged 19 to 93 years (mean=46.6). This suggests that young adults a generational cohort hold significantly different perspectives and dispositions to other generations and the overall population. This finding aligns with recent IB literature in looking for smaller ‘containers’ of culture. Of the three PCOs tested, two displayed significant effects to COS in both country samples, but only to one dimension of the COS construct (Open-mindedness) and not the other (Diversity appreciation). Hence it is highly likely the PCOs tested in this study have significant effects on COS, if only COS could be operationalized as originally intended as discussed above. This points towards potential issues in appropriateness of the scales used for studies on young adults, as both the PCO and COS scales were developed on a wide range (age diverse) of respondents. This study also showed that within-country differences appear to be smaller than across-country differences. This is not consistent with previous cross-cultural research in the IB literature, which suggest cultural values differ significantly at the individual level due to differences in individuals’ experiences. Again, such research was done on more diverse respondent populations, not a specific demographic cohort with distinct social experiences. This finding has implications for the general assumption that within-country differences are considerably larger than across-country differences, when it comes to cultural value studies. Thus, when focusing on a specific demographic generational cohort, it seems that even when it comes to representatives from two very diverse cultural backgrounds, one grounded in a more Western and Protestant-based cultural context with more independent identity construal and the other in a more Eastern and Confucian-based cultural context with more interdependent identity construal, my evidence shows grater tendency towards a generational archetype understanding of young adults.</p>

Personal Culture Orientation and Consumer Cosmopolitanism: The Moderating Effects of Product Involvement

<p>Cosmopolitan consumers generally refer to individuals who are open and unbiased towards foreign products and identify as citizens of the world. Despite growing relevance of understanding consumer cosmopolitanism (COS) in today’s changing international landscape, both the construct itself is still not that well understood and operationalized, as well as its social and psychographic antecedent. In terms of culture studies, recent culture studies within the IB discipline continue to debate over the appropriate definitions of culture, as well as its conceptualization, operationalization, and especially measurement. This research aims to explore the impact of personal cultural orientations (PCOs), as individual-level culture value concepts, on COS, as well as the potential moderating role of product involvement (e.g., high- vs low-involvement products). Young-adult consumers in Taiwan and New Zealand were chosen to provide a contrast between a typical Western, Anglo-Saxon-based perspective and a typical Eastern, Asian, Confucian-based cultural context. Overall, this study could not fully support PCOs as having a significant impact on COS, nor product involvement as a moderator. However, COS could not be tested as a second-order reflective latent construct as originally intended in the seminal paper by Riefler et al. (2012). Compared to Riefler et al. (2012)’s paper, differences can be observed in the sampling where Riefler et al. (2012) sampled respondents aged 19 to 93 years (mean=46.6). This suggests that young adults a generational cohort hold significantly different perspectives and dispositions to other generations and the overall population. This finding aligns with recent IB literature in looking for smaller ‘containers’ of culture. Of the three PCOs tested, two displayed significant effects to COS in both country samples, but only to one dimension of the COS construct (Open-mindedness) and not the other (Diversity appreciation). Hence it is highly likely the PCOs tested in this study have significant effects on COS, if only COS could be operationalized as originally intended as discussed above. This points towards potential issues in appropriateness of the scales used for studies on young adults, as both the PCO and COS scales were developed on a wide range (age diverse) of respondents. This study also showed that within-country differences appear to be smaller than across-country differences. This is not consistent with previous cross-cultural research in the IB literature, which suggest cultural values differ significantly at the individual level due to differences in individuals’ experiences. Again, such research was done on more diverse respondent populations, not a specific demographic cohort with distinct social experiences. This finding has implications for the general assumption that within-country differences are considerably larger than across-country differences, when it comes to cultural value studies. Thus, when focusing on a specific demographic generational cohort, it seems that even when it comes to representatives from two very diverse cultural backgrounds, one grounded in a more Western and Protestant-based cultural context with more independent identity construal and the other in a more Eastern and Confucian-based cultural context with more interdependent identity construal, my evidence shows grater tendency towards a generational archetype understanding of young adults.</p>

Alternaria leaf spot of broccoli caused by Alternaria alternata in Bangladesh

This study aimed to isolate and characterise the pathogen associated with Alternaria leaf spot on broccoli and to evaluate the inhibitory effects of fungicides against it. We isolated and identified the fungal pathogen as Alternaria sp. using morphological and cultural methods. Based on the aligned sequences of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and molecular phylogenetic analysis by the neighbour-joining method, the isolates (Ab1 and Ab2) were confirmed as Alternaria alternata. The conidia of the isolates were dark brown, cylindrical, obclavate to muriform. The conidiophores were olivaceous brown, septate, and branched. The conidial morphology of the isolates ranged from 52.4–92.4 × 10–20 μm with 2–6 transverse and 0–3 longitudinal septa. Both isolates yielded positive results in the pathogenicity test on broccoli leaves by developing brown and circular spots with concentric rings on the leaves surrounded by yellow halos. The culture studies revealed that the maximum growth of the pathogen was obtained at 30 °C and pH 6.0. Tilt 250 WC showed the highest potential in suppressing the mycelial growth of the A. alternata in vitro at a concentration as low as 50 µg/mL. The results from this study contributed to the positive identification of the pathogen and characterised A. alternata as a destructive pathogen of broccoli which may be successfully controlled by the fungicide Tilt.

In vitro co-metabolism of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) by the mucin-degrading bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila

Akkermansia muciniphila is a Gram-negative bacterium that resides within the gut mucus layer, and plays an important role in promoting gut barrier integrity, modulating the immune response and inhibiting gut inflammation. Growth stimulation of A. muciniphila by polyphenols including epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from difference sources is well-documented. However, no published in vitro culture data on utilization of polyphenols by A. muciniphila are available, and the mechanism of growth-stimulating prebiotic effect of polyphenols on it remains unclear. Here in vitro culture studies have been carried out on the metabolism of EGCG by A. muciniphila in the presence of either mucin or glucose. We found that A. muciniphila did not metabolize EGCG alone but could co-metabolize it together with both these substrates in the presence of mineral salts and amino acids for mucin and protein sources for glucose. Our metabolomic data show that A. muciniphila converts EGCG to gallic acid, epigallocatechin, and (-)-epicatechin through ester hydrolysis. The (-)-epicatechin formed is then further converted to hydroxyhydroquinone. Co-metabolism of A. muciniphila of EGCG together with either mucin or glucose promoted substantially its growth, which serves as a further demonstration of the growth-promoting effect of polyphenols on A. muciniphila and provides an important addition to the currently available proposed mechanisms of polyphenolic prebiotic effects on A. muciniphila.