Newness in Scholastic Traditions

This chapter surveys previous treatments of innovation in South Asian cultural studies and shows the strong resistance among scholars to the very possibility of meaningful innovation in this world. In recent decades, this resistance has begun to erode, and several scholars have identified the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as an era of heightened creativity. However, the main voices in recent scholarship still find serious restraints holding back full-throated novelty, characterized by Sheldon Pollock as a situation wherein the “newness of the intellect” is constrained by the “oldness of the will.” This chapter argues that the controversy over the role of sequence in scriptural interpretation charted here in fact shows radical changes disguised by a thin veneer of traditionalism. It also sets this controversy against the background of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic hermeneutic approaches to “early” and “late” in scripture.

Fabrication of flexible thin veneer for electromagnetic interference shielding and decoration through simple electroless plating

A widely applicable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and decorative thin veneer containing copper was prepared with simple electroless technology. Copper was used as the structural and EMI reflection component to reinforce the mechanical strength and EMI shielding effectiveness. Both the texture and structural properties of copper deposited on poplar wood were characterized. The X-ray diffraction patterns indicated that the copper deposited on poplar wood had a crystallite size between 7.9 nm and 15.9 nm, and the copper crystallites grew rapidly as the number of electroless runs increased, which was consistent with the resistivity and microscopy analyses. The mechanical and EMI shielding effectiveness results showed that after two electroless runs, the wood veneer surface was completely covered, which improved the EMI shielding effectiveness and mechanical properties of wood veneer. The material could be bent 360° without being damaged and had a good decorative effect.

Introduction: tackling the urban through ethnography

In 2006, a magnificent oak table with fine Indian ink drawings sat in an artist’s studio in Manchester in the north-west of England. Three metres in length, it displayed a relational network diagram of key decision makers in the city. The art piece, called The Thin Veneer of Democracy...