New Interpretation (new + interpretation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


SOCIAL NETWORKS AND CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTION: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE FEMALE TERRACOTTA FIGURINES OF HELLENISTIC BABYLON

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
STEPHANIE M. LANGIN-HOOPER
Summary. In the study of the Hellenistic period in Babylon, cross-cultural interactions between Greeks and native Babylonians have been primarily interpreted using colonialist theories of Hellenisation, domination, and cultural isolation. This paper finds, however, that such theories cannot adequately explain the types of cross-cultural combinations seen in the archaeological record of female Hellenistic Babylonian terracotta figurines. The forms and functions of these terracotta figurines were substantially altered and combined throughout the Hellenistic period, resulting in Greek-Babylonian multicultural figurines as well as figurines that exhibited new features used exclusively in Hellenistic Babylonia. In order to facilitate a greater understanding of the full complexity of these Greek,Babylonian interactions, a new interpretation of cross,cultural interaction in Hellenistic Babylon is developed in this paper. This Social Networks model provides an alternative framework for approaching both how a hybrid material culture of terracotta figurines was developed and how Hellenistic Babylon became a multicultural society. [source]


The Fate of Jewish Historiography after the Bible: A New Interpretation

HISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 2 2004
Amram Tropper
What caused the eventual decline in later Jewish history of the vibrant historiographical tradition of the biblical period? In contrast to the plethora of historical writings composed during the biblical period, the rabbis of the early common era apparently were not interested in writing history, and when they did relate to historical events they often introduced mythical and unrealistic elements into their writings. Scholars have offered various explanations for this phenomenon; a central goal of this article is to locate these explanations within both the immediate historical setting of Roman Palestine and the overarching cultural atmosphere of the Greco-Roman Near East. In particular, I suggest that the largely ahistorical approach of the rabbis functioned as a local Jewish counterpart to the widespread classicizing tendencies of a contemporary Greek intellectual movement, the Second Sophistic. In both cases, eastern communities, whose political aspirations were stifled under Roman rule, sought to express their cognitive and spiritual identities by focusing on a glorious and idealized past rather than on contemporary history. Interestingly, the apparent lack of rabbinic interest in historiography is not limited to the early rabbinic period. Throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, Jews essentially did not write their political, diplomatic, or military history. Instead, Jews composed "traditional historiography" which included various types of literary genres among which the rabbinic "chain of transmission" was the most important. The chain of transmission reconstructs (or fabricates) the links that connect later rabbinic sages with their predecessors. Robert Bonfil has noted the similarity between this rabbinic project and contemporary church histories. Adding a diachronic dimension to Bonfil's comparison, I suggest that rabbinic chains of transmission and church histories are not similar though entirely independent phenomena, but rather their shared project actually derives from a common origin, the Hellenistic succession list. The succession list literary genre, which sketches the history of an intellectual discipline, apparently thrived during the Second Sophistic and diffused then into both rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. Thus, even though historiography was not terribly important to the early rabbis or to most Second Sophistic intellectuals, the succession list schematic, or the history of an intellectual discipline, was evaluated differently. Rabbis and early Christians absorbed the succession list from Second Sophistic culture and then continued to employ this historiographical genre for many centuries to come. [source]


Numerical and dietary responses of a predator community in a temperate zone of Europe

ECOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2009
Gilles Dupuy
The generalist predation hypothesis predicts that the functional responses of generalist predator species should be quicker than those of specialist predators and have a regulating effect on vole populations. New interpretations of their role in temperate ecosystems have, however, reactivated a debate suggesting generalist predators may have a destabilizing effect under certain conditions (e.g. landscape homogeneity, low prey diversity, temporary dominance of 1 prey species associated with a high degree of dietary specialization). We studied a rich predator community dominated by generalist carnivores (Martes spp., Vulpes vulpes, Felis catus) over a 6 yr period in farmland and woodland in France. The most frequent prey were small rodents (mostly Microtus arvalis, a grassland species, and Apodemus spp., a woodland species). Alternative prey were diverse and dominated by lagomorphs (Oryctolagus cuniculus, Lepus europeus). We detected a numerical response among specialist carnivores but not among generalist predators. The dietary responses of generalist predators were fairly complex and most often dependent on variation in density of at least 1 prey species. These results support the generalist predation hypothesis. We document a switch to alternative prey, an increase of diet diversity, and a decrease of diet overlap between small and medium-sized generalists during the low density phase of M. arvalis. In this ecosystem, the high density phases of small mammal species are synchronous and cause a temporary specializing of several generalist predator species. This rapid functional response may indicate the predominant role of generalists in low amplitude population cycles of voles observed in some temperate areas. [source]


Sites and sanctity: revisiting the cult of murdered and martyred Anglo-Saxon royal saints

EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2000
Catherine Cubitt
The cults of the murdered and martyred royal saints of Anglo-Saxon England have been interpreted as political in origin and this view has received widespread acceptance. This article, which discusses the cults of the kings, Oswald, Oswiu and Edwin of Northumbria, and Edward the Martyr and those of the princes, Kenelm of Mercia and Æthelred and Æthelberht of Kent, puts forward a new interpretation, suggesting that their cults originated in lay and non-élite devotion to the innocent victims of unjust and violent death, before being taken up for political and other purposes. It addresses the problem of popular religion in Anglo-Saxon England and seeks to show how these cults may be used to shed light on the beliefs of the ordinary Anglo-Saxon laity. [source]


A new interpretation of the female genitalia in Macrocyclops albidus (Copepoda, Cyclopidae)

ACTA ZOOLOGICA, Issue 1 2003
D. Defaye
Abstract The female genital structures of Macrocyclops albidus (Cyclopidae, Eucyclopinae) were studied using light and electron microscopy. The results confirm that the exterior genital area shows only a copulatory pore, located anteromedially on the ventral face of the genital double-somite, and paired gonopores (not directly visible), situated laterally under the P6 plates. An internal seminal receptacle, composed of several parts, is connected to the gonopores by ventro-lateral cuticular extensions or seminal ducts. The lateral site of communication shows a complex set of connections between the seminal receptacle and the oviducts (via the egg-laying ducts). The structure until now designated as ,transverse ducts', visible by transparency on the ventral face, is in fact constituted of internal cuticular thickenings resulting of the fusion of the 6th thoracic somite and the 1st abdominal somite forming the genital double-somite and appearing externally as a part of the suture line; the term ,suture cord' is proposed to designate it. The functioning of the system is explained. [source]


Six independent factors of personality variation: a response to Saucier

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 1 2002
Michael C. Ashton
We address the concerns raised by Saucier about our proposed six-factor structure of personality. First, we dispute Saucier's new interpretation of the Negative Valence factor as a meaningful dimension of personality variation. We explain that Negative Valence terms may distort the structure of personality-descriptive terms, and that the substantive variance of Honesty is weakly correlated with Negative Valence. Also, we point out that our proposed six factors are (like the Big Five) roughly orthogonal, and that the occurrence of rotational variants within this six-dimensional space is not problematic. We argue that in terms of comprehensiveness, parsimony, independence of factors, and replicability across languages, our proposed six-factor model so far seems to be the optimal structure of personality characteristics. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Citizenship and Female Catholic Militancy in 1920s Spain

GENDER & HISTORY, Issue 3 2007
Inmaculada Blasco Herranz
The aim of this article is to offer a new interpretation of the role of women in the Catholic movement in 1920s Spain. It responds to historical analyses that view this mobilisation as the product of clerical manipulation and that consider its feminist aspects to be flawed. The new interpretation presented here is based on a notion of citizenship understood as both a process and as a form of identity construction, and which was configured historically as a result of the incorporation of modern ideas of women, the nation and religion. As a result, this analysis examines the relationship between Catholicism and modernity in greater complexity than the dichotomous views frequently encountered in Spanish historiography. [source]


Computational verb systems: The paradox of the liar

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 9 2001
Tao Yang
In this paper, the paradox of the liar is studied in the framework of (computational) verb logic. Unlike other research on liar's paradox, which were based on classical logical or fuzzy logic framework, the study of liar's paradox in verb logic emphasizes the contribution of verbs to the perception of TRUTH in verb statements or sentences. A new interpretation of the paradox of the liar under verb logic is presented. Then the conditions under which verb liar's paradoxes occur are presented based on BE-transformations. Based on different paradoxical functions, the concepts of strong and weak verb paradoxes are presented. The main conclusion is that liar's paradoxes in verb logic are dynamical processes with time-varying degrees of being paradox (paradoxical value) and are sensitive to different contexts; namely, different BE-transformations. Another conclusion is that in natural language systems, weak verb paradoxes can be used intuitively correctly due to the uncertainties in brain dynamics and can be useful for expressing human emotions. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]


FTIR study of the CO adsorption over Pt/MFI catalysts: Ab initio interpretation

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF QUANTUM CHEMISTRY, Issue 10 2006
N. S. Nesterenko
Abstract The state and dispersion of Pt supported on MFI catalysts with different contents have been studied using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Experimentally predicted Pt-containing complexes were simulated by density functional theory (DFT) for CO frequency shift estimation and determination of the relative intensities. According to DFT calculation and experimental data, a new interpretation was proposed. A new approach for estimation of the Pt dispersion based on IR spectra of adsorbed CO has been developed. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006 [source]


Excited states of OsO4: A comprehensive time-dependent relativistic density functional theory study

JOURNAL OF COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY, Issue 3 2010
Yong Zhang
Abstract A large number of scalar as well as spinor excited states of OsO4, in the experimentally accessible energy range of 3,11 eV, have been captured by time-dependent relativistic density functional linear response theory based on an exact two-component Hamiltonian resulting from the symmetrized elimination of the small component. The results are grossly in good agreement with those by the singles and doubles coupled-cluster linear response theory in conjunction with relativistic effective core potentials. The simulated-excitation spectrum is also in line with the available experiment. Furthermore, combined with detailed analysis of the excited states, the nature of the observed optical transitions is clearly elucidated. It is found that a few scalar states of 3T1 and 3T2 symmetries are split significantly by the spin-orbit coupling. The possible source for the substantial spin-orbit splittings of ligand molecular orbitals is carefully examined, leading to a new interpretation on the primary valence photoelectron ionization spectrum of OsO4. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010 [source]


Peroxynitrite and nitrosoperoxycarbonate, a tightly connected oxidizing-nitrating couple in the reactive nitrogen-oxygen species family: new perspectives for protection from radical-promoted injury by flavonoids

JOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACOLOGY: AN INTERNATI ONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE, Issue 12 2007
Radmila Pavlovic
Peroxynitrite is the product of the reaction of nitric oxide with superoxide radical and is implicated in the pathogenesis of a wide variety of human diseases, being responsible for in-vivo oxidation/nitration events. Nitrosoperoxycarbonate anion, formed by the interaction of peroxynitrite with CO2/bicarbonate at physiological concentrations, provides a new interpretation of oxidative/nitrative processes formerly attributed to peroxynitrite. The aim of this review is to summarize the chemistry and biology of peroxynitrite and radical species related to nitrosoperoxycarbonate anion, as well as the information available regarding the molecular mechanisms that determine and regulate radical-promoted injury by the two tightly connected species at physiological concentrations. Interception of carbonate and nitro radicals produced by interaction of peroxynitrite with CO2/bicarbonate, as in-vivo prevention of pathological events, creates new perspectives for the evaluation of safe scavengers of oxidative/nitrative stress at the physiological level. In this respect, natural products such as flavonoids hold a preeminent position among the vast array of compounds endowed with such properties. [source]


Unit-root testing: on the asymptotic equivalence of Dickey,Fuller with the log,log slope of a fitted autoregressive spectrum

JOURNAL OF TIME SERIES ANALYSIS, Issue 3 2010
Evangelos E. Ioannidis
In this article we consider the problem of testing for the presence of a unit root against autoregressive alternatives. In this context we prove the asymptotic equivalence of the well-known (augmented) Dickey,Fuller test with a test based on an appropriate parametric modification of the technique of log-periodogram regression. This modification consists of considering, close to the origin, the slope (in log,log coordinates) of an autoregressively fitted spectral density. This provides a new interpretation of the Dickey,Fuller test and closes the gap between it and log-periodogram regression. This equivalence is based on monotonicity arguments and holds on the null as well as on the alternative. Finally, a simulation study provides indications of the finite-sample behaviour of this asymptotic equivalence. [source]


New results concerning the morphology of the most ancient dragonflies (Insecta: Odonatoptera) from the Namurian of Hagen-Vorhalle (Germany)

JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL SYSTEMATICS AND EVOLUTIONARY RESEARCH, Issue 4 2001
G. Bechly
The holotype specimen of the ,protodonate'Erasipteroides valentini (Brauckmann in Brauckmann et al., 1985) and the paratype specimen K-13 of the giant ,protodonate'Namurotypus sippeliBrauckmann and Zessin, 1989 from the Upper Carboniferous (Namurian B) of Hagen-Vorhalle (Germany) are redescribed, and a new specimen of Erasipteroides cf. valentini is described. The new evidence is used to refine the groundplan reconstruction of Odonatoptera and the reconstruction of odonatoid phylogeny. Prothoracic winglets for Erasipteroides and the absence of an archaedictyon are documented. Furthermore, a very long and sclerotized ovipositor with gonangulum is described from the female holotype specimen of Erasipteroides valentini, and it is proposed that it was not used for endophytic but for endosubstratic oviposition. The record of prothoracic winglets in early odonatoids, and their presence in fossil Palaeodictyoptera and ,protorthopteres', indicates that the groundplan of Pterygota indeed included three pairs of wings. A phylogenetic analysis suggests that the Palaeozoic giant Meganisoptera and "higher" odonatoids (incl. crowngroup Odonata) together form a monophyletic group which is here named Euodonatoptera. Erasipteroides and the other ,Erasipteridae' are shown to be more closely related to Euodonatoptera than to Eugeropteridae. The description of the male primary genital structures of Namurotypus sippeli is emended and a new interpretation is proposed, including new hypotheses concerning their function. The males of Namurotypus had a paired penis with a pair of lateral parameres, and a pair of leaf-like, but still segmented, gonopods. Segmented leg-like male gonopods are considered as a groundplan character of insects, while a paired penis is regarded as a putative synapomorphy of the palaeopterous insect orders Palaeodictyopteroida, Ephemeroptera, and Odonatoptera. It is proposed that Namurotypus did not mate by direct copulation but retained the archaic deposition of external spermatophores, just like the primarily wingless insects. The sigmoidal male cerci may have been placed behind the female head and used to drag the female over the spermatophore, which is remotely similar to the mating behaviour of some extant arachnids (e.g. Amblypygi). Three hypothetical scenarios regarding the evolution of secondary copulation in modern Odonata are proposed. Neue Erkenntnisse zur Morphologie der ältesten Libellen (Insecta: Odonatoptera) aus dem Namurium von Hagen-Vorhalle (Deutschland) Das Holotypusexemplar der ,Protodonate'Erasipteroides valentini (Brauckmann in Brauckmann et al., Geol. Paläont. Westfalen 3, 1,131, 1985) und das Paratypusexemplar K-13 der riesenwüchsigen ,Protodonate'Namurotypus sippeliBrauckmann and Zessin, 1989 aus dem Oberkarbon (Namurium B) von Hagen-Vorhalle (Deutschland) werden wiederbeschrieben. Die neuen Erkenntnisse werden zu einer Präzisierung der Grundplanrekonstruktion der Odonatoptera und für die Rekonstruktion der Libellenstammesgeschichte verwendet. Für Erasipteroides werden prothorakale Flügelchen beschrieben und das Fehlen eines Archaedictyons wird belegt. Des weiteren wird ein sehr langer und sklerotisierter Ovipositor mit Gonangulum für das weibliche Holotypusexemplar von Erasipteroides valentini beschrieben, und es wird vorgeschlagen, dass dieser nicht zur endophytischen Eiablage, sondern zur endosubstratischen Eiablage diente. Der Nachweis prothorakaler Flügelchen bei frühen Libellen sowie deren Vorkommen bei fossilen Palaeodictyoptera und ,Protorthopteren', deutet darauf hin, dass zum Grundplan der Pterygota drei Flügelpaare gehörten. Eine phylogenetische Analyse legt nahe, dass die riesenwüchsigen Meganisoptera des Paläozoikums und die ,höheren' Odonaten (inkl. Kronengruppe Odonata) gemeinsam eine monophyletische Gruppe bilden, die hier als Euodonatoptera benannt wird. Es wird gezeigt, dass Erasipteroides und die übrigen ,Erasipteridae' näher mit den Euodonatoptera verwandt sind als die Eugeropteridae. Die Beschreibung der primären männlichen Geschlechtsorgane von Namurotypus sippeli wird ergänzt, und eine neue Interpretation sowie neue Hypothesen zu deren Funktion werden vorgestellt. Die Männchen von Namurotypus besaßen einen paarigen Penis mit einem Paar lateraler Parameren und einem Paar blattartiger, aber noch segmentierter Gonopoden. Segmentierte, beinartige, männliche Gonopoden werden als Grundplanmerkmale der Insekten angesehen, während ein paariger Penis als potentielle Synapomorphie der paläopteren Insektenordnungen Palaeodictyopteroida, Ephemeroptera und Odonatoptera betrachtet wird. Es wird vorgeschlagen, dass die Paarung bei Namurotypus nicht durch eine direkte Kopulation ablief, sondern durch das Absetzen freier Spermatophoren, so wie bei den primär flügellosen Insekten. Die sigmoidalen männlichen Cerci könnten hinter dem weiblichen Kopf platziert worden sein, um das Weibchen über die Spermatophore zu dirigieren, ähnlich dem Paarungsverhalten mancher rezenter Spinnentiere (z.B. Amblypygi). Drei hypothetische Szenarien zur Evolution der sekundären Kopulation bei modernen Libellen werden vorgestellt. [source]


Survival of crinoid stems following decapitation: evidence from the Ordovician and palaeobiological implications

LETHAIA, Issue 4 2001
STEPHEN K. DONOVAN
It was recently discovered that the stems of extant crinoids may survive after detachment of the crown, presumably feeding by the absorption of nutrients through the ectoderm. Previously, only one analogous, albeit morphologically dissimilar, pattern of crownless survival has been recognized from the fossil record. Certain Upper Ordovician (Cincinnatian) crinoid pluricolumnals from Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, derived from the disparids Cincinnaticrinus spp., have rounded terminations reminiscent of some modern bourgueticrinid overgrowths. Such specimens have hitherto been interpreted as distal terminations of mature individuals that have become detached from their attachment structures and taken to an eleutherozoic existence. However, it is considered more probable that they represent overgrowths of the column following predatory decapitation. If this new interpretation is correct, then post-decapitation survival of crinoid stems is now recognized for most of the history of the crinoids, ,lethal' predation on crinoid crowns occurred at least as early as the Late Ordovician and ancient crinoid populations can no longer be determined merely by counting crowns. [source]


A new interpretation of the remarkable X-ray spectrum of the symbiotic star CH Cyg

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 4 2006
Peter J. Wheatley
ABSTRACT We have re-analysed the ASCA X-ray spectrum of the bright symbiotic star CH Cyg, which exhibits apparently distinct hard and soft X-ray components. Our analysis demonstrates that the soft X-ray emission can be interpreted as scattering of the hard X-ray component in a photoionized medium surrounding the white dwarf. This is in contrast to previous analyses in which the soft X-ray emission was fitted separately and assumed to arise independently of the hard X-ray component. We note the striking similarity between the X-ray spectra of CH Cyg and Seyfert 2 galaxies, which are also believed to exhibit scattering in a photoionized medium. [source]


"The Distorting Mirror of Hell (On the Interpretation of Pluto's Words in Dante's Inferno VII,1)"

ORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 4 2000
Dmitri Nikulin
The article proposes a new interpretation of a passage in Dante's Inferno VII, 1,2, of the enigmatic phrase "pape Satàn aleppe," one of the famous "cruces dantesche." The first section of the paper lays out certain assumptions that lie behind Dante's description of hell. The second section reviews the main existing interpretations of the passage. Finally, in the third section I bring forward a new interpretation, which I support with further evidence. The key passage that helps to explain the lines in question is Inf. III, 5,6. The parallelism between Pluto's "oscure parole" in Inf. VII, 1,2 and the inscription on the infernal gates can be clearly seen once the intrinsic reflection of the divine within the created and the distorting character of hell are both taken into account. By linking the verses to implicit theological and philosophical presuppositions underlying the entire structure of the Comedy, their meaning is thereby established. [source]


THE DOUBLE-AXE: A CONTEXTUAL APPROACH TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF A CRETAN SYMBOL IN THE NEOPALATIAL PERIOD

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
MATTHEW HAYSOM
Summary The Double-Axe has always been considered as one of the most important religious symbols in Minoan Crete. This paper reassesses the significance of the Double-Axe and puts forward a new interpretation for it. It recognizes the great potential for change in symbolic meanings during the Bronze Age and seeks to understand the Double-Axe in as narrow a period as is realistically possible by filtering out evidence from other periods. Central to the argument is the principle that the meaning of symbols is contextually dependent. It builds, therefore, a new interpretation of the Double-Axe on the basis of as wide a range of contextual associations as possible, both within iconographic sources and in the wider material record. From these contextual associations, it suggests that in the Neopalatial period the Double-Axe was a symbol primarily associated with a social group which exercised power in the economic, military and religious realms and that it became a solely religious symbol only later. [source]


SOCIAL NETWORKS AND CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTION: A NEW INTERPRETATION OF THE FEMALE TERRACOTTA FIGURINES OF HELLENISTIC BABYLON

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
STEPHANIE M. LANGIN-HOOPER
Summary. In the study of the Hellenistic period in Babylon, cross-cultural interactions between Greeks and native Babylonians have been primarily interpreted using colonialist theories of Hellenisation, domination, and cultural isolation. This paper finds, however, that such theories cannot adequately explain the types of cross-cultural combinations seen in the archaeological record of female Hellenistic Babylonian terracotta figurines. The forms and functions of these terracotta figurines were substantially altered and combined throughout the Hellenistic period, resulting in Greek-Babylonian multicultural figurines as well as figurines that exhibited new features used exclusively in Hellenistic Babylonia. In order to facilitate a greater understanding of the full complexity of these Greek,Babylonian interactions, a new interpretation of cross,cultural interaction in Hellenistic Babylon is developed in this paper. This Social Networks model provides an alternative framework for approaching both how a hybrid material culture of terracotta figurines was developed and how Hellenistic Babylon became a multicultural society. [source]


The ,Monster of Troy' Vase: The Earliest Artistic Record of a Vertbrate Fossil Discovery?

OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 1 2000
Adrienne Mayor
This note proposes a new interpretation of a scene on a well-known Corinthian vase illustrating the Homeric legend of Herakles rescuing Hesione from the Monster of Troy. Commentators have assumed that the artist intended to depict the monster as a ketos, an imaginary sea monster, but the features of the beast do not conform to the traditional imagery of sea monsters in Greek art. I suggest that instead of creating a typical hybrid sea monster by mixing the features of various living creatures, this artist used for his model the large fossil skull of a prehistoric mammal. The vase was painted in the midst of widespread interest in large fossil remains, which the ancient Greeks identified as relics of giants and monsters of the mythological age. The features of the odd head on the vase match the basic skull anatomy of a large mammal of the Tertiary age, such as the Samotherium, a giant giraffe of the Miocene epoch. Numerous literary accounts describe exposures of these and similar large mammal fossils in antiquity along the Turkish coast, on Aegean islands, and on the Greek mainland. I conclude that this vase painting is the earliest artistic record of such a discovery. [source]


Hume's Reflections on the Identity and Simplicity of Mind,

PHILOSOPHY AND PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH, Issue 3 2001
DONALD C. AINSLIE
The article presents a new interpretation of Hume's treatment of personal identity, and his later rejection of it in the "Appendix" to the Treatise. Hume's project, on this interpretation, is to explain beliefs about persons that arise primarily within philosophical projects, not in everyday life. the belief in the identity and simplicity of the mind as a bundle of perceptions is an abstruse belief, not one held by the "vulgar" who rarely turn their minds on themselves so as to think of their perceptions. the author suggests that it is this philosophical observation of the mind that creates the problems that Hume finally acknowledges in the "Appendix." He is unable to explain why we believe that the perceptions by means of which we observe our minds while philosophizing are themselves part of our minds. This suggestion is then tested against seven criteria that any interpretation of the "Appendix" must meet. [source]


,No painting on earth would be more beautiful': an analysis of Giovanna degli Albizzi's portrait inscription

RENAISSANCE STUDIES, Issue 5 2008
Maria DePrano
ABSTRACT Domenico Ghirlandaio has been accepted as the author and speaker of the epigram written on the fictive parchment posted behind Giovanna degli Albizzi in her profile portrait, lamenting the limit of his skills to fully represent her. However, the patronage context of this work, processes of composing art, as well as the realities of artistic education and social status in Quattrocento Florence suggest that another speaker uttered these words and intended a different meaning. An analysis of inscriptions in the small sorority of women's portraits bearing a text demonstrates that these epithets carry three messages: to name the women, declare their virtues or mourn their death. Examining her likeness within the patronage context of her conjugal family and her early death, this essay gives a new interpretation of Giovanna's epigram, arguing that her portrait and inscription, a slightly modified version of a verse by Martial, convey all three messages. Giovanna's husband, the learned and poetic Lorenzo Tornabuoni, is identified as the probable speaker of the portrait's lines, which he may have written with the assistance of his friend, the humanist Angelo Poliziano, to express his wistful desire for his deceased wife's return. [source]


Constructing ,God': a Contemporary Interpretation of Religion

THE HEYTHROP JOURNAL, Issue 1 2000
George Karuvelil
To discuss the rationality of religious beliefs of the meaning of those beliefs must be made intelligible, sometimes to those who do not share our presuppositions. Is it possible to explain the meaning of such basic concepts as ,Religion', and ,God' without presupposing other religious concepts? The present paper is an attempt at such a radical interpretation of religion. This is done by wedding a full-fledged constructivist epistemology with insights from the mystical traditions of the East and the West. How such an epistemology can account for both the unity and plurality of religions is also indicated. In the process I give not only a new interpretation of ,God' but also suggest the reasons for the failure of the "proofs" for the existence of God. Thus, a new way is opened up for discussing the rationality of religious beliefs. [source]


Principle of organization: a dynamic-systems view of the archetype-as-such

THE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2001
Maxson J. McDowell
The personality is a dynamic system. Like all other dynamic systems, it must be self-organized. In this paper I focus upon the archetype-as-such, that is, upon the essential core around which both an archetypal image and a complex are organized. I argue that an archetype-as-such is a pre-existing principle of organization. Within the personality that principle manifests itself as a psychological vortex (a complex) into which we are drawn. The vortex is impersonal. We mediate it through myths and rituals or through consciousness. In this paper I show that Jung's intuition about the archetype-as-such is supported by recent science. I evaluate other concepts of the archetype. My concept is different from that proposed recently by Saunders and Skar. My concept allows each archetype-as-such to be defined precisely in mathematical terms. It suggests a new interpretation of mythology. It also addresses our spiritual experience of an archetype. Because the archetypes-as-such are fundamental to the personality, the better we understand them the better we understand our patients. The paper is grounded with clinical examples. [source]


The Zintl,Klemm concept applied to cations in oxides.

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION B, Issue 3 2003

The structures of 94 ternary aluminates are reinterpreted on the basis of the Zintl,Klemm concept and Pearson's generalized octet rule. In aluminates of highly electropositive metals such as alkali, alkaline-earth and rare-earth metals, the Al atoms form three-dimensional skeleta which can be interpreted as if the Al atoms were behaving as Zintl polyanions, adopting the structure of either main-group elements or Zintl polyanions showing the same connectivity. The O atoms are then located close to both the hypothetical two-electron bonds and the lone pairs, giving rise to a tetrahedral coordination. When more electronegative elements, such as W or Si, are present in the compound, the electron transfer towards the Al atoms does not take place. In this case, aluminium behaves as a base, transferring its electrons to the more electronegative atoms and the coordination sphere of aluminium becomes octahedral. In some compounds the Al atoms clearly show amphoteric character so that some Al atoms act as donors (bases) and hence are octahedrally coordinated, whereas others behave as acceptors (acids), adopting a tetrahedral coordination. From this it is concluded that the coordination sphere of aluminium is not a function of the ionic radius of the Al3+ cations, but it depends on the nature of the other cations accompanying them in the structure. The networks formed by these aluminates are, in many instances, similar to those of the binary oxides of the main-group elements. For this reason, a systematic survey of these oxides is also reported. Compounds such as stuffed cristobalites and trydimites and also perov­skites are examples of this new interpretation. Perovskites are then reinterpreted as a stuffed pseudo-TeO3 structure. Other families of compounds such as silicates and phosphates are susceptible to a similar interpretation. This study provides additional examples of how cations recognize themselves in spite of being embedded in an oxygen matrix. [source]


Dual- and triple-mode matrix approximation and regression modelling

APPLIED STOCHASTIC MODELS IN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY, Issue 4 2003
Stan Lipovetsky
Abstract We propose a dual- and triple-mode least squares for matrix approximation. This technique applied to the singular value decomposition produces the classical solution with a new interpretation. Applied to regression modelling, this approach corresponds to a regularized objective and yields a new solution with properties of a ridge regression. The results for regression are robust and suggest a convenient tool for the analysis and interpretation of the model coefficients. Numerical results are given for a marketing research data set. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


New Estimates of Australian GDP, 1861,1948/49

AUSTRALIAN ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 1 2001
Bryan Haig
This article uses recently available historical data to compile new estimates of gross domestic product by sector for Australia as an alternative to the estimates by Colin Clark and Noel Butlin. These data are then compared with Clark's and Butlin's series, and with historical experience, as set out by Coghlan in Labour and Industry in Australia (1918). We caution against accepting Butlin's results, and question whether his data, even when reliable, can form the basis for a new interpretation of economic history. [source]


New perspectives on the origin and diversification of Africa's forest avifauna

AFRICAN JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2008
Jon Fjeldså
Abstract The use of DNA sequence data in systematic studies has brought about a revolution in our understanding of avian relationships and when combined with digitized distributional data, has facilitated new interpretations about the origins of diverse clades of the African avifauna including its diversification up through the Tertiary until the present. Here we review recent studies with special reference to Africa's forest avifauna and specifically comment on the putative origins of ,hotspots' of endemism in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and in the Cape Region of South Africa. Intriguingly, both these areas appear to have retained populations of relict taxa since the mid-tertiary thermal optimum and at the same time have been centres of recent species differentiation. Résumé L'utilisation des données portant sur la séquence ADN dans les études systématiques représente une révolution dans notre façon de comprendre les relations entre les oiseaux et, combinée avec les données numérisées sur la distribution, elle facilite de nouvelles interprétations concernant les origines de différents clades de l'avifaune africaine, y compris sa diversification tout au long du Tertiaire et jusqu'à nos jours. Nous passons ici en revue des études récentes qui se réfèrent particulièrement à l'avifaune forestière africaine, avec un commentaire spécial sur les origines putatives des hauts lieux d'endémisme dans les montagnes de l'Eastern Arc tanzanien et dans la région du Cap, en Afrique du Sud. Curieusement, ces deux endroits semblent avoir conservé des populations de taxons résiduels depuis l'optimum thermique du milieu du Tertiaire, tout en étant aussi au centre de récentes différenciations entre espèces. [source]


Newman's Theory of a Liberal Education: A Reassessment and its Implications

JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION, Issue 2 2008
D. G. MULCAHY
John Henry Newman provided the basic vocabulary and guiding rationale sustaining the ideal of a liberal education up to our day. He highlighted its central focus on the cultivation of the intellect, its reliance upon broadly based theoretical knowledge, its independence of moral and religious stipulations, and its being its own end. As new interpretations enter the debate on liberal education further educational possibilities emanate from Newman's thought beyond those contained in his theory of a liberal education. These are found in Newman's broader idea of a university education, incorporating social, moral, and spiritual formation and in his philosophical thought where he develops a theory of knowledge at odds with the Idea of a University. There are, in addition, intriguing possibilities that arise from Newman's theory of reasoning in concrete affairs both because of their implicit challenge to inherited theories of a liberal education and because of the educational possibilities they hold out in their own right and in actual educational developments to which they may lend support. [source]


Fair Procedures: Evidence from Games Involving Lotteries,

THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 506 2005
Gary E Bolton
Procedures are the area where fairness arguably has its largest influence on modern societies. The experiments we report provide an initial characterisation of that influence and suggest new interpretations for some well-known results. We find that procedural fairness is conceptually distinct from allocation fairness, although the evidence also indicates that the two are linked in important ways. Post hoc extension of one of the current models of fairness illustrates this link and implies that a deeper understanding of procedural fairness will require investigation of competing fairness norms. If a number of persons engage in a series of fair bets, the distribution of cash after the last bet is fair, or at least not unfair, whatever this distribution is. John Rawls (1971) [source]


Context and Ambiguity in the Making of Law: A Comment on Amending India's Patent Act

THE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 5 2007
Dwijen Rangnekar
In implementing its patent-related obligations to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), India opted for the optional additional transitional provisions in article 65.4. This, delayed the introduction of product patents in exempt technologies, notably pharmaceuticals, until 1 January 2005. Ostensibly, this gave India the opportunity to exploit changing circumstances to and emergent views on TRIPS implementation, in particular exploring new interpretations to residual flexibility in TRIPS and any continuing legal ambiguity in TRIPS obligations. Here, the Panel Report in Canada: Patent Protection of Pharmaceutical Products is pertinent in having exhibited rare reticence in stepping back from defining the principle of non-discrimination in article 27.1 of TRIPS. In maintaining legal ambiguity, this reticence also provides space for law-making and regulatory diversity. The article reviews the three amendments to India's Patent Act 1970 and finds mixed use of residual flexibility and some evidence of efforts to explore legal ambiguity. Thus, despite a favourable climate to TRIPS implementation and an active transnational access to medicine campaign, legislators in India have demonstrated a degree of caution. The article concludes that this caution is best explained in terms of deepening ambivalence concerning intellectual property within the government and the changing economic interests of sections of Indian pharma. [source]