bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Synthesis and modification of silver-seeded PVC for use as anti-adherent materials to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia
Authors: Li Jia , Wylie Matthew , McCoy Colin P
Published: July 2022

In this research, silver-seeded PVC was synthesised and modified to combat ventilator-associated pneumonia by preventing bacterial adherence. The silver-seeded PVC was synthesised by in situ deposition of silver particles, and the silver-seeded PVC was further modified by reacting with 3,3,4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7,8,8,9,9,10,10,10-heptadecafluoro-1-decanethiol to create a superhydrophobic surface with static water contact angle more than 150°. The silver-coated PVC and superhydrophobic silver-coated PVC both exhibited excellent anti-adherent activity against MRSA and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Multipurpose vaginal rings for HIV prevention and non-hormonal contraception
Authors: Shen Xin , Boyd Peter , Bashi Yahya Dallal , McCoy Clare , Malcolm Karl
Published: July 2022

Vaginal rings releasing antiretrovirals - either alone or in combination with contraceptive progestins - are being developed for contraception and prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission via vagina. However, hormonal contraceptives are associated with numerous side effects and contraindications, and many women are interested in using hormone-free contraceptives. The aim of this project is to develop multipurpose vaginal rings to release copper and/or zinc ions and dapivirine over a month for contraception and HIV prevention. Ring manufacture, swell testing, and in vitro drug release testing have been conducted. The experimental results obtained currently are encouraging and support the continued development of these ring formulations as a novel and interesting multipurpose prevention technology strategy.
Vaginal formulations containing prebiotics and probiotics for treatment of bacterial vaginosis
Authors: Wang Caixuan , Kett Vicky , Gilpin Deirdre , Malcolm Robert Karl
Published: July 2022

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is a common dysbiosis of the human vagina in which commensal vaginal lactobacilli are displaced by mixed pathogenic bacterial populations. Current treatments by antibiotics result in short- term cure but often lead to recurrence. Lactobacilli are being actively developed as a probiotic treatment option for BV, given their ability to inhibit growth of pathogenic microorganisms and to maintain the health and stability of the vaginal tract microbiota. Therefore, incorporation of freeze-dried lactobacillus and metronidazole (MET) into matrix-type silicone elastomer vaginal rings (VR) is a long-effective novel treatment of BV which can also prevent recurrence. Here, MED-4870 matrix-type VRs containing four different lyoprotectants of three concentrations were manufactured by reaction injection molding, and Shore M Hardness test, compression test and twist test were applied to determine the impact of incorporation of lyoprotectants on mechanical characteristics of VRs. Results indicated that incorporation of lyoprotectants can increase the resistance force and decrease the rotational angles of the VRs. As the category and concentration of incorporated lyoprotectant also have impact on the releasing profile of MET and protecting ability of lactobacillus during freeze-drying process, more research such as in-vitro release tests and microbiology tests will be needed.
Fused Deposition Modelling 3D Printed Immediate Release Tablets – Understanding the Impact of Printer Parameters
Authors: Zhang Zian , Mohylyuk Valentyn , Li Shu , Jones David , Andrews Gavin Patrick
Published: July 2022

The aim of this study was to prepare tablets that offer an immediate release (IR) of the loaded active ingredient using fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing. Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) was used as a model drug, with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the primary polymeric carrier and sorbitol as a plasticizer. The impact of printer parameters, including infill density, roof and floor (R&F) thickness and nozzle size, on the drug release properties of printed tablets was investigated. The results support the use of FDM-3DP as an approach to manufacture IR tablets and highlighted the importance of the printing design on drug release properties.
Development of a Six Degree of Freedom Velocity Prediction Program for the foiling America’s Cup Vessels
Authors: Patterson Neil , Binns Jonathan
Published: July 2022

Since the introduction of hydrofoils to the Moth sailing class in the early 2000’s foiling has become increasingly popular in sailing from windsurfers to large 75’ foiling monohulls. The last 3 America’s Cups have been competed on hydro foiling vessels. Design programs such as Velocity Prediction Programs (VPP) have become a key asset to America’s Cup teams to allow for the optimisation and testing of designs before manufacture. Presented is the development of a Six Degree-of-Freedom (6DoF) Quasi-Static Velocity Prediction Program (SVPP) and Dynamic Velocity Prediction Program (DVPP) for the 35th and 36th America's Cup foiling AC50 Catamaran and AC75 Monohull. The models have been validated against race data from the 35th and 36th America’s Cup showing good correlation for a wide wind range of 8 to 22 knots. The paper presents how the AC50 SVPP was used for analysis on the impact of Rudder Rake Differential (RD) on overall performance, and predicting the optimal wind range for use of the light and heavy weather dagger boards on the AC50 Catamaran. The AC75 SVPP and DVPP were used to analyse the affect of hull shape and the main foils’ fixed angle-of-attack (AOA) on time-to-fight and peak velocity to determine optimal foil setup and pitch angle when foiling. The SVPP and DVPP use XFLR5 software suite to model the foils. Experimental data for a T-foil tested in the Australian Maritime College towing tank facility has been used to predict viscous and free surface effect adjustments to the predictions from XFLR5.
More favored - less favored? Women and men in different marital property right systems: A comparative study of marital property rights in the Habsburg Empire during the 18th century
Authors: Langer-Ostrawsky Gertrude , Lanzinger Margareth
Published: July 2022

Our paper focuses on several central points concerning pre-nuptial negotiations, the results of which were finalized in marriage contracts.There are two opposing systems of the law governing marital property regimes: the regime of matrimonial community of property or joint marital property, Gütergemeinschaft, and the regime of separation of marital property, Gütertrennung We compare two territories of the Habsburg Empire – the County of Tirol with the regime of separation of marital property dominating, and the Archduchy of Austria South of the River Enns (Lower Austria), with matrimonial community of property dominating in rural areas. For each territory, we concentrate on a single landed estate: Fridau-Weißenburg in the case of Lower Austria, and Innichen in the case of Tirol. Innichen was a small market town with a mixed economy based on agriculture and the trades; while the estate of Fridau-Weißenburg was more rural and agricultural and also preindustrial since the middle of the 18th century.
Less Favored – More Favored? Women’s Approaches to Property After Re-marriage During the Second Half of the 18th Century
Authors: Grochowina Grochowina
Published: July 2022

Due to the greater interest in the relationship between gender and history, as it has been emphasized after the “cultural turn” of the 1990s, questions concerning women’s roles in early modern legal practice became an important focus of research, too. First of all, criminal laws came into view: Questions were raised, why women were being hunted as witches, and whether they should be regarded as victims of the legal system. Furthermore, studies asked, how gender was constructed, when, for instance, fornication was being tried at court.

Despite these efforts, research did not focus on civil legal practice with the same inten-sity. It appeared, that corresponding cases were regarded as less spectacular than issues of criminal law. Moreover, the existence of several judicial instruments like the guardianship seemed to have suggested that women could not be regarded as independently acting subjects of law. Instead, they were expelled from early modern legal culture. Nevertheless, it has to be argued, that such an impression is not sufficient enough to understand the relationship be-tween gender and law in the early modern society. In fact, it appears that women were not excluded from civil legal practice at all. Studies on marriage, marriage contracts and inheri-tance of women suggest a different picture.
“Der Ehehimmel begann schon früh sich zu trüben”: Interdenominational Comparison of Divorce Proceedings
Authors: Stalder Birgit
Published: July 2022

The following paper is based on the first provisional results of my doctoral dissertation. For about two years I have been working on an interdenominational comparison of legal records of divorce proceedings. I’ve been comparing resolution records of the civil court in Berne, a Protestant town in a Protestant canton of Switzerland, with the same kind of documents written at the civil court of Freiburg, a Catholic town in a Catholic canton.

Courts are places of social negotiation, where norms are discussed and socially accepted gender-specific behavior is constructed. Divorce cases, in particular, reveal a lot about the relationship between the sexes and about the historical ideas of what a man is and what a woman is. This approach, close to historical anthropological research, begins with the couple and the balance of power in daily life, from whence I try to expand my knowledge to cover a macro-historical level.  I want to know more about the increasing state influence on private institutions such as marriage and family by means of laws and norms and about con-cepts of gender in this period. These concepts not only concern the couples I look at, but they also have an influence on society in general and its structures.

The interdenominational comparison is a new point of view as far as divorce records are concerned. It is an important aspect when one works with documents of the 19th century in the field of Swiss legal History. In 1848, the modern Swiss Confederation was founded after a short war between the supporters of a political centralization, mostly the liberal, Protestant cantons, and the opponents of the new political system, the conservative, Catholic cantons. During the last third of the 19th century this conflict, Kulturkampf, arose again, but only on a political and mental level. The Protestants accused the Catholics of being guided by the Pope and tried to hold them back wherever they could. The Catholics felt suppressed and felt that their traditional values were given away.
The Construction of „Male Capability“ and „Female Inability” to assume Guardianship of Children in the Austrian “Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetz-buch” (ABGB) in the 19th Century”
Authors: Forster Ellinor
Published: July 2022

When the ABGB was published in 1811 it contained the provision that women were not allowed to take over guardianship of children except mothers or grandmothers.1 If the father had not appointed a guardian in his last will, first the paternal grandfather, then the mother and after the paternal grandmother all other male relatives were considered as guar-dians.2 In contrast to male guardians the mother and grandmother had the possibility to refuse. This can be seen as a reflection of old female “protective” measures to pretend them from acting against their advantage. It fits into the picture that whenever mothers or grandmothers took over guardianship they needed a so-called Mitvormund (co-guardian).3The argumentation for prohibiting women other than mothers and grandmothers to take over guardianship was that they were thought not to have enough knowledge of business affairs. Franz von Zeiller, the person mainly responsible for the final formulation of the civil code, wrote in his law commentary: „Der Grund der Vorschrift ist offenbar, weil es diesen Personen gewöhnlich … an den nothwendigen Kenntnissen … mangelt.“4 He saw the care of their own children as the mothers’ and grandmothers’ primary duty, but a co-guardian was needed, „um das vorzüglich in Rechtsgeschäften minder erfahrene Geschlecht in Führung derselben zu unterstützen.“5 Both the father and the mother had the right to propose a co-guardian, but the court was not bound by this proposal.Before I interpret these assumptions I want to take a look on the process leading up to this provision because looking at the history of the work on the codification, another outcome was also possible. After that I trace the development throughout the 19th century, take a look at the efforts of the women’s movement at the turn of the century and finally sketch the change of law right before the outbreak of World War I in 1914. At the center of my considerations are always the arguments used for explaining the different prohibitions or demands because they throw a light on the representations of gender roles among different social groups and during different periods.
Replacing the Father - Representing the Child. A Few Notes on the European History of Guardianship
Authors: Ighe Ann
Published: July 2022

Fatherlessness seems to be a social problem of long historical continuance. In con-temporary social research we find numerous references to studies of the social effects of the absence of fathers. Divorces and new ways to structure sexual relations are, at least in Europe of today, more common reasons for this than loss through death. However, in the long histori-cal period addressed by this publication, 1100 – 1900, there are some specific social, demo-graphic, economic and even biological features that clearly distinguish these past societies from Europe of the present day. The immense importance connected to a person’s belonging to and position within a household is one of them. A much higher mortality rate is another. Young children constituted an age group among whom the death rate was especially high. But young children were also much more often exposed to the loss of one or both parents com-pared with today. Due to this restructured families through remarriage were very common. So was single parent families headed by widows. However, the breaking up of families through the death of a father was often balanced by a partial, formal restructuring of the family, putting someone else in the father’s place even when remarriage did not occur. To make an overview of this particular kind of guardianship, when and how someone in the legal sense replaces the father to represent the child, is the focus of this article. Regulating the succession of guardianship over children was an important task for families, kinship networks and more public institutions, especially the legal sphere, throughout this long period. Nevertheless, it is not easy to even try to tell a story covering all of Europe for so many centuries. A few notes are the most that can be achieved here, with the ambition to initiate a comparative and overriding discussion of these matters.
The Legal Status of Female Guardians in 1530s Lithuania
Authors: Kunsmanaitė Jurgita
Published: July 2022

As may be seen from the legal sources of the time, the institution of guardianship of children was fully formed in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the beginning of the 16th century. Both the First Lithuanian Statute of 15292 and the court cases of the Books of Court Records of the Lithuanian Metrica – that is, the collection of documents of the chancery of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania – provide various examples of guardianship, covering such questions as the choice and change of guardians, and their rights and obligations.
Less Favored – More Favored: Queenship and the Special Case of Margrete of Denmark, 1353-1412
Authors: Jacobsen Grethe
Published: July 2022

Some ten years ago, the German historian Armin Wolf published an article on reigning queens, that is, queens ruling in their own right not as spouse or widow of a king in medieval Europe. Among the women, he dealt with, was the Danish queen Margrete whom he considered representative of a general European pattern according to which women could inherit the throne and under special circumstances remain there. Margrete, however, does not fit into this pattern. She was regent and for a brief period reigning queen of three countries with different traditions and legislation concerning royal succession. The legal foundation of her reign was not inheritance, but a combination of traditional regency for a minor king and exceptional regency for the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in general. The career of Margrete was founded on a mixture of rules and practices for female exercise of power, which combined with her great political intelligence produced an unusual career. The history of Margrete illustrates well the legal conditions in which gender could offer women advantages as well as disadvantages.
Herman Bangs teaterkritik, -journalistik, -essayistik, -poesier, -aforismer og sceniske arbejder (1878-1912)
Authors: Jürgensen Knud Arne
Published: July 2022

Dette er et online særnummer.  Fortegnelsen er kronologisk efter udgivelsesåret/udgivelsesmåne-den/årgangsbindet og medtager Herman Bangs både udgivne og utrykte skribentvirksomhed i Danmark, Norge, Sverige og Tyskland, der omhandler emnet scenisk kunst i bredeste betydning: drama (herunder Bangs egne sceniske arbejder og hans utrykte oversættelser af fremmede dramatikeres værker), opera, operette, ballet, musik, visesang, koncerter, cirkus, varieté, tryllekunst etc.1 Posthume førsteudgaver (1914-2004) er placeret samlet og til slut i kronologien. Denne udgave er en ændret udgave fra 2009.
Forside
Authors: Redaktionen -
Published: July 2022

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Effect of Rest Period and Temperature on the Estimation of Fatigue Life of Bituminous Mixture
Authors: Ayyar Pugazhenthi , Lakshmi Sundaram , Padmarekha Ajithkumar
Published: July 2022

This paper reports the experimental investigation conducted to study the influence of temperature and rest period on different methods of estimation of fatigue life of the bituminous mixture. Four-point beam bending tests were conducted on the bituminous mixture prepared with one unmodified binder and two different modified binders (crumb rubber modified and elastomer modified binder). The test was conducted at 20 °C and 0 °C using continuous loading and a rest period between two load cycles. The fatigue life was estimated using stiffness modulus and energy dissipation. The performance of three different bituminous mixtures was ranked—ranking a bituminous mixture based on the fatigue performance varied with temperature and loading condition. In addition, the ranking also varied with different post-processing methods adopted.
A Case-Based Reasoning and Random Forest Framework for Selecting Preventive Maintenance of Flexible Pavement Sections
Authors: Abu Dabous Saleh , Hamad Khaled , Al-Ruzouq Rami , Zeiada Waleed , Omar Maher , Obaid Lubna
Published: July 2022

Pavement maintenance decision-making is receiving significant attention in recent research, since pavement infrastructure is aging and deteriorating. The decision-making process is mainly related to selecting the most appropriate maintenance intervention for pavement sections to ensure performance and enhance safety. Several preventive maintenance methods have been proposed in the previous studies, yet the potential of implementing Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) in pavement maintenance decision-making has been investigated rarely. The CBR is an artificial intelligence technique, it is knowledge-based on several known cases, which are used to adapt a solution for a new case through retrieving similar cases. This research introduces the CBR to the area of pavement management to select the most appropriate preventive maintenance strategy for flexible pavement sections. The needed database was extracted from maintenance cases at Long-Term Pavement Performance Program. The criteria used to characterize condition of each section were identified based on the common practices in pavement maintenance published in the literature and implemented in the field. To assign weights to the selected criteria, different machine learning techniques were tested, and subsequently, Random Forest (RF) algorithm was selected to be integrated with the proposed CBR method producing the CBR-RF framework. A case study was analyzed to validate the proposed framework and a sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the influence of each criterion on case retrieval accuracy and overall framework performance. Results indicated that the CBR-RF approach could assist effectively in the preventive maintenance decision-making with regard to new cases by learning from the previous similar cases. Accordingly, several agencies can depend on the proposed framework, while facing similar decision-making problems. Future research can compare the CBR-RF framework with other machine learning algorithms using the same dataset included in this research.
Impact Assessment of Asphalt Concrete in Geogrid-Reinforced-Pile-Supported Embankment During High-Speed Train Traffic
Authors: Loic Chango Ishola Valere , Assogba Goubi Cyriaque , Yan Muhan , Xianzhang Ling , Mitobaba Josue Girece
Published: July 2022

Railroad structural behaviour is a significant factor for safety and comfort during high-speed train operation. Intending to improve railway performance, increase its bearing capacity, and reduce vibrations induced by train passage, asphalt concrete has become a material to be integrated into railway construction. Despite several studies evaluating asphalt concrete effect on the railway mechanical behaviour, its impact assessment remains poorly understood. This study investigates the impact of asphalt concrete material in the geogrid-reinforced-pile-supported embankment structure subjected to high-speed train moving. A 3D nonlinear finite element model was developed to simulate Harbin (Dalian (China) instrumented railroad test section accurately. The high-speed train moving load was modelled as a transitory dynamic load via a user-defined subroutine 3D load in which the track irregularity is incorporated. The established model was effectively validated by the vibration acceleration and stress measured in the field test section. The asphalt concrete viscoelasticity behaviour was incorporated into the 3D geogrid-reinforced-pile-supported embankment finite element model through the Prony series to characterise its mechanical response better. The impact of asphalt concrete material in maintaining a low and constant structural vibration, regardless of train weight level, moving speed variations, and weather conditions were investigated, analysed and discussed.
Feasibility Study of Petrochemical Waste and Cement Usage for Saline Road Subgrade Stabilisation
Authors: Keymanesh Mahmoud Reza , Falamaki Amin , Ghodrat Hadi
Published: July 2022

The widespread distributions of saline soils in Iran cause a range of problems for road construction projects due to insufficient shear strength, salt solubility potential and swelling. This paper conducts experimental tests using different cement contents and a sort of petrochemical waste with two curing methods to stabilise saline soil samples. Strength, compressibility and chemical tests were conducted, X-ray diffraction analyses were performed, and scanning electron microscope pictures were prepared for basic materials and stabilised saline soil samples in this paper. The results indicate that both petrochemical soda ash waste and cement enhance the shear strength of saline soil, especially after 28 days of curing. However, the combination is more appropriate from the swelling and salt solubility potential viewpoint. The optimum combination of 2% cement and 5% of petrochemical soda ash waste, cured by method 2 for 28 days, results in the most significant shear strength enhancement (127%). Furthermore, a swelling quantity of the optimum combination is reasonably restricted. X-ray diffraction test results and scanning electron microscope pictures demonstrated that despite the presence of ettringite agents, the formation quantity of these minerals is negligible. The salt is well stabilised, and its solubility potential dramatically decreases.
POLICY ON THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN HOSPITALS IN BUILDING COMMUNICATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: LITERATURE REVIEW
Authors: Kumalasari Rita , Sulistiadi Wahyu
Published: July 2022

Social media is necessary for almost everyone, including in health services. During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media was widely used to build hospital communications. However, the benefits come with risks, as communication spreads so quickly. A proper policy is needed. This study aims to determine the benefits of social media in building communication in hospitals and the policies that govern it. The method used is a literature study. A literature search, through Science Direct, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and other databases (Google scholar, NIH/NLM, JMIH), with the keywords "social media" AND "communication" AND “policy” AND "hospital" AND "COVID-19 Pandemic", obtained 520 articles completely. According to the inclusion, exclusion, and duplication selection criteria, there were twelve included articles. The results prove that social media plays a role in hospital internal and external communication. The use of social media, in addition to improving hospital communication with all employees, also plays a role in improving communication between hospitals and patients, especially in providing information, telemedicine, helping health promotion to change behavior, influencing patient visits, overcoming limited facilities and access and as a new method that efficient way to reach bigger people during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, a policy that regulates the use of social media is needed. Guidelines based on the principles of maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality, providing correct information, conveying the source of contact information in every information submitted, using clear language, and verifying data.
Changes in College Students’ Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, and Motivation Before and During the COVID-19 Third-wave Lockdown
Authors: Deng Yangyang , Hwang YongJu , Kim Taewoo , Yli-Piipari Sami
Published: July 2022

Background: It is less known how the constraints placed upon public spaces and social interaction have impacted college students’ motivation to be physically active. Objective: This study examined, first, the changes in college students’ body mass index (BMI), physical activity (PA), and self-determined motivation before and during the COVID-19 third-wave lockdown and, second, the role of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and self-determined motivation on BMI during the lockdown. Method: This study was a longitudinal prospective study with two data collection phases. A sample of 104 college students (69 females, 35 males, Mage = 18.19[1.5]) completing both pre- and posttest data turned in self-report data on BMI, PA (vigorous PA - VPA, moderate PA - MPA), MVPA, and self-determined motivation. Results: The results showed a statistically significant increase in participants’ BMI (t[79] = 4.70[2.98], p =.001, d =.11) but no statistically significant changes in PA. The findings demonstrated changes in college students’ integrated regulation (↓; t[78]= -3.20[.16], p =.002, d =.35), identified regulation (↓; t[76] = -4.07[.16], p .001, d =.52), extrinsic regulation (↑; t[78] = 2.28[1.80], p =.025, d =.02), and amotivation (↑; t[78] = 4.42[1.21], p .001, d =.48). Finally, neither PA nor self-determined motivation played a role in BMI, but the previous MVPA and BMI did. Conclusion: This study suggests that COVID-19 had a negative impact on self-determined motivation decreasing adaptive and increasing maladaptive motivation. However, neither MVPA nor self-determined motivation played a role in BMI during the COVID-19 lockdown. Instead, pre-COVID BMI (large effect) and MVPA (small effect) determined students’ BMI during the lockdown.
Graded Compression Garments Worn During Resistance Exercise: Impact on Muscle Damage, Fatigue, and Oxygenation in Untrained Individuals
Authors: Cotter Joshua A. , Stade Makenzie R. , Morse Bria G. , Schick Evan E.
Published: July 2022

Background: Use of compression garments during and after exercise has gained notable popularity, yet their utility in augmenting performance and recovery from resistance exercise remains elusive. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of wearing compression garments during resistance exercise on exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), muscle fatigue and muscle oxygenation. Methods: Ten healthy, untrained individuals (8 females, 2 males, 22.10 ± 2.23 years, 159.09 ± 3.47 cm, 66.22 ±15.93 kg; mean ± SD) performed two exercise trials in a randomized crossover (within-subject) design: 1) with compression garments worn on the legs and 2) without compression. Exercise trials were randomized and separated by seven days. Participants performed 12 sets of 10 maximal repetitions of knee extension, at a velocity of 120 degrees per second, in the CON/ECC mode of a HUMAC NORM isokinetic dynamometer. Muscle oxygenation of the vastus medialis oblique was assessed using time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy (TRS-21, Hamamatsu). Leg circumference, ratings of perceived muscle soreness (RPMS) and blood samples for creatine kinase (CK) were collected before, immediately after, and 24, 48 and 72 hours after exercise. Results: Total hemoglobin (p = 0.021) and deoxyhemoglobin (p 0.001) were significantly reduced by 8.6% and 9.2% respectively with compression compared to control. No significant differences were found in oxyhemoglobin, oxygen saturation, muscle fatigue, leg circumference, RPMS and CK (p = 0.0791) between conditions. Conclusions: Although lower body compression worn during resistance exercise reduced total hemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin, there was no impact on muscle fatigue, RPMS, leg circumference or CK.
Inscrutable Malice
Authors: Cook Jonathan A.
Published: July 2022

This book illuminates Herman Melville's abiding preoccupation with the problem of evil and the dominant role of the Bible in shaping his best-known novel. Drawing on recent research in the fields of biblical studies, the history of religion, and comparative mythology, the book provides a new interpretation of Moby-Dick that places Melville's creative adaptation of the Bible at the center of the work. The book identifies two ongoing concerns in the narrative in relation to their key biblical sources: the attempt to reconcile the goodness of God with the existence of evil, as dramatized in the book of Job; and the discourse of the Christian end-times involving the final destruction of evil, as found in the apocalyptic books and eschatological passages of the Old and New Testaments. With a detailed reading of Moby-Dick in relation to its most important source text, the book greatly expands the reader's understanding of the moral, religious, and mythical dimensions of the novel. Both accessible and erudite, the book will appeal to scholars, students, and enthusiasts of Melville's classic whaling narrative.
Joban Theodicy and Apocalyptic Eschatology
Authors: Cook Jonathan A.
Published: July 2022

This chapter explores the themes pervasive across Moby-Dick. William James' classic study of the underlying psychology of religious experiences provides a perspective of the novel's imaginative universe. Whilst numerous studies have been conducted on the novel, less attention was paid to what shaped Herman Melville as a writer, such as the decline of Christianity and the defamiliarization of the Bible. The chapter emphasizes how focusing on the biblical themes of theodicy and eschatology gives distinctive shape and meaning to Moby-Dick. It regards theodicy as the attempt to reconcile God's goodness and justice in line with evil, while eschatology is known as the study of theological “last things.”
Cetology, Cosmology, Epistemology
Authors: Cook Jonathan A.
Published: July 2022

This chapter focuses on the significance of the White Whale to Ishmael, whose quest for Leviathan raises questions of cetology, cosmology, and epistemology. In Moby-Dick's cetological chapters, part of Ishmael's mission is to attain practical and philosophical wisdom from his whaling experience which portrayed significant allusions to biblical wisdom. Ishmael's review of cetology reflects the contemporary Romantic critique of science, together with support from older metaphorical languages of myth and mysticism. Additionally, the epistemology of Ishmael's discussion of whales and whaling subsumes a broad range of literary prototypes. Ishmael's description of sperm-squeezing is a secularized act of Christian conversion replete with biblical language and imagery.
The Image of Christ in Russian Literature
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

Vladimir Nabokov complained about the number of Dostoevsky's characters “sinning their way to Jesus.” In truth, Christ is an elusive figure not only in Dostoevsky's novels, but in Russian literature as a whole. The rise of the historical critical method of biblical criticism in the nineteenth century and the growth of secularism it stimulated made an earnest affirmation of Jesus in literature highly problematic. The writers at the heart of this book understood that to reimage Christ for their age, they had to make him known through indirect, even negative ways, lest what they say about him be mistaken for cliché, doctrine, or naïve apologetics. The Christology of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Boris Pasternak is thus apophatic because they deploy negative formulations (saying what God is not) in their writings about Jesus. Professions of atheism in Dostoevsky and Tolstoy's non-divine Jesus are but separate negative paths toward truer discernment of Christ. This first study in English of the image of Christ in Russian literature highlights the importance of apophaticism as a theological practice and a literary method in understanding the Russian Christ. It also emphasizes the importance of skepticism in Russian literary attitudes toward Jesus on the part of writers whose private crucibles of doubt produced some of the most provocative and enduring images of Christ in world literature. This important study will appeal to scholars and students of Orthodox Christianity and Russian literature, as well as educated general readers interested in religion and nineteenth-century Russian novels.
The Century of Unbelief
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

This chapter contrasts the Jesus of history with the Christ of faith. It charts the growing secularism of Russian culture and society in the nineteenth century, the so-called “century of unbelief.” The chapter also tracks the rise of secularism in the lives and works of the major writers of the day, in the increasing prominence and influence of the works of the historical school of biblical criticism, and in the advent of a radical materialism. In the face of this secularism, the chapter argues that writers like Fyodor Dostoevsky and Leo Tolstoy adopted a quasi-apophatic approach to the question of belief as a discursive strategy. This allowed them to advocate for their faith positions along a via negativa, a method in tune with what Dostoevsky called “our negative age.”
A Narrow Escape into Faith
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

This chapter argues that one of Dostoevsky's bleakest faith narratives, The Idiot, deploys comedy as an apophatic device that reveals in the actions of its comic Christ figure, Prince Myshkin, the possibility of faith even in the face of the death and tragedy that close the novel. Dostoevsky's exploration of the “ridiculous man” Myshkin is an exercise in negative Christology par excellence. Comedy becomes in The Idiot the unexpected vehicle for a quite serious exploration of the nature and challenges of belief. The truth, Fyodor Dostoevsky implies, must be asserted indirectly, or even negatively. More specifically, the ostensibly negative aspects that attach to Dostoevsky's comic Christ figure may actually constitute a kind of apophatic discourse that reveals Christ anew to an unbelieving public. In this reading, comedy serves a serious Christology in The Idiot, one that changes how the novel's conclusion must be understood.
“Can This be Faith?”
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

This chapter examines Tolstoy's ultimate apophatic exercise: his negating of Jesus's divine qualities altogether. This undertaking is the subject of a series of works in which Tolstoy's assertion of Christ's non-divinity and his emphasis on reason (razum) are worked out as a new form of Christian spirituality. Tolstoy's only sustained attempt in fiction at dramatizing the principles of this new vision and its negative Christology is his final novel, Resurrection. At the center of Tolstoy's social and Christological critique in the novel is his preoccupation with the body. As the body is to blame for much of the evil in the world, an embodied God in the form of Jesus Christ cannot be tolerated. But there are unintended consequences both to this critique of the body and its Christological application that threaten to undo Tolstoy's radical Christ project.
The Century of Belief
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

This chapter views the Soviet century as a century of belief. It addresses in particular two symbolist poems—Andrei Bely's “Christ Is Risen” and Alexander Blok's “The Twelve”—that situate Jesus provocatively in the context of the Bolshevik Revolution. These poems confirm two important truths: that Russian radicals had long invoked Jesus as a kind of forefather of the socialist cause, and that there had always been a quasi-religious character to the revolutionary movement. Indeed, in one sense there were no greater true believers than the architects of the new Soviet order. These aspects of Soviet society thus prepared the ground for a century in which belief as such was very much in the air, even as religion was suppressed. The chapter addresses provocative imagings of Christ by early Soviet writers and concludes by situating Bulgakov and Pasternak in the context of the Soviet century of belief.
“Emphatically Human, Deliberately Provincial”
Authors: Givens John
Published: July 2022

This chapter examines how, like Bulgakov, Boris Pasternak also reveals Christ through a text within a text. This is demonstrated in the poems of his hero, Yuri Zhivago, which appear as the final chapter of the book and which help to affirm Zhivago's status as an unlikely Christ figure. Like his poems, which juxtapose and blend erotological, meteorological, and Christological themes, Yuri embodies a striking contradiction: he is a Christ figure who sleeps with three women and sires five children. This chapter seeks an explanation for this contradiction in Yuri's consistent personalist philosophy and how this personalism informs the novel's pronounced eros/agape opposition. Both simultaneously negate a reading of Yuri as a Christ figure and reveals it: an apophatic operation that ultimately reinscribes the biblical Christ into the Soviet century of belief.
The View from Ancient Lambaesis
Authors: Effros Bonnie
Published: July 2022

This chapter addresses French military officers' and civilian scholars' engagement with the exceptional archaeological site of Lambaesis, the former camps of the Third Augustan Legion located in the Aurès Mountains. It argues that the exemplary site faced significant challenges to its integrity as a result of the activities of the armée d'Afrique. The intention here in revisiting the ruins of Lambaesis is somewhat different from that of reconstructing the original location and appearance of its component pieces. Because the site was utilized in a large variety of ways, the chapter explains a microcosm, albeit an extraordinary one, of the impact of colonial efforts on Roman remains and the Arab and Kabyle inhabitants associated with them. The chapter also reveals how the tenor of discussions of the site changed with French conquest of the region and its integration into metropolitan France. Through the nineteenth-century interactions with Lambaesi, the chapter allows us to see that French understanding of the ancient past was not static but evolved over time.
Cartography and Field Archaeology during the Second Empire
Authors: Effros Bonnie
Published: July 2022

This chapter suggests the synchronicity of metropolitan and colonial archaeological, cartographic, and epigraphical projects under Napoleon III. It investigates how Napoleon III implemented policies which led to the full incorporation of Algeria into metropolitan France. In June 1858, when the emperor passed legislation that ended metropolitan subsidies for European colonization, Napoleon III also lifted restrictions on European access to tribal lands and transferred the power of the governor-general to the newly created Ministry of Algeria and the Colonies. The chapter then examines the impact of the confiscation of tribal lands through cantonment — the disastrous spoliation of “surplus” tribal lands. While the French occupation was extremely violent from its start, the second decade of Napoleon III's reign ushered in ever more daunting prospects for the survival of the non-European residents. The chapter then reviews how the archaeological pursuits of French officers and civilian colonists became more diverse.
Magic and Its Sources in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages
Authors: Rampton Martha
Published: July 2022

This chapter addresses definitions and historiography, loosening some of the terminological knots that have bedeviled the terms “magic” and “ritual.” It also serves as an essay on materials pertaining to this study. The chapter amasses a critical body of evidence without claiming that all of it contributed equally to contemporary perceptions of magic. Some sources were well known in their time, some not, but the perspective contained in any given text provides a piece of the puzzle even if the text was not widely distributed. Here, fictional works are lined up with other sorts of evidence in order to examine perceptions. The chapter looks for cultural conceptions of magic that are manifest in various types of written records—fictional or otherwise.
Ritual, Demons, and Sacred Space
Authors: Rampton Martha
Published: July 2022

This chapter considers how traffic with demons was so etched on some ritual forms of traditional Roman worship that either new rites had to be developed or the symbolic content of old rituals reframed for the early Christian church. The clergy sought to save meaningful and familiar ritual forms when it seemed possible to redirect the symbolic content. However, some behaviors were so thoroughly saturated with messages counter to Christian truths that they could not be reformed. Christians thus created a new kind of space where demons dared not tread. The enclosed hallowed space provided a clean slate on which a new story could be written in the language of ritual. Here, Christian worship aligned itself in form and tone with traditional somber customs of Roman worship, but the symbolic content making up the pagan rituals was redirected, and the aspects attractive to demons were filtered out.
Victimless Magic and Execrable Remedies
Authors: Rampton Martha
Published: July 2022

This chapter shows how magic as practiced and perceived had shifted since the inception of the church in the first century. For example, communal celebrations of pagan deities and open public ritual had disappeared or metamorphosed into barely recognizable folk habits. The range of what spiritual specialists defined as magic had expanded. Pagan divination and superstitions aimed at navigating the personal and political vicissitudes of social life in late antiquity had been effectively vitiated and recast as demonic and aberrant. Some customs, unique to northern Europe, had come within the orbit of Roman clerical proscription. By and large, however, the theological assessment of superstition (including sorcerous trickery) and divination remained consistent.
Conclusion
Authors: Rampton Martha
Published: July 2022

This concluding chapter reflects on the relationship between Christianity, magic, and the feminine. It summarizes the major developments of this complex history as has been given through various texts from late antiquity to the first millennium CE. However, as this chapter shows, the models of normative female behavior as portrayed in literature do not tell the whole story. It is very likely that in real-life existence, beyond most texts, women's acumen in magic continued to be respected and feared, and sometimes there are hazy glimpses of this. But what can be clearly seen is that the elite thought women were ineffectual at working magic with any real consequences because they were generally inept in sacral endeavors, including trafficking with demons. Where concepts of female power and autonomy were kept most alive in symbolic systems and ritual, the Christian assault on rites that bolstered that power was thoroughgoing.
Corporeality
Authors: Blumenberg Hans
Published: July 2022

This chapter looks into corporeality. It discusses the ancient theology thought of the rivalry of the heavenly princes against the humans even before creation. Human “nature” was thereby bestowed an honor that would have been contrary to the angels' sense of dignity if God had not similarly approached their “nature.” Obedience is the offense of redemption, which refers to salvation history. God separated humans from the source of life because there they would have become his rivals. Thus, he turned them into mortal rivals of each other through death. Moreover, the incarnation was not the hyperbole of divine love but the compensation for a divine lack of self-evidence.
The Imperceptibility of the Messiah
Authors: Blumenberg Hans
Published: July 2022

This chapter explores the imperceptibility of the messiah and the difficulty of being a realist. Caravaggio shows his realism through his work such as the Emmaus wherein Cleopas sits next to Jesus with a hole in his tunic. The chapter explains how realism is stigmatized by obedience to reality more than convention or aesthetic of selective reticence. The stigmatic epiphany of reality presupposes the criterion of immanent consistency. Additionally, the chapter highlights how traces demonstrate the reality of religious events and personalities. It references Buddha's foot and a hood trace from Mohammad's horse on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem as examples.
Decolonization, De-Stalinization, and Development
Authors: Kalinovsky Artemy M.
Published: July 2022

This chapter focuses on the concept of decolonization, de-Stalinatization, and development. Central Asia became a frontline region in the ideological battle for the Third World in the 1950s. There are debates with regards to justifying the incorporation of areas conquered under the Russian Empire and the political legacies of Stalinism. Moreover, the revival and acceleration of development projects within Central Asia could serve as a demonstration to USSR citizens that they were beneficiaries of and participants in the Soviet drive for material achievement and modernization. Thus, politicians in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan achieved unprecedented levels of power, visibility, and influence in the USSR in the 1950s.
Shepherds into Builders
Authors: Kalinovsky Artemy M.
Published: July 2022

This chapter focuses on the transformation of lives following the construction of the Nurek Dam. Nurek attracted thousands of young USSR men and women with the promise of adventure and career advancement in an exotic locale. However, they became disillusioned and left which encouraged officials to have the transformational goal of making socialist workers and citizens into the local population. Biographies and autobiographies of workers such as Alexey Stakhanoc and brigadir Muhabbat Sharipov were heavily promoted as models amidst the Khrushchev era. Additionally, the emancipation of women was a central tenet of the revolution. Material goods were concrete proof of Soviet development's success.