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Phineus and the <i>ira deorum</i>:inconsistency and interpretation in Valerius Flaccus’ <i>Argonautica</i>
No full textEnvoi:human and environment in imperial Greek literature
No full textThis chapter offers an overview of representations of human-environment relations in imperial Greek literature. In the process it aims to draw out some recurring themes from the preceding chapters, especially the tension between local and global perspectives in imperial literature. It gives attention to a number of authors and genres not covered extensively elsewhere in the volume, with reference among others to Aelius Aristides, Dio Chrysostom, Josephus, Philo of Alexandria, Plutarch, Quintus of Smyrna, Strabo. Many Greek texts from the Roman empire construct highly anthropocentric visions of human relations with the natural world, in ways that replicate projections of imperial control. This chapter draws attention by contrast to some alternative strands, for example in texts that emphasize the immersion of human bodies in their environments, or the vulnerability of elite communities to environmental damage
Gender and the book trades
No full textThis volume proposes a new and radically inclusive approach to the study of the book by using gender as a tool of analysis. While female authors and women in the book trades have long been studied, gender itself has yet to be explored as a methodology rather than a subject in book history. We argue that putting gender analysis into practice requires thinking inclusively about both the book world and the interactions of its participants from the beginning. With twenty-five pioneering case studies that stretch from colonial Peru to modern Delhi, using a variety of intersectional methodologies including network analysis, critical bibliography, and queer theory, Gender and the Book Trades sets out an innovative method of analysing the printed book
Ten years after the Gezi Park protests:looking back on their legacy and impact
No full textThe Gezi Park protests are a milestone for system-challenging collective action practices in Turkey. Now, ten years later, we look back on the protests and their legacy. While the protests started in May 2013 as a response to the Taksim Project, which aimed to remove Gezi Park, they brought together thousands of people, including many who were protesting for the first time, to voice their opposition to then Prime Minister Erdoğan and his policies. Participants were initially held together by their opposition to Erdoğan, but soon overarching identities emerged that increased the connections between groups and created a solidarity that continued, in many cases, for years. In this piece we discuss the events that led up to the Gezi Park protests, the impact on its participants, and the outcome and legacy that they left behind. While the sociopolitical landscape has changed a great deal in the last ten years, the impact of the Gezi Park protests on Turkish society and culture remains.</p
A third player:Chinese linguistic and cultural influence at a UAE university
No full textAs part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a series of large-scale projects have been launched in the Arab Gulf due to its geopolitically strategic position. We examine the influence of Chinese as a third player, in addition to Arabic and English, in a UAE university educationscape together with Emirati students’ attitudes towards its influence. The study takes a case study approach, which employs open-ended questionnaires with university students (n = 40), semi-structured interviews with university students (n = 3) and a university Confucius Institute director and visual data from a walking ethnography of university social, learning, and online spaces. Data are analysed thematically via the lens of ‘Critical, Cultural Political Economy of Education’ (CCPEE), which brings together a range of concepts to interrogate globalising processes within an ‘education ensemble’. Key findings revealed a growing influence and awareness of Chinese language and culture in the UAE as well as generally positive attitudes towards such growth. There was, however, less interest in learning Chinese in comparison with other languages such as Korean and Turkish connected with soft power and media presence via dramas and music. Implications of the findings are discussed in relation to informing future language policy directions in the UAE
Perceived meaningfulness of semantically non-congruent stimuli increases in art context
No full textThe media occasionally reports instances where people mistake ordinary objects for art. This often happens in art galleries or museums and might suggest that people attribute meaning differently depending on whether the context is artistic or rooted in everyday life. In this manuscript, we investigate how people attribute meaning to seemingly nonsensical sentences and images when they believe they are made by poets or artists. We used a collection of sentences that conclude with semantically congruent and non-congruent words, and a collection of images where the object is either congruent or non-congruent with the background. We randomly assigned participants to the baseline and experimental (art) conditions, telling participants in the art condition that the sentences/images were created by artists. Studies 1 and 2 found that the art context increases the perceived meaningfulness of non-congruent sentences (“Most cats see well at court”), but not the congruent ones (“Most cats see well at night”), while Study 3 found a similar effect regarding non-congruent images (a lion in an office) and congruent images (a lion in a field). Additionally, we discuss how individual differences in aberrant salience and religiosity moderate the main effects of the art context on meaning-making. These results advance our theoretical understanding of how art contexts affect the interpretation of meaning and the importance of semantic non-congruency
Industry return prediction via interpretable deep learning
No full textWe apply an interpretable machine learning model, the LassoNet, to forecast and trade U.S. industry portfolio returns. The model combines a regularization mechanism with a neural network architecture. A cooperative game-theoretic algorithm is also applied to interpret our findings. The latter hierarchizes the covariates based on their contribution to the overall model performance. Our findings reveal that the LassoNet outperforms various linear and nonlinear benchmarks concerning out-of-sample forecasting accuracy and provides economically meaningful and profitable predictions. Valuation ratios are the most crucial covariates, followed by individual and cross-industry lagged returns. The constructed industry ETF portfolios attain positive Sharpe ratios and positive and statistically significant alphas, surviving even transaction costs