Aristotle University of Thessaloniki: Prothiki/ Βιβλιοθήκη ΑΠΘ - Προθήκη
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U.S. Soft Pow(d)er 1949, with Cocoa
No full textWhat follows is not an academic article, but consists mostly of the edited transcription and amalgamation of the autobiographical narratives of the author’s mother, Afendoula Dokou, specifically as it concerns her being a first-hand witness (and beneficiary), as a child in rural northern Greece (Macedonia), of US “soft power” policies regarding Europe immediately following World War II. That was a time when the Greek Civil War and the dire economic conditions faced by the country after the devastating German Occupation were met with the determined attempts of a nation to build itself up from its ruins and join the larger European reconstruction project. In her narrative, the “soft” aspect of US aid took the form of basic food staples distributed to the starving populations of Greece, while even the “hard power” represented by the presence of the US Fleet in the Mediterranean took on the benign aspect of a theretofore-unencountered grand spectacle of American largesse and might. The expressions, wording and tone of her narrative have been maintained as much as possible in the translation, which is provided by the author
Elements of Physiology of Voice and Vocal Technique in Byzantine Medical and Theological Writings Titled “Περί Κατασκευῆς Ἀνθρώπου” or “De Opificio Hominis”
No full textThis paper deals with elements of vocal technique, as referred to in the writings of four Byzantine writers from the 4th to the 8th centuries. The selected works are titled “De opificio hominis” or “De Natura Hominis” and belong mostly to the Byzantine medical literature.In the work of Nemesios, as well as in the other three, we find references from the music world. The organs involved in the vocation are divided into organs of breathing and voice, articulation, and organs that contribute to the formation of the sound of the voice. Sighing and breast breathing are reported as breathing examples.In the work of St. Gregory of Nyssa we find a detailed description of the function of the voice, which is similar to the operation of the aulos and the lyre.Theophilos’ writing has an exceptional structure. In addition to describing the voice process, the hygiene of voice is also studied. Breathing is described as effortless, constrained, and most constrained.In the work of Meletios, issues of articulation and speech pathology are also discussed. The descriptions of the vocal process are, with some complements, taken by previous writers. Breathing refers to the physical, strenuous and constrained
The Political Background to Music Articles on South-Slavic Lands in the ‘Kronprinzenwerk’ Die Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild (1888-1902)
No full textThe culturological project officially titled as Die Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild, known also as the ‘Kronprinzenwerk’, which started in 1888, was conceived and realized in the last decades of the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (1885 – 1902) as a political and propagandistic maneuver of the crown prince Rudolf von Habsburg. It was published in Vienna in 24 volumes, containing 587 texts in all with 4529 illustrations, written by 432 authors.This paper investigates music issues dealing with South-Slavic lands within the Monarchy; they were published in five volumes as following: Carinthia and Crain (Vol. 8, 1891), the Coastal Lands (Gorizia, Gradisca, Triest and Istria) (Vol. 10, 1891), Dalmatia (Vol. 11, 1892), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Vol. 22, 1901) and Croatia and Slavonia (Vol. 24, 1902). The very articulation followed the political-territorial scheme, and music was divided in units dealing with folk and art music. Their authors were musicologists (e.g., F.Ks. Kuhač, L. Kuba) and writers specialized in other areas (F. Miller, A. Spinčić and others). The supervisor and coordinator for the whole area of music was the outstanding Viennese music aesthetician, critic and university professor Eduard Hanslick
Contextualizing Cultural Policies in 20th– and Early 21th–Century Greece: Readings in Political Milieu, Art Music and Popular Culture
No full textMusical life, creation, education, and the institutions that sustain them, considerably depend on public support or private funding and resources while inevitably being subjected to the prospect and pursuance of the current political situation in a society or state. Greece made no exception at all stages of its recent history. Dissemination of ideologies (nationalistic or other), military campaigns, the Nazi Occupation during WWII, Cold War polarity, the enforcement of authoritarian regimes, and even the recent economic crisis of 2009 comprise selective phases of Greece’s tense political environment throughout the 20th and in early 21st century. In the present paper, examining such extrinsic –to the music itself– subject matters aims at comprehending the state’s fluidity of social, economic, and cultural particularities in direct correlation to the establishment and cultivation of aspects of art and popular music and culture under a broader commentary. The identification of cultural policies, be it an impact of political ideologies or pursuit of patronage, incorporates a wide range of musical activities: The foundation of music ensembles, state institutions, festivals, and venues; musical trends and movements ranging from the Greek National School to the postwar avant-garde circles, or the more recent postmodernist proponents; endowment by large private cultural organizations (such as the Onassis and Niarchos foundations) and their domination of Greece’s cultural life especially during the recent years of the economic crisis; and the role of composers as begetters and recipients of artistic norms and prevailing aesthetics in both art and popular music through the years. The comparative examination of the selected material untangles the common thread that is directly linking the contextualization of cultural policies with an interdisciplinary reading of music history in Modern Greece
The Composer as Diplomat: Luka Sorgo (1734-1789) in Vienna (1781) and Rijeka (1782)
No full textLuka Sorgo (or, Sorkočević, as mostly known today) from the Dubrovnik Republic is nowadays commonly remembered as a composer of several fresh pre-Classicist mid-18th century symphonies. However, his musical output can be linked mostly to his early age, while later he served for the Dubrovnik Republic in many different administrative tasks.After the death of the Habsburg Emperor Maria Theresa in 1780, he was sent as an envoy to the Austrian court in order to (re)secure good relations with the new ruler. Sorgo kept a diary from September 1781 to January 1782, and – according to his records – he regularly sent reports to the Dubrovnik Council. In the diary he did not only describe his relations with Viennese politicians (envoys and ambassadors, the Emperor himself, other court and military dignitaries), but also with scientists, artists as well as his attendance to various social and cultural (above all musical) events. On his way back, he visited Graz, and for a few weeks stayed in Rijeka, when waiting for the ship (and the favourable wind) to take him back home to Dubrovnik. While in Rijeka, he also described the local political, economic and cultural situation as well as the already strong Hungarian presence.The paper offers evidence on music, and socio-musical occasions presented in his diary, after which his personal insider’s view on musical culture and social relations will be analysed. On the other hand, upon his return to Dubrovnik, Sorgo was able to apply his experiences from the Habsburg centres in his duties in the service of the Republic, even modifying some of his political opinions
Ομιλία περί του αγίου πρίγκιπος Λαζάρου του Αντωνίου Ραφαήλ Επακτίτου: Αφηγηματικά μοτίβα και ηγεμονική ιδεολογία.
No full textHomily about Saint Prince Lazar by Antonie Raphael Epaktites: Narrative Motifs and Hegemonic Ideology. In a period of three decades after the battle of Kosovo and the defeat of the Serbs in 1389, ten writers described the fatal and catalytic for the historical development of Serbia and the wider region martyrdom of Prince Lazar Hrebelianović. Antonie Raphael Epaktites, that is, the foreigner, was the tenth well-known author, who essentially closes the thematic cycle of the battle of Kosovo with the Homily about St. Lazar, a text, as Podskalsky claims, which is between a historical narrative and a poetic praise. In this presentation we explore what are the structural narrative motifs with which the author sketches the portrait of Prince Lazar, the overall iconography, the symbolism and how they relate to the hegemonic ideology. Λέξεις κλειδια: Ομιλία, Άγιος Πρίγκιπας Λάζαρος, Αντώνιος Ραφαήλ Επακτίτης, Αφηγηματικά Μοτίβα, Ηγεμονική Ιδεολογία.Key words: Homily, Saint Prince Lazar, Antonie Raphael Epaktites, Narrative Motifs, Hegemonic Ideology
MAKING SENSE OF SEXUALIZED IMAGES OF WOMEN IN A MALE DIRECTED MAGAZINE: A QUALITATIVE THINK ALOUD STUDY
No full textMedia sexualization of women may lead to objectification and poor well-being. To explore the more ‘in the moment’ and spontaneous responses to sexualized images men (n = 19) and women (n = 20) from Greece/Cyprus and the UK completed a qualitative think aloud task whilst exploring images of women in a male-directed magazine. Using thematic analysis, four themes emerged: What they see; Sense of celebration; Feeling insulted; Harmful consequences. Transcending these themes was the notion of choice/ownership. These themes were then further coded to explore differences between men and women and by culture (Greece/Cyprus vs. UK). Whilst men and women described what they saw as positive, negative or with moral judgement, women were also more likely to either celebrate women’s sexualized images and seeing them as empowering and justified, or felt insulted and angry, perceiving the media as objectifying women, and described possible harmful consequences. This tended to be underpinned by whether the women in the images were perceived to have choice/ownership over their actions. If women observers imputed no choice/ownership to the women in the images, such images were considered insulting whereas a sense of choice/ownership gave them a sense of empowerment. No clear differences by culture were observed
Τα Προσωπικά Δεδομένα ως αντάλλαγμα σε σύμβαση
No full textΗ απεριόριστη παροχή προσωπικών δεδομένων από τους χρήστες του διαδικτύου και η χρήση τους από τις εταιρείες με σκοπό την οικονομική αξιοποίηση τους οδήγησαν στην ανάγκη νομοθετικής ρυθμίσεως του φαινομένου. Τα προσωπικά δεδομένα αναγνωρίζονται πλέον ως αντάλλαγμα σε σύμβαση, ήτοι, ως αμοιβή για την παροχή των ψηφιακών υπηρεσιών. Ποιοι λόγοι κατέστησαν αναγκαία την νομική παραδοχή της συναλλακτικής φύσης των δεδομένων και ποιες είναι οι συνέπειες της ως προς τα δικαιώματα και τις υποχρεώσεις των μερών
Negative costimulatory molecule B7-H4 mediates protective effect of mesenchymal stem cells on experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis
No full textOur previous study has shown that the negative co-stimulatory molecule B7-H4 is constitutively expressed on human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and mediates their immunomodulatory effect on T cells in vitro. However, whether B7-H4 on MSCs can be responsible for their immunomodulation in vivo has not been clarified. The present study investigated the immunomodulatory role and mechanism of B7-H4 on mouse mesenchymal stem cell (MSCs) in the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Murine MSC C3H/10T1/2 (C3H10) cells were transfected with B7-H4-specific shRNA to silence B7-H4 expression (C3H10-B7H4). The effects of C3H10-B7H4 cells on splenocyte proliferation and cell cycling as well as cytokine responses were examined.We found that B7-H4 silencing mitigated the immune-inhibitory effect of C3H10 cells on PHA-stimulated splenocyte activation and proliferation as well as IL-2, IL-17 and IFN-γ responses. Female C57BL/6 mice were injected with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein peptide (MOG35-55) to induce EAE, then infused with C3H10-B7H4, C3H10-NC (C3H10 transfected with negative control shRNA) or C3H10 cells. The pathological changes of the injured spinal cord were analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, Luxol fast blue (LFB) staining and immunofluorescence. Infusion with C3H10 or C3H10-NC, but not C3H10-B7H4 cells, dramatically slowed the development of EAE, and reduced the severity and degree of inflammatory infiltrates, demyelination, and axonal damages. The plasma levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-17, interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), and IL-4 in the different groups of mice were examined. Infusion with C3H10 or C3H10-NC cells significantly decreased the plasma levels of IL-2, IL-17 and IFN-γ in EAE mice, but infusion with C3H10-B7H4 cells only slightly reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine responses in mice. Taken together, these data indicated that B7-H4 was important for the immune characteristics and immunomodulatory capacity of mouse MSCs. B7-H4 decreased Th1/Th17 responses in EAE mice. This is the first report on the role and possible mechanism of B7-H4 in the protection of MSCs against MOG-induced EAE in mice. These findings may provide a new avenue and target molecule in MSC-based therapy for autoimmune diseases in the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder
Unravelling the relation between motivation and the implementation of learning strategies in foreign language learning
No full textThe purpose of the present study is to investigate the relation between motivation and learning strategy use and delve into the relation between motivation and learning strategy factors that affect English language attainment in different levels of education. Data was collected via a questionnaire in a sample of 380 primary and 482 lower secondary learners of English in Greek state schools, followed by 24 semi-structured interviews for the qualitative phase of the study. Findings reveal higher motivation and learning strategy scores for primary than lower secondary school learners. Moreover, the strong correlation between motivation and learning strategy use for both levels of education suggests particular implications for curriculum designers and teachers