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Sexual violence in “The Miseries and the Misfortunes of War” by Jacques Callot (1633)
No full textThe Miseries and the Misfortunes of War by Jacques Callot is one of the most significant artistic reflections on multiple, fracturing military conflicts in seventeenth-century Europe. In this series of eighteen etchings, the question of wartime sexual violence arises as a part of Callot’s engagement with the subject of pillaging soldiers. This is the only time in Callot’s oeuvre when he represents rape; it is also the only time that he represents a domestic interior. As this article argues, Callot’s representation of wartime rape reflects increasingly intertwined conceptualizations of the household, female sexuality, and its potential violation
Sandwich-structured GaIn(<i>Zn</i>)P/ZnSeS@ZnS quantum dots-Ag@Fe<sub>3</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@SiO<sub>2</sub> magnetoplasmonic nanosensor with simulation-driven design for influenza A(H1N1) virus biosensing
No full textDeveloping next-generation ultrasensitive bioanalytical sensing systems requires multifunctional nanoarchitectures that integrate engineered photophysics with highly selective biorecognition interfaces. We report on a multifunctional, simulation-guided design of a fluorescence nanosensor for ultrasensitive detection of Influenza A (H1N1) virus in human saliva, integrating heavy-metal-free GaIn(Zn)P/ZnSeS@ZnS quantum dots (QDs) with magnetoplasmonic molecularly imprinted silica shell (Ag@Fe3O4@SiO₂-MIBs) interface. The QDs, engineered with a compositionally graded ZnSeS inner shell and ZnS outer shell, exhibit strong red emission (λemi = 652 nm) and high photoluminescence quantum yield (QY = 78 ± 1.4 %) in aqueous media following ligand exchange with thioglycolic acid (TGA). Self-consistent field (SCF) simulations revealed that TGA capping significantly stabilised the QDs surface and induced distinct magnetic properties, confirming favourable surface energetics for biosensing applications. The TGA-GaIn(Zn)P/ZnSeS@ZnS QDs were conjugated to H1N1-specific DNA aptamers and incorporated with graphene oxide (GO), forming a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based nanoprobe that switches from an “off” to “on” state upon viral recognition. Target-induced aptamer folding disrupted the QD-GO interaction, thereby restoring the QDs fluorescence. To amplify the fluorescence signal and enable selective enrichment, virus-imprinted Ag@Fe3O4@SiO₂-MIBs were employed. Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations demonstrated strong plasmon-exciton coupling between QDs and the Ag core, yielding approximately an 18-fold local field enhancement at a 5 nm spacing. The combined effect of molecular imprinting, magnetic separation, and plasmonic amplification enabled a detection limit of 0.15 pg/mL with high specificity against non-target viruses. This study presented a computationally guided design of hybrid nanomaterials for next-generation, point-of-care viral diagnostics with enhanced optical and molecular recognition performance
Impacts of invasive algae from the perspective of fishers in the Lagoon of Venice, Northern Italy
No full textInvasive alien species are generally considered a cause of biodiversity decline globally, and studying their evolution could provide valuable insights about their invasion mechanism and impacts to new habitats. The Lagoon of Venice (LV) is a significant gateway for invasive algae introduction into the Adriatic Sea. This work aims to address the pressing need to enhance research on the perceptions of local resource users, especially fishers, on invasive algae impacts on marine resources in the Mediterranean setting. The study conducted between February 2022 and April 2024 involved 31 people, most of whom had been engaged in fishing activities for up to over 60 years, who were interviewed during boat trips and algae collection. Interviewees reported knowledge components, complemented by scientific expertise, related to the invasion mechanisms of algae. Of the 26 identified algae recorded, eight taxa have not yet been reported with their scientific names in surveys on the impact of algae in the LV. Together with perceived reasons and related challenges, environmental impacts, solutions proposed by local fishing experts, and adaptations along with their positive uses are socio-economic impacts which are lacking in the LV scientific surveys. The findings reveal perceptions on the direct and indirect impacts of invasive macroalgae in the LV environment affecting its coastal ecosystem functions. Local fishers' knowledge (LFK) offers many ecologically relevant perspectives, which based on the long-lasting practice could complement scientific knowledge (SK) about the impacts of invasive algae and local stressors related to climate change. Hence, it is vital to integrate the broader knowledge of fishers and include them as equal stakeholders in conservation initiatives
Monument to? Kara Walker's <i>Fons Americanus </i>and the commemorative entanglements of the present
No full textA theory of manipulative speech
No full textManipulative speech is ubiquitous and pernicious. We encounter it continually in both private conversation and public discourse, and it is a core component of propaganda, which we know to have profound social and political effects. In this paper I develop a theory of manipulative speech. On my view, manipulative speech involves a deliberate, coordinated violation of the two core Gricean norms of conversation: Cooperativity and Publicity. A manipulative speaker violates Cooperativity to further her goals at the expense of the audience’s. But the manipulative speaker also violates Publicity in intending, and taking steps to ensure, that her speech appears cooperative. Thus, in a slogan, manipulative speech is covertly strategic speech. I go on to show how this view reveals the structure common to various forms of manipulative speech discussed in the literature and serves as the basis for a novel, attractive definition of propaganda
Measuring technological similarity in the wine industry
No full textTechnological similarity enables wine operators to share best practices, benchmark against industry standards, and identify new areas of innovation. Despite this, measuring similarity is notoriously challenging. In this paper, I use sentence embeddings on wine patent data to show how similarity compares across different models. I validate the results both internally and externally, showing large discrepancies in annual trends. The results underscore the importance of selecting suitable models for market assessment, providing a valuable primer for both wine operators and technologists
Investigating the effect of zinc on the behaviour of the copper corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole at a molecular scale
No full textThe interactions of the corrosion inhibitor benzotriazole (BTAH) with copper have been extensively studied, however consideration of the other elements in copper-based alloys is much sparser. With a view towards corrosion inhibition on brass, the interactions of BTAH with zinc containing surfaces under ultra-high vacuum conditions have been investigated in this paper, using scanning tunnelling microscopy and high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. Density functional theory calculations were used to complement the experimental findings. Zinc-doped Au(1 1 1) surfaces were used to study Zn-BTAH species on a relatively inert substrate, and zinc-doped Cu(1 1 1) surfaces were used to study BTAH in an environment where both copper and zinc atoms are available. In the case of Zn/Au(1 1 1), several well-defined structures – including a kagome lattice – are formed, which are unlike any structures previously reported on copper and/or gold single crystal surfaces. The structures observed are dependent on both zinc surface coverage and annealing temperature. It is proposed that BTAH is deprotonated on the surface, and the observed structures are arrangements of Znx(BTA)y species. In the case of Zn/Cu(1 1 1), a similar kagome lattice was observed, indicating that in the presence of both zinc and copper species, BTAH preferentially coordinates with zinc atoms
Examining the utility of barium isotopes as a tracer of large-scale seafloor methane venting
No full textPeriods of increased sedimentary barium (Ba) burial rates have been interpreted as evidence for climate-driven release of methane (CH4) from sediments in the geological past, yet such interpretations remain ambiguous. Here, we present the first Ba isotope measurements from an active methane seep to directly evaluate whether Ba isotopes in seawater or authigenic carbonates can record Ba release associated with seafloor methane venting. Dissolved Ba concentration ([Ba]) and isotope composition (δ138/134Ba) were measured in seawater profiles (1 m to 60 m above the seafloor) and in authigenic carbonates collected across the Regab pockmark on the Congo Margin. Seawater over the active methane venting site shows an increase of around 8% in dissolved [Ba] compared to ambient seawater at the Reference Site, indicating detectable benthic Ba release during methane venting. However, the δ138/134Ba values of these samples (+0.23‰ to +0.42‰) are indistinguishable from ambient seawater, demonstrating that Ba released during methane venting does not impart a resolvable isotopic shift to the water column. An additional isotopically light Ba input may arise from the dissolution of Fesingle bondMn oxyhydroxide phases at the sediment water interface, but this interpretation is based on a single data point and requires further investigation. Authigenic carbonates at sites of high methane flux exhibit markedly lower δ138/134Ba values (−0.30‰ to +0.20‰) that are markedly lower than seawater, coral carbonates, and published porewater values, indicating a potential Ba isotope fractionation linked to cold-seep carbonate formation. Overall, these findings suggest that Ba isotopes are unlikely to be a reliable tracer of Ba mobilisation associated with methane venting and challenges the interpretation of sedimentary Ba isotope records as indicators of past large-scale methane release
Russian:a murderers’ language
No full textEmploying a language as the medium for spreading genocidal propaganda, making a language into a weapon of war and a ‘justification’ of genocide do not leave this language unscathed. It is rapidly transformed into a murderers’ language. The German and Austrian Holocaust of the Jews and the Roma made German into an odious Mördersprache. And this designation awaits the Russian language in the long shadow cast by the genocidal mass murders in Bucha and a host of other localities across Ukraine under Russian occupation. The Russians are now busy fashioning their language into a iazyk ubiits, another murderers’ language
A polarity-mismatched photocatalytic cross-coupling enables diversity-oriented synthesis of aza-heterocycles
No full textDiversity-oriented synthesis (DOS) is an attractive approach for the design of functional molecules with (homo)allylic amines representing a particularly attractive DOS platform. Herein, we demonstrate the application of newly developed photocatalytic cross-nucleophilic coupling to provide rapid access to (homo)allylic amines, which can be smoothly converted to a range of heterocyclic scaffolds. Employing this approach, a variety of aza-heterocycles were accessed, including α-haloaziridines, pyrrolidines, and oxazinan-2-ones, with structural diversity examined by using uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP)
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