35 research outputs found
The positive psychology of laughter and humour
No full textHumour is officially recognized in positive psychology as one of the 24 'character strengths'. However, laughter has an uneasy relationship with positive psychology, despite being key to communicating joy and happiness.The Positive Psychology of Laughter and Humour corrects this disconnect by combining academic insight with real-world experience. Drawing on the authors' diverse backgrounds and expertise, this is the first academic volume dedicated to the rarely discussed topic of laughter and humour in positive psychology.Freda Gonot-Schoupinsky, Merv Neal and Jerome Carson demonstrate how laughter and humour differ, and how both can be applied within positive psychology to boost mood and maintain positive outcomes.The Positive Psychology of Laughter and Humour includes case studies and real-world insight as well as providing a methodological and theoretical background to the topic, giving rigorous theoretical and methodological insight for researchers, and including pedagogical sections in each chapter useful for teachers and researchers
UHS Basketball Team
No full textUintah High School varsity basketball team: Merv Weeks, Eddie Oaks, Dale Lee, Howard Busch, Neal Dastrup. Back row: Russell Hatch, Bob Alexander, Keith Rassmussen, Willard Perry, Kelly Goodrich, Gene Guinn
The building no 546 at Uly Kishman complex in the Merv oasis
No full textThe article included in a volume dedicated to 75th birthday of Prof. Gennadi Koshelenko of the Russian Academy of Sciences, proposes a different reading of one of the sites of the Merv oasis listed as no 546 and traditionally by the Soviet school, and in particular by Mrs. Pugachenkova, interpreted as a caravanserai. The building not very far at north east from the more famous Uly Kishman, presented many aspects not completely detected and analyzed. The author suggests the different interpretation of the building as a mosque on the basis of the plan and other architectural details
« The Fortifications of the City of Gyaur Kala, Merv », in : J. Cribb, G. Herrmann, eds., After Alexander. Central Asia before Islam. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 313-329. (Proceedings of the British Academy, 133)
No full textThe excavations of the Turkmen-British International Merv Project between 1997-2003 focused their attention to the fortification walls of Gyaur Kala, revealing a complex sequence of building phases for the defences. In at least three main phases (Graeco-Bactrian period, early and middle Sasanian periods), the walls were substantially redesigned and the defensive system changed. The author traces a history of the previous excavations and follows the development of the city walls (with ten diff..
Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine? Reflecting on a Mental Health Initiative Using Pragmatic Collaborative Autoethnography
No full textThis article relates to the potential of applied laughter in social science. Here, we explore the “Laughie Challenge Australia.” This community-based mental health initiative aims to get Australians laughing. We invite its instigator to discuss it, using a pragmatic qualitative research approach, Invited Collaborative Autoethnography (ICAE). Our purpose is to gain insight into the rationale and practicalities of using laughter to alleviate community mental health issues. Thus, we use ICAE instrumentally as a discourse platform to build understanding through joint narrative with a view of facilitating laughter community-science research collaborations. We recount the “story” of the Laughie Challenge, and the meeting of two academics and a community laughter leader, with a shared interest in the healing power of laughter and “real-world” laughter applications. ICAE enabled transparent, in-depth discourse. It has resulted in citizen science research to further advance knowledge in this area
The Iron Age in Merv Oasis
No full textIn this short article the author in the volume devoted to the joint Italian/Russian/Turkmenian activities in south Turkmenistan entitled Archaeological Map of the Murghab delta is dealing with the development of the Iron Age in Central Asia. In particular the author is dealing with the important archaeological horizon of Yaz I-III, first individuated in the Murghab delta by the Soviet scholars right in the Yaz Tepe site
Al di là dei confini degli Imperi Iranici e oltre …..,
No full textThe author in this article in a volume edited by himself and the colleague M.V. Fontana, devoted originally to the 75° birthday of Prof. U. Scerrato and later to his memory, is dealing with his archaeological activities beyond the frontiers of the Iranian Empires. In particular he is emphasizing the work made during the late 80s of the last Century in southern Turkmenistan and the first trial-trenches there conducted in 2001 and 2002 on a small tepe of the Yaz III horizon, and strategically located in a very crucial point of the Merv oasis. Furthermore the author is also giving a short note on the topographical work on the Bukhara oasis, conducted in 2000 and 2001 in collaboration with the Università degli Studi di Roma, La Sapienza, starting from the northern site of Vardanzeh to Bukhara and Pajkent
Premiers pas des archéologues russes et français dans le Turkestan russe (1870-1890)
No full textL’article présente les pionniers de la recherche archéologique de terrain dans le Turkestan russe entre 1870 et 1890, notamment Borzenkov, Krestovskij, Veselovskij, Chaffanjon, avant l’étape plus systématique que marquent la fondation du Cercle des amateurs d’archéologie du Turkestan en 1896 et l’entrée en scène de Vjatkin et de Barthold. Le site clé est d’ores et déjà Afrasiab, qui est l’emplacement de la Samarcande prémongole. Les sondages archéologiques effectués selon des méthodes sommaires s’accompagnent de la collection systématique d’antiquités ramassées sur place ou acquises sur les bazars locaux. Ces recherches sont favorisées par les autorités militaires qui s’intéressent au passé de la région. Il convient de reconsidérer dans cette perspective la mission du Français Jean Chaffanjon (18941895), qui a fait l’objet d’une véritable « légende noire » dans l’historiographie soviétique. Ni par son absence de véritable méthode de fouille, ni par l’acquisition qu’il a faite d’une collection privée (celle de l’officier Barshchevskij, dont une autre partie a constitué le noyau du musée de Samarcande), il ne s’oppose véritablement aux autres pionniers. De nouvelles recherches effectuées par l’auteur de l’article, notamment dans les archives françaises, permettent de compléter la riche figure de cet explorateur aux intérêts multiples, de préciser ses motivations et ses sources de financement, enfin de dresser le bilan de son travail de terrain (qui, dans l’Asie Centrale russe, s’est étendu de Merv au Semirech’e).Russian and French archeologists’ first steps in Russian Turkestan, 1870-1890. – This article presents the pioneers of archeological research in Russian Turkestan between the years 1870 and 1890 – among others, Borzenkov, Krestovskii, Veselovskii, Chaffanjon –before the more systematic era ushered in by the foundation in 1896 of the Turkestani Circle of Archeology Lovers and the appearance of Viatkin and Barthold. The key site was already Afrasiab, the site of pre-Mongolian Samarkand. Cursory digging went hand in hand with systematic collecting of antiquities picked up on the site and in local bazaars. The military encouraged the research out of interest for the region’s past. The French archeologist Jean Chaffanjon’s mission (1894-1895) must be reconsidered in this perspective. This archeologist was put at the center of a somber legend in Soviet historiography. He does not differ much from the other pioneers, whether by his lack of real digging methods or by his acquisition of a private collection (that of Barshchevskii – part of this collection constitutes the core of the Samarkand Museum). New research by the author of this article, conducted mainly in French archives, allows one to put the final touch on the rich portrait of this explorer with numerous interests, to understand his motivations and find out where his financial support came from, and finally, to assess his field work (which, in Central Asia, spread from Merv to Semirech’e)
Seven riders of the Los Angeles Bicycle Club on one of their club outings, ca.1893
No full textPhotograph of seven riders of the Los Angeles Bicycle Club on one of their club outings, ca.1887. The men are standing next to their bicycles. Some of them are leaning on their bikes. Most of the men can be seen wearing suits. The background shows a country setting with mountains in the distance.; There is a big possibility that the two young cyclists with mustaches and rounded caps are Thomas Allen Jr. (3rd from left) and William L. Sachtleben (far right) -- two famous bicyclists who traveled from Liverpool to Peking on their bicycles in 1890. These two "world girdlers" arrived in Los Angeles on Jan. 21, 1893. They were heading to New York to complete their global circuit. On Jan. 22, the local wheelmen organized a ride in their honor "through Pasadena, Santa Anita and Azuea to Monrovia" and return.; "Allen and Sachtleben graduated from Washington University in June 1890, sailed to Liverpool, and began a 15,000 mile bicycle journey to Peking. They had conceived of the idea during their senior year as "a practical finish to a theoretical education" in liberal arts. Their account really begins in Asia Minor as they cycle on through Persia and Turkestan, with detours to Merv, Bokhara and Samarkand. They peddled across the vast tract of the Gobi Desert to Peking, where they were received by Li-Hung-Chang, the Prime Minister of China" -- unknown author
Murghab Sovereign’s Estate in the Context of Macroeconomic Indicators
No full textThe author examines the socio-economic phenomenon of the Murghab sovereign’s estate, formed in the Merv oasis on August 6, 1887. It shows the process of developing the Murghab estate and turning it into a large agroindustrial enterprise, which was set to become a benchmark for other similar establishments. At the same time, the task was set to make the estate an effective farm, part of the profit from which was to eventually go to the State Treasury. The authors reveal that, in the conditions of the need for significant expenditures on irrigation work, Emperor Alexander III ordered the establishment a sovereign’s manor at the expense of the Appanage Department. At the same time, a task was set to make the manor an effective enterprise, part of the profit from which was eventually to go to the State Treasury. Based on the materials of the official reports, the data on expenses and revenues of the Murghab sovereign’s manor were examined, and the conclusion was made that the Appanage Department was to invest heavily into: the acclimatization of plant varieties, the construction of factories for primary processing of agricultural raw materials in the manor and communication routes, the electrification of production, and the creation of special conditions for the service and life of the manor workers. In 1911 the manor began to yield stable profit. In other words, the initial economic task set out was accomplished
