49 research outputs found
Il cammino interiore nel ciclo Palimpsesty di Vasyl' Stus
Get PDFThe Author translates and discusses some poems from Vasyl’ Stus’s collection Palimpsesty. The work of this major Ukrainian poet, who died in a Soviet prison in 1985, is almost unknown in Italy, while his fame in other countries is linked mainly to his dissident activity, which has been the cause of his somewhat narrow reception as a fi ghter-poet. Stus’s literary achievements are rooted in the wide tradition of European poetry and thought. The Author presents those poems, in which the lyrical subject focuses on himself and on the exploration of his inner world, condensing it in spatial and geometrical forms. The peculiar imagery of this poetic world, which is reduced to a small number of obsessively recurring motifs, is also examined. The Author hopes to arouse curiosity and interest in this little studied chapter of the Ukrainian-Slavic-European poetic history of the Twentieth century
The Lyrical Subject as a Poet in the Works of M. Cvetaeva, B. Pasternak, and R.M. Rilke
Get PDFThe author discusses the image of the poet in Marina Cvetaeva’s, Boris Pasternak’s and Rainer Maria Rilke’s production. A shared feature of their poetry is the clear identification of the lyrical subject with a poet. Though critical studies on the three poets have clarified many aspects of their human and literary encounter, a comparative approach to their lyrical subjects is still missing. The analysis shows a high degree of similarity between Pasternak’s and Rilke’s subjects, while Cvetaeva’s seems to be rather distinct from them. This study is divided into two main parts. The first focuses on the lyrical subject’s relation to reality, while the second delves into the very ontological nature of the subject, analysing the possibility of his/her comparticipation to mankind or his/her inborn difference from it
Individual, yet collective voices: polyphonic poetic memories in contemporary Ukrainian literature
No full textQuesto articolo analizza la memoria polifonica nelle opere recenti di Serhij Žadan e Marianna Kijanovs'ka, due importanti scrittori ucraini contemporanei. Prima di concentrarsi su Žadan e Kijanovs'ka, vengono analizzati alcuni testi poetici di altri scrittori contemporanei in cui la memoria è tematizzata al crocevia di individualità e collettività. Nelle sue ultime raccolte, Žadan tende a modellare il suo universo poetico attorno a un soggetto lirico intento a raccogliere voci e memorie con l'obiettivo di preservarle dall'oblio. La raccolta del 2017 di Kijanovs'ka, Babyn Iar: Holosamy, è costituita da frammenti di memoria espressi dalle varie voci che costituiscono il suo soggetto collettivo, le vittime della tragedia di Babyn Jar del 1941. Nonostante la differenza tra questi due modelli di polifonia poetica, il primo veicolato attraverso la mediazione di un soggetto lirico e il secondo espresso direttamente dalle singole voci, questo articolo cerca di mostrare come la poesia recente di Žadan e Kijanovs'ka riesca a coniugare con successo la singolarità della memoria individuale con l'esperienza collettiva. La memoria poetica polifonica può oltretutto essere letta come una strategia per superare l'opposizione tra l'approccio “populista” e quello “modernista” alla letteratura che ha segnato l'autopercezione della letteratura ucraina fin dai primi anni del Novecento.This article analyzes polyphonic memory in recent works by Serhii Zhadan and Marianna Kiianovs'ka, two leading contemporary Ukrainian writers. Before focusing on Zhadan and Kiianovs'ka, the author analyzes some excerpts from poems by other contemporary writers in which memory is thematized at the crossroads of individual and collective remembering. In his latest collections, Zhadan has shown a tendency to shape his poetic world around a lyrical subject keen to collect human voices and memories with the aim of preserving them from oblivion. Kiianovs'ka’s 2017 collection Babyn Iar: Holosamy consists of memory fragments expressed by the various voices that constitute its collective subject, the victims of the 1941 Babyn Iar tragedy. In spite of the difference between these two models of poetic polyphony, the former conveyed through the mediation of a lyrical subject and the latter directly expressed by individual voices, the author here argues that Zhadan’s and Kiianovs'ka’s recent poetry successfully links the singularity of individual memory to the collective experience. He also argues that polyphonic poetic memory can be read as a strategy to overcome
the opposition between the “populist” and “modernist” approaches to literature that has marked the self-perception of Ukrainian literature since the early twentieth century
The body of the poet, the body of the nation: corporeality in recent revolution poetry from Belarus
No full textIn questo articolo si analizza la rappresentazione del corpo nella poesia bielorussa legata alle proteste del 2020. L'importanza e la frequenza del tema della corporalità, che si può individuare anche nei testi letterari legati a rivoluzioni del passato come quella francese, quella russa e quelle ucraine della contemporaneità, sono legate alla rappresentazione di una nuova identità bielorussa scaturita dalle proteste contro gli ultimi brogli elettorali di Aljaksandr Lukašenka. Sulla base di testi poetici di Julia Cimafiejeva, Taccjana Svetašova, Alhierd Bacharevič, Dmitrij Strocev, Dmitrij Rubin e Kryscina Banduryna si propone una lettura delle diverse modalità con cui i poeti bielorussi hanno rappresentato la Belarus', la creazione di una sua nuova identità e la lotta politica attraverso immagini legate alla sfera della corporalità, dal decadimento fisico all'opposizione di mascolinità e femminilità, dalla violenza alla gravidanza. La scrittura sulla corporalità è anche legata alla riflessione metaletteraria sui limiti e le possibilità della poesia in una fase di cambiamento storico e nel contesto di una rivitalizzazione della poesia e della sua disseminazione nell'era digitale.This article analyzes representations of the body in Belarusian poetry linked to the 2020 protests. The author argues that the remarkable poetic productivity regarding corporeality, comparable to literary texts inspired by other upheavals, such as the French, Russian, and the most recent Ukrainian revolutions, is directed towards the depiction of a new Belarusian identity shaped by the 2020 revolt against Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s latest electoral fraud. On the basis of poetic texts by Iulia Tsimafeeva, Tatstsiana Svetashova, Al′herd Bakharevich, Artur Kamaroŭski, Dmitrii Strotsev, Dmitrii Rubin, and Krystsina Banduryna, the author proposes a reading of the different ways in which living Belarusian poets have represented Belarus, its rethinking of its own identity, and its political struggle through images pertaining to corporeality, including decay, the juxtaposition of masculinity and femininity, violence, and pregnancy. He also argues that in contemporary Belarusian poetry the thematization of the body is related to an important, ongoing, metaliterary reflection on the limits and possibilities of poetry writing in times of change, in the context of revitalized poetry dissemination in the digital age
A Model and Experimental Evaluation of RO-PRO Low Energy Desalination
Get PDFReverse osmosis (RO) is currently the most energy efficient desalination technology; however, it requires a great deal of energy to create the high pressures necessary to desalinate seawater. An opposite process of RO, called pressure retarded osmosis (PRO), utilizes a salinity gradient between two solutions of different concentrations to produce pressure, and hence, energy. During this investigation, PRO was evaluated in conjunction with RO, in a system called RO-PRO desalination, to reduce the energy requirement of seawater RO desalination. The specific energy consumption for RO-PRO was modeled using RO conditions at the thermodynamic restriction and a newly developed module-based PRO model. Using a well-characterized CTA membrane, the minimum net specific energy consumption of the system was found to be approximately 40% lower than state-of-the-art seawater RO. A sensitivity analysis was performed to determine the effects of membrane characteristics on the specific energy production of the PRO process in the RO-PRO system. The sensitivity analysis showed that the minimum specific energy consumption using virtual membranes was approximately 1.0 kWh per m3 of RO permeate at 50% RO recovery and that a maximum power density of approximately 10 W/m2 could be achieved. The experimental power densities for the RO-PRO system ranged from 1.8 to 3.0 W/m2. This is higher than previous river-to-sea PRO pilot systems (1.5 W/m2) and approaches the goal of 5 W/m2 that would make PRO an economically feasible technology. In addition, this is the first known system to utilize energy from a volume of water transferred from atmospheric pressure to elevated pressure across a semi-permeable membrane to pre-pressurize RO feed water. In this way, RO-PRO is a feasible future low energy desalination system that should be further investigated in order to improve efficiency and PRO membrane performance
Mitogenomes from Two Uncommon Haplogroups Mark Late Glacial/Postglacial Expansions from the Near East and Neolithic Dispersals within Europe
No full textThe current human mitochondrial (mtDNA) phylogeny does not equally represent all human populations but is biased in favour of representatives originally from north and central Europe. This especially affects the phylogeny of some uncommon West Eurasian haplogroups, including I and W, whose southern European and Near Eastern components are very poorly represented, suggesting that extensive hidden phylogenetic substructure remains to be uncovered. This study expanded and re-analysed the available datasets of I and W complete mtDNA genomes, reaching a comprehensive 419 mitogenomes, and searched for precise correlations between the ages and geographical distributions of their numerous newly identified subclades with events of human dispersal which contributed to the genetic formation of modern Europeans. Our results showed that haplogroups I (within N1a1b) and W originated in the Near East during the Last Glacial Maximum or pre-warming period (the period of gradual warming between the end of the LGM, ~19 ky ago, and the beginning of the first main warming phase, ~15 ky ago) and, like the much more common haplogroups J and T, may have been involved in Late Glacial expansions starting from the Near East. Thus our data contribute to a better definition of the Late and postglacial re-peopling of Europe, providing further evidence for the scenario that major population expansions started after the Last Glacial Maximum but before Neolithic times, but also evidencing traces of diffusion events in several I and W subclades dating to the European Neolithic and restricted to Europe
Author Correction: Uncovering the sources of DNA found on the Turin Shroud
Get PDFAn amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper
The Multifaceted Origin of Taurine Cattle Reflected by the Mitochondrial Genome
Get PDFA Neolithic domestication of taurine cattle in the Fertile Crescent from local aurochsen (Bos primigenius) is generally accepted, but a genetic contribution from European aurochsen has been proposed. Here we performed a survey of a large number of taurine cattle mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control regions from numerous European breeds confirming the overall clustering within haplogroups (T1, T2 and T3) of Near Eastern ancestry, but also identifying eight mtDNAs (1.3%) that did not fit in haplogroup T. Sequencing of the entire mitochondrial genome showed that four mtDNAs formed a novel branch (haplogroup R) which, after the deep bifurcation that gave rise to the taurine and zebuine lineages, constitutes the earliest known split in the mtDNA phylogeny of B. primigenius. The remaining four mtDNAs were members of the recently discovered haplogroup Q. Phylogeographic data indicate that R mtDNAs were derived from female European aurochsen, possibly in the Italian Peninsula, and sporadically included in domestic herds. In contrast, the available data suggest that Q mtDNAs and T subclades were involved in the same Neolithic event of domestication in the Near East. Thus, the existence of novel (and rare) taurine haplogroups highlights a multifaceted genetic legacy from distinct B. primigenius populations. Taking into account that the maternally transmitted mtDNA tends to underestimate the extent of gene flow from European aurochsen, the detection of the R mtDNAs in autochthonous breeds, some of which are endangered, identifies an unexpected reservoir of genetic variation that should be carefully preserved
Computational, rotational and ro-vibrational experimental investigation of monodeuterated chloromethane
Get PDFIn the present work, a combined theoretical and spectroscopic characterization of the different isotopologues of mono-deuterated chloromethane, CH 2 DCl, has been carried out in order to provide reliable spectroscopic data to support and guide future studies. State-of-the-art ab initio calculations were performed to derive accurate predictions of equilibrium structure, rotational constants, and centrifugal distortion terms. The rotational spectra of the 13 C species have been recorded for the first time in the 250- 300 GHz frequency range and, for the two isotopologues 12 CH 2 D 35 Cl and 12 CH 2 D 37 Cl, the knowledge has been extended up to 520 GHz. The observed transitions have been analyzed with a Watson-type Hamiltonian and allowed the determination of several spectroscopic parameters, all in excellent agreement with our computed values. These new experimental and computed data, combined with the ones previously available in the literature, led to the determination of an accurate and complete semi-experimental (SE) equilibrium structure for chloromethane. The medium resolution (up to 0.1 cm -1 ) gas-phase infrared spectra of CH 2 DCl were investigated in the region 60 0-90 0 0 cm -1 . All the most important spectral features were assigned in terms of fundamental, overtone and combination bands, thus obtaining an accurate description of the vibrational structure. Several polyads involving different vibrational levels were identified and disentangled with the aid of our computed high-level hybrid force field. (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Towards a Postcolonial Ethics: Rewriting Ukraine in the "Enemy's Language"
No full textIn this chapter the author explores post-Maidan cultural developments in Ukraine, focusing on the current reshaping of the contested language issue in the intellectual debate through the lens of the postcolonial paradigm. The author examines the outcomes of the Maidan revolution and the war in Donbas as an influence on the concept of the Ukrainian cultural and social space by analyzing the main narratives of the so-called “Ukraine crisis” played and enacted by Russian-speaking cultural actors, in light of the emerging “postcolonial ethics” stemming from their role in public debates
