Mesopotamian and Indian Bird Omens

This paper explores the relationship between bird omens that occur in both the Sanskrit Gārgīyajyotiṣa Aṅga 42 and the Akkadian Šumma Ālu and related Cuneiform tablets. After an overview of the Sanskrit omens and their source, the study proceeds to compare the Indian and Mesopotamian bird omens with special reference to the omens of the crow in order to show that the series of Akkadian omens and Sanskrit omen verses share a common conceptual paradigm. A list of the different omen birds and animals mentioned in the Gārgīyajyotiṣa occurs in an appendix

Mesopotamian and Indian Bird Omens

This paper explores the relationship between bird omens that occur in both the Sanskrit Gārgīyajyotiṣa Aṅga 42 and the Akkadian Šumma Ālu and related Cuneiform tablets. After an overview of the Sanskrit omens and their source, the study proceeds to compare the Indian and Mesopotamian bird omens with special reference to the omens of the crow in order to show that the series of Akkadian omens and Sanskrit omen verses share a common conceptual paradigm. A list of the different omen birds and animals mentioned in the Gārgīyajyotiṣa occurs in an appendix

Pleiades in ancient Mesopotamia

In this paper I will analyse the different features of the Pleiades in the astronomical, astrological, and calendrical interpretation as well as their mythical and cultural background in ancient Mesopotamia. According to cuneiform sources, the Pleiades are among the most important stars. They are simply known in Sumerian as ―the Stars‖ (MUL.MUL), while their Akkadian name, ―the Bristle‖ (zappu), links them to the imagery and the cultural context of the ―Bull of Heaven‖ constellation (Taurus), to which they belong. Pleiades are frequently depicted as seven dots or seven stars, and identified on a mythological level with groups of seven divine beings. In fact, the Sumerian ideogram for ―seven‖ is used as an alternative name for the Pleiades. In particular they show a close relation to a group of demons, called the Seven (Sebēttu), that, according to an etiological myth, causes the eclipse of the moon. The relation of the Pleiades to the war and death sphere is strengthened by their association with the Netherworld god Nergal/Erra, as well as their identification with the god’s planet (Mars). Finally, the Pleiades are among the few celestial bodies that receive a cult, and specific prayers are dedicated to them. From the sources it emerges that the Pleiades are mainly related to the movement of the Moon, and it is worth noting that the list of constellations of the ecliptic begins precisely with the Pleiades. Furthermore, the Pleiades play an important part in the calendrical reckoning, a role that is clearly stated in almanacs as the MUL.APIN, as well as in the intercalation scheme based on the conjunction of the Moon and the Pleiades

Microbusiness, macro-impact: capitalizing on potential

Small business

The Latin Music Database

In this paper we present the Latin Music Database, a novel database of Latin musical recordings which has been developed for automatic music genre classification, but can also be used in other music information retrieval tasks. The method for assigning genres to the musical recordings is based on human expert perception and therefore capture their tacit knowledge in the genre labeling process. We also present the ethnomusicology of the genres available in the database as it might provide important information for the analysis of the results of any experiment that employs the database

Talking responsibility : discourses of accountability at the Waitakere Family Violence Court : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

To meet the six aims of the court's protocol, the operations of the court need to be effective from a variety of different vantage points: from perspectives of victims and defendants, the judiciary and court administration, and also from the perspectives of community organisations, lawyers, police and community probation. This research was undertaken as part of a wider project to assess the extent to which the court protocols are effective in achieving the court's aims from the point of view of all those who take part in translating the court's principles into everyday practice. These perspectives are all vital to the dynamic process through which the state, the judiciary and the community collaborate at Waitakere (holistic accountability). Interviews and focus groups were conducted with court professionals practicing from diverse vantage points in the WFVC process. Through a discursive analysis of interview data it was evident that offender accountability was interpreted differently among participants, and variations in interpretations co-articulated with different perspectives in understanding the philosophy of therapeutic jurisprudence, its relationship to procedural justice, and the responsibility of the court to provide legal protection for victims. This thesis is an analysis of court participants' interpretations of offender accountability and how these interpretations are produced through different theories of justice. Constructions of domestic violence and accountability are analysed to show how dominant constructions reproduce victims' responsibility for their own safety

Pararhabdodon Isonensis and Tsintaosaurus Spinorhinus: A New Clade of Lambeosaurine Hadrosaurids from Eurasia

We present new anatomical information showing that Koutalisaurus kohlerorum, from the Maastrichtian of Lleida Province, northeastern Spain, is most probably the junior synonym of Pararhabdodon isonensis from the same region. Dentary and maxillary characters previously considered as autapomorphies of K. kohlerorum and P isonensis, respectively, are shown to be synapomorphies uniting the latter with Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus from the Campanian of the Wangshi Group, Shandong Province, China. This study provided conclusive evidence of the presence of the Lambeosaurinae in Europe. Tsintaosaurus spinorhinus and Pararhabdodon isonensis were inferred to form a clade of basal lambeosaurines characterized by a maxilla with an elevated articular facet for the jugal (continuous with the ectopterygoid ridge) and an extremely medially projected symphyseal region of the dentary. This clade originated in Asia during the middle or late Campanian. Pararhabdodon isonensis or its ancestors migrated from Asia to the Iberian island of the European archipelago. Reconstruction of ancestral areas by Fitch parsimony attributes the European occurrence of P isonensis to a single dispersal event from Asia no later than middle to late Campanian. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Charlotte and Walter Kohler Charitable TrustFlorida State UniversityNational Science Foundation EAR 0207744, DBI 0446224Field Museum of Natural HistoryDepartments of Geosciences and Civil EngineeringGraduate School at Texas Tech UniversityScience Department at South Plains CollegeSigma Xi National Scientific HonoraryUniversity of Texas at AustinNSF IGERTMinistry of Education and Science of Spain CGL2005-07878-C02-01Geological Science