Friedrich Nietzsche in Dutch-speaking Belgium during the Interwar Period : Odiel Spruytte and the benefits of micrological reception studies

Reception studies tend to favour broad corpora and they have many reasons to do so. However, in some cases, it may be better to follow slowly, by means of close reading, the traces of an intensive reception over a certain period of time. An example of this is the case of the Flemish nationalist priest Odiel Spruytte, who was one of the most in-depth connoisseurs of Nietzsche in Dutch-speaking Belgium in the later interwar period. The analysis of the articles he published in the Flemish cultural-philosophical periodical Kultuurleven between 1934 and 1940, the time of his death, uncovers the subtle changes in Spruytte’s solid Nietzsche interpretations and allows us to discover the gradual rapprochement and alienation between conservative Catholic and national-socialist Nietzsche appropriations

Nobody's perfect: de esthetisering van de wanhoop

Met The Tempatation of Despair wilde Werner Sollors aanvankelijk de verspreiding van de Amerikaanse cultuur in Duitsland tijdens en na de bezetting in kaart brengen. Maar al snel kwamen zeer uiteenlopende verbeeldingen van wanhoop centraal te staan en groeide het boek uit tot een narratieve memoire, waarin Sollors op zoek gaat naar de rol en het belang van de artistieke creatie in een conflictueuze maatschappelijke context

Sculptures do not speak. The Balega made them speak

Chez les Lega du Sud-Kivu, chaque objet, naturel ou fabriqué, qui figure dans les initiations de l’association bwami est, au minimum, associé à un aphorisme. Les objets ne sont pas nécessairement identifiés aux aphorismes pour ce qu’ils sont mais pour les concepts qu’ils représentent. Ces derniers renvoient tant à des principes sociaux et moraux qu’au pouvoir, à la grandeur de l’association et de ses initiés. Sachant que ces initiations sont secrètes, le rapport entre un objet et son aphorisme ainsi que leur interprétation est impossible à déterminer en dehors du contexte initiatique.Among the Lega of southern Kivu, each object, be it natural or fabricated, in the initiations to the bwami association is associated with at least one aphorism. The latter refer to social, moral, political principles and to the greatness of the association and its initiates. It is impossible to interpret the meaning of these aphorisms and their relationship to the objects outside of the initiation context

Oil film interferometry visualisation of surface flow patterns generated by impinging jets

The main purpose of the investigation detailed here was to determine whether or not oil film interferometry techniques could be applied to impinging sonic and supersonic flows. Experimentation was limited to the flow fields generated by impinging jets emanating from convergent nozzles with square and rectangular cross sections. The impingement plate was coated with polished aluminium sheeting to provide the required reflective surface. Interferometry images were generated by the application of Dow Corning PMX 200 silicone fluid to the plate, which was illuminated by a monochromatic sodium light source. Images were captured using a Nikon D90 DSLR camera with a standard 18-55mm lens. The shear force at various points on the plate was determined by analysing the resultant images using the MATLAB image processing toolbox. The experimental results were then compared to results from CFD simulations that were carried out using the Fluent components of ANSYS v.13. A quantitative examination of the two sets of results revealed that the experimental results were consistently lower than the shear forces predicted by CFD simulations, particularly in the high shear areas near the centre of impingement. However, a qualitative examination of the interferometry images showed interesting results. These images gave a good representation of the overall flow patterns over the plate, with clearly defined fringe patterns visible in the oil coating. Therefore the investigation discussed here was determined to be a successful proof of concept for the utilisation of oil film interferometry techniques in this application. It is believed that the methodology utilised in this investigation can be successfully developed to significantly improve the accuracy of the quantitative results