Farmer, Priest, and Poet: Knowledge Transmission and Wisdom in \u3cem\u3eWorks and Days\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eGelimu\u3c/em\u3e

This paper aims at a comparison between a classic poem from ancient Greek literature, the Works and Days by Hesiod, and ancestral records of hemerology from Daba Culture, entitled Gelimu, collected during my fieldwork in South-West China. Both traditions use constellations to mark important dates throughout the year, providing similar instructions on how to deal with daily work in the fields. Moreover, their mnemonic strategies and formulaic verses reflect their origins from oral traditions passed down from generation to generation. Starting from these basic similarities, the author analyzed the roles of Daba priests, the calendars authors, and Hesiod, the poet prophet of ancient Greece. Being the community’s singers, the wisest men in primitive agricultural societies, they hand down the gods’ knowledge to human beings, the farmers. The gods’ world, holding the supreme knowledge and setting up the rules, is reverberated in the image of Nature. The poet, in other words, is the link between the sacred world and the profane world. This original comparative study illustrates deep similarities between these two texts developed in different times and geographical areas. My philological and linguistic analysis highlights, for the first time, the common ideological milieu of those two contexts, developed according to oral poetry principles and through the application of formulaic expressions

From Daba Script to Dongba Script: A diachronic exploration of the history of Moso Pictographic Writings

The comparison of the 28 lunar mansions of Daba and Dongba scripts revealed that Daba glyphs are single graphemes that are generally pictograms depicting the star atlases or related to the syllables of the stars names. Their counterparts in Dongba writing, conversely, are mostly ligatures consisting of several graphemes. They could be pictograms depicting the star atlases or the syllabic representations of the lunar mansions designations, or the combinations of both. Basing the analysis on the functions of the glyphs in writing down languages, the plausible path of development that can be highlighted from these two scripts have been reconstructed. Further on, the hypothesis is proposed according to which Daba script could be the initial stage of the Dongba writing system

A comparison of the twenty-eight lunar mansions between Dabaism and Dongbaism

The present study compares the twenty-eight lunar mansions of Dabaism and Dongbaism, from the perspective of pronunciation, writing, and star atlases, with new data of Daba calendars collected from my fieldwork. I try to decipher the questionable Dongba stars documented by scholars before according to Daba stars, since they share similarities, with reference from the commonly shared 28- lunar mansion systems among Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Chinese. One of the differences between Dabaism and Dongbaism is the choice of starting lunar mansion. According to records about the stars ― "on duty" on the first day of each month in Dongba classics, I suggest the star from the constellation ― "human" should be in agreement with the Dongba tradition. In this case, the starting lunar mansion in Dabaism could be an additional written proof of this tradition

Do visual and step height factors cause imbalance during bipedal and unipedal stances? A plantar pressure perspective

Objective: The plantar pressure analysis technique was used to explore the static balance ability and stability of healthy adult males under the influence of visual and step height factors during bipedal and unipedal stances.Methods: Thirty healthy adult males volunteered for the study. Experiments used the F-scan plantar pressure analysis insoles to carry out with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) at four different step heights. The plantar pressure data were recorded for 10 s and pre-processed to derive kinematic and dynamic parameters.Results: For unipedal stance, most of kinematic parameters of the subjects’ right and left feet were significantly greater when the eyes were closed compared to the EO condition and increased with step height. The differences in toe load between right and left feet, open and closed eyes were extremely statistically significant (p < 0.001). The differences in midfoot load between the EO and EC conditions were statistically significant (p = 0.024) and extremely statistically significant between the right and left feet (p < 0.001). The difference in rearfoot load between EO and EC conditions was extremely statistically significant (p < 0.001) and statistically significant (p = 0.002) between the right and left feet. For bipedal stance, most of kinematic parameters of the subjects’ EO and EC conditions were statistically significant between the right and left feet and increased with step height. The overall load’s difference between EO and EC states was statistically significant (p = 0.003) for both feet. The overall load’s difference between the right and left feet was extremely statistically significant (p < 0.001) in the EC state. The differences between the right and left feet of the forefoot and rearfoot load with EO and EC suggested that the right foot had a smaller forefoot load, but a larger rearfoot load than the left foot (p < 0.001). The differences between the forefoot and rearfoot load of the subjects’ both feet with EO and EC were extremely statistically significant (p < 0.001).Conclusion: Both visual input and step height factors, even the dominant foot, act on kinematic and dynamic parameters that affect the maintenance of static balance ability

From cropland to cropped field: A robust algorithm for national-scale mapping by fusing time series of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2

Detailed and updated maps of actively cropped fields on a national scale are vital for global food security. Unfortunately, this information is not provided in existing land cover datasets, especially lacking in smallholder farmer systems. Mapping national-scale cropped fields remains challenging due to the spectral confusion with abandoned vegetated land, and their high heterogeneity over large areas. This study proposed a large-area mapping framework for automatically identifying actively cropped fields by fusing Vegetation-Soil-Pigment indices and Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) time-series images (VSPS). Three temporal indicators were proposed and highlighted cropped fields by consistently higher values due to cropping activities. The proposed VSPS algorithm was exploited for national-scale mapping in China without regional adjustments using Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 images. Agriculture in China illustrated great heterogeneity and has experienced tremendous changes such as non-grain orientation and cropland abandonment. Yet, little is known about the locations and extents of cropped fields cultivated with field crops on a national scale. Here, we produced the first national-scale 20 m updated map of cropped and fallow/abandoned land in China and found that 77 % of national cropland (151.23 million hectares) was actively cropped in 2020. We found that fallow/abandoned cropland in mountainous and hilly regions were far more than we expected, which was significantly underestimated by the commonly applied VImax-based approach based on the MODIS images. The VSPS method illustrates robust generalization capabilities, which obtained an overall accuracy of 94 % based on 4,934 widely spread reference sites. The proposed mapping framework is capable of detecting cropped fields with a full consideration of a high diversity of cropping systems and complexity of fallow/abandoned cropland. The processing codes on Google Earth Engine were provided and hoped to stimulate operational agricultural mapping on cropped fields with finer resolution from the national to the global scale

Coupling effects of Fe(II) and CaCO3 application on cadmium uptake and accumulation in rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Excessive cadmium (Cd) in rice, caused by Cd pollution of farmlands, poses a serious threat to human health. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of two doses of CaCO3 (Ca1: 2 g kg-1, Ca2: 10g kg-1), two types of Fe(II) (EDTA-Fe(II) and FeSO4; 0.14 g Fe kg-1), and their combined application on the uptake and accumulation of Cd in rice plants grown in Cd-contaminated acidic soil. The results revealed that FeSO4 significantly increased rice grain biomass, whereas the other treatments had no significant effects. Further, the addition of EDTA-Fe(II) or FeSO4 significantly enhanced iron plaque formation on the root surface and increased the Fe content in the rice plants and porewater. Compared to the control, CaCO3 addition weakened the formation of iron plaque and reduced the Fe concentration in the porewater and root tissue, stems and leaves, whereas the Fe concentration in brown rice and the husks remained unaffected. Combined application of CaCO3 and Fe(II) significantly promoted the formation of iron plaque and increased the Fe concentration in brown rice. However, the Cd concentration in the iron plaque was reduced by CaCO3 addition but increased by Fe(II) treatment. Notably, all treatments reduced the Cd concentration in all rice plant tissues. The application of Ca1, Ca2, EDTA-Fe(II), FeSO4, Ca1+EDTA-Fe(II), Ca1+FeSO4, Ca2+EDTA-Fe(II) and Ca2+FeSO4 significantly reduced the Cd concentration in brown rice by 69%, 63%, 51%, 60%, 46%, 39%, 38%, and 29%, respectively. These results indicate that the application of CaCO3, EDTA-Fe(II)/FeSO4, or their combination can effectively reduce Cd accumulation and translocation in rice plants

How Do Dongba Glyphs Transcribe IPA? Analysis of a Note by a Ruke Dongba Priest Learning IPA

Dongba script is one of the very few pictographic writing systems still surviving in the world. The script evolved over time, and this is reflected by the correspondence between its written symbols and the related spoken language. During my fieldwork, I witnessed occasionally when Dongba glyphs have been analysed to write down IPA symbols based on Latin alphabet. This is an innovative application of Dongba pictographs, through the use of traditional scriptures and vernacular documents. This study provides insights into processes of adaptation in situations of contact between the Dongba pictographic writing system and the International Phonetic Alphabet and aims to shed light on structural issues pertaining to the phonological units of the Naxi language. According to the present research, Dongba glyphs can identify initials quite efficiently, yet they are not efficient in distinguishing rhymes and tones. At the same time, a phonemic chart written in Dongba glyphs shows to be a valuable tool to double-check the phonemic system. Moreover, some sound changes of Ruke Naxi are attested and assessed in this note

Islands’ Metamorphoses: Two River Islands in Nanjing, China, as a Case Study in Historical Toponymy and Cartography

The present study illustrates the historical toponymy and historical topography of two river islands (located in the riverbed of the Yangtze River), belonging to the Nanjing’s territory, China, starting the toponymic analysis from a collection of ancient maps. The current Bailu Zhou island has inherited its name from a Li Bai’s poem after the ancient Bailu Zhou ‘disappeared’ because of hydro-geo-morphological events over time. Bagua Zhou island, with its enigmatic name, was shaped gradually in the Yangtze River by erosion and accumulation of debris processes. Besides clarifying the historical toponymy and cartography of the two islands, the paper inserts their history among some other cases of ‘exchanged’ place names. This research reveals that both natural and human factors contribute to the toponymic replacement of islands. It shows, moreover, the relevance of the changes in hydro-geo-morphology of river islands, due to the instability of river phenomena, in their naming process.Published versio