Pre-Modern Bosom Serpents and Hippocrates' Epidemiae 5: 86: A Comparative and Contextual Folklore Approach

A short Hippocratic passage (Epidemiae 5: 86) might constitute the earliest Western surviving variant of the well-known narrative and experiential theme of snakes or other animals getting into the human body (motif B784, tale-type ATU 285B*). This paper aims: 1) to throw light on this ancient passage through a comparative folkloric analysis and through a philological-contextual study, with reference to modern and contemporary interpretations; and 2) to offer an examination of previous scholarly enquiries on the fantastic intrusion of animals into the human body. In medieval and post-medieval folklore and medicine, sleeping out in the field was dangerous: snakes and similar animals could, it was believed, crawl into the sleeper’s body through the ears, eyes, mouth, nostrils, anus and vagina. Comparative material demonstrates, meanwhile, that the thirsty snake often entered the sleeper’s mouth because of its love of milk and wine. I will argue that while Epidemiae 5: 86 is modelled on this long-standing legendary pattern, for which many interesting literary pre-modern (and modern) parallels exist, its relatively precise historical and cultural framework can be efficiently analysed. The story is embedded in a broad set of Graeco-Roman ideas and practices surrounding ancient beliefs about snakes and attitudes to the drinking of unmixed wine

Subject and Object Clitic Pronouns in Valdostan Francoprovençal:The Fenisan Variety

Subject clitics (SCLs) are a debated topic regarding their structural position and their categorial status. Accounting for a phenomenon he observed in some Francoprovencal varieties and that he calls `OCL-for-SCL\u27, Roberts (2015, 2018b) proposes that SCLs in Francoprovencal are the result of the morphophonological process of fission. Focusing on a particular variety of Francoprovencal (the Fenisan Francoprovencal, or FFP), and based on Roberts\u27 (2010) approach of cliticization as incorporation, this study shows that Roberts\u27 proposal on the nature of SCLs in Francoprovencal cannot account for the data in FFP. Relying on the behavior of subject and object clitics with lexical and functional verbs, I show that SCLs in FFP are better analyzed as syntactic objects base-generated in argumental position inside the vP/VP domain. FFP also provides new arguments for considering both the auxiliary and possessive verb have and both the auxiliary and copular verb be as functional verbs, as the clitics behave differently with these verbs contrary to lexical verbs. This study also shows that there can be a direct interface between syntax and phonology regarding the representation of clitic pronouns

Advances in Human Robot Interaction for Cloud Robotics applications

In this thesis are analyzed different and innovative techniques for Human Robot Interaction. The focus of this thesis is on the interaction with flying robots. The first part is a preliminary description of the state of the art interactions techniques. Then the first project is Fly4SmartCity, where it is analyzed the interaction between humans (the citizen and the operator) and drones mediated by a cloud robotics platform. Then there is an application of the sliding autonomy paradigm and the analysis of different degrees of autonomy supported by a cloud robotics platform. The last part is dedicated to the most innovative technique for human-drone interaction in the User’s Flying Organizer project (UFO project). This project wants to develop a flying robot able to project information into the environment exploiting concepts of Spatial Augmented Realit

A cloud robotics architecture for an emergency management and monitoring service in a smart cityenvironment

Cloud robotics is revolutionizing not only the robotics industry but also the ICT world, giving robots more storage and computing capacity, opening new scenarios that blend the physical to the digital world. In this vision new IT architectures are required to manage robots, retrieve data from them and create services to interact with users. In this paper a possible implementation of a cloud robotics architecture for the interaction between users and UAVs is described. Using the latter as monitoring agents, a service for fighting crime in urban environment is proposed, making one step forward towards the idea of smart cit

Monstrous animal siblings in Europe: From the frater Salernitanorum to the sooterkin

Reports of women giving birth to a baby together with an animal (toad, mouse, bird, etc.), are documented in Europe from the 1100s onwards: the most important traditions of which are the frater Salernitanorum and the sooterkin. Throughout the centuries, authors have typically attempted to explain monstrous animal siblings in the light of contemporary medical knowledge. The present paper compares the medieval frater Salernitanorum with the later sooterkin and investigates both in historico-folklore terms. It argues that it is important to understand monstrous birth traditions not only in the light of medical history, but as beliefs and narratives actively shared through acts of communication. In so doing, this article is informed by both the history of medicine and folklore studies.Los informes de mujeres que dan a luz a un bebé junto con un animal (sapo, ratón, pájaro, etc.) están documentados en Europa desde el 1100 en adelante: las tradiciones más importantes son el frater Salernitanorum y el sooterkin. A lo largo de los siglos, los autores generalmente han intentado explicar los hermanos animales monstruosos a la luz del conocimiento médico contemporáneo. El presente trabajo compara al frater Salernitanorum medieval con el posterior sooterkin e investiga ambos en términos histórico-folclóricos. Se argumenta que es importante comprender las tradiciones de nacimientos monstruosos no solo a la luz de la historia médica, sino como creencias y narraciones compartidas activamente a través de actos de comunicación. A este propósito, este trabajo se basa tanto en la historia de la medicina como en los estudios del folclore