Liouville and Toda field theories on Riemann surfaces

We study the Liouville theory on a Riemann surface of genus g by means of their associated Drinfeld--Sokolov linear systems. We discuss the cohomological properties of the monodromies of these systems. We identify the space of solutions of the equations of motion which are single--valued and local and explicitly represent them in terms of Krichever--Novikov oscillators. Then we discuss the operator structure of the quantum theory, in particular we determine the quantum exchange algebras and find the quantum conditions for univalence and locality. We show that we can extend the above discussion to $sl_n$ Toda theories.Comment: 41 pages, LaTeX, SISSA-ISAS 27/93/E

Cultural Diplomacy in the Acquisition of the Head of Satala for the British Museum

The current location and curatorial display at the British Museum of a Hellenistic bronze head of the goddess Anahita in the guise of Aphrodite, found at Satala (Asia Minor), reveal little of the importance ascribed to it at the time of its acquisition, or of the complex route by which the head came to form part of the museum’s collection. Detailed examination of archival documentation relating to this acquisition shows how, despite nineteenth-century Ottoman and Italian legislation in relation to antiquities, this head and its accompanying bronze hand were found in the province of Armenia, sold by an Ottoman diplomat to a private collector in Rome and used to secure the sale of a collection of jewellery to the British Museum. The journey of the head illustrates the importance of diplomatic channels, the workings of the nineteenth-century European trade in art and antiquities and how museums, diplomats and collectors were able to assemble collections

Satala Aphrodite. Case Study

The Satala Aphrodite is a Hellenistic bronze head displayed in a wall mounted glass case over a ventilation grille near the south entrance to room 22 on the ground floor of the British Museum. Its current location and curatorial display reveal little of the complex route by which the head came to be a part of the Museum or of the importance ascribed to it at the time of its acquisition. The case study gathers material from the Museum archives to tell the story of the Satala head’s acquisition and shed light on the context of its original provenance. This study could be expanded at a later date to explain how the archive material could be linked back to the online collection

Collecting practices in the Ottoman Empire

Collecting Practices in the Ottoman Empire 1800-1912 ​​ ​​In order to engage with an ever emerging amount of restitution requests and understand their future in an increasingly globalised world, it is important for museums to understand the precise history of their collections.The British Museum is keen to understand the policies that guided its collecting activity in the 19th and early 20th century, to understand that history and to actively engage in conversation regarding the public value of the collections. These histories are complex, there is no one fits all approach, but often methodologies of collecting changed according to the different historical moments. A pilot in collaboration with the British Museum Archives seeks to understand the precise use of diplomacy in the procurement of antiquities in the territory of the former Ottoman Empire across those different historical moments. It seeks to assess how the methodology of collecting pieces evolved and modified according to the different political circumstances, international trends and the multiple personalities in charge at the Museum. ​​This research has the potential to enable the Museum to address increasing demands of restitution and activism from indigenous communities, pairing with academics and other European institutions to discuss and find the most durable and effective way to open up its history and set the standard for institutional transparency in relation to the provenance of its collections.​​ The paper will present the result of the pilot and the history of a selection of pieces across 4 different historical times to explain concretely how generalisation is impossible and provenance history is critical when trying to understand the past to reassess the future

Citizenship and Rights, a Reflection on the Consequences of Brexit

During the 2016 referendum on EU membership, Brexit was sold as the ultimate example of democracy, "taking back control #of borders, laws and money. Britain could "have its cake and eat it#: enjoy all the benefits already acquired without having to pay for membership or respect the "rules of the club#. EU nationals resident in the UK and their "ex-pat #British counterparts in Europe were denied participation in this critical vote on their future. Hostile environment immigration policies normalised xenophobic sentiment and set the backdrop to the Brexit vote. European Citizenship came with significant benefits and rights which were lost on 31 December 2020 at the conclusion of the transition period, but a lack of information means that most people in Britain have yet to fully understand the implications of their vote or the rights that they have forfeited

The Plunder of Maqdala: Ethical Concerns Around Belongings and Ancestral Remains in Museums

During the colonial period, museums did not just passively benefit from the plunder of human remains and culturally sacred items. When Britain sent a punitive military expedition to Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) in 1863, it was accompanied by Richard Holmes, a staff member of the British Museum, whose purchase of loot from the expeditionary force institutionalised the plunder of cultural heritage. His inclusion in the expeditionary force was carefully planned, though the belongings he took — mainly manuscripts, religious items and emblems of power belonging to the Ethiopian royal family — were not the intended focus of his participation. Whilst the UK’s 2004 Human Tissue Act had a beneficial impact on the treatment of human remains in museums, objects belonging to colonised people are often still positioned as artworks or artefacts, evidencing ignorance of the deep personal and spiritual links that connect them back to their communities of origin. This article draws on our professional experience of curation and research in museums and libraries, as well as the impact of ICOM’s new Museum Definition on our practice. Joint research on the Maqdala expedition led us to question assumptions about the legacy of empire in museums and to scrutinise unexpected connections in the history of museum collections. This article addresses the problematic relationship between collecting and imperial power, the false dichotomy between ‘artefacts’ (belongings) and ‘human remains’ (ancestors) and the need to decolonise collections through further research and the recognition of ongoing cultural and physical violence

Can the ischemic penumbra be identified on noncontrast CT of acute stroke?

<p><b>Background and Purpose:</b> Early ischemic changes on noncontrast CT in acute stroke include both hypoattenuation and brain swelling, which may have different pathophysiological significance.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Noncontrast CT and CT perfusion brain scans from patients with suspected acute stroke <6 hours after onset were reviewed. Five raters independently scored noncontrast CTs blind to clinical data using the Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score (ASPECTS). Each ASPECTS region was scored as hypodense or swollen. A separate reviewer measured time to peak and cerebral blood volume in each ASPECTS region on CT perfusion. Time to peak and cerebral blood volume were compared for each region categorized as normal, hypodense, or isodense and swollen.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> Scans of 32 subjects a median 155 minutes after onset yielded 228 regions with both CT perfusion and noncontrast CT data. Isodense swelling was associated with significantly higher cerebral blood volume (P=0.016) and with penumbral perfusion (posttest:pretest likelihood ratio 1.44 [95% CI: 0.68 to 2.90]), whereas hypodensity was associated with more severe time to peak delay and with core perfusion (likelihood ratio 3.47 [95% CI: 1.87 to 6.34]). Neither isodense swelling nor hypodensity was sensitive for prediction of perfusion pattern, but appearances were highly specific (87.2% and 91.0% for penumbra and core, respectively). Intrarater agreement was good or excellent, but interrater agreement for both hypodensity and swelling was poor.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Regions exhibiting hypoattenuation are likely to represent the infarct core, whereas regions that are isodense and swollen have increased cerebral blood volume and are more likely to signify penumbral perfusion. Although noncontrast CT is not sensitive for detection of core and penumbra, appearances are specific. Some information on tissue viability can therefore be obtained from noncontrast CT.</p&gt

Toda Fields on Riemann Surfaces: remarks on the Miura transformation

We point out that the Miura transformation is related to a holomorphic foliation in a relative flag manifold over a Riemann Surface. Certain differential operators corresponding to a free field description of $W$--algebras are thus interpreted as partial connections associated to the foliation.Comment: AmsLatex 1.1, 10 page

Should equity in health be target number 1?

Policy measures to reduce socioeconomic health differences (SEHD) must be preceded by an analysis of the possibilities and desirability of a reduction. This paper argues that it is necessary to pursue equality in health, conceived as equal opportunities to achieve health. This principle is justified as part of the principle of maximizing individual freedom of choice, and requires that everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible. By means of this principle a distinction can be made between unjust, unavoidable, and acceptable health inequalities. The determinants of SEHD which lead to inequalities considered unjust must be subject to policy. These are living conditions (physical and social environment and health care) and conditions of choice (e.g. the knowledge of an individual about the health risks of a certain behaviour). Even if SEHD are considered inequities, sometimes conflicting interests will make it difficult to propose a health policy to redress these inequities. These are partly the consequence of the intersectoral character of a policy aimed at equality of opportunities to attain health, in which the importance of health has to be weighed against other goals. Moreover the impact of such a policy on the individual free choice has to be critically weighed. Finally in the context of health care policy, conflicts between the principle of equality and maximizing health can be expected

Contributions of maternal and infant factors to infant responding to the Still Face paradigm: a longitudinal study

Early mother–infant interactions are characterised by periods of synchronous interaction that are interrupted by periods of mismatch; the experience of such mismatches and their subsequent repair is held to facilitate the development of infant self-regulatory capacities (Tronick, Als, Adamson, Wise, & Brazelton, 1978). Infant responding to such interactive challenge is assumed to be a function of both maternal behaviour and pre-existing infant characteristics. However, the latter has received relatively little attention. In a prospective longitudinal study of a sample comprising high and low adversity dyads (n = 122), we examined the contributions of both maternal sensitivity and neonatal irritability to infant behavioural and physiological responding to the interactive challenge of the Still Face paradigm. Results indicated that higher levels of maternal sensitivity were associated with more regulated infant behaviour during the Still Face paradigm. Neonatal irritability also predicted poorer behavioural and heart rate recovery following the Still Face challenge. Furthermore, there was an interaction such that irritable infants with insensitive mothers showed the worst behavioural outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of the interplay between maternal and infant characteristics in determining dyadic responding