Texte/image/manuscrit : une relation problématique ?

Dans le présent article, nous proposons d’examiner la relation complexe « image-texte » dans les manuscrits enluminés de la Chronique dite de Baudouin d’Avesnes (xiiie-xve siècles). Sera étudiée en premier lieu la pratique de découpage d’enluminures dont ont souffert certains manuscrits de notre corpus. Contribuant à l’émancipation de l’image en tant qu’objet, le découpage est susceptible d’occulter l’importance d’un manuscrit dans la tradition, comme c’est le cas pour l’exemplaire d’Arras, Bibliothèque municipale, 1043, qui se situe plus en amont de la création du cycle iconographique de la chronique que son état dégradé ne pourrait le laisser croire. Dans la seconde partie de l’article nous interrogerons le rôle de l’image-seuil qui se démarque du texte et fonctionne comme une entité indépendante. Le choix du sujet de l’image-seuil – la création d’Ève dans une grande partie des manuscrits – ne s’inspire pas directement du texte auquel elle se rapporte, mais s’explique par le surplus de sens que l’image introduit et qui dénote le registre sérieux et la valeur du livre que le lecteur tient entre ses mains.This article examines the complex relations between image and text in the illuminated manuscripts of the Chronique dite de Baudouin d’Avesnes, dating from the 13th to the 15th century. In the first part I explore the practice of cutting out images in several manuscripts, which contributes to the emancipation of the miniature as an object. The loss of illuminations, resulting sometimes in the loss of whole folios, may hinder the recognition of a manuscript’s place within the tradition, as evidenced by the case of Arras, Bibliothèque municipale, 1043, largely ignored by scholars despite the fact that it preserves what is probably the original iconographic cycle of the chronicle. In the second part of the article I study the role of the first miniature, which is separate from the text and functions as an independent entity. The choice of subject for the first miniature – the creation of Eve in many copies of our text – is not directly linked to the content of the chronicle, but is instead prompted by the image itself and its iconography, which informs the reader of the serious character of the book and adds value to the manuscript as an object.Questo articolo esamina la complessa relazione fra immagine e testo nei manoscritti miniati della Chronique dite de Baudouin d’Avesnes realizzati fra il XIII e il XV secolo. La prima parte tratta dell’asportazione delle miniature, una pratica di cui hanno sofferto alcuni manoscritti del nostro corpus e che dimostra l’emancipazione dell’imagine come oggetto. La sottrazione dell’immagine può occultare l’importanza di un manoscritto nella tradizione, come nel caso della copia d’Arras, Bibliothèque municipale, 1043, il cui stato di conservazione lacunoso ha scoraggiato i ricercatori e impedito di riconoscere l’importanza di questo testimone nella creazione del ciclo iconografico. La seconda parte dell’articolo è dedicata al ruolo della prima immagine dei manoscritti del corpus, la quale si allontana dal testo e funziona come un’entità indipendente. La scelta del soggetto – la creazione di Eva in parecchi manoscritti – non si ispira direttamente al testo, ma si spiega attraverso l’iconografia che informa il lettore sul carattere didattico del libro e il valore dell’oggetto che tiene tra le mani

MASS SURVEILLANCE AND DATA PROTECTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Abstract. The article considers the legitimacy of mass surveillance in the context of international human rights law and the existing mechanisms of protection of the right to respect for private life. The author notes that the problems concerning the protection of personal data of millions of people from mass surveillance should be solved both at the national and international levels. In this regard, covert surveillance is even more important in the context of the development of the Internet, as it is based on the creation of programmes and methods for monitoring the transmission of information online. Special attention is paid to data protection in global social networks, which are vulnerable and store personal data of billions of people. The article provides examples of case-law of the court of justice of the EU andthe ECtHR on the protection of personal data. Further, based on the examples of some countries, the prospects for the creation of a new international instrument for the regulation of surveillance are outlined and an attempt is made to identify the role of European countries and Russia in this process..Keywords: data protection; mass surveillance; human rights; Internet

Roadkill risk and population vulnerability in European birds and mammals

Roads represent a threat to biodiversity, primarily through increased mortality from collisions with vehicles. Although estimating roadkill rates is an important first step, how roads affect long-term population persistence must also be assessed. We developed a trait-based model to predict roadkill rates for terrestrial bird and mammalian species in Europe and used a generalized population model to estimate their long-term vulnerability to road mortality. We found that ~194 million birds and ~29 million mammals may be killed each year on European roads. The species that were predicted to experience the highest mortality rates due to roads were not necessarily the same as those whose long-term persistence was most vulnerable to road mortality. When evaluating which species or areas could be most affected by road development projects, failure to consider how roadkill affects populations may result in misidentifying appropriate targets for mitigation

Determinants of Tax Capacity for a Territory (The Case of the Russian Federal Districts)

In this article, the tax capacity of the territories in the Russian Federation was studied. The study was conducted based on the aggregation for eight federal districts, including data on 85 subjects of the Russian Federation from 2009–2018. To determine the factors that have the strongest impact on tax capacity at the subnational level, an econometric analysis of the panel data was performed using the Stata program. In the development of the model, tax share was used as the resulting indicator. The article analyzes the impact on tax share of 16 macroeconomic indicators that reflect the human and financial potential of taxpayers in a federal district, the investment attractiveness and innovative activity of the territory, as well as global financial and economic regulators. The hypothesis that due to significant differences in the socioeconomic development of territories, the determinants of tax capacity will differ by federal districts, was confirmed. However, it was proved that such differences are not related to the specific features of socioeconomic development inherent in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Among the selected factors in pooled regression, fixed effects, and random effects models, the level of employment of the population and the financial results of companies were considered the most significant. The significance of the level of employment of the population could be determined by a clear deficit in gross fixed capital accumulation against the background of a high degree of depreciation of fixed assets and the share of manual labor

Detection of diphtheria antitoxin by four different methods

ObjectiveTo investigate the reliability of the different methods used in Norway and Russia for detection of diphtheria antitoxin.MethodsOne hundred and twenty-two sera were selected among Russian serum samples previously collected for seroepidemiologic studies of diphtheria antitoxin. The sera were selected to cover the total antitoxin range and were analyzed by four different antidiphtheria toxin assays: an in vitro toxin neutralization test using Vero cells (in vitro NT), an in vivo neutralization test using rabbit skin inoculation (in vivo NT), an indirect enzyme immunoassay (EIA) and a passive hemagglutination assay (PHA). The results were expressed according to the international standard as: not protected (<0.01 IU/mL), relatively protected (0.01–0.1 IU/mL) or protected (≤0.1 IU/mL). The sensitivity, specificity and inter-rater agreement (K or Kw) of each method were related to the in vitro NT selected as the reference method.ResultsThe in vivo NT test corresponded very well with the in vitro NT in its ability to differentiate between protection/relative protection and no protection (sensitivity 97%, specificity 87% and K=0.84). The EIA test showed a high sensitivity (96%), but since many sera were categorized as protected rather than not protected, the specificity (30%) and inter-rater agreement (K=0.29) were low. The PHA test had a very high specificity (100%) but a low sensitivity (86%).ConclusionsThe agreement between the two neutralization tests was high. If none of the neutralization assays is routinely available, the PHA test can be used to predict the need for vaccination on an individual basis but should not be used for seroepidemiologic studies, since the protection rate for diphtheria would be falsely too low, due to the lower sensitivity. The indirect EIA test used in this study should not be used routinely

Natural Afforestation on Abandoned Agricultural Lands during Post-Soviet Period: A Comparative Landsat Data Analysis of Bordering Regions in Russia and Belarus

Remote monitoring of natural afforestation processes on abandoned agricultural lands is crucial for assessments and predictions of forest cover dynamics, biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services. In this work, we built on the general approach of combining satellite and field data for forest mapping and developed a simple and robust method for afforestation dynamics assessment. This method is based on Landsat imagery and index-based thresholding and specifically targets suitability for limited field data. We demonstrated method’s details and performance by conducting a case study for two bordering districts of Rudnya (Smolensk region, Russia) and Liozno (Vitebsk region, Belarus). This study area was selected because of the striking differences in the development of the agrarian sectors of these countries during the post-Soviet period (1991-present day). We used Landsat data to generate a consistent time series of five-year cloud-free multispectral composite images for the 1985–2020 period via the Google Earth Engine. Three spectral indices, each specifically designed for either forest, water or bare soil identification, were used for forest cover and arable land mapping. Threshold values for indices classification were both determined and verified based on field data and additional samples obtained by visual interpretation of very high-resolution satellite imagery. The developed approach was applied over the full Landsat time series to quantify 35-year afforestation dynamics over the study area. About 32% of initial arable lands and grasslands in the Russian district were afforested by the end of considered period, while the agricultural lands in Belarus’ district decreased only by around 5%. Obtained results are in the good agreement with the previous studies dedicated to the agricultural lands abandonment in the Eastern Europe region. The proposed method could be further developed into a general universally applicable technique for forest cover mapping in different growing conditions at local and regional spatial levels