New Trends in Homeric Scholarship Homer’s Name, Underworld and Lyric Voice

This paper hosts three case-studies that are meant to be representative of paradigm-shifting trends in Homeric Studies and to cater to specialists and non-specialists alike. Boosted by new archaeological findings and by an increased awareness of Homer’s Near-Eastern entanglements, the “historicity” of the poems has regained centre stage. Against this backdrop, Andrea Debiasi develops a persuasive interpretation of Homer’s name, whose meaning points to the performative-agonistic dimension of Homeric poetry in the context of the clashes that characterized Euboia in the archaic age. By contrast, George Gazis focuses on the one aspect of the Homeric world that cannot possibly be mapped onto space and history, namely Hades. The underworld is unfathomable even for the gods, which accounts for its potential as a trigger of poetic invention. No less than Debiasi’s, this approach resonates with recent scholarship: a return to “history” is often complemented by an opposite, but fully compatible, “symbolic” trend, which has unraveled the systematic juxtaposition, in Homer’s world, between “history” and symbolic constructs. Finally, Cecilia Nobili shows that Homeric epics builds on pre-existing poetic genres such as elegy, although the earliest extant examples of the latter date to a later time. The claim that lyric poetry emerges though a confrontation with epics, then, is no less plausible than its opposite. One more important consequence of Nobili’s approach is that the “subjective” turn scholars have long recognized in Hellenistic and Roman epics is in fact firmly grounded in Homer himself.L’articolo presenta un saggio di alcune fra le tendenze che più hanno rinnovato gli studi omerici negli ultimi anni e che più possono interessare anche i non specialisti. Nel quadro del rinnovato interesse per la “storicità” dei poemi, favorita da nuove scoperte archeologiche e da una migliore conoscenza degli stretti rapporti fra epica greca e tradizioni vicino-orientali, Andrea Debiasi propone una convincente interpretazione del nome di Omero, che indica in lui il “performer-agonista” per eccellenza e ne proietta la biografia fantastica sullo sfondo delle guerre che segnarono l’Eubea in età arcaica. Quello che in Omero è chiaramente fuori dalla carta geografica e dal tempo storico è invece oggetto dello studio di George Gazis, dedicato all’Ade: un mondo invisibile agli stessi dèi, sottratto al tempo allo spazio e quindi luogo di incubazione per la consapevole invenzione, anche poetica – negli studi recenti, il ritorno della “storia” è andato di pari passo con la tendenza opposta ma perfettamente compatibile di ritrovare nei poemi una giustapposi-zione continua e sistematica fra realia e rappresentazioni simboliche. Infine, Cecilia Nobili mostra che l’epica omerica presuppone l’esistenza di generi poetici, come l’elegia, che sono attestati solo in epiche più tarde: dire che la lirica nasce da un confronto oppositivo con l’epica si rivela quindi non più vero del suo contrario, e la svolta “soggettiva” spesso attribuita all’epica ellenistica e poi romana ha in realtà un saldo ancoraggio nello stesso Omero

Bid Regulates the Pathogenesis of Neurotropic Reovirus

Reovirus infection leads to apoptosis in both cultured cells and the murine central nervous system (CNS). NF-κB-driven transcription of proapoptotic cellular genes is required for the effector phase of the apoptotic response. Although both extrinsic death-receptor signaling pathways and intrinsic pathways involving mitochondrial injury are implicated in reovirus-induced apoptosis, mechanisms by which either of these pathways are activated and their relationship to NF-κB signaling following reovirus infection are unknown. The proapoptotic Bcl-2 family member, Bid, is activated by proteolytic cleavage following reovirus infection. To understand how reovirus integrates host signaling circuits to induce apoptosis, we examined proapoptotic signaling following infection of Bid-deficient cells. Although reovirus growth was not affected by the absence of Bid, cells lacking Bid failed to undergo apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that NF-κB activation is required for Bid cleavage and subsequent proapoptotic signaling. To examine the functional significance of Bid-dependent apoptosis in reovirus disease, we monitored fatal encephalitis caused by reovirus in the presence and absence of Bid. Survival of Bid-deficient mice was significantly enhanced in comparison to wild-type mice following either peroral or intracranial inoculation of reovirus. Decreased reovirus virulence in Bid-null mice was accompanied by a reduction in viral yield. These findings define a role for NF-κB-dependent cleavage of Bid in the cell death program initiated by viral infection and link Bid to viral virulence

Mechanistic framework to link root growth models with weather and soil physical properties, including example applications to soybean growth in Brazil

Background and aimsRoot elongation is generally limited by a combination of mechanical impedance and water stress in most arable soils. However, dynamic changes of soil penetration resistance with soil water content are rarely included in models for predicting root growth. Better modelling frameworks are needed to understand root growth interactions between plant genotype, soil management, and climate. Aim of paper is to describe a new model of root elongation in relation to soil physical characteristics like penetration resistance, matric potential, and hypoxia.MethodsA new diagrammatic framework is proposed to illustrate the interaction between root elongation, soil management, and climatic conditions. The new model was written in Matlab®, using the root architecture model RootBox and a model that solves the 1D Richards equations for water flux in soil. Inputs: root architectural parameters for Soybean; soil hydraulic properties; root water uptake function in relation to matric flux potential; root elongation rate as a function of soil physical characteristics. Simulation scenarios: (a) compact soil layer at 16 to 20 cm; (b) test against a field experiment in Brazil during contrasting drought and normal rainfall seasons.Results(a) Soil compaction substantially slowed root growth into and below the compact layer. (b) Simulated root length density was very similar to field measurements, which was influenced greatly by drought. The main factor slowing root elongation in the simulations was evaluated using a stress reduction function.ConclusionThe proposed framework offers a way to explore the interaction between soil physical properties, weather and root growth. It may be applied to most root elongation models, and offers the potential to evaluate likely factors limiting root growth in different soils and tillage regimes

A hybrid prefractal three-band antenna for multistandard mobile wireless applications

In this letter, the synthesis of a miniaturized threeband planar antenna working in GSM and WiFi frequency bands is described. The reference geometry for the synthesis of the antenna is a hybrid prefractal shape obtained by integrating a Sierpinski-like and a Meander-like structure. The synthesis of the geometrical parameters of the antenna has been performed by means of a customized Particle Swarm strategy to yield electrical parameters within given specifications. In order to show the effectiveness of the approach, some results from the numerical synthesis procedure are described and a comparison between simulations and experimental measurements is reported