Journal articles on the topic 'Catalan crown'

Riassunto: Nel presente lavoro viene analizzato il fenomeno del code switching in una prospettiva storico-sociale. In particolare, focalizzeremo la nostra attenzione su cinque lettere bilingui del Codice Aragonese (1458-1460), un registro cancelleresco della corte aragonese a Napoli, in cui si passa dal catalano o dal castigliano al napoletano e viceversa. Analizzando il contesto storico e sociale nel quale le lettere sono state scritte, proveremo a trarre delle conclusioni sulle motivazioni per cui si è realizzato il rispettivo cambio di codice linguistico. Nello stesso modo cercheremo di spiegare la tendenza di esprimersi in catalano in situazioni emozionali o di tensione politica, ma anche in contesti personali, per creare un’atmosfera di prossimità o di intimità.Parole chiave: Catalano, Napoletano, Sociolinguistica, Corte aragonese, Bilinguismo, Code switchingAbstract: This article is devoted to the phenomenon of code switching, related to a sociohistorical perspective. Particularly, we focuse on five bilingual documents of the Codice Aragonese, a codex from the chancellery of the Aragonese Crown at Naples in the 15th century. We analyze the historical and social context in which the letters have been written, in order to outline the motivation to change the linguistic code, this is, from the Catalan or Castilian language to the Neapolitan one, or vice versa. At the same time, we like to demonstrate the tendency of writing in Catalan in emotional situations or under strong political tension, but also in familiary contexts to create proximity and intimacy.Keywords: Catalan, Neapolitan, sociolinguistics, Catalan-Aragonese Crown, Bilingualism, Code switching

AbstractAlthough standards of modesty, custom, and law imposed limitations on the range of public activities of Jewish women, examples from the thirteenth-century Crown of Aragon show how, by the selective reliance on male relatives, and the use of agents, women were able to maneuver within those limitations, and sometimes to use them to their advantage.

Resumen: Edición crítica y estudio histórico, formal y lingüístico del discurso con el que Juan II de Aragón abrió, el 13 de noviembre de 1469, las cortes generales de Monzón. En plena guerra civil catalana, los rebeldes habían ofrecido la corona a Renato de Anjou, y la llegada desde Francia de su hijo, el duque de Lorena, con un poderoso ejército obligaba a pedir subsidios para afrontar la grave situación. En este parlamento, una de las escasas muestras de aragonés tardío conservadas, el monarca hizo un relato autobiográfico de su reinado de innegable sesgo maniqueo. Palabras clave: Juan II de Aragón, oratoria parlamentaria, Corona de Aragón, cortes generales, siglo XV, guerra civil catalana, lengua aragonesa Abstract: This article contains the critical edition and study (history, form and language) of John II of Aragon’s opening speech, which took place at the general court in Monzón on 13th November 1469. At the height of Catalan Civil War, the rebels had offered the crown to Renato of Anjou. However, his son’s arrival, the duke of Lorena, from France with a powerful army forced the king to ask for benefits in order to face up to the grave situation. In this discourse, one of the few remaining samples of the late Aragonese language, the king produced an autobiographical account of his reign with an undeniable manichaen guidance. Keywords: Juan II of Aragon, parlamentari oratory, Crown of Aragon, General Courts, !5th. century, Catalan Civil War, aragonese language

After an outline of present-day ‘glocalization problems’ of the European Community this article analyses the problem of whether the centralizing policy of the Spanish Bourbon government after the War of Spanish Succession provides historical evidence on the origins of contemporary Catalan nationalism, as often argued, or not. Referring briefly to the medieval and early modern imperial traditions of both the Aragonese kingdoms, especially of Catalonia and its predominant city of Barcelona, and the Castilian kingdoms, the article argues that during the 18th century the Crown made strong efforts to integrate Catalans into the imperial government and trade and spent large quantities of fiscal income in the modernization of Catalonia as a central base of its Mediterranean policy. Therefore, the historical origins of present-day nationalism have to be explained in the context of more recent historical phenomena in the context of the so-called ‘uncompleted Spanish national project’.

The War of the Spanish Succession affected the entire continent of Europe directly or indirectly. Within the Spanish Monarchy, Catalonia and the other states of the Crown of Aragon sided with Archduke Charles of Austria (Charles III), while Crown of Castile lent its support to Duke Philip of Anjou (Philip V). After the Peace of Utrecht, Catalonia prolonged its resistance for 14 more months under a republican government. At the end of the war, the victors imposed repression, exile and the end to the Catalan constitucions.

Resum: En el present article oferim una edició crítica del Llibre de cetreria, un breu tractat de falconeria escrit en català i conservat en manuscrit únic pertanyent a una col·lecció privada. També n’estudiem l’estructura i el contingut, a més de les relacions amb altres obres de falconeria, especialment les escrites a la Corona d’Aragó. Oferim una hipòtesi sobre la identificació del seu autor i l’època de la composició del tractat. Com que es tracta de l’obra escrita en català que major nombre d’ocells de caça esmenta, a la present edició ens ha semblant oportú de fer una exposició detallada de les aus emprades pels caçadors, com també tota la terminologia que la llengua catalana va desenvolupar per a referir-s’hi.Paraules clau: falconeria, caça, noblesa, Corona d’Aragó, ocells de presa. Abstract: In this article we offer a critical edition of Llibre de cetreria [Book of falconry], a brief treatise of falconry written in Catalan. It is kept as a sole manuscript belonging to a private collection. We study its structure and content, as well as its relations with other falconry archive documents, namely written in the Crown of Aragon. We formulate a hypothesis about the authorship and the age when the treatise was written. This is the Catalan treatise naming the greatest number of birds of prey. Hence, in this edition we offer a thorough exposition of the birds used by hunters, and the related terminology that was developed in Catalan.Key words: falconry, hunting, nobility, Crown of Aragon, birds of prey.

The town of Barcelona in Venezuela, with a present population of nearly half a million inhabitants, is – by far – the most important New World settlement bearing the name of Catalonia’s capital. It owes its name to its founder, Joan Orpí i del Pou, also known as Juan de Orpín or Urpín (Piera, 1593 – Barcelona, Venezuela, 1645), who managed to distinguish himself as one of the last conquistadors within the territory of present-day Venezuela. This was no easy task since a Catalan was, technically, not allowed to reside or even to travel to lands under the exclusive control of the Crown of Castille and León. However, since its foundation in 1638, Nueva Barcelona del Cerro Santo was soon to become a sort of Catalan enclave in eastern Venezuela, particularly due to the influence of the Catalan Capuchin missionaries who, since the end of the 17th century on, used it as a base for inland penetration. Similarly, Venezuela’s Barcelona was one of the important trading posts for the Compañía de Comercio de Barcelona, following the latter’s foundation in 1755. A sizeable community of Catalan merchants ensured the town’s growth and prosperity at the turn of the 19th century. This community also fuelled a strong resistance against the independence movement from 1810 onwards, as Barcelona was to become a savagely disputed prey between royalist and patriot armies: the episode of the Casa Fuerte massacre in 1817 is still today remembered as a landmark of royalist cruelty, even though the revenge later exerted by the patriot troops in no way fell behind in terms of mercilessness. The Catalans were particularly singled out and, with few exceptions, were all either killed or forced to leave.

ABSTRACTThe political significance of Spanish reason-of-state literature has been studied almost exclusively from the perspective of imperial institutions, in particular the monarchy. This article argues that there was a distinctive political perspective in the crown of Aragon, based on its constitutional traditions, which inspired a particular kind of ‘reason of state’. Focusing on the works of a Catalan nobleman, Don Francisco Gilabert, the argument goes on to show that this constitutional thought was able to articulate a project of reform alternative to that of the minister of Philip IV, the count-duke of Olivares, and that therefore it cannot be merely analysed (as it often has been) as an anachronistic form of aristocratic self-seeking. On the contrary, by denying the king the power of absolute sovereignty, and by insisting on the idea of a mixed constitution, Gilabert's approach was able to articulate republican ideals, even though at the cost of some fundamental ambiguities concerning the idea of empire. It is suggested that the recognition of this distinctive intellectual tradition has important implications for the overall interpretation of the course of Spanish history in the seventeenth century, before and after the Catalan revolt of 1640.

Abstract The aim of this article is to present the Haskamot of Barcelona of 1354 in their political and legal context. These agreements were a response to the difficult situation faced by the Jews of the Crown of Aragon in the 14th c., when natural and human disasters threatened the survival of their communities. The target of this project was to assemble all the aljamas of the Crown in a supra-communal assembly of representatives. The drafters also wished to achieve a number a measures from the King and the Church improving the delicate situation of Catalan-Aragonese Jewry. These Haskamot, despite not succeeding in their objectives, are a perfect starting point for any research on the legal and jurisdictional relations between Christians and Jews.

During the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302) the Crown of Aragon developed a system to provide food for the crews of the Catalan-Aragonese fleet. This was no small undertaking as even when the fleet mustered only the minimal number of galleys the Office of the Admiral had to provide food for well over 3000 men for up to five months. Not only did tons food have to be gathered, it had to be prepared and stored for months at sea. All of this effort, of course, was to ensure the crews had an adequate diet. Their work was hard, particularly that of the rowers, and insufficient nutrition and calories could have seriously affected the fleet’s performance. Rowing required a great deal of energy and the diet had to provide the necessary calories if the men were to stay in fighting condition. Like other Christian fleets of the period, the meals consisted of cheese, meat mixed in a salsa of vegetables, biscotti and wine. However, the proportions of these elements were distinctly different from that in other fleets, and may reflect a distinct operational philosophy. This research note investigates the food provided to the crews in order to discover the nutrition and calories received by the typical crewman and to determine whether these were in fact sufficient for the gruelling work in which they were employed.

Resum: En aquest article es fa un estat de la qüestió sobre la història de la Universitats amb un estudi comparatiu de les Universitats de la Corona d’Aragó i, en particular, de les catalanes, amb les Universitats castellanes. S’examina la problemàtica institucional amb les tensions entre l’Església, la Monarquia i els Municipis pel control universitari, la població estudiantil, l’oferta cultural, en les diverses Facultats, l’estructura econòmica, la càrrega docent i la presumpta «revolució educativa» des de la segona meitat de segle xvi. S’analitza, d’altra banda, el període de la decadència final de les Universitats catalanes i la significació de Cervera amb el debat entre jesuïtes i dominics al voltant de la Universitat creada per Felip V i el paper de centres culturals alternatius com l’Acadèmia de Sant Tomàs o l’Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona. Paraules clau: Història de les Universitats, problemàtica institucional, càrrega docent, revolució educativa segle xvi, Cervera al segle XVIII Abstract: This article presents a state of the art on the history of Universities with a comparative study of the Universities of the Crown of Aragon and particularly of the Universities of the Crown of Aragon.The institutional problem is examined with the tensions between the Church, the Monarchy and the Municipalities by the university control, the student population, the cultural supply, in the diverse Faculties, the economic structure, the teaching load and the alleged «revolution educational» of the second half of the 16th century. It also analyses the period of the final decay of the Catalan Universities and the significance of Cervera with the debate between Jesuits and Dominicans around the University, create by Philip V, and the role of alternative cultural centres such as the one. Academia de Sant Tomàs or the Academy of Good Letters of Barcelona. Keywords: History of universities, institutional problems, teaching load, educational revolution sixteenth century, Cervera in the 18th century

Resum: L’article ressegueix l’itinerari històric de l’Estudi, o Universitat, dominica de Tortosa, institució fundada el 1529, que atorgà graus d’Arts i Teologia fins al 1717, any de l’abolició de les universitats catalanes per Felip V. El centre gaudí d’un reconegut prestigi i fou un pol d’atracció per a alumnes de tota la Corona d’Aragó. Cal notar que l’abolició del 1717 no va significar el tancament de les aules, sinó la privació d’atorgar graus acadèmics. Així, podem dir que l’activitat pedagògica continuà fins el 1824, any de la fundació d’un seminari conciliar. Paraules clau: Universitat de Tortosa, orígens, extenció, Catalunya, estudis universitaris Abstract: This paper explains the history of the dominican Convent-university of Tortosa. This institution, founded in 1529, was entitled to award degrees in arts and theology until the merging of all Catalan universities into the new center of Cervera, in 1717. The well-known and prestigious University of Tortosa attracted students all over the Crown of Aragon. Though the center was disallowed to confer degrees, the 1717 abolishment was not the end of the pedagogical activity, which continued until the foundation of a conciliar Seminary, in 1824. Keywords: University of Tortosa, foundation, extinction, Catalonia, universitary studies

The cult of St George in the Eastern Mediterranean is one of the most extraordinary examples of cohabitation among different religious communities. For a long time, Greek Orthodox, Latins, and Muslims shared shrines dedicated to the Cappadocian warrior in very different places. This phenomenon touches on two aspects of the cult—the intercultural and the transcultural—that should be considered separately. My paper mainly focuses on the cross-cultural value of the cult and the iconography of St George in continental and insular Greece during the Latinokratia (13th–14th centuries). In this area, we face the same phenomenon with similar contradictions to those found in Turkey or Palestine, where George was shared by different communities, but could also serve to strengthen the identity of a particular ethnic group. Venetians, Franks, Genoese, Catalans, and Greeks (Ῥωμαῖοι) sought the protection of St George, and in this process, they tried to physically or figuratively appropriate his image. However, in order to gain a better understanding of the peculiar situation in Frankish-Palaiologian Greece, it is necessary first to analyze the use of images of St George by the Palaiologian dynasty (1261–1453). Later, we will consider this in relation to the cult and the depiction of the saint on a series of artworks and monuments in Frankish and Catalan Greece. The latter enables us to more precisely interrogate the significance of the former cult of St George in the Crown of Aragon and assess the consequences of the rulership of Greece for the flourishing of his iconography in Late Gothic art.

Despite well-founded doubts about the viability of the coalition (which had insufficient support of the deputies for the adoption of important laws), a well-built strategy of political communication during the pandemic allowed the cabinet of ministers not only to withstand, but also to strengthen its positions. Over the past year, a number of strategically important decisions, both from a political and image point of view, have been adopted. The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on the legislative process. The solution to the Catalan problem faded into the background. In part, this was due to the need for early parliamentary elections in the region and the alleged regrouping of political forces. The revealed facts of possible financial abuse of the honorary king hurt the image of the Crown, but the measures taken today to restore prestige are bearing fruit. Among the electoral trends noted, it is worth highlighting the strengthening of positions of socialists and rightwing populists (especially following the results of early regional elections in Catalonia), as well as a decline in support for left-wing populism. Ciudadanos' position remains unstable: on the one hand, it managed to slightly regain its position in early 2020, but further growth in support stalled, and poor results in the Catalan elections once again raised the question of whether the party has a future. Conservatives, by contrast, have established themselves as the leader of the bloc. Having lost a share of supporters at the beginning of the study period, they tried with all their might to restore the balance, periodically changing the strategy of actions.

Resumen:En este artículo se ofrece una balance de la monarquía española durante 40 años, desde la sucesión de Franco Bahamonde por Juan Carlos I hasta la abdicación y la sucesión de Felipe VI. Por último se hace una propuesta dereforma constitucional en doce puntos.Abstract:In this article we offer a balance of the monarchy Spanish for 40 years, since the succession of Franco Bahamonde until the abdication of Juan Carlos I and the succession of Felipe VI. Finally, a proposal for a constitutional amendement is made in twelve points.Summary:1. Introduction. 2. From the Francoist Dictatorship to the establishment of the monarchy. 3. Monarchy and demolition of the Franco regime. 4. Monarchy and Constitution: 4.1. The Monarchy after the promulgation of the Constitution. 4.2. Succession system. Oath. 4.3. Monarchy and Armed Forces. 4.4. Inviolability and International Criminal Court. 5. Monarchy and public opinion. 6. Abdication of Juan Carlos I. 7. From Crown Prince to Felipe VI: 7.1. Apprenticeship. 7.2. A monarchy renewed for a new time. 8. Catalan crisis and message right. 8. Twelve touches to the Institution: 8.1. Approach. 8.2. No need for constitutional reform. 8.3. With mandatory constitutional reform.

During the 14th century, Catalan towns, together with those in the rest of the Crown of Aragon, issued enormous quantities of long-term debt, which took the form of sales of perpetual and lifelong annuities ("censals morts" and "violaris"), in order to finance their numerous economic needs of different types. As a consequence of the growing issuing of debt instruments, town governments had to build a fiscal system of increasing complexity to satisfy the rising annual interests. The system was based on a set of indirect taxes over commerce and the consumption of certain food and manufactured products. Castelló d’Empúries was not an exception and the town engaged and consolidated long-term debt between approximately 1350 and 1375. This article analyses the evolution of the taxes on food that the town government of Castelló was administering during this period (yield, tariffs and exempt groups), applied on wine and grapes, meat, cereal milling, bread, oil, fish and pigs. On these grounds, the article assesses whether the increasing town debt resulted in a growing tax pressure on its inhabitants, and offers an overview of the main food types that were commercialised in Castelló during the 14th century.

Dejando a un lado el ingente número de catalanismos presentes en la traducción al castellano del De re rustica de Palladio, atribuida a Ferrer Saiol, en el presente trabajo se analizan algunos de los también muchos aragonesismos que la pueblan. En concreto, se presenta un estudio sistemático de once de ellos: conrear, empeltar, borrò ~ borrons, senalla, lambrusca, brocada, entrecavar, palafangar, pámpano, espleyto y espleytar. Algunas son formas que el catalán compartía con el aragonés, pero no con el castellano, donde tampoco tuvieron un amplio recorrido. No obstante, la importancia del aragonés no hemos de medirla solo por los aragonesismos que se introdujeron en castellano, sino también por el hecho previo de que no dudaran los traductores en servirse de ellos, a sabiendas, incluso, de que muchos no iban a pervivir. Es la prueba de una actitud abierta hacia las lenguas de la Corona de Aragón. Leaving aside the huge numbre of catalanisms present in the Spanish translation of Palladio’s De re rustica, atributed to Ferrer Saiol, in this paper some of the many aragonesisms that populate it are also analyzed. Specifically, a systematic study of eleven of them is presented: conrear, empeltar, borrò ~ borrons, senalla, lambrusca, brocada, entrecavar, palafangar, pámpano, espleyto and espleytar. Some are forms that Catalan shared with Aragonese, but not with Castilian, where they did not have a long life either. However, the importance of Aragonese should not be measured only by the aragonesisms that were introduced into Spanish, but also by the fact that the translators did not hesitate to use them, even knowing that many were not going to survive. It is proof of an open attitude towards the languages of the Crown of Aragon.

In the context of the recent years’ events, the problem of Catalonia’s national identity is relevant not only for Spain but for Europe in general. The long-lasting academic debate between supporters of Catalonia’s independence and those who advocate its integration with the titular people of Spain has led to emergence of a large number of researches and journalistic works that analyze nationalism, inter-ethnic cooperation, public relations, features of propaganda and crowd manipulation, and other important issues. The article describes and analyzes the various approaches to studying the problem of the Catalans’ national identity, the dynamic of the thought and its national features in Spanish academic discourse in the period from early 2000s to the present. In that period, Spanish academic community formed several schools of thought focusing on the problem of national identity of particular regions. Although the schools have opposing views on the problem, they all take into account political, economic, social, cultural and linguistic factors that are able to generate scenarios of the nation’s development and face modern challenges. What makes the approaches different is interpretation of the ways and models of people unification, and analysis of the centuries-old traditions. The division of the research works on Catalan’s nationalism by the language criteria into Spanish-written and Catalan-written ones is almost equal. However, there is a stable trend to political or ideological biasing of academic texts, which results in them acquiring elements of journalistic style.

Catalina de Erauso, la “monja alférez”, la mujer-soldado, se sintió cómoda vestida de hombre, se comportaba como hombre, aprovechándose de todo lo que implicaba el estatus del varón. Pero en la situación de amenaza para su vida decidió desvelarse y aprovecharse de su condición de mujer, y más aún: de una mujer particularmente valiosa: la “virgen intacta”. Su virilidad junto con su virginidad permitieron que en su tiempo se viera a Catalina como una “buena ciudadana de la Corona”.

This article examines the sociological value of Elias Canetti’s work on crowds and power. It explores crowd action and imagery in the push for Catalan independence through the analysis of materials published on Twitter by Tsunami Democràtic, which emerged to coordinate the response to the sentencing of Catalan political leaders after the unilateral declaration of independence. It then goes on to discuss how a crowd-based approach offers a supplementary perspective to contemporary studies of populism, on the one hand, and to accounts that primarily focus on the role of social media in organizing political protest movements, on the other. An analysis of crowds not only avoids both methodological holism and methodological individualism. It also helps to understand why so many people were mobilized beyond the power of concepts, ideologies and discourse.

Resumen: Los Triunfos de Petrarca gozaron de una amplia difusión en Europa, influyendo no sólo en la literatura. En el presente artícilo tratamos de ofrecer una visión de cómo la obra del italiano se dejó sentir en la Península Ibérica y, especialmente, en la Corona de Aragón. En este sentido, es remarcable la inspiración que supuso el Triunfo del Amor, para el autor anónimo del Curial e Güelfa, aunque también se pueden encontrar rastros en otras obras.Palabras clave: Curial e Güelfa; Petrarca; Triunfos; tradición literaria; humanismo; Corona de AragónAbstract: The Trionfi of Petrarch enjoyed a wide circulation in Europe, influencing not only in literature. In this article we try to offer a vision of how the work of Italian writer was felt in the Iberian Peninsula and, especially, in the Crown of Aragon. In this sense, it is very remarkable the inspiration from the Trionfo dell’Amore for the anonymous author of Curial, although traces can also be found in other works.Keywords: Curial e Güelfa; Petrarca; Trionfi; literary tradition; Humanism, Crown of Aragon

A widespread fear of dying from poison seized the upper classes of European society in the 14th cen-tury, as the inventories of the wealthy and a growing number of treatises on this subject attest. This arti-cle surveys the social context that probably gave rise to this fear and the contents of specialised works on this subject. It also examines the range of precautions against an attempt to poison the king contained in the ordinances that ruled domestic life in the royal courts of Mallorca and the Crown of Aragon.

The superoxide radical O2.-, whether produced by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase reaction or infused as KO2, solubilized by a crown ether in dry dimethyl sulphoxide, initiated a free-radical chain oxidation of anionic 2-nitropropane. Superoxide dismutase, but not catalase, inhibited oxidation of the nitroalkane. Xanthine oxidase suffered a syncatalytic inactivation, during the co-oxidation of 2-nitropropane, which was reversed by dialysis. Cyanide exacerbated this syncatalytic inactivation and rendered it irreversible. The frequently observed oxidations of nitroalkanes by flavoenzymes now need to be re-examined to clarify the extent to which O2.--initiated free-radical chain oxidation contributed to the overall nitroalkane oxidation.

Rose (Rosa hybrida Vill.) production is limited by a variety of factors such as poor mineral nutrition, high salinity, pests and diseases. Crown gall disease caused by Agrobacterium tumefaciens causes a significant damage to roses in Kenya. The study was carried out in Winchester farm (Nairobi) and Bahati farm (Nakuru) to determine the effects of a mixture of amino oligosaccharins and Alternaria fine proteins on crown gall disease in roses. The experiment was conducted on Rosa hybrida var. Mariyo in a Randomized Complete Block Design with four replications. The treatments comprised of different rates 0.5, 1, 1.5g/L of water of the product at 3% concentration applied as foliar spray and a commonly used product copper sulphate pentahydrate (Mastercop) produced by ADAMA applied at 2ml/ L as the standard and water as a negative control. Crown gall tissues were collected from four different roses per treatment from the two sites, counted and used for biochemical tests in Kabete laboratory. Bacteria were isolated by culturing and the representative colony types growing on nutrient agar media selected and sub-cultured by successive streaking on nutrient agar media. The biochemical test for the different isolates was done to identify the bacterial isolates. Application of the mixture of amino oligosaccharins and Alternaria activated protein at the rate of 1.5g/L had significant effects on galls formation and reduced the numbers significantly at both farms. The gram reaction indicated that the selected isolates were gram negative and were positive for motility, catalase, oxidase, lactose, mannitol, and salt tolerance tests. There was a significant reduction in the number of galls and size following the application of amino oligosaccharins and Alternaria fine proteins as well as improvement in plant growth. The ability to manage the disease can be attributed to enhanced defense enzyme activity enhanced by amino oligosaccharins and Alternaria fine proteins.

In this study, the antagonistic effect of five bacteria genera namely Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and Streptomyces isolated from rhizosphere of wheat were evaluated against Fusarium graminearum as potential biocontrol agents in vitro. F. graminearum was molecularly diagnosed using the Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Each bacteria were tested for the production of catalase enzyme, oxidase enzyme, analysis of starch, analyze of gelatin, and the motility, where Azotobacter, Azospirillum, and Bacillus subtilis were positive for all tested. Fungal inhibition tests were performed by using the dual culture method and agar well diffusion technique. Among them, Streptomyces and Azospirillum exhibited potent inhibition to the growth of F. graminearum (72.14% and 66.42%) respectively, followed by B.pumillus, P.fluorescens, B. subtilis and Azotobacter ( 58.28%, 43.23%, 39.71% and 35.71%) respectively as compared with the control treatment (0.0%).The dry weight of the fungus biomass was decreased with bacteria P. fluorescens, Streptomyces sp, Azotobacter sp, Azospirillum sp, B. subtilis, and B. pumillus which reached (0.114, 0.103, 0.147, 0.101, 0.143, and 0.107 g) respectively compared to the control treatment that was 0. 665 g.

Did medieval women who wore the crown share a common notion of queenship or recognize their own membership in a privileged group? Throughout medieval Europe the most salient images of queenship were those of wife, mother, and intercessor, familiar to the general population through Biblical and literary sources. This essay suggests that medieval Mediterranean queens were, in fact, aware of the power and influence that their role as intercessor afforded them. Two texts composed by the Aragonese queen Violant de Bar are used to shed light on a notion of queenship seemingly understood by her contemporaries, both male and female. The proemi or prologue of the queen’s address on judicial reform to the Catalano-Aragonese corts generals of 1388-1389 and a lengthy letter (1421) to queen María of Castile reference the responsibilities of the queen in mediating tensions and hostilities between the king and his rivals. From these documents, one gleans that queenship in early fifteenth-century Mediterranean Europe appears to have been viewed by its practitioners as a divinely-appointed office that entailed grave responsibility, as well as influence, by means of its emphasis on intercession.

Annual bluegrass (Poa annua var. reptans), when grown as a putting green species, is sensitive to winter injury such as ice cover. Inhibiting plant ethylene production could be a way to improve annual bluegrass tolerance of ice encasement. The goals of this study were to determine how winter conditions and ethylene regulatory treatments affect the antioxidant system, fatty acid composition, and apoplastic proteins of annual bluegrass plant tissues. Ethylene-promotive (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid or ethephon) and ethylene inhibition treatments [aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG)] were applied to plants in the field during acclimation. Plant plugs were taken and subjected to low temperature (−4 °C) and ice-encasement treatments in growth chamber conditions. Antioxidant activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured along with malondialdehyde content (MDA) and apoplastic protein content in leaf and crown tissue. Saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents were measured in leaf, crown, and root tissue. Higher unsaturated fatty acids are often associated with greater low-temperature tolerance. Compared with the untreated controls, ethephon-treated annual bluegrass had greater MDA contents, lower POD and SOD activity, and greater saturated and decreased unsaturated fatty acids. Ethylene inhibition treatments caused annual bluegrass to have less saturated fatty acid content and greater unsaturated fatty acid content, a greater content of apoplast proteins, and higher CAT activity when compared with the untreated controls. The activity of APX was greater in AVG-treated annual bluegrass than in controls. Ethylene may reduce physiological health overwinter, and inhibitory treatments may promote winter tolerance by promoting antioxidant activity, apoplast proteins, and the content of unsaturated fatty acids in plant tissues.

A doença de Crohn (DC) faz parte de um conjunto de desordens inflamatórias do trato gastrointestinal de sintomatologia variada e caráter crônico. Evidências têm mostrado uma associação entre estresse oxidativo e DC. Nesse sentido, diferentes biomarcadores estão sendo estudados, porém ainda não há consenso. O objetivo deste estudo foi compilar os mais recentes estudos sobre o equilíbrio oxidante/antioxidante na DC em pacientes ativos e em remissão. Dentre os biomarcadores, os relacionados à peroxidação lipídica foram os mais estudados na DC. Observou-se que, mesmo com a doença sob controle, pacientes remissivos continuam a apresentar níveis de estresse oxidativo (danos oxidativos aos lipídeos e proteínas) altos e defesas antioxidantes (atividade de GPx e catalase) alteradas. Além disso, os níveis plasmáticos de selênio, um mineral com importante ação antioxidante, foram encontrados diminuídos nos pacientes, independentemente do estágio da doença. Esses achados demonstram a necessidade de monitorar o paciente em relação aos biomarcadores de estresse oxidativo e de defesa antioxidante, especialmente em períodos de remissão, em que o paciente não apresenta sintomas, porém mantém as alterações oxidativo-inflamatórias latentes. Os dados aqui discutidos poderão colaborar para a concepção e desenvolvimento de novas abordagens para pacientes com DC.

Illustrative examples from researches in the author’s laboratories are given of potentiometric ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) and catalytic membrane amperometric electrodes suitable for environmental analysis. The uses of sulphide ISEs are demonstrated for monitoring the activities of sulphate-reducing bacteria, in effluent analysis for sulphide, and in process/effluent analysis for sulphide, thiols and polysulphides. Diquat and paraquat ISEs are discussed in relation to their optimisation in terms of appropriate crown ether and ion-pairing agents, together with prospects of their uses. Catalytic membrane systems for use in electrochemical analysis may be based on metal oxide catalysts or enzymes. The best of the new metal oxide catalysts for hydrogen peroxide analysis in association with an oxygen electrode is based on manganese dioxide and offers an alternative to lead dioxide and catalase. An alternative membrane system for use with a platinum electrode is peroxidase in association with a mediator in order to permit a low potential approach for hydrogen peroxide sensing. Hydrogen peroxide is a product of many oxidase catalysed reactions and its electrochemical detection permits the analysis of a wide range of substrates, illustrated here for glucose in various food products and hypoxanthine in the spoilage of fish meats.

Vallisneria spiralis , a widely distributed wetland plant, was used to reveal how the light intensity at the top of the plant, plant morphology and antioxidant enzyme activity respond to different hydrologic conditions from Lake Poyang, China. By designing a laboratory experiment simulating historical water levels of low, normal and high wetland plant submersion, this study aimed to elucidate the effects of different levels of flooding on growth and antioxidant enzyme activity for V. spiralis . The results showed that the plant crown light intensity of the treated group and control group (CG) first decreased and then increased along with the seasonal variation of the water level. The maximum and minimum values of the plant crown light intensity were observed in April and July, respectively. Similar to the CG, V. spiralis from the normal and low water level (LWL) groups was measured and had higher plant height growth in the flooding period from May to June, and the entire plant biomass also showed a steady growth trend in the same period. However, the plant growth of the high water level (HWL) group was lower during the whole simulation period, with negative growth in July. Antioxidant enzyme activities changed with the seasonal temperature, and the activity of the CG showed a rising trend. Compared with those of the CG, the antioxidant enzyme activities of the HWL group showed a ‘bell shaped’ trend, which was first significantly induced and then significantly inhibited. In addition, the peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activities from the LWL group in April were also significantly induced. The integrated biomarker response (IBR) index showed that a comprehensive biological index could well reflect the effects of seasonal water levels in Poyang Lake on the growth of the wetland plant V. spiralis . This study indicated that high flooding levels had the strongest negative effect on the growth and enzyme activity of the submerged plant V. spiralis .

Intercropping may improve community stability and yield under climate change. Here, we set up a field experiment to evaluate the advantages of cultivating Z anthoxylum bungeanum with Capsicum annum, and Z. bungeanum with Glycine max as intercrops, compared with cultivating Z. bungeanum in monoculture. Effects of extreme drought stress conditions on morphological, physiological, and biochemical traits of the three crop species cultivated in the three contrasting planting systems were compared. Results showed that extreme drought conditions induced negative impacts on Z. bungeanum grown in monoculture, due to reduced growth and metabolic impairment. However, limited stomatal conductance, reduced transpiration rate (Tr), and increased water use efficiency, carotenoid content, catalase activity, and accumulation of soluble sugars in Z. bungeanum indicated its adaptive strategies for tolerance of extreme drought stress conditions. Compared with cultivation in monoculture, intercropping with C. annum had positive effects on Z. bungeanum under extreme drought stress conditions, as a result of improved crown diameter, leaf relative water content (LRWC), net photosynthetic rate, and proline content, while intercropping with G. max under extreme drought stress conditions increased net CO2 assimilation rates, LRWC, Tr, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. In conclusion, Z. bungeanum has an effective defense mechanism for extreme drought stress tolerance. Intercropping with G. max enhanced this tolerance potential primarily through its physio-biochemical adjustments, rather than as a result of nitrogen fixation by G. max.

Dalima relief is the Keraton Cirebon’s artifacts in periods of Sultan Sepuh I and II (1678-1723). Dalima’s relief is rich of symbolic values with aesthetic expression of its typical culture. There are so many interpretations about Dalima Relief and yet has not been clearly undefined up to these days. This research is using qualitative research with ethnography approach aiming to constructive knowledge and aesthetic interpretation construct. This aesthetic phenomenon has a connection with the events in the past, which will be studied as synchronic or diachronic ways. Diachronic analysis aims to discover a comprehension about culture transformations of Cirebon society from the era of Hindu up to Islamic, while the aesthetic concepts will trace based on value, function and meaning through synchronic analysis with consideration of three culture phenomenon: ideas-activity-artifact, corresponding with the local attributes.Thus ‘Dalima’ is a metaphoric depiction of Q.S Al-Ikhlas (a verse in Holy Qur’an), with etymology of letter compounding ‘dal’ and number five; ‘lima’. These symbols formed by the visual elements of flowers and fruit of Delima (pomegranate), and a pair of white crows. This inspirational object, Dalima is formed as the structure of cosmological acculturative culture (Hindu, Chinese and Islam) with metaphorical representations. Activities and contextual events on this relief made it as Catatan Suluk or lessons to Cirebon’s Mursyid. Norms and theorems which shape as a culture convention on that era, becomes a power of collective traditions which tint the principal and conceptual of Cirebon culture.

Abstract Background Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) can be a cause of disability. To date, the scores that evaluate disability in IBD patient use mainly subjective criteria. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an index of disability in IBD based on objective, measurable criteria. Methods IBD patients from the Catalan and Spanish Crohn and Colitis Associations volunteered to fulfill an online self-administered survey. Demographic, clinical, and therapeutic variables were collected. They also informed on whether they have a recognized disability and whether they receive a work disability pension. Patients were divided into a training and validation set. In the training set, different multivariate analyses were carried out to evaluate objective variables related to having a recognized work disability, a general disability or a moderate or severe degree of disability. The score was elaborated with the statistically or clinically significant variables present in the multivariate analyses. The ROC curves for predicting general and work disability were calculated. Results 981 valid surveys were included. Sixty six percent of the patients were women, mean age was 40.9 years and 59.3% had Crohn’s disease. Of these patients, 85 (9.1%) had a recognized work disability and 429 (45.9%) had a degree of recognized general disability. The results of the multivariate analyses are shown in table 1. Eight variables were selected to develop the inflammatory bowel disease objective work disability index (ODIBD) (table 2). Each variable was scored one point to calculate the final index. The AUROC of the index in the training group was 0.76 for work disability and 0.71 for general disability. The AUROC of the index in the validation group was 0.83 for work disability and 0.67 for general disability (fig1). Conclusion The ODIBD may be useful score to objectively assess of work disability in patients with IBD.

From 2006 to 2009, crown gall and hairy root symptoms were observed on blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum cvs. O'Neil, Millennia, and Misty) plants from six nurseries in Tucumán, Concordia, Pilar, Morón, and Baradero, Argentina. Bacteria were isolated from galls of all three cultivars and from hairy roots of Millenia and O'Neil onto D1 and D1M agar media at 27°C. Typical Agrobacterium colonies developed in 5 days (2). Seven bacterial strains (five from galls and two from hairy roots) were studied further. All were gram negative, aerobic, and catalase positive with rod-shaped cells that synthesized β–galactosidase and metabolized D-glucose, D-arabinose, n-acetyl-glucosamine, maltose, mannitol, and malonate. Strains were negative for lysine decarboxylase, H2S production, indole, and 3-ketolactose production. While gall strains were urease positive and citrate variable (mostly positive), hairy root strains were urease negative, citrate positive, had poly-β-hydroxybutyrate inclusion granules, and clarified acid on potato dextrose agar containing 0.5% CaCO3 (2). Agrobacterium tumefaciens ATCC 15955 and LBA 958 were included as controls. PCR with virA/C primers amplified a 338-bp product corresponding to the virD2 operon and confirmed that the strains harbored a pathogenic plasmid (1). Bacterial strains were assigned to biovars with a multiplex PCR assay targeting 23S rRNA sequences (3). Two strains produced PCR amplicons typical of A. rhizogenes bv. 2. The other five strains produced PCR amplicons typical of A. rubi, which were insensitive to agrocin in a bioassay with A. radiobacter strain K1026. Identity was confirmed by sequencing the 16S rDNA of strains F 266 (GenBank No. GU580894) and F 289 (No. GU580895), which had 99% homology to 16sRNA sequences of A. rubi ICMP 11833 (AY626395.1) and A. rhizogenes ATCC 11325 (AY945955.1), respectively. Pathogenicity of all seven strains was tested on V. corymbosum cv. Misty, Bryophyllum daigremontiana, tobacco cv. Xanthi, tomato cv. Presto, and pepper cv. California Wonder. Plants were inoculated by a needle stabbed into the stems with the appropriate cell suspension (108 CFU/ml) of each strain or with sterile distilled water (control treatment). Two plants of each species were tested per strain. Plants were grown for at least 45 days at 23 ± 3°C and symptoms were recorded. Inoculations with the five strains isolated from galls caused development of spherical, white to flesh-colored, rough, spongy wart-like galls at the inoculation sites. Root strains induced root proliferation on all inoculated plants as well as in a carrot disk bioassay (4). On blueberry plants, galls were dark brown to black, rough, and woody 6 months after inoculation. No lesions were observed on control plants. Bacteria were reisolated from symptomatic tissues of inoculated plants. Enterobacterial repetitive intergeneric consensus-PCR confirmed that the DNA fingerprints of the reisolated strains were identical to those of the original strains. To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. rubi and A. rhizogenes causing hairy root and crown gall on blueberry in Argentina. References: (1) J. H. Haas et. al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 61:2879,1995. (2) L. W. Moore et al. Page 17 in: Laboratory Guide for Identification of Plant Pathogenic Bacteria. 3rd ed. N. W. Schaad et al., eds. The American Phytopathological Society, St. Paul, MN, 2001. (3) J. Pulawska et al. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 29:470, 2006. (4) M. H. Ryder et al. Plant Physiol. 77:215, 1985.

Abstract Background Crohn disease (CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) are characterised by episodes of exacerbations and remissions. Monitoring disease activity based on intestinal lesion is mandatory prior to any change in the therapeutic strategy. Colonoscopy is the gold standard technique to monitor the disease activity in IBD patients, but it is usually discarded because of costs and risk issues. The concentration of Faecal Calprotectin (FC) is widely used as a non-invasive marker of inflammation of the intestinal mucosa, allowing the assessment of the disease activity. Recently, different studies have demonstrated that certain microbial species, part of intestinal microbiota which can be detected in stool samples, are capable of correlating with disease activity in CD and UC patients. The purpose of this study was to analyse the correlation between these microbial indicators and the FC to monitor the disease activity in CD and UC patients. Methods FC levels were used to define inflammatory disease activity, the predetermined cut-off of 250 μg/g of faeces was used, higher values indicated an active inflammation and lower values indicated disease in remission. Two cohorts consisting of 61 patients of CD (25 with active inflammation and 36 with remission) and 90 of UC (42 with active inflammation and 48 with remission) were recruited by the Gastroenterology department of 4 Catalan hospitals. A sample of faeces was collected from each patient. FC and the following markers were quantified by qPCR: Faecalibacterium prausnitzii (Fpra), Escherichia coli (Eco), Akkermansia muciniphila (Akk), Ruminococcus sp. (Rum), Bacteroidetes (Bac) and Methanobrevibacter smithii (Msm) for each sample. Results The bacterial markers presented different behaviour depending on the disease analysed. The abundances of Eco and Bac were higher in CD with active inflammation compared with CD with remission. In contrast, no significant differences were found for Fpra, Akk, Rum, and Msm. Besides, a significant positive correlation between Eco abundance and FC levels (0.280, p = 0.029) and a significant negative correlation between Msm and FC levels (−0.299, p = 0.021) were observed. According UC patients, while the abundance of Eco was higher in patients with active inflammation, the abundance of Rum was significantly less abundant. No significant differences were found for Fpra, Akk, Bac, and Msm. Moreover, we also observed a significant negative correlation between Rum and FC levels (−0.308, p = 0.003, respectively). Conclusion The abundance of Eco and Msm in CD patients and the abundance of Rum in UC patients correlate to FC in order to determine inflammatory disease activity. So, these markers can also be an accurate discriminator of active disease in CD and UC patients.

Background. Coronaviruses are the RNA viruses, which have a crown-shaped outer layer. These viruses have a tropism to the respiratory epithelium. SARS-CoV (coronavirus of the severe acute respiratory syndrome), MERS-CoV (coronavirus of the Middle East respiratory syndrome) and the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 are the most significant coronaviruses, able to affect a human organism. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pathogenesis includes the coronavirus replication in the respiratory epithelium and the diffuse alveolocyte injury with the development of viral pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome. The main symptoms of COVID-19 include fever (83-99 %), appetite loss (40-84 %), cough (59-82 %), fatigue (44-70 %), anosmia (15-30 %), myalgia (11-35 %). Apart from that, COVID-19 is often accompanied by coagulopathies together with venous thrombosis, myocardial infarction and disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome. Risk factors of coagulopathies include sepsis, history of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and liver disorders, malignant tumors, fever and acute course of COVID-19. Objective. To describe the peculiarities of coronavirus pneumonias treatment. Materials and methods. Analysis of literature data and clinical cases from own practice. Results and discussion. 40 % of COVID-19 patients have a mild course, 40 % – moderate, 15 % – severe, and 5 % – critical. The majority of patients with lethal outcomes have at least one from the listed parameters: malignant tumor, morbid obesity, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of kidneys and lungs, hypoalbuminemia, age >60 years old. Diagnosis of coronavirus pneumonia needs to be proved with the help of computer tomography (CT) during the initial visit or hospitalization, then in 2-3 days in case of the absence of improvement, in case of clinical condition worsening, in 5-7 days in case of no dynamics or of positive dynamics. Lung affection according to CT is divided into 4 grades according to the presence of frosted glass symptom, consolidation presence and the percentage of lung parenchyma involvement. Pathogenetic treatment, including off-label drug usage, can decrease the risk of fatal complications. Edaravone (Ksavron, “Yuria-Pharm”) is an antioxidant drug with an anti-inflammatory effect due to cytokine storm inhibition and the possibility to decrease the lung vessels’ endothelium permeability. Edaravone neutralizes free radicals; inhibits lipid peroxidation; activates own antioxidant protection (enzymes superoxiddysmutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase). It underlines the reasonability of edaravone usage in acute respiratory distress-syndrome. Edaravone prevents the increase of permeability of lung vessels’ endotheliocytes similarly to dexamethasone, but has a lower amount of side effects. L-arginine and L-carnitine (Tivorel, “Yuria-Pharm”) are also actively studied. L-arginine improves microcirculation, promotes vasodilatation, activates Т-cell immunity, stabilizes cells’ membranes, protects cells, has an antioxidant effect, decreases the bronchial spasm and the spasm of pulmonary arteries. In turn, L-carnitine has an immunomodulatory effect, decreases the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, has an antioxidant, anti-apoptotic and cardioprotective effects. Tivorel decreases the ability of coronaviruses to attach to the cells, counteracts their replication and decreases the endothelial dysfunction. Conclusions. 1. Pathogenetic treatment, including off-label drug usage, can decrease the unfavorable outcomes of COVID-19. 2. Edaravone neutralizes free radicals; inhibits lipid peroxidation; activates own antioxidant protection. 3. L-arginine and L-carnitine improve the microcirculation, promote vasodilatation, have an immunomodulatory, antioxidant and cardioprotective effects.

Abstract Old Catalan presents two affirmative particles competing for the same function between the 13th and the 17th centuries: sí and hoc. This article explores their syntax and the factors that contributed to the rise of the former and the disappearance of the latter and accounts for their distribution in the written record. Traditionally, it was believed that hoc was the only positive sentential proform active in the language until the 15th century. However, sí had already been grammaticalised as such by the 13th century, its new function being obscured in the written record by the pervasive use of the official koine established by the Crown of Aragon’s Cancelleria in learned prose. Nevertheless, in documents closer to speech, sí makes a much earlier appearance and shows great vitality before the 15th century, the last century when hoc was still hegemonic before finally disappearing as a consequence of external and internal factors.

AbstractIn this article, I explore code-switching in Llibre dels Fets (a 13th century chronicle that narrates the life and deeds of king James I of Aragon) from a glottopolitical perspective in order to uncover the linguistic ideologies reflected in the text through this phenomenon. Code-switching in contemporary Romance languages, as well as in Latin and Arabic, is found throughout the text, mostly within reported speech. Through the analysis of these fragments and the analysis of the labels used to refer to each of these varieties, it is shown that: (i) different varieties are used to express either allegiance (Catalan and Occitan) or opposition (Western Ibero-Romance) to the figure of the King, and that that Aragonese was erased as a language of the Crown of Aragon; (ii) code-switching in Latin is used to confer authority to the discourse; (iii) code-switching in the Romance languages is a mechanism to express group membership; and finally (iv) that mutual intelligibility between Catalan and the attested contemporary Romance varieties is assumed at the time of composition of the text.

Annual bluegrass (Poa annua var. reptans), when grown as a putting green species, is sensitive to winter injury such as ice cover. Inhibiting plant ethylene production could be a way to improve annual bluegrass tolerance of ice encasement. The goals of this study were to determine how winter conditions and ethylene regulatory treatments affect the antioxidant system, fatty acid composition, and apoplastic proteins of annual bluegrass plant tissues. Ethylene-promotive (1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid or ethephon) and ethylene inhibition treatments [aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG)] were applied to plants in the field during acclimation. Plant plugs were taken and subjected to low temperature (−4 °C) and ice-encasement treatments in growth chamber conditions. Antioxidant activities of ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were measured along with malondialdehyde content (MDA) and apoplastic protein content in leaf and crown tissue. Saturated and unsaturated fatty acid contents were measured in leaf, crown, and root tissue. Higher unsaturated fatty acids are often associated with greater low-temperature tolerance. Compared with the untreated controls, ethephon-treated annual bluegrass had greater MDA contents, lower POD and SOD activity, and greater saturated and decreased unsaturated fatty acids. Ethylene inhibition treatments caused annual bluegrass to have less saturated fatty acid content and greater unsaturated fatty acid content, a greater content of apoplast proteins, and higher CAT activity when compared with the untreated controls. The activity of APX was greater in AVG-treated annual bluegrass than in controls. Ethylene may reduce physiological health overwinter, and inhibitory treatments may promote winter tolerance by promoting antioxidant activity, apoplast proteins, and the content of unsaturated fatty acids in plant tissues.

ABSTRACT: Extracellular enzymes are involved in the fungal pathogenesis in plants. Currently, culture media, data analyses, and data report related to extracellular enzymes produced in vitro conditions are different and therefore, lack standardization. This work aimed to compare the culture media cited on the literature (normal) with the potato-dextrose-agar (PDA) medium combined with a specific compound to produce extracellular enzymes through three soilborne phytopathogenic fungi (F. solani f. sp. passiflorae, S. rolfsii, and R. solani AG-4 HGI), as well as to analyze and report enzyme data based on five different criteria. The assay was randomized, with three factors (culture media, isolates, and enzymes) and six repetitions. The studied enzymes were amylase (AM), carboxymethylcellulase (CMCase), lipase (LP), laccase (LC), catalase (CT), and gelatinase (GT). The normal media detected more enzymes and was more precise compared to the PDA medium plus specific compound. The criteria that calculated the area of the circular crown of AM, CMCase, LP, and LC and measured the intensity (0 = absence, up to 4 = intense) of CT and GT adopting note scale were the best to evaluate and report the results of the enzymes. We suggest the normal media culture to study enzyme production, as well as the criteria mentioned to assess and report the data related to enzyme activities.

The study is devoted to adventive macrophyte Lemna gibba L. (duckweed) adaptive reactions to pollution of water by heavy metals. Under the high technogenic impact on aquatic ecosystems, some invasive species quickly spread and crowd out of native flora. In this regard, studies of the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of these species tolerance, contributing to their successful resettlement are of particular importance. The results of two years of research (July 2016–2017) on the study of accumulative abilities in relation to heavy metals (nickel, copper, zinc, manganese and iron) and some morphophysiological parameters of L. gibba – one of the adventive flora representatives of the Middle Urals is presented. Plant material and surface water samples were taken from two water bodies of the Sverdlovsk region, differing in levels of technogenic impact: the Iset River (Aramil town) and its tributary the Sysert River (Dvurechensk town). It was found that Cu, Ni and Mn concentration in the Iset River were on average 1.5 times and Zn – 4.0 times higher than that in the Sysert River. It was shown that the fronds of the studied macrophyte from the habitat with an increased water pollution (the Iset River) were distinguished by a more significant accumulation of metals, larger mesophyll cells, a higher content of photosynthetic pigments and increased activity of catalase and polyphenol oxidase enzymes compared to plants from the water body with a lower level of pollution (the Sysert River). It is concluded that the physiological and biochemical adaptations revealed in L. gibba increase its competitiveness and play an important role in the development of new territories, including technologically disturbed ones.

Lincolnshire, England. The crowd cheer when the ball breaks loose. From one end of the field to the other, the players chase, their snouts hovering just above the grass. It’s not a case of four legs being better, rather a novel way to attract customers to the Woodside Wildlife and Falconry Park. During the matches, volunteers are drawn from the crowd to hold goal posts at either end of the run the pigs usually race on. With five pigs playing, two teams of two and a referee, and a ball designed to leak feed as it rolls (Stevenson) the ten-minute competition is fraught with tension. While the pig’s contributions to “the beautiful game” (Fish and Pele 7) have not always been so obvious, it could be argued that specific parts of the animal have had a significant impact on a sport which, despite calls to fall into line with much of the rest of the world, people in Australia (and the US) are more likely to call soccer. The Football Precursors to the modern football were constructed around an inflated pig’s bladder (Price, Jones and Harland). Animal hide, usually from a cow, was stitched around the bladder to offer some degree of stability, but the bladder’s irregular and uneven form made for unpredictable movement in flight. This added some excitement and affected how ball games such as the often violent, calico matches in Florence, were played. In the early 1970s, the world’s oldest ball was discovered during a renovation in Stirling Castle, Scotland. The ball has a pig’s bladder inside its hand-stitched, deer-hide outer. It was found in the ceiling above the bed in, what was then Mary Queens of Scots’ bedroom. It has since been dated to the 1540s (McGinnes). Neglected and left in storage until the late 1990s, the ball found pride of place in an exhibition in the Smiths Art Gallery and Museum, Stirling, and only gained worldwide recognition (as we will see later) in 2006. Despite confirmed interest in a number of sports, there is no evidence to support Mary’s involvement with football (Springer). The deer-hide ball may have been placed to gather and trap untoward spirits attempting to enter the monarch’s sleep, or simply left by accident and forgotten (McGinnes in Springer). Mary, though, was not so fortunate. She was confined and forgotten, but only until she was put to death in 1587. The Executioner having gripped her hair to hold his prize aloft, realised too late it was a wig and Mary’s head bounced and rolled across the floor. Football Development The pig’s bladder was the central component in the construction of the football for the next three hundred years. However, the issue of the ball’s movement (the bounce and roll), the bladder’s propensity to burst when kicked, and an unfortunate wife’s end, conspired to push the pig from the ball before the close of the nineteenth-century. The game of football began to take its shape in 1848, when JC Thring and a few colleagues devised the Cambridge Rules. This compromised set of guidelines was developed from those used across the different ‘ball’ games played at England’s elite schools. The game involved far more kicking, and the pig’s bladders, prone to bursting under such conditions, soon became impractical. Charles Goodyear’s invention of vulcanisation in 1836 and the death of prestigious rugby and football maker Richard Lindon’s wife in 1870 facilitated the replacement of the animal bladder with a rubber-based alternative. Tragically, Mr Lindon’s chief inflator died as a result of blowing up too many infected pig’s bladders (Hawkesley). Before it closed earlier this year (Rhoads), the US Soccer Hall of Fame displayed a rubber football made in 1863 under the misleading claim that it was the oldest known football. By the late 1800s, professional, predominantly Scottish play-makers had transformed the game from its ‘kick-and-run’ origins into what is now called ‘the passing game’ (Sanders). Football, thanks in no small part to Scottish factory workers (Kay), quickly spread through Europe and consequently the rest of the world. National competitions emerged through the growing need for organisation, and the pig-free mass production of balls began in earnest. Mitre and Thomlinson’s of Glasgow were two of the first to make and sell their much rounder balls. With heavy leather panels sewn together and wrapped around a thick rubber inner, these balls were more likely to retain shape—a claim the pig’s bladder equivalent could not legitimately make. The rubber-bladdered balls bounced more too. Their weight and external stitching made them more painful to header, but also more than useful for kicking and particularly for passing from one player to another. The ball’s relatively quick advancement can thereafter be linked to the growth and success of the World Cup Finals tournament. Before the pig re-enters the fray, it is important to glance, however briefly, at the ball’s development through the international game. World Cup Footballs Pre-tournament favourites, Spain, won the 2010 FIFA World Cup, playing with “an undistorted, perfectly spherical ball” (Ghosh par. 7), the “roundest” ever designed (FIFA par.1). Their victory may speak to notions of predictability in the ball, the tournament and the most lucrative levels of professional endeavour, but this notion is not a new one to football. The ball’s construction has had an influence on the way the game has been played since the days of Mary Queen of Scots. The first World Cup Final, in 1930, featured two heavy, leather, twelve-panelled footballs—not dissimilar to those being produced in Glasgow decades earlier. The players and officials of Uruguay and Argentina could not agree, so they played the first half with an Argentine ball. At half-time, Argentina led by two goals to one. In the second half, Uruguay scored three unanswered goals with their own ball (FIFA). The next Final was won by Italy, the home nation in 1934. Orsi, Italy’s adopted star, poked a wildly swerving shot beyond the outstretched Czech keeper. The next day Orsi, obligated to prove his goal was not luck or miracle, attempted to repeat the feat before an audience of gathered photographers. He failed. More than twenty times. The spin on his shot may have been due to the, not uncommon occurrence, of the ball being knocked out of shape during the match (FIFA). By 1954, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) had sought to regulate ball size and structure and, in 1958, rigorously tested balls equal to the demands of world-class competition. The 1950s also marked the innovation of the swerving free kick. The technique, developed in the warm, dry conditions of the South American game, would not become popular elsewhere until ball technology improved. The heavy hand-stitched orb, like its early counterparts, was prone to water absorption, which increased the weight and made it less responsive, particularly for those playing during European winters (Bray). The 1970 World Cup in Mexico saw football progress even further. Pele, arguably the game’s greatest player, found his feet, and his national side, Brazil, cemented their international football prominence when they won the Jules Rimet trophy for the third time. Their innovative and stylish use of the football in curling passes and bending free kicks quickly spread to other teams. The same World Cup saw Adidas, the German sports goods manufacturer, enter into a long-standing partnership with FIFA. Following the competition, they sold an estimated six hundred thousand match and replica tournament footballs (FIFA). The ball, the ‘Telstar’, with its black and white hexagonal panels, became an icon of the modern era as the game itself gained something close to global popularity for the first time in its history. Over the next forty years, the ball became incrementally technologically superior. It became synthetic, water-resistant, and consistent in terms of rebound and flight characteristics. It was constructed to be stronger and more resistant to shape distortion. Internal layers of polyutherane and Syntactic Foam made it lighter, capable of greater velocity and more responsive to touch (FIFA). Adidas spent three years researching and developing the 2006 World Cup ball, the ‘Teamgeist’. Fourteen panels made it rounder and more precise, offering a lower bounce, and making it more difficult to curl due to its accuracy in flight. At the same time, audiences began to see less of players like Roberto Carlos (Brazil and Real Madrid CF) and David Beckham (Manchester United, LA Galaxy and England), who regularly scored goals that challenged the laws of physics (Gill). While Adidas announced the 2006 release of the world’s best performing ball in Berlin, the world’s oldest was on its way to the Museum fur Volkerkunde in Hamburg for the duration of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Mary Queen of Scot’s ball took centre spot in an exhibit which also featured a pie stand—though not pork pies—from Hibernian Football Club (Strang). In terms of publicity and raising awareness of the Scots’ role in the game’s historical development, the installation was an unrivalled success for the Scottish Football Museum (McBrearty). It did, however, very little for the pig. Heads, not Tails In 2002, the pig or rather the head of a pig, bounced and rolled back into football’s limelight. For five years Luis Figo, Portugal’s most capped international player, led FC Barcelona to domestic and European success. In 2000, he had been lured to bitter rivals Real Madrid CF for a then-world record fee of around £37 million (Nash). On his return to the Catalan Camp Nou, wearing the shimmering white of Real Madrid CF, he was showered with beer cans, lighters, bottles and golf balls. Among the objects thrown, a suckling pig’s head chimed a psychological nod to the spear with two sharp ends in William Golding’s story. Play was suspended for sixteen minutes while police tried to quell the commotion (Lowe). In 2009, another pig’s head made its way into football for different reasons. Tightly held in the greasy fingers of an Orlando Pirates fan, it was described as a symbol of the ‘roasting’ his team would give the Kaiser Chiefs. After the game, he and his friend planned to eat their mascot and celebrate victory over their team’s most reviled competitors (Edwards). The game ended in a nil-all draw. Prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, it was not uncommon for a range of objects that European fans might find bizarre, to be allowed into South African league matches. They signified luck and good feeling, and in some cases even witchcraft. Cabbages, known locally for their medicinal qualities, were very common—common enough for both sets of fans to take them (Edwards). FIFA, an organisation which has more members than the United Nations (McGregor), impressed their values on the South African Government. The VuVuZela was fine to take to games; indeed, it became a cultural artefact. Very little else would be accepted. Armed with their economy-altering engine, the world’s most watched tournament has a tendency to get what it wants. And the crowd respond accordingly. Incidentally, the ‘Jabulani’—the ball developed for the 2010 tournament—is the most consistent football ever designed. In an exhaustive series of tests, engineers at Loughborough University, England, learned, among other things, the added golf ball-like grooves on its surface made the ball’s flight more symmetrical and more controlled. The Jabulani is more reliable or, if you will, more predictable than any predecessor (Ghosh). Spanish Ham Through support from their Governing body, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol, Spain have built a national side with experience, and an unparalleled number of talented individuals, around the core of the current FC Barcelona club side. Their strength as a team is founded on the bond between those playing on a weekly basis at the Catalan club. Their style has allowed them to create and maintain momentum on the international stage. Victorious in the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship and undefeated in their run through the qualifying stages into the World Cup Finals in South Africa, they were tournament favourites before a Jabulani was rolled into touch. As Tim Parks noted in his New York Review of Books article, “The Shame of the World Cup”, “the Spanish were superior to an extent one rarely sees in the final stages of a major competition” (2010 par. 15). They have a “remarkable ability to control, hold and hide the ball under intense pressure,” and play “a passing game of great subtlety [ ... to] patiently wear down an opposing team” (Parks par. 16). Spain won the tournament having scored fewer goals per game than any previous winner. Perhaps, as Parks suggests, they scored as often as they needed to. They found the net eight times in their seven matches (Fletcher). This was the first time that Spain had won the prestigious trophy, and the first time a European country has won the tournament on a different continent. In this, they have broken the stranglehold of superpowers like Germany, Italy and Brazil. The Spanish brand of passing football is the new benchmark. Beautiful to watch, it has grace, flow and high entertainment value, but seems to lack something of an organic nature: that is, it lacks the chance for things to go wrong. An element of robotic aptitude has crept in. This occurred on a lesser scale across the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals, but it is possible to argue that teams and players, regardless of nation, have become interchangeable, that the world’s best players and the way they play have become identikits, formulas to be followed and manipulated by master tacticians. There was a great deal of concern in early rounds about boring matches. The world’s media focused on an octopus that successfully chose the winner of each of Germany’s matches and the winner of the final. Perhaps, in shaping the ‘most’ perfect ball and the ‘most’ perfect football, the World Cup has become the most predictable of tournaments. In Conclusion The origins of the ball, Orsi’s unrepeatable winner and the swerving free kick, popular for the best part of fifty years, are worth remembering. These issues ask the powers of football to turn back before the game is smothered by the hunt for faultlessness. The unpredictability of the ball goes hand in hand with the game. Its flaws underline its beauty. Football has so much more transformative power than lucrative evolutionary accretion. While the pig’s head was an ugly statement in European football, it is a symbol of hope in its South African counterpart. Either way its removal is a reminder of Golding’s message and the threat of homogeneity; a nod to the absence of the irregular in the modern era. Removing the curve from the free kick echoes the removal of the pig’s bladder from the ball. The fun is in the imperfection. Where will the game go when it becomes indefectible? Where does it go from here? Can there really be any validity in claiming yet another ‘roundest ball ever’? Chip technology will be introduced. The ball’s future replacements will be tracked by satellite and digitally-fed, reassured referees will determine the outcome of difficult decisions. Victory for the passing game underlines the notion that despite technological advancement, the game has changed very little since those pioneering Scotsmen took to the field. Shouldn’t we leave things the way they were? Like the pigs at Woodside Wildlife and Falconry Park, the level of improvement seems determined by the level of incentive. The pigs, at least, are playing to feed themselves. Acknowledgments The author thanks editors, Donna Lee Brien and Adele Wessell, and the two blind peer reviewers, for their constructive feedback and reflective insights. The remaining mistakes are his own. References “Adidas unveils Golden Ball for 2006 FIFA World Cup Final” Adidas. 18 Apr. 2006. 23 Aug. 2010 . 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