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In the present study, two sets (I and II) of needle-punched nonwoven fabrics using virgin and recycled polyester fibers were prepared varying machine parameters. In the set first (set I) three different parameters namely grams/m2 (GSM), needling density and blend ratio with three different levels and in the second set (set II) three different parameters, i.e. calender roller pressure, calender roller temperature and calender roller speed with three different levels were used. For the first set fabrics, it has been seen that the bursting strength increased with the increase in GSM, needling density as well increased virgin polyester fiber in the blend. In the second set increase in calender roller pressure, roller temperature caused increase in bursting strength, but with the increase in roller speed it decreased. The comparison of both sets fabric revealed that set II fabric formation is economical since there is less consumption of polyester fibers. The investigation of two arrangements of fabrics uncovers that legal choice of calendering parameters may result economical nonwoven fabrics by requiring lesser fibrous strands for the assembling of needle bonded fabrics, moreover it will lessen the contamination by using the waste polyester bottles additionally the reliance on normal oil-based virgin polyester will be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a neglected funerary monument of the 1340s and its much-embellished architectural setting in the north aisle of the parish church of Ducklington (Oxon.). The monument takes the unusual form of a Tree of Jesse while the walls carry a series of sculptural reliefs depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin. It is argued that the space was a Lady chapel housing a chantry, and that the sculpture draws on imagery associated with the liturgy of the Mass and the liturgical hours to create an integrated devotional and commemorative programme of benefit to patrons and parishioners alike. The patrons have been traditionally identified as members of the Dyve family, long-standing proprietors of Ducklington manor until the mid-14th century. The connection is fully explored for the first time, drawing on antiquarian accounts of lost stained glass. Martha, widow of Henry Dyve (d. 1327) who held the manor in dower, is proposed as the likely originator of the monument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grand Canyon National Park encompasses a large portion of the southeastern extent of the Virgin Ancestral Puebloan tradition. From AD 700 to 1225, the region also bounded the Kayenta Ancestral Puebloan and the Cohonina traditions. This paper examines variation in settlement practices between these three traditions in this ecologically diverse locale. The analyses provide new insights and settlement models for the Formative Period in Grand Canyon National Park. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultural landscape of the town of Copacabana and nearby ancient sites on Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, have functioned as magnetic places of pilgrimage from Inka times to the present. They are analyzed as landscape constructions through the eyes of political and religious authorities as well as through those of the common pilgrims in a bottom-up perspective from Inka to Colonial times and to the present. Methodologies used are study of pertaining archaeological data and Colonial documents complemented by ethnographic interviews and participant observation. The data demonstrate how the past is redefined in the present as local heritage in a landscape perceived as Andean as well as Christian. Throughout Andean history, Copacabana has been the land terminal for pilgrims to set over to the Islands of the Sun and Moon to visit empowered shrines (wak'as) viewed as places of emergence of the Sun and the first humans. This pilgrimage was fabricated into state ideology by the Inka from ca. A.D.1450–1550. After the Spanish invasion, Copacabana became the seat of a widely revered Virgin who attracts pilgrims from all over Bolivia and southern Peru. Ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in early August 2015 and 2017 during one of the pilgrimages. Most visitors identify as pilgrim-tourists and many walk to five spatially distinct but thematically related wak' as at which the past coalesces with the present and the secular with the divine in passionate and colorful performances for family wellbeing. Discussions center on the limited spatial control of the Catholic Church and on the growing practice of making new wak'as in Andean terms to the Virgin at selected landscape features outside of town as a form of popular heritage. Findings demonstrate that local Aymara people are not passive Colonial victims but selectively adopt from their conquerors what they hope may help alleviate poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is significant that the notion of Virgin Mother occurs in the early centuries in two separate contexts: Mary as Virgin Mother is part of the typological parallelism of Eve and Mary; the Church as Virgin Mother is also found more or less contemporaneously. There is, however, no apparent link between these themes until the end of the fourth century, when texts hitherto interpreted of the Church (notably Psalm 44) begin to be applied to Mary, thus bringing the two traditions together. This early reflection provides a fruitful background to understanding the place of Mary in modern Orthodox ecclesiology. Bulgakov's reflection on Mary is deeply bound up with his sophiology; for Sophia, the Wisdom of God, Mary, the Mother of God, and indeed the Church inhabit what one might call an 'in-between' realm, linking the uncreated God with his creation. Another ecclesiological theme involving Mary occurs in connection with the question: Who is the Person of the Church, as Bride and Virgin Mother? Is this just a personification, or is it more? All the Orthodox theologians discussed in this article, Bulgakov, Lossky and Evdokimov, affirm that the answer to the question 'Who is the Church?' is in fact 'Mary'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster females display rhythmic egg-laying under 12:12 h light/dark (LD) cycles which persists with near 24 h periodicity under constant darkness (DD). We have shown previously that persistence of this rhythm does not require the neurons expressing pigment dispersing factor (PDF), thought to be the canonical circadian pacemakers, and proposed that it could be controlled by peripheral clocks or regulated/triggered by the act of mating. We assayed egg-laying behaviour of wild-type Canton S (CS) females under LD, DD and constant light (LL) conditions in three different physiological states; as virgins, as females allowed to mate with males for 1 day and as females allowed to mate for the entire duration of the assay. Here, we report the presence of a circadian rhythm in egg-laying in virgin D. melanogaster females. We also found that egg-laying behaviour of 70 and 90% females from all the three male presence/absence protocols follows circadian rhythmicity under DD and LL, with periods ranging between 18 and 30 h. The egg-laying rhythm of all virgin females synchronized to LD cycles with a peak occurring soon after lights-off. The rhythm in virgins was remarkably robust with maximum number of eggs deposited immediately after lights-off in contrast to mated females which show higher egg-laying during the day. These results suggest that the egg-laying rhythm of D. melanogaster is endogenously driven and is neither regulated nor triggered by the act of mating; instead, the presence of males results in reduction in entrainment to LD cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A surrogate partner is a trained professional who works with clients in sex therapy as part of a three-way therapeutic team, consisting of a psychotherapist, surrogate partner and client. This article looks at surrogate partner therapy and its relevance to bisexuals in therapy. The author approaches the subject from a personal and a professional perspective by using anecdotes, presenting case studies, background information about surrogate partner therapy as well as including elements from her own personal journal as a bisexual woman. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among the Bonos, particularly those within the municipal area of Takyiman, nubility rites are an important aspect of social life. The weeklong rite of passage forms a transition from girlhood to womanhood. It is a cultural norm among the Bonos of Takyiman for girls to remain virgins until their initiation. Nubility rites (bra goro) are performed to give permission or the right to marriage and for that matter sex life and child bearing. The initiation ceremony serves as an advertisement and a proclamation to community members, especially men, that a girl is of age and available for courtship and marriage. In the Bono belief a girl who falls pregnant without waiting for the initiation into womanhood brings a curse on the family and the community. She is described as kyiri bra (one who hates initiation and transition). During the ceremony, the girl is honoured with presents in the form of money, clothes, suitcases, and so on for keeping her virginity until she has come of age. This article outlines and discusses some of the songs sung during the weeklong nubility ceremony, their significance and the message for the initiate-the 'new woman' and her friends in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shortly before joining the Dominican Order in 1218, the Blessed Reginald of Orle´ans received a vision of the Virgin Mary in which she presented him with the black and white habit of the Order of Preachers. The vision was represented a surprising number of times in Italian art of the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by artists including Nicola Pisano, Fra Angelico and Ottaviano Nelli. This article discusses the precise importance of the vision for the Dominican Order by investigating relevant historical, hagiographical and art-historical documentation. The sculpted and painted representations of the Vision of the Blessed Reginald demonstrate the importance of the Dominican habit: both within the Order as a means of imposing discipline, and for the laity as a means of recognition. This is emphasised in certain examples by the omission of Reginald, allowing the habit to be received by Saint Dominic, founder of the Order. The representations of the subject are the visual expression of a concern voiced in written accounts of Dominic's life, in General Chapters, and in other Dominican writings, as well as in the tantalising scraps of information that survive regarding the efforts made to ensure that no one order visually resembled another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]