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This manuscript explores the potential of macro-X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) for the non-invasive analysis of heritage textiles. XRF, especially with the portable instruments, is a well-known technique for the non-destructive examination of various cultural heritage objects. It allows analysis of elemental composition based on single-point measurements. However, large, or complex textiles require numerous analysis points to identify the materials used and correctly interpret the spectra. MA-XRF takes this type of research to the next level, as it is possible to visualise the element distribution over an entire mapped area. In this paper, we discuss the application of this technique to the study of complex and multi-layered textile objects from exceptional Belgian heritage collections, including two mitres attributed to Bishop Jacques de Vitry, dating between twelfth and thirteenth century, and two of the seven extremely fine medieval reliquary purses from Namur. These are very fragile, richly decorated textile objects whose current state of preservation is a major impediment to sampling. MA-XRF mapping was applied for the identification of the elements of different materials in a non-invasive manner, including metal threads, ink, dyes, and various materials used in illuminations. In addition to material identification, stratigraphic information was obtained from the visualisation of element distributions, and hidden structural details were discovered. MA-XRF was also tested on some areas with more relief, such as the embroidery and braid made with metal threads, and the undulated multi-layered structure of the parchment mitre. Even though the analyses here could not be carried out in optimal conditions, these locations could also be analysed, albeit at a lower resolution. Finally, the technique proved very effective as a tool for screening, allowing samples to be taken at a more informative and representative location and minimising sampling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques discourses about women consumers of luxury goods in Africa. It does so through the example of the designer handbag, which presented as a key theme in interviews with people employed in luxury sectors in major African cities. The luxury handbag symbolizes an overarching idea of women's success, though women are narrated as taking different routes to achieve it. Employing the spatial metaphor of the "crooked room," this article shows how luxury handbag-talk reproduces taken-for-granted ideas about what successful feminine consumers look like. The "crooked codes" of the luxury handbag refer to skewed expectations, routes, and rationales for the wealth-oriented consumption practices of African women. Luxury handbags thus symbolize the ways in which neoliberal ideology limits African women's quest for economic inclusion. This article argues that this consumption distorts African women's feminist goals while claiming liberation. HIGHLIGHTS The luxury handbag is viewed as a symbol of African women's economic success. This understanding obscures the realities of access to economic equality for most women living in African contexts. Luxury consumption privileges wealth and does not offer alternatives for women's economic empowerment. As evidence of women's achievement, the luxury handbag reveals the limits of neoliberal views for women's empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the impact of corruption on wealth distribution between the public purse and private individuals conditioned on the institutional quality of a country. We used panel data on 83 countries from 2000 to 2017. Our results indicate that corruption helps private individuals to accumulate more wealth at the expense of the public purse in countries with low‐quality institutions. However, corruption increases the wealth in the public purse in countries with high‐quality institutions. Our results, therefore, imply that the institutional quality of a country significantly shapes how corruption affects the wealth of private individuals and the public purse. The results are pronounced in developing countries and robust to alternative measurements and endogeneity test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to present a stylistic analysis of selected brands of handbags' advertising posts through Short & Leech's (2013) Checklist of stylistic features in their book Style in Fiction. As a study concerned with the style of a text, the suitable research design is a qualitative design where the analyzed text is described in terms of the characteristics of stylistics found in the selected Instagram captions. A textual analysis approach to the qualitative research method adopted by this research. Letters, texts, and documents are included in the text. Text is observed as letters, texts, documents, etc. containing statistical data considered a resource for social science researchers. The researchers used the data selected through the advertising language that each company offered through the captions that contained at least one stylistic feature. A total of 25 captions from five accounts (@louisvuitton, @Prada, @katespadeny, @gucci, and @chanel) are analyzed. The data were collected from advertising posts of handbags in Instagram captions which were published. It is estimated that readers, especially academicians, are more relaxed when it comes to non-literary items in language use. This study, predictably, cultivates a reference for other academics who wish to observe linguistic style. As a result, students can carry out more stylistic research using a more complex dialogue that highlights a variety of topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Renewed interest in legislative 'power over the purse' has seen a growing demand in modern democracies for parliaments to strengthen their authority over national budgets. However, weaknesses in legislative and institutional reforms intended to bring about more assertive parliaments with powers to amend budgets raise issues on how parliament's role in influencing the budget differs from what formally conferred powers anticipate. Specifically, to what extent can formal parliamentary institutions be expected to advance the aspiration of greater legislative influence on the budget? This article critically considers the institutional arrangements of the South African parliament that inhibit effective execution of its role in budget decision-making. In particular, it explores three determinants: extent of formal powers, institutional capacity, and incentives facing individual MPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fishery inspector logbooks were used to estimate fishing gear interaction rates for humpback (Megaptera novaeangliae) and killer (Orcinus orca) whales in Norwegian purse seine fisheries for herring from 2011 to 2020. Estimated rates were applied to fisheries data to estimate fleet‐wide totals. Estimates showed that in a 10‐year period, a total of 78 humpback whales, 95% CI [41, 145] and 100 killer whales, 95% CI [63, 176] were entrapped in purse seines. Most whales were disentangled alive, with an estimated mortality of 5%, CV 0.69, 95% CI [0.0, 11.8] and 6%, CV 0.48, 95% CI [0.3, 11.9], respectively. The average yearly mortality over the study period was thus approximately 0.60 killer whales and 0.39 humpback whales corresponding to 0.008% and 0.007% of the respective abundance estimates for these whale species in Norwegian waters. Given the Potential Biological Removal sustainability limits of 98 humpbacks and 161 killer whales per year, it may be concluded that, by itself, the average yearly mortality incurred by these whale populations by Norwegian fisheries does not constitute a significant risk to either of these species, but bycatch in Norwegian purse seine fisheries may not be the only source of anthropogenic mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]