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This paper contributes to the validation of serpent's photon transport and coupled neutron–photon transport routines. Two benchmarks presenting measurements of neutron and photon flux through different sized iron and lead spheres have been calculated using a development version of serpent and mcnp6.2. The serpent results were compared to the measurement results and the mcnp6.2 calculations. Additionally, the development version has been compared to the currently distributed serpent version 2.1.31. In all cases, the serpent calculated neutron and photon spectra followed the measured spectra fairly well. For the iron spheres, differences between serpent and mcnp6.2 calculated neutron spectra were mostly below 2% at neutron energies below 4 MeV. Differences between photon spectra through the iron spheres were mostly below 3%. For the lead spheres, differences in the calculated neutron spectra were mostly below 1.5% in the energy range 0.04–4.0 MeV. Differences between photon spectra through the 10 cm lead sphere were mostly below 5% and for the larger spheres below 10% except at higher photon energies above 6.5 MeV. Differences between the development version and the serpent version 2.1.31 of the order of 3% were observed in the photon spectra through the largest lead spheres with radius 20 and 30 cm when Gaussian Energy Broadening was not applied. These are probably related to the coupled neutron-photon transport routines in the different versions.

The serpent was a dominant theme in the culture of the ancient Egyptians. In the physical world, serpents were feared and respected. The ancient Egyptians were aware of the danger that serpents presented to their day-to-day life. They could harm, paralyze or kill and they demanded the respect of the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptian cobra, horned viper, and black-necked spitting cobra were all a very real danger to the ancient Egyptians. Venom from any of these three snakes could lead to paralysis or death. ([1]) The serpent plays an extraordinarily important and extremely diverse role as a symbolic animal. The primary characteristics that gave the serpent its symbolic significance were the special place it occupies in the animal kingdom (movement over the ground without legs, living in holes in the ground, yet slipping out of eggs like a bird), its cold, slick and shiny exterior, its poisonous bite and its venom that can be used for medicinal purposes, as well as its periodic shedding of its skin. ([2]) ([1])P.F. Houlihan, The Animal World of the Pharaohs (New York,1996), 168. ([2])U. Becker, The Continuum Encyclopedia of Symbols (London, 1994), 343; A. Alexandridis, Wenn Gotter Lieben, Wenn Gotter Strafen, Mensch und Tier in der Antike (Leipzig, 2008), 285-311.

Conventional wisdom states that New England was unsympathetic toward the South in the decades before the Civil War. The region's attitudes, however, were not homogeneous. In Newport, Rhode Island, a town dependent upon tourism and real estate investment, residents empathized with Southerners and the sectional issues that concerned them.

In early 1480 Leonardo da Vinci left Florence and moved to Milan, where he received important commissions from the Duke Ludovico Sforza. The most famous work performed by Leonardo during this period is the “Last Supper”, and the best psychological portrait he has created then is “Lady with an Ermine” in 1490. The women depicted in the painting is Cecilia Gallerani, Ludovico Sforza’s favorite. Upon closer examination of the painting, we discovered three details. Through the program Paint X, we moved these details to the final locations. By moving three details on the painting “Lady with an Ermine” we get the image of a crossed snake. We think that the ermine, who looks like a mongoose in dimensions, is associated with Ludovico Sforza. In the crossed serpent, Leonardo implies any danger from which Ludovico protects Cecilia.

Bonhoeffer’s Creation and Fall guides readers through a “theological” exegesis of Genesis chapters 1–3 and was an early manifestation of the “German Church Struggle” (Kirchenkampf) against National...

This paper presents a VVER-1000 coolant transient benchmark calculated using Serpent 2 generated group constants in the reactor dynamics code HEXTRAN coupled with the system code SMABRE. Two different sets of group constants applying different leakage correction methods are generated. The purpose of the paper is to validate the Serpent 2-HEXTRAN–SMABRE code sequence in plant transient calculations for a commercial VVER-1000 reactor. Calculated radial power distributions, relative fission power, mass flow rate and coolant heat-up are compared to experimental data. These factors, axial power distributions, radial and axial peaking factors and axial offset are also compared to results calculated using HELIOS generated group constants provided in the benchmark. Results calculated with Serpent generated group constants agree with the experimental data mostly within measurement uncertainty. Deviations larger than measurement uncertainty are explained by the insufficiency of available data needed for the HEXTRAN–SMABRE simulation or the albedo calculations.

One mature female specimen of serpent eel Ophisurus serpens (Linnaeus, 1758) was caught by long line by a professional fisherman at a depth of about 45 m from Ece Bight, Saros Bay, north Aegean Sea on 15 February 2016. The species was previously reported without any morphometric and meristic characters from Saros Bay. Some biological characters, such as age and diameters of otolith and oocytes, are also given. In this study, the detailed morphomeristic features, which can contribute to the taxonomic studies of serpent eel from Turkish Seas, are presented.

This article surveys examples of ‘botanical bosom serpents’; that is, stories where a plant, or some vegetable element, is said to enter and/or grow in the human body. These can be found in sources...

The article is devoted to the study of the historical poetics of the Olonkho Vilyui Yakuts. The relevance of the study is due to the need for an in-depth study of the archaic and late layers of the Yakut heroic epic based on the materials of the Vilyui expedition of 1938, with the help of which it is possible to reveal the specifics of the olonkho of the Vilyui region. The author of the article concludes that the materials of this expedition accurately reflect the peculiarities of the local tradition under consideration. The archaic stratum of olonkho is revealed, which is characterized by a ritual parenthetic song before or after the performance of the epic, the preservation of the mythologeme of the creation of the world, the image of the sacred birch Aar Kuduk Khatyng, a less developed description in the epic beginning. It has been established that the formation of the late layer of olonkho poetics is associated with a number of reasons, including the following: the cumulative nature of the characters’ actions under the influence of a fairy tale; demythologization; replacement of the heroic with everyday life; reflection of the negative consequences of the development of society; the appearance of borrowed words, the names of Russian cities, Christian concepts, images of Russian girls, the fire-breathing Serpent Gorynych, Baba Yaga as a result of close ties with Russians, their culture and worldview; the emergence of a war motive between the aiyy and abaasy tribes as a reflection of the Great Patriotic War; the image of the achievements of technical progress (in particular, the steamer); displacement of images; using the image of a shaman; the introduction of an intermediate layer of images of semi-ayy and semi-baasy.

Over the years much interest has been paid to the research of idioms and metaphors in cognitive semantics. Not surprisingly then, there has been a good deal of related research, however, there are relatively few studies on animal figurative expressions. The present study aims to examine metaphorically extended meanings of wild animal figurative expressions in French through 3 representative corpora’s analysis. For this purpose, eight wild animal words loup(wolf), renard(fox), serpent(snake), ours(bear), poisson(fish), oiseau(bird), canard(duck), ver(worm) , 145 related figurative expressions and 1,646 uses in corpora were analyzed and categorized based on semantic molecules. Our findings show that firstly, eight wild animals’ figurative expressions and their extended meanings could be categorized. Which related to five components such as human being, event, object & abstract, time and arbitrary construction. Secondly, there were differences in semantic categories of figurative expressions according to animals. For example, ‘malevolence’, ‘cruelty’ and ‘greed’ are the most frequent semantic molecules associated with ‘loup(wolf)’, whereas, ‘rudeness’ and ‘coarseness’ are conceptualized in ‘ours(bear)’. Furthermore, wild animal expressions demonstrate different French speakers’ modes of thought and cognition compared with ‘plant’ based figurative meanings.

Continuing isotopic investigation of the sacrificial burials and trophies beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid (Temple of Quetzalcoatl) in ancient Teotihuacan, Mexico, has produced new results. Isotopic proveniencing using bioapatite strontium and structural carbonate oxygen isotopes in tooth enamel was applied to 39 samples, 24 from the sacrificial victims and 15 from the trophy jaws. Both the strontium and oxygen isotope ratios suggest that most or all of the sacrificial victims came from the central highlands of Mexico, which includes the area of Teotihuacan. In this sense, we find somewhat less multiethnicity represented among the military at Teotihuacan than previously thought. Analysis of carbon isotope ratios in enamel structural carbonate indicated a childhood diet dominated by maize, relatively homogeneous among the victims at the pyramid, and typical for much of pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

The devil pervades the chronicle of the crusades in the Gran Conquista de Ultramar. On the one hand, he plays a prominent role in some of the more developed narrative sequences (the stories of the ...

Background/Context This paper is part of the special issue “Reimagining Research and Practice at the Crossroads of Philosophy, Teaching, and Teacher Education.” We propose that there is a vital connection in teaching between curriculum and memories that should be fostered in our classrooms. Because memories are alive and bring meaning to our lives, they need to be handled with care. Unfortunately, however, much of teaching risks to simply embalm what is already dead. We examine how the living work of teachers might reposition curriculum as a body of dynamic memories: a constellation of struggles and belongings, failures and accomplishments. The role of the teacher, in this context, is as a handler of those memories. Research Design Our approach derives from sustained interaction as we have sought to bring our scholarly backgrounds in philosophy of education and English teacher education, respectively, into dynamic contact. The methodology of the inquiry is mixed in that it combines teacher narratives (our own) with critical conceptual analysis, collective memory work, and phenomenology. Drawing on a bibliography of texts organized collaboratively by the larger research group, our main authors of reference are Freire, Gramsci, Anzaldua, Style, and Britzman. We also feature several fine-grained narratives that illuminate what we mean by “handlers of memory” in the educational setting. Conclusions/Recommendations Our shared philosophizing in this paper is a response to the concern that classroom teaching contributes to the deadening of curriculum as a source of meaning and an avenue for students and teachers to learn about themselves. In response, we propose the image of teachers as handlers of memory who work to cultivate and keep memories alive and central to learning. We recommend that teachers explore collective memory work (Haug, 1999) and reflective teaching narratives (Furman, 2015) as ways to get a handle on their own powerful memories of teaching.

The Tribe of Dan has always appeared to biblical scholars and archaeologists as something of an enigma. For decades, certain scholars, beginning with Yigael Yadin, have proposed a connection between the Denyen/Danaoi Sea People and the Danites of Ancient Israel, arguing that the former became the latter and were adopted into Israel at a later date than the other 11 tribes. Focusing on recent archaeological excavations at Tel Dan and the connections between Samson and Hercules, with special attention specifically given to Dan’s traditional paired imagery with serpents, this study seeks to present a coherent case for the possibility that Yadin’s theory may soon carry weight.

Lisa Blackmore examines dynamics of hydropower and its contestation by visual, spatial and participatory means in the work of Carolina Caycedo.

The estimation of spent nuclear fuel source term (decay heat, reactivity, nuclide inventory, etc.) has several sources of uncertainty such as uncertainties in nuclear data, uncertainties in the operation history, and choice of calculation parameters. In this work the effect of calculation parameters is studied by estimating the source term with the built-in burnup capability of serpent. The effect of the following parameters is considered: depletion zone division, burnup steps, unresolved resonance probability table sampling, Doppler-Broadening Rejection Correction (DBRC) and energy-dependent branching ratios. As a test case, a 2D Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) fuel assembly was modeled by first running a burnup calculation followed by a decay calculation. The following source term components were considered when investigating the effect of the studied parameters: total decay heat, photon emission rate and spontaneous fission rate. In general, the differences resulting from the use of different parameter variations were small for all three studied source term components. For the decay heat largest absolute relative difference was approximately 0.6% and for the photon emission rate approximately 1.1%. For the spontaneous fission rate maximum absolute relative difference of nearly 8% was observed. For all three components the variation of the depletion zone division resulted in the largest relative differences. Clear differences were also observed for burnup step length and DBRC variations. The use of unresolved resonance probability table sampling and energy-dependent branching ratios had an insignificant effect on the studied source term components.

Morfometri sel berguna untuk mendeteksi abnormalitas seluler berdasar pengukuran sel secara kuantitatif. Metode ini telah diterapkan pada berbagai pemeriksaan klinis yang melibatkan inspeksi morfologi sel seperti pemeriksaan sitologi, histopatologi, dan patologi digital. Kalibrator skala yang umum digunakan adalah mikrometer kalibrasi (calibration slide). Terbatasnya ketersediaan mikrometer kalibrasi di laboratorium sering menjadi hambatan dalam melakukan morfometri sel sehingga diperlukan alat alternatif yang terbukti memiliki akurasi yang sama. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah membandingkan parameter morfometri eritrosit elang ular bido (Spilornis cheela) menggunakan tiga kalibrator berbeda: mikrometer kalibrasi, kamar hitung Neubauer, dan batang skala digital pada kamera mikroskop. Sebanyak 58 eritrosit elang ular bido dipilih dari preparat apus darah yang diwarnai dengan pewarna Giemsa dan difoto menggunakan kamera mikroskop. Seluruh sel diukur menggunakan aplikasi ImageJ. Kalibrasi pengukuran dilakukan dalam lima metode dengan kalibrator yang telah disebutkan. Analisis perbandingan secara statistika dilakukan dengan membandingkan rata-rata panjang sel, lebar sel, panjang nukleus, dan lebar nukleus melalui uji analysis of variance (ANOVA) dan uji lanjutan Tukey’s Honestly Significant Difference (HSD). Hasil uji ANOVA menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan signifikan pada rata-rata parameter morfometri eritrosit berdasar lima metode kalibrasi. Hasil uji lanjutan menunjukkan bahwa tidak terdapat perbedaan antara hasil pengukuran menggunakan kalibrasi dengan mikrometer kalibrasi (calibration slide) dan kamar hitung Neubauer. Simpulan yang dapat ditarik dari penelitian ini bahwa kamar hitung Neubauer dapat digunakan untuk menggantikan mikrometer kalibrasi (calibration slide) jika belum tersedia di fasilitas klinik maupun laboratorium

Serpent‐god worship is an ancient tradition still practiced in many sacred groves across the Western Ghats of India. Although sacred groves there hold ecological conservation value, few studies have focused on arguably the most iconic taxon in the region, snakes. We thus investigated the impact of sacred groves and snake deity worshipping on attitudes towards snakes by conducting surveys with people who had entered sacred groves in the past. We found that very few participants who had encountered snakes inside sacred groves in the past harmed them during these encounters. However, nearly a quarter of all participants do harm snakes if encountered outside sacred groves. We also found that a larger proportion of participants who do not harm snakes outside sacred groves worship snake deities, relative to those that do harm them. Our work thus highlights the influence of sacred groves and snake deity worshipping on pacifistic human–snake relations in Southwestern India. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

In this study, the isothermal physics tests performed on the fully loaded core of the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) are analyzed with the Monte Carlo code Serpent and with the deterministic core simulator DYN3D. The selected tests comprise two neutron spectra measurements and a multitude of reactivity effect measurements (32 cases with control rod movements and one case for isothermal temperature coefficient). While the flux spectra are calculated only with the Monte Carlo code, the reactivity effects are evaluated with both codes, Serpent and DYN3D. The homogenized few-group cross sections for DYN3D calculations are generated with Serpent. The obtained numerical results are in a very good agreement as compared to the experimental data. Additionally, a comparison of radial power distributions is presented between DYN3D and Serpent calculations, demonstrating an adequate performance of the nodal code DYN3D. This paper provides an additional contribution to the validation of both codes for neutronic analyses of Sodium cooled Fast Reactor cores.

Insects and arthropods appear in the Maya art in a rich and diverse context, suggesting their prominent significance in the culture. In the following chapters I present my research concerning the appearance of the centipede, one of the arthropods most commonly represented in the Maya iconography. I studied depictions of the centipede in the art of the Classic Period (250 A.D. - 909 A.D) and compared them with epigraphical and ethnohistorical sources in order to define the specific symbolic meaning of this animal in all contexts of its occurrence. My research focused on the centipede as part of the vision serpent complex, its connections to the Palenque triad, Sun God K’inich Ajaw and Bolon Yokte K’uh. In the conclusion, I try to establish the significance of the centipede as the animal of transition, more specifically the transition between night and day and the Underworld and our world.

In this essay, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. addresses the historical and contemporary failures of American democracy. Using the metaphor of “the magician’s serpent,” Glaude brings Walt Whitman’s views on democracy into the full light of America’s failure to resolve the problem of race. Glaude places Whitman’s Democratic Vistas (1871) in conversation with James Baldwin’s No Name in the Street (1972) in order to construct a different sort of reading practice that can both engage with Whitman’s views on democracy and reckon with what George Hutchinson calls Whitman’s “white imperialist self and ideology” as an indication of the limits of a certain radical democratic imagining.

The purpose of this paper is to explore, from the perspective of biographical criticism, the relationship between T. S. Eliot, the greatest English modernist poet, and Paul Valery, the greatest French Symbolist poet during the years 1920-1925. This paper is to thoroughly trace the mutual relationship or the influential interaction between Eliot and Valery mainly through correspondence in The Letters of T. S. Eliot 1: 1898-1922 (2009) and The Letters of T. S. Eliot 2: 1923-1925 (2009). Eliot, the editor of The Criterion, mediates perfunctorily in publishing first Captain Mark Wardle’s translation of Valery’s “Le Serpent” (1922) in the literary magazine in 1923 with the help of Richard Cobden-Sanderson the publisher and Lady Rothermere the patron, and second Le Serpent par Paul Valery (1924) with Wardle’s translation and his “A Brief Introduction to the Method of Paul Valery.” Valery’s high praise for Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922) is sharply contrasted with the latter’s severe critique on the former’s “L’Âme et la danse: Dialogue socratique” (1921). Charles Whibley and John Hayward, as intimate mutual friends of Eliot and Valery, play important roles in consolidating their respectful friendship. In short, numerous English and/or French letters of Eliot and Valery over a period of six years intensively reveal their influential interplay ranging from editor-contributor relationship to laudable masterly international friendship. This study will further elucidate the relationship between Eliot and Valery during the years 1926-1929.

Block cipher technique is one of cryptography techniques to encrypt data block by block. The Serpent is one of AES candidates. It encrypts a 128-bit block by using 32 rounds of a similar calculation utilizing permutations and substitutions. Since the permutations and substitutions of it are static. Then this paper proposes dynamic methods for permutation, substitution and key generation based on chaotic maps to get more security. The proposed methods are analyzed and the results showed that they were able to exceed the weakness resulting from the use of static permutations and substitutions boxes in the original algorithm and also can reduce number of rounds and time usage compared with a classical Serpent block cipher algorithm

Monte Carlo multi-physics modeling of reactor transients is being made feasible by the advancement of computer capacities. Developments have recently been made in the area of dynamic Monte Carlo methods, and corresponding new algorithms have been implemented in a number of transport codes. In particular, a time-dependent simulation mode has been implemented in the Serpent 2 code. This paper is focused on time-dependent simulations of the SPERT experiments. The results of reactor-physics simulations are presented. The modeling has been performed using Serpent 2. The results of the reactor physics simulations without fuel temperature feedback are in very good agreement with the experimental data.

In this work, the effect of averaging operating history parameters such as power history, boron concentration and coolant density, and temperature on spent nuclear fuel properties was investigated. The examined properties were assembly activity, decay heat, photon emission rate, spontaneous fission rate, and the concentration of some mobile nuclides and fissile nuclides. Calculations were performed on two similar VVER-440 fuel assemblies irradiated in different positions of the core using Serpent 2. Averaging power history over the entire irradiation history had a significant effect on assembly activity, decay heat, and photon emission rate overestimating these properties approximately 70% right after irradiation. However, the effect quickly died out and after 10 years of cooling, the effect was less than 1%. If the last cycle (third cycle) was modeled accurately and the power density of only the first two cycles was averaged, the differences remained always below 1%. The effect of operating history approximations on spontaneous fission rate and the nuclide concentrations was much smaller remaining mostly below 1.5%. The sensitivity of nuclide concentrations to approximations in individual operating history parameters was dependent on the nuclide in question and no trend applying to all studied nuclides could be observed.

Accurate burnup calculation in pebble bed reactor cores is today necessary but challenging. The continuous advancement in computing capabilities make the use of Monte Carlo transport codes possible to efficiently study individual pebbles depletion without making strong assumptions. The purpose is to eliminate unnecessary typical assumptions made in existing codes, while being flexible and suitable for commonly available computing machines. Among the available codes, Serpent 2 provides extremely useful tools to make pebble beds modeling and simulation efficient. The explicit stochastic geometry definition handles irregular pebble beds with comparable performances to regular lattices. Optimization modes controlling the use of unionized energy grids, cross-sections pre-calculation and flux calculation through spectrum collapse or direct tally lead to high flexibility and optimal memory usage while limiting calculation time. Automated burnable materials division is a useful tool to lower the memory requirements while quickly generating the geometry and materials. Finally, parallelization and domain decomposition allow for decreasing unreasonable memory constraints for large cores. This work thus explores the possibilities of Serpent 2 when applying depletion in pebble beds, compares the optimization modes and quantifies the simulation time and memory usage depending on the conditions of the calculation. Overall, the results show that Serpent 2 is well adapted to the use of small to large cores calculations with commonly available resources.

This paper deals with one of the astral goddesses in Ancient Egyptian religion, Sopdet; she was goddess of the brightest star in the southern sky. She personified the Dog Star, Sirius, she was known as Sothis to the Greeks , she was worshipped at Saft el-Hinna. Sopdet was known as the wife of god sah (Orion)[i] and mother of god Sopdu[ii], she was associated to many deities like Isis in the form of Isis Sothis, she was known since the first Dynasty as the goddess who brings the new year and the innundation, as each year the coming of the flood coincided with the moment of its brightness on the horizon at dawn after its absence for about 70 days (This phenomenon is called a heliacal rising of Sothis. )[iii] , so she was considered as a fertility goddess because of the soil braught by the flood .her appearance also corresponded with the beginning of the ancient Egyptian year [iv] , and she was considered as the queen of all decans, as she preceded all the stars .[v] She appeared in different forms, as she appeared in a human form , a cow , a lioness headed serpent, and a dog headed serpent.she is characterized by many qualities and titles. The research studies the archaeological and textual evidences of goddess Sopdet referring to her titles, qualities, forms, roles and her relations to other deitie. [i]Sah was the personified god for the southern constellation known as Orion , and he was the father in the triad consisted of sah, Sopdet as the mother and their son was sopdu, he is manifestated to Osiris in the pyramid texts as he was mentioned as the father of gods; R. H. Wilkinson, The complete gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt ,Cairo, 2003, p. 127 [ii] Sopdu was the god of the eastern borders. He is represented as a crouching falcon or Bedouin warrier wearing a crown of tall feathers with long hair and pointed beard. His main cult center was at saft el henna ( per sopdu) and he was worshipped together with Hathor at Serabbit el khadem ; G. Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, London, 2005,p.151. [iii] L. Depuydt, ''Sothic Chronology and the Old Kingdom'', JARCE 37, 2000, p. 168 [iv] Joachim Friedrich Quack, Astronomy in Ancient Egypt, Oxford, 2018, p.3 [v] L.S. Bull, '' An Ancient Egyptian Astronomical Ceiling-Decoration'', The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin , Vol. 18, No. 12, Nov., 1923, p. 286

The ADS (accelerator driven system) is recognized as a promising system to annihilate the radioactivity of nuclear waste with its inherent safety feature and waste transmutation potential. Thus, conceptual designs of ADS are widely carrying out. In order to verify the accuracy of an innovative ADS core modeling by using simulation codes, the reactivity calculations of CERMET fueled ADS were conducted using two Monte Carlo codes, Serpent and MCNP6 with ENDF/B-VII.0 library. The comparison shows a good agreement between two codes including the eigenvalue (less than 50 pcm) and fuel temperature feedback (discrepancy is within the standard deviation). It implies that the ADS was modelled successfully and can be used for further investigation. Keywords: CERMET fueled ADS, Serpent code, MCNP6, reactivity calculation.

This paper presents the results of a study conducted on the species composition of serpent fauna in Trashigang Territorial Forest Division (TTFD), Bhutan. The survey was conducted from August 2019 to September 2020. The study aimed to assess the diversity, conservation threats, and distribution of both venomous and non-venomous snakes in different habitat types using time constrained visual encounter survey technique. A total of 34 species of snakes belonging to five families and 23 genera were recorded. Of the total observed species, nine were identified as venomous species. These include four species of Elapidae, four species of Viperidae, and one Colubridae. Geographically, snakes occurred throughout the landscapes, although species composition and their geographical distribution differed notably amongst various localities. We documented survival threats to local snakes where deliberate killing and road mortality were found to be the most common cause of death. The increasing trend of diversity, species richness, and relative abundance of serpent fauna was noticed as the radial distance increased from urban residential areas towards less disturbed landscapes such as rural agricultural land and natural forests indicating that the habitat mosaic plays an important role in the structure and composition of the snake community. Considering the limited information currently available on diversity and geographical distribution of the serpent fauna of the region, the present study can be considered very significant.

In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-1793), William Blake offers a trail to fly through the Universe. His muse, the “sneaking serpent”, elucidates the concept that diabolic does not contain in itself the idea of evil – nevertheless it is an active springing from Energy, for every existence is holy. This study understands the prophetic trip narration to mystery as a way that the poetic voice erects against Reason (Good), to empower himself in the Energy of Devil (or of Hell). Hereby, it was adopted the idea of devilish as a vital force, avoiding dogmatic and religious definitions of the term, a thematic often struggled by the author, mainly concerning his rupture with the thoughts of Emanuel Swedenborg. Another point that was researched was in relation to distinct visual representations of the serpent myth in Blake’s illustrations, as in “The Serpent Attacking Buoso Donatin” (1826–7, reprinted in 1892), and in “The spiritual of Nelson guiding Leviathan” (1805-1809). Both in written and pictorial artworks, the author asserts that the serpent symbolizes the sacred that lives in all profane things. Em O Casamento do Céu e do Inferno (1790-1793), William Blake oferece uma trilha para voar pelo Universo. A sua musa, a “serpente sorrateira”, elucida o conceito de que o diabólico não contém em si a ideia do mal - no entanto, é uma nascente ativa da Energia, pois toda existência é sagrada. Este estudo entende a viagem profética da narração em direção ao mistério como uma forma que a voz poética ergue contra a Razão (Bem), para se empoderar na Energia do Diabo (ou do Inferno). Adotou-se, assim, a ideia do diabólico como força vital, evitando-se definições dogmáticas e religiosas do termo, temática com a qual o autor muitas vezes se debatiava , principalmente no que diz respeito a sua ruptura com o pensamento de Emanuel Swedenborg. Outro ponto pesquisado foi em relação às distintas representações visuais do mito da serpente nas ilustrações de Blake, como em "A Serpente Atacando Buoso Donatin" (1826-7, reimpresso em 1892) e em "O espiritual de Nelson guiando o Leviatã" ( 1805-1809). Tanto em obras escritas quanto pictóricas, o autor afirma que a serpente simboliza o sagrado que vive em todas as coisas profanas.

Fusion neutronics analysis before and after experiments at JET is traditionally performed using Monte Carlo particle transport code Monte Carlo N-Particle. For redundancy and diversity reasons there is a need of an additional Monte Carlo code, such as Serpent 2, capable of fusion neutronics analysis. In order to validate the Serpent code for fusion applications a detailed model of JET was used. Neutron fluxes and reaction rates were calculated and compared for positions outside the tokamak vacuum vessel, in the vacuum vessel above the plasma and next to a limiter inside the vacuum vessel. For all detector positions with DD and DT neutron sources the difference between neutron fluxes calculated with both Monte Carlo codes were within 2σ statistical uncertainty and for most positions (more than 90 % of all studied positions) even within 1σ uncertainty. Fusion neutronics analysis in the JET tokamak with Serpent took on average 10 % longer but this can be improved by changing the threshold value for determination of the transport method used. With the work presented in this paper the Serpent Monte Carlo code was validated to be a viable alternative to MCNP for fusion neutronics analysis for the JET tokamak.

Jammu region has a rich heritage of folk traditions, and the cult of folk deities is an important aspect of it. These deities are popularly known as Kula-devtas and Kula-devis, here Kula means family/clan, and devta or devi refers to the deity. The family rituals like marriages, births, or any other auspicious ceremonies are initiated with their veneration. Brahmanical (Hindu pantheon) Gods are placed second in importance to them during the family rituals. This is still the practice in the region which has largely been Brahmanised. The Little tradition of local deities exists harmoniously with Greater Brahmanical tradition. To understand this importance of the deities, the author has been carrying on extensive fieldwork for the last fifteen years. This has resulted in the documentation of more than four hundred such deities who exist in the form of Gram-devtas and Gram-devis (Village deities), Naag-devtas (Serpent deities), Shaheed-devtas (Martyr deities), Silabantis (Sati deities), and Aaghat-devtas (Exotic deities). The present paper seeks to analyse the typology of the deities, their nature, rituals, shrines, karak gathas (narrative songs), and social groups associated with them. The information regarding the deities has been documented by using oral history techniques, the use of the questionnaire, a visit to the shrines of important folk deities, and documenting the conduct of the rituals and other ceremonies in the Jammu region.

Most of snakes exhibit a ZZ/ZW sex chromosome system, with different stages of degeneration. However, undifferentiated sex chromosomes and unique Y sex-linked markers, suggest that an XY system has also evolved in ancestral lineages. Comparative cytogenetic mappings revealed that several genes share ancestry among X, Y and Z chromosomes, implying that XY and ZW may have undergone transitions during serpent’s evolution. In this study, we performed a comparative cytogenetic analysis to identify homologies of sex chromosomes across ancestral (Henophidia) and more recent (Caenophidia) snakes. Our analysis suggests that, despite ~ 85 myr of independent evolution, henophidians and caenophidians retained conserved synteny over much of their genomes. However, our findings allowed us to discover that ancestral and recent lineages of snakes do not share the same sex chromosome and followed distinct pathways for sex chromosomes evolution.

In this chapter, I examine the most prominent rock-reliefs at the site of Badami that are carved on a colossal boulder located at the eastern end of Badami’s Agastya tank. Depicted on this rock are a series of Hindu deities: Varaha, Ganesha, the trimurti (i.e., Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu), Durga Mahisasuramardini, and Narasimha. Nagas (serpent deities) are also carved on this rock, as well as many linga-shrines. Given the plethora of caves and temples at the site, why carve images on a boulder and why carve these specific deities and temple forms? Were these images worshipped in similar ways as enshrined deities at the site, or might they serve other purposes? In contrast to other scholarly approaches to Badami which tend to focus on the roles of the political elite, I am interested in how these rock-reliefs might shed light on the site’s larger cultural and devotional landscapes. In my examinations of these rock-reliefs, I argue that they form a dialogue with other monuments at the site, and that this dialogue reflects the interests of a diverse social base that includes many voices—artists, local residents, ascetics, and agrarian communities.

EnglishIn the vast medieval iconography of the original Sin, the formula Adam and Eve on different sides of the Forbidden Tree, with the serpent facing the woman prevailed for a long time. In the thirteenth-fifteenth centuries an innovation would have great success: the serpent that induces Eve to sin has often been figured with feminine features. As for the historian there should be no unexplored facts, as irrelevant as they may seen at first glance, this article is an attempt to explain the purpose of those images. The hypothesis presented results from the articulation of three strong elements in the world view of that time: imagery language, analogical argumentation and misogynistic practice. portuguesNa vasta iconografia medieval do Pecado original, durante muito tempo prevaleceu a formula Adao e Eva em lados diferentes da Arvore proibida, com a serpente voltada para a mulher. Nos seculos XIII-XV uma inovacao conheceria grande sucesso: a serpente que induz Eva ao pecado passou varias vezes a ser figurada com feicoes femininas. Como para o historiador nao deve haver factos inexplorados, por mais irrelevantes que parecam a primeira vista, este artigo e uma tentativa de explicacao da razao de ser daquelas imagens. A hipotese apresentada resulta da articulacao de tres elementos fortes na visao de mundo da epoca: a linguagem imagetica, a argumentacao analogica e a pratica misogina.

In this article an attempt, based on ethnographical descriptions from the end of the 19th century till the beginning of the 20th century and also the author’s modern field materials, is made to follow the peculiarities of Hutzul imagination about home spirits/goblins. In general, among the specified mythological characters we outstand goblin-ancestor (spirit-guardian), goblin-nurse child (spirit-enricher) and goblin- animal. We follow manic genesis of the spirit-guardian as a creator character in the result of fulfilling transitional burial ritual of the genus’ ancestor. At the same time, we research ritual customary imitational actions directed at the creation of the spiritenricher (purchase, hatching out of an abnormal egg, coins, inheritance and etc). Characters’ functional abilities (guardianship over domestic households, provision of monetary welfare, presenting talents) external –visual (anthropomorphic/ zoomorphic features) and everyday characteristics (food, accommodation, habits) are analyzed in detail. The connection between the goblin and the violent death of the spirit’s owner is found. This is correlated with the identification and perception of the spirit-enricher as «dark magic» or devil. A special attention is paid to the analyses of zoomorphic hypostases of Hutzul domestic spirits (weasel, serpent/eels). Connection between the listed mythical characters and domestic households, namely their guardian functions over the cattle is analyzed. It is also found that the serpent is able to influence imitationally the bad weather, chase away clouds, prevent hail. These abilities in their turn show their connection to the dark dead (prematurely dead, people who committed suicide and drowned, wizards and witches). We also paid attention to syncretic properties of goblin-ancestor, goblin-nurse child and goblin-animal as well. Their ambivalent properties referring to their master are also described here. This paper defines common and distinct properties of Hutzul domestic spirits with their corresponding creatures Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Checks, Serbian and Bulgarian lower mythology.

The British Army has a long history of training in Kenya, including delivering health outreach to the local population on Exercise ASKARI SERPENT. This article presents data from two iterations of Exercise ASKARI SERPENT in which children accounted for almost 40% of all patients treated. Short case vignettes highlight the technical and non-technical challenges faced when treating children, before recommendations are made for pre-deployment training for Exercise ASKARI SERPENT and similar future deployments which may see military clinicians delivering treatment to the local population.

The Physiologus is a patristic text containing allegorical interpretations of animals. This article examines the Greek, Latin, and Syriac reception history of the serpent material from the Physiologus and concludes that while Greek and Latin authors repeated serpent material from the Physiologus, John the Solitary and Isaac of Nineveh, in the Syriac tradition, furthered the allegorical sense of this text by adding an ascetical layer of interpretation. In particular, they both use the serpent material from the Physiologus to explain the transformation from the outer man to the inner man. Two additional conclusions are offered. First, this article shows that the Physiologus became a standard resource for a “redeem the snake” tradition that emerged sometime in the fourth and fifth centuries due to a renewed interest in classical zoology and due to an increase in biblical commentary on Matt 10:16, where Jesus encourages his followers to be as wise as serpents. Second, this article shows that some of the serpent analogies from the Physiologus circulated independently from the rest in a no-longer-extant form of the Physiologus or else as part of a separate work, possibly another natural history compendium. This conclusion has repercussions for dating the Physiologus.

Paquimé, Chihuahua, was the ceremonial center of the Medio period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes world, and the focus of regional pilgrimages. We use a relational perspective to explore the connections that were created and expressed during the pilgrimage. We propose that Paquimé was considered a living city, and that pilgrims actively supported its vitality through offerings of marine shells and other symbolically important goods. A region-wide network of signal fires centered on Cerro de Moctezuma, a hill directly overlooking Paquimé, summoned pilgrims. Ritual negotiations also focused on the dead and may have included at least occasional human sacrifice. While the pilgrimages focused on water-related ritual, they also included community and elite competition as reflected in architectural features such as the ball courts. Central to the pilgrimage was negotiation with the horned serpent, a deity that controlled water and was associated with leadership throughout Mesoamerica and the Southwest. The horned serpent is the primary supernatural entity reflected at the site and in the pottery pilgrims took with them back to their communities. Thus, the pilgrimages were times when the Casas Grandes people created and transformed their relationships with each other, religious elites, the dead, the landscape, and the horned serpent. These relationships in turn are reflected across the region (e.g., the broad distribution of Ramos Polychrome). This case study consequently demonstrates the potential that the relational perspective presented throughout this issue has for providing insight into the archaeological record and the past social structures it reflects.