Holy harlots : authority, gender, and the body in medieval English hagiography

This doctoral dissertation aims at describing the representation of holy harlots (Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, Pelagia, Thai's, Afra of Augsburg) in medieval English hagiography. These saints are unique representatives that combine both extremes of the feminine in the medieval imaginaire: she is both, as a saint, the Virgin Mary, the pure and virtuous woman, and, in her past as a prostitute, Eve, the evil female tempter who led all mankind to destruction. The initial question of this thesis is how did hagiographers negotiate the representation of a formerly sinful, sexually active, long- living woman as an authoritative saint? This thesis aims at finding elements of answer to this question, investigating the intersections between gender and authority in the saints' lives of repentant prostitutes in all the vernaculars of medieval England: Old English, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English. It posits that the portrayal of holy harlots' authority and gender is dependent upon social, religious and literary shifts during the medieval period. My contention is that the harlot's gender portrayal changes over the course of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, due notably to the rise of affective piety and the important influence of the romance genre over hagiography. In Anglo-Saxon England, the harlot's gender changes with the saint's conversion: a woman beforehand, her gender is portrayed after her repentance as ambiguous in order for her to become a saint. Her authority derives from her own sanctity in this case. From the twelfth century onward, however, the harlot, now often turned into a beautiful and landed romance lady, is more and more represented as a woman throughout her life, and becomes after her conversion a Bride of Christ. In this way, the dangerously free woman who roamed the streets and prostituted her body becomes less threatening after her conversion, being (re-)inscribed within the male dominated institution of marriage. She now draws her authoritative stance from her gendered intimacy with Christ: although she submits to Christ as his bride, she also gains greater authority than before by way of her privileged relationship with the Savior.

Life histories and distribution of ostracods with depth in western Lake Geneva (Petit-Lac), Switzerland: A reconnaissance study

Because environmental conditions within a given basin are different for each season and at different water depth, knowledge of the life history and depth distribution of target species is important for environmental and palaeoenvironmental interpretations based on ostracod species assemblages and/or the geochemical compositions of their valves. In order to determine the distribution of species with depth as well as the life history of species from Lake Geneva, a one year sampling campaign of living ostracods was conducted at five sites (2, 5, 13, 33 and 70 m water depth) on a monthly basis in the Petit-Lac (western basin of Lake Geneva, Switzerland). Based on the results, the different species can be classified into three groups. Littoral taxa are found at 2 and 5 m water depth and include, in decreasing numbers of individuals, Cypridopsis vidua (O. F.Müller, 1776), Pseudocandona compressa (Koch, 1838), Limnocythere inopinata (Baird, 1843), Herpetocypris reptans (Baird, 1835), Potamocypris smaragdina (Vávra, 1891), Potamocypris similis (G. W. Müller, 1912), Plesiocypridopsis newtoni (Brady & Robertson, 1870), Prionocypris zenkeri (Chyzer & Toth, 1858) and Ilyocypris sp. Brady & Norman, 1889. Sublittoral species are found in a majority at 13 m water depth and to a lesser extend at 33 m water depth and include, in decreasing numbers of individuals, Fabaeformiscandona caudata (Kaufmann, 1900), Limnocytherina sanctipatricii, Candona candida (O. F. Müller, 1776) and Isocypris beauchampi (Paris, 1920). Profundal species are found equally at 13, 33 and 70 m water depth and includes, in decreasing numbers of individuals, Cytherissa lacustris (Sars, 1863), Candona neglecta Sars, 1887 and Cypria lacustris Lilljeborg, 1890. The occurrence of Limnocytherina sanctipatricii (Brady & Robertson, 1869) is restricted from late winter to late spring when temperatures are low, while C. vidua, L. inopinata, P. smaragdina, P. similis, P. newtoni and Ilyocypris sp. occur predominantly from spring to early autumn when temperatures are high. Individuals of C. neglecta, C. candida, F. caudata, P. compressa, C. lacustris, H. reptans and Cp. lacustris occur throughout the year with juveniles and adults occurring during the same period (C. neglecta at 70 m, C. lacustris at 13, 33 and 70 m, and H. reptans at 2, 5 and 13 m water depth) or with juveniles occurring during a different period of the year than adults (C. neglecta at 13 and 33 m and C. candida, F. caudata and P. compressa at their respective depth of occurrence). Among the environmental parameters investigated, an estimate of the relationship between ostracod autoecology and environmental parameters suggests that in the Petit-Lac: (i) water temperature and substrate characteristics are important factors controlling the distribution of species with depth, (ii) water temperature is also important for determining the timing of species development and, hence, its specific life history, and (iii) water oxygen and sedimentary organic matter content is less important compared to the other environmental parameter monitored.

Subjective theories of gynaecologists discussing sexuality in consultations

Objectives: This study aims to explore subjectives theories (Flick, 1991) concerning sexualityamong gynaecologists. Methods: We conducted 27 deepened semi-structured interviews withmen and women gynaecologists, in the French part of Switzerland. A thematic contentanalysis was applied to the entire corpus. Results: We observe that discourse on sexualityissues can be source of discomfort during consultation with patients. Our analysis highlightsdisparities among levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices in gynaecologists. We observedthat their knowledges on sexuality seem to be constructed mainly on a profane knowledgebased on the common sense and/or their personal experiences. Furthermore, our findingsshow sex differences among physicians, especially on theoretical perspectives underlying theirdiscourse, and the time they allow themselves to spend with a patient. Conclusion: Nowadays,gynaecologists come across sexuality issues that go beyond anatomical and physiologicalconsiderations and for which they are not necessarily qualified. Our research suggests toanalyse both the role and the limits of gynaecologists as well as the motivations guiding theircurrent practice.

Further characterisation of the 91500 zircon crystal

This paper reports the results from a second characterisation of the 91500 zircon, including data from electron probe microanalysis, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and laser fluorination analyses. The focus of this initiative was to establish the suitability of this large single zircon crystal for calibrating in situ analyses of the rare earth elements and oxygen isotopes, as well as to provide working values for key geochemical systems. In addition to extensive testing of the chemical and structural homogeneity of this sample, the occurrence of banding in 91500 in both backscattered electron and cathodoluminescence images is described in detail. Blind intercomparison data reported by both LA-ICP-MS and SIMS laboratories indicate that only small systematic differences exist between the data sets provided by these two techniques. Furthermore, the use of NIST SRM 610 glass as the calibrant for SIMS analyses was found to introduce little or no systematic error into the results for zircon. Based on both laser fluorination and SIMS data, zircon 91500 seems to be very well suited for calibrating in situ oxygen isotopic analyses.