In recent decades, there has been increasing interest in (re)connecting people with nature to foster sustainability outcomes. There is a growing body of evidence suggesting a relationship between connection with nature and pro-environmental behaviors. Connection with nature has often been conceptualized as a unidimensional construct, and although recent evidence suggests that it is multidimensional, there is ongoing debate regarding the dimensions that make up connection with nature. Existing multidimensional connection with nature instruments capture similar dimensions, yet they are lengthy and (...) may not have practical application in real-world contexts. This research sought to clarify the dimensions of connection with nature and to develop and validate an abbreviated yet multidimensional connection with nature instrument—the CN-12. Analyses of two large datasets revealed three dimensions of connection with nature—identity, experience, and philosophy. Results suggested that the CN-12 and its three dimensions are positively correlated with: (1) environmental and altruistic values; (2) time spent in nature; and (3) a range of pro-environmental behaviors. Results also suggested that the CN-12 and its three dimensions are stable over time and are positively correlated with two existing multidimensional connection with nature instruments, the Nature Relatedness (NR) Scale and Environmental Identity (EID) Scale. The utility of the CN-12 for exploring human connections with nature and the role of fostering connection with nature to increase engagement in pro-environmental behaviors are discussed. (shrink)

Neural cell transplants have been introduced in clinical practice during the last decade with mixed results, encouraged by success with simple animal models. This commentary is a reminder that although the ideas and techniques of transplantation appear simple, the variables involved in host-transplant integration still require further study. The field may benefit from a concerted, multidisciplinary approach.

We generalize the combinatorial principles Cn(κ), Cns(κ), and Princ(κ) introduced by various authors, and prove some of their properties and connections between them. We also answer a question asked by Juhász and Kunen about the relation between these principles, by showing that Cn(κ) does not imply Cn+1(κ) for any n>2. We also show the consistency of C(κ)+¬Cs(κ).

We attempt to define the classical propositional logic by use of appropriate derivability conditions called Cn-definitions. The conditions characterize basic properties of propositional connectives.

The discovery of neurogenesis and neural stem cells (NSC) in the adult CNS has overturned a long‐standing and deep‐routed “dogma” in neuroscience, established at the beginning of the 20th century. This dogma lasted for almost 90 years and died hard when NSC were finally isolated from the adult mouse brain. The scepticism in accepting adult neurogenesis has now turned into a rush to find applications to alleviate or cure the devastating diseases that affect the CNS. Here we highlight a number (...) of methodological, technical and conceptual drawbacks responsible for the historical denial of adult neurogenesis. Furthermore, we discuss old and new issues that need to be faced before NSC or endogenous neurogenesis can safely enter into the doctor's bag for therapies. BioEssays 30:135–145, 2008. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Trial of Cn. Piso in Tacitus’ Annals and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre: New Light on Narrative TechniqueCynthia DamonIn writing the narrative of Germanicus’ death and Piso’s trial in Annals 2 and 3 Tacitus produced, in the estimation of two distinguished and perceptive Taciteans, “a text of unresolved ambiguity.” For Woodman and Martin, Tacitus’ achievement is the more striking when contrasted with the “monotonous confidence” of (...) the Senate’s resolutions in the aftermath of the trial, now available in the recently published Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre. 1 Woodman and Martin worked with this document even before its publication and use it to good effect in their commentary. The present essay treats a subject not easily addressed in the commentary format and beyond the purview of the document’s first (1996) editors, namely, Tacitus’ narrative technique.For his history of this episode Tacitus uses the common and effective narrative structure in which a scene is replayed, sometimes called a mirror story: Piso’s trial in Annals 3 contains the second telling of part of a story presented more fully in book 2, the story of Piso’s eastern command and the death of Germanicus. Mirror stories are found in all ancient narrative genres and accomplish a variety of narrative tasks; here the structure conveys the historian’s verdict on the trial. With the SCPP now available we can see with unusual precision how Tacitus selects, suppresses, and deploys material in order to present his case. I argue that in book 2 he offers an account of what really happened (as he reconstructs it, anyway), then in book 3 shows how this “truth” was obscured by a haze of rumor and suspicion in a world driven by obsequiousness and dissimulation. [End Page 143]Mirror StoriesMirror stories, like so much else in ancient historical writing, go back to the Homeric epics. In the Iliad and the Odyssey most mirror stories occur in direct speech: a character will repeat material already reported by the narrator, adapting it to his or her emotional state and rhetorical purpose. 2 Thus Thetis, for example, giving Hephaestus an account of the events that caused the loss of Achilles’ armor, “simplifies” the story given in the narrative so as to heighten her son’s role and strengthen the case for her own request (Il. 18.444–56). 3 The structure serves to distinguish among the epic’s various narrative levels, particularly between narrator-narrative and character-narrative.In novels mirror stories are no longer confined to direct speech. A single example will illustrate how the structure’s mechanics developed. One of several mirror stories in Apuleius’ Metamorphoses is Lucius’ trial for the murder of what he had taken to be a band of robbers (2.32–3.6). The trial culminates in a display of the victims: the cloth covering their bodies is swept away, only to reveal, not bloody corpses but wineskins that had been punctured by Lucius’ sword and stained red by their contents. There were no real victims and Lucius was not guilty of murder; the trial was in fact a farce devised in honor of the god Risus, whose annual festival was being celebrated that day. The spectators at the trial knew what was going on the whole time, but the stranger Lucius did not. Nor (and this is the important point) did Apuleius’ readers, for the fight scene was focalized through Lucius’ eyes. The trial becomes a dramatic revelation of Lucius’ vain and drunken misperceptions: the opponents in what Lucius saw as a heroic action were only some wineskins that had been left lying outside his host’s door. By telling the story twice, once through Lucius’ eyes, and once in the glare of a public trial, Apuleius re-enacts Lucius’ discovery of his own clouded vision for the reader. Of course Lucius is the narrator of the Metamorphoses and knows perfectly well when he tells the story of the “battle” what was really going on, but he allows the reader to have the same eye-opening experience that he himself had had. And in fact Lucius’ eyes are still only half open, as the... (shrink)

In this paper, we continue the study of the Łukasiewicz residuation algebras of order $n$ with Moisil possibility operators initiated by Figallo. More precisely, among other things, a method to determine the number of elements of the $MC_n$-algebra with a finite set of free generators is described. Applying this method, we find again the results obtained by Iturrioz and Monteiro and by Figallo for the case of Tarski algebras and $I\varDelta _{3}$-algebras, respectively.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:The Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone PatreD. S. PotterTranslated by Cynthia DamonEditorial Conventions( ) expansion of abbreviation[ ] restoration of letters written but now missing{ } deletion of letters written by mistake[ ] correction of letters considered wrongly inscribed necessary supplements > in translation, material supplied for clarity1 A(nte) d(iem) IIII eid(us) Dec(embres) in Palatio in porticu, quae est ad Apollinis. Scribendo2 adfuerunt M(arcus) Valerius M(arci) f(ilius) Lem(onia tribu) (...) Messallinus, G(aius) Ateius L(uci) f(ilius) Ani(ensi tribu) Capito, Sex(tus) Pomp(eius)3 Sex(ti) f(ilius) Arn(ensi tribu), M(arcus) Pompeius M(arci) f(ilius) Teret(ina tribu) Priscus, G(aius) Arrenus G(ai) f(ilius) Gal(eria tribu) Gallus, L(ucius) Nonius L(uci) f(ilius)4 Pom(ptina tribu) Asprenas q(uaestor), M(arcus) Vinicius P(ubli) f(ilius) Pob(lilia tribu) q(uaestor). vacat Quod Ti(berius) Caesar divi Aug(usti) f(ilius) Aug(ustus)5 pontifex maxumus, tribunicia potestate XXII, co(n)s(ul) III, designatus IIII ad sena– tum rettulit qualis causa Cn. Pisonis patris visa esset et an merito sibi mor– tem conscisse videretur et qualis causa M. Pisonis visa esset, cui relationi ad– iecisset, uti precum suarum pro adulescente memor is ordo esset, qualis cau– sa Plancinae visa esset, pro qua persona, quid petisset et quas propter causas,10 exposuisset antea, et quid de Visellio Karo et de Sempronio Basso, comitibus Cn. Pisonis patris, iudicaret senatus, d(e) i(is) r(ebus) i(ta) c(ensuerunt). vacat senatum populumq(ue) Romanum ante omnia dis immortalibus gratias agere, [End Page 14]1 December 10, on the Palatine in the portico adjacent to the Temple of Apollo. Present at the writing were M. Valerius M.f. Messallinus from the voting tribe Lemonia, C. Ateius L. f. Capito from the voting tribe Aniensis, Sex. Pompeius Sex. f. from the voting tribe Arnensis, M. Pompeius M. f. Priscus from the voting tribe Teretina, C. Arrenus C. f. Gallus from the voting tribe Galeria; L. Nonius L. f. Asprenas from the voting tribe Pomptina, quaestor, M. Vinicius P. f. from the voting tribe Poblilia, quaestor.WHEREAS Ti. Caesar Augustus, son of the deified Augustus, 5 pontifex maxumus,> in the twenty–second year of his tribunician power, having been consul three times, consul–designate for the fourth time, referred to the Senate for decision:how the case of the elder Cn. Piso had seemed and whether he seemed to have taken his life with due cause, andhow the case of M. Piso had seemed (to which item he had added that the senators be mindful of his entreaties on behalf of the young man); how the case of Plancina had seemed (for which person 10 he had previously explained what he sought and for what reasons), andwhat the Senate's judgment was concerning Visellius Karus and Sempronius Bassus, members of the elder Cn. Piso's staff,Concerning These Matters they Decreed as Follows:THAT the Senate and Roman people, before all else, expressed gratitude to the immortal gods because they did [End Page 15]quod nefaris consilis Cn. Pisonis patris tranquillitatem praesentis status r(ei) p(ublicae), quo melior optari non pote [e]t quo beneficio principis nostri frui contigit,15 turbar[i] passi non sunt, deinde Ti. Caesari Augusto principi suo quod earum rerum omnium, quae ad explorandam veritatem necessariae fuerunt, co– piam senatui fecerit, cuius aequitatem et patientiam hoc quoq(ue) nomine admirari senatum, quod, cum manufestissuma sint Cn. Pisonis patris scelera et ipse de se supplicium sumpsisset, nihilominus causam eius cognosci volue–20 rit filiosque eius arcessitos hortatus sit, ut patris sui causam defenderent, ita ut eum quoq(ue), qui ordinis senatori nondum esset, ob eam rem introduci in senatum vellet et copiam utriq(ue) dicendi pro patre et pro matre ipsorum et pro M. Pisone faceret. Itaque cum per aliquot dies acta causa sit ab accusatoribus Cn. Pisonis patris et ab ipso Cn. Pisone patre, recitatae epistulae, recitata exemplaria codicillorum, quos25 Germanicus Caesar Cn. Pisoni patri scripsisset, producti testes cuiusq(ue) ordinis sint, [End Page 16]not allow the tranquility of the present state of the republic... (shrink)

Rapid changes of state in central nervous systems (CNS), as required following stimuli that must arouse the CNS from a quiescent state in order to activate a behavioral response, constitute a particularly appropriate application of non‐linear dynamics. Chaotic dynamics would provide tremendous amplification of neuronal activity needed for CNS arousal, sensitively dependent on the initial state of the CNS. This theoretical approach is attractive because it supposes dynamics that are deterministic and it links the elegant mathematics of chaos to the (...) conception of a fundamental property of the CNS. However, a living system must be able to exit from chaotic dynamics in order to avoid widely divergent, biologically impossible outcomes. We hypothesize that, analogous to phase transitions in a liquid crystal, CNS arousal systems, having ‘woken up the brain’ to activate behavior, go through a phase transition and emerge under the control of orderly movement control systems. BioEssays 29:803–810, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

The discovery of homeobox genes in vertebrates may allow analysis of a basic problem in developmental neurobiology: how regional differences in CNS organization are specified during development. This view is based on the roles defined for homologous genes in Drosophila development, and is supported by studies of the patterns of homeobox gene expression in vertebrate embryos. Homeobox genes comprise a multigene family, members of which are expressed in different spatially restricted domains along the anterior‐posterior axis of the CNS. These observations (...) are consistent with homeobox genes having roles in the positional specification of CNS organization, and experimental tests of this should be forthcoming shortly. (shrink)

In Cicero, In Vatinium, § 29, occur the words: ‘ Fecerisne foedera tribunus plebis cum ciuitatibus, cum regibus, cum tetrarchis?’ With this are to be compared: Ad Fam. I. 9, 7:‘In quo omnia dicta sunt libertate animoque maximo de ui, de auspiciis, de donatione regnorum.’ Att. II. 9, I:‘Irnprobitate istorum, qui auspicia, qui Aeliam legem, qui Iuniam et Liciniam, qui Caeciliam et Didiam neglexerunt … qui regna quasi praedia tetrarchis … dederunt.

Tiberius' speech at the outset of the trial of Cn. Calpurnius Piso, as Tacitus reports it at Annals 3.12, sheds light on two discrepancies between relatio and response in the recently published senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre.

Achieving regeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) is a major challenge for regenerative medicine. The inability of mammals to regrow a severed CNS contrasts with the amazing regenerative powers of their deuterostome kin, the echinoderms. Rapid CNS regeneration from a specialized autotomy plane in echinoderms presents a highly tractable and suitable non‐model system for regenerative biology and evolution. Starfish arm autotomy triggers mass cell migration and local proliferation, facilitating rapid CNS regeneration. Many regeneration events in nature are preceded by (...) autotomy and there are striking parallels between autotomy and regeneration in starfish and lizards. Comparison of these systems holds promise to provide insight into regeneration deficiency in higher vertebrates and to uncover evolutionarily conserved deuterostome‐chordate regenerative processes. This will help identify mechanisms that may be present but inactive in higher vertebrates to address the problem of their poor regenerative capacities and the challenge to achieve CNS repair and regrowth. (shrink)

This article offers a detailed analysis of the penalties imposed on Cn. Calpurnius Piso pater in AD 20 after he had been posthumously convicted of maiestas . Piso was accused of leaving his province without permission and then returning to try to retake it after the death of Germanicus in AD 19. He was also believed by many to be implicated in the death of Germanicus. The details of his case have been revealed by a new inscription from Spain, the (...) Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre, which was first published in 1996. Part of this long and well-preserved inscription records the post-mortem sanctions against memory imposed by the senate and Tiberius on Piso after his suicide. The verdicts for his family members and accomplices are also included. The decree was posted on bronze in the major cities of the Empire and in the winter quarters of all the legions. The article argues for the following conclusions. The decree should be taken at face value and its punishments considered harsh for a member of the Roman office-holding élite. It was widely published throughout the Empire after there had been extravagant mourning for Germanicus. Consequently, it seems that post-mortem disgrace did not necessarily involve the family as a whole. Indeed, sanctions against memory appear to be consciously designed to preserve the Roman élite family, its assets, and social position by removing its erring member. Such sanctions reveal both a tension and an accommodation between remembering and forgetting, between the family and the community, between history and memory. (shrink)

Researchers are enthusiastically concerned about neural stem cell (NSC) therapy in a wide array of diseases, including stroke, neurodegenerative disease, spinal cord injury (SCI) and depression. Although enormous evidences have demonstrated that neurobehavioral improvement may benefit from NSC-supporting regeneration in animal models, approaches to endogenous and transplanted NSCs are blocked by hurdles of migration, proliferation, maturation and integration of NSCs. Electrical stimulation (ES) may be a selective nondrug approach for mobilizing NSCs in the central nervous system (CNS). This technique is (...) suitable for clinic application, because it is well established and its potential complications are manageable. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the emerging positive role of different electrical cues in regulating NSC biology in vitro and in vivo, as well as biomaterial-based and chemical stimulation of NSCs. In the future, ES combined with stem cell therapy or other cues probably becomes an approach for promoting brain repair. (shrink)

The origins and nature of the judicial role of the senate in cases which under the republic were the business of the permanent quaestiones have been the subject of long debate, and a satisfactory explanation has yet to be found for the change that had undoubtedly taken place by the reign of Tiberius. The discovery and publication of the senatorial decree which concluded the investigation into the charge brought in A.D. 20 against Cn. Piso following the murder of Germanicus,2 in (...) addition to the wealth of new material it provides for the political history of the period and the understanding of the methods of the historian Tacitus, allows an insight into the relation of the senate to the quaestio maiestatis which may prove useful in unravelling some of the puzzles which have troubled scholars hitherto. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:IntroductionCynthia Damo and Sarolta TakácsThe present special issue of the American Journal of Philology is devoted to the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre ( SCPP). 1 It grew up around the APA/AIA Joint Seminar on that subject which was part of the program at the annual meeting in Chicago in 1997. In addition to the three papers presented at that seminar and the formal response to them, this (...) collection contains a critical text of the document, an English translation, photographic plates of the most complete version of the text (Copy A), a bibliography of editions, reviews, and discussions of the document, a new review of the inscription’s initial publication, an essay on a closely related text, and an essay on a literary account of the events that generated the document.The SCPP is a substantial document, running to 176 lines in Copy A, a bronze tablet of approximately 118 3 45 cm. Six or seven copies have been found in Spain alone. The inscription reports the Senate’s decisions in the trial of Cn. Calpurnius Piso and his associates in Rome in the year a.d. 20. A lengthy text on a crucial event from a central period of the Principate will naturally offer information for and reveal problems in our understanding of many areas of Roman history. The SCPP thus joins the Tabula Siarensis to give us a glimpse, unseen before the 1980s, of the Senate’s corporate self-presentation in this period: the Senate addresses in turn the immortal gods, the emperor, members of the imperial family in descending importance, the equestrian ordo, the populace, and the soldiers, positioning itself carefully (and differently) vis-à- vis each. The Senate ensures that the decree will be seen throughout the empire by ordering publication in the most frequented spot of the most populous city of each province and in the winter quarters of every legion (lines 165–72). Furthermore, because the decree responds to events to which Tacitus devoted an important section of his first three Tiberian books, it provides an external (though far from unproblematic) check on Tacitus’ account of the trial and the events that led up to it. [End Page 1]Copies A and B were found in the modern province of Sevilla. Copy A’s provenance seems to point to the ancient Irni. Copy B’s place of origin was initially believed to be ancient Olaurum, but a location in the vicinity of El Tejar has now surfaced as another possibility. Like the remaining fragments (Copies C, D, E, and F, containing only a few letters each), all pieces of A and B came to light during illegal “excavations.” This circumstance will most likely render more precise localization impossible, but all the available information about the various copies points at present to the Roman province of Baetica as their original source. All the pieces are now housed together in the Archaeological Museum of Seville.Copy A begins with the heading “Decree of the Senate Concerning the Elder Cn. Piso, put up for view when N. Vibius Serenus was proconsul” ( senatus consultum de Cn. Pisone patre propositum N. Vibio Sereno procos.). This is inscribed across the top of the tablet’s four columns in letters much larger than those used for the text of the decree (see Plates I–VIII). This heading is not found in Copy B, where the first three lines of the text itself are simply written in letters larger than those of the remaining lines, with the first line displaying letters somewhat larger than the second and third. Copy A’s heading offers us a glimpse at the procedure involved in displaying a decree composed in Rome for an empire-wide audience; it was the governor of the province who initiated the process of public display at the provincial level. Yet the fact that Copy B lacks this heading suggests that the process that resulted in the creation of these two (and presumably other) copies was not entirely uniform.Further discrepancies between the two copies include their physical layout—Copy A consists of four columns with 176 lines of text, Copy B of two columns with 127 lines—and... (shrink)

In this paper we present a new hierarchy of analytical tableaux systems TNDC n, 1≤n (...) and also prove that these systems are logically equivalent to the corresponding systems Cn, 1≤nshrink)

Anamniote animals, such as fish and amphibians, are able to regenerate damaged CNS nerves following injury, but regeneration in the mammalian CNS tracts, such as the optic nerve, does not occur. However, severed adult mammalian retinal axons can regenerate into peripheral nerve segments grafted into the brain and this finding has emphasized the importance of the environment in explaining regenerative failure in the adult mammalian CNS. Following lesions, regenerating axons encounter the glial cells, oligodendrocytes and astro‐cytes, and their derivatives, respectively (...) myelin and the astrocytic scar. Experiments to investigate the influence of these components on axon growth in culture have revealed cell‐surface and extracellular matrix molecules that inhibit axon extension and growth cone motility. Structural and functional characterization of these ligands and their receptors is underway, and may solve the interesting neurobiological conundrum posed by the failure of mammalian CNS regeneration. Simultaneously, this might allow new possibilities for treatment of the severe clinical disabilities resulting from injury to the brain and spinal cord. (shrink)

A deficit in the number of organs available for transplantation persists even with an increase in donation rates. One possible choice of donor for organs that appears under-referred and/or unaccepted is patients with primary brain tumours. In spite of advances in the treatment of high-grade primary central nervous system (CNS) tumours, the prognosis remains dire. A working group on organs from donors with primary CNS tumours showed that the risk of transmission is small and outweighs the benefits of waiting for (...) a normal donor, in survival and organ life-years, with caveats. This paper explores the possibility that, if information on organ donation were made available to patients and their families with knowledge of their inevitable fate, perhaps some will choose to donate. It would be explained that to achieve this, elective ventilation would be performed in their final moments. This would obviate the consent question because of an advance statement. It is accepted that these are sensitive matters and there will be logistic issues. This will need discussion with the public and other professionals, but it could increase the number of donors and can be extrapolated to encompass other primary CNS tumours. (shrink)

Aiming at the problem of radar target recognition of High-Resolution Range Profile under low signal-to-noise ratio conditions, a recognition method based on the Constrained Naive Least-Squares Generative Adversarial Network, Short-time Fourier Transform, and Convolutional Neural Network is proposed. Combining the Least-Squares Generative Adversarial Network with the Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network with Gradient Penalty, the CN-LSGAN is presented and applied to the HRRP denoise. The frequency domain and phase features of HRRP are gained by STFT in order to facilitate feature learning (...) and also match the input data format of the CNN. These experimental results show that the CN-LSGAN has better data augmentation performance and can effectively avoid the model collapse compared to the generative adversarial network and LSGAN. Also, the method has better recognition performance than the one-dimensional CNN method and the Long Short-Term Memory network method. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Tacitus and the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone PatreRichard J. A. TalbertWhen our seminar organizers generously invited me to contribute a paper on a topic of my choice, it was a surprise to learn that no discussion of the relationship between Tacitus and the SCPP had already been proposed. This relationship is, after all, one of the most rewarding aspects stemming from the discovery of the document, though inevitably (...) in the limited space available here it will be feasible to explore only two or three dimensions of it.In my abstract, formulated far in advance, I proposed to discuss:1. The contribution, if any, which the SCPP makes to our understanding of Tacitus’ use of the acta senatus2. The placing of the trial episode in Tacitus’ narrative: in particular, if he has deliberately distorted the chronology of a.d. 20, how is our estimate of him as a historian affected, if at all?3. The ways in which Tacitus’ selection and focus of material compare with the SCPP.By the date the seminar convened, however, it was evident that I had no more than cautionary words to contribute about the acta senatus. We still need to establish their precise format, and the SCPP seems to be no help in this regard. In my book (Talbert 1984) I had argued that Tacitus did make extensive use of the acta, 1 and the discovery of the SCPP certainly has done nothing to alter that conviction. At the same time I grant that, even with the SCPP, we still lack proof of this extensive use. Indeed the sheer celebrity of Piso’s case surely diminishes the likelihood of such proof from the SCPP, because it is clear that for this particular episode there was an exceptional range of sources available. Tacitus makes a point of demonstrating how he exploited the range, seeking out evidence of appearances by Antonia (3.3.3), for example, and citing remarks that he recalled seniores making (3.16.1). I should [End Page 89] hesitate to join Werner Eck and Harriet Flower in stating unequivocally that—to use the latter’s words (1997, 709)—“Tacitus’ main source [for the trial] is the acta senatus.” But equally I could not support a claim that the acta senatus made no contribution to his account, either directly, or through one or more intermediaries.To move on to the character of Tacitus’ account and its placing within his narrative of the year 20, it is clear that much can hinge on when during the year the trial is reckoned to have taken place. Frankly, I am no longer convinced either by Eck’s view, or by my own modification of it introduced at the Capri meeting in 1994 and kindly noted by him in the definitive first edition. 2In brief, Eck dates the trial by taking the day that the SCPP was passed (10 December), and then immediately working back according to the intervals cited by Tacitus (3.13.1). At the outset two days were assigned to the prosecution of Piso, and then—after a six-day interval—his defense was to have three (this is the standard ratio of time for each side). In the event, it was after the first or second day of those three that Piso committed suicide. Thereafter, in Eck’s view, the trial was continued and concluded with a minimum of delay, although the only further indication of time offered by Tacitus (3.17.3) is that Plancina’s case took up two days. On this reckoning Eck can fairly maintain that the trial proceedings began somewhere between 28 and 30 November, and concluded with the SCPP on 10 December.At the Capri meeting I cautiously raised various concerns with this timetable. 3 For present purposes only the main one matters, namely that an extraordinary amount of pleading, testifying, proposing, and drafting will have to have been concentrated within an uncomfortably tight time frame. Consequently, I argued for pushing the start of the proceedings farther back into November by some days to permit a less hectic pace.Eck was evidently not persuaded, and perhaps this is of little consequence because clearly... (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Piso in Chicago: A Commentary on the APA/AIA Joint Seminar on the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone PatreHarriet I. FlowerThe discussion which follows comprises comments on the papers by John Bodel, D. S. Potter, and Richard Talbert which were delivered at the APA/AIA seminar on the Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre in Chicago, 28 December 1997. Those papers, now collected (with some minor revisions) in this issue of (...) AJP, cover a variety of topics ranging from Piso’s punishments to the virtues espoused and advertised in the rhetoric of the Julio-Claudians, from the chronology of events in A.D. 19–20 to the relationship between the decree and the account of Piso’s trial in Tacitus (Ann. 3.10–18). They serve to illustrate just some of the many aspects of Roman life which have been illuminated in new and vivid detail by the publication of the decree. My purpose here is to reflect upon these particular papers and to prompt further thought about a number of questions arising from the decree. Remarks below are focused closely on the meaning and interpretation of the new text itself. Rather than seeking to take a definite stance on every issue, my aim here is to explore some interpretations and to prompt further debate. Even as the Senate’s decree provides us with a wealth of fresh insights into events in Rome and in the empire in 19–20, it also reveals the limits of our knowledge and understanding about many areas of Roman life.J. Bodel, “Punishing Piso”In his detailed and well-argued paper John Bodel focuses on four of the six penalties imposed by the Senate on Cn. Calpurnius Piso after his suicide:1. The ban on mourning by women (lines 73–75)2. The ban on Piso’s imago (76–82) [End Page 99]3. The erasure of Piso’s name from the statue of Germanicus set up by the sodales Augustales in the Campus Martius near the Altar of Providentia (82–84)4. The demolition of additions built by Piso to link various private houses supra portem Fontinalem (105–8).Bodel has chosen to comment on these four penalties since they reflect Piso’s public image in Rome. A focus on specific penalties is helpful in getting to grips with the implications of the Senate’s imposition of post-mortem sanctions, commonly referred to as damnatio memoriae. However, all six of the penalties are actually part of the damnatio memoriae, and it is also important to consider them as a group. 1 As Bodel has clearly shown, they were specifically tailored to Piso’s case. They seem to be listed in an order which suggests events in sequence after a death, starting with mourning by women, moving through commemoration, and ending up with questions of property, which would, under other circumstances, have been disposed of through the will of the deceased. The property is actually divided between two generations of Piso’s descendants as provision is also made for his granddaughter Calpurnia. She was the child of his eldest son and must have been very young at the time of the trial. 2As Bodel has so perceptively emphasized, the penalties imposed on Piso reflect a tension between the desire to remember the villain, by holding him up as an example to warn others, and the desire to erase his memory, since being forgotten is integral to his punishment. This tension is further emphasized by the title of Copy A of the new decree found at Irni, which was added locally by the governor, N. Vibius Seranus. Piso’s name appears in large letters over the very decree which bans his memory. There is an essential contradiction here, but it is a contradiction which is actually typical of sanctions against memory in Roman culture. A similar contradiction is inherent in other traditional penalties not imposed on Piso, such as the celebration of the day on which the disgraced person died. Scribonius Libo Drusus had suffered this disgrace only four years earlier (Tac. Ann. 2.32.4). In the same way, as Bodel has discussed in a recent article (1997), the traitors of... (shrink)

Gene replacement therapy holds great promise in the treatment of many genetic CNS disorders. This commentary discusses the feasibility of gene replacement therapy in the unique context of the retina, with regard to: (1) the genetics of retinal neoplasia and degeneration, (2) available gene transfer technology, and (3) potential gene delivery vehicles.