Principal Contents Research Articles

Paleografía gallega. Estado de la cuestión

À partir d'une énumération des principales sources documentaries trouvées dans les archives nationales, régionales, écclésiastiques et locales sur la Galice, et a partir de manuscrits anciens, l'auteur essaie d'établir une synthèse de la paléogra­phie galicienne. Il insiste sur les sources documentaires qui sont les plus nombreuses et les plus variées. En suivant la ligne traditionnelle de l'évolution de l'écriture espagnole médiéva­le, il étudie les différentes étapes de son développement, depuis les traces que l'on peut trouver pendant la période romaine et wisigothe, jusqu'au début du XVIème siècle. Il étudie principalement l'écriture wisigothe pour le plus grand intérêt de ses sigularités, et ensuite les autres périodes paléographiques que les traités les plus traditionnels signalent. Il tente d'étudier, pour chaque période, le milieu culturel, les textes du Codex existants et la morphologie des écritures représentées afin de faire ressortir l'évolu­tion harmonieuse de l'écriture pendant la période étudiée.

Monstres et christianisme — monstres du christianisme, xvie–xviiie siècles. Édité par Étienne Couriol et Teresa Hiergeist

The figure of the early modern monster — as shape-shifting, hybrid, allegorical confection, and trans-discursive creature demonstrating the porosity of the border between the medieval and the (early) modern — has received a good deal of attention in the past decade and more. This collection, which capitalizes on this recent scholarly interest, offers a welcome focus on the relation between monsters and Christian thought and practice, as exemplified in doctrinal debates, cross-confessional polemic, and pastoral interpretation of canon law. The first three chapters cover familiar ground — curiosity cabinets, canards, and monstrous births — but they do so well, setting out the terrain for what is to follow. The next six contributions bring both new material and new analysis to the existing debate around monsters and to our broader understanding of the period. All are very fine, from Ismael del Olmo’s discussion of teratology, apology, and the figure of the athéiste and Santiago Francisco Peña’s analysis of Humanist readings of the 1566 Laon miracle, by way of the twinned essays of Christine Orobitg and Teresa Hiergeist, which explore werewolf anxiety and the ‘bête humaine’ in early modern Spain, all the way through to Valeria Motta’s repertory of ex-voto crocodiles and Lisa Zeller’s deft comparison of the deployment of the topos of the ‘État-monstre’ in Corneille’s Horace and Racine’s Phèdre. These chapters, by young (post/)doctoral scholars based either in Latin American and German universities or in Hispanic studies in France, display the real value of this volume: amplifying new voices in the debate concerning the place of monstrosity within early modern European religious and political thought. They and the other contributors are less than well served, however, by the standard of copy-editing evidenced here; the ‘English’ synopses prefacing the chapters sometimes make little sense, and there are far too many typos (including in the otherwise rich bibliography). The volume concludes (following an oddly misplaced excursus into the ‘esprit ondoyant à l’âge baroque’) with a trilogy of essays exploring a set of juridico-theological questions: ‘Faut-il baptiser les monstres?’; ‘Dieu souhaite-t-il les monstres humains?’; and, in respect of hermaphrodites and marriage, ‘Le monstre est-il compatible avec un sacrement devant l’Église?’ These concluding chapters reinforce the book’s principal contention concerning the significance of the church in matters monstrous at this time. But they also work a little too hard at exemplifying the broad-brush claims of the editors’ introduction, which asserts (rightly) the importance of the ‘cadre religieux’ in the period under discussion, but frames this argument itself as a means to anticipating the triumphant arrival of the ‘xviiie siècle, où les sciences naturelles et les discours de la raison mettront un point final à une conception métaphysique des monstres’ (p. 17). The best essays in this collection argue a more nuanced historical, theological, and intellectual case; and they make the volume far better for it.

The Dominion model of transitional constitutionalism

Abstract This symposium has explored New Dominion constitutionalism inductively and contextually, placing the phenomenon within a historically nested set of ideas and practices from the Old (Settler) Dominions, through the “Bridge Dominion” of Ireland, before giving detailed attention to the South Asian New Dominions of India, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). The articles collectively form a basis from which to analyze the legal configuration of New Dominion status and its legacy by exploring links between New Dominion constitutional framing and post-independence design and practice. Building on the case studies, the principal contention of this summative contribution is that New Dominion constitutionalism should be understood as the first constitutional model of note designed to manage political transitions on a global scale. A product of the twilight of the British Empire, New Dominion constitutionalism represents a model for decolonizing nations and an important antecedent to later post-Cold War transitions. Both transitional and transnational, New Dominion status offered an interim frame of government for political transitions, the fuzzy center of which derived from Westminster-style conventions of political constitutionalism, as well as a template establishing the legal basis for constituting the fully independent state.

Kohelet’s Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes by Benjamin J. Segal

Reviewed by: Kohelet’s Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes by Benjamin J. Segal Matthew Seufert benjamin j. segal, Kohelet’s Pursuit of Truth: A New Reading of Ecclesiastes (Jerusalem: Gefen, 2017). Pp. x + 177. $18. One review comment on the back cover of this book aroused my interest in Segal’s work. The writer of the excerpt, Rabbi Harold Kushner, recounts that his Hebrew high school teacher warned him not to read Koheleth. “Since then,” he says, “I’ve read every commentary on Kohelet I could find.” His appraisal of S.’s work in light of that remarkable statement engendered my eagerness to read: “Segal’s is the most insightful, most lucid, most persuasive one I have ever read.” For anyone who is preaching or teaching the Book of Ecclesiastes, I recommend this commentary for its unique translation alone. Though the comments and translational notes are not thorough, on some of the more complicated portions of Ecclesiastes they will give you another voice with which to interact without taking up much of your time—and there are some very insightful notes. The main portion of the commentary (pp. 11–97) contains the whole of the Hebrew text of Ecclesiastes (by and large the MT) divided into sections and interspersed with translation and commentary. The author usually does not “show his work” (i.e., how he came to his translation), which does make the work of less use for those primarily interested in the technicality of the Hebrew. Yet, having seriously engaged the words of Ecclesiastes and an impressive array of commentators, S. offers a thoughtful and intriguing—and not obviously objectionable— vision of the whole. For S., Ecclesiastes is “a tale of a failed search for certain knowledge” (p. 1). S.’s “principal contention” is the following: “This is not a philosophical tract, but the tale of Kohelet’s search” (p. 114). It is a narrative of one man’s experience of life “under the sun,” that is, “in the empirical world” (p. 139), “a retrospective collection of pieces composed over a lifetime” (p. 140), presented with all of their seeming contradictions. “Kohelet sees and describes life unadorned and undisguised, honestly and movingly” (p. 155; quoted from Haim Shapira, Ecclesiastes: The Biblical Philosopher [in Hebrew] [Or Yehuda: Kinneret, Zmora-Bitan, Dvir, 2011] 223). The author of Ecclesiastes, who, according to S., is responsible for creating Koheleth and the narrator, gives “advice as to how to best survive” in a world whose way “is beyond the ken of mortal man” (p. 1). “The purpose of [Ecclesiastes] . . . is . . . to be a goad to further thought by offering challenges” (p. 147). It “has a lot more to do with asking questions than supplying definitive answers” (p. 113). “It is not an answer to all challenges, but a challenge to all answers” (p. 150). The above assessments occur in the “Brief Introduction” (pp. 1–7) and final section of the commentary, entitled “Review Essays and Further Thoughts” (pp. 101–62). These sections “expand upon points included in the introduction and in the commentary and offer new perspectives,” emphasizing “wherein the commentary differs from others” (p. 99). Here, too, S. offers a discussion of his theory of reading texts (texts are complex and often multivalent but not unlimited), a contention that there is change and progression in [End Page 127] Koheleth’s thought (his explanation for the “contradictions,” which he places in conversation with eight other explanations), a substantial defense of the translation “vapor” over against other proposals, an outlined three-part structure, and other typical introductory issues (i.e., date, authorship, and literary/religious contexts). The final two parts of the book contain several literary reflections on Ecclesiastes and twenty thought-provoking questions for discussion (e.g., “At what age should one first read Ecclesiastes?”; p. 162). My main critique of S.’s book, aside from my reservations about accepting his suggestion that there is subtle change and progression in Koheleth (too subtle to be sure), is its cursory treatment of the more obscure passages in Ecclesiastes. S. does make an interesting comment that the obscurities may be meant to embody one of the messages of the book: the world is...

Fears and fallacies: Doctors’ perceptions of the barriers to medical innovation

In 2014, Lord Saatchi launched his ultimately unsuccessful Medical Innovation Bill in the UK. Its laudable aim was to free doctors from the shackles that prevented them from providing responsible innovative treatment. Lord Saatchi’s principal contention was that current law was the unsurmountable barrier that prevented clinicians from delivering innovative treatments to cancer patients when conventional options had failed. This was because doctors feared that they might be sued or tried and convicted of gross negligence manslaughter if they deviated from standard practice. Concerns about fear of the law and potential negative effects on medical practice are not new. Fear of litigation has been suggested as the reason for doctors practising “defensive medicine,” by opting for treatments regarded as “grievance-resistant,” rather than clinically indicated, for example, by ordering diagnostic tests or performing certain procedures, which are not strictly medically necessary. Whilst this claim is plausible and apparently accepted by the courts, there is limited empirical evidence in support of it so far as practitioners in the UK are concerned. In this paper, we report on our empirical research which provides a snapshot of medical opinion to begin to rectify this gap. We ran focus groups of different medical specialties, asking what these medical practitioners thought the barriers to medical innovation to be. We found that fear of the law was not the principal barrier to be lowered, and that the answer was far more multifaceted.

Practical Operating Theater Management: Measuring and Improving Performance and Patient Experience

Because most anesthesiologists work in the operating room setting, anesthesiologists are involved with the management of the operating room suite (or “theater”). Even if they are not responsible for the management, anesthesiologists still want to understand the decision-making process and metrics that affect their daily schedule and duties. In the United States, anesthesiologists can attend in-person conferences and seminars on leadership, practice management, and operating room management offered by national associations, online webinars and resources, and textbooks. Although these offerings will give anesthesiologists groundwork for calculations of metrics, e.g., productivity and efficiency, an in-depth discussion is not done.In contrast, Practical Operating Theater Management: Measuring and Improving Performance and Patient Experience provides the reader in-depth materials on data-driven metrics, including operating room efficiency, productivity, utilization, and scheduling. The book purposely is designed not to cover leadership or management styles but focuses on collecting and employing operating room data in a manner that is practical and applicable.The book has two functional sections. The first includes an introduction and eight chapters that cover the terms and principal content, as well as efficiency, productivity, scheduling, planning, staffing and contracts, operating room finances, and preoperative patient preparation. The second section contains five chapters examining operating room management in different countries, including Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Australia, and the United States. Chapter 14 then covers operating room safety, and chapter 15 (the last) provides an overview of the book by a contributor.Some of the topics discussed include the different formats used to manage surgical block times, as well the importance of normalizing terms and definitions so the collected data can be reported, analyzed, and acted upon effectively. Among the data that proves useful to collect is operating room capacity, demand by surgeons, utilization rate, overruns, cancellation rate, start times, and turnover times, with some of these bundled into key performance indicators. Of these, efficiency (as defined in chapter 2), on-time start, and turnover times are considered fundamental.Chapter 2 is central to the book, and in it the author cautions that the much-used and maligned measurement of on-time starts or cancellation rates by themselves are a poor measure of overall operating room efficiency. Efficiency as a measurement is clearly defined in a mathematical formula, and the manner in which operating room management decisions affect it is discussed in detail. Subsequent chapters cover measures of productivity (chapter 3) and strategies for scheduling (chapter 4), with an emphasis on maintaining and utilizing a real-time database of facility-specific surgical times, capacity planning of schedules, and add-on operating room capacity (chapter 5). Operating room staff contracts and the prominent role of staffing in providing the capacity is covered in chapter 6. Chapters 7 and 8 cover operating room finances and preoperative patient preparation, respectively.Although the book’s editor and major contributors are from the United Kingdom, the concepts are applicable to operating room management in the United States as well as other countries. In fact, the latter half of the book explores the similarities and differences in operating room management in different countries, including New Zealand, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. It is amazing that anesthesiologists from many different countries face similar challenges.For data-driven metrics, it is not surprising that the book relies on a mathematical approach to data. This math-heavy approach would be more appealing to business-trained operating room managers rather than physicians, although the author did attempt to make it more accessible by incorporating these formulas into Excel spreadsheets. We believe anyone interested in implementing data-driven decision-making processes will be able to follow the mathematical progression that occurs in the first half of the book.Overall, this book is a useful resource to anesthesiologists, operating room managers, and financial analysts on the topics of data-driven metrics. It provides a unique educational resource for those who are new to the topic of operating room efficiency, utilization, and productivity. For those who have been working with these concepts, the book provides a resource to reexamine our formulas with an international perspective.

From “Jewification” to “Islamization”: Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in Austrian Politics Then and Now

The content of right-wing populism is currently built largely upon Islamophobic mobilization, whereas, before the Second Republic of Austria, anti-Semitism was the principal content of populism in Austria. This article engages in a comparative discussion of the anti-Semitic propaganda deployed by political parties before the rise of the Austrofascist state and National Socialist rule in Austria and Islamophobic propaganda in present-day Austria. Specifically, the article compares the anti-Semitic discourse of “Jewification” that circulated between 1876 and 1934 with the current Islamophobic discourse of “Islamization,” which is used by political parties such as the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the Christian democratic Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which together currently form the coalition government in the Republic of Austria. This article comparatively investigates anti-Semitic and Islamophobic topoi to consider what continuities and shifts have occurred within the imagining of the (Oriental) Jewish and Muslim “other.”

Reduction Characteristics of High Phosphorus Iron Ore in Reducing Parameters Similar to Blast Furnace Conditions

The strong global demand for iron and steel has necessitated the utilization of various low grade iron ores, which are not suitable for direct utilization in ironmaking processes. The low grade iron ores cannot be dressed effectively using the traditional mineral processing methods because of complicated min-eral compositions. The main problem associated with exploiting these deposits is the dissemination of fine silicate minerals and the high level of phosphorus content due to the poor liberation of iron minerals from the gangues. The pre-sent manuscript is aimed to investigate reduction properties of iron ores rich in phosphorous in order to study the suitability of using these ores in iron blast furnace. Representative technological samples of iron ore are collected from Eastern South Aswan iron ore mine in Egypt. The principal gangue contents are SiO2 7.76%, and P2O5 1.13%. Iron and phosphorus exist in the form of hematite 78% and apatite respectively. The ore was fired at 1000°C for 3 hours. The green and fired samples were isothermally reduced at conditions which closely represent the theoretical reduction conditions in different zones of blast furnace. The influence of reduction conditions on the reduction behaviour and the morphology of the reduced samples were investigated. After reduction apatite is changed to Calcium phosphate beside fayalite and quartz. The reduction rate of fired samples is greater than that for the green ones and that was confirmed by morphological examination. At cohesive zone condition, the effect of firing on reduction characteristics cannot be distinguished.

Salinity and drought stresses improve antioxidant potential of Allium roseum L., an edible medicinal plant

Allium roseum L., a spontaneous comestible species in North Africa, presented a nutraceutical potential in terms of essential nutrients and phytonutrients responsible for health benefits. In the present study, growth parameters, soluble sugars, principal secondary metabolites contents (total polyphenols, vitamin C) and their antioxidant properties were determined in A. roseum subjected to salt or drought stresses during 30 days. Plants were subjected to drought stress by suspending watering, while other plants were submitted to salt stress through irrigation with a nutrient solution containing 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM NaCl. The obtained results reveal that salt and drought stress did not significantly affect the growth parameters (p ≥ 0.05), while these stressful conditions increased the bulbs dry matter. Moreover, the applied salt and drought stresses increased the soluble sugars, total polyphenols and vitamin C contents of the plant. Cultivating A. roseum under drought or salt stresses could be a good alternative to valorize antioxidant molecules from this species in industrial applications.

A visit to The Doctor.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Whether the arts have any value in the medical curriculum continues to be debated. This article presents the author's views on the use of the arts, the principal contention being that the arts (the humanities) can teach us a lot about the art of medicine. In this article, Thomas Fildes' painting, The Doctor, and Randa Haines' film of the same name are referenced to demonstrate how the arts may be utilized in order to create broader awareness and understanding and ultimately, transformational learning and change, two quite powerful outcomes. How the arts should be incorporated into the medical curriculum and how they should be taught are definite issues. This article makes recommendations with respect to some of the difficulties associated with both.

Moral psychology of the fading affect bias

ABSTRACTWe argue that many of the benefits theorists have attributed to the ability to forget should instead be attributed to what psychologists call the “fading affect bias,” namely the tendency for the negative emotions associated with past events to fade more substantially than the positive emotions associated with those events. Our principal contention is that the disposition to display the fading affect bias is normatively good. Those who possess it tend to lead better lives and more effectively improve their societies. Secondarily, we note that if Julia Driver’s moral theory is correct, then the disposition to display the fading affect bias is a moral virtue.

Gaussian elements of a semicontent algebra

The connection between a univariate polynomial having locally principal content and the content function acting like a homomorphism (the so-called Gaussian property) has been explored by many authors. In this work, we extend several such results to the contexts of multivariate polynomials, power series over a Noetherian ring, and base change of affine K-algebras by separable algebraically closed field extensions. We do so by using the framework of the Ohm–Rush content function. The correspondence is particularly strong in cases where the base ring is approximately Gorenstein or the element of the target ring is regular.

Robot Science Writers

Automated journalism has mostly been confined to game summaries, earnings reports, and other topics in which the principal content resides in readily harvestable data. But there are signs that robot writers might be expanding their reach into science.

„Podstawy współczesnej pedagogiki” Stefana Kunowskiego jako przykład kreowania pedagogiki ogólnej

Artykuł stanowi analizę rozprawy Stefana Kunowskiego Podstawy współczesnej pedagogiki pod kątem jej reprezentatywności dla pedagogiki ogólnej. Na tym tle uwypukla koncepcję pedagogiki teoretycznej autora, stawiając pytania o istotę i zasadnicze treści tej koncepcji, podejmuje próbę jej oceny w kontekście zróżnicowanych ujęć pedagogiki ogólnej i aktualnych wyzwań rzeczywistości wychowawczej, konfrontuje się również ze stanowiskiem uznającym wskazaną koncepcję za przykład koncepcji wychowania chrześcijańskiego i część pedagogiki religijnej.

Changing the Electrical Safety Culture

<p>Electrical wellbeing - Where were we yesterday? Where are we today? Where will we be later on? The wellbeing society is proceeding to advance to give a more secure workplace to individuals working around electrical hardware. To enhance electrical security, it takes sense of duty regarding consistent change of the electrical wellbeing society. New musings and thoughts to enhance electrical wellbeing are basic. This paper addresses how function hones have changed after some time and prescribes thoughts to overhaul the current electrical culture. To change the current security culture new thoughts should be produced to cause higher execution in electrical wellbeing for all individuals presented to electrical risks. New circuit testers take in great and unfortunate propensities from more experienced circuit testers. Human execution depends on a mix of information, abilities, and educated practices. Convictions can be affected through perceptions and collaborations with different experts. The estimation of value mentorship conveys a high level of obligation to guarantee legitimate wellbeing rehearses is taken after. Almost no exertion has been given to preparing the nonelectrical labourers that are presented to electrical risks. Preparing for non-electrical labourers is a missing component in the present electrical security culture. A principal contention in this paper is that culture speaks to the entirety of what is regularly adequate without examination. The way of life is likewise determined by regular perception and experience. With a specific end goal to change the way of life there must be a redefinition of what is satisfactory, trailed by noticeable changes that everybody can understanding and watch. Administration possesses culture since it sets what is passable and satisfactory. Accordingly, the fate of electrical wellbeing will rely upon how well administration comprehends the hazard and results of electrical work and their duty in moulding and owning electrical security strategies. Enter components tended to in this paper incorporate human execution, innovation changes, adjusting to change, actualizing new thoughts to enhance security and how staff changes inside an enterprise can influence wellbeing execution. </p>

CHANCE, CREDENCE AND CIRCLES

ABSTRACTI target Pettigrew's application of the accuracy framework to derive chance-credence principles. My principal contention is that Pettigrew's preferred version of the argument might in one sense be circular and, moreover, that Pettigrew's premises have content that goes beyond that of standard chance-credence principles.

Keeping up Appearances: The Development of Adjudicatory Jurisdiction in the English Courts

This article traces the development of the adjudicatory jurisdiction of the English courts between the seventeenth and twentieth centuries. The account provides, it is submitted, a number of valuable insights, which call into question current accounts of the common law rules governing both the adjudicatory jurisdiction of local courts and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. The author’s principal contention is that the so-called ‘principles’ of presence and submission, which are central tenets of English private international law, are not only unsatisfactory in principle, but lacking in historical support as elements of the common law landscape.

Report of novel approaches for portal hypertension: SNG of the 26th Conference of Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver

The 2017 Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) was held in Shanghai, China ( Figures 1,2 ). With 5,228 participants, the 26 th conference was marked by an extensive exchange of views on new development in both clinical practice and academic research. The major themes of the meeting were viral hepatitis, alcoholic hepatitis, the drug-induced liver damage, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver transplantation. A wide range of topics were covered by a series of oral presentations, poster sessions, and discussion. This report highlights the major themes discussed in the APASL Working Party on Portal Hypertension by summarizing the main topics and discussion points. The principal contents of the meeting were novel technologies and development in the diagnosis and treatment of portal hypertension.

Influencia de la psicología milliana en la teoría económica: problemática asociada al caso particular del comportamiento altruista

Altruism is an universal experience and kind of behavior that has been studied by economists. However, the assump-tions frequently accepted about psychological foundations of human nature in utilitarian doctrines, as it’s the case of Economics, have caused several problems that make difficult to formulate a general theory of altruism. That is main-ly because utilitarian altruism is not really altruism. We explain the psychological theory that link James & John S. Mill utilitarian doctrines, and show how it’s principal contents, and theoretical problems dealed with altruism, appear again replicated in modern neoclassical models, as Gary S. Becker’s, that explain altruism by means of more devel-oped formal analysis. We propose the need for updating utilitarian tradition on altruism, taking into account the cur-rent findings in cognitive neuroscience. Curiously, these findings connect brain running with the theoretical assump-tions considered by Adam Smith, and the psychology of sympathy tradition.

Efficient Compression of Secured Images Using Subservient Data and Huffman Coding

While transmitting redundant data through an insecure and bandwidth limited channel, it is mandatory to encrypt and compress it. Generally encryption is followed by compression as the statistical properties of encrypted images are not suitable for applying conventional compression schemes. The problem is that many situations demand the reverse procedure. This paper proposes a scheme of compressing encrypted data with the help of a subservient data and Huffman coding. For encrypting the original image, it is manipulated with a pseudorandom number sequence generated using a secret key. The subservient data is also created by the content owner. The encrypted data is then compressed using a quantization mechanism and Huffman coding. For quantizing the image the subservient data produced by the content owner is used. The quantized values are then coded using Huffman coding. At the reconstruction side the principal content of the data is reconstructed. Experimental results show that the compression ratio distortion performance of this method is superior to the existing Techniques. The compression ratio of encrypted image is improved to the range 10 to 20.