Lessons For Today Research Articles

The Importance of Sound Monetary Policy: Some Lessons for Today from Canada’s Experience with Floating Exchange Rates Since 1950

The Importance of Sound Monetary Policy: Some Lessons for Today from Canada’s Experience with Floating Exchange Rates Since 1950

A History of Gender-Affirming Surgery at the University of Michigan: Lessons for Today.

The University of Michigan has played an important role in advancing gender-affirming surgery programs in the United States. The University of Michigan was home to a little-known gender identity clinic shortly after the opening of the first such clinic at Johns Hopkins. Since 1995, the University of Michigan Comprehensive Services Program (UMCGSP) has been continually offering surgical services to transgender and gender diverse patients. Here, we present the history of both programs, drawn from program documents and oral history, and explore their implications for the future sustainability of gender-affirming surgery programs. The original gender identity clinic opened in 1968, and operated in a multidisciplinary fashion, similar to other clinics at the time. Eventually, the clinic was closed due to disinvestment and lack of sufficient providers to maintain the program, problems which are being increasingly recognized as barriers for similar programs. The modern program, UMCGSP is perhaps the longest continually running gender-affirming surgical program at an academic center. In spite of challenges, key investments in education, statewide community engagement, and the development of a comprehensive care model have helped UMCGSP avoid the pitfalls of the earlier clinic and remain relevant throughout its nearly 30-year history. In the face of rising challenges to gender-affirming care in the United States, much can be learned from the sustainability of the UMCGSP. Institutions seeking to maintain gender-affirming surgery programs should ensure the availability of comprehensive care and promote the education of the health care workforce.

Mining and Medicine: The Case of Waratah Hospital, Tasmania, Part 1, 1872-1954

The published case load of the doctors of the Waratah Hospital, Tasmania is described with emphasis firstly on the accidents occurring in the mines, and the subsequent business and community support of the victims over a twenty eight year period. Secondly the incidence and severity of infectious diseases before antibiotics and vaccine prevention is portrayed with lessons for today where infectious diseases have become the optional choice of the anti-vaccination advocates. Thirdly the problems of clinical medicine in an isolated community with an enormous workload, and of staffing the hospital run throughout the paper.

European madness 1910-1980: lessons for today from Alastair Morgan's Continental Philosophy of Psychiatry: The Lure of Madness.

In Continental Philosophy of Psychiatry: The Lure of Madness Alastair Morgan surveys the contributions of a loosely conceived school of psychiatrists, philosophers and social theorists to understanding and responding to madness during the years 1910-1980. Taking my cue from him, I highlight some of the contributors discussed in Morgan's book and reflect that although madness may be difficult or even impossible to articulate effectively in discourse it remains a 'limit experience' which demarcates and illuminates the contours of other thinking and being, including reason and activism. I discuss social and cultural factors that have dulled clinicians' sensitivities to the sounds of madness in recent decades and advocate the need for a reappraisal of our expertise and for a new activism today. What may at first appear as a failed clinical-philosophical tradition remains of professional relevance in today's rapidly transforming circumstances of practice both as inspiration and as cautionary tale.

Soviet Sounds, Communist Pedagogy: Lessons for Today’s Musicians, Organisers, Educators

ABSTRACT Interventions in the field of music by the Soviet All-Union Communist Party have been read variously as personal interference by the ‘deranged despot’ Joseph Stalin, as the individuality of artists subsumed under totalitarian control, and as the mechanism by which socialism itself was constructed. The first two arguments are refuted by examining (1) the subjective roles of the Party and of both Party and non-Party members in the Union of Soviet Composers in these interventions and (2) the objective conditions present during the years of Stalin’s Party leadership that related to the process of the development of music policy. Soviet music policy was formulated through vigorous, sometimes vicious struggle. This contest between a communist social force, and reactionary, anticommunist forces, remained alive as a ‘background hum’. The formulation and implementation of Soviet music policy was a pedagogical process carried out by workers with leadership from the Party. Non-Party workers were involved through participation in their Union, which used its independence and power to interpretively implement Party decrees. The way Soviet musicians fought to create a diverse, equitable, and inclusive society in practice, beyond the realm of slogans, is worth understanding as a pedagogical model for today’s communists.

Improving Poetry Writing Skills Through Concept Sentence Learning Models in Students

The purpose of this study was to improve poetry writing skills in Indonesian language learning for SD Negeri 03 Jatisari students through the concept sentence learning model. This research involved fifth grade students with a total of 14 students. The research took place in two cycles. Acquisition of value from pre-cycle to cycle I increased by 7.6%. Even though the average score obtained in cycle I did not meet the KKM because it received a score of 74.3, this was already good because it had increased from 66.7 to 74.3. From cycle I to cycle II there was an increase in value of 5.8% with a total value in cycle II of 80.1 and the percentage of completeness was 83.7%, which means it was successful. In cycle II, the average student has met and exceeded the set KKM. The conclusion of this study is that the poetry writing skills of SD Negeri 03 Jatisari students can be improved through the application of the concept sentence learning model. The findings in this study are First, students are not familiar with group work activities because so far students have not worked much in groups. Second, students are not familiar with the Concept Sentence learning model. Third, students are still not very enthusiastic about working with groups because maybe they are not in the same group as the friends they want. Fourth, in terms of reading poetry in front of the class, group representatives still looked shy and also when the teacher asked student representatives to conclude today's lesson, none of the students wanted to and in the end the teacher had to appoint.

Transforming Hospitality in the Theology of Paul: Lessons for Today's Church

Hospitality is central to ministry, but the stress churches give to welcome can sometimes dilute the call to discipleship. In this article, I explore Paul's approach to hospitality, which includes transformation alongside welcome. Following a general discussion of Christian hospitality, I trace Paul's approach to hospitality in three areas: the hospitality of God, hospitality within the church, and hospitality toward outsiders. In my final section, I unpack some contemporary implications of Paul's approach.

Stability and Order in Europe Revisited: Lessons since 1945

This paper revisits the question of the international structure and political stability in Europe before and after 1945. It is argued that there were relations between the international political system and political stability in Europe during the two periods: the period from 1900 to 1945 and from 1945 to 1989. Instructive lessons from global political history and Mearsheimer's Neorealism have shown the instability of multipolarity in the present decline of the US order. This is because the international political structure strongly influenced the degree of stability in Europe. The different global political structure affected the different levels of stability before and after 1945. The bipolar structure strongly influenced and determined Europe's power configuration and stability after 1945. The instability of Europe before 1945 was strongly related to the multipolarity structure; there were many great powers, and the existence of multiple polarities with seven great powers posed difficulty in managing them. Thus, striking a balance between them was nearly impossible and was a lesson for today's reading of international politics.

The Importance of Sound Monetary Policy: Some Lessons for Today from Canada's Experience with Floating Exchange Rates Since 1950

The Importance of Sound Monetary Policy: Some Lessons for Today from Canada's Experience with Floating Exchange Rates Since 1950

The Lutheran transformation of passion devotion, 1520–1560, and lessons for today

AbstractThis article examines how early Lutheran authors transformed three pedagogical strategies prominent in late‐medieval passion books: the use of Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene as models for feeling in relationship to Christ; graphic depiction of Christ's wounded body; and the practice of “composition of place,” that is, imagining oneself in the scene of the crucifixion. It argues that early Lutheran authors transformed these strategies to equip lay Christians to endure temporal setbacks and persecution; they were to find Christ's body in the present, in themselves and their neighbors, and to discern invulnerability and triumph underneath the apparent opposite. This article commends practices of imagined relationship to Christ and of reading the present through the passion for Christians and the church today. Equally important are the warnings about human vulnerability to deceit found in these texts, which insist on the interconnection of discernment, feeling, and relationship.

How Did It Happen?: The Great Inflation of the 1970s and Lessons for Today

The pickup in the U.S. inflation rate to its highest rates in forty years has led to renewed attention being given to the Great Inflation of the 1970s. This paper asks with regard to the Great Inflation: “How did it happen?” The answer offered is the fact that, in both the United Kingdom and the United States, monetary policy and other policy instruments were guided by a faulty doctrine—a nonmonetary view of inflation that perceived the concerted restraint of aggregate demand as both ineffective and unnecessary for inflation control. In the paper’s analysis, the difference in the economic policy doctrine in the 1970s from that prevailing in more recent decades is represented algebraically, with this representation backed up by documentation of policymakers’ views. A key conclusion implied by the analysis is that the fact that a nonmonetary perspective on inflation is no longer prevalent in policy circles provides grounds for believing that monetary policy in the modern era is well positioned to prevent the recurrence of *entrenched* high inflation rates of the kind seen in the 1970s.

Using Digital Humanities for Understanding COVID-19: Lessons from Digital History about Earlier Coronavirus Pandemic

(digital) history can give us about the past pandemics and dealing with them. We show that the Google Ngram Viewer (GNV) can discover hidden patterns in history (of pandemics). Our study is searching for evidence that the COVID-19 is not a unique phenomenon in human history. By using the approach of Digital Humanities, we are testing the hypothesis that the flu-like illness that caused loss of taste and smell in the late 19th century (Russian flu) was caused by a coronavirus. This approach could give hints on how the COVID-19 might develop in the following years. The objective was to calculate the ratio of increasing to decreasing trends in the changes in frequencies of the selected words representing symptoms of the Russian flu and COVID-19. The primary methodological concept of our approach is to analyse the ratio of increasing to decreasing trends in the changes in frequencies of the selected words representing symptoms of the Russian flu and COVID-19 with the Google NGram analytical tool. Initially, keywords were chosen that are specific and common for the Russian flu and COVID-19. We show the graphic display on the Y-axis what percentage of words in the selected corpus of books (collective memory) over the years (X-axis) make up the word. To standardise the data, we requested the data from 1800 to 2019 in English, German and Russian (to 2012) book corpora and focused on the ten years before, during and after the outbreak of the Russian flu. We compared this frequency index with “non-epidemic periods” to test the model’s analytical potential and prove the significance of the results. The limitation of this study is that it is difficult to formulate a hypothesis for a microbiological aetiology of a pandemic that occurred 133 years ago based on symptoms. There are indications that COVID-19 is not unique because the Russian flu (1889-1891) might be a coronavirus infection. The most crucial observation of similarities between the Russian flu pandemic and COVID-19 is the loss of smell and taste (anosmia and ageusia). Results show that all the three analysed book corpora (including newspapers and magazines) show the increase in the mention of the symptoms “loss of smell” and “loss of taste” during the Russian flu (1889-1891), which are today undoubtedly proven to be key symptoms of COVID-19. The mention of symptoms and the pandemic-related words fell sharply after the pandemic stopped. According to our analysis of historical records with the approach of GNV, 1) the ‘natural’ length of a pandemic is two to five years; 2) the pandemic stops on its own; 3) the viruses weaken over time; 4) the so-called “herd immunity” is not necessary to stop the pandemic; 5) Our approach has shown that a significant crisis does not need to occur after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to our study, GNV clearly shows the influence that social changes have on word frequency. The results of this study open a discussion on the usefulness of the Google Ngram insights possibilities into past socio-cultural development, i.e. epidemics and pandemics that can serve as lessons for today. However, this method has severe limitations and can be useful only under cautious handling and testing. Despite the numerous indications, we are aware that this thesis still cannot be confirmed and that it requires further historical and medical research. Keywords: Google Ngram, big data, epidemic, COVID-19, Russian flu, digital Humanities

Lights and Shadows of the 34th International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest. Theological, Historical and Ecclesial Background

The 1938 Eucharistic Congress in Budapest was held in a complicated historical context, marked by geopolitical changes, the rise of national-socialism and anti-Semitism, and by interconfessional tensions. After an overview of the theological significance of the Eucharistic Congress in a period when the ideas of the liturgical movement were gaining momentum, this paper proposes a nuanced assessment of the Congress, acknowledging the tensions that have overshadowed it. The paper also discusses the significance of the event for Catholics of Latin and Eastern rite, including some reflections on the participation of Roman and Greek Catholics from Transylvania (Romania). In the wake of the 52nd Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, this historical overview allows for some lessons for today. As Pope Francis stressed at the concluding Mass of the 2020 Congress [on 12 September 2021], the past needs to be confronted and the looming threat of hatred requires vigilance. Triumphalism should leave place to a life of service and fraternity, drawing its source from the Eucharist.

Palimpsests of plague

Abstract This paper examines aspects of how language, translations, narratives, and plagues have been in interplay in the past, with a view to setting out some possible lessons for today. It looks at two types of practices. First, when people make plague-related translations of texts with religious or medical content from one language to another, producing and reproducing texts that enjoy certain forms of persisting authority in guiding thought and practice related to handling and making sense of major disease outbreaks. Second, when people turn plague phenomena into narratives with story arcs, narratives which can endure over time and shape subsequent understandings of later outbreaks. Despite more complexity and multiplicity in social configurations and communications today, many of the phenomena concerning translation and narration that have happened in plague scenarios of the past have again played out during the Covid-19 pandemic, albeit with distinctive modern colourings.

How Should the State Interact Constitutionally with Corporations which have significant power and influence over its population? Lessons from the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, 1788-1795

How to maintain constitutional accountability over large corporations is an increasing theme in contemporary politics. The impeachment trial of Warren Hastings in 1788-1795 addressed this directly with the behaviour of the East India Trading Company. What lessons for today are illustrated by this historical trial?

Regulation of the Romanian Accountancy Profession – 100 Years Celebration. A History Lesson for Today’s Professionals

On July 15th 1921, the Official Journal of Romania witnessed the publication of the Law on the organization of the Body of Licensed and Expert Accountants. The longtime wish of higher school of business graduates thus became true, they established their first association in 1888. Since then, until the law was published, the regulation of the accountancy profession was the main topic of various discussions and attitudes, of several pleadings addressed to public authorities and debates held at the meetings of a multitude of institutes representing these graduates’ interests, grouped within the Union of Business Schools Graduates, subsequently the Body of Higher Schools of Business Graduates, which acquired legal personality in 1916. There were also other subjects, directly related to accountants’ activity, that drew the graduates’ attention, both before and after the law was published, such as: censors’ statute, accounting expertise, visas on trade registers; business education reform; the Body’s relations with authorities. A number of public figures linked their faith to asserting the accountancy profession, its regulation and the ongoing representation of its interests. We should mention here, among many other, Nicolae Butculescu, I. St. Rasidescu, Vasile M. Ioachim, Petru Drăgănescu-Brateş, Grigore Trancu-Iaşi, George Alesseanu, Spiridon Iacobescu, Alexandru Sorescu. An important activity of the Body was the organisation of congresses. They began taking place every two years, uninterruptedly, starting 1923 until 1939. The activity of the Body of Expert and Licensed Accountants was influenced by the political and social events of its time, especially since 1935. Beginning with 1940, its activity saw a significant decrease.

RANCANG BANGUN BEL OTOMATIS DI STIKOM TUNAS BANGSA BERBASIS ARDUINO DILENGKAPI DENGAN OUTPUT SUARA

Abstract
 Bell is certainly no stranger to education. In general, the bell still uses human power to ring it. It is still rare in the world of education to use an automatic bell that can work alone according to a predetermined time in the teaching and learning process. The purpose of the design of automatic bells at STIKOM Tunas Bangsa Pematangsiantar is to facilitate the work of picket officers and optimize the time for teaching and learning. The work process of this tool is to input the predetermined lesson time into the Arduino Uno Microcontroller using C language in the Arduino IDE Software. After that the microcontroller will read the program schedule hours that have been inputted into the microcontroller. If the program inputted matches the time schedule of today's lesson hours, the bell will automatically output the output in the form of an information notification sound. This tool also has a 16x2 Keypad Shield for setting the manual in the test mode that is matched in the time of the ongoing test and automatically produces notification sound output, where the automatic bell is fully controlled with the Arduino Uno Microcontroller command and the time setting that has been set into the RTC ( Real Time Clock) as a time saver.
 
 Keywords: Arduino Uno, RTC, Keypad Shield 16x2, STIKOM Tunas Bangsa

Phantoms of silenced pasts: Lessons for today from the forgotten history of Burmese Indians’ exodus from Burma

This article explores the lives of Burmese Indians – Indian minorities that had migrated to and subsequently settled in Colonial Burma but later repatriated or fled Burma between the 1930s and 1960s. The stories of Burmese Indians who once made up a noticeable minority in Burma are conspicuously under-represented from historical records of both India and Burma today. Due to this silencing, these stories have receded to the periphery of public memory and now survive as grandparents’ tales of immigration and folk memories. Furthermore, the invisibilization of these stories from the Burmese memory-scape has created a peculiar situation wherein not only is the Burmese Indians’ exodus disembedded from Burma’s wider history but the current ethnic tensions, particularly the violence against the Rohingya Muslims, is perceived as delinked from any anti-India rhetoric of the past. This article attempts to weave the Burmese Indians’ exodus into the larger historical trajectory of the state and read the Rohingya Muslims’ exodus as another illustration of Burma’s haunting legacy of dealing with the ethnically different ‘other’.

Current State of COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: Lessons for Today and the Future.

This study is a cross-sectional, observational analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, to understand the progression of the disease across the continent. Published data on COVID-19 from 20 January 2020 to 21 June 2021 were obtained and analyzed. Case fatality ratios, as well as case growth rates and other indices were computed. On 21 June 2021, a total of 178,210,532 confirmed cases and 3,865,978 deaths had been recorded worldwide. While the Americas recorded the highest number of cases, Southern Africa recorded the majority of African cases. Fatality rate since from 20 February 2020 to 21 June 2021 was highest in the Americas (2.63%) and low in the South Eastern Asia region (1.39%), globally increasing from 2.17% at the end of January to 6.36% in May 2020 and decreasing to a range between 2.14% to 2.30% since January 2021. In Africa, the infection rate per 100,000 persons was up to 3090.18, while deaths per 100,000 and case fatality ratio were as high as 119.64 and 5.72%, respectively, among the 20 most-affected countries. The testing rate per million population was highest in Botswana (512,547.08). Fatality appears to be increasing in some regions of Africa. The rate of infection and fatality in Africa could still likely take an upward turn. Strict control measures are required, considering the continent’s weak healthcare systems.

The development of English university tuition fee policy from 1960 with lessons for today

ABSTRACT Higher education in England has expanded in most years since the Second World War, moving from an elite system to a mass one where half of school leavers now progress to university. A lasting funding settlement, however, has proved elusive as the generosity of the post-war decades became unviable as the sector expanded. Eventually this led to the reintroduction of tuition fees, which have added complexity to the debate about how higher education should be funded since the late twentieth century. The political reality of making changes to higher education funding is, however, more complex than the tense nature of the debate might make it seem.