10,871 research outputs found
Matthew Henry: The Bible, Prayer, and Piety – A Tercentenary Celebration
No full textThe summer of 2014 marked the tercentenary of the death of Matthew Henry (1662–1714), a leading figure among early eighteenth-century Dissenters and author of the six-volume Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (1707–1714/25). This monumental work, which by 1855 had already been published in twenty-five different editions, attempted a peculiarly practical approach to the biblical text and continues to be widely used and readily accessible even today in both print and online versions. The theme of foreign (or ‘strange’) wives and Israelite intermarriage is one which occurs throughout the Hebrew Bible and, accordingly, throughout Matthew Henry’s commentary upon it. Where it appears, the practice of intermarriage is characterized by Henry as (at best) unwise and (at worst) a very real threat to both social and religious cohesion. This essay explores how Henry deals with the issue of ‘strange wives’, why he believes they continue to pose a threat, and (in view of the overall intention of his commentary) what ‘practical observations’ he offers to his reader as a result. In doing so it is argued that Henry’s commentary traces a thematic thread from the ante-diluvian age to the post-exilic period of calamities resulting from mixed marriages between ‘professors of religion’ and their ‘strange wives’
Citation expectations: are they realized? Study of the Matthew index for Russian papers published abroad
No full textWe consider the "Matthew effect" in the citation process which leads to reallocation (or misallocation) of the citations received by scientific papers within the same journals. The case when such reallocation correlates with a country where an author works is investigated. Russian papers in chemistry and physics published abroad were examined. We found that in both disciplines in about 60% of journals Russian papers are cited less than average ones. However, if we consider each discipline as a whole, citedness of a Russian paper in physics will be on the average level, while chemistry publications receive about 16% citations less than one may expect from the citedness of the journals where they appear. Moreover, Russian chemistry papers mostly become undercited in the leading journals of the field. Characteristics of a "Matthew index" indicator and its significance for scientometric studies are also discussed
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In subsidium: the declining contribution of Germany and Eastern Europe to the Crusades to the Holy Land, 1221-91
No full text"Though for a short time the Lord had forsaken it [the Holy Land], with great mercy he gathered together his children and restored the whole land's people from men of different races and diverse languages and nations, so that therein the prophecy seemed to be fulfilled: 'Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed by thy side'. [As] he observed and drew [them] together, his heart wondered and he was glad when [many] had been directed to him across the great sea, especially those of Genoa, Venice and Pisa. The strength of the nations came to him, especially from France and Germany.
An Interview with Matthew Kaiser on Competition and Play
No full textAn Interview with Matthew Kaiser on Competition and Play, by Sean Scanlan. Matthew Kaiser, the author of The World in Play: Portraits of a Victorian Concept (Stanford UP, 2012) says that “[c]ompetition is the disease from which modern life suffers,” and that “[c]ompetition is the only cure” for this suffering. This contradictory pairing seems to get at the heart of his thesis: play, as a totalizing, umbrella-like concept, emanates from a host of philosophical, political, and scientific work produced by Victorians who posed many of their ideas of play in sports metaphors, competitive logics, and narratives of struggle. Kaiser goes beyond the dichotomy of competition and play/competition or play, by stating “I’m interested in the totalizing potential of both concepts, the way that play, or competition for that matter, swallows the world whole, becomes in the minds of so many people, the organizing principle of reality, whether of culture or nature or consciousness, or of all three.
'Woe to you, hypocrites!' : law and leaders in The Gospel of Matthew
No full textThis thesis seeks to move beyond the impasse in Matthean scholarship that posits the reason for conflict in Matthew 23 with the authorial community. A framework is developed that allows the possibility that the gospel was received and understood by a widespread, general audience that itself was not necessarily embroiled in conflict. Multiple complementary methods are used to analyze how an ancient audience might expect conflict and work through its development in the narrative. Analysis of comparative biographical literature and of Old Testament references and allusions shows that readers could expect in literature the type and intensity of conflict exhibited in Matthew 23. The gospel's internal narrative development provides unity to the conflict episodes in Matthew 9-23. It also offers rationale for the escalation of conflict for which Matthew 23 is the summary. Chapter One: The Shape of the Discussion surveys representative works including redaction, social scientific, socio-historical, narrative and genre critics, to understand the options for studying conflict in Matthew. Reader-response oriented genre criticism provides language for framing reader expectations. Chapter Two: Expecting Conflict examines expectations that can be associated with Matthew's use of the Old Testament and by comparison with ancient biographies. Chapter Three: The Conflict Builds works systematically through each of the points of contact between Jesus and the leaders of Israel in chapters 9-22 organized by three topics: legal interpretation, the identity and authority of Jesus, and the character of the leaders. Chapter Four: Woe to You takes up the task of examining Matthew 23. The analysis of Matthew 23 identifies three components in the summary of conflict: Jesus presented as the model for his audience, Jesus' final denunciation of the leaders, and the presentation of Jesus as God’s representative. The multi-methodological approach used in this study of Matthew 23 suggests a narrative that invites the reader to rethink how one knows and understands God. The study thereby provides an alternative to the assumption that conflict reflects the immediate experience of a narrowly conceived authorial community
How to adjust for baseline heterogeneity in count data occurring from experimental studies
No full textWhen analysing the results from experimental and observational studies, the main aim is often to estimate what effect the treatment is having on the participant. For this reason, it is important that the estimate for the treatment effect is not influenced (biased) by having imbalanced (heterogeneous) treatment groups. Randomisation is often used in experimental studies to obtain homogenous treatment groups i.e. the distribution of all covariates (except treatment group) is the same between treatment groups. However, when the sample size is small, randomisation may not successfully obtain entirely homogeneous groups. Heterogeneous groups are often an issue in observational studies as randomisation cannot be used. This thesis aims to demonstrate the need to adjust for baseline heterogeneity by showing the potential consequences of not. The thesis also aims to find a method to successfully adjust for baseline heterogeneity. A hypothetical example is drawn up to demonstrate the potential bias in the results if no adjustment for the baseline heterogeneity is made. An explanation is given on how failing to adjust for heterogeneity, could lead to false conclusions to the extent that a harmful drug could be wrongly authorised. This thesis examines the properties of six potential methods for adjusting for baseline heterogeneity which include 5 parametric methods (using an Offset, Continuous Covariate, Categorical Covariate, Random Effect and a Conditional model) and a non-parametric method (Mantel-Haenszel). The ability of these methods to adjust for heterogeneity is assessed by using them to analyse three datasets containing baseline heterogeneity. Furthermore, a detailed simulation study is undertaken to analyse the bias and RMSE of each of the methods. The treatment effects obtained from the different methods (for adjusting for baseline heterogeneity) differ in the analysis of the example datasets. The AIC and BIC demonstrate that adjusting for baseline heterogeneity is required. However, the AIC and BIC cannot convincingly separate the parametric methods (AIC and BIC is not available for the Mantel Haenszel method). In order to distinguish between the 6 different trial methods, simulation studies are used. The RMSE is then calculated for a range of different scenarios (different sample sizes, risk ratios, number of treatment groups and time points). The Continuous method consistently performs well. For this reason, the 13 Continuous method appears to be the preferred method to use
Haptoglobin as a novel treatment for subarachnoid haemorrhage
No full textSubarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a severe neurological condition caused by rupture of an intracranial aneurysm. A clot forms in the subarachnoid space and erythrocyte lysis causes haemoglobin (Hb) to accumulate in the CSF. In patients surviving the initial bleed, secondary complications such as vasospasm and delayed ischaemic neurological deficits (DIND) can result in poor long term outcome. Hb is neurotoxic through oxidative mechanisms and has also been implicated in the pathogenesis of vasospasm. Management of SAH patients is aimed at securing the aneurysm, inhibiting vasospasm and diversion of CSF to treat hydrocephalus; high morbidity means novel treatments to improve long term outcome are needed and there are none targeting Hb toxicity. Haptoglobin (Hp) is responsible for binding to cell free Hb, facilitating scavenging by CD163-positive macrophages. Hp inhibits free Hb’s pro-oxidative potential by shielding the redox active iron contained in the haem group, rendering Hb oxidatively inert. Two co-dominant HP alleles (HP1 and HP2) exist in humans as a result of an intragenic duplication event. This lead to the production of dimers in HP1 homozygotes (HP1-1), dimers and trimers in heterozygotes (HP2-1), and finally tetramers and large polymers in HP2 homozygotes (HP2-2). Hp isoforms differ in their expression levels, their ability to inhibit Hb’s oxidative potential, and when in complex with Hb, their affinity for CD163 and uptake by macrophages. In this study I hypothesized that: haptoglobin affects outcome after subarachnoid haemorrhage through its role in haemoglobin scavenging and haptoglobin supplementation after SAH is of therapeutic benefit. The aims were to: 1) investigate if HP genotype influences outcome after SAH via its role in Hb scavenging, 2) characterise the kinetics of Hb scavenging in the two week period after SAH, 3) establish whether Hp can reverse Hb neurotoxicity in vitro, and 4) establish and characterise an in vivo model of SAH to translate the results of the in vitro experiments. Due to differential Hb scavenging function, it was hypothesized that HP genotype impacts on outcome after SAH. 1299 SAH patients were typed for their HP duplication genotype and the single nucleotide polymorphism rs2000999, the largest genetic contributor to Hp expression level. Logistic regression analysis of long term outcome identified no effect of rs2000999 but the Hp duplication affected outcome, implying mediation through Hp function rather than expression level. HP2-2 was associated with favourable outcome in high Fisher grade patients (grades III and IV, Odds Ratio (OR): 2.4, 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) 1.4-.4.3, p=0.007). To seek further mechanistic evidence for the effect of Hp on outcome after SAH, the kinetics of Hb and Hp was investigated in serial cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from 44 Fisher grade III-IV SAH patients during a two week period post-ictus. Total Hb levels increased gradually, reaching a plateau of 11.5µM (median between days 11 and 13, interquartile range (IQR): 2.1-16.2µM); the majority of this Hb was found to be uncomplexed (median 96.3%, (IQR): 83.3-99.4%, from third day onwards). There was a trend towards an association of high uncomplexed Hb levels with worse outcome (modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 6 months post-ictus) (OR: 0.7, 95% CI 0.5-1.0, p=0.064). Auto-oxidation of Hb can cause oxidative damage which inhibits complex formation by Hp. Exogenous Hp was added to the CSF, enough to saturate all Hb, to investigate how much Hb was still able to bind Hp; 90.6% (IQR: 65.8- 96.5%) of the uncomplexed Hb was able to form complexes with exogenous Hp. The Hb scavenging ability of Hp isoforms was investigated with linear mixed modelling. Significantly lower levels of uncomplexed Hb were associated with the Hp2-2 phenotype (p=0.03, vs Hp1-1), in keeping with improved Hb scavenging due to Hp2-2’s higher valency for Hb. To test if Hp can protect against Hb neurotoxicity, primary hippocampal neurones from C57BL/6 mouse pups were cultured and treated with Hb, Hb+Hp, Hp or vehicle. Following a week in culture, viable neurones were counted. Hb produced a dose dependent cytotoxic effect (pSignificantly lower levels of uncomplexed Hb were associated with the Hp2-2 phenotype (p=0.03, vs Hp1-1), in keeping with improved Hb scavenging due to Hp2-2’s higher valency for Hb. To test if Hp can protect against Hb neurotoxicity, primary hippocampal neurones from C57BL/6 mouse pups were cultured and treated with Hb, Hb+Hp, Hp or vehicle. Following a week in culture, viable neurones were counted. Hb produced a dose dependent cytotoxic effect (p=0.003). No adverse effects on neuronal viability were observed with Hp alone. To translate the in vitro findings, I established in our laboratory an in vivo murine model of SAH, involving a stereotaxic injection of blood into the pre-chiasmatic cistern of C57BL/6 mice. The model was optimized to refine the technique, to prepare for future experiments testing Hp as a therapeutic agent after experimental SAH.<br/
Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series: Matthew Goldman, Class of 2022
No full textThe Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series seeks to give our readers further insight into the Articles and Notes published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. In this interview, Matthew Goldman discusses his Note, Fragmented Music Copyright Protection: A Better Arrangement, which was published in Volume 40, Issue 3.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on November 7, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above
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Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series: Matthew Goldman, Class of 2022
No full textThe Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series seeks to give our readers further insight into the Articles and Notes published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. In this interview, Matthew Goldman discusses his Note, Fragmented Music Copyright Protection: A Better Arrangement, which was published in Volume 40, Issue 3.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on November 7, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above
Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series: Matthew Goldman, Class of 2022
No full textThe Cardozo AELJ Author Interview Series seeks to give our readers further insight into the Articles and Notes published in the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal. In this interview, Matthew Goldman discusses his Note, Fragmented Music Copyright Protection: A Better Arrangement, which was published in Volume 40, Issue 3.
This post was originally published on the Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal website on November 7, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above
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