78 research outputs found
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textFor many years, my father was the mayor of the town in which I grew up. It was the county seat, and it had a population of around 8,000. It was a Goldilocks town. Not too big, not too small, just right. Most everyone knew each other or at least someone in their family. As mayor, my father's decisions did not always sit well with everyone, and on several occasions, a pointed letter to the editor attacking my dad's ability to lead, or worse, would appear in the local paper. One day my dad and I were coming out of a downtown café, and who should be coming in as we were leaving, but the author of a rather scathing letter to the editor. He saw my dad and started to turn away. My dad called out to him, "Bill, thanks for taking the time to express your opinion. All the best." And with that we were on our way. In the car I asked my dad why he even took the time to talk to that low-down, snake-in-the-grass, and my dad said, "Steven, kill them with kindness. They will never know what hit 'em." And he was right. Now my dad was not a student of Shakespeare, nor his play, The Taming of the Shrew, in which the phrase is thought to have originated, but he was a faith-filled man, and this may have been his way of putting into action Jesus' words found in today's Gospel. In a small town, it was not uncommon to come face-to-face with those you disagreed with, but the world has gotten a lot bigger. Today, with social media and the ability to anonymously attack and denigrate anyone at will, and with cable news networks honed to specifically attack those on the other side of aisle, who needs to be kind? Who needs to try and understand the other side? It seems as if "kill them with kindness" has morphed into "kill them with hatred." Some fear we may have reached the point of no return to civility, of our willingness to love each other, even if the other does not vote for the same party we do, or belong to the same race.|How do we respond in a hate-filled world, in a way that Jesus would approve of? Do we just disengage from the world, cancel our subscription to "biased" newspaper and magazines, stop watching anything on TV except cooking shows, or trade in our smart phones for an old-fashioned flip phone? I don't think Jesus would approve of any of these actions, for his Gospel was not about retreating into the shadows, but rather living our faith and demonstrating daily our love and respect for all. Especially those with whom we disagree. Today's Gospel ends with what some might call an impossible challenge: "So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect." We know we can only strive for perfection, but in so doing, we all can show a little, no, make that a lot, more kindness to those with whom we might not always agree. And, who knows, maybe they will return the favor
Social Distinctives of the Christians in the First Century: Pivotal Essays
No full textTitle: Social distinctives of the Christians in the first century: pivotal essays Author: E A Judge; David M Scholer Publisher: Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008 ISBN: 978156563880
Antibiotika-Membranelektrode zur selektiven Erfassung von Ammoniumionenaktivitäten
No full textA new liquid-membrane electrode using macrotetrolide antibiotics as ion selective component is described. The electrode shows selectivities of NH4+ over K+ and NH4+ over Na+ of about 10 and over 500 respectively and a linear response to NH4+ in the range 10-1M to 10-5M (slope: 58 mV/log aNH4+ [25°C])
Raman and infrared study of hexamethylphosphoramide complexes of lanthanide perchlorates
No full textThe US as global attorney
No full textThe author considers ways in which, since the end of the Cold War era, the USA has assumed the often conflicting roles of global sheriff and global attorney – with increasing tension between their competing interests. Article by Gregory J. Wallace (partner, Kaye Scholer Fierman Hays & Handler LLP) published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
The US as global attorney
No full textThe author considers ways in which, since the end of the Cold War era, the USA has assumed the often conflicting roles of global sheriff and global attorney – with increasing tension between their competing interests. Article by Gregory J. Wallace (partner, Kaye Scholer Fierman Hays & Handler LLP) published in Amicus Curiae - Journal of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and its Society for Advanced Legal Studies. The Journal is produced by the Society for Advanced Legal Studies at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London
Austen Goes Pop: The Evolution of Jane Austen from Rural Writer to Contemporary Icon
No full textLiving in rural England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jane Austen had a very quiet life. She was pretty far removed from the strife and turmoil that existed during her lifetime. She never went to college. She never married and never had children. She never traveled outside of England. However, the idea that Austen had no life is simply a misnomer. If her novels were any indication of her world, Austen had a very rich life. Given that her novels are still being read and discussed today, they are many universal themes applicable to today.
/= / \u3e When Austen died in 1817, few people knew her name. During her lifetime, she gained very little fame for her six novels, quietly publishing anonymously as “A Woman.” After her death, Austen’s sister Cassandra published her last two novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Those books sold well, but modestly. Only when Walter Scott, a great literary critic in England, praised the books in an article in 1837 was more attention paid to her work (Tomalin 273).
/= / \u3e Moving forward to contemporary times, Austen’s novels have a life of their own, being adapted into movies. Some of these try to remain true to her world, while others take her themes and adapt them to different places and time periods. Her novels have also spawned sequels and other novels that pay tribute to her world. After almost a century of scholars and readers believing Austen had no life, there has also been a renewed interest in the woman herself. Some of the intense fandom has grown separately around Pride and Prejudice’s Mr. Darcy, especially as portrayed by Colin Firth in 1995 BBC miniseries. While most of her fans are in Great Britain and the United States, Austen remains popular in many parts of the English-speaking world. She has emerged from being an author to become a pop culture figure
Improving the living conditions of beneficiaries through income generating activities : a case study of the Red Cross model village project in Gihombo Nyamasheke, Rwanda
No full textBetween 2010 and 2013 the Rwanda Red Cross Society conducted a model village project in
Nyamasheke district in Rwanda’s Western Province. The project was technically supported by the
Belgian Red Cross, and financed by the European Commission, with the Italian Red Cross as co-
financing partner. The project aimed to strengthen the capacity of 2,000 households in community
health and environmental protection and to improve the living conditions of the population.
Notably, 200 particularly vulnerable women heads of households received productive grants
(livestock) to conduct income generating activities and were grouped in savings and loan groups
to generate a modest income and savings. At the end of its duration, in January 2013, the project
had reached this objective by improving the access of the population to safe drinking water, by
improving the hygiene, by reducing the prevalence of transmissible diseases, by reducing the
malnutrition and diarrhea among children, and by strengthening the resilience of the community
with regard to landslides through the implementation of anti-erosion measures. However, the
available data regarding the impact of the income generating activities on the 200 women headed
households were insufficient.
This research project had the objective to show to what extent the model village project indicators
(income and savings increase) had been attained, what impact the income generating activities had
on the living conditions of the beneficiaries, and to what degree the achievements are sustainable.
In March 2013, the author conducted field research to collect quantitative and qualitative data
through an administered survey, a focus group discussion, visits to households, and interviews
with authorities and project staff. The collected data provide detailed information regarding
positive changes that occurred between the start of the implementation of the project in 2010 and
January 2013. The results of the study are significant with regard to the achieved change in the
living conditions of the 200 women. The income generating activities implemented by the project
had a positive impact on the increase of the income of the target group, as well as on their savings
practice. The project effectively improved their access to health care and their physical, mental
and social wellbeing, as well as the social cohesion among beneficiaries. Many respondents
indicated positive changes regarding their human capital with regard to newly acquired skills, and
the emergence of an entrepreneurial spirit among many beneficiaries can be observed.
Finally, this study provides an analysis of the factors that threaten the sustainability of the project
achievements and makes recommendations for future IGA interventions
Critical Kinetic Plasma Processes In Relativistic Astrophysics
No full textPlasma astrophysics deals with collective plasma processes in astrophysical scenarios. As observational astronomy pushes towards unprecedented resolutions in space and time, the focus of theoretical research necessarily ventures towards a description of the plasma microphysics. On microphysical scales the plasma is pervasively collisionless and the magnetohydrodynamic approximation breaks down. Consequently theoretical concepts rely on a kinetic plasma description as the most sophisticated plasma model. The present work discusses some fundamental kinetic plasma processes in relativistic astrophysics: Fast Magnetic Reconnection (FMR) associated with discontinuities in the magnetic field topology, and the Coupled Two-Stream-Weibel instability (CTW) in the wake of collisionless shocks. Both processes are ubiquitous in astrophysical sites, prevail over competing plasma modes because of dominant growth rates, experience significant relativistic modifications, and develop essential features solely in the highly non-linear regime. The computational representation invokes the entire 6D phase space. These characteristics distinguish
FMR and the CTW as distinctively critical processes.
FMR and the CTW are studied here in the framework of self-consistent, relativistic and fully electromagnetic Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations. Typical scenarios comprise ensembles of 10^9 particles and endure for several 10^4 time steps. The computational task is challenging and completely in the realm of the massively parallelized architectures of state-of-the-art supercomputers.
We present the first self-consistent 3D simulations of FMR in relativistic pair plasma. Focusing on the mechanism of particle acceleration we show that the highly dynamic evolution of the current sheet in the non-linear regime is the essential stage. Therein non-stationary acceleration zones arise in the superposition of the relativistic tearing and the relativistic drift kink mode as competing current sheet instabilities. Though the topology of electromagnetic fields is highly turbulent, the FMR process shows the remarkable quality to generate smooth and stable power-laws in the particle distribution function (PDF) out of an initial Maxwellian. The upper PDF cut-off in relativistic energy is determined by the ratio of light to Alfven velocity c/v_A. The power-law index assumes s~-1 within the reconnection X-zone irrespective of parameter variations. Intriguingly the power-law index appears as the universal characteristic of the source process. The associated synchrotron spectra provide a valid description of the extremely hard spectra and rapid variabilities of `Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars'.
Conceptual Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) synchrotron emission models depend on a plasma process which ensures efficient magnetic field generation. The CTW converts bulk-kinetic energy of counter-streaming plasma shells into Weibel magnetic fields. Pivoted by the linear analysis of the CTW, the PIC simulations confirm the correspondence between saturation magnetic fields and bulk-kinetic energy. Plasma shell collisions in GRBs are either associated with internal or external shocks. As direct consequence of the energy dependence the CTW evolves from a complex 3D topology in internal collisions towards quasi-2D, Weibel-dominated conformalizations at the higher external shock energies. The PIC results prove that the Weibel fields are sufficiently strong to sustain synchrotron emission scenarios, particularly in external shocks. By determining the first lifetime limits we show that Weibel fields are also sufficiently long-lived with respect to typical synchrotron cooling times. We further identify the stability-limiting diffusion process as of `Bohm'-type, i.e. the diffusion coefficient exhibits the T/B-dependence and herewith represents a conservative stability criterion. The CTW generates stable power-law spectra in the magnetic fields implying power-law shaped PDFs as self-similar solutions for diffusive particle scattering. This suggests a universal power-law index as the characteristic of the CTW process.
Imposing a magnetic guide field of well-defined strength suppresses the Weibel contributions of the CTW in favour of the electrostatic Two-Stream instability (TSI). The pulsar magnetosphere is the paradigmatic scenario in which we discuss the mechanism of Coherent Collisionless Bremsstrahlung (CCB) triggered by the TSI. The PIC simulations show that the CCB mechanism provides a valid description of the phenomenon of `Giant Radio Pulses' as recently observed from the Crab pulsar
MENTORUNTERRICHT IN DER GRUNDSCHULE
No full textUdanašnjoj osnovnoj školi u Hrvatskoj dominira frontalna nastava
u razredno-predmetno-satnom sustavu. Ta je nastava
više orijentirana na učitelja negoli na učenika. Tu je važno što radi
učitelj i kako se realizira program, a učenici uglavnom, sjede,
slušaju i gledaju. Autor je proučavao deset godina kakav je u
takvoj nastavi položaj djece s posebnim edukativnim potrebama
- i djece s teškoćama u razvoju kao i djece u koje je uočena natprosječnost
u svim područjima ili talentiranost za neku aktivnost.
Proučeno je 95 slučajeva djece s teškoćama u razvoju i 25 natprosječnih
i talentiranih učenika. U priloženim su tablicama osnovni
podaci samo za 20 slučajeva djece s teškoćama u razvoju
i 10 slučajeva iznadprosječne i talentirane djece. Sustavnim promatranjem
u nastavnim situacijama, proučavanjem školske dokumentacije
i učeničkih radova te intervjuiranjem djece, roditelja i
učitelja, analizirani su načini pružanja instruktivne pomoći takvim
učenicima, odnosno nastavne metode i strategije. Svakako je najprimjerenije
osiguranje mentorske pomoći takvim učenicima.
Autor prikazuje narav takve nastave i upozorava na teškoće koje
prate pokušaje učitelja da mentorski vode i usmjeravaju učenike
s posebnim edukativnim potrebama u uvjetima zajedničke nastave.Currently, in elementary schools in Croatia, a type of frontal
teaching dominates in a c1ass-subject-lesson system. Such
teaching is more teacher-oriented than directed towards schoolchildren.
It is important what the teacher is doing and how the curriculum
is carried out, and the pupils mostly sit, listen and watch.
The author has been studying for the past ten years the position,
in such circumstances, of children with special educational needs
- and children with developmental difficulties as well as very talented
children in all or certain fields of activity. A sample of 95 children
with developmental difficulties and 25 above-averagely talented
pupils were analyzed. In the tables included, the basic data
for 20 children with developmental difficulties and 10 very talented
children are presented. Through systematic observation of
the process of teaching, the examination of school documents
and pupils' works, as well as through interviews with children, parents
and teachers, the modes of providing instructive assistance
to such children, in other words, teaching methods and strategies
were analyzed. By far the most adequate path to follow is ensuring
mentoriai assistance for such children. The author explains
the nature of such teaching and warns of the difficulties resultinq
from the teachers' attempts as mentors in leading and directing
children with special educational needs in circumstances of communal
teaching.In den Grundschulen Kroatiens ist heute die frontale Unterrichtsweise
dominierend. Diese Art des Unterrichts ist mehr am
Lehrer als am SchOler orientiert: wichtig ist, was der Lehrer macht
und wie das Unterrichtsprogramm realisiert wird, wahrend die
SchOler hauptsachlich stillsitzen, zuhoren und zuschauen. Der
Verfasser widmete sich zehn Jahre lang der Untersuchung von
Kindern, die in edukativer Hinsicht besondere BedOrfnisse zeigen
- Kindern mit Entwicklungsstorungen sowie solchen, die Oberdurchschnitlliche
Leistungen oder eine einschlagige Begabung
aufweisen. Untersucht wurden 95 Kinder mit Entwicklungsstorungen
sowie 25 Oberdurchschnitllich gute und begabte SchOler. Die
beigefOgten Tabel/en enthalten wichtigste Informationen nur zu
20 Fallen mit Entwicklungsstorungen und 10 Fallen mit Oberdurchschnitllichen
Leistungen und Begabungen. Durch systematisches
Beobachten in konkreten Unterrichtssituationen, Durchsehen
der Schulakten und der SchOlerarbeiten, ferner durch
Interviews mit Kindern, Eltern und Lehrern analysierte man die
Moglichkeiten instruktiver Hilfeleistungen fOr solche Kinder, bzw.
Unterrichtsmethoden und -strategien. Am angemessensten ist
natOriich, wenn solchen SchOlern die Hilfe eines Mentors zuteil
wird. Der Verfasser stellt diese Unterrichtsform vor und verweist
auf Schwierigkeiten, mit denen sich Lehrer auseinanderzusetzen
haben in ihrem BemOhen als Mentor, SchOler mit besonderen
edukativen BedOrfnissen zu leiten
- …
