bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Reduced Left Ventricular Functional Reserve in Hypertensive Patients With Preserved Function at Rest
Authors: Kozakova Michaela , Fraser Alan G. , Buralli Simona , Magagna Armando , Salvetti Antonio , Ferrannini Ele , Palombo Carlo
Published: February 2005

In many hypertensive patients, left ventricular pump function is normal at rest but abnormal during exercise. Myocardial dysfunction or altered left ventricular loading may be responsible for this finding. To verify the hypothesis of impaired myocardial functional reserve in the hypertensive heart, we assessed the response of stress-adjusted midwall shortening to graded, low-dose dobutamine infusion in hypertensive subjects with normal midwall shortening at rest. Sixty-five subjects (45 never treated hypertensive subjects and 20 normotensive volunteers comparable for age) received dobutamine at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 μg · kg
−1
· min
−1
for 5-minute steps; within this range of infusion rates, heart rate and systemic blood pressure were stable. Two-dimensional, M-mode, and Doppler echocardiography were performed at baseline and at the end of each step. In normotensive controls, midwall shortening increased from baseline during 2 μg · kg
−1
· min
−1
dobutamine by an average of 16±4.5% (
P
<0.01); a value of 2 standard deviations below this mean response was taken as the lower limit of normal. In the hypertensive subjects, 24 had a normal midwall shortening response to dobutamine at this dose (group I) and 21 had a subnormal response (group II). Whereas blood pressure and left ventricular mass were similar in group II and group I, the former had greater relative wall thickness (
P
<0.01) than the latter. β-adrenergic stimulation by very-low-dose dobutamine unmasks subtle impairment of myocardial functional reserve in hypertensive subjects with normal myocardial performance at rest. This alteration seems to be related mainly to increase in left ventricular relative wall thickness.
Efficient Linkage Discovery by Limited Probing
Authors: Heckendorn Robert B. , Wright Alden H.
Published: February 2005

This paper addresses the problem of discovering the structure of a fitness function from binary strings to the reals under the assumption of bounded epistasis. Two loci (string positions) are epistatically linked if the effect of changing the allele (value) at one locus depends on the allele at the other locus. Similarly, a group of loci are epistatically linked if the effect of changing the allele at one locus depends on the alleles at all other loci of the group. Under the assumption that the size of such groups of loci are bounded, and assuming that the function is given only as a “black box function”, this paper presents and analyzes a randomized algorithm that finds the complete epistatic structure of the function in the form of the Walsh coefficients of the function.
Measures of Diversity for Populations and Distances Between Individuals with Highly Reorganizable Genomes
Authors: Mattiussi Claudio , Waibel Markus , Floreano Dario
Published: February 2005

In this paper we address the problem of defining a measure of diversity for a population of individuals whose genome can be subjected to major reorganizations during the evolutionary process. To this end, we introduce a measure of diversity for populations of strings of variable length defined on a finite alphabet, and from this measure we derive a semi-metric distance between pairs of strings. The definitions are based on counting the number of substrings of the strings, considered first separately and then collectively. This approach is related to the concept of linguistic complexity, whose definition we generalize from single strings to populations. Using the substring count approach we also define a new kind of Tanimoto distance between strings. We show how to extend the approach to representations that are not based on strings and, in particular, to the tree-based representations used in the field of genetic programming. We describe how suffix trees can allow these measures and distances to be implemented with a computational cost that is linear in both space and time relative to the length of the strings and the size of the population. The definitions were devised to assess the diversity of populations having genomes of variable length and variable structure during evolutionary computation runs, but applications in quantitative genomics, proteomics, and pattern recognition can be also envisaged.
Structural Search Spaces and Genetic Operators
Authors: Rowe Jonathan E. , Vose Michael D. , Wright Alden H.
Published: February 2005

In a previous paper (Rowe et al., 2002), aspects of the theory of genetic algorithms were generalised to the case where the search space, Ω, had an arbitrary group action defined on it. Conditions under which genetic operators respect certain subsets of Ω were identified, leading to a generalisation of the termschema. In this paper, search space groups with more detailed structure are examined. We define the class of structural crossover operators that respect certain schemata in these groups, which leads to a generalised schema theorem. Recent results concerning the Fourier (or Walsh) transform are generalised. In particular, it is shown that the matrix group representing Ω can be simultaneously diagonalised if and only if Ω is Abelian. Some results concerning structural crossover and mutation are given for this case.
Body Rhythms, Social Rhythms in Digital Societies
Authors: Pirani Bianca Maria
Published: February 2005

This article focuses on the notion of ‘technique of the body’ classically elaborated by Marcel Mauss in order to affirm the body in action as a relational matrix of the digital sociality. The mind computational theory applied to the digital calculator has reduced the body to an intransitive locus of action. The system of symbols that connects the biological body with its sociocultural performance has in fact caused the ‘exile of experience’ and the reduction of contingency to a ‘non-necessary existence’. Technology is the real counterpart in the world of relationships and processes that evolve and develop in the biological body. Modern western thought has considered technology as an ‘objective system’ of relationships external to action, transforming the biological body in the conflictual threshold of action in society. This article applies the notion of ‘body technique’ to genetic determination and to the synchronism of body rhythms, proposing it as a methodological key, useful to reconstruct the relational fragmentation that afflicts today digital societies.
Cloning/Stem Cells and the Meaning of Life
Authors: David Matthew , Kirkhope Jamieson
Published: February 2005

This article explores recent controversies over human cloning, stem cell research and the potential applications of both. Much of the fear of human reproductive cloning has been escalated by media calling on scare stories from Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and Ira Levin’s The Boys from Brazil, which both stimulates public fear and clouds debate. Is it possible to take a detached view about whether the risks are worth taking? While technologies now offer new dilemmas and possibilities, this article moves beyond the current impasse between technically optimistic market individualism and traditional (often religious) forms of moral collectivism. This critical theory and the concept of alienation offer useful points of departure, in addressing the body as site of both social anxiety and of nature-social boundary disputes.
Abuse and Westernization: Reflections on Strategies of Power
Authors: la Branche Stéphane
Published: February 2005

Using Foucault’s concepts of power relations, discourse and internalization, this article uncovers some basic dissemination and internalization strategies of power relations on several levels. First, it looks at power at the individual level, with an analysis of family abuse and torture. It then applies this analysis to Westernization in Africa, arguing that the basic strategies by which power is disseminated and internalized into the bodies, psyches and cultures of Africans are the same as in abuse. The internalization of the Western discourse at the individual and small-community levels was studied through field research, undertaken in Ghana, that included participant observation and interviews. The research shows that even in the case of small, local, sustainable development projects, one sees a Westernization of power relations between men and women, chiefs and population, and elders and youth, with changes in related values. The field research reveals that actors are not merely passive victims of changes in discourses: they resist it, cooperate, disseminate and adapt it to their needs, but within the rules of the Western regime of discourse. The general conditions, processes and actors’ strategies in this process of discursive change go further than a mere analogy to abuse and torture. The article shows that the process by which an initially violent, dominant discourse is transformed into a ‘normal’ way of living, into beliefs and wishes, is the same in these different cases, suggesting that there exist some general strategies by which power is disseminated at the international and individual levels and by which it is propagated and internalized by individuals.
Christine de Pizan, France’s memorialist
Authors: Walters Lori J.
Published: February 2005

This study deals with the ways that Christine de Pizan (c. 1365-1430) transformed her personal memories of King Charles V into an enduring form of national memory by allying her 1404 biography of Charles with official French history. To legitimize her role as royal biographer, Christine created a double-gendered persona evocative of Mary and Christ and Mary and David. Her persona allowed her (1) to ‘give birth’ metaphorically to the idea of a ‘wise king’ capable of guiding the nascent ‘nation’ of France mentioned in the official history, and (2) to unite symbolically the kingdom’s male and female subjects behind present and future monarchs. Pierre Nora, Mary Carruthers, Aleida Assmann and Susan Crane provide conceptual models that enable me to connect ideas of nationhood, memory and performance. I conclude that Christine became a link between individual and national memory, thus exemplifying Nora’s idea of the historian as living lieu de mémoire.
Plenitude, scarcity and the circulation of cultural memory
Authors: Rigney Ann
Published: February 2005

An argument is made for the need to conceptualize cultural memory, not as merely derivative of individual psychology, but in terms of a ‘working memory’ (Assmann) that is constructed and reconstructed in public acts of remembrance and evolves according to distinctly cultural mechanisms. Foucault’s ‘scarcity principle’ is used to show the role of media in generating shared memories through processes of selection, convergence, recursivity and transfer. This media-based approach, emphasizing the way memories are communicated, circulated and exchanged, allows us to see how collective identities may be (re)defined through memorial practices, and not merely reflected in them.
The link between the pursuit of intimacy goals and satisfaction in close same-sex friendships: An examination of the underlying processes
Authors: Sanderson Catherine A. , Rahm Katie B. , Beigbeder Sarah A.
Published: February 2005

This research examines whether individuals who are strongly focused on the pursuit of intimacy in their close same-sex friendships structure and interact in these relationships in distinct ways, and thereby experience greater relationship satisfaction. Study 1 examines the association between the pursuit of intimacy goals and patterns of interaction (e.g., time spent, social support exchanged, self-disclosure) as well as the perception of one’s friend’s goals. Findings indicate that individuals with a strong focus on intimacy in friendships exchange high levels of social support and self-disclosure with their close friend, and see their friend as sharing their focus on intimacy. Study 2 examines the influence of intimacy goals on strategies for conflict resolution, and indicates that those with a focus on intimacy choose constructive methods of resolving conflict. Both studies also provide mediational analyses demonstrating that those with a strong focus on intimacy goals experience high levels of satisfaction at least in part because they interact in their close friendships in distinct ways. The discussion focuses on the theoretical and applied implications of these findings.
Commitment-motivated benign appraisals of partner transgressions: Do they facilitate accommodation?
Authors: Menzies-Toman Danielle A. , Lydon John E.
Published: February 2005

The current investigation examines the hypothesis that commitment predicts increasingly benign appraisals of partner transgressions and that this may in turn lead to greater accommodation. A survey of 226 students in heterosexual dating relationships was conducted. Commitment, the perceived severity of partner transgressions, and accommodation were assessed. Commitment was significantly associated with the discrepancy between participant severity ratings and that of objective raters. Commitment predicted these benign appraisals more for objectively less severe transgressions. Although the commitment-accommodation association was replicated, benign appraisals did not mediate this relationship. However, benign appraisals were differentially associated with voice and loyalty responses, whereby voice was associated with decreased benign appraisals and loyalty with increased benign appraisals.
Effects of peripheral sympathetic blockade with dapiprazole on the fear-inhibited light reflex
Authors: Giakoumaki Stella G. , Hourdaki Eugenia , Grinakis Vangelis , Theou Katerina , Bitsios Panos
Published: February 2005

Fear (e.g. associated with the threat of an electric shock) causes an increase in initial pupil diameter (IPD) and a decrease in the amplitude of the light reflex response. There is evidence for dissociation between the two responses to threat: only the reduction in light reflex response amplitude is sensitive to the anxiolytic drug diazepam. We examined the effects of peripheral sympathetic blockade with the α1-adrenoceptor antagonist dapiprazole on both responses to threat on the basis of the hypothesis that only the response of the IPD will be affected, whereas the response of the light reflex will remain unaffected. Twelve healthy volunteers (Experiment 1) and eight healthy volunteers with smaller pupils (Experiment 2) participated in one experimental session. Dapiprazole 0.5% (two drops of 20 µl, three times) was instilled in the subjects’ right or left eye while the contralateral eye was treated with placebo eye drops (artificial tear, two drops of 20 µl, three times) according to a single-blind balanced design. Pupil diameter was monitored by infrared binocular television pupillometry. At the point of maximum dapiprazole-evoked miosis, the light reflex was elicited three times in each of three Safe blocks (no possibility of electric shock), alternating with three Threat blocks (possibility of electric shock). At the end of each Safe and Threat block, subjects rated their mood and feelings on the Visual Analogue Scales. In Experiment 1, dapiprazole caused significant miosis. Threat increased subjectively rated anxiety and inhibited the light reflex. The inhibition of the light reflex was unaffected by dapiprazole. The threat-induced increase in IPD was also unaffected by dapiprazole, probably due to a ceiling effect curtailing the threat-induced increase in IPD. In the smaller pupil group in Experiment 2, where the possible contribution of a ceiling effect was minimized, dapiprazole suppressed the threat-induced increase in IPD. The inhibition of the light reflex by threat is likely to reflect central parasympathetic inhibition and is unlikely to involve the peripheral sympathetic innervation of the iris. The threat-induced increase in IPD is likely to reflect mainly central sympathetic excitation. The different central autonomic mechanisms underlying the two pupillary responses to threat may explain the dissociation between the separate effects of threat on IPD and light reflex amplitude.
Limited cognitive benefits in Stage +2 postmenopausal women after 6 weeks of treatment with Ginkgo biloba
Authors: Elsabagh Sarah , Hartley David E. , File Sandra E.
Published: February 2005

Gingko biloba has cognitive benefits both in populations suffering from dementia and after acute treatment in healthy volunteers, with some evidence indicating that those with poorer cognitive performance show greater benefit. We have previously found that 1 week of treatment with ginkgo improved attention, memory and mental flexibility in post-menopausal women, but the evidence for any beneficial effects of longer treatment is less well-established. The present study aimed to determine whether cognitive benefits, similar to those previously found after 1 week of treatment, would persist after 6 weeks of treatment, and whether those with poorer cognitive performance would benefit more. In a placebo-controlled, double-blind study, postmenopausal women (aged 51-67 years) were randomly allocated to receive a standardized extract of ginkgo (LI 1370, Lichtwer Pharma, Marlow, UK) (one capsule/day of 120 mg, n = 45) or matching placebo ( n = 42) for 6 weeks. According to an established reproductive staging system, subjects were divided into those in the early (Stage +1; mean age 55 years) and late (Stage +2: mean age 61 years) stages of menopause. At baseline and after 6 weeks of treatment, subjects completed tests of mental flexibility, planning, memory and sustained attention, and ratings of mood, sleepiness, bodily and menopausal symptoms. The only significant effects of ginkgo were in the test of mental flexibility, in which there were significant menopausal stage-ginkgo interactions. This was because subjects in Stage +2 required fewer trials to complete the task and made fewer errors after ginkgo treatment, whereas those in Stage +1 showed no benefits. Subjects in Stage +2 had poorer performance at baseline compared to those in Stage +1 both in this task and the test of planning ability. The beneficial effects of ginkgo were limited to the test of mental flexibility and to those with poorer performance.
Successfully switching acetylcholinesterase inhibitor therapy in probable Lewy body dementia
Authors: Alwahhabi Fahad Khalifa
Published: February 2005

Lewy body disease is a common cause of dementia. Pharmacological therapies for the symptomatic treatment of this disorder are few and largely consist of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. No guidelines exist regarding poor response or intolerability with such medications. This report discusses a case of an elderly woman with a diagnosis of probable Lewy body dementia who had significant improvement with donepezil but discontinuted it due to side effects. She was switched to rivastigmine which she tolerated and which had a similar clinical response. The process of switching is discussed in light of the lack of specific guidelines.
Hezekiah’s Boil
Authors: Barker Margaret
Published: February 2005

Hezekiah had a potentially fatal boil which suggests that he had bubonic plague. This also destroyed the Assyrian army threatening Jerusalem. The king made a miraculous recovery. Isaiah first predicted that the king would die for his sin (of destroying the high places) but he then promised recovery. The prophet’s two explanations of the king’s suffering inspired the Fourth Servant Song, which depicted the suffering servant first as a sinner and then as the sin bearer. This is evidence for a sin-bearing priest-king, and for Isaiah’s hostility to the so-called ‘reforms’ of the cult. Evidence from Lachish and ancient eclipses supports this reconstruction, and so calls into question the suggestion that it was a later fiction.
Faith, Character and Perspective in Judith
Authors: Day Linda
Published: February 2005

The purpose of this analysis is to demonstrate the complexity of the religious aspect of the figure of Judith. She is revealed to be a strong, controlling figure, taking initiative throughout all of her actions. Duplicity and violence are also evident in Judith’s actions. Hence, she should not be viewed as a model of piety. This assessment of the book of Judith pays attention to point of view as it is manifested throughout the story, that of the narrator, the other characters and the readers.
‘To Sleep, Perchance to Dream…’: What Jacob Saw at Bethel (Genesis 28.10-22)
Authors: Oblath Michael
Published: February 2005

The focal point of Jacob’s dream at Bethel, the sullām ([UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN]) is almost universally accepted as a ladder or staircase. Through an analysis of the language of Gen. 28.10-22 it is evident that the biblical author makes reference to the physical structure of the [UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN] within the context of the story. The [UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN] is identified as the ‘gate of heaven’. Thus, even though [UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN] is a hapax legomenon, its meaning may be derived as the result of the description in the text. This analysis suggests that the [UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN][UNKNOWN] is to be understood as an enclosed Near Eastern gate structure. It is oriented vertically in the manner and likeness of other Near Eastern gates through which deities and celestial objects traveled between realms.
Verbal Resonance in the Bible and Intertextuality
Authors: Hepner Gershon
Published: February 2005

Verbal resonances between words are well recognized in rabbinical literature. Contemporary scholars frequently use them to help identify intertextual links between biblical narratives. This paper analyzes them and shows how they facilitate the discovery of meanings in texts that they link, highlighting their importance as a primary mechanism for understanding biblical texts.
The Birth Narrative as Female Counterpart to Covenant
Authors: Jarrell R. H.
Published: February 2005

The concept of 'covenant', the dominant ideology describing Yahweh's relationship to humanity, ultimately fails to include Yahweh's association with women. However, some forms of covenantal behavior and language exist within the literary form associated with women known as the 'birth narrative'. Yahweh's relationship to Hagar in Genesis 16 is an example of this specific type of contractual relationship. In the Hebrew Bible and New Testament there are nine such narratives that follow a specific format and include six common elements. Yahweh's contractual connection with Hagar, formulated and established in Gen. 16.7-15, serves as the foundation for all future associations between Yahweh and potential child-bearing women which eventually culminates in the New Testament pericope of the impregnation of Mary.
The Days of the Judges: When Men and Women Were Animals and Trees Were Kings
Authors: Scham Sandra
Published: February 2005

Current debates between traditional and revisionist scholars have centered on the veracity of the biblical text. Another more recent trend is to focus on establishing, or refuting, the 'ethnicity' of the ancient Israelites. Both of these currents in biblical scholarship fail to address the potential usefulness of the Bible in elucidating ancient cultures. Suggesting that the Bible can be an informative ethnographic analogy for archaeological data, this article sees the book of Judges as a case in point. Beginning from the reports on excavations and surveys from Iron Age sites, it explores the relationships between human beings and the natural world by correlating the text with the material culture.
Lot’s Daughters and Tamar as Tricksters and the Patriarchal Narratives as Feminist Theology
Authors: Jackson Melissa
Published: February 2005

This article examines two Genesis narratives—the stories of Lot’s daughters (19.30-38) and Tamar (ch. 38). The female characters in these stories are tricksters, characters of low status who improve their situation through use of their wit and cunning. Comparing elements of the trickster narrative with elements of the comic reveals the trickster genre to be a comic one. Therefore, these narratives may be interpreted comically, a perspective that challenges some feminist biblical scholarship. Comedy’s function is escapism that offers a transcendent glimpse into another reality. In viewing these narratives through the subversive comic lens, the reader may see a new inverted reality where there are no tricksters, because there are no underdogs.
Qohelet and ‘Heretic’ Harpers’ Songs
Authors: Fischer Stefan
Published: February 2005

The book of Qohelet has a seven-fold refrain. In it Qohelet calls for joy. These texts are dependent upon the Egyptian ‘heretic’ Harpers’ Songs of the New Kingdom. The ‘heretic’ Harpers’ Songs agree not only in the content and reason for joy, but also in the use of idioms, phrases and themes, which occur not just in the key texts but also elsewhere in Qohelet. The ‘heretic’ Harpers’ Songs were transmitted to Israel together with the Egyptian love songs, probably already in premonarchic times.
The Victory Song of Merneptah, Israel and the People of Palestine
Authors: Hjelm Ingrid , Thompson Thomas L.
Published: February 2005

This article discusses the nature of the association that can be established between the Merneptah stele and the later history of the region of Palestine and biblical Israel. This study examines aspects of the hymn’s rhetoric and literary metaphors, and discusses, among other things, the themes of Merneptah’s transcendent greatness and his mythic roles as savior of Memphis, universal mediator of divine grace and guardian of peace in terms of his divine ability to control destiny. In the hymn’s central movement, these stock tropes center on the theme of renewal. The final movement is not a song recounting Palestine’s conquest, but rather closes the hymn of victory over the Libyans with an idyllic portrayal of the ‘peace’, with which Merneptah has reestablished creation. His song of the nine bows celebrates the pharaoh’s universal patronage with illustrative reference to the region and towns of Palestine: Gaza, Ashkelon, Gezer and Yeno’am, which now belong to Egypt. Israel, metaphorically portrayed as the land of Hurru’s former husband, has been replaced by Merneptah’s patronage in a manner comparable to the well-known role that Yahweh plays in Hosea and Ezekiel as Jerusalem and Samaria’s Ba’al. Regionally, the geographical region referenced by the eponymic use of the name Israel in the stele corresponds with the Saul tradition’s Philistine area.
Statistical Analysis of Genesis Sources
Authors: Houk Cornelius B.
Published: February 2005

Syllable–word frequency pattern analysis, using the chi-square test, identifies significant differences within Genesis chs. 1–4, 6–9, 12–13, 16–21, 26, 28, 30–33, 39 and 41–43. The statistical results are interpreted to suggest that to an extended composition by an initial Yahweh writer (J2–4, 6–8, 12–13, 16) four other Yahweh writers successively added J18–19, J26, J28–33 and J39–43. In a second major stage of development an Elohim writer expanded chs. 2–3 (using the dual divine name as a distinctive introductory signature mark), wrote chs. 20–21 and enhanced the stories in chs. 7–8, 28, 31, 33. A second Elohim writer added the punishments in 3.14-19, enhanced chs. 30–32 and expanded the Joseph story of ch. 41. Finally, a first P writer composed 1.1–2.3 to introduce a third major version of Genesis and also enhanced chs. 6–8. A second P writer added 1.11, 22, 28-30 and ch. 9, a third P writer composed ch. 17 and a fourth P writer edited the narratives of chs. 12–36. Thus the analysis argues against the explanation of Genesis as consisting of layers of tradition, against the thesis that the primaeval and patriarchal stories as written were developed separately and against the use of redactors who combined sources.
What Cain Said: A Note on Genesis 4.8
Authors: Reis Pamela Tamarkin
Published: February 2005

This article proposes a new translation of Gen. 4.8 rendering v. 8a as: ‘And Cain spoke against Abel, his brother.’ The two parts of the verse are thus felicitously aligned in aesthetic balance: Cain spoke against Abel, his brother, and Cain rose against Abel, his brother. The measured sonority of repetition, so characteristic of biblical style, is here given prominence to the advantage of both the sound and the sense of the passage. This understanding of the text depends neither on fancy nor on Freud, but on ordinary failings of human nature familiar to every reader. The interpretation has the supplementary recommendation of doing no violence to the MT; no words need be added, subtracted or construed with unique meanings.
The Answer to the Meaning of Life, the Universe and the Elohistic Psalter
Authors: Joffe Laura
Published: February 2005

This article asks why the Elohistic Psalter (Pss. 42–83) was commissioned. It is suggested that the Elohistic Psalter was constructed in order to invoke a ‘magic triangle’ (comprising God’s name, the number 42, and a blessing) for some apotropaic purpose. It is argued that this theory gains credence from two areas: first, the importance of numerical organization of large groups of Psalms; and, second, the history of the number 42, which in biblical times was a number of disaster, and in later Jewish tradition became associated with a protective name of God.
Deciduous, Perennial or Evergreen? The Choices in the Debate over ‘Early Israel’
Authors: Henige David
Published: February 2005

In two recent articles Iain Provan has argued that those who question the reality of ‘early Israel’ do not have adequate epistemological grounds for their reasoning. Provan is particularly interested in preserving much of the testimony of the Hebrew Bible, if only because, without it, there is virtually no evidence left. Here I argue a different position, largely from a comparative framework. Given the remarkable lack of archaeological and external support for biblical history, I wonder why we should give the Hebrew Bible—or any source that is sui generis and largely uncorroborated—the benefit of any doubts. In other times and other places such sources have lost much of the credibility given them by earlier generations; why not here? The historiographical and epistemological situation is ripe for open debate. In any zetetic process, it is now the turn of those who prefer to use biblical evidence for orientation to justify this with more than variations of a refrain. In the meantime, postulating reconstructions of this period and place can be little more than gamesmanship.
The Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32.1-43) and Isaianic Prophecies: A Case of Early Intertextuality?
Authors: Bergey Ronald
Published: February 2005

The overall distribution and density of Deuteronomy 32 language affinities found in four key chapters in the book of Isaiah (chs. 1, 5, 28 and 30) demonstrate that the Song of Moses and the early Isaianic prophecies are linguistically linked. In addition, a comparison of the parallels, from a thematic perspective, shows a consistent pattern of theme reiteration or reversal. Moreover, viewing the parallels from a compositional angle brings to light a pattern involving their appearance in initial, final and framing positions in the literary units making up the Isaianic chapters. The linguistic, thematic and literary patterns seem too consistent to be coincidental or simply attributable to a common language and literary tradition. Rather, these points combined corroborate the conclusion that intertextuality involving the linguistic affinities has occurred. There is, therefore, a direct correlation between these early prophetic writings and ch. 32 of Deuteronomy. Moreover, the nature of the literary correlation suggests that the Isaianic prophecies, where intertextuality has occurred, borrowed from the Song.
The Lamentations Project: Biblical Mourning through Modern Montage
Authors: Morse Benjamin
Published: February 2005

This study reacts against the reductive simplicity of form-critical and other diachronically focused methodologies, which attempt to systematize the book of Lamentations according to a sequence of ready-made forms. The laments’ thematic fragmentation can be more fruitfully understood as a form of montage, an ancient analogue to Walter Benjamin’s Arcades Project. Employing the modern experience of ruination, as it is formulated in Benjamin’s oeuvre, the analysis illuminates the biblical author’s literary method through the visual metaphor of the photomontage. The graphic images of Jerusalem’s destruction are considered as photographs, which Benjamin elsewhere defines as modes of bereavement. The ‘aesthetics of mourning’in both biblical and post-War mediums are thus defined by relentless dislocation and yet subtly constructive means to recovery. Finally, particular pieces of juxtaposed ‘evidence’ in Lamentations are shown to heighten the apparent sense of abandonment and chaos. The interdisciplinary approach defends the book’s artistic integrity while demonstrating that biblical criticism might profitably be informed by research from other disciplines.
Persian Policy and the Yehud Community During Nehemiah
Authors: Cataldo Jeremiah
Published: February 2005

J. Weinberg’s political and social theory, Bürger-Tempel-Gemeinde (‘citizen-temple community’), has been widely accepted as the social model for the community (or communities) of Yehud during the Persian period. Proceeding from this proposed social model many scholars have offered sociological theories for a political structure of Yehud. But it is possible that Weinberg’s theory is inadequate for the context, due in part to the general omission of the role of the Persian Empire and its political concerns, factors which most certainly demand attention. By means of a critical review of the model in reference to the book of Nehemiah, this paper explores and discusses Weinberg’s proposal of two economies which would later merge to become a theocratic state, and argues that such a proposal misappropriates the evidence. Such misappropriation is due in part to Weinberg’s heavy reliance upon the cult and its leaders for the political structure. This reliance must be addressed by setting the cultic leaders within their proper context: unofficial spin-doctors of sorts. With reference to the political structure, then, official governors, appointed by Persian authority, headed the political structure of the society and must be incorporated into any model seeking to be adequate for the context. Throughout, this study addresses Weinberg’s assertion of two coexistent economies; [ILLEGIBLE] (which roughly refers to a social mechanism for identity and solidarity) as infrastructure; and the substantiation of the role of governor separate from the cult; as well as various other elements to the Bürger-Tempel-Gemeinde theory itself.
The Babylonian Gap: The Archaeological Reality
Authors: Stern Ephraim
Published: February 2005

The extent of the Babylonian destruction in the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE is today essentially an archaeological question. It may be examined by comparing pottery and other remains found in First Temple period destruction layers in the City of David in Jerusalem, Lachish, En-Gedi, Arad and at dozens of other recently excavated or surveyed sites, both large and medium-sized towns and agricultural settlements. The results of all of these excavations and surveys clearly affirm that Judah was almost entirely destroyed and that its Jewish population disappeared from most of the kingdom’s territory (except, perhaps, for the area of Benjamin). One of the results was that two thirds of the destroyed kingdom’s area was subsequently occupied by Edomites, turning it into ‘Idumea’. With the growth in the number of excavations and surveys across Judah in recent years, our view of the total destruction of Judah by the Babylonians has been strengthened. This view is based upon purely archaeological considerations and is not motivated by hidden ideological considerations.
Reading ‘Rape’ in the Hebrew Bible: A Consideration of Language
Authors: Gravett Sandie
Published: February 2005

This article surveys the range of Hebrew words and phrases employed in a selection of narrative, legal and poetic texts to describe forcible, non-consensual sexual intercourse—what we would today label ‘rape’. While no legal or technical term for rape exists in Biblical Hebrew, the article maintains that such a translation is appropriate in certain cases. Each rendering of ‘rape’, however, depends on a thorough analysis of the vocabulary utilized, word order and other textual clues, as well as on a careful balancing of the social and cultural world of the text with the need to communicate content effectively in English.
Body Images in the Psalms
Authors: Gillmayr-Bucher Susanne
Published: February 2005

The use of body imagery is one of the Psalter’s most obvious literary features, enriching its vivid metaphorical language. Such imagery serves not only to portray body language or emotions—these images are also used to characterize a person or they allow insights into their self-perception. Furthermore, single body parts may be depicted as independent beings, thus allowing the reader of the Psalms to visualize tangled actions or complex thoughts and reflections as vivid body images. This article explores how the body images of the Psalms are used, what literary functions they serve, and which underlying concepts of communication and valuation they reveal. Thus, this study offers detailed insights into the perception and presentation of bodies in the Psalms.
The Widow of Our Discontent: Levirate Marriage in the Bible and Ancient Israel
Authors: Weisberg Dvora E.
Published: February 2005

The Hebrew Bible contains little information about the practice of levirate marriage in ancient Israel. The passages that touch on levirate marriage offer conflicting descriptions of the institution. This article explores those passages and argues that what connects all of them is a sense of discomfort with levirate marriage, particularly on the part of men. This discomfort may relate to concerns about paternity or the preservation of property. It does not apparently extend to women, whom the Hebrew Bible portrays as willing, and even eager, to promote levirate unions. This sense of discomfort or anxiety suggests a concern for the desires of the living that supersedes obligations to the dead. The discomfort displayed in the Hebrew Bible may influence later Jewish responses to and constructions of levirate marriage.
‘You Meant Evil Against Me’: Dialogic Truth and the Character of Jacob in Joseph’s Story
Authors: Mandolfo Carleen
Published: February 2005

This article argues for the existence of two competing voices/theologies in the Joseph story, and that these voices do not line up with traditional source-critical observations. One voice is represented by both the speech and actions of Joseph, the other by the speech and actions of Jacob. The former posits a worldview in which God’s dealings with humanity support a benevolent cosmic order; the latter subverts this view, insisting that God, acting through Jacob, is not above inflicting evil on humanity to forward divine purposes. This reading is accomplished through a close literary examination (utilizing Bakhtinian socio-linguistic categories, primarily) of the discourse and actions of both primary characters.
Echoes from the Past: Israel’s Ancient Traditions and the Destiny of the Nations in Isaiah 40-55
Authors: Watts Rikk E.
Published: February 2005

It is widely agreed that Isaiah 40-55 draws on traditions concerning Abraham, the exodus/conquest, and David. This article suggests that many of the prophet’s declarations concerning the fate of the nations reflect their various and diverse roles in the traditions, and that a deeper consideration of them largely resolves what has previously been seen as irreconcilable tensions in his message. Further, the manner in which the prophet uses these traditions provides further reason to abandon Wellhausen’s assertion that the prophets have no fathers.
Study of the Effect of BDMA Catalyst in Epoxy Novolac Curing Process by Isothermal DSC
Authors: Firouzmanesh M. R. , Azar A. Aref
Published: February 2005

Epoxy-Novolac/Anhsydride cure kinetics have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry under isothermal conditions.

The system used in this study was Epoxy Novolac resin (DEN431), nadic methyl anhydride as hardener and benzyl dimethyl amine as accelerator. Kinetic parameters including the reaction order, activation energy and kinetic rate constants were investigated. The cure reaction was described with the catalyst concentration and the normalized kinetic model was developed for it. It is shown that, the cure reaction was dependent on the cure temperature and catalyst concentration and proceeded through an autocatalytic kinetic mechanism. The curing kinetic constants and the cure activation energies were obtained by the Arrhenius kinetic model. The suggested kinetic model with a diffusion term was successfully used to describe and predict the cure kinetic of Epoxy Novolac resin compositions as a function of the catalyst content and temperature.
Mechanical Properties of Short, Natural Fiber Hildegardia populifolia-reinforced Styrenated Polyester Composites
Authors: Rajulu A. Varada , Rao G. Babu , Devi L. Ganga , Ramaiah Sidda , Prada D. Shubha , Bhat K. Shrikant , Shylashree R.
Published: February 2005

Short, natural fibers belonging to the species Hildegardia populifolia were reinforced in styrenated polyester matrix. The mechanical properties of these polymer composites such as tensile modulus, compression strength at first deformation, flexural modulus, and izod impact strength were determined. The effect of alkaline treatment of the natural fiber on the mechanical properties of the composites has been reported. The fractured surfaces of these composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopic technique (SEM) to investigate the interfacial bonding between matrix and the reinforcement. The present work has been carried out in order to make partially biodegradable and eco-friendly composites.
Manufacture and NDE of Multi-direction Composite Flywheel Rims
Authors: Abdel-Hady Faissal , Baaklini George , Gowayed Yasser , Creighton Ryan , Lee Dongyeon , Trudell Jeffery
Published: February 2005

A universal winding machine is designed and constructed to manufacture a Multi-direction Composite (MDC) flywheel. The machine has three translation axes ( XYZ) for the main carriage, three rotation axes around XYZ and an axis of mandrel rotation. Radial rings comprising fibers in the radial direction and hoop rings with fibers in the hoop direction are manufactured using this machine. Multiple hoop and radial rings are assembled in a special assembly mold to form an MDC rim. Manufacturing details and results of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) using X-ray and thermal techniques conducted of radial and hoop rings are presented.
Injection Compression Molding of Wedge-shaped Plates: Effects of Processing Parameters
Authors: Liu Shih-Jung , Lin Kun-Yeh
Published: February 2005

Thermoplastic wedge-shaped plates have been widely used as a light guide module in thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD). This article studied the injection compression molding of thermoplastic wedge-shaped plates. The effects of various processing parameters on the dimensional quality of molded parts were studied including melt temperature, mold temperature, melt filling pressure, short shot size, packing pressure, compression pressure, and cooling time. The material used was general-purpose polystyrene. Injection compression molding experiments were conducted on a modified injection-molding machine equipped with a melt compression unit. After molding, the quality of parts was evaluated by the deviation from mold dimensions. An experimental study, based on the Taguchi orthogonal array design, was conducted to identify the relative significance of all these parameters. Among the processing parameters in this study, short shot size and melt temperature were found to be the principal parameters affecting the dimensional accuracy of molded parts. The effects of the compression stage on the birefringence of molded plates were also investigated. The final goal of this study was to better understand the effects of various processing factors on the injection compression molding of wedge-shaped plates, so that steps could be taken to optimize the molding process. This provides significant advantages in terms of improved product quality.
Thermal Residual Stress Analysis of Ni–Al2O3, Ni–TiO2, and Ti–SiC Functionally Graded Composite Plates Subjected to Various Thermal Fields
Authors: Apalak M. Kemal , Gunes Recep
Published: February 2005

This study investigates the thermal elastic residual stresses occurring in Ni–Al2O3, Ni–TiO2, and Ti–SiC functionally graded plates due to uniform, linear, and parabolic temperature fields through the plate thickness. A 3D eight-noded isoparametric layered (no limit layer number) finite element with three degrees of freedom at each node was implemented to the residual stress problem analogous to the shell elements proposed by Ahmad et al. (Ahmad, S., Irons, B.M. and Zienkiewicz, O.C. (1970). Analysis of Thick and Thin Shell Structures by Curved Finite Elements, Int. J. of Numerical Methods in Engineering, 2: 419–451.) and Yunus and Khonke (Yunus, S.M. and Khonke, P.C. (1989). An Efficient Through-Thickness Integration Scheme in an Unlimited Layer Doubly Curved Isoparametric Composite Shell Element, Int. J. of Numerical Methods in Engineering, 28: 2777– 2793.). The longitudinal stresses (11, 22) and transverse shear stresses (13, 23) were dominant. The shear stresses become important especially at the free edges of the plate. As the compositional gradient was increased the normal and shear stresses increased. Whereas the normal stresses become tensile in both ceramic-rich and metal-rich regions; the shear stresses, which are not severe in both the regions, change their directions and become a maximum inside the plate. The thermal and mechanical properties of constituents played an important role on the stress magnitudes rather than on the profiles of the through-thickness variations of normal and shear stresses. Thus, the difference of the coefficients of thermal expansion of the ceramic and metal phases affected the magnitudes of the normal and shear stresses. In addition, the continuous temperature fields through the plate thickness resulted in similar normal and shear stress variations.
Children and the Feminist Ethic of Care
Authors: Cockburn Tom
Published: February 2005

This article looks at the recent contributions made by feminists who advocate a distinctive ‘ethic of care’ to replace the conventional ‘ethic of rights’. The article explores ways in which the ethic of care could be utilized and applied to the children’s rights context. After looking at the important feminist criticisms of conventional rights-based approaches, it is argued that there needs to be some caution applied to the feminist ethic of care, if it is to be successfully applied to the context of children. These cautions are that it is important to recognize the contested nature of care and not to valorize the perspectives of carers over those being cared for. Second, the feminist ethic of care might lead to a ‘needs-based’ discourse, an approach that is unsatisfactory in its implications for children’s rights. Finally, conceptions of justice and equality must not be dropped from political arguments. Rather, their limitations must be acknowledged and then used strategically and partially. However, despite these cautions, the feminist ethic of care remains a constructive approach to the children’s rights context as it emphasizes responsibilities and relationships, the concrete contexts of caring interdependencies, and allows children to be active social players with a voice rather than passive recipients of care and rights. It is hoped that this article might serve as both a corrective and conceptual enrichment of the feminist ethic of care.