scholarly journals Visual and Functional Aspects of Inscriptions in Early Church Floors

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 45-63
Author(s):  
Bente Kiilerich

Floor mosaics in early churches often display inscriptions of various kinds: names and labels, artists’ signatures, donor inscriptions, longer epigrams and, more rarely, Biblical quotations. Examining a selection of monuments of the fourth to sixth centuries, from both East and West, this paper discusses visual aspects of design, layout and framing, the functions of inscriptions and the relationship of text to image. While some examples appear to be representative for general tendencies in the period, others are unique and generalizations cannot be drawn from them. The paper demonstrates that the floor inscriptions in early churches had many purposes: they labeled figures, explained scenes, commemorated benefactors. Even a random selection of inscriptions shows that care was taken to make the words integral to the mosaic decoration, both aesthetically and conceptually. Placed in the “humblest” part of the church, the floor inscriptions may offer a first key to unlocking the cosmic meaning of the sacred space of the church.

Author(s):  
Esra Aldhaen

Higher education institutes around the world are facing serious challenges in particular to strategic planning, accreditation, and deriving high-priority operations. Various studies declared that one of the main aspects that is causing higher education institutes a tremendous failure is leadership styles, specifically the random selection of leaders to run the operations to match with the recruitment cycle. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, leaders of the higher education institute or the school within the university must be changed after a specific year handling the position. This change normally impacts the change of leadership styles and strategies, including knowledge management and sharing strategies. This was found to be one of the important factors that could hinder the operations and may lead to failure in implementing the planned targets.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Alice K. Silbergleit ◽  
Lonni Schultz ◽  
Kendra Hamilton ◽  
Peter A. LeWitt ◽  
Christos Sidiropoulos

Background: Hypokinetic dysarthria and dysphagia are known features of Parkinson’s disease; however, self-perception of their handicapping effects on emotional, physical, and functional aspects of quality of life over disease duration is less understood. Objective: 1) Based upon patient self-perception, to determine the relationship of the handicapping effects of dysphagia and dysphonia with time since diagnosis in individuals with Parkinson’s disease; 2)To determine if there is a relationship between voice and swallowing handicap throughout the course of Parkinson’s disease. Method: 277 subjects completed the Dysphagia Handicap Index and the Voice Handicap Index. Subjects were divided into three groups based on disease duration: 0–4 years, 5–9 years, and 10 + years. Results: Subjects in the longer duration group identified significantly greater perceptions of voice and swallowing handicap compared to the shorter duration groups. There was a significant positive correlation between the DHI and VHI. Conclusion: Self-perception of swallowing and voice handicap in Parkinson’s disease are associated with later stages of disease and progress in a linear fashion. Self-perception of voice and swallowing handicap parallel each other throughout disease progression in Parkinson’s disease. Individuals may be able to compensate for changes in voice and swallowing early while sensory perceptual feedback is intact. Results support early targeted questioning of patient self-perception of voice and swallowing handicap as identification of one problem indicates awareness of the other, thus creating an opportunity for early treatment and maintenance of swallowing and communication quality of life for as long as possible.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 815-826 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Day ◽  
Preya Patel ◽  
Julie Parkes ◽  
William Rosenberg

Abstract Introduction Noninvasive tests are increasingly used to assess liver fibrosis and determine prognosis but suggested test thresholds vary. We describe the selection of standardized thresholds for the Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) test for the detection of liver fibrosis and for prognostication in chronic liver disease. Methods A Delphi method was used to identify thresholds for the ELF test to predict histological liver fibrosis stages, including cirrhosis, using data derived from 921 patients in the EUROGOLF cohort. These thresholds were then used to determine the prognostic performance of ELF in a subset of 457 patients followed for a mean of 5 years. Results The Delphi panel selected sensitivity of 85% for the detection of fibrosis and >95% specificity for cirrhosis. The corresponding thresholds were 7.7, 9.8, and 11.3. Eighty-five percent of patients with mild or worse fibrosis had an ELF score ≥7.7. The sensitivity for cirrhosis of ELF ≥9.8 was 76%. ELF ≥11.3 was 97% specific for cirrhosis. ELF scores show a near-linear relationship with Ishak fibrosis stages. Relative to the <7.7 group, the hazard ratios for a liver-related outcome at 5 years were 21.00 (95% CI, 2.68–164.65) and 71.04 (95% CI, 9.4–536.7) in the 9.8 to <11.3 and ≥11.3 subgroups, respectively. Conclusion The selection of standard thresholds for detection and prognosis of liver fibrosis is described and their performance reported. These thresholds should prove useful in both interpreting and explaining test results and when considering the relationship of ELF score to Ishak stage in the context of monitoring.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Barrett Leaf ◽  
Robert K. Ross ◽  
Joseph H. Cihon ◽  
Mary Jane Weiss

Purpose Kupferstein (2018) surveyed 460 respondents and found that 46 percent of respondents met the diagnostic threshold for posttraumatic stress disorder after exposure to applied-behavior-analysis-based intervention. The purpose of this paper is to provide an evaluation a critical analysis of Kupferstein (2018) including the experimental methods and discussion of the results. Design/methodology/approach The authors evaluated the Kupferstein’s methodological rigor with respect to the use of hypothesis testing, use of indirect measures, selection of respondents, ambiguity in definitions, measurement system, and framing of the experimental question when conducting the correlational analysis in addition to Kupferstein’s analysis and discussion of the results. Findings Based upon the analysis, Kupferstein’s results should be viewed with extreme caution due to several methodological and conceptual flaws including, but not limited to, leading questions used within a non-validated survey, failure to confirm diagnosis, and incomplete description of interventions. Originality/value It is the authors’ hope that this analysis provides caregivers, clinicians, and service providers with a scientific lens which will useful in viewing the limitations and methodological flaws of Kupferstein.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-95
Author(s):  
S. F. Amakiri

The relationship between mean skin thickness or hair follicle depth of the skin from the midside (12th rib) area and milk production levels of pure Friesian (Holstein)cattle breeds, their ¾ and 7/8 crosses with White Fulani zebu, and pure White Fulanis, maintained in South-Western Nigeria were studied. A strongly positive linear correlation (r = 0.9), significant at 1% level was found between skin thickness and hair follicle depth, and milk production levels in these breeds. The results indicate that for cows maintained in a hot humid tropical environment, comparative midside skin thickness and hair follicle depth could be used as indices of the milk production potential of cows. It could be a useful field tool for selection of cows for milk production when considered along with other characteristics


Author(s):  
Thomais Kordonouri

‘Archive’ is a totality of records, layers and memories that are collected. A city is the archive that consists of the conscious selection of these layers and traces of the past and the present, looking towards the future. Metaxourgio is an area in the wider historic urban area of Keramikos in Athens that includes traces of various eras, beginning in the Antiquity and continuing all the way into the 21st century. Its archaeological space ‘Demosion Sema’ is mostly concealed under the ground level, waiting to be revealed. In this proposal, Metaxourgio is redesigned in light of archiving. Significant traces of the Antiquity, other ruins and buildings are studied, selected and incorporated in the new interventions. The area becomes the ‘open archive’ that leads towards its lost identity. The proposal aims not only to intensify the relationship of architecture with archaeology, but also to imbue the area’s identity with meanings that refer to the past, present and future.


Author(s):  
S. G. Karthik ◽  
Edward B. Magrab

Abstract An intelligent graphical user interface that captures a product’s functional and assembly structure and the factory that will make it are described. The results are then used to evaluate a factory’s production rate for the product. The program requires the product to be either a functionally uncoupled or decoupled design. The interface then: (1) implements a visualization of the functionally decomposed product structure; (2) implements an abstraction of a factory; (3) automatically generates candidate primary manufacturing processes and materials that are compatible with each other based on a very small number of attributes; (4) enables the user to make Make/Buy decisions for the components comprising the product; (5) assists the user in the selection of secondary manufacturing processes that are compatible with the primary manufacturing processes and materials for parts made in-house, and specify the vendor and the supply lead time for outsourced parts; (6) enables the specification of alternate materials and manufacturing processes; (7) implements a visual representation of the assembly structure as specified by the user; and (8) partially automates the creation of the assembly structure, and assists in the selection of assembly methods that are compatible with the materials chosen. In addition, the program assists in the design for assembly by: (1) requiring the product development team to think about the assembly process early in the design stage; (2) providing a visualization of the relationship of all components comprising the product to its other components; (3) requiring the specification of the order in which they are to be assembled; and (4) requiring the selection of assembly processes that are compatible with each other and the materials chosen. It also requires the specification of the capabilities of the factory that is going to make one or more of the components of the product, and requires that Make/Buy decisions for the parts comprising the product be made.


Author(s):  
David A. deSilva

The books of the Apocrypha contain extensive reflection on the theologies of earlier Jewish writings, particularly in regard to election, the Torah, and the Deuteronomistic theology of history, in the face of several critical situations facing the Jewish people (the advance and advantages of Hellenization, the repression of Judaism under Antiochus IV, ongoing life as a minority culture throughout the Diaspora, and domination and devastation under Rome). They also bear witness to important developments both in personal and national eschatology and in the identification of supernatural forces impacting human existence (e.g., angels and demons). Early Christians, in turn, found these texts to provide important resources for their reflection upon the person and work of Jesus, applying developments within the Wisdom tradition in their delineation of the relationship of the Son to God and within the Jewish martyrological traditions to their professions about the atoning force of Jesus’ death. These texts thus exercised an important influence on the theologies articulated in the New Testament and the development of the doctrines and creeds embraced by the universal church, despite the ongoing discussions within the church concerning their canonical status.


Author(s):  
Laura Varnam

This chapter argues that the profane challenge posed by lay misbehaviour and sacrilege in the church paradoxically strengthens sacred space. Sermon exempla from the literature of pastoral care (e.g. Mirk’s Festial, Mannyng’s Handlyng Synne) show how devils and demons assist in the cleansing of the church from profane contamination and the chapter argues for the integral relationship between violence and the sacred, focusing on the punishment of sinners and on the sacrificial blood of Christ, depicted in lyrics and wall paintings. The chapter reassesses the relationship between church art and sermon exempla and argues for a symbiotic relationship that presents the material church and its devotional objects as living, breathing actors in the drama of salvation. The performance of narrative exempla animates the visual depictions of angels, devils, and saints in the church who come to life to protect and fight for their sacred spaces.


Author(s):  
Antonio Juan Briones Penalver

This chapter investigates the main concepts and activities of information in strategic decision-making systems. Since information became the global economy value source for organizations, information assumes a key role in contributing to the development of the performance of organizations through the selection of relevant information for businesses. The relationship of the strategic management of information with business activities contributes to the process of strategic decision making for more effective and efficient decisions. The understanding of the importance of information as a strategic resource in the management of organizations is becoming more important to strategists than the formulation of strategy models of industrial society. In the twenty-first century, no manager will be able to set and implement the strategy successfully without a basic understanding of information for strategic decision making.


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