Once a Child, Always a Child

This final chapter is both a conclusion and a brief consideration of one final category in a child’s life. It offers an overview of how children likely functioned in the domestic cult, and thus explores the child’s ongoing role as “child” even into adulthood. This is reinforced by a discussion of delinquency and the consequences for not upholding the domestic context as the child faced growing responsibility. The logic of the child’s domestic-cultic value in the pre-birth stage and as expressed in the material culture of childhood burials is extended to the expectations placed on them to promote the domestic cult. The role of children in the domestic cult forms the basis for one final application of this lens to the biblical text, specifically Ezekiel 16. This final reading leverages various aspects of the entire study, showing that the Hebrew Bible uses the child’s value as a social promotion of YHWH to the domestic cult.

A refutation of Song’s (2014) explanation of the ‘stop coda problem’ in Old Chinese

Song (2014) draws renewed attention to the problem of groups of Chinese words in which the character used to write one of the words has a stop final reading in Middle Chinese but the character used to write another of the words has an open syllable reading in Middle Chinese, although the two seem to have a shared a rime in Old Chinese. She offers a new solution employing the reconstruction of voiced and voiceless stop finals in the shared ancestor of Chinese and Tibetan. Every step in Song’s reasoning is faulty and nearly every claim she makes about Tibetan is false. Haudricourt long ago solved the ‘stop coda problem’ (1954).

Queerly Beloved

On 17 April 2013, the Marriage Amendment Act passed its final reading in New Zealand’s Parliament. This legislation was a milestone for the LGBTQI+ community. There was, however, little mention of the remaining institutional, legislative and socioeconomic barriers the community faces. Marriage equality was purported to be the final frontier in rights—yet much remains to be achieved before equality is realised. While state recognition is important for the community (as this ensures basic legal protections and rights), the relationship between many members of the LGBTQI+ community with the state has been, and continues to be, fraught. These tensions become visible when considering the poverty many in the community are subject to, especially transfolk, and issues faced when engaging with the health and education systems. Despite the positive changes achieved over recent years, there is still a need for ongoing mobilisation to bring pressure to bear upon the state.

Eccentric Viewing Training and Its Effect on the Reading Rates of Individuals with Absolute Central Scotomas: A Meta-analysis

Introduction Eccentric viewing training has been a strategy, used by rehabilitation professionals, to help individuals with central vision loss move their eyes in such a way that they focus the incoming light on parts of the retina located away from the center area that has been damaged and improve visual functioning. A number of studies have shown that this type of training can be associated with improved reading rates. Method A meta-analysis was conducted on data generated from 17 studies that reported the effect of appropriate magnification and eccentric viewing training on the reading rate of trainees with central scotomas. Results Almost all eccentric viewing training methodologies were found to be associated with comparable final reading speeds, and no significant differences in final reading speed were found between eccentric viewing training methodologies with comparable age participants. A negative relationship between age and final reading speed was found through correlation analysis, and a correlation was found between visual acuity and the percentage of change in reading speed. Regression models using combinations of age, acuity, and treatment hours were found that could be used to predict the final reading rate using age and number of training hours. Discussion This analysis provided no statistical basis to determine if one of the treatment protocols described in these studies was more effective in improving the reading rate than another, and there was quite a bit of variability in the protocols described. Implications for practice Eccentric viewing is an effective way for individuals with central scotomas to improve the use of the vision that they have. Evidence from this meta-analysis suggests that a wide range of training protocols would be effective, and the personal preferences of the instructor and consumer can be given significant consideration during program planning.

Ultra-specific immunoassays for small molecules: roles of wash steps and multiple binding formats

New immunometric forms of immunoassay are much more flexible to use than competitive-format immunoassays for small molecular analytes. An example of the utility of this flexibility is the ability to wash the capture antibody after it has been exposed to analyte but before addition of the labeled reagent. This simple maneuver has a large impact on the specificity obtained from already highly specific assays. We also show that specificity can be further increased by means of our multiple binding assay approach, in which the final reading reflects analyte binding to two different primary capture monoclonal antibodies.

Tekst, Toets en Theorie

Before giving a survey of reading comprehension theories and their implications for the testing of reading comprehension itself, some text theories particularly with regard to readability and structure are dealt with. The authors are of the opinion that questions should preferably refer to elements which rank highly in the structure of the text and to places in the text where there is a discrepancy between form and structure. After a survey of subskill theories, psycho-linguistic and cognitive theories and functional and communicative ideas on reading comprehension, the following conclusions are drawn with regard to the possibility of constructing tests which are in agreement with the principles of these theories: There is no reason why final reading comprehension tests should aim at specific subskills (provided their existence can be demonstrated), considering the complexity of problems which occur in the normal use of texts. For the time being a central testing of reading operations and strategies seems to be impossible. Choosing texts for which prior knowledge will not play a role is not quite justified. It would be worthwile to construct tests which can show the candidate's ability to use his prior knowledge. This may possibly lead to formulating questions which sometimes indicate an individual (non-uniform) processing of the text. A great many problems will have to be solved before a reliable testing of the use of prior knowledge can be achieved. Demands for a communicative approach, however, are reflected in current practice and will be met within the foreseeable future. The main problem in this area is that the test should be able to demonstrate to what degree the goals of readers with regard to a certain text have been reached.

On the Written Constitution

Since 1950 four Basic Laws have been enacted: The Knesset, Israel Lands, The President of the State and The Government.Some months ago the Ministry of Justice presented to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation the draft of a new Basic Law called Basic Law: Legislation. If this draft is approved by the Government, it will be presented to the Knesset as a Government Bill. The draft includes an outline of the basic principles and powers relating to legislation and the provisions which call for specific attention are as follows:a) A Basic Law shall bear the name “Basic Law”.b) A Basic Law, a law amending a Basic Law or a provision of law contradicting a provision of a Basic Law, shall require—on its final reading—the vote of a majority of members of the Knesset, provided the Basic Law involved does not explicitly require a larger majority.c) A provision amending a Basic Law or contradicting it shall have the force of law only if it states explicitly that it is to have that effect.