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Rulers
Selected AbstractsCling film as a barrier against CJD in corneal contact A-scan ultrasonographyOPHTHALMIC AND PHYSIOLOGICAL OPTICS, Issue 1 2003Asha Rani Abstract Purpose: To determine the validity of covering a corneal contact transducer probe with cling film as protection against the transmission of Creutzfeldt,Jakob disease (CJD). Methods: The anterior chamber depth, lens thickness and vitreous chamber depth of the right eyes of 10 subjects was recorded, under cycloplegia, with and without cling film covering over the transducer probe of a Storz Omega Compu-scan Biometric Ruler. Measurements were repeated on two occasions. Results: Cling film covering did not influence bias or repeatability. Although the 95% limits of agreement between measurements made with and without cling film covering tended to exceed the intrasessional repeatability, they did not exceed the intersessional repeatability of measurements taken without cling film. Conclusions: The results support the use of cling film as a disposable covering for corneal contact A-scan ultrasonography to avoid the risk of spreading CJD from one subject to another. [source] Metamorphoses of the early medieval signum of a ruler in the Carolingian worldEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 4 2006Ildar H. Garipzanov This article uses the approach of diplomatic semiotics to explore early medieval signs of authority in charters and on coins, especially the monogram and the sign of the cross used as an individual ,signature'. Coins and charters used these signs communicating royal or imperial authority differently, addressing diverse regional and social audiences. From the fifth through the ninth centuries, the early medieval signum of a ruler gradually transformed from the individualizing sign of a particular monarch, designed to differentiate him symbolically from other rulers, to the generalizing sign of the king by the grace of God, which as a visual attribute of authority could be shared by several rulers. This transformation signified the inauguration of a new ,medieval' tradition in the communication of authority in late Carolingian times. [source] SHOULD YOU ARM YOUR FUTURE VICTIMS?ECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 3 2006JEAN-PAUL AZAM A model is presented where the ruler may arm the producers, in order to convince them that he will not expropriate them ex post. This sets an upper limit on the tax rate, not higher than their probability of losing their income, should a war occur. The relevance of this analysis is illustrated by discussing various case studies, involving post-conflict situations. Some variants of the model are presented for highlighting some implementation problems, related to asymmetric information or to positive initial endowments of weapons or non-produced wealth, which may lead to war in equilibrium. [source] From the Hagedoorn imaging technique to Kirchhoff migration and inversionGEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 6 2001Norman Bleistein The seminal 1954 paper by J.G. Hagedoorn introduced a heuristic for seismic reflector imaging. That heuristic was a construction technique , a ,string construction' or ,ruler and compass' method , for finding reflectors as an envelope of equal traveltime curves defined by events on a seismic trace. Later, Kirchhoff migration was developed. This method is based on an integral representation of the solution of the wave equation. For decades Kirchhoff migration has been one of the most popular methods for imaging seismic data. Parallel with the development of Kirchhoff wave-equation migration has been that of Kirchhoff inversion, which has as its objectives both structural imaging and the recovery of angle-dependent reflection coefficients. The relationship between Kirchhoff migration/inversion and Hagedoorn's constructive technique has only recently been explored. This paper addresses this relationship, presenting the mathematical structure that the Kirchhoff approach adds to Hagedoorn's constructive method and showing the relationship between the two. [source] Extending Gregory VII's ,Friendship Network': Social Contacts in Late Eleventh-Century FranceHISTORY, Issue 312 2008KRISTON R. RENNIE In the last quarter of the eleventh century, the Roman Church had a capable ruler and defender in Pope Gregory VII (1073,85). Despite his otherwise charismatic authority, however, Gregory's ability to extend his influence beyond the papacy's more immediate control of Rome and the Campagna was limited. Filling this administrative and legal gap was the emerging office of legation, developing ad hoc under Gregory VII in matters of reform and law. Papal legates such as the French representative, Bishop Hugh of Die (later archbishop of Lyons), became crucial figures in the machinery of papal government. They assumed a vital role in the transmission of reforming legislation north of the Alps while effectively widening Gregory VII's ,friendship network' to encompass influential members of the local and regional clerical and lay elite. With the assistance of this ecclesiastical office, moreover, the papacy significantly enhanced its opportunity for social contacts, thereby strengthening its hold on the more distant provinces of Western Christendom. By focusing on existing and growing social networks in late eleventh-century France, this article examines Hugh of Die's role as an instrument of church reform, and assesses this legate's impact on the larger papal reform initiative in France. [source] Reluctant Kings and Christian Conversion in Seventh-Century EnglandHISTORY, Issue 306 2007DAMIAN TYLER This article challenges the generally accepted notion that conversion to Christianity was unambiguously beneficial for early Anglo-Saxon kings. It argues that the behavioural requirements of conversion frequently clashed with the social and political norms of early English kingdoms and thus often made it an unattractive option. The article concentrates on the relationships between kings and politically powerful groups within their kingdoms. It is suggested that Christianity often posed a threat to the positions of these groups and that because kings relied on the support of the elites it was only under exceptional circumstances that a ruler would embrace the new religion. [source] FELLOW CITIZENS AND IMPERIAL SUBJECTS: CONQUEST AND SOVEREIGNTY IN EUROPE'S OVERSEAS EMPIRESHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 4 2005ANTHONY PAGDEN ABSTRACT This article traces the association between the European overseas empires and the concept of sovereignty, arguing that, ever since the days of Cicero,if not earlier,Europeans had clung to the idea that there was a close association between a people and the territory it happened to occupy. This made it necessary to think of an "empire" as a unity,an "immense body," to use Tacitus's phrase,that would embrace all its subjects under a single sovereign. By the end of the eighteenth century it had become possible, in this way, to speak of "empires of liberty" that would operate for the ultimate benefit of all their "citizens," freeing them from previous tyrannical rulers and bringing them under the protection of more benign regimes. In such empires sovereignty could only ever be, as it had become in Europe, undivided. The collapse of Europe's "first" empires in the Americas, however, was followed rapidly by Napoleon's attempt to create a new kind of Empire in Europe. The ultimate, and costly, failure of this project led many, Benjamin Constant among them, to believe that the age of empires was now over and had been replaced by the age of commerce. But what in fact succeeded Napoleon was the modern European state system, which attempted not to replace empire by trade, as Constant had hoped, but to create a new kind of empire, one that sought to minimize domination and settlement, and to make a sharp distinction between imperial ruler and imperial subject. In this kind of empire, sovereignty could only be "divided." Various kinds of divided rule were thus devised in the nineteenth century. Far, however, from being an improvement on the past, this ultimately resulted in,or at least contributed greatly to,the emergence of the largely fictional and inevitably unstable societies that after the final collapse of the European empires became the new states of the "developing world." [source] Surveying Recent Literature on the Arabic and Persian Mirrors for Princes GenreHISTORY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 2 2009L. Marlow The study of the medieval Arabic and Persian ,mirror for princes' literatures in many respects resembles that of the similarly abundant literatures produced in Byzantium and the Latin West. In earlier scholarship, the predominant approach was that of the history of ideas, and scholars tended to focus on depictions of the ideal ruler and other aspects of the ,political thought' expressed in the mirror literatures. A secondary area of interest concerned textual transmission within and across these literatures. More recent scholarship has continued to develop and refine these established approaches, and has also developed new directions of research. Notably, several scholars have explored the Sitz im Leben of individual mirrors, and have studied their meaning and significance in the historical settings in and for which they were composed. Certain recent publications have highlighted the flexibility of mirrors, the multiple purposes they often served, the range of perspectives represented by their authors, and the importance of authors' choices of language and genre in shaping the composition and reception of their works. [source] A comparison of spreader penetration depth and load required during lateral condensation in teeth prepared using various root canal preparation techniquesINTERNATIONAL ENDODONTIC JOURNAL, Issue 8 2005S. F. Dulaimi Abstract Aim, To compare the influence of various root canal preparation techniques on spreader penetration depth and load required during lateral condensation with gutta-percha and sealer. Methodology, Eighty extracted human teeth with single and straight canals were used. Twenty teeth were instrumented using one of four root canal preparation techniques. The four preparation techniques were: step-back technique without Gates-Glidden drills, step-back technique with Gates-Glidden drills, crown-down pressureless technique and hybrid technique (step-down/step-back). After root canal preparation had been completed a simulated periodontal ligament was fabricated from a uniform layer of silicone impression material. The roots were then mounted in an acrylic resin to simulate the physical condition found in tooth socket. A standardized stainless steel hand spreader of the same size as the master apical file was mounted in an Instron testing machine and lateral compaction with gutta-percha and sealer was performed. The load value was recorded from the Instron testing machine. The spreader penetration depths were measured with an endodontic ruler. The data obtained were analysed statistically using anova and Student's t -tests. Results, No significant difference in initial spreader load needed to condense the master cone was found amongst the four canal preparation techniques (P > 0.05). The step-back technique with Gates-Glidden drills and the hybrid technique demonstrated the least difference between the initial spreader penetration and the working length (mean 1.925 and 2.25 mm, respectively). The step-back technique without Gates-Glidden drills and the crown-down pressureless technique had the greatest difference between initial spreader penetration and the working length (mean 4.425 and 4.75 mm, respectively). Conclusion, The flare created by canal preparation affected spreader penetration depth, but had no effect on the spreader load. [source] Dealing with Tyranny: International Sanctions and the Survival of Authoritarian Rulers,INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2010Abel Escribà-Folch This paper examines whether economic sanctions destabilize authoritarian rulers. We argue that the effect of sanctions is mediated by the type of authoritarian regime against which sanctions are imposed. Because personalist regimes and monarchies are more sensitive to the loss of external sources of revenue (such as foreign aid and taxes on trade) to fund patronage, rulers in these regimes are more likely to be destabilized by sanctions than leaders in other types of regimes. In contrast, when dominant single-party and military regimes are subject to sanctions, they increase their tax revenues and reallocate their expenditures to increase their levels of cooptation and repression. Using data on sanction episodes and authoritarian regimes from 1960 to 1997 and selection-corrected survival models, we test whether sanctions destabilize authoritarian rulers in different types of regimes. We find that personalist dictators are more vulnerable to foreign pressure than other types of dictators. We also analyze the modes of authoritarian leader exit and find that sanctions increase the likelihood of a regular and an irregular change of ruler, such as a coup, in personalist regimes. In single-party and military regimes, however, sanctions have little effect on leadership stability. [source] Correlation between the Individual and the Combined Width of the Six Maxillary Anterior TeethJOURNAL OF ESTHETIC AND RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY, Issue 3 2009LUIZ CARLOS GONÇALVES DMD ABSTRACT Purpose:, There is a consensus in the community of dental research that the selection of undersized artificial maxillary anterior teeth offers an unnatural appearance to the denture. Several methods to select the adequate width of these teeth are of questionable validity, and many dentures have an obviously artificial appearance. This article assessed the relationship between the individual and the combined width of maxillary anterior teeth. Materials and Methods:, Impressions were made of the anterior dentition of 69 dentate undergraduate students with rubber impression silicon, and casts were formed. The individual widths of the maxillary anterior teeth were measured by using a digital caliper (SC-6 digital caliper, Mitutoyo Corporation, Tokyo, Japan), and the combined width was registered by both adding the individual width and using a flexible millimeter ruler. Results:, Student's t -test showed significant differences between the analogous teeth and different sides of the maxillary dental arch (p = 0.001), with the exception of the central incisor (p = 0.984). Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient showed significant positive correlation between all the measurements compared (p = 0.000). Linear regression analysis concluded three mathematical equations to obtain the individual tooth width after measuring the combined width of the six maxillary anterior teeth by using a flexible millimeter ruler. Conclusions:, The individual tooth width can be determined if the combined width of the maxillary anterior teeth is obtained by using a flexible millimeter ruler. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE The adequate selection of each maxillary anterior tooth width can offer variance and individuality to the denture, particularly for partially dentate patients. By offering an adequate tooth-to-tooth relationship, the esthetic result of the oral rehabilitation treatment can be improved. [source] Is there a greater mandibular movement capacity towards the left?JOURNAL OF ORAL REHABILITATION, Issue 4 2005Verification of an observation from 192 summary, In 1921, the German dentist Hans Wertheim reported that more individuals were able to shift the mandible more towards the left than to the right. This study analyses the deviation from symmetrical mobility of the lower jaw in either direction. Using a millimetre ruler, maximum jaw opening (MJO), maximum left laterotrusion (MLL), and maximum right laterotrusion (MRL) were recorded in 141 healthy individuals and in 141 patients with temporomandibular disorders (TMDs). For both sexes, the mean maximum movements to the left and to the right were greater in the healthy group as compared with the TMD group. Healthy subjects as well as patients were able to move the mandible more to one side. Only a minority had identical values for MLL and MRL. The majority of healthy individuals and TMD patients could move more to the left (P < 0·001). In the healthy group, the mean ratio between MJO and MLL was 5·0, and 5·5 between MJO and MRL. In the TMD group, the corresponding values were 4·6 and 6.1. The mean absolute difference between MLL and MLR (in mm) was 1·24 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0·99; 1·49] among healthy females, and 2·09 (95% CI: 1·52; 2·66) among healthy males. In the TMD group, the corresponding values were 2·62 (95% CI: 2·21; 3·04) and 2·83 (95% CI: 1·67; 4·00), respectively. From the results of our study we conclude that moderate deviations from symmetric movements (mean: 1·2 mm for women, 2·1 mm for men) appear to be the norm even in healthy individuals. [source] Validation of a dental image analyzer tool to measure alveolar bone loss in periodontitis patientsJOURNAL OF PERIODONTAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2009W. J. Teeuw Background and Objective:, Radiographs are an essential adjunct to the clinical examination for periodontal diagnoses. Over the past few years, digital radiographs have become available for use in clinical practice. Therefore, the present study investigated whether measuring alveolar bone loss, using digital radiographs with a newly constructed dental image analyzer tool was comparable to the conventional method, using intra-oral radiographs on film, a light box and a Schei ruler. Material and Methods:, Alveolar bone loss of the mesial and distal sites of 60 randomly selected teeth from 12 patients with periodontitis was measured using the conventional method, and then using the dental image analyzer tool, by five dentists. The conventional method scored bone loss in categories of 10% increments relative to the total root length, whereas the software dental image analyzer tool calculated bone loss in 0.1% increments relative to the total root length after crucial landmarks were identified. Results:, Both methods showed a high interobserver reliability for bone loss measurements in nonmolar and molar sites (intraclass correlation coefficient , 0.88). Also, a high reliability between both methods was demonstrated (intraclass correlation coefficient nonmolar sites, 0.98; intraclass correlation coefficient molar sites, 0.95). In addition, the new dental image analyzer tool showed a high sensitivity (1.00) and a high specificity (0.91) in selecting teeth with , 50% or < 50% alveolar bone loss in comparison with the conventional method. Conclusion:, This study provides evidence that, if digital radiographs are available, the dental image analyzer tool can reliably replace the conventional method for measuring alveolar bone loss in periodontitis patients. [source] Cognitive Development and Learning: Analyzing the Building of Skills in ClassroomsMIND, BRAIN, AND EDUCATION, Issue 4 2009Marc Schwartz ABSTRACT This article explores the unique and personal experience of learning within a broader framework of development called skill theory. The framework offers a perspective for recognizing within a diversity of experiences a stable order of increasing complexity in skills that individuals display as they execute or demonstrate changes in their understanding. This order is described in terms of a scale, or ruler, that quantifies across domains the achievement of greater levels of complexity in ability. In particular, we explore the process adults follow as they attempt to understand and apply ideas from science and leadership to allow the reader to witness how individual experiences can map onto a "universal" scale of learning and development. [source] Universal fitting formulae for baryon oscillation surveysMONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2006Chris Blake ABSTRACT The next generation of galaxy surveys will attempt to measure the baryon oscillations in the clustering power spectrum with high accuracy. These oscillations encode a preferred scale which may be used as a standard ruler to constrain cosmological parameters and dark energy models. In this paper we present simple analytical fitting formulae for the accuracy with which the preferred scale may be determined in the tangential and radial directions by future spectroscopic and photometric galaxy redshift surveys. We express these accuracies as a function of survey parameters such as the central redshift, volume, galaxy number density and (where applicable) photometric redshift error. These fitting formulae should greatly increase the efficiency of optimizing future surveys, which requires analysis of a potentially vast number of survey configurations and cosmological models. The formulae are calibrated using a grid of Monte Carlo simulations, which are analysed by dividing out the overall shape of the power spectrum before fitting a simple decaying sinusoid to the oscillations. The fitting formulae reproduce the simulation results with a fractional scatter of 7 per cent (10 per cent) in the tangential (radial) directions over a wide range of input parameters. We also indicate how sparse-sampling strategies may enhance the effective survey area if the sampling scale is much smaller than the projected baryon oscillation scale. [source] On the Contemporary Relevance of Elias Canetti's Theory of PowerORBIS LITERARUM, Issue 6 2008Michael Mack This article discusses Canetti's theory of power in the context of what Derrida has recently described as political autoimmunity. Its first part differentiates Canetti's approach from the postmodernism of Bernhard. A detailed textual analysis of Die Blendung is the subject of the middle part of this article. The concluding part of the paper shows the impact of both Canetti's satirical style and his theory of death and power on the postmodernism of Jelinek. Jelinek develops and deepens Canetti's critique of an evolutionary and progressive account of history by citing this discourse. By means of montage and bricolage she subjects an opposition between the rational and irrational, between the primitive and the civilized, to satirical treatment. Jelinek refers to Canetti's Masse und Macht in order to demystify the ideologies that govern contemporary global societies. Her depiction of the ruler as the radical individual who practices self-preservation turned wild and reduces everything that does not resemble him to nothingness clearly goes back to Canetti's fictional and nonfictional work. Her work thus proves the contemporary relevance of Canetti's analysis of power as death. [source] THE LOCATION OF THE TREASURY OF ATREUSOXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 1 2007DAVID J. MASON Summary. The Treasury of Atreus, the largest and most impressive of the nine tholos tombs found at Mycenae, stands by itself at the southern edge of a bowl in the east slope of the Panagia ridge. This paper argues that the tomb was constructed on this particular spot so that it would be seen from the trackways/roads that led to Mycenae from the east, south-east and south-west and from the main pathway to the palace. The view of the acropolis hill and Mt. Profitis Ilias from the space occupied by the earthen mound above the tholos also appears to have influenced the choice of location. It is suggested that the position of the Treasury of Atreus was, like the tomb itself, a political statement, calculated to show that the ruler who built the tomb succeeded in extending the territory of Mycenae across the central Argolid. [source] Comparing indirect methods of digit ratio (2D:4D) measurementAMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN BIOLOGY, Issue 2 2009Christoph J. Kemper The ratio of the lengths of the second and fourth finger (2D:4D) has been proposed to index prenatal exposure to androgens. Different methods have been utilized to measure digit ratio, however, their measurement precision and economy have not been systematically compared yet. Using different indirect methods (plastic ruler, caliper, computer software), three independent raters measured finger lengths of 60 participants. Generally, measurement precision (intraclass correlation coefficient, technical error of measurement, and relative technical error of measurement) was acceptable for each method. However, precision estimates were highest for the computer software, indicating excellent measurement precision. Estimates for the caliper method were somewhat lower followed by ruler which had the lowest precision. On the contrary, the software-based measurements took somewhat longer to complete than the other methods. Nonetheless, we would favor the use of these tools in digit ratio research because of their relative superior reliability which could be crucial when associations with other variables are expected to be low to moderate or sample size is limited. Software offers several promising opportunities that may contribute to an accurate identification of the proximal finger crease (e.g., zooming, adjusting contrast, etc.). Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] King Canute and the ,Problem' of Structure and Agency: On Times, Tides and HerestheticsPOLITICAL STUDIES, Issue 2 2009Colin Hay The story of King Canute (Cnut) is well known. Indeed, in perhaps its most familiar form it exists as an oral historical tradition passed from generation to generation. In this almost legendary account, King Canute is depicted as an arrogant ruler, so confident as to his own omnipotence that he takes on the forces of nature, pitting his own powers against those of the rising tide , his wet robes paying testament to his powerlessness in the face of potent material forces and to the triumph of (natural) structures over (human) agency. Or so it might seem. In this article I suggest that even in this, the simplest depiction of the story of Canute, the relationship between structure and agency is more complex and involved than it appears. This complexity is only accentuated if we turn from the legend to the historical evidence. Moreover, by reflecting on Canute's practical negotiation of the ,problem' of structure and agency we can not only gain an interesting political analytical purchase on a seemingly familiar tale, but we can also generate a series of valuable and more general insights into our understanding of the structure,agency relationship. In particular, the (various) stories of King Canute and the waves alert us to the need: (1) to maintain a clear distinction between the empirical and the ontological; (2) to resist the temptation to attempt an empirical adjudication of ontological issues (or, indeed, an ontological adjudication of empirical issues); (3) to differentiate clearly between the capacities of agents with respect to material/physical structures on the one hand, and social/political structures on the other; (4) to acknowledge the significance of unintended consequences; (5) to attend to the ,performative' dimensions of agency; and (6) to recognise the dangers inherent in an overly instrumental view of actors' motivations and intentions. [source] Characterization of an exosite binding inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 13PROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008Lata T. Gooljarsingh Abstract Matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP13) is a key enzyme implicated in the degradation of the extracellular matrix in osteoarthritis. Clinical administration of broad spectrum MMP inhibitors such as marimastat has been implicated in severe musculo-skeletal side effects. Consequently, research has been focused on designing inhibitors that selectively inhibit MMP13, thereby circumventing musculo-skeletal toxicities. A series of pyrimidine dicarboxamides were recently shown to be highly selective inhibitors of MMP13 with a novel binding mode. We have applied a molecular ruler to this exosite by dual inhibition studies involving a potent dicarboxamide in the presence of two metal chelators of different sizes. A larger hydroxamate mimic overlaps and antagonizes binding of the dicarboxamide to the exosite whereas the much smaller acetohydroxamate synergizes with the dicarboxamide. These studies elucidate the steric requirement for compounds that fit exclusively into the active site, a mandate for generating highly selective MMP13 inhibitors. [source] The FliK protein and flagellar hook-length controlPROTEIN SCIENCE, Issue 5 2007Richard C. Waters Abstract The bacterial flagellum is a highly complex prokaryotic organelle. It is the motor that drives bacterial motility, and despite the large amount of energy required to make and operate flagella, motile organisms have a strong adaptive advantage. Flagellar biogenesis is both complex and highly coordinated and it typically involves at least three two-component systems. Part of the flagellum is a type III secretion system, and it is via this structure that flagellar components are exported. The assembly of a flagellum occurs in a number of stages, and the "checkpoint control" protein FliK functions in this process by detecting when the flagellar hook substructure has reached its optimal length. FliK then terminates hook export and assembly and transmits a signal to begin filament export, the final stage in flagellar biosynthesis. As yet the exact mechanism of how FliK achieves this is not known. Here we review what is known of the FliK protein and discuss the evidence for and against the various hypotheses that have been proposed in recent years to explain how FliK controls hook length, FliK as a molecular ruler, the measuring cup theory, the role of the FliK N terminus, the infrequent molecular ruler theory, and the molecular clock theory. [source] Alfonsina Orsini de'Medici and the ,problem' of a female ruler in early sixteenth-century FlorenceRENAISSANCE STUDIES, Issue 1 2000Natalie Tomas First page of article [source] Thyromental distance measurement , fingers don't ruleANAESTHESIA, Issue 8 2009P. A. Baker Summary Thyromental distance (TMD) measurement is commonly used to predict difficult intubation. We surveyed anaesthetists to determine how this test was being performed. Comparative accuracy of ruler measurement and other forms of measurement were also assessed in a meta-analysis of published literature. Of respondents, 72% used fingers for TMD measurement and also considered three finger widths the minimum acceptable TMD. In terms of distance, the minimum acceptable TMD was felt to be 6.5 cm by 55% of respondents. However, the actual width of three fingers was (range) 4.6,7.0 cm (mean 5.9 cm), with significant differences between genders and between proximal and distal interphalangeal joints. The meta-analysis showed ruler measurement increased test sensitivity (48% (95% CI 43,53) vs 16% (95% CI 14,19) without a ruler), when predicting difficult intubation. [source] A new Nabataean inscription from Taym,'ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, Issue 2 2009Mohammed Al-Najem A new six-line Nabataean inscription was recently discovered during building work in the centre of the oasis city of , north-west Saudi Arabia. It is the epitaph of a ruler, or chief citizen, of the city and is dated by the era of the Roman Province of Arabia to AD 203. All but one of the names in the text are Jewish, and this is by far the earliest record of Jews in the oasis. The Nabataean script of the epitaph is also of great interest since it shows features which are normally associated with much later periods in the development of the Nabataean into the Arabic script. [source] Itaamar der Sabäer: Zur Datierung der Monumentalinschrift des Yiaamar Watar aus irw,ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, Issue 1 2007Norbert Nebes In December, 2005, a monumental inscription of the Sabaean ruler Yi a amar Watar bin Yakrubmalik was discovered during excavations in the Almaqah temple at irw, by a German Archaeological Institute expedition. The text is not only the longest ever discovered in Yemen in a scientific excavation, but also the earliest datable inscription known in South Arabia. Yi a amar Watar bin Yakrubmalik, who was completely unknown until recently, may be identified with Ita amar, the Sabaean ruler who brought gifts to the Assyrian monarch Sargon II around 715 B.C. [source] The Algebra of Geometric Impossibility: Descartes and Montucla on the Impossibility of the Duplication of the Cube and the Trisection of the AngleCENTAURUS, Issue 1 2010Jesper Lützen Today we credit Pierre Wantzel with the first proof (1837) of the impossibility of doubling a cube and trisecting an arbitrary angle by ruler and compass. However two centuries earlier Descartes had put forward what probably counts as the first proof of these impossibilities. In this paper I analyze this proof, as well as the later related proof given by Montucla (1754) and the brief version of this proof published by Condorcet (1775). I discuss the many novelties of these early arguments and highlight the problematic points addressed by Gauss (1801) and Wantzel. In particular I show that although Descartes developed many of the algebraic techniques used in later proofs he failed to provide an algebraic impossibility proof and resorted to a geometric argument. Montucla and Condorcet turned this proof into an algebraic one. I situate the analysis of the early proof of the impossibility of the two classical problems in the general context of early modern mathematics where mathematics was primarily viewed as a problem solving activity. Within such a paradigm of mathematics impossibility results arguably do not play the role of proper mathematical results, but rather the role of meta-results limiting the problem solving activity. [source] On Being Not Canadian: The Social Organization of "Migrant Workers" in Canada,CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 4 2001Nandita Sharma Se fondant sur la méthode d'ethnographie institutionnelle de Dorothy E. Smith, l'auteure étudie l'organisation sociale de notre connaissance des gens catégorisés comme non-immigrants ou « tra-vailleurs migrants ». À la suite de l'étude du Non-Immigrant Employment Authorization Program (NIEAP) du gouvernement canadien (1973), elle montre l'importance de la pratique idéologique raciste et nationaliste des États à l'endroit de l'organisation matérielle du marché du travail compétitif « canadien » dans le cadre d'un capitalisme mondial restructuré de même que la réorganisation qui en résulte des notions d'esprit national canadien. Elle montre aussi que la pratique discursive des parlementaires qui consiste à considérer certaines personnes comme des « problèmes » pour les « Canadiens » ne provient pas de l'exclusion physique de ces «étrangers » mais plutôt de leur differentiation idéologique et matérielle des Canadiens une fois qu'ils vivent et travaillent dans la société canadienne. Utilizing Dorothy E. Smith's method of institutional ethnography, I investigate the social organization of our knowledge of people categorized as non-immigrants or "migrant workers." By examining Canada's 1973 Non-immigrant Employment Authorization Program (NIEAP), I show the importance of racist and nationalist ideological state practice to the material organization of the competitive "Canadian" labour market within a restructured global capitalism and the resultant reorganization of notions of Canadian nationhood. I show that the parliamentary discursive practice of producing certain people as "problems" for "Canadians" results not in the physical exclusion of those constructed as "foreigners" but in their ideological and material differentiation from Canadians, once such people are living and working within Canadian society. Expressions such as,"foreigner", and so on, denoting certain types of lesser or negative identities are in actuality congealed practices and forms of violence or relations of domination, This violence and its constructive or representative attempts have become so successful or hegemonic that they have become transparent,holding in place the ruler's claimed superior self, named or identified in myriad ways, and the inadequacy and inferiority of those who are ruled. , Himani Bannerji. [source] Poverty and Neo-Liberal Bias in the Middle East and North AfricaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2004Ray Bush This article examines the definition of poverty and the evidential base for the claims that the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has historically low levels of poverty and relatively good levels of income distribution. It argues that the dominant trend in the literature on poverty in the global south in general, and in MENA in particular, has a neo-classical bias. Amongst other things, that bias fails to understand that poverty does not emerge because of exclusion but because of poor people's ,differential incorporation' into economic and political processes. It also raises the question: if the MENA has indeed had relatively low levels of poverty and good income distribution, does this complicate the issue of autocracy and the western drive to remove political ,backwardness' in the region? In particular, the characterization of autocracy and the west's attempt to promote political liberalization is likely to impact adversely on the social contract that autocratic rulers have enforced regarding the delivery of basic services. [source] Metamorphoses of the early medieval signum of a ruler in the Carolingian worldEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 4 2006Ildar H. Garipzanov This article uses the approach of diplomatic semiotics to explore early medieval signs of authority in charters and on coins, especially the monogram and the sign of the cross used as an individual ,signature'. Coins and charters used these signs communicating royal or imperial authority differently, addressing diverse regional and social audiences. From the fifth through the ninth centuries, the early medieval signum of a ruler gradually transformed from the individualizing sign of a particular monarch, designed to differentiate him symbolically from other rulers, to the generalizing sign of the king by the grace of God, which as a visual attribute of authority could be shared by several rulers. This transformation signified the inauguration of a new ,medieval' tradition in the communication of authority in late Carolingian times. [source] The Carolingian response to the revolt of Boso, 879,887EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 1 2001Simon MacLean The decade leading up to the disintegration of the Carolingian Empire in 887,8 is traditionally characterised by historians as a period when royal authority was in terminal decline, crippled by the deaths of three great rulers in the mid-870s and by the attempt of the non-Carolingian rebel Boso of Vienne to seize a throne in 879. This article challenges the conventional view, and argues that Boso's revolt actually inspired the four surviving Carolingian kings to enter into a period of successful and effective cooperation. They came to a sworn agreement which sealed a new mutually guaranteed succession plan and resolved several outstanding territorial disputes. The end of the empire was brought about neither by internal conflict nor by loss of faith in the royal house, but rather by the premature deaths of a series of heirless rulers and the failure of the last emperor Charles the Fat to organize his succession in 887. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||