Abstraction and embodiment: exploring the process of grasping a general

This paper reports from a case study which explores kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction in a teaching–learning activity about reflection symmetry. From a dialectical perspective, abstraction is here conceived as a process, as a genuine part of human activity, where the learner establishes “a point of view from which the concrete can be seen as meaningfully related” (van Oers & Poland Mathematics Education Research Journal, 19(2), 10–22, 2007, p. 13–14). A cultural-historical semiotic perspective to embodiment is used to explore the characteristics of kindergarten children’s mathematical abstraction. In the selected segment, two 5-year-old boys explore the concept of reflection symmetry using a doll pram. In the activity, the two boys first point to concrete features of the sensory manifold, then one of the boys’ awareness gradually moves to the imagined and finally to grasping a general and establishing a new point of view. The findings illustrate the essential role of gestures, bodily actions, and rhythm, in conjunction with spoken words, in the two boys’ gradual process of grasping a general. The study advances our knowledge about the nature of mathematical abstraction and challenges the traditional view on abstraction as a sort of decontextualised higher order thinking. This study argues that abstraction is not a matter of going from the concrete to the abstract, rather it is an emergent and context-bound process, as a genuine part of children’s concrete embodied activities.

Navigation-guided nasal endoscopic surgery for acute vision loss caused by fibrous dysplasia: a case report and review of literatures

Background Bone fibrous dysplasia is a benign disease of bone tissue dysplasia. Vision impairment is the commonest neurological complication of craniofacial fibrous dysplasia. Most of the vision loss caused by craniofacial fibrous dysplasia is usually a gradual process. Very few present with acute visual impairment as described in our case. Case presentation We report a patient with fibrous dysplasia presenting rapidly progressive visual loss in the left eye secondary to bone cyst formation. Transnasal endoscopic surgery guided by navigation with drainage and curettage of this bone cyst and orbital decompression resulted in progressive improvement in visual acuity that returned to normal 1 month post-operatively. Conclusions In cases with acute visual loss due to fibrous dysplasia, emergency surgical treatment should be considered to preserve vision. In the surgical approach, navigation-guided nasal endoscopic surgery may be preferred because of its advantages.

Convergence in the Malabar

The Indo-Portuguese creole languages that formed along the former Malabar Coast of southwestern India, currently seriously endangered, are arguably the oldest of all Asian-Portuguese creoles. Recent documentation efforts in Cannanore and the Cochin area have revealed a language that is strikingly similar to its substrate/adstrate Malayalam in several fundamental domains of grammar, often contradicting previous records from the late 19th-century and the input of its main lexifier, Portuguese. In this article, this is shown by comparing Malabar Indo-Portuguese with both Malayalam and Portuguese with respect to features in the domains of word order (head-final syntax and harmonic syntactic patterns) and case-marking (the distribution of the oblique case). Based on older records and certain synchronic linguistic features of the Malabar Creoles, this article proposes that the observed isomorphism between modern Malabar Indo-Portuguese and Malayalam has to be explained as the product of either a gradual process of convergence, or the resolution of historical competition between Dravidian-like and Portuguese-like features.

MANAJEMEN PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN KESETARAAN PAKET C DALAM PENINGKATAN MUTU PENDIDIKAN

AbstrakMutu suatu pendidikan dapat mempengaruhi lulusan suatu lembaga persekolahan baik formal maupun nonformal. Manajemen program pendidikan yang dikelola dengan baik akan dapat meningkatkan mutu pendidikan meskipun dalam prosesnya secara bertahap. Tujuan penelitian ini untuk mengetahui bagaimana pengelolaan manajemen kesetaraan paket C di SKB Kota Tasikmalaya dalam meningkatkan mutu pendidikan. Penelitian ini dilakukan karena ditemukan beberapa permasalahan yang dapat mempengaruhi mutu pendidikan, diantaranya peserta didik yang menguasai IT masih sedikit, proses pembelajaran yang tidak terkontrol, penyebaran informasi pembelajaran berbasis ICT belum merata, peserta didik menginginkan pelayanan yang mudah dan cepat, serta sulitnya peserta didik menyesuaikan diri dengan peserta yang lain. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif deskriptif yaitu pemecahan masalah yang didapatkan dengan cara mendeskripsikan keadaan objek atau subjek penelitian berdasarkan fakta di lapangan. Sumber data yang digunakan adalah data primer dan data sekunder yang didapatkan dari delapan informan dan data administratif lembaga. Teknik pengumpulan data pada penelitian ini yaitu dengan melalui observasi, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Instrumen yang digunakan adalah pedoman observasi dan wawancara. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian ditemukan bahwa manajemen program pendidikan kesetaraan paket C yang meliputi aspek fungsi perencanaan, pengorganisasian, pelaksanaan, pengawasan serta evaluasi, secara keseluruhan telah sesuai dengan apa yang diharapkan dan berjalan secara terstruktur serta telah mencapai tujuan seperti yang diharapkan, yaitu mutu pendidikannya meningkat. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa manajemen program pendidikan kesetaraan paket C di SKB Kota Tasikmalaya secara bertahap dapat meningkatkan mutu pendidikan.Kata Kunci: Manajemen, paket C, Mutu, Pendidikan. AbstractThe quality of an education can affect the graduates of a schooling institution, both formal and non-formal. Well-managed education program management will be able to improve the quality of education even though it is through a gradual process proses. The purpose of this research was to find out how the package C equivalence management process at SKB Tasikmalaya City in improving the quality of education. This research was conducted because several problems were found that could affect the quality of education, including only a few students who mastered IT, the learning process was not controlled, the dissemination of information on ICT-based learning was not evenly distributed, students wanted easy and fast services, and the difficulty of students adapting with other participants. This research uses descriptive qualitative methods, which are problem solving obtained by describing the state of the object or research subject based on facts in the field. The data sources used are primary data and secondary data obtained from eight informants and institutional administrative data. Data collection techniques in this study are through observation, interviews, and documentation. The instruments used are observation and interview guidelines. Based on the results of the study, it was found that the management of the package C equivalence education program which includes aspects of planning, organizing, actuating, monitoring and evaluating functions, Overall, it has been in accordance with and is running in a structured manner and has achieved the expected goals. It can be concluded that the management of the package C equivalence education program at the Tasikmalaya City SKB can gradually improve the quality of education.Keywords: Management, package C, Quality, Education

How do Revolting Young People Become Radicals – The Case of Slovakia

Radicalisation of young people is a gradual process. Emptiness in a form of distrust has spread into all areas of human life (work, family, church, etc.) and has led to indifference and passivity. This, coupled with young person’s disintegration in terms of values and norms (disintegration) and social isolation (disorganization), prompts some sort of revolt. Losing footing in many life situations, the young person resorts to expressions of anger, which, if left unresolved, gradually grows into aggression and violence. The paper aims to identify and describe the sources of anger and frustration of young radicals in Slovakia. It also outlines the most common targets of their aggression. Close attention is paid to Slovak conscripts (Slovenskí branci), one of the radical groups in Slovakia. The Slovak Ministry of Defence regards this paramilitary group as a security threat. The theoretical part of the paper is based on works of sociologists who introduce the concept of indifferent society (Lipovetsky 2008) and examine barriers that hinder young people’s integration (Durkheim 1973). Defining aggression and violence that originate in anger is based on Arendt’s study (2004). The empirical part of the paper is a result of the qualitative research conducted among young radicals, aged 14-17 in Slovakia in a form of case studies. Keywords: indifference, disintegration, revolt, anger, aggression

An Interpretation of Value Change: A Philosophical Disquisition of Climate Change and Energy Transition Debate

Changing values may give rise to intergenerational conflicts, like in the ongoing climate change and energy transition debate. This essay focuses on the interpretative question of how this value change can best be understood. To elucidate the interpretation of value change, two philosophical perspectives on value are introduced: Berlin’s value pluralism and Dworkin’s interpretivism. While both authors do not explicitly discuss value change, I argue that their perspectives can be used for interpreting value change in the case of climate change and the energy transition. I claim that Berlin’s pluralistic account of value would understand the value change as an intergenerational conflict and therefore provide a too narrow and static ground for understanding ongoing value change. Instead, by exploring Dworkin’s standpoint in moral epistemology, this essay distills a more encompassing perspective on how values may relate, converge, overlap, and change, fulfilling their functions in the course of climate change and energy transition. This perspective is further detailed by taking inspiration from Shue’s work on the (re)interpretation of equity in the climate change debate. I argue that the resulting perspective allows us to see value change as a gradual process rather than as a clash between generations and their values.

Zambra, Codes of Honor, and Moorish Dress: Transculturation in Calderón’s Love after Death

This paper will offer a reading of Calderón’s Love after Death (Amar después de la muerte) that is removed from the binary opposition between Christianity versus Islam, which premise readings of the text as a pro-morisco play, and focuses on teasing out nuances of transculturation inherent in the text. At pivotal moments in the play, the morisco and the “pure” Christian are simultaneously presented in opposition and equality to one another in their shared adherence to a strict moral code of honor, which is arguably a Christian contribution to Spain’s hybrid culture. The cultural hybridization of clothing and costume points to the unreliability of visible signifiers that distinguished the morisco from the “pure” Spaniard and as a result, brings forth the difficulties Spain had in self-identification in opposition to the morisco. The only real signifier – the Arabic language – is linguistic, although it is clear many words from Arabic made their way into Spanish. Read in the context of a text produced in a Spain that was located at the border between purity and hybridity and between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, it can be argued that the representations of cultural practices in Calderón’s re-imagination of the rebellion of Alpujarras, bring forth evidence of a gradual process of transculturation between the moriscos and Christians and shed light on Spain’s almost desperate attempt to fight that process. Through this lens, the conflict between the moriscos and the Christians appears to have been conceived in the struggle against external forces that relegated Spain to the periphery of Europe. As a result of anti-Spanish prejudices of the leyenda negra that identified “Spanishness” with “Moorishness,” Spain was at once the colonial center in relation to the Americas and the New World, and simultaneously, Europe’s very own morisco “other.”

O Latifúndio como Formulador de Política Externa e o Desmonte de Políticas Ambientais l The Latifundios as Foreign Policy Formulators and the Dismantling of Environmental Policies

A partir do processo de abertura de interlocução do Itamaraty com o Legislativo e o empresariado brasileiro, multiplicam-se o número de atores interessados na formulação de política externa brasileira. A partir de então, percebe-se uma mudança comportamental no Ministério das Relações Exteriores e uma gama de atores que passou a competir com o Itamaraty na arena do comércio exterior. Assim, fazendo uso do Modelo dos Jogos de Dois níveis proposto por Putnam, busca-se compreender qual o impacto da Bancada do Agronegócio na formulação de políticas externas ambientais no período de 2011 a 2019. Resultados preliminares apontam uma intensificação da atuação da Bancada do Agronegócio frente ao relaxamento de medidas ambientais, um processo gradual de favorecimento, apontando um desmonte de políticas ambientais em detrimento de grandes latifundiários e o aumento de iniciativas internacionais que se conectam ao agronegócio, especialmente a partir da mudança do discurso sobre meio ambiente e proteção ambiental.Palavras-chave: Política Externa; Agronegócio; Meio Ambiente.ABSTRACTFrom the process of opening the Itamaraty's dialogue with the Brazilian legislature and business community, the number of actors interested in the formulation of Brazilian foreign policy multiplies. From then on, there was a behavioral change in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a range of actors that started to compete with Itamaraty in the foreign trade arena. Using the Two-Level Games Model proposed by Putnam, we seek to understand the impact of the Agribusiness Bench on the formulation of external environmental policies in the period from 2011 to 2019. Preliminary results point to an intensification of the performance of the Agribusiness Bench in relation to the relaxation of environmental measures, a gradual process of favoring, pointing to a dismantling of environmental policies to the detriment of large landowners and the increase in international initiatives that are connected to agribusiness, especially as a result of the change in the discourse on the environment and environmental protection.Keywords: Foreign Policy; Agroindustry; Environment. Recebido em: 31/03/2021 | Aceito em: 27/06/2021.

History of radiotherapy in Poland. A brief outline of the problem

Objectives The aim of this paper is to give brief outline on the history of radiotherapy in Poland from its beginnings until first decades of the second half of 20th century. Methods The study is based on comparative and reconstructive analyses of literature, papers and communications dealing with the history of radiotherapy in Poland. Results The history of radiotherapy in Poland can be perceived as a gradual process of shaping research centres and practical (clinical) application of radiotherapeutics. The Radium Institute in Warsaw, as well as radiotherapy centers in Poznań and Kraków gained key importance in the period up to the outbreak of World War II. After the end of the war, Gliwice became another important place for the history of the radiotherapy and oncology in Poland. Conclusions Radiotherapy was early recognized by Polish physicians as promising in clinical treatment. It should be a subject of further studies, especially when formative period, thus before First World War, is analysed.

Steve Reich

Steve Reich (b. 1936) is an American composer who, alongside Philip Glass, Terry Riley, and La Monte Young, is considered an originator of musical minimalism. His compositions consist primarily of instrumental pieces for various ensembles, ranging from solo instruments with prerecorded tape to pieces for full orchestra. The most frequent configurations make prominent use of melodic percussion instruments, attesting to his training as a percussionist. Reich engaged periodically with disparate musical traditions throughout his early career—technological experimentalism in the 1960s, African drumming and Hebrew cantillation in the 1970s—and has since forged a compositional idiom distinguished by its attention to pattern and pulsation. Born and raised primarily in New York City, Reich studied philosophy at Cornell University and music at Juilliard before moving across the country in 1961 to study at Mills College with Luciano Berio. Moving within the Bay Area’s experimental art scenes, Reich discovered the process of phasing when working with tape loops, leading to his first acknowledged pieces: It’s Gonna Rain (1965) and Come Out (1966). After relocating to downtown New York in 1965, Reich translated this phasing process into instrumental music, resulting in works such as Piano Phase and Violin Phase (both 1967), as well as his influential manifesto, “Music as a Gradual Process.” In the early 1970s, Reich’s palette expanded to encompass new timbres and processes of pattern and repetition. The large-scale Drumming (1970–1971) and Music for 18 Musicians (1974–1976)—both conceived for his ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians—are exemplars of his mature minimalist style and helped establish his reputation both within and outside of the classical music world. By the early 1980s, Reich’s music began a process of legitimation within academia and performance institutions: Tehillim (1981) and The Desert Music (1983), for instance, were composed for major orchestras. Both reveal a rekindled interest in voice, text, and speech which found new expression in Different Trains (1988), a string quartet which utilized speech fragments of Holocaust survivor testimonies as generative melodic and harmonic material. Reich continued to explore this technique in large-scale documentary music video theater works (The Cave [1990–93] and Three Tales [2000–03]), as well as chamber works such as City Life (1995) and WTC 9/11 (2010). By the end of the millennium, Reich was widely regarded as America’s foremost living composer; his Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for Double Sextet (2007) seemed a belated affirmation of this perspective.