Dwelling and Cult in the Life and Culture of the Ancient Georgians

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-264
Author(s):  
Paata Bukhrashvili
Keyword(s):  
Significant Degree ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Tribal Member ◽  
Social Units

As a consequence of long-term organic integration with their homeland, a characteristic lifestyle developed among the Georgians. This is particularly evident in the richly variegated customs, traditions, and norms of everyday behavior. To a significant degree they are conditioned by thousands of years of adaptation to the environment, and its associated biocultural and socio-economic forms. From the earliest times these complexes of economic-cultural relations implied the possession of the land by social units – families – on the basis of juridical norms founded upon blood relationship. Such relations were firmly grounded upon common tribal shrines, through which was acknowledged the tribal territory's chief patron and regulator. It follows that each land-owning family of the tribe, on the basis of vassalage to the shrine, was directly responsible before the shrine, and, accordingly, the moral comportment of each tribal member was marked by deep and honest respect for the deity.

Arab Behaviour Towards Israel: Strategic Avoidance or Exploiting Opportunities?

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 549-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARL DEROUEN ◽  
CHRISTOPHER SPRECHER
Keyword(s):  
Significant Degree ◽  
National Study ◽  
Strategic Behaviour ◽  
Political Protests ◽  
The Us ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
Made In ◽  
Cross National

Scholars often observe that the foreign policies of states are not made in a vacuum but rather are determined or moulded to a significant degree by the external and internal actions of rivals. Domestic unrest is often considered a potential impetus for changing strategic behaviour. Leaders may be tempted to employ force externally to divert attention away from domestic unrest. The intended result is a ‘rally round the flag’ effect that culminates in higher approval/support for the executive as citizens forget about domestic problems and pay attention to a common adversary. One implication of this sort of ‘diversion’ is that potential scapegoats might employ strategic behaviour to avoid becoming a diversionary target. In other words, when they witness domestic unrest in a rival state, they worry that the rival may lash out at them and thus engage in ‘strategic avoidance’.Conversely, strategic behaviour may lead to a greater chance that the potential ‘diverter’ will itself be targeted for hostile behaviour. Erstwhile scapegoats may view periods of social unrest such as elections, domestic political protests or unstable cabinet structures in the other country as convenient and favourable times to escalate hostility. Such situations are viewed as opportunities that are ripe for exploitation.Alastair Smith's work has been extended to both the US case and a comparative cross-national study. Our purpose here is to extend this line of inquiry by looking at a region of the world locked in a long-term hostile relationship; namely, the Middle East. Our approach builds upon previous research that addresses the strategic interaction of enduring rivals.

Failure, Neuroscience and Success: Differentiating the pedagogies of music technology from electroacoustic composition

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 190-200
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Keyes
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Music Technology ◽  
Long Term Memory ◽  
Successful Model ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Pedagogical Approaches

Although the pedagogy of music technology more closely resembles that of other academic subjects, the teaching of electroacoustic composition involves a significant degree of creativity, and thus relies on different creativity-specific parts of the brain and memory systems (Lehmann 2007). This paper reviews recent neuroscientific research that may assist differentiation between effective pedagogical approaches of these two subjects where knowledge is stored in separate, discrete and sometimes competing long-term memory locations (Cotterill 2001). It argues that, because of these differences, the learning of music technology and electroacoustic composition is best kept separate, at least in the beginning stages. These points are underscored by an example of a demonstrably failed pedagogical model for teaching electroacoustic composition contrasted with a subsequent highly successful model employed in the same university music programme; an experience that may translate well to other learning environments.

Long-term pharmacokinetics of clozapine

1998 ◽  
Vol 173 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kurz ◽  
M. Hummer ◽  
G. Kemmler ◽  
I. Kurzthaler ◽  
A. Saria ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Level ◽  
Coefficient Of Variation ◽  
Plasma Levels ◽  
Maintenance Treatment ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Second Step

BackgroundPrevious studies of clozapine pharmacokinetics have shown a wide intra- and inter-individual variability of plasma levels in patients on stable clozapine doses. We investigated dose-plasma level relationships and intra-individual variability of plasma levels during maintenance treatment with clozapine.MethodForty-one patients on clozapine were followed for 26 weeks with repeated plasma level measurements and assessments of co-medication and clinical symptoms. In a second step, 15 patients on stable clozapine doses between treatment Weeks 12 and 52 were followed in the same way. Coefficient of variation was used as a parameter of plasma level deviation.ResultsDose-plasma level correlations stayed significant from Week 6 to Week 26 (n=41). The group of patients followed up to Week 52 showed a mean intra-individual coefficient of variation of 52.8% (s.d. =20.6), and remained stable psychopathologically.ConclusionsEven though clozapine plasma levels may show a significant degree of variation, this is not necessarily reflected in a change in psychopathology.

scholarly journals Informal Cairo: Between Islamist Insurgency and the Neglectful State?

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 419-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.J. Dorman
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Resource Constraints ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Risk Avoidance ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
Oblique Reflection ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Government Security

From the late 1980s, Islamist militants established a ‘state within the state’ in the Egyptian capital Cairo, situated in ‘informal’ neighbourhoods developed without official authorization, planning or public services. After government security forces in late 1992 crushed these efforts in the neighbourhood of Munira Gharbiyya, informal Cairo became pathologized in public discourse as ashwa’iyyat (‘random’ or ‘haphazard’ areas), a zone of socio-spatial disorder threatening Egypt as a whole and demanding state intervention. However, this securitizing move did not lead to heavy-handed intervention against informal Cairo more generally. Following the suppression of the militants, the Mubarak government instead returned to long-term patterns of indifference and neglect that had allowed informal neighbourhoods to flourish since the 1960s. In part, the absence of intervention can be explained in terms of resource constraints and risk avoidance. More profoundly, however, it reflects numerous linkages between informal urbanization and the Egyptian state. The ashwa’iyyat are, to a significant degree, both a consequence of an authoritarian political order and embedded in the informal control stratagems used by Egyptian governments to bolster their rule. Informal Cairo should thus not be understood as a disorderly zone of subaltern dissidence. Rather, the Egyptian state is best seen as facing its own oblique reflection.

Haumeni, Not Many: Renewed Plunder and Mismanagement in the Timorese Sandalwood Industry

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREW McWILLIAM
Keyword(s):  
Middle Eastern ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Last Millennium ◽  
Santalum Album ◽  
Direct Measure ◽  
High Quality ◽  
History Of ◽  
Santalum Album L ◽  
Belgian Congo

There have been numerous occasions throughout history where the exploitation of a single commodity has transformed the fortunes of institutions, communities and even nations that have sought to benefit from its control. Middle Eastern oil, rubber from the former Belgian Congo or gold in South America provide a few striking case studies. For the eastern Indonesian island of Timor, the long-term struggle for the control and trade of high quality white sandalwood (Santalum album L) holds this pre-eminent position. The history of Timor, for perhaps the last millennium, has been intimately linked to the shifting fortunes of sandalwood production and trade. Over the centuries, the attraction of sandalwood and the fine scented oil produced from its heartwood, has encouraged an extraordinary array of diverse trading interests that jostled and warred for influence and a share of the lucrative profits from its exploitation and sale across Asia. For indigenous Timorese too, participation in sandalwood politics frequently lay at the heart of endemic struggles for power and wealth. The capacity to exert control over sandalwood production and trade from the interior of the island was a direct measure of political authority and standing among rival Timorese indigenous domains. To control the production and trade in sandalwood was to control the polity, at least to the extent that the situation remained uncontested. The converse also held true; namely that the holders of effective political power within Timorese domains were well placed to monopolise available sandalwood stocks. Thus to a significant degree the fortunes of Timorese society are mirrored in the history of sandalwood politics.

scholarly journals Factor Analysis of the Low Use of Intra Uterine Device (IUD) Contraception in East Java in 2015

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Pratiwi Purbaningrum ◽  
Iswari Hariastuti ◽  
Arief Wibowo
Keyword(s):  
Birth Control ◽  
Intrauterine Device ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
P Value ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Low Education ◽  
The Government ◽  
Control Service

Intrauterine Device (IUD) is one type of contraceptives that is made from flexible plastic and implanted in the uterus. The IUD is included as a long-term contraception which is very effective in regulating the distance of pregnancy, is reversible, and can be worn by women of all reproductive ages. Therefore, the government is doing all kinds of effort to the number of IUD users. Surprisingly, the number of women using the IUD has kept decreasing every year. This study aims to analyze the factors affecting the low use of IUD contraception in East Java in 2015. The data were obtained from the Mid-term Development Plan Survey in 2015 by taking a sample from all the women who were willing to be interviewed in the Mid-term Development Plan Survey in East Java Province with the following characteristics: being 15–49 years of age, being married, not getting pregnant, and were still using contraceptions. There were 1,220 respondents who could be interviewed. The result of binary regression testing with a significant degree of 5% yielded three significant variables, namely age (P-value = 0.002), education (P-value = 0.000), and birth control service (P-value = 0.000). Healthy women who were around 15–19 years old, had low education, and had limitted access to private birth control services tended to avoid the IUD contraception more. Therefore, it is expected that the government is making cooperation with the related sectors in an attempt to increase the use of IUD contraceptives in the East Java Province in 2015 with more emphases on age, education and birth control service locations.

scholarly journals Death Anxiety, Immortality Projects and Happiness: A Utilitarian Argument Against the Legalization of Euthanasia

Conatus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Donovan Van der Haak
Keyword(s):  
Death Anxiety ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Voluntary Euthanasia ◽  
Dying Patients ◽  
Human Decision ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Shed Light

The current, utilitarian debate on the relation between euthanasia and happiness focusses primarily on the subject of dying patients. Where some utilitarians stress how euthanasia may relieve suffering in the process of dying, others emphasize the importance of respecting the autonomy of others to make decisions like these themselves.  However, less attention has been paid to how legalizing euthanasia may impact the human decision-making processes of those still in a healthy and mentally sound state. This paper aims to shed light on this relatively underdeveloped subject within utilitarian theory. In particular, I focus on euthanasia’s most contested form: active, voluntary euthanasia. I draw on Ernst Becker,  who argues that moderate death anxiety stimulates people to work on ‘immortality projects,’ decisions that help them cope with the concept of death. Subsequently, I draw on several studies to defend the notion that immortality projects are indirectly conducive to happiness because they stimulate healthy decisions and long-term, human progress. Additionally, immortality projects counterbalance decisions that are based on an excessive drive for short-term pleasure. As euthanasia can make dying less painful, I argue it may diminish death anxiety to significant degree, and thereby also an incentive to work on immortality projects. This brings me to the conclusion that legalizing euthanasia is problematic from a utilitarian point of view, considering the observation that immortality projects are indirectly conducive to happiness.

Friendship and Foreign Policy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Berenskoetter ◽  
Yuri van Hoef
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
The Other ◽  
Careful Attention ◽  
Analytical Challenge ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Role Identities ◽  
Relationship Of

International friendship affects the making and conduct of foreign policy, an angle that is largely neglected in the International Relations (IR) literature. Friendship constitutes the Other as familiar rather than foreign and implies a significant degree of trust, and analysts need to pay careful attention to the various ways close bonds develop and “work” across state boundaries. They need to understand how seeking friends can be an explicit goal of foreign policy and how established friendships function by studying their discursive, emotional, and practical expressions and their impact on decision making in concrete situations and as a disposition for cooperation in the long term. Yet, tracing these bonds and associated practices, especially the informal ones, is an analytical challenge. This article presents international friendship as a particular relationship of mutually agreed role identities embedded in a strong cognitive, normative, and emotional bond revolving around a shared idea of order. It discusses three types of practices unique to this relationship: providing privileged/special access, solidarity and support in times of need, and resolve and negative Othering against third parties. These friendship bonds and associated practices can be observed across three levels: political leaders, government bureaucracies, and civil society.

scholarly journals Automated Home Oxygen Delivery for Patients with COPD and Respiratory Failure: A New Approach

Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 1178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Sanchez-Morillo ◽  
Pilar Muñoz-Zara ◽  
Alejandro Lara-Doña ◽  
Antonio Leon-Jimenez
Keyword(s):  
Respiratory Failure ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Chronic Obstructive ◽  
Blood Oxygen Saturation ◽  
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ◽  
New Approach ◽  
General Improvement ◽  
Oxygen Concentrator

Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) has become standard care for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other severe hypoxemic lung diseases. The use of new portable O2 concentrators (POC) in LTOT is being expanded. However, the issue of oxygen titration is not always properly addressed, since POCs rely on proper use by patients. The robustness of algorithms and the limited reliability of current oximetry sensors are hindering the effectiveness of new approaches to closed-loop POCs based on the feedback of blood oxygen saturation. In this study, a novel intelligent portable oxygen concentrator (iPOC) is described. The presented iPOC is capable of adjusting the O2 flow automatically by real-time classifying the intensity of a patient’s physical activity (PA). It was designed with a group of patients with COPD and stable chronic respiratory failure. The technical pilot test showed a weighted accuracy of 91.1% in updating the O2 flow automatically according to medical prescriptions, and a general improvement in oxygenation compared to conventional POCs. In addition, the usability achieved was high, which indicated a significant degree of user satisfaction. This iPOC may have important benefits, including improved oxygenation, increased compliance with therapy recommendations, and the promotion of PA.

Sperm whale social units: variation and change

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 1431-1440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Christal ◽  
Hal Whitehead ◽  
Erland Lettevall
Keyword(s):  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Sperm Whale ◽  
Physeter Macrocephalus ◽  
Unit Size ◽  
Social Unit ◽  
Demographic Processes ◽  
Size Variability ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Social Units

Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) photoidentification data spanning 12 years of study around the Galápagos Islands were examined to investigate the size, variability, and stability of social units. Adult females and immature whales of both sexes have two types of associates: "constant companions," which are members of an individual's "stable" social unit, and "casual acquaintances," which are temporarily associating members of different units. We analysed long-term association patterns and calculated that individuals have a mean of 11.3 constant companions. Estimated social unit size ranged from 3 to 24 individuals. Evidence of splitting and merging of units and of transfer of individuals between units is presented. The estimated overall frequency of these unit-membership changes is 6.3% per individual per year. These forms of unit dynamics are rare in species with male dispersal and matrilineally related social groups, and cannot be easily explained in this species. There is considerable variation in unit size (perhaps caused by demographic processes), suggesting that the benefits of remaining in a social unit usually outweigh selection for some optimal unit size. However, the occurrence of merging and transfers suggests that the ecological or social cost/benefit of leaving one's matrilineal unit may sometimes outweigh the cost/benefit of staying.

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