Modern Evolutionist Naturalism And Šankara’s Arguments Contra Sankhya

This comparative study aims at juxtaposition of modern Western naturalistic evolutionism and the mostly similar attitude in the classic Indian philosophy in the shape of Sankhya’s cosmology in the context of their corresponding critiques by contemporary creationists and Advaita-Vedanta. The long and pointed polemics with Sankhya in the Brahmasutrabhasya by Šankaracharya (7th-8th centuries A.D.) is in the focus of this investigation along with numerous references to the Sankhya-karika by Isvarakrsna (5th century A.D.) as the basic text of the philosophical school criticized by its most powerful opponent. Comparing Western and Indian evolutionism reveals some very important differences to such a degree that the Indian species of the genus would be, in the author’s opinion, better identified as not evolutionism in the strict sense but as a “développisme” combining features of evolutionism with those of emanationism. As to Sankhya’s naturalism, it turns to be much more “sophisticated” than that, e.g., of Thomas Huxley or the so-called New Atheists because its “stuff” is more psychological than material. Nevertheless, crucial logical gaps remain the same in both cases (along with an antitheistic “faith” instead of rationalism), while their taking into account by opponents of naturalism offers a challenge for comparative philosophical theology.

«Intrecci di fiori e di allori» Dialoghi italo-tedeschi su letteratura e linguistica. Giuseppe Picci e l’auctoritas degli studi danteschi di Carlo Witte

In his book I luoghi più oscuri e controversi della Divina Commedia di Dante dichiarati da lui stesso (1843), the Brescian scholar Giuseppe Picci (1809–1888) repeatedly uses the studies of Karl Witte, because he obviously sees him as an authority in the field of Dante Studies. A similar attitude towards Witte is also evident in later works that Picci dedicated to the question of the authenticity of the Epistola a Cangrande, although in these he took a position contrary to Witte’s. In the various editions of his successful Guida allo studio delle belle arti e al comporre, however, Picci at no point refers to the German scholar’s edition of the Commedia.

Comparison of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Nursing and Medical Students in Kermanshah, Iran, about Toothbrush Maintenance and Use

Background. To promote oral health in society, medical and nursing students are required to have acceptable knowledge, attitude, and practice with respect to correct maintenance and use of a toothbrush. This study explored the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Iranian medical and nursing students about the correct maintenance and use of a toothbrush. Methods. A total of 260 nursing students and 320 medical students were randomly recruited. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire on the knowledge, attitude, and practice about toothbrush maintenance and use. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results. The mean scores of knowledge, attitude, and practice were 54.53 ± 17.18, 49.67 ± 19.17, and 19 ± 51.50 in the nursing students and 54.17 ± 21.42, 51.18 ± 87.28, and 49.87 ± 17.52 out of 100 in the medical students, respectively. There was no significant difference between the medical and nursing students in the mean score of knowledge. The medical and nursing students had a similar attitude and practice in most items of toothbrush maintenance and use. Conclusion. The medical and nursing students had average knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding toothbrush maintenance and use, which is not acceptable considering their job nature. Hence, interventional measures should be taken to enhance their knowledge, attitude, and practice.

Evaluating Polarity Trend Amidst the Coronavirus Crisis in Peoples’ Attitudes toward the Vaccination Drive

It has been more than a year since the coronavirus (COVID-19) engulfed the whole world, disturbing the daily routine, bringing down the economies, and killing two million people across the globe at the time of writing. The pandemic brought the world together to a joint effort to find a cure and work toward developing a vaccine. Much to the anticipation, the first batch of vaccines started rolling out by the end of 2020, and many countries began the vaccination drive early on while others still waiting in anticipation for a successful trial. Social media, meanwhile, was bombarded with all sorts of both positive and negative stories of the development and the evolving coronavirus situation. Many people were looking forward to the vaccines, while others were cautious about the side-effects and the conspiracy theories resulting in mixed emotions. This study explores users’ tweets concerning the COVID-19 vaccine and the sentiments expressed on Twitter. It tries to evaluate the polarity trend and a shift since the start of the coronavirus to the vaccination drive across six countries. The findings suggest that people of neighboring countries have shown quite a similar attitude regarding the vaccination in contrast to their different reactions to the coronavirus outbreak.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Opinions of Egyptian Medical Students Toward Biobanking Issues

ABSTRACT Introduction Biobanking is an emerging concept in Egypt. Medical students represent important future stakeholders in the research community. The objective of this work was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and opinions of Egyptian medical students toward biobanking issues. Methods We designed a structured survey about these issues, which was communicated online with medical students at three universities in Egypt. Results A total of 315 of 364 questionnaires were completed. More than half the students have heard the term “biobanking” before. Approximately 77% had a general positive attitude toward the concept of biobanking; however, only 57.7% were willing to participate with their own or family samples. The positive attitude toward donation was significantly higher in participants with negative family history of inherited diseases (p = 0.02). Conclusion Although some students had limited knowledge of biobanking, they had a positive attitude toward the concept in general. However, this was not reflected in a similar attitude toward donating biospecimens, especially in those with a family history of inherited disease. Moreover, they expressed concerns about data protection and samples sharing with different stakeholders. Taking all these into account, educational activities about biobanking should be given to medical students to fill the knowledge gap on the subject.

Ruins of sacred buildings: ideological message and problems of its preservation

The ruin is a building, whose shape is deformed and decoration have suffered significant loses. So the viewer’s attention is attracted by the ideological message of ruins, which is always different from the set of meanings of the complete edifice, and often contradicts it. This is clearly seen in the case of sacred buildings. In the 16th and 17th centuries Roman Catholic writers claimed, that the ruins of pagan temples in Rome are monuments of the ancient Roman Empire’s power, but their current state clearly shows the defeat of paganism and triumph of Christianity. The prelates thought that it was necessary to take care of the ruins, but they should not be rebuilt. Protestant writers in the British Isles took a similar attitude to the local ruins of monastic temples, seeing in them a clear manifestation of the fall of the “papist religion” and the triumph of Protestantism. During the French Revolution, remains of the ruined churches were consciously preserved as monuments of the decline of Christianity and the triumph of the new cult of reason. So rejection of the religion granted protection to ruins of sacred buildings. However the religious indifference growing in many communities causes problems with determining the place of such ruins in public space. Reducing them to the role of bizarre "street furniture" (eg the church of Saint-Livier in Metz), causes their ideological neglection, often contributes to their material destruction. Preventing such situation seems to be an important challenge for conservators dealing with the problem of "permanent ruin".

Potret Sosial Komunitas Anak Punk di Kota Perawang, Provinsi Riau

Latar belakang penelitian ini bermula dari ketertarikan peneliti ketika melihat banyaknya remaja yang bergabung kedalam komunitas Punk. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui latar belakang sosial munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang. Teori yang digunakan dalam menganalisis penelitian ini adalah teori pembentukan kelompok yaitu Domisili Theory, Similar Attitude Theory, Activity Interaction Theory dan Practicality Theory. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kualitatif tipe studi kasus. Teknik pemilihan informan adalah pusposive sampling. Pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara observasi, wawancara dan studi dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa motivasi anak Punk bergabung ke dalam komunitas Punk disebabkan beberapa alasan-alasan seperti kesamaan hobi, ingin mencari kebebasan, teman sepermainan dan ekspresi diri. Hasil penelitian menemukan bahwa sejarah munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang dan negara di dunia relatif sama yaitu karena tekanan didalam masyarakat tetapi munculnya komunitas Punk di negara di dunia karena adanya tekanan politik sedangkan munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang karena adanya tekanan sosial. Maka ditemukan latar belakang sosial munculnya komunitas Punk di Kota Perawang karena menginginkan kebebasan, ekspresi diri, faktor pertemanan dan kesamaan hobi.

Religious gestures and secular strengths: Emerson, Nagel, and Kateb on the religious temperament

What would happen to the reception of Emerson if one does not share his religious sentiments? I argue that appreciating Emerson does not depend upon sharing a similar attitude towards religion not only because we can discern a secular sense of wonder in his writings, as George Kateb claims, but also because his literary excellence shows us ways of wonder in the first place. Further, I show that though there is a brief exchange of similar ideas between Emerson and Thomas Nagel in the latter's engagement of ‘the religious temperament’, their responses to what they call the tremendousness of existence is fundamentally different.

Spenser, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the Decline of the Preacher’s Plough

This chapter focuses on Spenser’s Shepheardes Calender (1579) and View of the Present State of Ireland (c.1598), showing how both use the language of medieval rural complaint to attack greed among the protestant owners of former monastic lands. Beginning with the Calender’s September eclogue, the chapter brings new evidence to bear on previous identifications of the shepherd, Diggon Davie, with the Elizabethan bishop of St David’s, Richard Davies, tracing the influence of Davies’s Funeral Sermon (1577) for Walter Devereux, first earl of Essex, into Diggon’s language in ‘September’. The language of medieval complaint had blamed unscrupulous abbots for enclosing ploughlands, but in his own writing, Richard Davies argues that post-dissolution landowners were having an even more detrimental impact on the religious life of rural Wales, not only refusing to free up former monastic lands for ploughing but also hindering the work of the ‘church-ploughing’ preacher, because refusing to pay preaching ministers a proper wage. The chapter shows how Spenser uses the pseudo-Chaucerian Plowman’s Tale to turn Davies’s local response to the situation in St David’s diocese into a general complaint against unscrupulous farmers of church livings across England and Wales. It concludes by exploring Spenser’s similar attitude in A View towards Adam Loftus and other protestant farmers of church livings in late Elizabethan Ireland, arguing that Spenser here evokes the ruins of churches and monasteries in order to return to his comments in The Shepheardes Calender on the greed of post-dissolution landowners and their neglect of the preacher’s plough.

A pragmatic framework to note-taking in consecutive interpretation

This study provides a framework that immediately and efficiently guides the selection of the message components for note-taking to successfully capture implicatures in consecutive interpretation. The framework revisits the Quantity, Informativeness, and Manner (Q, I and M) heuristics of communication by Levinson (1995, 2000). Three interpretation principles are suggested (I-Q, I-I and I-M) (I for interpretation). The principles are applied to the main parts of the message (vocabulary, connectives, and marked forms) following Johns (2014). The I-Q principle advises interpreters to select the words that are most consistent with the speaker’s best knowledge of the world and to communicate them as such; the I-I principle advises interpreters to simply and systematically notate the connectives that exemplify a similar connection to the SM; the I-M principle advocates that interpreters should mark any instances of marked forms such as over-lexicalization, prolixity, and repetition, and relay them with a similar level of markedness to communicate a similar attitude of the SM speaker in the TL.