‘Thinking Ontologically’: Ontology Development as the Basis for the Systematic Analysis of a Corpus of Late Antique Aramaic Magic Texts

This article describes the process of developing an ontology of the domain of Jewish Babylonian Aramaic magic bowls and offers some reflections on its significance in the analysis of these materials. Examples are highlighted to illustrate where the work builds on existing conceptualisations of the domain in secondary literature and where magical and religious materials from the Ancient Near East might stimulate some specialised extension of the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model (ICOM/CIDOC Documentation Standards Group, 2020). The analogy of ‘bridge building’ is offered as a way for humanities researchers to conceive of the work to produce ontologies of specific domains. This reflection is intended to capture the experience of ‘thinking ontologically’ about sources for the first time and of overcoming misconceptions about the nature and significance of this work.

Reconstructing Pragmatism

The figure of Richard Rorty stands in complex relation to the tradition of American pragmatism. On the one hand, his intellectual creativity, lively prose, and bridge-building fueled the contemporary resurgence of pragmatism. On the other, his polemical claims and selective interpretations function as a negative, fixed pole against which thinkers of all stripes define themselves. Virtually all pragmatists on the contemporary scene, whether classical or “new,” Deweyan, Jamesian, or Peircean, use Rorty as a foil to justify their positions. The resulting divisions and internecine quarrels threaten to thwart and fragment the tradition’s creative potential. More caricatured than understood, the specter of Rorty is blocking the road of inquiry and future development of pragmatism. Reconstructing Pragmatism moves beyond the Rortyan impasse by providing what has been missing for decades: a constructive, nonpolemical account of Rorty’s relation to classical pragmatism. The first book-length treatment of Rorty’s intellectual debt to the early pragmatists, it establishes his selective appropriations not as misunderstandings or distortions but as a sustained, intentional effort to reconstruct their thinking. Featuring chapters devoted to five key pragmatist thinkers—Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Josiah Royce, and Jane Addams—the book draws on archival sources and the full scope of Rorty’s writings to challenge prevailing misconceptions and caricatures. By illuminating the critical resources, still largely untapped, that Rorty offers for articulating classical pragmatism’s ongoing relevance, the book reveals limitations in received images of the classical pragmatists and opens up new modes of understanding pragmatism and why it matters today.

The Conference of European Churches

This chapter outlines the history and work of the Conference of European Churches (CEC). CEC was founded in the middle of the Cold War in a divided Europe as an instrument promoting dialogue, bridge-building, cooperation, and ecumenical fellowship between churches of Anglican, Orthodox, and Protestant traditions. From its inception, CEC has promoted values of peace, reconciliation, justice, solidarity, and human dignity, and has been engaged in the building of trust and a sense of community in Europe. Through fostering the active engagement of churches in society, CEC has contributed to the discussion on European values and the future of the European project. The final section of the chapter elaborates on the theological foundations framing the churches’ action for justice and the common good. Such pursuits are central to the theological principles underpinning a healthy society.

A Cross Disciplinary Framework for Cost-Benefit Optimization of Marine Litter Cleanup at Regional Scale

Litter cleanup and disposal management in the marine environment are increasingly subject to public scrutiny, government regulation and stakeholder initiatives. In practice, ongoing efforts and new investment decisions, for example in new cleanup technologies, are constrained by financial and economic resources. Given budgetary restrictions, it is important to optimize decision-making using a scientific framework that takes into account the various effects of investments by combining multiple scientific perspectives and integrating these in a consistent and coherent way. Identifying optimal levels of marine litter cleanup is a challenge, because of its cross-disciplinary nature, involving physics, environmental engineering, science, and economics. In this paper, we propose a bridge-building, spatial cost-benefit optimization framework that allows prioritizing where to apply limited cleanup efforts within a regional spatial network of marine litter sources, using input from the maturing field of marine litter transport modeling. The framework also includes ecosystem functioning in relation to variable litter concentrations, as well as the potentially non-linear cost-efficiency of cleanup technologies. From these three components (transport modeling, ecosystem functioning, cleanup-effectiveness), along with litter source mapping, we outline the optimal cleanup solution at any given ecological target or economic constraint, as well as determine the cleanup feasibility. We illustrate our framework in a Baltic and Mediterranean Sea case study, using real data for litter transport and cleanup technology. Our study shows that including pollution Green's functions is essential to assess the feasibility of cleanup and determine optimal deployment of cleanup investments, where the presented framework combines physical, economical, technological and biological data consistently to compare and rank alternatives.

A Study on Strengthening of Concrete Structures

Concrete is the most commonly used building material due to its high strength, moldability, weather-resistant, and fire resistance, among other benefits. In recent years, there has been a growth in the usage of Micro Silica fume. Through the Ore sand Bridge building, records show that Micro Silica was used in the concrete. These fabrics are not only environmentally sustainable, but they also have technological advantages on both new and hardened mortar products. Both goods are agricultural by-products, but their usage decreases the amount of primary raw materials removed from the earth. Latent hydraulic content is micro silica fume and fly ash. It has intrinsic cementation effects, which must be activated. Combining the powder with Portland cement is a popular way to achieve these results. Pozzolana is the name given to pulverized fly ash. These materials may not have intrinsic cementation properties, but a cementation substance is created when mixed with a high alkaline material.

A Study on Strengthening of Concrete Structures

Concrete is the most commonly used building material due to its high strength, moldability, weather-resistant, and fire resistance, among other benefits. In recent years, there has been a growth in the usage of Micro Silica fume. Through the Ore sand Bridge building, records show that Micro Silica was used in the concrete. These fabrics are not only environmentally sustainable, but they also have technological advantages on both new and hardened mortar products. Both goods are agricultural by-products, but their usage decreases the amount of primary raw materials removed from the earth. Latent hydraulic content is micro silica fume and fly ash. It has intrinsic cementation effects, which must be activated. Combining the powder with Portland cement is a popular way to achieve these results. Pozzolana is the name given to pulverized fly ash. These materials may not have intrinsic cementation properties, but a cementation substance is created when mixed with a high alkaline material.

Toward Undogmatic Reading. Narratology, Digital Humanities and Beyond

Both Narratology and Digital Humanities look back on a remarkable history of research and progress. One after the other, the narratological and the digital research communities evolved into large international and interdisciplinary networks. While cooperation between the two disciplines would be possible and beneficial in many areas, they often still work in parallel rather than together. A workshop at Hamburg University brought together Literary Studies researchers from Narratology and from Digital Humanities to (a) discuss requirements for and possibilities of a digital operationalisation of analytical categories from Narratology and Literary Studies and (b) theoretically reflect upon possible connections between more traditional and digital approaches. The present volume combines the workshop contributions from both disciplines and thus attempts to further the bridge-building and dialogue.

Meditation involving people with cancer, medical staff and witnesses: a pilot study exploring improvement in wellness and connectedness

IntroductionMindfulness meditation is likely to promote better management of stress, pain and negative emotions. We propose to address the benefit of meditation in an open setting associating people with cancer (target population), medical staff and witnesses (neither patient nor medical staff). This study aims (1) to evaluate the effects of meditation on wellness improvement and (2) to identify criteria and modalities for a subsequent randomised study.Methods and analysisWe propose a longitudinal pilot study consisting of a non-randomised experimental preintervention/postintervention survey. The intervention consists in delivering a meditation programme (12 weekly meditation sessions of 1.5 hours each), specifically adapted to our target population and addressing our research hypothesis in an open setting involving people with cancer, medical staff and witnesses (equally distributed in two groups of 15 participants). The main objective is to evaluate participants’ adherence to the programme. The effects of meditation will be evaluated on stress, quality of life, feeling of personal effectiveness, on the development of mindfulness and empathy, and on satisfaction and perception of a change in quality of life. We will also measure the putative added value of ‘meditating together’. This study is expected to allow validating the evaluation tools and refining the modalities of the workshops. We expect to demonstrate the evolution that this meditation-based intervention induces in the participants. We aim to promote bridge-building, between patients, medical staff but also others. In this way, one’s own suffering may be understood in the light of others’ suffering, thereby promoting the sense of otherness and giving insights into ‘living better with’. This exploratory study will investigate the relevance of this hypothesis, which could then be explored by a randomised study.Ethics and disseminationThe protocol was approved by the local ethics committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Est II). Trial findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals.Trial registration numberNCT04410185.

The Bridge Building Model: connecting evidence-based practice, evidence-based research, public involvement and needs led research

This paper describes a model developed by an interdisciplinary team of research and public engagement specialists, with backgrounds in health and social care research, higher education, evidence-based practice, leadership, commissioning research and public involvement and engagement. The model we propose combines evidence-based practice, evidence-based research, public involvement and needs led research. Our aim is to capitalise on the joining of the rationale and methods for these approaches, which have all been highlighted as important, but for which there has been a lack of models for integration. Our ambition is to argue for and show an effective and evidence-based way of working that bridges health and social care needs identification, evidence-based practice and research.

THE KUHNIAN NOTION OF PARADIGM IN THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS DEBATE

The paper reviews some of the major IR scholars and how they view the applicability of Kuhn’s notion of paradigm in the case of the third IR debate. The starting point is Laipd’s idea of positivism versus post-positivism. I argue that pessimism and optimism are interrelated in the debate. Also, for the future, if the IR scientific community wants to contribute to real problem solution, it should not restrict to the narrow notion of Kuhn’s paradigm. However, there should be some loose sense of a paradigm as a cumulation of lessons learned. The grand theorizing or bridge-building should be replaced by the idea of lots of “doors” or many mediators linking only certain issues in different approaches. If there is only one bridge, this will not adequately reflect the emerging stage of proliferation of pluralism in the field. The pragmatic tendency is towards eclecticism of the approaches. Elements are interrelated and the border between positivism and relativism is moving.