Kohelet – Hebrew or Hellenist?: A Survey of the Debate

This essay provides a comprehensive survey of two centuries of scholarly debate regarding the extent to which Kohelet, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, was influenced by currents of Greek philosophy and literature. This essay first considers Kohelet’s possible Hebraic, Babylonian, and Egyptian sources of influence, before moving on to address its main topic. It surveys the broad spectrum of scholarly debate on this issue, and explores the strength and plausibility of each position on this spectrum. Finally, it concludes that while no certain conclusions can be reached, the evidence seems to reject the more extreme ends of this spectrum of opinion, while at the same time underscoring the uniqueness and irreducability of Kohelet’s worldview.

Twin Peaks 2.0: Avoiding Influence Over an Australian Financial Regulator Assessment Authority

Globally, financial system regulators are susceptible to deliberate and inadvertent influence by the industry that they oversee and, hence, are also susceptible to acting to benefit the industry rather than the public interest – a phenomenon known as ‘regulatory capture’. Australia, arguably, has an optimal model of financial system regulation (a ‘Twin Peaks’ model) comprising separate regulators for prudential soundness on the one hand, and market conduct and consumer protection on the other. However, the current design of the Twin Peaks model has not been sufficient to prevent and address prolonged and systemic misconduct that culminated in a public Royal Commission of Inquiry into misconduct in the industry. Subsequent to the Royal Commission and other inquiries, the Department of Treasury has proposed legislation to establish an Assessment Authority to assess the effectiveness of the Twin Peaks regulators. The proposal includes enquiries by an Assessment Authority into the regulators’ independence, so as to identify instances of, and thereby mitigate, their capture. As with all financial system regulators, the Assessment Authority itself may be susceptible to regulatory capture, either by the Twin Peaks regulators, or by the financial industry. Thus, this paper poses the question: how can the new Assessment Authority be optimally constituted by legislation, and operated, to effectively oversee the effectiveness of the regulators, but itself remain insulated from the influence of the regulators and industry? We analyse the primary sources of influence over financial system regulators that the Assessment Authority will likely face and recommend ways in which a robust design of the Assessment Authority can mitigate those sources of influence. In doing so, we adopt an inter-disciplinary approach, drawing upon not only regulatory theory but also for the first time in relation to this question, organisational psychology. Our findings address gaps in the proposed legislation currently before Federal Parliament and propose methods by which those gaps may be filled, in order to ensure that this important reform to Australia’s financial regulatory regime has the greatest chance of success.

It’s a Challenge, Not a Threat: Lecturers’ Satisfaction During the Covid-19 Summer Semester of 2020

The summer semester had just begun at Austrian and German universities when Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. Thus, in March 2020, all universities closed their campuses, switching to distance learning within the span of about a single day. How did lecturers handle the situation? Were they still able to turn the situation into a positive one? What were the main obstacles with this difficult situation, and where there conditions which helped them to overcome the new challenges? These are research questions of the present survey with a sample of 1,152 lecturers at universities in Austria and Germany. The survey focuses on the lecturers’ appraisals of the novel situation as challenging or threatful. These appraisals are important for approaching a situation or shying away from it. However, how well a person adjusts to a novel situation is also influenced by personal and environmental resources which help to overcome the situation. The present survey focused on four possible sources of influence: internal assessments of the situation determining it to be threatening and/or challenging, personal resources, attitudes, and support by the organization. It was investigated to which degree these sources of influence could contribute to the lecturers’ satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) with their teaching processes. A multiple regression with three criterion variables describing university lecturers’ perceived satisfaction with distance teaching was carried out. Predictor variables were the lecturers’ appraisals of challenge and threat, perceived support by the university and sense of belonging to the university, temporal resources, proficiency in using digital technologies, length of teaching experience, and gender. Lecturers were mostly satisfied with their teaching activities. Together with the perception of a low threat potential, challenge appraisals contributed strongest to satisfaction. In comparison, assessments of actual personal resources, skills in the use of digital technologies, teaching experience, and temporal resources were important but contributed less to satisfaction than challenge appraisals. It seems that lecturers were only able to use these resources when the technological resources were available and when the lecturers were confident in their technical abilities.

On the Roman-Byzantine adoption of the stirrup once more: a new find from seventh-century Aphrodisias

Archaeological evidence and the text of the Strategikon show that it was only in the late sixth century AD that the Roman-Byzantine military adopted the stirrup. It is now widely argued that the Avars, who settled in the Carpathian basin in the sixth century, played a key role in introducing iron stirrups to the Roman-Byzantine world. However, the evidence to support this assertion is limited. Although hundreds of stirrups have been found in Avar graves in the Carpathian basin, very few stirrups of sixth- or seventh-century date are known from the Roman-Byzantine empire - no more than seven - and only two of these are of definitively Avar type. The text of the Strategikon, sometimes argued to support this Avar source, can be interpreted differently, as indeed can the archaeological evidence. While the debate about the Roman-Byzantine adoption of the stirrup has focused mostly on finds from the Balkans, two early stirrups are known from Asia Minor, from Pergamon and Sardis. This paper presents a third, previously unpublished stirrup, from a seventh-century deposit at Aphrodisias in Caria; this is the first stirrup found in Asia Minor from a datable context. Here we present this find and its context, and use it to reconsider the model of solely Avar stirrup transmission that has dominated scholarship to date. So varied are the early stirrups that multiple sources of influence, Avar and other, and even a degree of experimentation, seem more likely to underpin the Roman-Byzantine adoption of this technology.

Protection Motivation During COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study of Family Health, Media, and Economic Influences

Background Protection motivation to practice preventive behaviors is necessary for sustained mitigation during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19); however, limited research exists on the ecological sources of influence for COVID-19 protection motivation. Aim To explore sources of influence (family health, media consumption, and loss of work hours) on COVID-19 protection motivation. Method An online quantitative survey of U.S. adults ( N = 501) aged 18 years or older was administered using Qualtrics with participants recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Data were collected on constructs related to the protection motivation theory and theory of planned behavior as well as sources of influence and intention to socially distance and socially isolate during COVID-19. Constructs were further defined through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Structural equation modeling was used to determine relationships between constructs. Results A two-factor model was identified with threat appraisal as one factor and subjective norms appraisal, coping appraisal, and behavioral intention loading as another factor. Higher news media consumption and loss of work hours due to COVID-19 were both significant predictors of increased threat appraisal. Family healthy lifestyle and family health resources were significantly related to increases in the subjective norms, coping appraisal, and behavioral intention appraisal factor. Conclusions Family health, news media consumption, and loss of work hours are associated with COVID-19 protection motivation. COVID-19 protection motivation might be enhanced through policies and messaging that can affect ecological sources of influence.

On the specific graphic, orthographic and morphological features of the usus of the monastic scriptoria of Nuremberg in the 15th century

The article examines the graphic, spelling and morphological features characteristic for medieval texts created in Nuremberg. The study involves spiritual literature created in various Nuremberg scriptoria. Each investigated text is considered as an integral and independent graphic and spelling system, consisting of interrelated elements. Following features presented in the studied manuscripts are revealed in the course of the analysis of the texts: the Middle and Early New High German features, features characteristic of the Southeastern, East Frankish and Nuremberg dialects, as well as the spelling features. The reasons for the differences between the graphic and spelling systems of the studied texts from the phonetic system of Early New High German and intertextual differences are subject to interpretation. The analysis of the scriptoria peculiarities makes it possible to determine the place of graphic and orthographic systems in the context of Early New High German linguistic dynamics, as well as the degree of influence of various dialects on them. When considering the graphic and orthographic features of the studied texts, the specificity of the written fixation of Early New High German is taken into account as well as the fact that the urban written language and the urban dialect are different sources of influence on the formation of the written tradition of each scriptorium. This study allows to conclude about the degree of independence of the graphic and spelling systems of manuscripts and about the usability of the norms of the written language of the period under study.

Oportūnists, ļefists, majakovskietis, šāds-tāds inteliģentiņš Linards Laicens PSRS: biogrāfiskais aspekts un „Limitrofija”

The article focuses on the part of Linards Laicen’s (1983–1937) biography marginalised in contemporary literary research – his life in the USSR. In literary studies, the main attention is paid to the writer’s early work; his move to the USSR is seen as a break in his writer’s creative growth, highlighting his obedience to the demands of socialist realism and schematism. The article outlines the most important aspects of Laicens’s biography, trying to construct his potential worldview and find the causal links to his arrival in the USSR. In 1932, Laicens was forced to emigrate to Moscow, where he spent the last five years of his life. Even though the Soviet government had tightened control over the artistic processes, Laicens continued to write according to his aesthetics, risking not only being censored but also politically persecuted. In 1935, Laicen’s last novel, “Limitrofija”, was published. It was written at a time when socialist realism was recognised as the only legitimate direction of art creation in the USSR. The article analyses the circumstances of the novel’s origin, poetics, features of modernism, sources of influence, publishing difficulties, and reception. After analysis of the documents available in the archives, correspondence, notes, publications, as well as the text of the novel itself, it is concluded that Laicens’s location in the USSR is not unambiguous/voluntary, and the novel “Limitrofija” is also part of his modernist and experimental literary contribution. This shows the continuity of Laicens’s creative search, although the USSR is dominated by political censorship and constant control and threats.

Cervantes and Madness

Cervantes experimented with different writing styles and did not recycle personality traits amongst his characters, including those considered mad. Unlike the stereotype of the madman that often figured in early modern theatre, no Cervantine character is consistently mad throughout the entire work in which he or she appears. Characters become mad, fluctuate in degrees of mental imbalance, may temporarily express manic rage, and usually regain sanity at some point in the text. Cervantes allows his characters to evolve beyond their character types, and this includes for some of them transitioning through different degrees of insanity. This chapter aims to serve as a guide for those interested in reviewing the theme of madness in Cervantine literature, along with possible sources of influence contemporary to Cervantes in literature and medicine. It also explores twentieth and twenty-first century research focusing on madness in Don Quixote as well as in Cervantes’s other literary creations.