Critical Posthumanism, Again

This is a short statement invited by the editors. It doesn't warrant an abstract.

On the determination of Namaz time in the Republic of Dagestan

The given paper studies the results of a research by a special commission of Dagestan Muftiate on the determination of the five daily obligatory prayers (Namaz) schedule in the Republic of Dagestan. The study gives a short statement of Shariah regulations on each Namaz starting and ending time; thus, provides visual comparative analysis of the research results with an existing in Dagestan Namaz timetable. The concluding part reveals the effective ways of implementing the renewed calendar within the local communities. The results of the research will be useful for the Muslim religious figures from other regions of Russia in correcting their existing Namaz timetables in accordance with the Shariah Rules.

Annual plants, pigeons and flies: first signs of quantitative ecological thinking in Linnaeus's works

Thinking about the dynamics of populations of plants and animals goes back to Linnaeus. He used at least three examples to show what happens when the population of a species grows without limitations and to illustrate the potential reproductive capacity of organisms. We examined the mathematical precision of calculations Linnaeus used in presenting these examples and reviewed the assumptions under which Linnaeus's conclusions are valid. In the case of a slowly reproducing annual plant, additionally cited by Darwin, the final result was incorrect, although little different from the true value. In the example of a pair of pigeons, the calculations were accurate, although the well-known fact that pigeons breed several times throughout their lifetime was ignored. Though the input parameters must have been unknown to Linnaeus, a short statement in Systema naturae regarding the population increase and feeding capacity of bluebottle flies was found fairly correct and robust enough to withstand minor changes in input parameters.

Introduction

The introduction sets out some key themes of the book. It also outlines the historical context for contact between Greece and Anatolia, and explores previous work on Greek Religion and the Near East as well as previous work on Anatolian Religion and Ancient Greece. It provides a short statement of aims and methodology; and finishes with an overall plan of the book.

Developing a Messaging Graphic for Storage Times of Refrigerated Ready to Eat (RTE) Foods for a Consumer Food Safety Health Campaign

This study developed and evaluated risk communication messages for ready to eat (RTE) foods targeted towards consumer storage practices in a food safety health campaign. Concepts were determined from a fractional factorial design of five categories of attributes potentially present in health promotion: title, message, graphic, slogan, and icon. Consumers viewed a subset of concepts and scored how useful the concept was in remembering to throw away RTE foods that were stored too long. Regression analysis determined which combinations of message attributes were most likely to result in using the information to throw out foods, which could help prevent foodborne illness. Findings showed that for this type of information, a graphic is a critical element for the printed schematic. The slogan (i.e., a short statement similar to a jingle or tag-line in a commercial) may be important to consumers, but the icon was not important.

Poisoning and Partisanship

This chapter demonstrates an alternative “holistic” method of TRUST analysis in which the focus is not on individual claims or short sections of text with a few related claims, but on the general manifestation of untruthfulness with respect to a particular case. The chapter provides an extensive analysis of multiple claims regarding the poisoning of the Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, in March 2018. It opens with the prime minister’s short statement to Parliament just after the attack, which superficially but confusingly reminds us of Blair’s Preface, but this is used as a springboard for exploring various types of untruthful discourse that have emerged in relation to this international crisis. The framework thus becomes a way of structuring a much broader analysis of untruthfulness in international discourse. The study also demonstrates very clearly the role of social media in promoting epistemic partisanship.

Recepcja Ojców Kościoła w "Confessio catholicae fidei christiana" Stanisława Hozjusza

Among the famous people related to Warmia one of the most prominent is un­doubtedly the bishop of Warmia, Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius, a famous diplomat, humanist, lawyer, poet, illuminator scientific life in Warmia, but also a theologian and defender of the Catholic faith. His theological views and his defending of the faith against the reformers are included in a number of his writings, but the greatest influence and fame had his work Confessio catholicae fidei Christiana (Christian profession of the Catholic faith). It was written as an extension of a creed created on request of participants of the Council in Piotrków (1551), who turned to Hosius with request to write a short statement of the most important truths of the Catholic faith. In his work Hosius many times repeatedly referred to the argument from Tradition and he used the writings of the early Christian writers. The article is an attempt to explore how Hosius, arguing with Protestants, uses patristic argument and how he uses the writings of early Christian writers. The article presents as well the idea of the reception of the Fathers of the Church in the most important work of Hosius.

Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, Hugo Schuchardt, Nikolaj Marr e un’enigmatica iscrizione georgiana

Around the end of the 19th century, a philologically and linguistically rather insignificant inscription on a cross, written in Old Georgian script, drew the attention of the Polish linguist Jan Baudouin de Courtenay, who, however, was not able to identify neither the language nor the alphabet. After having drafted in his own hand several copies of the inscription, he submitted them to scholars and orientalists all around Europe, without getting a univocal or satisfying answer; he then consulted in Petersburg the Georgian philologist Nikolay Marr, who provided a transcription of the Georgian text in the modern (civil) alphabet and a Russian translation. The present paper describes and discusses how surprised and disappointed were the linguist Hugo Schuchardt and Nikolay Marr himself about Baudouin de Courtenay’s not impeccable publication of the Old Georgian inscription and, above all, the fact that he had introduced the edition with a detailed enumeration of the many failed attempts at deciphering the mysterious alphabet. In the appendix the short statement by Nikolay Marr, written in Russian, is reprinted with an Italian translation by Margarita Blinova.