Considerations on Two Cruces Philologorum (Ael. NA 15, 15)

The present article aims to elucidate an interesting narrative that forms a portion of Aelian’s paradoxographic work Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος (On the Characteristics of Animals, Lat. De natura animalium). The passage under discussion describes some horned animals of oriental origin that were involved in the annual fighting contests during a one-day competition held on the initiative of a “great king of India” — probably Chandragupta (4th–3rd c. BC), the founder of the Maurya dynasty. Aelian’s chapter (NA 15, 15) was perhaps taken from Megasthenes’s Ἰνδικά (Description of India). The passage includes two hapax legomena referring to two species of animals: †μέσοι† and †ὕαιναι†. The first of these should be identified with the Ladakh urial (Ovis orientalis vignei Blyth); cf. Prasun məṣé ‘ram, urial’ (< Vedic mēṣá- m. ‘ram’). Aelian’s exact description of the horned animals called †ὕαιναι† clearly demonstrates that the alleged “striped hyena” (Gk. ὕαινα) must represent the chinkara, i. e., the Indian gazelle (Gazella bennettii Sykes). The Indo-Aryan term for ‘chinkara’ (Ved. hariṇá- m ‘Indian gazelle’, hariṇī́- f. ‘female gazelle’; cf. Pa. and Pk. hariṇa- m., hariṇī- f.) suggests that the corrupted form in Aelian’s passage should be emended as ὑάριναι [hyárinai]. This seems a near-optimal adaptation of the Pali or Prakrit appellative háriṇā pl. ‘chinkaras’.

The Abelian Kernel of an Inverse Semigroup

The problem of computing the abelian kernel of a finite semigroup was first solved by Delgado describing an algorithm that decides whether a given element of a finite semigroup S belongs to the abelian kernel. Steinberg extended the result for any variety of abelian groups with decidable membership. In this paper, we used a completely different approach to complete these results by giving an exact description of the abelian kernel of an inverse semigroup. An abelian group that gives this abelian kernel was also constructed.

Characterisation of Diffuse and Local Necking of Aluminium Alloy Sheets using DIC Technique

This paper introduces a new method for the characterisation of the boundary of diffuse and local necking based on DIC measurements during tensile tests. A series of images illustrate the extension of diffuse necking and show the occurrence of local necking as well. The evaluation of strain distribution gives the exact description of processes using both time dependent and non-dependent methods.

Anisotropic magnetized sources in general relativity: An exact description for the magnetized vacuum

In this work, we have constructed exact geometries which describe magnetized matter within General Relativity, specifically in an almost-plane-symmetric case. Although the use of this geometry imposes some constraints on the components of the energy–momentum tensor, it allows to describe some physically interesting situations in which the magnetized vacuum is relevant.

THE CONCEPT OF CLASS (SAMGRAHA) IN EARLY YOGĀCĀRA LOGIC (BASED ON ASANGA’S «ABHIDHARMA-SAMUCCAYA»)

The concept of class (saṃgraha) was introduced in the philosophy of Yogācāra as an element of logical structure of Buddhist discourse for the classification of sets of dharmas (skandha, dhātu, āyatana) rather dharmas themselves. This classification, added to the traditional classification of dharmas by groups (skandha), elements (dhātu) and bases of consciousness (āyatana), provided more detailed classification of states of consciousness according to Buddhist dogmatic principles aimed at the attainment of nirvāṇa. Asanga in the «Compendium of Abhidharma» (Abhidharma-samuccaya) formulates eleven classes defining them by their mutual relations, their relations to time and space and by their emotional aspect relevant to the final enlightenment. Nevertheless they are nothing more than mental constructions formed for more exact description of mind in the perspective of enlightenment. Dharmas are the only reality in Buddhist philosophy, and enlightenment comes when appearance and disappearance of the conditioned dharmas stops and only the unconditional dharma remains. It is the treasure trove, and it is free from affects and determined dispositions. So, classes do not describe the true reality (tathatā) as it is understood in Mahāyāna Buddhism and are but instruments for the transformation of adept’s mind.

Professional Thinking and Types of Professionals

We believe that main parameters of professional thinking are: the conceptual development of professional reality (as a separate socio-cultural area of activities and relationships embodied in the objectives, actions, functions of profession) and the adequacy of planning and regulation of actions in professional situations.The parameters of the professional thinking specify types of professionals. We investigated the parameters of professional thinking and the types of professionals through analysis of speech (dialogues, descriptions of professional activities, etc.) of people of different professions (n = 224) based on the ideas of A. R. Luria: (1) ‘The real use of the word <...> is always the process of selecting the desired meaning from the pop-up alternatives, with the allocation of some actual system ties and inhibition of other systems of relations, not relevant to this problem’; (2) the meaning of the word depends on the specific task facing the subject and situation in which the word is used. The units of meaning were: understanding of structural and dynamic sides of the professional reality; way of substantiation actions in professional situations. The data allowed to determine three types of professionals. (1) ‘Expert’: there is a complete and profound reflection of professional reality in the speech combined with the exact description of planned actions. (2) ‘Inept maven’: understands the professional activity and its components, but may not accurately describe the actions. (3) ‘Empirical practician’: can describe the correct actions, but descriptions are based on experience and stereotypes. Keywords: professional speech, professional thinking, professional reality, types of professionals

Appearance without Reduction

Husserl understood “reduction” as the method with which scientific philosophy achieved a more exact description of things by bracketing out the question of their real existence. To this the chapter replies that even in the “natural attitude” there is reduction; perception is always concerned with the essence of phenomena, not with their existence. Yet there are some phenomena that are not susceptible of description by reduction, since agnosticism about their existence would falsify the appearance. Other people appear irreducibly, and so does speech itself. If we are to claim that God appears, we must assert that his appearance, too, is irreducible.