Search

The article "Divine Roots: The Etymology of Thoth" examines the etymology of the Egyptian god Thoth. It is suggested that the name Thoth is derived from an ancient Egyptian root meaning "bright" or "white" and represents lunar concepts. The analysis shows that the names of some gods can be found in lexical roots that become unproductive in later stages of the Egyptian lexicon. The article discusses various etymological theories about the origin of the name Thoth and explores the connections between the Egyptian word for Thoth and the Hebrew word for ibis. It also points out that wordplay and folk etymologies in Egyptian religious texts can have theological significance but do not explain the origin of a name. [Extracted from the article]

Meat has been identified as one of the food categories at most risk of food fraud. Meat species substitution has been in the spotlight with the European horse meat scandal in 2013. Analysis of cases reported on the web shows that incidents of meat substitution are still recurring worldwide. Altogether these cases highlight significant weaknesses in the supply chain transparency and traceability of raw meat materials. This has triggered recent progress from the food industry to apply new software tools enabling the mapping of meat supply chains. Nevertheless, a meat vulnerability assessment showed that meat and derivatives are highly susceptible to many fraudulent malpractices. Therefore, more effective measures are needed to manage the risk and new analytical solutions are required to increase the deterrence of meat adulteration and rapid detection of fraud. DNA-based methods have evolved rapidly as shown with the application of the new LCD array and Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in order to detect broad meat species adulteration. Moreover, new technologies such as NGS together with the Rapid Evaporative Ionization Mass Spectrometry (REIMS) are emerging as a really promising association of analytical approaches for rapid detection of several malpractices.

No abstract.

The present text is a report of a workshop session on Roman fresco-making led by the artist Rayda Guzmán. The workshop was held in Nov. 2016 and was integrated within the programme of an undergraduate module on Ancient Pompeii and its Modern Receptions (Classical Ciivilisation degree) at the University of Roehampton (London). The workshop consisted of a theoretical and a practical session, during which the students were asked to reproduce grafments of a large naturalistic fresco. Both parts of the session were visually documented step by step; the vidos are now available on YouTube (The Roman Fresco Experience, Roehampton).

Abstract The mammalian sex determining gene, SRY, is the founding member of the new growing family of Sox (SRY-like HMG-box gene) genes. Sox genes encode transcription factors with diverse roles in development, and a few of them are involved in sex determination and differentiation. We report here the existence of Sox genes in the rice field eel, Monopterus albus, and DNA sequence information of the HMG box region of five Sox genes. The Sox1, Sox4 and Sox14 genes do not have introns in the HMG box region. The Sox9 gene and Sox17 gene, which each have an intron in the conserved region, show strong identity at the amino acid level with the corresponding genes of mammals and chickens. Similar structure and identity of the Sox9 and Sox17 genes among mammals, chickens and fish suggest that these genes have evolutionarily conserved roles, potentially including sex determination and differentiation.

Charles RAGIN's work, especially his development of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), offers social scientists a way of bringing together the strengths of the qualitative and quantitative traditions. QCA takes a case-based rather than a variable-based analytic approach to cross-case analysis. One problem that arises in attempting to use QCA to explore causation in larger datasets, especially survey datasets, is that the detailed case knowledge available to those working in the qualitative tradition is usually unavailable. In the same way therefore that it can be difficult to establish causation from correlational analyses, the derivation of causal claims from QCA analyses can also be problematic. We discuss these problems in detail and then argue that they can be addressed by using QCA to identify particular types of cases for detailed within-case analysis focusing on causal processes. More specifically, we show how such in-depth, within-case analysis can identify factors that can be used to improve QCA models, including those used to select these cases for analysis. We illustrate this particular mode of combining methods by drawing on our work on educational transitions in Germany, drawing on both the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) dataset and 43 individual interviews with German 17-year olds. URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs120247

This article explores significant notions of home and belonging among first- and second-generation Cuban immigrants in South Florida. The analyses are derived from biographical narrative interviews with six Cuban Americans. Three key subjects were in the biographical life stories—the notion of escape or leaving, the sense of home, and constructions of Cuban identity. In assessing these themes, we found there to be profound differences between the generations. Moreover, these Cuban biographies demonstrate how differing stories of migration provide new theoretical perspectives on immigration, transnationalism, and ethnicity. The experiences presented and discussed here connect to the ambivalence and complexity of belongingness and interpretations of Cuban-ness. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903134

Historically, young women have been the object of social control, often in the name of filial honor. This article addresses a particular phenomenon of such social control as it is experienced by first- and second-generation female immigrants from Cuba and Haiti who are living in South Florida in the United States. This theme is explored by analyzing the life stories of six immigrants from these countries. The biographical stories of immigrant women reveal how social control operates in the context of transnationalism through controlling processes, internalization of gender expectations, and dominating discourse. It is also argued how social control manipulates and restricts female spaces and operates across spaces in a transnational manner from homelands to host nations. The main conclusion of the study is that a family's relocation to the United States for the purpose of political, social, or economic freedom does not necessarily result in liberation from restrictive social control for young women from such immigrant families. The "transnationality of social control" is therefore understood as the hegemonic domination of female bodies and behaviors through the mimesis of reified and remembered spaces of homelands in host societies. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0903142

The Russian power ministries account for a steadily growing share of total spending under the federal budget. The article will explore the evidence on the funding of the Russian power ministries, its structure, share of gross domestic product and trends over time. Changing priorities will be assessed. The handling of such spending in the budgetary process will be examined, including the role of the Federal Assembly. Much spending on the power ministries is classified and secrecy has increased during the period of Putin’s leadership. What does the secrecy conceal and what forces account for the urge to classify?

Solution-phase approaches in combinatorial chemistry complement solid-phase approaches and each can be used to advantage in particular circumstances. Solution-phase synthesis of pools of compounds, whilst allowing successful identification of a selection of good lead structures for medicinal chemistry programmes, also reinforced a number of the disadvantages of such an approach. Solution-phase parallel synthesis of discrete compounds has, however, proved to be a very useful and popular approach both for lead generation and in lead optimisation work. The range of chemistry suitable for use in such approaches is expanding rapidly and some of these chemistries are discussed. The current focus is on enhancing the quality of compounds prepared in array formats, and we describe a number of useful approaches which are being developed to that end.