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Much from George and W.B. Yeats's channelling sessions left little or no trace in A Vision yet provided important material for the poet. The Daimon, an antagonist spiritual counterpart, though unclear in A Vision, was a vital concept to Yeats, and could be symbolised in bird or animal form; similarly, the dove and swan that appear in the annunciations to Mary and Leda embody the daimonic on a macrocosmic scale. Another daimonic beast at both individual and world level is the unicorn; one related to the new religious age is the sphinx, which embodies a complex conjunction of ideas, including the reawakening of ancient ways of thought. The Daimon brings crisis to human life, and the daimonic beasts are associated with crisis in world history, the irruption of the irrational divine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to an overview of entomological imagery (spiders, ants, cockroaches, flies, etc.) in Dostoevsky’s literary and journalistic texts. The author focuses on the difference between the autological and metalogical (comparison, metaphor, symbol) use of images of insects and traces their frequency and artistic specifics in different periods of the writer’s work. The sharp increase in the number of entomological images since 1860s is related to the formation of a new artistic anthropology in Dostoevsky based on his convict experience. Special attention is paid in the article to the entomological image of bugs, which has not attracted large attention from the researchers of the writer’s artistic world.

Of the earliest Christian authors whose interpretation of the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21–22 has gone missing, the case of Melito of Sardis is perhaps the most regrettable. Heir to early Asian Johannine tradition and author of a lost treatise on Revelation, Melito had a high regard for the text. However, his view on the text's much-contested New Jerusalem – whether it is literal, this-worldly, and millennial or allegorical, spiritual, and perhaps immanent – has never been studied. Building on and adding to an emerging consensus that Melito was not a millennialist, I attempt to reconstruct Melito's understanding of the New Jerusalem by drawing on his Peri Pascha and surviving fragments from elsewhere in his corpus. In the end, I discover him to have a firmly ecclesiological and mystical understanding of the city. That he advanced this understanding, which he presents without qualification or apology, indicates further that Melito likely bears witness to a yet earlier spiritual and allegorical reading of Revelation's Heavenly Jerusalem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Puritan minister Increase Mather's first publication, The Mystery of Israel's Salvation (London, 1669), originated in a series of lectures he delivered in Boston in 1666 and early 1667. These lectures were occasioned by reports that the twelve tribes of Israel were returning to Palestine under the inspiration of the self-styled messiah Shabbetai Tzvi (d. 1676). This essay explains why Mather and those Anglo-American Protestant contemporaries who shared his vision of the millennium were intrigued by Shabbetai even though they remained convinced that Jesus was the messiah; and why other Protestant contemporaries disliked this particular form of millennialism, which is sometimes termed Judeocentric millenarianism or Judeocentrism. Judeocentric millenarianism was controversial because it explicitly elevated the twelve tribes, upon their miraculous and massive conversion to Christianity, to a position of millennial superiority over gentile Christians. The essay also addresses an important point of chronology: the Sabbatian movement collapsed (but did not vanish entirely) following Shabbetai's conversion to Islam in mid-1666. Mather edited his lectures for publication after he learned of the movement's collapse. Thus his Mystery of Israel's Salvation was not a transcript of his lectures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Church in the World / Crkva u Svijetu is the property of University of Split, Catholic Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The ecological environment of the Tibetan Plateau, known as the "Third Pole of the Earth", is extremely sensitive and fragile. With rapid societal development, environmental problems on the Tibetan Plateau have become prominent, as it is downwind of the emission sources from densely populated areas in the Middle East and South Asia, and the plateau has become one of the regions significantly affected by transboundary pollutant transmission (including black carbon, BC). The Tibetan Plateau has a long history of life and religious sacrifices, including aromatic plant-burning, which were recorded in the geologic record; therefore, BC can be used as a potential indicator to study the changes in religious activities. In this study, BC analysis was carried out based on the plausible dating framework tested by the AMS 14C and 137Cs methods on successive sediment cores from Lake Dalzong, an alpine lake in the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northeast of the Tibetan Plateau. It was found that the BC in the lake sediments mainly accumulated through proximity wet deposition, and its content changes reflected the prevalence of surrounding religious activities. The study results indicate that the area of Lake Dalzong has experienced three periods of enhanced religious activities in the last millennium: 1490–1565 CE (mid-Ming Dynasty), 1810–1890 CE (late Qing Dynasty), and 1920 CE to the present (since the founding of the Republic of China), and the increase in religious activities on this centennial time scale is a response to concurrent social development. This study is the first to extract information on the variation in religious activities from lake sediments on the Tibetan Plateau, which will help advance the study of the historical context of the Anthropocene on the Tibetan Plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of IUG Journal of Humanitarian Research is the property of Islamic University of Gaza and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Chinese diasporic literature is alert to China's rise as a major political and economic power in the 21st century. In the novel Five Star Billionaire (2013), Chinese Malaysian author Tash Aw focuses on the megacity of Shanghai to capture China's economic and cultural vibrancy in the new millennium. Aw's novel shows that he is not only excited but also trepidatious about the implications of 21st-century China's emergence as a superpower. In his non-fiction essay The Face: Strangers on a Pier (2016), Aw represents the diasporic Chinese subject as a world traveller and cosmopolite, someone who embraces the exhilaration of transnational mobility. Unconstrained by the demands and imperatives of the nation state, Aw's huáqiáo (overseas Chinese) readily travels abroad to tap global opportunities as well as to meditate on the delineations of Chinese diasporic identity in the new millennium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the linguistic issues which are involved in the interpretation of Rev 20:4–5. It demonstrates that the aorist tense-form of ἔζησαν in v. 4 neither necessarily nor even likely here results in the inchoative reading favored by premillennialist interpreters. It also provides two readings of v. 5 which fit naturally with a non-inchoative reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comenius is considered by many scholars to be the father of modern education, a title that he has thoroughly earned. His ideas about universal education for all children foreshadowed modern pedagogical developments, and he dedicated more than forty years of his life to reforming education and society. The question guiding this research was: Why was Comenius so dedicated to reform efforts, and why were his ideas about education so peculiar for his time? Through a review of existing scholarship and Comenius’ own writing, namely the Labyrinth, Didactic, and the Orbis Pictus, it became clear that Comenius was inspired by the millenarian ideology prevalent during the fifteenth through the seventeenth centuries in Europe as well as the effects that the turbulence of the seventeenth century had on his own life. These factors also led Comenius to believe that educational reform was the key to unlocking Pansophy, which would incite the Millennium, the golden age of peace and prosperity that would precede the second coming of Christ and the final judgement of God.

This article investigates the political nature and involvement of millennialism as a religious phenomenon. It, firstly, offers a brief analysis of how millennialism shifted from a significant, but marginal role player in the history of Christianity to become part of the mainstream religious discourse in recent times. It then seeks to explain how this came about by analysing the way this development continues and resonates with the political language and thought of the 19th-century religious discourse in the United States and in early modern England since the 16th century. It finally investigates the dangerous consequences of politicising eschatology by specifically analysing the role of Israel in millennial expectations.

Revelation 20:1–10 has been discussed and debated from the earliest of times within Christian circles. The question has always been whether Revelation 20 ‘occurs’ after the return of Jesus Christ or whether it is to be appreciated as having a unique contribution to the overall message of the Apocalypse addressing the present church age. The objective of this article is to argue for the coherent complex structure of the Apocalypse including Revelation 20:1–10. The method will be a study of the entire Apocalypse to demonstrate how it functions coherently within its genre. The goal is to argue for a meaningful appreciation of the unique contribution of Revelation 20:1–10 to the present eschatological context of the church within the overall theological thrust. The chances of this chapter succeeding the return of Jesus Christ depicted in Revelation 19, as some would argue, are very remote. Three major themes are given in these 10 verses which are covered within the overall body of the Apocalypse and find a climax in this important chapter.

Eschatology is a theme that lies close to the heartbeat of the church. It is particularly true in terms of understanding and interpreting Revelation 20:1–10. This is said, because there is a tendency among many theologians and preachers to qualify eschatology in terms of the millennium as being displayed in this pericope of the Bible. A hermeneutical commentary on Revelation 20:1–10 wants to go to the text itself in order to comprehend and appreciate what is written. One should ask in terms of this pericope: What was John’s intent to say to the church of his time? In doing so, it became clear that John mediated the conflict between forces of light and darkness in mainly symbolic, figurative, visionary and descriptive ways that is prophetic-apocalyptic in manner. This accentuates that too much emphasis is placed on the millennium as a rather minor concept in the Bible. Eschatology should not be qualified by the millennium as such, but by Christ who, in the conflict between light and darkness, is conducting God’s plan of salvation to its final fulfilment. The focus therefore is not on debating a theological viewpoint in terms of the millennium (whether pre-, post- or a-millennial), but rather to get clarity on the redemptive message of this portion of the Bible. Its intention is to give hope and consolation in times of substantial persecution among the believers of the Early Church. It is a message that reaches to heaven without neglecting the earth.

This article investigates the political nature and involvement of millennialism as a religious phenomenon. It, firstly, offers a brief analysis of how millennialism shifted from a significant, but marginal role player in the history of Christianity to become part of the mainstream religious discourse in recent times. It then seeks to explain how this came about by analysing the way this development continues and resonates with the political language and thought of the 19th-century religious discourse in the United States and in early modern England since the 16th century. It finally investigates the dangerous consequences of politicising eschatology by specifically analysing the role of Israel in millennial expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A 3419-year Qilian juniper tree-ring width chronology was developed for the Buerhanbuda Mts., southeastern Qaidam Basin, China. • The annual (July-June) precipitation from 902 BCE to 2015 CE was reconstructed for the study area. • The reconstruction contained strong regional climate signals for the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and its vicinity. In this study, we developed the tree-ring width chronology for the period of 1404 BCE to 2015 CE using Qilian juniper (Sabina przewalskii Kom.) trees collected from the Buerhanbuda Mts. in the southeastern Qaidam Basin (QB) near Nuomuhong Village, Qinghai Province. This is the first and longest chronology to date in this region. Based on the relationships between the tree-ring width chronology and climate data, the annual precipitation from previous July to current June (July-June) was reconstructed for the past 2917 years from 902 BCE to 2015 CE. This reconstruction accounted for 47.9% of the total variance in the actual July-June precipitation in the calibration period (1957–2015). The full reconstruction captured distinct wet and dry variability, and contained evidence of some low-frequency climate signals. We identified 13 wet and 12 dry periods, of which 1443–1503 CE and 1789–1836 CE were the two longest dry periods. General agreements in the low-frequency variations between the July-June precipitation and other moisture-sensitive records for the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) suggested that the reconstruction in this study represented a regional signal. Spatial correlations with gridded precipitation data also indicated that the reconstructed July-June precipitation could adequately represent climate fluctuations over a large area of the northeastern TP. The new tree-ring width chronology and precipitation reconstruction are important for understanding natural climate change in the southeastern QB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planetary wave-breaking can lead to large-scale atmospheric circulation anomalies and favour high-impact weather occurrences. For example, the simultaneous occurrence of anti-cyclonic wave-breaking to the south of the North Atlantic jet and cyclonic wave-breaking to the north, here termed double wave-breaking, has been linked to heightened frequencies of explosive cyclones in the Atlantic basin and destructive windstorms over Western and Continental Europe. The present study analyses the long-term temporal variability of wintertime cyclonic and anti-cyclonic wave-breaking, and the resulting double wave-breaking, in the North Atlantic. We use reanalysis data, proxy reconstructions of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and a 1000-year coupled global climate model equilibrium simulation under constant pre-industrial forcing. The wave-breaking wavelet spectra highlight a significant ultra-centennial variability in double wave-breaking frequency, which is largely mirrored in the variability of the NAO. However, we note that the NAO wavelet spectra in the different datasets display significant discrepancies. The low-frequency wave-breaking variability is reflected in long-term anomalies of the large-scale atmospheric circulation in the Euro-Atlantic sector. The 100-year periods with the most and least double wave-breaking occurrences display significant and opposite anomalies in both upper and lower-level wind, as well as in the frequency of extreme temperature events and in the magnitude of wind destructiveness over Europe. The latter broadly resembles the wind destructiveness anomalies associated with individual double wave-breaking instances in reanalysis data. The existence of low-frequency variability in an atmospheric pattern related to high-impact weather events has important implications for the study and interpretation of climate change projections and of possible future NAO changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Aim The aim of this study is to answer the question whether the calculated dose distributions for HD and Millennium collimators (Varian Medical Systems) are equivalent for large treatment volumes. Background Modern biomedical linacs are equipped with multileaf collimators where leaves can be of different widths. Thinner leaves allow better fit to desired (tumor) shape. At the same time, however, the maximum size of the field that can be obtained with the collimator is also reduced. Varian Medical Systems HD and Millennium collimators can be a good sample. They have 40 cm or 22 cm × 40 cm maximal field size at the isocenter, respectively. Materials and methods This paper presents the comparison of selected statistical and dosimetric parameters achieved for treatment plans where the beams for a HD collimator had to be merged because of the size of the tumor volume. Results and discussion Achieved results show that, independently from irradiated volume, there is no statistically significant difference for calculated dose distributions, integral doses, MU values and coefficients evaluating dose distributions for HD and Millennium collimators. Conclusions Results show that both types of collimators can be used interchangeably for preparing the treatment plans for large tumor volume without quality reduction of the prepared treatment plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2030 Agenda comprises 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or Global Goals, which will guide policy and funding for the next 15 years, beginning with a historic pledge to end poverty. Everywhere. Permanently. The concept of the SDGs was born at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in 2012. The objective was to produce a set of universally applicable goals that balances the three dimensions of sustainable development: environmental, social, and economic. The Global Goals replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which in September 2000 rallied the world around a common 15-year agenda to tackle the indignity of poverty. The MDGs established measurable, universally-agreed objectives for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, preventing deadly but treatable disease, and expanding educational opportunities to all children, among other development imperatives. Today there are more than one billion youth in the world. In the developing world, half of the population is below the age of 21 and most of them face extreme poverty in this context the UN General Council declared 12 August as International Youth Day on 17 December 1999 so that the “World Programme of Action for Youth to the Year 2000 and Beyond” that was prepared to combat these problems and to make communities more conscious of these problems can be convened every year on a specific date. Youth who come together every year since 2000 in the context of these delegations discuss social, economic, cultural issues and issues related to human development and publish declarations. The sport sector, which gathers millions of people, practitioners, and professionals from all ages across the five continents, has contributed significantly to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and is looking forward to accelerating its efforts in within the post-2015 Development Agenda. In this study Global Goals or Sustainable Development Goals and the Millennium Development Goals will be assessed in terms of youth and sports activities.

Hungarian films produced after the year 2000 build on the historical reality of the fall of communism and anticipate, or come to terms with, entry into the European Union. This article will explore six films that deal with history through multiple perspectives to dramatize the dynamic between historical events and human responses to them. These films reference history, or efface it, as a way of problematizing the relationship between human behavior and history. Colossal Sensation [Világszám – Dodó és Naftalin] (2005) and Children of Glory [Szabadság, szerelem] (2006), for example, examine Hungarians’ moments of defiance during the 1956 uprising but shape historical events to fit human constructs. Contemporary history provides satire of rising capitalism in The District! [Nyócker!] (2005) whose plot weaves historical figures into a modern rendition of Romeo and Juliette. Miracle in Krakow [Csoda Krakkóban] (2004) also presents a book as its central metaphor, and, like The District!, the book allows some of history’s uglier moments to be erased. Béla Tarr’s Werkmeister Harmonies [Werkmeister harmóniák] (2000) and Nimród Antal’s Control [Kontroll] (2003), films without overt historical markers, provide allegorical visions of societal unrest that can be read as allusions to millennial concerns.

The article is devoted to the study of political eschatology in three aspects: state messianic ideology, utopianism and apocalypses ideology. It is argued that these three models of public relations are based on the eschatological models of Millennium, respectively: amillennialism, postmillennialism and premillennialism. It is argued that the formed eschatological models affect the social and political activity of citizens as a powerful motivating factor. It is suggested, when conducting research in the field of political and public theology, to pay special attention to the eschatological views of the population as a powerful effective motivational force of influence on the religiously active part of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Proxy-based reconstructions of the Asian Summer Monsoon exhibit variability over multiple scales, from inter-annual to centennial. The relationship between East Asia Summer Monsoon (EASM) variability and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) over the last millennium remains unclear and a focus of current research. This study investigates this relationship using observations, reanalysis data, proxy-based reconstructions, and a control simulation using the Community Earth System Model (CESM). The results derived from both the observation/reanalysis/proxy-based reconstruction and the simulation show consistently that the relationship between EASM strength and Niño3.4 SST is divergent. The observation/reanalysis data illustrate strong negative correlations between Niño3.4 SST and EASM strength at an annual scale in the 1920s-1930s and 1980s-1990s, with weak correlations during other periods. The proxy-based reconstruction demonstrates strong negative correlations at inter-decadal scales from the 1360s to the 1530s, with either weak correlations or positive correlations during other periods. Moreover, the simulations reveal positive correlations in some periods and negative or weak correlations in other periods. The simulations demonstrate that the divergent relationship may be derived from multi-decadal variations in Pacific SST caused by internal variability in the climate system, likely due to the Inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). The EASM variation is usually in (out of) phase with Niño3.4 SST during the positive (negative) phase of the IPO. In the positive phase of the IPO, there is a tripolar pattern expressed in a cyclone-anticyclone-cyclone arrangement at pressure level of 850 hPa from the tropics to mid-latitudes over the northwest Pacific. Warming of the Niño3.4 strengthens the tropical cyclone by weakening the trade winds and subsequently strengthening the subtropical anticyclone, leading to a strong Meiyu front, which suggests a strong EASM. However, in the negative phase of the IPO, a huge cyclone occupies the northwest Pacific. Warming of the Niño3.4 strengthens the cyclone by weakening the trade winds, which leads to a weak Meiyu front, which suggests a weak EASM. These results may be helpful in further understanding the mechanisms through which the ENSO and IPO impact the atmospheric circulations in the Asian Pacific, especially regarding the long-term variations in EASM at inter-annual to inter-decadal scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photocatalytic activities of TiO2 Degussa P25 and Millennium PCs (PC50, PC100, PC105 and PC500) were evaluated by the photocatalytic degradation of Bromothymol Blue (BTB). The relationship between the photocatalytic reaction and the adsorption of BTB on the TiO2 catalysts at acidic, natural and basic mediums of pH was investigated. The crystalline phase, average crystalline size and surface area of the catalyst were found to have a significant influence on the adsorption and photocatalytic activity of the TiO2 samples. The mixed phase of anatase/rutile (Degussa P25) was found to be the most efficient photocatalytical material than pure phase anatase (Millennium PCs) and faster degradation is observed for PC500 compared to other Millennium PCs, this was attributed to the high surface area of PC500. Within the PC50, PC100 and PC105 series, the photocatalytic efficiency increased with the decrease of the surface area. The COD and TOC removals increased slowly, however, the decolorization ratio of BTB increased rapidly at the same time. Thereafter, the efficiency of P25 and PC500 were compared in presence of H2O2, Cl− and HCO3− at different mediums of pH. H2O2 was found to enhance strongly the BTB degradation in presence of P25 with an optimum at natural pH. In contrast, the reaction was inhibited in the presence of PC500, due to the inhibition of dye adsorption. At different pH, the BTB degradation has been significantly inhibited in the presence of the mixtures of HCO3−/H2O2. In contrast, the mixtures of Cl−/H2O2 accelerate the BTB degradation at acidic pH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, the University of Cádiz Library carried out the migration of the integrated library management system (ILS) Millennium to Koha, an open source program. Based on the technological and economic situation of the library, this paper describes in detail the process of selecting the new ILS, stages of migration, parameter adjustment and deployment process. At the conclusion of the project, Koha is positively valued, as well as the process carried out for its implementation at the University of Cadiz Library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many researchers have been citing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) because of the simplicity of the model without considering actual applications in their studies. This paper presented some of the criticisms and limitations of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), taking into consideration, the use of the model technology-related studies across various disciplines particularly in social sciences, educations and management researches. The TAM limitations, critiques and criticism were presented based on the literature review, the model suitability and practical application of the model within enterprises and institutional context. The paper used a desktop research approach. The paper objective addressed the limitation and of the TAM model, and presented a modified model for LIS and social sciences research general applications. However, this paper argues that the TAM model was more appropriate for individual use and acceptance of technology rather than in a corporate or institutional application that requires integration of information technology. The paper uses literature as secondary data and insights gathered from attempts to utilize the model for doctoral studies to presents its limitations and impracticality in an institutional environment. However, based on the findings from the field research, a Technology Acceptance and Use Model was proposed which takes into account, the identified limitations and criticism of TAM, companies' rules and regulations regarding how technology is used for different business processes. The core argument is that staff IT proficiency and experiences promote the ease of use of technology, while technology acceptance and intention is moderated by the company's rules, policy, and IT guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conference report details two integrated library system (ILS) migration projects from Innovative Interfaces, Inc.’s Millennium to ExLibris’ Alma from the perspective of an individual research library, Colorado State University, and a multi-university and college consortial environment, Connecticut State Colleges and Universities. Discussion topics include technical aspects of migrating ILS data and the psychological impact on staff. The authors also explore the benefits such as license record management and the analytics feature for statistical reports, and shortcomings of the migration project such as the overreliance on Basecamp and ExLibris’ support with migrating Innovative Interface’s ILS data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first bishop of Turkia, Hierotheos and his collaborators began to work among the Hungarians in the middle of the 10th century: they introduced Christianity to Gyula’s territory, but some sources report that other Hungarian tribes were involved as well. As their seals were preserved, three of his successors are known: Theophylaktos, Antonios and Demetrios. However, we do not have any details about them (their origin, the dates of their episcopate, etc.), but it is probable that they Christianized on the territory of Gyula the younger until 1003, and later on the territory of Ajtony. Turkia became metropolia between the end of the 10th century and 1025; presumably the bishops were active there until that year. The promotion to a higher rank might have been the result of the time passed, the Byzantine-Hungarian alliance and Ajtony’s baptism. After Ajtony’s defeat, the monasteries took over the pastoral care of the Eastern Christians. Although the Byzantine Church began the Hungarians’ conversion, it was completed by the Western Church. In historiography it is widely believed that the Hungarian would have disappeared or would have been marginalized, if they had not joined the Western Church. This common belief is easily refuted, if we consider the example of the Eastern European Ortodox states whose historical development was similar to the Hungarian one from the Middle Agesto the modern era,yet none of disappeared.

The Jewish apocalyptic literature that first appears in the Hellenistic period and continues into the Common Era developed a radically novel view of the future. As formulated in the apocalypse of 4 Ezra about the end of the first century CE, the Most High created not one world but two. This world must be utterly destroyed and replaced by a new creation. This view of the future is inherited in the New Testament, most strikingly in the Book of Revelation. It would have enormous but ambivalent implications for western history. On the one hand, it threatened to undermine the importance of working for a better life in this world. On the other hand, it offered hope to those who would otherwise have no hope at all.

Background: Childhood and maternal mortality rates are formal indicators of health-care performance of a country. Venezuela's official data from the Ministry of health is not published continuously and opportunely since 2013, until the time of this publication. Objectives: Assessment of the last official report published from the Ministry of Health of Venezuela in regards to child and maternal health indicators for 2016. Comparing previously mentioned rates with member countries of the Pan-American Health Organization, and evaluate the health-related performance of the Millennium Development Goals. Methods: Health Impact Assessment study. Secondary data analysis of the 2016's epidemiological bulletin from the Ministry of Health of Venezuela, and Pan-American Health Organization 2016's Health Bulletin. Results: Infant mortality in Venezuela increased 30% in 2016 from 2015, maternal mortality rate increased around 40% within the same period. Venezuela's infant and maternal mortality rates are the higher rates within the region apart from Bolivia and Guyana. Vaccine preventable diseases and deficient basic public health interventions are the main causes of its increase. Conclusions: Venezuela's child and maternal mortality rates show a high increase in their numbers, which sets the country far from reaching the health-related goals of United Nations' Millennium Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A continuous reconstruction of quantitative paleotemperatures in the Holocene was conducted by using alkenone sea surface temperature (SST) measurements from coastal sedimentary cores because of the strong correlation of SST with atmospheric temperature (AT) in the coastal bay area. This analysis enabled us to estimate a record of temperatures in western Japan with high and low time resolution during the last 3000 and 10,000 years, respectively. The reconstructed SSTs were validated by historical documents and records after 600 AD. A long-term trend of declining SSTs can be attributed mainly to changes in solar radiation and sea level and, to a lesser extent, changes in the Asian monsoon. Interestingly, the profile was quite different from those reported from the open ocean. During the last three millennia, the SSTs (ATs) fluctuated by 2.1 °C, with a maximum in 820 AD (24.3 °C [25.9 °C]) and two minima in 760 BC (22.2 °C [23.8 °C]) and 990 AD (22.4 °C [24.0 °C]). Low temperatures were also observed in 220–110 BC, 560–620 AD, and other periods. Historical documents suggest a notable cold period from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. The overall mean value (23.6 °C) was comparable to the average value in the mid-20th century, whereas the top sediments had an SST of 24.6 °C, which is higher than the maximum observed in the previous 3000 years. Although a cold climate was definitely observed in 1440–1730 AD, which almost corresponded to the Little Ice Age, the Medieval Warm Period was not identified in this study. These temperature fluctuations cannot be explained by a single cause but rather by more than one external and internal driver of climate variability (e.g., volcanic forcing, ocean-atmosphere interactions, and solar forcing). With respect to the influence of climate on human activity, major shifts in social systems appeared to coincide with cold periods in western Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]