The Church Fathers of the 4th and 5th Centuries about Women and Marriage

Autor se u članku bavi pitanjem ženidbe i položajem žene u društvu i Crkvi 4. i 5. st. i to kroz pogled četvorice velikih crkvenih Otaca koji su svojom mišlju obilježili vrijeme u kojem su živjeli, ali i sljedeća stoljeća kršćanstva. Istražuje misli o ženi i ženidbi kod četvorice velikih crkvenih otaca, Jeronima i Augustina na Zapadu, te Grgura Nazijanskog i Ivana Zlatoustog na Istoku. Premda su odrasli u kulturi koja je izrazito negativno nastrojena prema ženi, ipak će istočni crkveni oci, Grgur Nazijanski i Ivan Zlatousti, iskazati veće poštovanje prema ženi od zapadnih crkvenih otaca. To posebno vrijedi za Grgura Nazijanskog čija je misao obilježena dubokim pozitivnim iskustvom života u vlastitoj obitelji te ulogom majke u toj obitelji. Autor je također ukazao i na duboko prijateljstvo koje je vladalo između Jeronima i udovice Paule te Ivana Zlatoustog i đakonise Olimpijade.The author deals with the issue of marriage and the position of women in society and in the Church of the 4th and 5th century, through the view of the four great church’s fathers who, in their minds, marked the time in which they lived, but also the following centuries of Christianity. In the introductory part of the article, the author offers a brief glimpse into the position of women in both the antic West and the East, pointing to the novelty of Christianity, especially to the doctrine of the marriage’s indissolubility. In the second part of the article, the author explores the thoughts of women and marriages in the four great church’s fathers, Jerome and Augustine in the West, and Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom in the East. Though they grew up in the western part of Christianity, who somehow respected the woman and acknowledged her some rights, however, both Jerome and Augustine, in the trace of the previous ecclesial tradition, would show the woman as “weaker sex”, as the one who fell first in sin and with her fall caused the state of the fallen humanity. Although grown up in a culture that is extremely negative to the woman, the eastern church’s fathers, Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom, will show greater respect for the women than Western church’s fathers. This is particularly appreciated by the Gregory Nazianzus whose thought is marked by the profound positive experience of life in his own family and the role of his mother in that family. The author also pointed out the profound friendship that ruled between Jerome and widow Paula and John Chrysostom and the deaconess Olympias

Living in a care home during COVID-19: A case study of one person living with dementia

Purpose This paper aims to understand the lived experience of a person living with dementia in a care home during the COVID-19 pandemic. It responds to the absence in research of the voices of people with dementia living in care homes during the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts a single case study design applied thematic analysis to semi-structured interview data to discover the experiences of one person living with dementia in a care home during a period of lockdown. Findings Five themes reveal how the participant responded to the practical and emotional challenges of the pandemic: autonomy; fears; keeping connected; keeping safe and other people living with dementia. These themes highlight the participant’s ability to adapt, accept and dispute lockdown restrictions, revealing considerable insight into their situation. Research limitations/implications The pandemic has restricted access to care homes, which informed the single case study design. This approach to the research may restrict the generalisability of the findings. Other researchers are encouraged to include the voices of people with dementia living in care homes in further studies. Practical implications Implications for practice, presented in this paper, promote quality psychosocial approaches when health-care workers engage with people living with dementia during periods of restricted activity. Originality/value Unlike other studies about the impact of the pandemic on care homes, this paper explores the experience of the pandemic in care homes from the perspective of a person living with dementia

Validation of an ex vivo, loaded, circumfusion culture for living cancellous bone explants

The goal of this project was to validate a novel, mechanically loaded culture system, for the maintenance of cancellous bone explants ex vivo. The Zetos system utilised cancellous biopsies (5 mm high, 10 mm diameter) from ovine distal femora, bovine distal metacarpals and human femoral heads loaded daily for 300 cycles, at 1 Hz, giving 4,000 microstrain. Prior to culture, qualitative evaluation of bone density and overall morphology was conducted. These tissues were highly variable with bovine tissue being the most homogenous with regards to density and that each species contained different ratios of red and yellow marrow. The viability of bone cells and matrix synthesis were analysed using a variety of techniques. The outcome of this study was that diffusion constraints were the major limitation of this system. Chamber design was not optimal for bathing the explants, which was inferior to submerged static culture in centrifuge tubes. Harvesting the tissue created damage to the bone core that resulted in a maximal volume loss of 36%, which also encouraged unwanted growth of a fibrous-like tissue over the explant periphery in a wound-like response, possibly enhanced by foetal calf serum in the media. Nevertheless, 3H-glycine incorporation detected proteins synthesised during day 7 and 14 of culture. Collagen was the predominant protein synthesised. Fluorochrome labelling demonstrated human bone apposition during culture, but was unsuccessful with bovine and ovine tissue. Mechanically loaded explants were qualitatively more viable than unloaded disuse explants and submerged static controls. These results demonstrate cell viability at least 15 days post-harvest. If the limitations can be improved, then there is potential for this system to become routinely used in bone research. This system would provide a future means to allow bone-biomaterial interactions and interfaces to be studied, reducing, refining and replacing the need for animal experimentation

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Acoustic resonance testing of additive manufactured lattice structure

Additive manufacturing (AM) allows engineers to design and manufacture complex weight saving lattice structures with relative ease. These structures, however, present a challenge for inspection. A non-destructive testing and evaluation method used to assess material properties and quality is the focus of this paper, namely acoustic resonance (AR) testing. For this research, AR testing was conducted on weight saving lattice structures (fine and coarse) manufactured by powder bed fusion. The suitability of AR testing was assessed through a combined approach of experimental testing and FE modelling. A sensitivity study was conducted on the FE model to quantify the influence of element coarseness on the resonant frequency prediction and this needs to be taken into account in the application and analysis of the technique. The analysis was extended to extract effective modulus values for the lattice structures and the solid materials from every detected overtone, allowing for multiple measurements from a single AR test without the need to carefully isolate the fundamental. The AR and FE modelling modulus of elasticity values were validated using specimens of known properties. There was fair agreement between the FE and compression test extracted values of effective modulus for the coarse lattice. For the fine lattice, there was agreement in the values of effective modulus extracted from AR, 3-point bend, and compression experimental tests carried out. It was found that loose powder fusing from AM resulted in the fine lattice structure having a higher density (at least 1.5 times greater) than calculated due to the effect of loose powder adhesion. This effect resulted in an increased stiffness of the fine lattice structure. AR can be used as a measure of determining loose powder adhesion and other unique structural characteristics resulting from AM

Numerical simulation of creep notched bar of P91 steel

Numerous components designed for use at elevated temperatures now exhibit multiaxial stress states as a result of geometric modification and material inhomogeneity. It is necessary to anticipate the creep rupture life of such components when subjected to multiaxial load. In this work finite element analysis has been performed to study the influence of different notches, namely blunt and medium notches on the stress distribution across the notch throat during the creep exposure. Within the FE model, a ductility exhaustion model based on the Cocks and Ashby model was utilized to forecast the creep rupture time of notched bar P91 material. The lower and upper bound of creep ductility are employed in the FE analysis. Different notch specimens have different stress and damage distribution. It is shown that for both types of notches, the von Mises stress is lower than the net stress, indicating the notch strengthening effect. The accumulation of creep damage in the minimum cross-section at each element across the notch throat increases over time. The point at which damage first occurs is closer to the notch root for the medium notch than for the blunt notch. The long-term rupture life predicted for blunt notch specimens appears to be comparable to that of uniaxial specimens. The upper bound creep ductility better predicts the rupture life for medium notches