"And Gabriel kept on writing" (Megilla 16a) : literary features of traditions involving supernatural entities in the Babylonian Talmud according to the Elyonim veTachtonim project

In this paper, I explain the theoretical and pragmatic aspects of the annotation system of the literary features used in the Talmudic database developed within the Elyonim veTachtonim project. In the first section, I recapitulate the theses concerning the production of the Babylonian Talmud and operationalise the formal indicators (i.e., language and attribution) of its specific layers. In the second section, I review the scholarship on the Talmudic genres and propose a categorisation that adheres to the cross-cultural framework of the Elyonim veTachtonim project. In the final section, I offer an illustration: a qualitative scrutiny of a fragment from Berakhot 62a and a quantitative-qualitative analysis of the data gathered from the Talmudic inventory

Angelique: An Angel in Distress, Morality in Crisis

Michael H. Mitias argues that friendship is a central moral value constituting an integral part of the good life and therefore deserving a prominent place in ethical theory. He consequently calls upon ethicists to make immediate and decisive adjustments toward accommodating what he regards as a neglected organic relationship between friendship and morality. This is not a fanciful amendment to our standard conception of morality but a radical proposal grounded in a unifying vision to recapture the right way of doing ethics. While the assessment is compelling, and the plea well-placed, neither has been fully understood in the scholarly reception of Mitias. This paper clarifies both. What sets it apart from other reactions to Mitias is a holistic approach drawing on literary considerations as well as philosophical ones. The combined aim is to demonstrate that Mitias is not seeking simply to restore friendship to its rightful place in normative ethical theory, which is indeed the full extent of his formal mission, but that he is seeking to do so specifically within virtue ethics. This interpretation rests on a broad engagement with Mitias’s publications beyond the recent treatise often taken understandably yet erroneously to be his only work on the subject

Patent Law, Copyright Law, and the Girl Germs Effect

[Excerpt] Inventors pursue patents and authors receive copyrights. No special education is required for either endeavor, and nothing precludes a person from being both an author and an inventor. Inventors working on patentable industrial projects geared toward commercial exploitation tend to be scientists or engineers. Authors, with the exception of those writing computer code, tend to be educated or trained in the creative arts, such as visual art, performance art, music, dance, acting, creative writing, film making, and architectural drawing. There is a well-warranted societal supposition that most of the inventors of patentable inventions are male. Assumptions about the genders of the authors of remunerative commercially exploited copyrights may be less rigid. Women authors are more broadly visible than women inventors across most of the typical categories of copyrightable works. Yet, whether one considers patentable inventions or copyrightable works, the vast majority of the very profitable ones are both originated and controlled by men. This causes a host of negative consequences for women. They start and run businesses at much lower rates than men and rarely reach elite leadership levels in the corporate world or within high-profile artistic or cultural communities. They are perceived as less competent, less dedicated, and less hard working, and suffer from a lack of female mentors and female colleagues. Women are lied to during financial negotiations more than men and earn less than men in equivalent positions. Women control only a tiny portion of the world’s wealth. Though female students outperform male students in almost every context and at almost every level of education, and even seek postdegree job-related training in greater numbers than men, this has not helped women to produce and control patentable inventions or to author and own valuable copyrighted works in numbers comparable to men

STEM High School Teachers’ Views of Implementing PBL: An Investigation Using Anecdote Circles

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been gaining in popularity, especially within the context of STEM-based (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools. Program assessments for these schools typically focus on student standardized test scores rather than the needs of the teachers. This study utilized anecdote circles, storytelling via moderated group discussions, to investigate teachers’ needs related to developing and implementing authentic, interdisciplinary PBL activities in an urban, public STEM high school. Teacher experiences and viewpoints were explored within three broad themes: assessment; coaching and training; and authentic learning. The analyses provide insights for transitioning a school for effective PBL implementation as well as improving teaching and learning best practices. Recommendations to improve PBL practice based on the study’s results are also included

An appraisal of anecdotal records as a technique in the study of children

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

The use of evidence based medicine in avian and reptile practice

Avian, and particularly reptile, medicine are relatively new fields of veterinary medicine. As such, the associated learning curves are steep and exponential, and those who practise in these fields display an admirable thirst for new knowledge. This is evidenced by: .Journals dedicated to these species e.g. the Journal of Avian Medicine and Surgery, the Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery, and Veterinary Clinics of North America: Exotic Animal Practice; .Textbooks such as Clinical Avian Medicine and Surgery and Medicine and Surgery of Reptiles; .Internet discussion forums, such as the Unusual and Exotic Pets Veterinary SIG, Exotic DVM, Birdmed, and VIN; .Conference