Cum dicit auctoritas: Quotational Practice in Two Bilingual Treatises on Love by Gérard of Liège

“Cum dicit auctoritas: Quotational Practice in Two Bilingual on Love by Gérard of Liège” is the first dedicated study of two oft discussed and poorly understood thirteenth-century love treatises known mainly for their unusual, syntactically integrated mixture of Latin and Old French. In addition to providing the first complete translation into any modern language of the treatises—Septem remedia contra amorem illicitum valde utilia (Seven Very Useful Remedies for Illicit Love) and De divino amore (On Divine Love, formerly Quinque incitamenta ad Deum amandum ardenter)—this dissertation aims to shed light upon Gérard’s practice of quotation, particularly as it pertains to the construction of authority. Each chapter takes a particular category of quotation as its subject, and shows not only how that category functions within Gérard’s treatises, but also how it may inform current scholarship in medieval studies. The first chapter contains the translation of both treatises. In the second chapter, “The Poetic Practice of Gérard of Liège in De divino amore,” I reexamine the Old French refrain corpus in light of what I call Gérard’s “refraining”—a poetic and quotational practice that bridges the sacred-profane divide in his treatise De divino amore. The third chapter, “Cum vulgo dicitur: Proverbs and the Language of Authority,” concerns the changing relationship of linguistic authority between French and Latin in the thirteenth century. The fourth chapter, “Quoting and Rewriting the Church Fathers: The Making of Thirteenth-Century Authority,” examines some of the most emotionally disturbing and striking quotations in Gérard’s treatises in order to explain how Gérard establishes his own authority; in addition, this chapter presents a new perspective on the concepts of auctoritas and authorship as they pertain to medieval religious texts. In the fifth and final chapter, “Septem remedia amoris: Classical Latin Poetry in the Treatises of Gérard of Liège,” I focus on Gérard’s much maligned first treatise—the Septem remedia contra amorem illicitum—to uncover its deep, Ovidian underpinnings, and I ask why Classical Latin poetry is almost entirely absent from the second treatise, De divino amore

Greedy Heuristics for Distributed Job Shop Problems

AbstractThis paper studies the problem of scheduling distributed job shops where the classical single-facility job shop is extended to the multi-facility one. The problem is mathematically formulated by a mixed integer linear programming model. The small sized problems are optimally solved using commercial software of CPLEX. Three greedy heuristics, as well as adapting three well-known heuristics, are developed to solve large sized problems. The idea of the proposed heuristics is to iteratively insert operations (one at each iteration) into a sequence to build up a complete permutation of operations. The performance of the model and the six heuristics are comprehensive evaluated by numerical experiments. The results show the model and greedy heuristics are effective for the problem

Evaluation of a silver-impregnated coating to inhibit colonization of orthopaedic implants by biofilm forming methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity of a silver-impregnated coating against a biofilm-forming strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP). METHODS: A clinical MRSP isolate sourced from a failed canine knee implant was evaluated for biofilm production and used in the present study. Using a standard test method and a clinically approved titanium substrate, the antimicrobial activity of a novel silver plasma coating was determined at two times: five minutes after inoculation of the specimens (T0) and after 24 hours of incubation (T24). Scanning electron microscopy was used to evaluate the biofilm formation on specimens. RESULTS: The tested clinical MRSP isolate was classified as a strong biofilm producer. The silver coating significantly reduced the MRSP growth more than four log steps compared to the non-coated specimens and showed more than 99.98% reduction in the number of colony forming units after 24 hours. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed that silver-coated surfaces did not manifest detectable biofilm, while biofilm formation was readily observed on the control specimens. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The silver coating exhibited excellent activity against the multidrug resistant biofilm-forming MRSP isolate. The next stage of this work will involve testing in an animal model of orthopaedic infection. Positive results from animal studies would support the introduction of the silver plasma coating as a new strategy for preventing implant contamination, biofilm formation, and surgical infection in dogs undergoing orthopaedic surgery.The authors thank Bio-Gate AG for providing the Ag/SiOxCy plasma coating on the test discs.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Schattauer Publishers via http://dx.doi.org/10.3415/VCOT-15-08-013

Water management and reuse opportunities in a thermal power plant in Jordan

The Rehab power plant located in the Northern part of Jordan is presented as a case study of industrial water management. This power plant consumes boiler feed water in the amount of 200 m3/d of the freshground water available from nearby wells and it produces 193 m3/d of wastewater. Fifty seven water samples were taken from the different water treatment unit's effluents to evaluate the efficiency of these treatment units. Also, sixteen samples from the generated waste streams were taken and analyzed to characterize the wastewater of the different streams. It was found that the water treatment system provided water of much higher quality than needed for the boiler feed. The practice at the power plantwas to dispose of the generated wastewater into an evaporation pond that caused non compliance with environmental regulations and discarding of significant water reuse opportunities. It was found that 131 m3/d of the wastewater were of high quality and could be recycled inside the power plant after treatment by the existing water treatment system. Other reuse options were discussed and recommendations were provided for better operation of the water treatment systems and for reuse of the industrial water. The given scenarios will result in monetary savings and in aesthetical benefits

Collaboration in Truck Appointment System in Container Terminals

Due to the continual increase of the global containerized trade, many container terminals face the problem of high demands that their current resource capacity cannot afford. The consequences of such situation are not only the long queues of trucks at the entrance gates and storage yards but also the large turnaround times of trucks. In response, Truck Appointment Systems (TAS) were introduced to schedule truck arrivals in order to alleviate the terminal rush hours, however, the mandatory appointments developed by TASs have a negative impact on the operations as well as resources of the trucking companies. In recent literature, this issue was considered by introducing collaborative TAS in which the trucking companies as well as the container terminals collaborate to set the truck appointments. This work elaborates on the difference between traditional and collaborative TAS and demonstrates how collaborative TAS can improve the performance of the container terminal and reduce the cost of the trucking companies.&nbsp

Selected psychiatric problems among college students in two Arab countries: Comparison with the USA

Background: Psychiatric problems among college students on USA campuses are common. Little is known about similar problems in developing countries, particularly the Arab region. The goal of this study was to assess the frequency of selected psychiatric problems among college students in two Arab countries: Qatar and Lebanon, and to compare them to the USA. Methods: The Healthy Minds Study, an online confidential survey of common psychiatric symptoms designed for college campuses was used. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to screen for major depression, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to screen for generalized anxiety and the SCOFF questionnaire to screen for eating disorders. Comparisons were made using ANOVA, Chi-Square tests and logistic regressions. Results: A total of 1841 students participated in the study. The rates of depression (PHQ-9 ? 12), generalized anxiety (GAD-7 ? 10) and eating disorders (SCOFF?3) at the combined Arab universities were 34.6, 36.1 and 20.4% respectively. The corresponding rates in the USA were: 12.8, 15.9 and 6.8% (p < 0.001 for all measures). The impact of psychiatric problems on functioning in general and academic performance in particular was more severe in the Arab countries compared to the USA (p < 0.001). Independent predictors of psychiatric problems in general included location, female gender, financial difficulties and poor grades. Being religious had a protective association with mental health. Conclusion: The rates of depression, anxiety and eating disorders were significantly higher among college students in Qatar and Lebanon compared to the USA. Additional research is needed to determine whether these results reflect methodological limitations or true differences in psychopathology across these populations. If replicated, the results indicate that the psychiatric problems on college campuses in the USA are a microcosm of a global problem that needs global solutions. 2018 The Author(s).This study was made possible by NPRP Grant 5–618–5-087 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The findings achieved herein are solely the responsibility of the authors.Scopu

Fatal Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus Infection of Two Young Asian Elephants

Elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV) can cause a devastating haemorrhagic disease in young Asian elephants worldwide. Here, we report the death of two young Asian elephants after suffering from acute haemorrhagic disease due to EEHV-1A infection. We detected widespread distribution of EEHV-1A in various organs and tissues of the infected elephants. Enveloped viral particles accumulated within and around cytoplasmic electron-dense bodies in hepatic endothelial cells were detected. Attempts to isolate the virus on different cell cultures showed limited virus replication; however, late viral protein expression was detected in infected cells. We further showed that glycoprotein B (gB) of EEHV-1A possesses a conserved cleavage site Arg-X-Lys/Arg-Arg that is targeted by the cellular protease furin, similar to other members of the Herpesviridae. We have determined the complete 180 kb genome sequence of EEHV-1A isolated from the liver by next-generation sequencing and de novo assembly. As virus isolation in vitro has been unsuccessful and limited information is available regarding the function of viral proteins, we have attempted to take the initial steps in the development of suitable cell culture system and virus characterization. In addition, the complete genome sequence of an EEHV-1A in Europe will facilitate future studies on the epidemiology and diagnosis of EEHV infection in elephants

Autophagy switches to apoptosis in prostate cancer cells infected with melanoma differentiation associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24)

MDA-7/IL-24 has noteworthy potential as an anticancer therapeutic because of its diversity of antitumor properties, its lack of toxicity toward normal cells and tissues, and its safety and efficacy as evidenced in a phase I clinical trial. In a recent study, we document that Ad.mda-7-induced ER stress and ceramide production leads to early autophagy that subsequently switches to apoptosis in human prostate cancer cells. During the apoptotic phase, the MDA-7/IL-24 protein physically interacts with Beclin 1 and this interaction might inhibit Beclin 1 function culminating in apoptosis. Conversely, Ad.mda-7 infection leads to calpain-mediated cleavage of the Atg5 protein that might also facilitate a biochemical switch from autophagy to apoptosis. Our recent paper reveals novel aspects of the interplay between autophagy and apoptosis that underlie the cytotoxic action of MDA-7/IL-24 in prostate cancer cells. These new insights into MDA-7/IL-24 action provide intriguing leads for developing innovative combinatorial approaches for prostate cancer therapy