His excellency and the monk: a correspondence between Nyanaponika Thera and David Ben-Gurion

Between the years 1956 and 1962 the scholar-monk Nyanaponika Thera and the first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion have exchanged eight long letters. These letters—published here for the first time—expose the extent of Ben-Gurion's interest in Buddhism and reveal the Buddhist rhetoric used by one of Sri Lanka's most influential scholars. This rhetoric, which was generally well received by Ben-Gurion, was an exemplar of 'Protestant Buddhism'. It is suggested that Ben-Gurion could relate to this image of Buddhism because it reflected his own vision of Judaism that had 'protestant' characteristics. The letters contain autobiographical notes, unpublished comments on the Buddhist concepts of Suffering and Rebirth, and a curious plan to invite Nyanaponika to Israel

An economic assessment of the military burden in the Middle East : 1960-1980 / BEBR No. 25

Includes bibliographical references

SEM from the Canadian Perspective: Developing Relationships that Enhance Belonging, Student Persistence, and Student Success

This chapter explores the perceptions of Canadian enrolment4 leaders regarding the importance of collaboration, communication, and partnership of administration, faculty, staff, and students, as well as external communities, in the successful implementation of Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) and enhancing students’ sense of belonging, student persistence, and student success. Twenty-three former and current enrolment administrators from Canadian colleges and universities were interviewed and asked to reflect on their experience with SEM over the last decade. Respondents were also asked about the usefulness of SEM over the next decade regarding their own experience and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter discusses the specific reflections of respondents on the importance of partnership and collaboration for successful institutional enrolment planning and student success. The researchers have identified the SEM practices that resonate with Canadian enrolment leaders. Recommendations for professional practice are discussed, along with potential areas for further research

Redefining marketing : self-interest, altruism and solidarity

Exchange is argued to be a flawed foundation upon which to build a definition of marketing. 'Homo economicus' is rejected, while altruism and solidarity are affirmed to be highly significant motivations in understanding and influencing the behaviour of target publics in certain nonbusiness marketing situations. Hence, a new definition of marketing based on behaviour change is proposed. Contemporary research on altruism and solidarity is reviewed. Some marketing issues are considered in a trade union context in order to illustrate how altruism, solidarity and a new definition of marketing may better describe, explain, predict and control relevant marketing phenomena

Exploring Voice Hearers\u27 Occupational Experience of Romantic and Sexual Relationships

Background: Limited research has been conducted that explores the occupational experience of hearing voices, including the impact it has on romantic and/or sexual relationships. This study aims to address this gap by capturing the experience of romantic and sexual relationships for those who hear voices. Method: A phenomenological approach was used to gather data from a survey, electronic diaries, and interviews of three voice hearers who were interested or actively in a casual or serious relationship. Results: All of the participants reported that the voices in some way impacted their past or current romantic and sexual relationships. The dynamic relationship between voices and occupation could directly or indirectly impact the experience of occupation with their partner. Voices with personas were found to have varying levels of participation in occupations, with some becoming co-occupations between the participant and their voices. Support from their partner was valued, though varied by participant, with some of the participants seeking outside support from peers with shared experiences. Conclusion: This research challenges the idea of the individual having full agency during occupational performance. Because voices can actively participate during co-occupations, occupational therapists need to inquire about their voices during evaluation and include them during interventions

Exploring Voice Hearers’ Occupational Experience of Romantic and Sexual Relationships

Background: Limited research has been conducted that explores the occupational experience of hearing voices, including the impact it has on romantic and/or sexual relationships. This study aims to address this gap by capturing the experience of romantic and sexual relationships for those who hear voices. Method: A phenomenological approach was used to gather data from a survey, electronic diaries, and interviews of three voice hearers who were interested or actively in a casual or serious relationship. Results: All of the participants reported that the voices in some way impacted their past or current romantic and sexual relationships. The dynamic relationship between voices and occupation could directly or indirectly impact the experience of occupation with their partner. Voices with personas were found to have varying levels of participation in occupations, with some becoming co-occupations between the participant and their voices. Support from their partner was valued, though varied by participant, with some of the participants seeking outside support from peers with shared experiences. Conclusion: This research challenges the idea of the individual having full agency during occupational performance. Because voices can actively participate during co-occupations, occupational therapists need to inquire about their voices during evaluation and include them during interventions

Jamming in Embryogenesis and Cancer Progression

The ability of tissues and cells to move and rearrange is central to a broad range of diverse biological processes such as tissue remodeling and rearrangement in embryogenesis, cell migration in wound healing, or cancer progression. These processes are linked to a solidlike to fluid-like transition, also known as unjamming transition, a not rigorously defined framework that describes switching between a stable, resting state and an active, moving state. Various mechanisms, that is, proliferation and motility, are critical drivers for the (un) jamming transition on the cellular scale. However, beyond the scope of these fundamental mechanisms of cells, a unifying understanding remains to be established. During embryogenesis, the proliferation rate of cells is high, and the number density is continuously increasing, which indicates number-density-driven jamming. In contrast, cells have to unjam in tissues that are already densely packed during tumor progression, pointing toward a shape-driven unjamming transition. Here, we review recent investigations of jamming transitions during embryogenesis and cancer progression and pursue the question of how they might be interlinked. We discuss the role of density and shape during the jamming transition and the different biological factors driving it

The effects of low protein during gestation on mouse pancreatic development and beta cell regeneration

Beta cells are partially replaced in neonatal rodents after deletion with streptozotocin (STZ). Exposure of pregnant rats to a low protein (LP) diet impairs endocrine pancreas development in the offspring, leading to glucose intolerance in adulthood. Our objective was to determine whether protein restriction has a similar effect on the offspring in mice, and if this alters the capacity for beta cell regeneration after STZ. Pregnant Balb/c mice were fed a control (C) (20% protein) or an isocaloric LP (8% protein) diet during gestation. Pups were given 35 mg/kg STZ (or vehicle) from d 1 to 5 for each dietary treatment. Histologic analysis showed that C-fed offspring had largely replaced beta cell mass (BCM) after STZ by d 30, but this was not sustained over time. Female LP-fed offspring showed an initial increase in BCM by d 14 but developed glucose intolerance by d 130. In contrast, male LP offspring showed no changes in BCM or glucose tolerance. However, LP exposure limited the capacity for recovery of BCM in both genders after STZ treatment. Copyright © 2010 International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc

Prognostic relevance of gene-expression signatures

Cancer prognosis can be regarded as estimating the risk of future outcomes from multiple variables. In prognostic signatures, these variables represent expressions of genes that are summed up to calculate a risk score. However, it is a natural phenomenon in living systems that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. We hypothesize that the prognostic power of signatures is fundamentally limited without incorporating emergent effects. Convergent evidence from a set of unprecedented size (ca. 10,000 signatures) implicates a maximum prognostic power. We show that a signature can correctly discriminate patients' prognoses in no more than 80% of the time. Using a simple simulation, we show that more than 50% of the potentially available information is still missing at this value.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, supporting informatio

Pre-treatment measures of impulsivity, aggression and sensation seeking are associated with treatment outcome for African-American cocaine-dependent patients.

We investigated whether measures of impulsivity, aggression and sensation seeking differed between cocaine-dependent subjects and controls, and whether these measures were related to treatment-outcome for cocaine patients. Pre-treatment assessments of impulsivity (Barratt Impulsivity Scale [BIS]), aggression (Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory [BDHI]) and sensation seeking (Zuckerman Sensation Seeking Scale [SSS]) were obtained for 141 African-American cocaine-dependent patients entering a 12-week, intensive outpatient treatment program and 60 controls. The outcome measures were number of negative urine drug screens, days in treatment, dropout rates and number of treatment sessions. Cocaine patients reported significantly higher scores on the SSS, the BIS and the BDHI than controls. Furthermore, the SSS scores showed a significantly negative correlation with days in treatment and negative urines, and a significant positive correlation with the dropout rate. The BIS and the BDHI scores were significantly associated with days in treatment and dropout rates respectively. A combination of the three variables contributed significantly toward predicting retention and abstinence. Higher levels of pretreatment impulsivity and aggression and sensation seeking seem to associated with poor treatment outcome for cocaine dependent patients receiving intensive outpatient treatment. Combining these behavioral measures with other clinical predictors may help in early identification of \u27poor responders\u27 who may benefit from additional or alternative treatment approaches