Setting the Stage and Building Homes: Architecture Metaphors and Space in Donne\u27s First Caroline Sermon

Through his use of foundation and house metaphors in his First Sermon Preached to King Charles at St. James, 3 April 1625, John Donne discreetly presents his ideologies and principles before the new king, while simultaneously criticizing his contemporaries\u27 misguided bickering over religio-political factions. This essay seeks to unpack the history surrounding, as well as the casuistical logic found within Donne\u27s first sermon preached during the Caroline period, which both explicitly and implicitly addresses the foremost anxieties of the people of the changing age

Update of the management of chronic psoriasis: new approaches and emerging treatment options

Psoriasis is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease which is associated with a number of significant co-morbidities including: impairment of quality of life; cardiovascular disease; and a seronegative arthritis known as psoriatic arthritis. Our understanding of the pathogenesis of psoriasis has developed at a remarkable rate in recent years. These new insights have significantly changed our perception of the condition and have led to the development of several new treatment strategies. Biological agents have proved a major step forward in therapeutic options for psoriasis. The ability to clear, or almost clear, cutaneous disease has changed the outcomes and expectations of many patients with this disease. The impact on both physical and psychological health may be great. This review covers the clinical features and management of psoriasis with specific reference to new therapeutic options

Derivative products and innovation in Islamic finance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight the possibility of structuring an Islamic option which includes an element of risk sharing as opposed to risk transfer. Design/methodology/approach – The approach adopted in this research involved a combination of a wa’ad (promise) and murabaha (cost plus sale) and examining if they could form a risk-sharing Islamic option. The payoffs were assumed to be dependent on bi-period outcomes. Findings – The paper attempted to create a hybrid risk-sharing option by combining elements of both wa’ad (promise) and murabaha (cost plus sale). The results yielded are dependent on the eventual direction of the market (in-the-money, at-the-money and out-the-money). While the results are not definitive, they do provide arguments for the adoption of a risk-sharing, as opposed to a risk-transfer, methodology when it comes to structuring risk management instruments. Research limitations/implications – One of the major limitations of this research is the inability to assess the Shariah compliance of the proposed instrument. Shariah compliance is determined by a Shariah Supervisory Board, and every effort has been made to ensure that Shariah financial principles are adhered to in the creation of this structure. Practical implications – The structure provides some interest arguments in the creation of risk management tools under a Shariah financial framework. The structure illustrates the benefits of having a risk-sharing mode over the conventional risk-transfer stances of most risk management tools. Originality/value – The paper offers a new way of structuring a risk management tool in Islamic finance. It explores the highly debated area of derivatives in Islamic finance and proposes a new way of creating a risk management tool that involves some elements of risk sharing

Near-Infrared Constraints on the Presence of Warm Dust at Metal-Rich, Helium Atmosphere White Dwarfs

Here, we present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 15 helium atmosphere, metal-rich white dwarfs obtained at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. While a connection has been demonstrated between the most highly polluted, hydrogen atmosphere white dwarfs and the presence of warm circumstellar dust and gas, their frequency at the helium atmosphere variety is poorly constrained. None of our targets show excess near-infrared radiation consistent with warm orbiting material. Adding these near-infrared constraints to previous near- and mid-infrared observations, the frequency of warm circumstellar material at metal-bearing white dwarfs is at least 20% for hydrogen-dominated photospheres, but could be less than 5% for those effectively composed of helium alone. The lower occurrence of dust disks around helium atmosphere white dwarfs is consistent with Myr timescales for photospheric metals in massive convection zones. Analyzing the mass distribution of 10 white dwarfs with warm circumstellar material, we search for similar trends between the frequency of disks and the predicted frequency of massive planets around intermediate mass stars, but find the probability that disk-bearing white dwarfs are more massive than average is not significant.Comment: AJ, in pres

Infant Feeding Websites and Apps: A Systematic Assessment of Quality and Content

Background: Internet websites and smartphone apps have become a popular resource to guide parents in their children’s feeding and nutrition. Given the diverse range of websites and apps on infant feeding, the quality of information in these resources should be assessed to identify whether consumers have access to credible and reliable information.Objective: This systematic analysis provides perspectives on the information available about infant feeding on websites and smartphone apps.Methods: A systematic analysis was conducted to assess the quality, comprehensibility, suitability, and readability of websites and apps on infant feeding using a developed tool. Google and Bing were used to search for websites from Australia, while the App Store for iOS and Google Play for Android were used to search for apps. Specified key words including baby feeding, breast feeding, formula feeding and introducing solids were used to assess websites and apps addressing feeding advice. Criteria for assessing the accuracy of the content were developed using the Australian Infant Feeding Guidelines.Results: A total of 600 websites and 2884 apps were screened, and 44 websites and 46 apps met the selection criteria and were analyzed. Most of the websites (26/44) and apps (43/46) were noncommercial, some websites (10/44) and 1 app were commercial and there were 8 government websites; 2 apps had university endorsement. The majority of the websites and apps were rated poor quality. There were two websites that had 100% coverage of information compared to those rated as fair or poor that had low coverage. Two-thirds of the websites (65%) and almost half of the apps (47%) had a readability level above the 8th grade level.Conclusions: The findings of this unique analysis highlight the potential for website and app developers to merge user requirements with evidence-based content to ensure that information on infant feeding is of high quality. There are currently no apps available to consumers that address a variety of infant feeding topics. To keep up with the rapid turnover of the evolving technology, health professionals need to consider developing an app that will provide consumers with a credible and reliable source of information about infant feeding, using quality assessment tools and evidence-based content

Inventing and Implementing LLCs at an HBCU in One Year: Lessons Learned

Living-Learning Communities (LLCs) have proven to be a successful high impact practice at institutions across the nation. Norfolk State University (NSU), a Historically Black University, recently established a formal LLC program as a part of the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). Through a strong partnership with Academic and Student Affairs, NSU implemented and invented LLCs all within one academic year. Similar to the collaborative nature of LLCs, this paper examines the lessons learned from various perspectives (LLC director, teaching dean, faculty liaison, faculty) during the rapid inventing and implementing of LLCs