Allegory in Joseph and Aseneth : three studies of narrative and exegesis

The present work considers the novel of Joseph and Aseneth (J & A) as an allegorical text which was transmitted in various cultural environments, potentially from the poly-cultural background of Hellenistic Judaism to the time of the novel's extant manuscripts in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. While positing that J & A was conceived as a versatile text around the time of the rise of the ancient Greek novel, the thesis highlights the sophisticated literary features of this religious text. In fact, the imagery of J & A is loaded with further significance, touching upon mystical themes which can be compared with pagan testimonies of arcane lore and mysteries. Moreover, typical scenes in J & A are devised by means of complex rhetorical strategies, which contributed to the addition of further senses to the story. Indeed, the allegorical discourse which can be detected in J & A conferred to the novel a plain narrative surface, while leaving a deeper significance for its readers and interpreters to decode. In this respect, J & A is brought closer to Classical texts such as the ancient novels and Homeric literature, because its narrative allowed subsequent interpretations and even adaptations of the story in different cultural and religious contexts. While points of contact between J & A and pagan, Jewish and Christian allegorical texts may be only suggestive, the present analysis hopes to envisions a few proposals for the early purpose and aftermath of J & A from its hypothetical original milieu in Hellenistic Judaism to the end of Antiquity

Assessing Redistribution in the Uruguayan Social Security System

We assess redistribution in the Uruguayan main pension and unemployment insurance programs on a lifetime basis. Using administrative records from social security, we simulate lifetime declared labor income and flows of contributions and benefits of affiliates to the programs. Expected present values of income and net flows are also computed. Equipped with these estimations we construct standard measures of distribution and redistribution of lifetime labor income through the social security system. Our findings suggest that these programs reduce income inequality. In particular, social Security reduces the Gini coefficient of expected lifetime formal labor income by almost 2 percentage points.Redistribution; Social Security; Uruguay

Incidencia de los tratamientos hidrorepelentes en la durabilidad y resistencia mecánica en materiales cerámicos del patrimonio arquitectónico del Uruguay

Gran parte del patrimonio arquitectónico del Uruguay, especialmente el edificado durante los siglos XVIII y XIX, ha sido construido utilizando ladrillos cerámicos macizos de fabricación artesanal, caracterizados por su gran heterogeneidad y elevada porosidad. Estos aspectos explican las patologías habitualmente detectadas en estos materiales, a partir de las cuales es esperable una disminución de su durabilidad y resistencia mecánica a lo largo del tiempo. En el marco de una proyecto de investigación que desarrollan conjuntamente las Facultades de Arquitectura y de Ingeniería de la Universidad de la República, enfocado en la evaluación de las propiedades de durabilidad y resistencia mecánica de edificios en mampostería cerámica de carácter patrimonial, aplicando técnicas no destructivas, se ha evaluado el deterioro de dos clases de ladrillos sometidos a dos diferentes procesos de envejecimiento acelerado. Esto ha permitido evaluar cómo se afectan sus características cuando se encuentran en su estado natural o bajo la protección de un tratamiento hidrorepelente. Los resultados obtenidos muestran con relación a las características de durabilidad analizadas, que el desempeño de los ladrillos tratados con hidrorepelente resulta significativamente mejor que el de los ladrillos sin tratamiento. Sin embargo, esta tendencia no se corresponde con la evolución de la respuesta mecánica, que difiere de acuerdo a la propiedad analizada, el tipo de ladrillo, la presencia o ausencia de hidrorepelente y el método de envejecimiento. Asimismo, en un análisis comparativo de los resultados con las características mecánicas y de durabilidad de una muestra de ladrillos históricos de más de 130 años de edad, puede advertirse claramente que la calidad de estos últimos resulta, a pesar de su larga edad, muy competitiva respecto a ladrillos de reciente fabricación.Tópico 4: Materiales. Evaluación de propiedades, caracterización tecnológica y patologías. Mamposterías (de ladrillos o piedras) y Morteros (materiales cálcicos y cementícios)

Three Essays on Health, Risk and Behavior

Health-related decisions could be explained by a variety of factors, ranging from the perception of the risk the activity involves to the knowledge of the long-term effects of the decision. An individual deciding to eat unhealthy or not to exercise could face health problems in the long-run. Individuals with health issues have been found to be more risk averse when it comes to financial decisions, such as portfolio allocation. Financial incentives to engage in healthier behaviors have been successful but short-lived. Prior research leaves many questions such as: What are the factors that explain why an individual decides to engage in healthy or unhealthy behaviors? Are risk preferences a determinant in the decision to seek treatment for an illness? Do beliefs about the outcome of unhealthy and healthy decisions play a role? This dissertation aims at investigating the following questions: How do social aspects of risk impact health-related decisions? And, more broadly, what is the relationship between health, risk preferences and perception and behavior? I focus on three main applications: flu vaccinations, asthma in children and the impact of chronic illnesses (and other joint risks) in risky decisions. This dissertation investigates different ways in which risk, health and behavior interact with each other. I focus on three health-related applications: flu vaccines, asthma and how health influences individual risk preferences. The findings of these three chapters are intended to contribute to the discussion of how health impacts behavior and the perception of risk. I also analyze the effect of different sources of endogeneity, such as the beliefs about the flu vaccine and the severity of an influenza episode, beliefs about the severity of asthma or the effectiveness of treatments to tackle an asthma episode. This research will help policy makers better understand how risk perceptions about the outcomes of different health-related behaviors. I aim at continuing the conversation about which would be the best way to incentivize healthy behaviors and modify negative views of treatments to deal with chronic illnesses

Development of a fluctuating plume model for the determination of odour-impact frequencies.

Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1989 .M876. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1989

The Catholic Teacher: Our Greatest Resource

The 56th annual meeting of the National Catholic Educational Association was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 1959. The following essay is a transcript of a talk delivered at that meeting on March 31, by the then Bishop of Steubenville, Ohio, the Most Reverend John King Mussio. He was speaking to the Secondary School Department about the importance of Catholic high schools and the vital role of teachers in the education and formation of youth. Although over 40 years have passed, Mussio cites many problems and challenges facing Catholic educators that are still with us today. His praise of teachers is almost poetic; his love of Catholic education is profound. Calling teachers the fifth mark of Church, Mussio clearly values the Catholic school system and those whose example and teaching help youth “to keep in step with Christ.

Terrain classification by cluster analisys

The digital terrain modelling can be obtained by different methods belonging to two principal categories: deterministic methods (e.g. polinomial and spline functions interpolation, Fourier spectra) and stochastic methods (e.g. least squares collocation and fractals, i.e. the concept of selfsimilarity in probability). To reach good resul ts, both the fi rst and the second methods need same initial suitable information which can be gained by a preprocessing of data named terrain classification. In fact, the deterministic methods require to know how is the roughness of the terrain, related to the density of the data (elevations, deformations, etc.) used for the i nterpo 1 at ion, and the stochast i c methods ask for the knowledge of the autocorrelation function of the data. Moreover, may be useful or very necessary to sp 1 it up the area under consideration in subareas homogeneous according to some parameters, because of different kinds of reasons (too much large initial set of data, so that they can't be processed togheter; very important discontinuities or singularities; etc.). Last but not least, may be remarkable to test the type of distribution (normal or non-normal) of the subsets obtained by the preceding selection, because the statistical properties of the normal distribution are very important (e.g., least squares linear estimations are the same of maximum likelihood and minimum variance ones)

Compagni !! tutti insieme cresciamo.

I nuovi compiti della Geomatica non sono disgiunti dallo impegno di fronte ai problemi attuali del mondo intero e, sempre più, richiedono di essere capaci di “sporcarsi le mani” e rischiare di persona. Questo lavoro sviluppa i temi del misurare la qualità, andando oltre una etica della convinzione e della responsabilità, e ripercorre il lungo cammino verso la modernità, ponendosi correttamente solo domande penultime. Lo approccio adottato si rifà allo scetticismo ed al relativismo moderati, ben consci del fallimento totale delle soluzioni “in grande”, tutte le filosofie, ideologie e religioni