History of Usury: The Transition of Usury Through Ancient Greece, The Rise of Christianity and Islam, And the Expansion of Long-Distance Trade and Capitalism

Society and its ideas, markets, and institutions are in the constant process of change. These transforming factors contribute to the evolution of economics. Usury is one prominent economic issue that demonstrates this evolution. As it has developed, usury, the lending of money at interest or excessive interest, has been debated for almost two millennia. During the lifetime of Aristotle, 384-322 B.C., the lending of money for profit was believed to be unnatural and dishonorable. Aristotle and his beliefs of usury provided a foundation of ideas for future perspectives on the practice. This negative connotation associated with usury continued in history as is evident in the development and spread of Christianity and Islam during the Middle Ages. The Christian church drew on biblical passages and moral and religious reasons to define usury as a sin. The Church placed a ban on the practice of usury to prevent this “evil”. In Islam, the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad led Muslims to also view usury as a crime. [excerpt

Fashioning Europe: Identity and Dress in Early Modern Costume Books

This article aims to demonstrate how early modern costume books attempted to define the identities of Europeans. They presented a system of social stratifications, describing the presumed differences between people of various origins, age, gender, and, above all, social position. The existence of these differences was presented as part of an order not only social and political but also moral and religious. On closer inspection, however, it becomes apparent that these differences had as much to do with actual cultural disparities between people as with the different perspectives and attitudes of the authors of the individual books

Dynamically improper hypersurfaces for endomorphisms of projective space

We prove that among nonlinear endomorphisms of the projective plane, those with a periodic critical point are Zariski dense. This partially answers a question of Ingram.Comment: 11 page

Regulation of the Rgs4 gene by the hypoxia inducible factors.

The transcriptional response to hypoxia is critically dependent on the Hypoxia Inducible Factors HIF-1 and HIF-2, which have roles not only in development and cellular adaptation to low oxygen levels, but also in diseases such as cancer. Although many HIF target genes have been well-characterised, there is strong evidence that the complete set of HIF responsive genes have not been described. This thesis describes the characterisation of a novel hypoxia responsive gene, Rgs4, found by a previous microarray study. Rgs4 encodes the Regulator of G-protein Signalling 4 (RGS4 protein), which directly inhibits signalling from various G-protein coupled receptors. Hypoxic regulation of Rgs4 mRNA is observed in neuroblastoma and pheochromocytoma cells derived from rat, mouse and human samples. This response is found to be mimicked by HIF pathway activating chemicals, and occurs in a manner consistent with direct HIF regulation of Rgs4 transcription. However, hypoxic regulation of this gene is not observed in all cell types that Rgs4 is expressed in. Reporter gene assays testing 32.9kb of the locus encompassing the Rgs4 gene failed to detect a hypoxia responsive element, though bioinformatics analysis indicates that Rgs4 is under the control of distant enhancers outside of the region tested. Further characterisation of the Rgs4 hypoxic response could help to explain functions of HIF that are currently poorly characterised, such as its effect on catecholamine release and signalling, while the atypical nature of Rgs4 regulation by HIF may provide a model to discover other as-yet unknown HIF interacting proteins and cell type specific HIF target genes.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Molecular & Biomedical Science, 201

Immersed in Fire: The Use of Virtual Reality as an Attitude Assessor and Boundary Object in Wildland Fire Management

Interest in using prescribed burning as a forest management tool to promote forest health and regeneration is growing in Maine. The goal for this research was to better understand the way that the public perceives prescribed burning practices in wildland-urban interfaces, with an emphasis placed on how immersive imagery, closely related to virtual reality (VR), compares to traditional communication methods. We specifically focus on the social acceptability of prescribed burning and analyze how the level of immersive imagery is related to that acceptability (Ahn, 2015; Bricken, 1990; Fogg, Cuellar, and Danielson, 2009; Smith 2015; Wiederhold, Davis, and Wiederhold, 1998). The information derived from this research can be a useful tool in public involvement and communication efforts for forest managers, scientists, and policy makers. Additionally, this research identified potential solutions for bridging public and manager communication boundaries. Immersive imagery is a relatively new technology and its uses within forest management have only recently begun to be explored. This research built upon the concept of boundary spanning objects, where an object – in this case immersive imagery – can create an effective exchange of ideas and information between stakeholder groups. Within the boundary literature, three factors are frequently identified as being particularly influential on the perceptions of information communicated through a boundary object: saliency, legitimacy, and credibility (Cash et al., 2002). Combining this with the growing body of literature on immersive imagery for communication and decision-making purposes, this research attempted to identify public perceptions of immersive imagery. This research evaluated saliency, legitimacy, and credibility of immersive imagery and traditional communication methods, which contributes toward understanding immersive imagery’s potential as a boundary-spanning object. The methodological design for this research was to implement a 2x2 framework in which participants were shown visual imagery that varied based on level of immersion as well as level of smoke within the imagery. Each participant was given a pre and post-questionnaire tailored to whichever of the four groups they have randomly been assigned. The pre-questionnaire included questions that attempted to measure the participants environmental values, prior knowledge and experience, acceptability of prescribed burns, their views on smoke from prescribed burns, their perceived confidence and trust in managers, and questions relating to boundary objects. After viewing the randomly assigned imagery, participants took a post-questionnaire which composed of questions relating to sociodemographic variables, and the other same identical parameters. We found that immersive imagery or VR has substantial potential in several arenas, but most notably as an effective boundary spanning object that seemed to increase participant’s perceptions of credibility and saliency towards VR and wildland fire management. Additionally, the technology also showed a high amount of potential in reducing fear and anxiety towards prescribed burning

Unemployed workers, 'enforced leisure' and education for 'the right use of leisure' in Britain in the 1930s

This article examines the views of those who regarded the unemployment of the 1930s not solely as a disaster, but as a liberating new form of leisure for workers, provided that they could make the 'right use' of this leisure. This was an urgent challenge for more and more workers would soon be faced by 'a vast surplus of leisure time' made possible by technological change. The solution was to use the voluntary adult education movement to guide workers towards this 'right use'. The problem was that the grants which the government and charitable trusts made available to the voluntary sector were too small for the task and, more fundamentally, the analysis was misconceived and contradictory. But these opinions did serve to reinforce the case against public works, and legitimised a continuing desire to supervise working-class life on the part of the state and its partners in the voluntary sector

Identification and evaluation of organizational structures and measures for analysis of Joint Task Forces

Joint Task Forces (JTF) operate in a variety of missions and uncertain environments. The architectures of these organizations must be capable of adapting to changes in the mission, the environment, or the organization itself. Mathematical models that are useful in predicting operational performance are needed for research into the optimum design of a JTF architecture for a given mission. To develop these models, properties of a joint task force organization must be understood and measures must be identified that are both sensitive to changes (differences) in architectures and related to operational performance. A literature review of civilian research in organizational structures and measures identified several candidates. To analyze the usefulness of these measures to identify differences in operational architectures, two known contrasting JTF organizations are developed using structures found in the literature. Each of the measures is applied to all structures in both architectures and analyzed to determine which measures show promise. Those that identify differences between operationally relevant architectures are deemed useful measures. Limited data from a related Naval Postgraduate School command and control experiment, in which architecture type is a factor, is used to fit a regression-type model that predicts JTF performance based on measures classified as useful.http://archive.org/details/identificationnd1094513463U.S. Navy (U.S.N.) author.Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Opportunities of using dark chocolate and flavonoids contained in prevention and treatment of metabolic syndrome

Zespół metaboliczny jest jednym z największych wyzwań w programach zdrowia publicznego na świecie. Istotnym elementem postępowania leczniczego w tym zespole jest przede wszystkim zmiana stylu życia, w tym stosowanie odpowiedniej diety . Ważną kwestią w zastosowanej diecie jest dobór produktów zawierających związki bioaktywne, k tóre mogą wspomagać leczenie składowych zespołu metabolicznego. Niniejsza publikacja zawiera przegląd badań nad wpływem gorzkiej czekolady i zawartych w niej polifenoli, w tym flawan-3-olu na parametry związane z chorobami metabolicznymi.Metabolic syndrome is one of the biggest challenges in the public health programs in the world. An important element of the treatment of this syndrome is a lifestyle change, including the proper diet. An important issue in the diet are the products containing bioactive compounds, which may support the treatment of metabolic syndrome. This publication provides an overview of researches on the effects of dark chocolate and its polyphenols, including the flavan-3-ol on the parameters associated with metabolic diseases

Herramientas de marketing digital para la comunicación de atractivos turísticos : Panorama actual de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

En los recientes años las organizaciones turísticas adaptaron sus herramientas comunicativas a partir de los cambios contextuales producidos por el protagonismo de las tecnologías de la comunicación y la información (TIC), influidas por la globalización. El uso del marketing digital comenzó a emplearse por los beneficios que este otorga en comparación del marketing tradicional. El presente trabajo pretende determinar las características actuales de las herramientas utilizadas para la comunicación de 10 atractivos de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires con el fin de elaborar un panorama actual de las mismas. A fines de cumplir con el objetivo planteado se desarrolla un marco teórico que explica de manera introductoria el fenómeno de la globalización, su asociación con el turismo e incidencia en la economía, el rol de las TIC y la influencia de internet en ellas, enfocadas en el turismo. Asimismo, la tesis expone la temática del marketing tradicional, su evolución y proceso, profundizando en el marketing digital, se describen las herramientas tecnológicas más relevantes y comenta acerca de los responsables del marketing dentro de las organizaciones. También aborda las definiciones de recurso, atractivo y la utilización del territorio y sus categorías y tipologías. Realizando una breve reseña de los atractivos seleccionados de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Finalmente se realizó un relevamiento por medio de internet, utilizando una tabla de análisis doble entrada con las variables: atractivos y herramientas, para concluir la investigación. Como resultado, se determinó que los instrumentos de marketing digital más utilizados en los atractivos son los sitios web, las redes sociales (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter y YouTube) y el correo electrónico. También se describieron las ventajas, oportunidades y desventajas que presenta el marketing online con relación al tradicional como su capacidad de estar disponible en todo momento por su conexión a internet, mayor alcance al público, retroalimentación instantánea, fraudes de información, o robo de datos personales entre otras. Ultimando que las TIC ofrecen la competitividad necesaria para lograr la satisfacción de las necesidades del turista cumpliendo con objetivos organizacionales, en un panorama cambiante y dinámico.Facultad de Ciencias Económica