Rite of passing: Bureaucratic encounters, dramaturgy, and Jewish conversion in Israel

On the basis of an ethnographic analysis of the state‐run Jewish conversion project in Israel, I address the question of how bureaucrats come to know the subjects they serve. By analyzing how state agents construct the bureaucratic encounter with converts as a dramaturgical exchange, I theorize performance as an institutional mechanism through which bureaucratic knowledge is produced. The notion of “dramaturgy” sheds light not only on the everyday practices of state governmental power but also on the fragile, collaborative dynamics that underwrite the bureaucratic encounter. Such an analysis offers to complicate the notion of “power/knowledge” so often associated with bureaucratic institutions. [ bureaucracy, ethnography of the state, Israel, passing, performance, power/knowledge, religious conversion ]Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91349/1/j.1548-1425.2012.01370.x.pd

Contagious crowds: religious gatherings in the age of coronavirus

Governments have used considerable power to restrict the freedom of their citizens as they try to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the temporary closure of places of worship and restrictions on social gatherings have imposed secular authority on public, communal religious life. Michal Kravel-Tovi (Tel Aviv University) and Esra Özyürek (LSE) consider the tensions inherent in this collision of the secular and religious realms, from the vilification of religious groups as irresponsible and dangerous to a future digital reordering of religious hierarchy and community

Predicting Stock Markets with Commodities - An Empirical Study on the Nordic Market

This study examines if commodity indices can be used to predict stock index returns on the Nordic financial markets. With a forecast period between 2000 and 2016, the study is conducted with an Ordinary Least Squares method to predict both in-sample and out-of- sample. The results indicate that the Baltic Dry Index and the London Metal Exchange Index are the best predictors of monthly stock returns for in-sample predictability. When testing for state-switching abilities of the commodity variables, we observe that predictability is only found in recessions and disappears in expansions. We also find evidence pointing in the direction of increasing commodity prices being better news in recessions than in expansions. Our estimates perform poorly out-of-sample, indicating that the information possessed by our predictions is of little use for an investor seeking profitable investment opportunities. The portfolios based on the significance of our estimators fail to outperform their respective benchmark index in 25 out of 28 cases

Planetary wave activity in the lower ionosphere during CRISTA I campaign in autumn 1994 (October?November)

International audienceOn the basis of MEM spectrum analysis, the main planetary scale fluctuations formed in the lower ionosphere are studied over a period of 3?25 days during the CRISTA campaign (October-November 1994). Three dominant period bands are found: 3?5, 6?8 and 15?23 (mainly 16?18) days. For 7?8 and 16?18 day fluctuations, propagation was eastward with wave numbers K = 3 and K = 1, respectively. The magnitude of planetary wave activity in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere during the CRISTA campaign seems to be fairly consistent with the expected undisturbed normal/climatological state of the atmosphere at altitudes of 80?100 km

Hysteresis of <i>fo</i>F2 at European middle latitudes

International audienceThe hysteresis of foF2 is studied for several European stations over the whole 24-hour diurnal interval for the equinoctial months of the years just before and just after the solar cycle minimum for solar cycles 20 and 21. Based on previous results, the hysteresis is expected to develop best just for the equinoctial months and near the solar cycle minimum. The hysteresis is generally found to be negative, i.e. higher foF2 for the rising branch compared to the falling branch of solar cycle. However, this is not the case in some individual months of some years. The noontime hysteresis represents the hysteresis at other times of the day qualitatively (as to sign) but not quantitatively. The hysteresis appears to be relatively persistent from one solar cycle to another solar cycle in spring but not in autumn. A typical value for springtime hysteresis is about 0.5 MHz. The inclusion of hysteresis into long-term ionospheric and radio wave propagation predictions remains questionable

Scènes érotiques, écriture courtoise. La symbolique naturelle dansles Lais de Marie de France

Les Lais de Marie de France présentent un jeu subtil entre l’impossibilité de décrire l’acte charnel et l’utilisation d’un langage travaillé qui y fait allusion suivant les codes de la courtoisie. S’allonger l’un près de l’autre dans un lit, rire, jouer et parler, le pinceau de Marie de France n’ira pas plus loin. Mais l’intensité du désir sexuel sera dénotée par d’autres éléments symboliques appartenant au monde naturel (arbres, plantes, oiseaux). Les amants, captifs d’amours interdites et abandonnés à leurs plaisirs sensuels, risquent parfois la mort mais, dans une dialectique entre l’amour et la mort, leurs lits funéraires, posés l’un à côté de l’autre, rétablissent mythiquement l’amour par la promesse d’une fusion éternelle.Marie de France’s Lais presents a subtle play between the impossibility of describing the carnal act and the use of a studied language, which alludes to it, according to courtly codes. Lying down next to one another in a bed, laughing, playing, and talking, Marie de France’s paintbrush does not proceed any further. But the intensity of sexual desire is conveyed through symbolic elements belonging to the natural world (trees, plants, birds). The lovers during their lifetime – prisoners of forbidden loves and abandoned to their sensual pleasures – risk death, but, thanks to the dialectic between love and death, their funeral beds, placed side by side, restore love mythically through the promise of an eternal fusion

Patogenicidad de especies de Fusarium asociados a daño del ápice y la raíz del trigo (Triticum aestivum) bajo diferentes condiciones

This study was conducted to test the pathogenicity of Fusarium species, the causes of crown and root rot disease of wheat crop, under three different conditions (Laboratory, Greenhouse and Field) and to show the best method for pathogenicity among different conditions. Pathogenicity test of six isolates of Fusarium species (F. graminearum, F. oxysporum, F. avenaceum, F. nivale, F. solani and F. udum) was tested on durum (Simeto) cultivar of wheat by test tube method in the laboratory, the tested fungi had substantial effect on seed germination. F. oxysporum showed the highest germination failure (44.44%) which significantly differed with other species. In the greenhouse, seedlings were inoculated by spore suspension at the base of each plant stem. The most virulent fungus after 35 days of inoculation was F. oxysporum (0.78) followed by F. solani (0.70) and F. graminearum (0.66), while the lowest disease severity was recorded by F. udum (0.16). Also in the field pathogenicity experiments of three Fusarium species (F. graminearum, F. oxysporum and F. solani) were performed on a durum (Simeto) and soft (Cham6) cultivars. Spore suspension was applied at the 2- to 3-leaf Zadoks’s growth stage. Disease severity was calculated at two stages of wheat growth (Booting and Ripening).The most virulent fungus was F. graminearum (0.42) that was significantly different from&nbsp; other fungi. This work indicated that F. graminearum, F. oxysporum and F. solani showed higher infection than remaining tested species under threeconditions. Pathogenicity test in laboratory by test tube method (In-vitro) appeared more effective than greenhouse and field experiment

Léger comme le faon, fort comme un lion. Nouvelles considérations sur « La compétition des poètes » : la mise en abyme du poète dans le troisième conte (maḥberet) du Sefer ha‑meshalim de Yaakov ben Éléazar de Tolède

L’objet de cette étude est l’analyse du statut singulier du poète dans le troisième conte (maḥberet) du Sefer ha‑meshalim composé au xiiie siècle par Yaakov ben Éléazar. Elle se fonde sur l’examen de la frontière, parfois très mince, entre la réalité et la fiction. Il s’agit d’une compétition entre Lemuel, narrateur et protagoniste du conte mais aussi l’alter ego de Yaakov, l’auteur « historique », et le poète adverse. L’enjeu est d’améliorer un vers de la poésie de Yemima, le personnage d’une poétesse présent dans un autre conte. Le défi à relever est de composer un vers sur le même sujet avec autant d’images, puis de poursuivre le concours en augmentant le nombre de métaphores. On découvre à travers ce débat une représentation du poète, pris entre l’angoisse de l’échec et la confiance dans son talent, désireux d’être reconnu du public. L’analyse du fonctionnement de ce dispositif repose sur l’examen de la mise en scène de la compétition, des noms et prénoms donnés aux personnages, des métaphores choisies et donc de la virtuosité technique présente à chaque étape, ainsi que du statut de chacune des figures, tout particulièrement de celle de la poétesse.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the status of the poet in the third tale (maḥberet) of Sefer ha-Meshalim, by Yaakov ben Eleazar, written in the thirteenth century. This examination focuses on the very thin line between reality and fiction, as is reflected in the tale. The tale describes a competition between Lemuel (the narrator and protagonist of the tale but also the alter‑ego of Yaakov, the “historical” author) and the poet’s rival. Their challenge is to improve a verse written by Yemima (a poetess, the protagonist of another tale) by composing a verse on the same subject with the same number of images, and then to continue the contest by increasing the number of metaphors. Through this competition, the readers are introduced to a representation of the poet, caught between the anguish of failure and his confidence in his talent, eager to be recognized by the public. The article analyses these features based upon the staging of the competition, the names given to the characters, the interpretation of selected metaphors and the technical virtuosity demonstrated at each stage, as well as the status of each of the figures, especially that of the poetess.המאמר מנתח את מעמדו של המשורר במחברת השלישית של ספר המשלים ליעקב בן אלעזר, שנכתב במאה השלוש-עשרה. בחינה זו מתמקדת בקו הדק שבין המציאות לבדיה, כפי שהיא משתקפת ביצירה. המחברת מתארת תחרות בין למואל (המספר והגיבור, אך במקביל גם האלטר-אגו של יעקב, הסופר «ההיסטורי») לבין יריבו של המשורר. השניים מתחרים על  שורת שיר של המשוררת ימימה (גיבורת העלילה ממחברת אחרת) שלדעתם יש לשפרה, וזאת על-ידי כתיבת שורה חדשה, טובה יותר, שתכלול כמות זהה של דימויים. בשלבי התחרות השונים, על המשוררים להגדיל בכל פעם את כמות המטפורות בשורה הנדונה.  באמצעות ריב משוררים, נחשפים הקוראים לייצוגים השונים של דמות המשורר, הלכוד בין הפחד מכישלון לבין הביטחון העצמי בכישרונו, ובצורך שלו בהכרת הציבור. המאמר בוחן ומנתח את כל שלבי התחרות, את הקשר בין שמות הדמויות ותפקידיהן במחברת, מבחר מהדימויים השיריים המוצגים בכל שלב, תוך התייחסות לוירטואוזיות הפואטית של למואל