The Watchmen in the Song of Songs: An Intertextual Study

Problem The watchmen are a shocking feature in the Song of Songs that have received limited exploration and research. Their dual nature in the Song of Songs is illustrated by their two responses to the women in the song; benign indifference illustrated in Song of Songs 3:1-5 and hostility exemplified in Song of Songs 5:2-8. This has led to a myriad of interpretations regarding their function and identity; however, none have been subject to a thorough examination. The watchmen have not been previously investigated as a potential metaphorical or symbolic representation of the brothers related to the woman in the Song of Songs. The goal of this study is to determine if such a relationship between these two entities is plausible. Method The investigation will initially seek to determine the range of meanings, semantic domains, and the Hebrew term for watchmen in the Song of Songs to serve as a basis for the comparison between the watchmen and the brothers. Further, it will identify actions and characteristics of the watchmen and brothers, as expressed by key words and phrases, so that parallel passages in the wider MT canon can be identified, interpreted, and compared. Ultimately, it will present a theory as to the relationship between the watchmen and the brothers. Results The present investigation has discovered a significant overlap between the semantic domains of the “watchmen” and the “brothers” in their identification as guardians and antagonists. It also outlines thematic connections that they share in the Song of Songs, specifically in how they relate to the woman of the Song. However, the investigation does not provide a definitive answer concerning the relationship between the watchmen and the brothers, as the text of the Song of Songs does not provide a metaphor or a statement that explicitly connects them together. Thus, any connection can only be inferred through shared linguistic and thematic features

Llengües electròniques per a l'anàlisi de caves

Els diferents tipus de cava que són produïts varien en la quantitat de sucre que s'afegeix amb el licor d'expedició després de la segona fermentació (la que dóna el gas carbònic). Gràcies a la combinació de sistemes de mesura químics i eines matemàtiques avançades de processament, investigadors de la UAB han aconseguit mimetitzar el sistema del gust humà i distingir entre les diferents classes de cava, obtenint una classificació anàloga a la que realitzaria un sommelier. La llengua electrònica, igual que el seu homòleg biològic, requereix un procés d'aprenentatge o entrenament per arribar a reconèixer les propietats en les que estem interessats.Los diferentes tipos de cava que son producidos varían en la cantidad de azúcar que se añade con el licor de expedición después de la segunda fermentación (la que da el gas carbónico). Gracias a la combinación de sistemas de medida químicos y herramientas matemáticas avanzadas de procesamiento, investigadores de la UAB han conseguido mimetizar el sistema del gusto humano y distinguir entre las diferentes clases de cava, obteniendo una clasificación análoga a la que realizaría un sommelier. La lengua electrónica, al igual que su homólogo biológico, requiere un proceso de aprendizaje o entrenamiento para llegar a reconocer las propiedades en las que estamos interesados

Application of an electronic tongue towards the analysis of brandies

This work reports the application of a voltammetric Electronic Tongue (ET) in the analysis of brandies, specifically in its classification according to the scores given by a skilled sensory panel and in the discrimination of different ageing methods. For this purpose, spirits were analyzed with no other pretreatment than its dilution with a saline solution to ensure enough conductivity. Recorded voltammetric signals produced by an array of six modified epoxy-composite sensors were preprocessed employing Fast Fourier Transform in order to reduce the complexity of the input signals while preserving the relevant information. Then, using the obtained coefficients, responses were evaluated using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) as the pattern recognition model used to carry out the classification tasks. In both cases, good prediction ability was attained by the ET (classification rates of 100% and 97%, respectively), therefore permitting the correct classification of the different samples under study. Furthermore, two Artificial Neural Network models were also trained for the semi-quantitative identification of some undesired compounds markers of some brandy defects upper certain levels (namely butan-2-ol, ethyl acetate, acetaldehyde and butan-1-ol; r>0.975) and the quantification of polyphenol index I280(r=0.977

Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria: past, present and future

Prompt and accurate diagnosis of malaria is part of an effective disease management (1) , because if not treated malaria can quickly become life-threatening, whereas false positives increase treatment costs and drug-induced resistance, giving a wrong idea of therapeutic efficacy. Since the symptoms of malaria are nonspecific, the observation of clinical features alone might not be enough and should be confirmed with a parasitological analysis. Microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained thin and/or thick blood smears remains the conventional approach for diagnosis (2). The sensitivity of this relatively inexpensive method is excellent, allowing the detection of as few as 5 parasites per µL of blood, and permitting also the determination of the infecting species and of the developmental stage of circulating parasites. In addition, smears provide a permanent record for quality assessment of the diagnosis. However, microscopy requires considerable expertise learned through extended training, the procedure is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and the variability in stains and in techniques used to collect and process blood affects slide interpretation (3). Finally, routine clinical microscopy cannot reliably detect very low parasitemias (<5 parasites/µL) or sequestered parasites, and mixed infections are often missed, especially when Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium ovale are present, as their densities are often low relative to Plasmodium falciparum

Museu de consciencia x memória traumática - O Memorial da Resistencia (Sao Paulo, Brasil)

SIAM. Series Iberoamericanas de Museología. Año 3, Vol.

Electronic tongue applications for wastewater and soil analysis

Assessment of water and soil quality is critical for the health, economy, and sustainability of any community. The release of a range of life-threatening pollutants from agriculture, industries, and the residential communities themselves into the different water resources and soil requires of analytical methods intended for their detection. Given the challenge that represents coping with the monitoring of such a diverse and large number of compounds (with over 100,000 chemicals registered, yet in continuous increase), holistic solutions such as electronic tongues (ETs) are emerging as a promising tool for a sustainable, simple, and green monitoring of soil and water resources. In this direction, this review aims to present and critically provide an overview of the basic concepts of ETs, followed by some relevant applications recently reported in the literature in environmental analysis, more specifically, the monitoring of water and wastewater, their quality and the detection of water pollutants as well as soil analysis

On the conservation of primary and secondary properties in the simulation of multiphase flows

The formulation of multiphase flows emanates from basic conservation laws: mass, momentum and energy. While these are embedded in the celebrated Navier-Stokes equations, none of these properties do necessarily hold when constructing a computational model, unless special care is taken in discretizing the different terms of the governing equations. The conservation of both primary (mass, momentum) and secondary (energy) quantities is not only relevant to mimic the dynamics of the system, but also computationally beneficial. Conservation of such quantities produce an enhanced physical reliability, removing most of the need for stabilization artifacts. In addition, discrete conservation implies numerical stability as well, producing inherently stable problems. Focusing on the capillary force, which is one of the most distinguishable features of multiphase flows, we present here our most recent developments in the quest for conservation. Departing from an inherently mass conservative method, in this work we sketch our previous developments to obtain an energy conservation and next we present our attempt at momentum. By carefully assessing the continuum formulation, we delve into the mathematical properties responsible for the conservation of linear momentum, which we then mimic in the regularized and discrete formulations

Structure-preserving discretizations on unstructred staggered meshes

The adoption of symmetry-preserving discretizations is presented in terms of the collocated, unstructured meshes customary of commercial codes. By adopting an algebraic approach, a discretization of the convective terms that reduces to the well know staggered method of Harlow and Welch is presented. The scheme properties are presented along with benchmark simulations concerning turbulent flows, achieving exact conservation of momentum and kinetic energy