Communication across cultural boundaries: learning from and with others through dialogical semiospheres

[Abstract] Learning from and with others is significant for the sustainability of cultures and the effectiveness of global communication. Experiencing different cultural settings is essential for the development of one’s cultural understanding. Interacting with other cultures demands courageous navigation through unfamiliar cultural boundaries. Empirical observations of a cross-cultural program in Egypt have stimulated a deep understanding of learning from and with others and augmented the theoretical framework of this paper. Through a dialogical «semiosphere» members of different cultures can reach an interpretative understanding of the differences between their ideological biases and discover high-leverage points for cultural vitality. Communication is perceived not only as a condition for the existence of culture but also as a criterion for recognizing cultural identity. To communicate is to cultivate significance, and to cultivate significance is to communicate — a reciprocity that can be maintained by cross-cultural interaction and the capacity for dialogical semiospheres

Mutual mimesis of nature and culture: A representational perspective for eco-cultural metamorphosis

Since the beginning of history humans have attempted to represent nature and culture through mimesis. This article focuses on the teleological aspects of mimesis and offers a different perspective that transcends the notion of sustainability into an eco-humanistic metamorphosis of culture and nature. Drawing from semiotics, phenomenology and architectural design the article challenges the polarization of mimetic representations of nature and culture, which are inclusive and homomorphic phenomena, and offers insight into the mutual mimesis of nature and culture. Two different empirical observations substantiate the theoretical perspective: 1) a tradition advanced by the Egyptians’ stylization of visual representations of the mimicry of nature and culture; and 2) a current architectural design activity that integrates the mimesis of nature and culture. The article makes the case for a theoretical approach that integrates mimetic principles in creating a sustainable environment and an authentic ecoliving. The article concludes with ethical implications on the way we perceive the mutual resemblances in nature and culture, and on our semiotic understanding of the teleological aspects of mimesis

A New Anomaly-Free Gauged Supergravity in Six Dimensions

We present a new anomaly-free gauged N=1 supergravity model in six dimensions. The gauge group is E_7xG_2xU(1)_R, with all hyperinos transforming in the product representation {56,14). The theory admits monopole compactifications to R^4xS^2, leading to D=4 effective theories with broken supersymmetry and massless fermions.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX

Correlation Between Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha and Proteinuria in Type-2 Diabetic Patients

Introduction: Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) is the single most common cause of end stage renal disease (ESRD) in many countries. Inflammation is a potential factor in the development and progression of DN and recent data indicate that diabetes includes an inflammatory component which may contribute to diabetic complications. Methods: This study was conducted at Ain Shams University Hospital on 95 patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus complicated with retinopathy and fifteen age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers. Diabetic patients were divided into 4 groups according to the degree of proteinuria. Serum tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), urine TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured in all subjects. Correlations between these inflammatory parameters and degree of proteinuria, duration of diabetes and degree of glycemic control were examined. Results: Levels of the three inflammatory parameters were significantly higher in diabetic patients when compared to control subjects, and they were positively correlated to urinary protein excretion. There was significant positive correlation between serum and urine TNF-α and duration of diabetes, as well as between serum TNF-α and glycemic control. Serum and urine TNF-α remained as independent predictors of urine protein excretion in diabetic patients with overt proteinuria after forward stepwise multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: Serum and urine TNF-α and CRP levels are significantly elevated in this group of diabetic patients, and correlate positively with severity of proteinuria. This suggests a significant role for TNF-α in the pathogenesis and progression of renal injury in diabetes mellitus. Keywards: Diabetic nephropathy; Proteinuria; Tumor necrosis factor-

The Impact of Gaza Fishing Harbour on the Mediterranean Coast of Gaza

The Mediterranean coast of Gaza strip, which is covered about 40 km in length, is rich by coastal resources. The development that occurred along the coastal lines has led to the host of problems such as increased erosion, siltation, loss of coastal resources and the destruction of the fragile marine habitats. In order to conserve the depleting coastal resources, the changes due to development and associated activities must be monitored. Studying the temporal pattern of shoreline change is considered one of the most effective means of monitoring the cumulative effects of different activities. An attempt was made to study the impact of Gaza harbour on shoreline displacement along 6 km. This paper was intended to detect changes of coastal area in Gaza city to provide future database in coastal management studies. The analysis was carried out using image processing technique (ERDAS) and Geographical Information System platform. The variation during 38 years in the shoreline along the Gaza coast was determined by analyzing MSS, TM and ETM Landsat images from 1972 to 2010. The analyses identified the erosion and accretion patterns along the coast. The shoreline was advanced south of the Gaza fishing harbor, where the wave-induced littoral transport was halted by southern breakwater and the annual beach growth rate was 15,900 m2. On the downdrift side of the harbor, the shoreline was retreating and beaches erode at an annual rate of -14,000 m2. This study was emphasized that the coastal band is considered as a critical area, it is therefore necessary to monitor coastal zone changes because of the importance of environmental parameter and human disturbance. In particular, the projections of future shoreline erosion and accretion rates are considered important for long-term planning and environmental assessment for a variety of projects, including the construction and tourism facilities

Replica Limit of the Toda Lattice Equation

In a recent breakthrough Kanzieper showed that it is possible to obtain exact nonperturbative Random Matrix results from the replica limit of the corresponding Painlev\'e equation. In this article we analyze the replica limit of the Toda lattice equation and obtain exact expressions for the resolvent of the chiral Unitary Ensemble both in the quenched limit and in the presence of additional massive flavors. This derivation explains in a natural way the appearance of both compact and noncompact integrals, the hallmark of the supersymmetric method, in the replica limit of the expression for the resolvent. We also show that the supersymmetric partition function and the partition function with fermionic replicas are related through the Toda lattice equation.Comment: 4 pages, latex. One reference added. Discussion of GUE now in the main text. Note added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Prenatal Vitamin D Supplementation and Child Respiratory Health: A Randomised Controlled Trial

PMCID: PMC3691177This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited