58 research outputs found
The Media Challenge to Haredi Rabbinic Authority in Israel
Haredim, or ultra-orthodox Jews, live in cultural ghettos, withdrawn from the influences of modern life. To strengthen the hand of Haredi rabbis against their members being influenced by the outside media, institutional Haredi dailies newspapers were created by these rabbis - becoming in effect mouthpieces to their flock.Over the last thirty years an alternative Haredi media has evolved inside Israel - comprising independent weekly magazines, Haredi news websites, and Haredi radio stations - which have challenged the rule of Haredi rabbis. The challenge reached a peak with rabbinical bans on the Internet not adhered to by a considerable segment of the Haredi community. Today, many Haredim have computers and some of these have Internet. One of the major results is a loss of Haredi rabbinical hegemony. The article draws upon a survey of Haredi rabbis in Israel carried out by the author
Awkward encounters: Orthodox Jewry and the internet
The role which the mass media plays in modern society means that it has become a sub-agent of contemporary religious identities. This broadens the religious and theological significance of the mass media as an agent for the construction of personal (belief) systems. While in traditional societies, religion is based upon the authority vested in religious bodies, in complex industrial societies individuals construct religious meaning from a variety of sources. In the latter, communication about religious and spiritual issues is increasingly mediated through print and electronic technologies. The internet has accentuated the process of mediation within Judaism by linking Jews, irrespective of whether they belong to physical communal structures, to a virtual, worldwide Jewish community. Yet a key question to be examined here is the impact of the internet upon existing religious communities. This study examines this question by looking at the Israeli case, and the impact of the internet upon the religious identity of Orthodox Jewry
Vjerske prakse i razgovori o religiji u elitnim terminima američke i izraelske televizije
This comparative content analysis examines the extent
to which religion finds expression in mainstream TV
programming. The appearance of religious practices,
the level of fulfillment they bring, and the extent to which
they accord with religious law along with the tone of
conversation about religion were coded in 154 hours of
prime-time network programming from the USA and 112
hours of prime-time programming aired by the major TV
stations in Israel. The results indicate a very infrequent
presence of religion in the programming in the two
countries: once in two hours in Israel and once in three
hours in the USA, but while in US programming more than
three quarters of the religious practices brought fulfillment to
their participants and more than 90% of the practices
adhered fully or partly to religious rules, in Israeli shows only
one quarter of the practices brought fulfillment and just half
of them adhered fully or partly to religious rules.
Conversation about religion appeared just as infrequently as
practices did, but its tone was mainly positive in both
countries.Ova usporedna analiza sadržaja istražuje u kojoj je mjeri religija
prisutna u matičnom (mainstream) televizijskom programiranju.
Pojava vjerskih praksi, razina ispunjenja koju donose i njihova
usklađenost s vjerskim zakonima, kao i ton kojim se razgovora
o religiji, kodirani su unutar 154 sata elitnih programskih termina
u SAD-u, odnosno unutar 112 sati udarnog termina koji emitiraju
glavne televizijske kuće u Izraelu. Rezultati pokazuju vrlo malu
prisutnost religije u TV-programima dviju zemalja: jednom u dva
sata u Izraelu i jednom u tri sata u SAD-u. Ali dok je religijskim
programskim sadržajima u SAD-u ispunjenje postiglo više od tri
četvrtine sudionika i više od 90 % emisija potpuno je ili djelomično
poštovalo religijska pravila, u Izraelu je samo jedna četvrtina
sudionika doživjela ispunjenje, a samo polovica emisija potpuno
je ili djelomično slijedila vjerska pravila. Razgovor o religiji bio je
podjednako malo zastupljen kao i same vjerske prakse, ali je
ton razgovora bio uglavnom pozitivan u obje zemlje
Spatiotemporal Organization of Neuronal Activity in the Cervical Cord of Behaving Primates
Spinal neurons operate as a processing link that integrates descending and peripheral information and in turn, generates a specific yet complex muscle command. The functional organization of spinal circuitry during normal motor behavior dictates the way in which this translation process is achieved. Nonetheless, little is known about this organization during normal motor behavior. We examined the spatial organization of neural activity in the cervical spinal cord of behaving primates performing an isometric wrist task by estimating the averaged intraspinal activity of neuronal populations. We measured population response profiles and frequency content around torque onset and tested the tendency of these profiles to exhibit a specific organization within the spinal volume. We found that the spatial distribution of characteristic response profiles was non-uniform; namely, sites with a specific response profile tended to have a preferred spatial localization. Physiologically, this finding suggests that specific spinal circuitry that controls a unique feature of motor actions (with a particular task-related response pattern) may have a segregated spinal organization. Second, attempts to restore motor function via intraspinal stimulation may be more successful when the spatial distribution of these task-related profiles is taken into account
Tight binding description of the STM image of molecular chains
A tight binding model for scanning tunneling microscopy images of a molecule
adsorbed on a metal surface is described. The model is similar in spirit to
that used to analyze conduction along molecular wires connecting two metal
leads and makes it possible to relate these two measurements and the
information that may be gleaned from the corresponding results. In particular,
the dependence of molecular conduction properties along and across a molecular
chain on the chain length, intersite electronic coupling strength and on
thermal and disorder effects are discussed and contrasted. It is noted that
structural or chemical defects that may affect drastically the conduction along
a molecular chain have a relatively modest influence on conduction across the
molecular wire in the transversal direction.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, Israel J Chemistry, in pres
Dynamic assessment of the tear film muco-aqueous and lipid layers using a novel tear film imager (TFI)
Purpose The objective of the study was to assess a new technology, the tear film imager (TFI), which can dynamically image the muco-aqueous and lipid layers.
Methods Prospective pilot case series of individuals with and without dry eye (DE). Two sequential images were obtained with the TFI. Measurements were assessed for reproducibility and compared with clinically derived DE metrics. Individuals were grouped into DE categories based on signs of DE.
Results 49 patients participated in the study with a mean age of 58.8 years (SD 15.9) and a female majority (69%). Reproducibility of the muco-aqueous layer thickness (MALT) was excellent (r=0.88). MALT measurements significantly correlated with the Schirmer score (r=0.31). Lipid break up time (LBUT) as measured by the TFI significantly correlated with the clinical measure of tear break up time (TBUT) (r=0.73). MALT and LBUT were significantly thinner and shorter, respectively, in the DE groups (mild–moderate and severe) compared with the control group. When comparing TFI parameters to clinically assessed signs, sensitivity of the device was 87% and specificity was 88%.
Conclusion The TFI is the first machine capable of reproducibly measuring muco-aqueous thickness in human subjects which correlates with Schirmer score. In parallel, it assesses other important aspects of tear film function which correlate with clinician assessed DE metrics
Quantum-classical processing and benchmarking at the pulse-level
Towards the practical use of quantum computers in the NISQ era, as well as
the realization of fault-tolerant quantum computers that utilize quantum error
correction codes, pressing needs have emerged for the control hardware and
software platforms. In particular, a clear demand has arisen for platforms that
allow classical processing to be integrated with quantum processing. While
recent works discuss the requirements for such quantum-classical processing
integration that is formulated at the gate-level, pulse-level discussions are
lacking and are critically important. Moreover, defining concrete performance
benchmarks for the control system at the pulse-level is key to the necessary
quantum-classical integration. In this work, we categorize the requirements for
quantum-classical processing at the pulse-level, demonstrate these requirements
with a variety of use cases, including recently published works, and propose
well-defined performance benchmarks for quantum control systems. We utilize a
comprehensive pulse-level language that allows embedding universal classical
processing in the quantum program and hence allows for a general formulation of
benchmarks. We expect the metrics defined in this work to form a solid basis to
continue to push the boundaries of quantum computing via control systems,
bridging the gap between low-level and application-level implementations with
relevant metrics.Comment: 22 page
Developments in Gigascale Silicon Optical Modulators Using Free Carrier Dispersion Mechanisms
Hydrodynamical Simulations of Galaxy Clusters with Galcons
We present our recently developed {\em galcon} approach to hydrodynamical
cosmological simulations of galaxy clusters - a subgrid model added to the {\em
Enzo} adaptive mesh refinement code - which is capable of tracking galaxies
within the cluster potential and following the feedback of their main baryonic
processes. Galcons are physically extended galactic constructs within which
baryonic processes are modeled analytically. By identifying galaxy halos and
initializing galcons at high redshift (, well before most clusters
virialize), we are able to follow the evolution of star formation, galactic
winds, and ram-pressure stripping of interstellar media, along with their
associated mass, metals and energy feedback into intracluster (IC) gas, which
are deposited through a well-resolved spherical interface layer. Our approach
is fully described and all results from initial simulations with the enhanced
{\em Enzo-Galcon} code are presented. With a galactic star formation rate
derived from the observed cosmic star formation density, our galcon simulation
better reproduces the observed properties of IC gas, including the density,
temperature, metallicity, and entropy profiles. By following the impact of a
large number of galaxies on IC gas we explicitly demonstrate the advantages of
this approach in producing a lower stellar fraction, a larger gas core radius,
an isothermal temperature profile in the central cluster region, and a flatter
metallicity gradient than in a standard simulation
Effect of point-of-care C-reactive protein testing on antibiotic prescription in febrile patients attending primary care in Thailand and Myanmar : an open-label, randomised, controlled trial
Background
In southeast Asia, antibiotic prescription in febrile patients attending primary care is common, and a probable contributor to the high burden of antimicrobial resistance. The objective of this trial was to explore whether C-reactive protein (CRP) testing at point of care could rationalise antibiotic prescription in primary care, comparing two proposed thresholds to classify CRP concentrations as low or high to guide antibiotic treatment.
Methods
We did a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled trial in participants aged at least 1 year with a documented fever or a chief complaint of fever (regardless of previous antibiotic intake and comorbidities other than malignancies) recruited from six public primary care units in Thailand and three primary care clinics and one outpatient department in Myanmar. Individuals were randomly assigned using a computer-based randomisation system at a ratio of 1:1:1 to either the control group or one of two CRP testing groups, which used thresholds of 20 mg/L (group A) or 40 mg/L CRP (group B) to guide antibiotic prescription. Health-care providers were masked to allocation between the two intervention groups but not to the control group. The primary outcome was the prescription of any antibiotic from day 0 to day 5 and the proportion of patients who were prescribed an antibiotic when CRP concentrations were above and below the 20 mg/L or 40 mg/L thresholds. The primary outcome was analysed in the intention-to-treat and per-protocol populations. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02758821, and is now completed.
Findings
Between June 8, 2016, and Aug 25, 2017, we recruited 2410 patients, of whom 803 patients were randomly assigned to CRP group A, 800 to CRP group B, and 807 to the control group. 598 patients in CRP group A, 593 in CRP group B, and 767 in the control group had follow-up data for both day 5 and day 14 and had been prescribed antibiotics (or not) in accordance with test results (per-protocol population). During the trial, 318 (39%) of 807 patients in the control group were prescribed an antibiotic by day 5, compared with 290 (36%) of 803 patients in CRP group A and 275 (34%) of 800 in CRP group B. The adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of 0·80 (95% CI 0·65–0·98) and risk difference of −5·0 percentage points (95% CI −9·7 to −0·3) between group B and the control group were significant, although lower than anticipated, whereas the reduction in prescribing in group A compared with the control group was not significant (aOR 0·86 [0·70–1·06]; risk difference −3·3 percentage points [–8·0 to 1·4]). Patients with high CRP concentrations in both intervention groups were more likely to be prescribed an antibiotic than in the control group (CRP ≥20 mg/L: group A vs control group, p<0·0001; CRP ≥40 mg/L: group B vs control group, p<0·0001), and those with low CRP concentrations were more likely to have an antibiotic withheld (CRP <20 mg/L: group A vs control group, p<0·0001; CRP <40 mg/L: group B vs control group, p<0·0001). 24 serious adverse events were recorded, consisting of 23 hospital admissions and one death, which occurred in CRP group A. Only one serious adverse event was thought to be possibly related to the study (a hospital admission in CRP group A).
Interpretation
In febrile patients attending primary care, testing for CRP at point of care with a threshold of 40 mg/L resulted in a modest but significant reduction in antibiotic prescribing, with patients with high CRP being more likely to be prescribed an antibiotic, and no evidence of a difference in clinical outcomes. This study extends the evidence base from lower-income settings supporting the use of CRP tests to rationalise antibiotic use in primary care patients with an acute febrile illness. A key limitation of this study is the individual rather than cluster randomised study design which might have resulted in contamination between the study groups, reducing the effect size of the intervention
- …