A carbonate-banded iron formation transition in the Early Protorezoicum of South Africa

Seven new and two resurveyed stratigraphic sections through the important carbonate-BIF transition in Griqualand West are presented and compared with six published sections. Lateral correlation within this zone is attempted but the variability was found to be too great for meaningful subdivision. Substantial lithological irregularity is the only unifying character of this zone, for which the new name Finsch Member (Formation) is proposed. Vertical and lateral lithological variations as well as chemical changes across this zone are discussed with reference to environmental aspects. Local and regional considerations lead to the conclusion that fresh water-sea water mixing occurred in a shallowing basin

Tidal flat deposits of the Lower Proterozoic Campbell Group along the southwestern margin of the Kaapvaal Craton, Northern Cape Province, South Africa

Lower Proterozoic stromatolites and associated clastic carbonate deposits of the Campbell Group, from the southern margin (Prieska area) of the Kaapvaal Craton, northern Cape Province, are described. Contrary to previous interpretations (Beukes, 1978; 1980a) shallow subtidal to supratidal facies are recognised and discussed in regional context. An alternative model for the facies development of the Campbell Group is proposed

The impact on employer operating costs of low cost health insurance including an HIV/treatment benefit: results of a study of five employers in Namibia

This repository item contains a single issue of the Health and Development Discussion Papers, an informal working paper series that began publishing in 2002 by the Boston University Center for Global Health and Development. It is intended to help the Center and individual authors to disseminate work that is being prepared for journal publication or that is not appropriate for journal publication but might still have value to readers.OBJECTIVE: The impact of low-cost health insurance on the costs incurred by Namibian employers was measured. BACKGROUND: Namibia has a relatively recent HIV epidemic and adult HIV prevalence estimated at 15.3%. AIDS-related mortality would be rising in the absence of antiretroviral treatment. (ART). Medical schemes in Namibia now offer low-cost policies that include good coverage for treatment of AIDS, including ART. In 2006-2007, a number of large Namibian employers agreed to purchase such policies for their uninsured workers. METHODOLOGY: We compared data on worker attrition and related costs for the period before and after purchase of the low cost health insurance policy. RESULTS: Worker attrition (death and medical retirement) reported by the companies declined from a range of 1.5% to 2.0% of the work force in 2005 and 2006 to 0.7% to 1.1% in 2008. When data was pooled, attrition fell from a peak of 1.7% of the combined work force in 2005 to 0.9% in 2008. Attrition-related costs at the companies were lower in 2008 than in the peak attrition years. The downward trend in attrition appears to have begun before the date when the firms purchased the new policies. The 2008 value of the savings measured was less than the annual cost of the premiums for the new policies. DISCUSSION: Antiretroviral treatment appears to reduce workforce attrition and related costs for Namibian employers. However, we cannot say if this is a result of new low-cost insurance policies or the rapid expansion of ART in the public sector

Kinders in die erediens

Children in public worshipFrom a biblical and historical point of view, it is clear that the child is totally part of the church of Christ, and therefore he must assemble regularly with the congregation in public worship. From an anthropological perspective, it is clear that the child, especially in the first three phases of his life, differs so greatly from the adult, that special attention should be given to him. Consequently the liturgist should bear the child in mind in every church service. From time to time special church services should be held where he focuses on the child in the first phases of his life, that is the child between five en twelve years of age

The 50-year jubileum of the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies in the John Scottus Eriugena (815–877) research, 1970–2020

This article charters the history and work of the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies (SPES), which celebrated its 50-year jubileum in 2020. After a brief introduction to the thought of John Scottus Eriugena (815–877), with emphasis on his primary text (in five volumes), Periphyseon, written between 864 and 866 and condemned as heretical in 1050, 1059, 1210 and finally in 1225, the development of SPES over the past five decades is surveyed in detail and connected to an outstanding work published in the Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition series in Leiden (2020), under the editorship of Adrian Guiu (A Companion to John Scottus Eriugena). The article is descriptive and analytical in its presentation of the relevant history of ideas and synthetical in its attempt to coherently integrate the most recent secondary texts on the relevant philosophical themes in Eriugena research. Contribution: The article contributes to the Society for the Promotion of Eriugenian Studies’ 50-year jubileum by summarising its conference outputs over the past five decades in an extensive overview as well as connecting its work to A Companion to John Scottus Eriugena (Brill, Leiden, 2020), thereby furthering the society’s efforts and specialist research outputs to a broader, non-specialised readership

The case for post-scholasticism as an internal period indicator in Medieval philosophy

This article responds to a critical research challenge in Medieval philosophy scholarship regarding the internal periodisation of the register. By arguing the case for ‘post-scholasticism’ as an internal period indicator (1349–1464, the era between the deaths of William of Ockham and Nicholas of Cusa), defined as ‘the transformation of high scholasticism on the basis of a selective departure thereof’, the article specifies a predisposition in the majority of introductions to and commentaries in Medieval philosophy to proceed straight from 1349 to 1464, understating 115 years of pertinent Medieval philosophical discourse. It is argued that in the modern account of Medieval philosophy, this understatement is manifested in either a predating of Renaissance philosophy to close the gap between 1349 and 1464 as far as possible or in proceeding straight from 1349 to Renaissance philosophy. The article presents five unique philosophical themes from this delicate period, indicating that ‘post-scholasticism’ was indeed a productive period in late Medieval philosophy, which should not be bypassed as an inconsequential entrance to Renaissance philosophy. The period 1349–1464 should accordingly be appreciated for its idiosyncratic contributions to the history of ideas in the late-14th and early-15th centuries, with reference to the political intensification of the via moderna, the pivotal separation of philosophy and theology and the resulting independence of the natural sciences, in res critique of institutions, transforming pragmatics and the rise of philosophical materialism. Contribution: This article contributes to methodological development in Medieval philosophy by responding to a critical research challenge regarding the internal periodisation of the later Middle Ages. Arguing the case for ‘post-scholasticism’ as an internal period indicator (1349 to 1464 in Medieval philosophy, the article presents unique philosophical themes from the period, indicating that it was a productive stage in late Medieval philosophy which should not be bypassed as an inconsequential entrance to Renaissance philosophy

The current four volumes of Michel Foucault’s Histoire de la sexualité: a review of the state of research, 2022

By providing a review of the present state of research regarding French historian of ideas Michel Foucault’s (1926-1984) current four-volume series Histoire de la sexualité, this essay highlights an acceleration in tempo after the publication of an edited fourth volume (Les aveux de la chair) in 2018. After providing an overview of the manuscript development of Les aveux de la chair, and the emergence of a pattern regarding the structural and chronological composition of Histoire de la sexualité, namely that the series should effectively be read backward from the first volume La volonté de savoir to the thematically last volume L’usage des plaisirs, several developing themes in the most recent scholarship on Histoire de la sexualité are noted and annotated. The report concludes with a presentation of two notable features of the current four volumes, namely its unconventional composition and existing historical gaps, regarding the Carolingian and post-Carolingian periods, later Middle Ages, Renaissance, Reformation, and Counter-Reformation

Value Investing: International Comparison

Based on accumulated empirical evidence, the academic community has generally come to agree that value investment strategies, on average, outperform growth investment strategies (Chan and Lakonishok, 2004:71). An influential article by Fama and French (1992) tested the notion that United States stock prices might be related to the ratio of a firm’s book value of common equity (BV) to its market value of common equity (MV). It found that companies with high book value relative to market value of equity (BV/MV) outperform the market. This finding led to extensive testing for the value premium in developed countries around the world. Fama and French (1998a) tested it with data from twelve major European countries, as well as from Australia and the Far East. They found that between 1975 and 1995 in almost every country, value stocks delivered a higher return than growth stocks. The value premium has not been tested with the same vigor in third world or developing countries, which raises the question whether the value premium is only a first world phenomena and, if not, how third world value premiums compare to those found in developed countries. This paper compares the size of the value premium in the USA, UK, and some continental European countries with South African data

Foucault in Iran, 1978–1979

In 1978 Michel Foucault went to Iran as a distinguished intellectual – but novice political journalist – controversially reporting on the unfolding revolution, undeniably compromising and wounding his reputation in the European intellectual community. Given the revolution’s bloody aftermath and its violent theocratic development, is Foucault’s Iranian expedition simply to be understood as a critical error in judgement, with disastrous consequences for his legacy? What exactly did Foucault hope to achieve in Iran in 1978-1979, explicitly supporting the cause of the revolting masses and effectively isolating himself from the European intellectual community and the Western liberal tradition? The book investigates this open nerve in the Foucault scholarship by interpreting Foucault's primary texts from this period, commenting on the various positions in the scholarship over the past three decades, and eventually proposes that Foucault's 'mistake', resulting from his 'self-consciousness' and 'uncertainty', was indeed a highly philosophical endeavour, but was completely misinterpreted by his contemporaries and even his most noteworthy biographers. The issue of Foucault's involvement in Iran is still a relatively unexplored theme in Foucault research and one that is actually bypassed by the majority of Foucault scholars, since the general view is that it was a breathtaking mistake, comparable to Heidegger's flirtation with National Socialism. This book will provide value and advance knowledge in this area, firstly, by presenting the three concepts that are in my opinion key to understand Foucault's involvement in the Iranian revolution (Otherness, Present history and Political spirituality). Secondly, by providing a thorough overview of what really happened in Iran after Foucault arrived in Tehran in September 1978 (and what really happened was not conforming to the West's idea of progression, but an Iranian idea of progression, on its own terms). Thirdly, by disseminating Foucault's reports back to France, in a detailed and forensic fashion. Fourthly, by providing a solid overview of the interpretations on this issue (however reluctant and scarce) from the scholarship over the past three decades. Fifthly, by presenting Foucault's involvement in the Iranian revolution not as a mistake or a critical error in judgement, but as a deeply philosophical position that actually corresponds to many of Foucault's theoretical positions on power, death, madness, uncertainty, spirituality, Orientalism and Otherness, preceding the revolution in Iran. The detailed historical overview of Foucault's involvement in the Iranian revolution, the responsible and non-polemical overview of the scholarship's attempts to deal with the issue and the author's original interpretation and presentation of the legitimacy of Foucault's presence in Iran from September 1978 to April 1979. In an age where it has become urgent to reinterpret both Shia and Sunni legacies within the context of radicalised Islam, the book argues for a Foucaultian recognition of the 'Orient Other' - as nothing more than 'An Other Self'

Hamartia: Foucault and Iran 1978–1979 (1: Introduction and texts)

In 1978 Michel Foucault went to Iran as a distinguished intellectual but novice political journalist, controversially reporting on the unfolding revolution, undeniably compromising and wounding his reputation in the European intellectual community. Given the revolution’s bloody aftermath and its violent theocratic development, is Foucault’s Iranian expedition simply to be understood as hamartia, a critical error in judgement, with disastrous consequences for his legacy? Whatexactly did Foucault hope to achieve in Iran in 1978 to 1979, explicitly supporting the cause of the revolting masses and effectively isolating himself from the European intellectual community and the Western liberal tradition? This series of two articles attempts to shed light on these questions by, in the fi rst article, 1) introducing and contextualising the philosophical issues and 2) discussingthe relevant texts; then, in the second article, 3) elaborating on three explicit contributions (Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson; Ian Almond; and Danny Postel) that recently have been made on this neglected issue in Foucault scholarship and 4) eventually indicating the possible philosophical signifi cance of Foucault’s peculiar mixture of naïveté and perceptivity – indeed his peculiar hamartia – regarding the events in Iran. Presenting Foucault as a ‘self-conscious Greek in Persia’,the argument in both articles is that Foucault’s ‘present-historical’ writings on the Iran revolution were closely related to his general theoretical writings on the discourses of power and his cynicalperspectives on the inherent risks of modernity. Foucault’s journalistic writings on Iran in 1978 to 1979 are therefore to be appreciated as essentially philosophical contributions to his extensive modern-critical oeuvre. Foucault’s perspectives on power, revolt, Otherness, ‘political spirituality’ and his ‘ethics of Self-discomfort’ may prove to be as signifi cant for an understanding of our world today as the author considers them to have been during the events of September 1978 toApril 1979, with Tehran’s self-esteem still radiating in the desert skies 30 years later