Translating Politics into Art and Literature in the Arab World

This event with the eminent Lebanese public intellectual and critic Fawwaz Traboulsi draws on his long experience of organizing for and writing about a democratic future in the Arab world. It delves into the political role of art and culture, from the Lebanese civil war to the Arab uprisings and beyond. The wide-ranging conversation will revisit his war-time photo essay Guernica-Beirut, consider the theatre of Fayrouz and the Rahbani brothers in light of the politics of sectarianism in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region, and probe the extent to which popular culture can challenge neoliberal ‘culture talk’ about and in the Middle East. Fawwaz Traboulsi has taught History and International Affairs at the Lebanese American University and the American University of Beirut. He has been a visiting professor at New York University, the University of Michigan, Columbia University, New York University, and Vienna University and a fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. His publications include A History of Modern Lebanon (2007), Soie et Fer. Du Mont-Liban au Canal de Suez (2017), Guernica-Beirut (A Picasso Mural/An Arab City at War, 1987), In Kan Baddak Ti`shaq (Essays in Popular Culture, 2004), Masrah Fayrouz Wal-Rahabinah (The Musical Theatre of Feirouz and the Rahbani Brothers, 2007), Al-Dimuqratiyah Thawra (Democracy is a Revolution, 2011), Al-Tabaqat al-Ijtima’iyyah wa-l-Sulta al-Siyassiyyha fi Luban (Social Classes and Political Power in Lebanon, 2016), Damm al-Akhawayn (On Violence in Civil Wars , 2017), and Sayks-Picot-Balfour: Ma wara’ al-Khara’it (Sykes-Picot Agreement-Balfour Declaration: Beyond the Maps, 2018). Traboulsi is a long-time journalist and the editor of the Bidayat Magazine. Leyla Dakhli is senior researcher in Modern History at the French Center for National Research (CNRS). Her work deals with the study of Arab intellectuals and the social history of the South Mediterranean region, with a particular focus on the history of women. She also explores the history and politics of languages, archives, and revolts in Tunisia. She is the principal investigator of the ERC-founded programme DREAM (Drafting and Enacting the revolutions in the Arab Mediterranean — ERC-CO 2017 DREAM) and part of the Arab Council for Social Science working group, ‘Gendering the Archive in the Middle East and North Africa’, and the Berlin-based CO2LIBRI working group, ‘Conceptual Collaboration: Living Borderless Research Interaction’ (FU-HU-ZMO). Jens Hanssen is a professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Toronto. He will serve as director of the Orient Institute in Beirut from July 2023 onwards. His research explores the cultural entanglements between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East since the 19th-century Arabic reform and revival movement — al-nahda al-‘arabiyya. His publications include Fin de Siècle Beirut (2005), A Clarion for Syria: A Patriot’s Call Against the Civil War of 1860, with Hicham Safieddine (2019), Arabic Thought beyond the Liberal Age and Arabic Thought against the Authoritarian Age, both with Max Weiss (2016 and 2018), and the Handbook of Contemporary North African and Middle Eastern History, with Amal Ghazal (2020). He currently serves on the board of directors of MESA and is a member of the international advisory board of the Khalidiyya Library in East Jerusalem.Fawwaz Traboulsi, Translating Politics into Art and Literature in the Arab World, discussion, ICI Berlin, 16 May 2023, video recording, mp4, 49:15 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e230516

A History of Modern Lebanon - Second Edition

This is the second updated edition of the first comprehensive history of Lebanon in the modern period. Written by a leading Lebanese scholar, and based on previously inaccessible archives, it is a fascinating and beautifully-written account of one of the world's most fabled countries. Starting with the formation of Ottoman Lebanon in the 16th century, Traboulsi covers the growth of Beirut as a capital for trade and culture through the 19th century. The main part of the book concentrates on Lebanon's development in the 20th century and the conflicts that led up to the major wars in the 1970s and 1980s. This edition contains a new chapter and updates throughout the text. This is a rich history of Lebanon that brings to life its politics, its people and the crucial role that it has always played in world affairs

Reading and Translating Gramsci in the 70s

This is the Abstract of the English-language article by Fawwaz Traboulsi on the history, starting from the 1960s and 1970s of the translation into Arabic of Gramsci and its subsequent diffusion and influence. The author looks at the way in which currently neoliberalism has been changing political language in the attempt to bend it to its own purposes

Influència del disseny de la incisió en l'extensió del penjoll: un estudi in-vitro

Treball Final de Grau d'Odontologia, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2016-2017, Director: Octavi Camps FontIntroducció: S’ha establert la dehiscència com una de les complicacions més habituals en regeneració òssia guiada (6.95% - 13.1%). La principal causa esdevé l’absència de tancament del penjoll per primera intenció i lliure de tensió. En particular, el disseny del penjoll i les incisions que el composen jugaran un paper clau en obtenir un tancament correcte de la ferida. Objectius: Avaluar i comparar el paper que desenvolupa la incisió al periosti (maniobra de Rehrmann) en l’extensió de tres dissenys diferents: incisió crestal, penjoll triangular i trapezoïdal, així com comparar l’extensió entre els tres dissenys i, en relació cost/benefici, valorar el disseny més adequat per la regeneració òssia guiada. Materials i mètodes: 12 mandíbules de porc foren distribuïdes de forma aleatòria en tres grups segons el disseny de penjoll adjudicat: 1) incisió crestal, 2) penjoll triangular i 3) penjoll trapezoïdal. Seguint un disseny d’estudi a boca partida, cada mandíbula s’assignà de forma aleatòria una hemiarcades test (secció periòstica) i una control (sense maniobra de Rehrmann); obtenint 6 subgrups de 4 hemiarcades. S’utilitzà una tracció estandarditzada, la qual va ser prèviament calibrada mitjançant un dinamòmetre (110 grams = 1.079 N). Resultats: S’obtingué una mitjana de l’extensió dels subgrups control de 5.14 mm sense diferències estadísticament significatives entre els subgrups (p = 0.165). D’altra banda, els subgrups test obtingueren una mitjana de l’extensió de 7.37 mm amb diferències estadísticament significatives entre els subgrups (p < 0.001). Pel que fa a l’ús de la maniobra de Rehrmann mostrà un increment significatiu en els dissenys incisió crestal (0.57 mm; p = 0.003) i penjoll trapezoïdal (4.93 mm; p = 0.014). L’increment del penjoll trapezoïdal amb secció periòstica fou significativament major en comparació a qualsevol dels altres subgrups analitzats. Conclusions: L’ús de la maniobra de Rehrmann permetrà obtenir un tancament per primera intenció a baixa tensió. El disseny trapezoïdal associat a la secció periòstica presenta resultats significativament millors que la resta de dissenys avaluats

Buccal fat pad excision for cheek refinement:a systematic review

Buccal Fat Pad (BFP) excision has become an aesthetic surgical procedure. Although this procedure is quite common, it is important to bear in mind that the scientific evidence supporting the efficacy of this treatment is scarce and of low quality. The purpose of this systematic review was to analyse all relevant data to assess the efficacy and safety of BFP excision for improving midface aesthetics. A thorough search of MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus and Cochrane Library databases was conducted. The PICO approach was used where healthy patients seeking cheek slimming and facial silhouette refining undergo BFP excision and were compared before and after surgery in terms of BFP volume reduction, adverse effects and patient satisfaction. Of the 1,413 references identified, 4 were included in the qualitative synthesis. Only one study reported BFP volume reduction, which was 3.10 mL (95%CI: 2.38 to 3.80; P < 0.001), and the mean volume of the excised tissue was 2.74 ± 0.69 mL (range, 1.8-4.9 mL). 84.6% of the patients stated that their facial contour was much better and the remaining 15.4% noticed that the appearance of their cheeks following BFP excision was better. Seven complications were reported in the 134 cheek refinement procedures. BFP removal has an initially favorable outcome for facial aesthetics and a low postoperative complication rate, however, there are many procedures being performed with poor quality methodology and there is also a lack of published data on its long-term follow-up results

The Estimation of the Time Constant of the Human Inner Ear Pressure Change by Noninvasive Technique

We propose a noninvasive method to estimate the time constant. The calculation of this factor permits us to understand the pressure variations of the inner ear and also predict the behavior of the flow resistance of the cochlear aqueduct. A set of mathematical relationships incorporating the intralabyrinthine pressure, the intracranial pressure, and the time constant was applied. The modeling process describes the hydrodynamic effects of the cerebrospinal fluid in the intralabyrinthine fluid space, where the input and output of the created model are, respectively, the sinusoidal variation of the respiration signal and the distortion product of otoacoustic emissions. The obtained results were compared with those obtained by different invasive techniques. A long time constant was detected each time when the intracranial pressure increased; this phenomenon is related to the role of the cochlear aqueduct described elsewhere. The interpretation of this model has revealed the ability of these predictions to provide a greater precision for hydrodynamic variation of the inner ear, consequently the variation of the dynamic process of the cerebrospinal fluid

A survey of medicinal plants of Wadi Al-Kouf in Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar, Libya

Al-Jabal Al-Akhdar (the Green Mountain) of Cyrenaica, Libya is known to have the highest plant species diversity in the country, particularly in the depressions and the valleys of the mountain. Wadi Al-Kouf is the largest valley in the mountain, with a rich flora of aromatic and medicinal plants. The present investigation was conducted to record and list the medicinal plant species growing in the valley during the flowering season of 2019. Results revealed that Wadi Al-Kouf hosts 107 medicinal plant species belonging to 49 families and 93 genera. Dicotyledons were the most represented group of angiospermae with 38 families, 79 genera and 89 species, whereas Monocotyledons were represented by only 8 families, 10 genera and 13 species. Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae were the families with the highest number of species; 11, 9, 6 and 6 species, respectively. The most dominant life forms found in the valley were Therophytes (25.2%), Phanerophytes (25.2%) and Chamaephytes (24.3%), followed by Hemicryptophytes (15.9%) and Geophytes (9.3%). Nine endemic species were detected and recorded

EFFECTIVENESS OF PLATELET- RICH FIBRIN WITH BETA TRI-CALCIUM PHOSPHATE PLUS CALCIUM SULFATE ON PERIODONTAL INTRABONY DEFECT MANAGEMENT (RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED CLINICAL STUDY)

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of beta tri-calcium phosphate plus calcium sulfate mix, with or without platelet rich fibrin in reducing probing periodontal pockets clinically and defect depths radiographically, while increasing clinical attachment levels to reconstruct intrabony defects in human clinical trials. Materials and Methods: Sixteen participants with periodontal intrabony defects ≥ 5 mm were divided into two equal groups. The first eight intrabony defects in study group received platelet rich fibrin mixed with EthOss ®; while the eight remaining intrabony defects in control group were reconstructed only with EthOss® synthetic bone substitute. Freidman ANOVA and Mann-Whitney tests were chosen for intra-group and inter-group comparisons, respectively. Results: Final outcomes revealed statistically significant decrease in periodontal pocket depth and defect depth values (P ˂ 0.05) with a statistically significant clinical attachment level gain in study and control groups. Precisely, mean values of all measured categories were greater in study rather than control group participants, as confirmed clinically by William’s probe and radiographically by cone-beam computed tomography at 6 months after surgery. Conclusion: Adding PRF to β-TCP plus CS is highly effective in inducing new periodontal soft and hard tissue synthesis resulting in better clinical and radiographic outcomes when surgically incorporated in periodontal intrabony defect(s)

Does self-modulated learning vs. algorithm-regulated learning of dermatology morphology affect learning efficiency of medical students?

Background: Deliberate practice is an important method of skill acquisition and is under-utilized in dermatology training. We delivered a dermatologic morphology training module with immediate feedback for first year medical students. Our goal was to determine whether there are differences in accuracy and learning efficiency between self-regulated and algorithm-regulated groups. Methods: First year medical students at the University of Calgary completed a dermatologic morphology module. We randomly assigned them to either a self-regulated arm (students removed cases from the practice pool at their discretion) or an algorithm-regulated arm (an algorithm determined when a case would be removed). We then administered a pre-survey, pre-test, post-test, and post-survey. Data collected included mean diagnostic accuracy of the practice sessions and tests, and the time spent practicing. The surveys assessed demographic data and student satisfaction. Results: Students in the algorithm-regulated arm completed more cases than the self-regulated arm (52.9 vs. 29.3, p&lt;0.001) and spent twice as much time completing the module than the self-regulated participants (34.3 vs. 17.0 min., p&lt;0.001). Mean scores were equivalent between the algorithm- and self-regulated groups for the pre-test (63% vs. 66%, n = 54) and post-test (90% vs. 86%, n = 10), respectively. Both arms demonstrated statistically significant improvement in the post-test. Conclusion: Both the self-regulated and algorithm-regulated arms improved at post-test. Students spent significantly less time practicing in the self-directed arm, suggesting it was more efficient