Listening to the Whispers of Matter Through Arabic Hermeticism: New Studies on the Book of the Treasure of Alexander

The Jabirian Corpus refers to the K. Thahirat Al-`Iskandar, ""The Book of the Treasure of Alexander"" (hereafter BTA), as one of several forgeries suggesting that alchemical secrets were hidden in inscriptions in various places. The book was neglected until 1926, when Julius Ruska discussed it in his work on the Emerald Tablet, placing the BTA within the literature related to the development of Arabic alchemy. His preliminary study became an essential reference and encouraged many scholars to work on the BTA in the following decades. Some years ago, we completed the first translation of the BTA into a Western language. The work was based on the acephalous Escorial manuscript, which we identified as a fourteenth-century copy of the BTA. This manuscript is peculiar, as part of it is encoded. After finishing our translation, we started to establish the text of the BTA. At present, the text is in process of fixation-to be followed by textual criticism-and has been the main focus of a thorough study of ours on medieval hermeticism and alchemy. A sample of the work currently in progress is presented in this paper: an analysis of the variations between different manuscripts along with a study and English translation of its alchemical chapter.

Book illustration, as (intersemiotic) translation: Pictures translating words

This article examines book illustrations through the prism of Translation Studies. It mainly suggests that the pictures in illustrated books are (intersemiotic) translations of the text and that, as such, they can be analyzed making use of the same tools applied to verbal interlingual translation. The first section deals with the theoretical bases upon which illustrations can be regarded as translations, concentrating on theories of re-creation, as illustration is viewed essentially as the re-creation of the text in visual form. One of the claims in this section is that, because illustration is carried out in very similar ways as interlingual translation itself, the term ""intersemiotic"" relates more to the (obvious) difference of medium. For this reason the word is most often referred to in parentheses. The second section discusses three particular ways through which illustrations can translate the text, namely, by reproducing the textual elements literally in the picture, by emphasizing a specific narrative element, and by adapting the pictures to a certain ideology or artistic trend. The example illustrations are extracted from different. kinds of publication and media, ranging from Virgil`s Aeneid, Lewis Carroll`s Alice in Wonderland and Mark Twain`s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to an online comic version of Shakespeare`s Hamlet.

Domestic objects and the taste epiphany - A resource for consumption methodology

The presentation of an aesthetic identity involves the accomplishment of a coherent, plausible narrative which links one's choices to desired characteristics of the self. As symbolic evidence of a person's taste, material culture is a vital component of a successful narrative. Via case studies of pivotal household objects, this paper uses face-to-face interview data as a way of investigating processes of aesthetic choice. Household objects are interpreted as material elements imbricated in the presentation of a socially plausible and internally consistent aesthetic self. Narrative analysis, and the concept of the epiphany-object, are proposed as useful ways of accounting for tastes in domestic material culture. Methodological questions of truth-telling and authenticity in the face-to-face context are considered, and the sociological problem of taste is scrutinized in light of ideas about social accountability and textual identity.

Integrating technology to improve the efficiency of qualitative data analysis - A note on methods

Qualitative data analysis (QDA) is often a time-consuming and laborious process usually involving the management of large quantities of textual data. Recently developed computer programs offer great advances in the efficiency of the processes of QDA. In this paper we report on an innovative use of a combination of extant computer software technologies to further enhance and simplify QDA. Used in appropriate circumstances, we believe that this innovation greatly enhances the speed with which theoretical and descriptive ideas can be abstracted from rich, complex, and chaotic qualitative data. © 2001 Human Sciences Press, Inc.

Yehoshua Gitay: 'What is He Doing?'

This article provides a response to an article by Yehoshua Gitay, ‘Prophetic Criticism—"What are they Doing?": The Case of Isaiah—A Methodological Assessment’ (JSOT 96), in which he assesses the articles in the volume, New Visions of Isaiah. These articles were originally delivered as papers to the Formation of the Book of Isaiah Seminar of the Society of Biblical Literature. Gitay characterizes the entire work of the Seminar as having a redaction-critical focus. I argue that to characterize my article as representing a redaction-critical approach is to misunderstand what others and I were doing as participants in the Isaiah seminar. My article was in fact a critique of redaction criticism and its author-centred approach to textual meaning.

The tidiest revolution: Regulative feminist autobiography and the de-facement of the Australian women's movement

Examines the use of writing autobiographies as a feminist strategy for expanding and realigning the historical record. Significance of autobiographies in describing the oppression experienced by women in the society; Discussion on three memoirs by Australian feminist activists Susan Ryan, Wendy McCarthy and Anne Summers; Analysis of the textual strategies employed and the paradoxes that emerged from the memoirs; Details on the use of prosopopoeia in autobiographies.

Writing the body of the mother: Narrative moments in Tsushima Yuko, Ariyoshi Sawako and Enchi Fumiko

This discussion argues the transformative potential inherent in the corporeal experience of motherhood as represented in selected textual moments of Japanese narrative. Narratives that address the experiences of the body of the mother are informed and given substance by an intense physicality, and thus have the potential to contest processes of social inscription in addition to suggesting alternative possibilities for all readers, not just those occupying an embodied maternal space. The discussion features brief events from the work of three writers who have written as mothers: Tsushima Y(u)macrko, Ariyoshi Sawako and Enchi Fumiko. In Yama o hashiru onna (1980; translated as Woman Running in the Mountains, 1991), Tsushima Y(u)macrko invites the reader to consider the embodied response to light of Takiko, a young pregnant woman. Emiko, the protagonist of Hishoku (Without Colour, 1967) by Ariyoshi Sawako, is the Japanese wife of an African American and has just given birth to a child. The daughter protagonist in Enchi Fumiko's 'Kami' ('Hair', 1957) operates a hairdressing business that is viable only with her mother's unpaid labour. The narratives are read through a matrix of post-structuralist theories of embodiment, drawing on the work of writers such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Elizabeth Grosz.

Sistema georreferenciado de monitoramento e apoio ?? decis??o da Presid??ncia da Rep??blica (Geo/PR)

Trata-se de um sistema desenvolvido para integrar informa????es em base georreferenciada e textual de diversos ??rg??os p??blicos, a fim de possibilitar an??lises gerenciais, a atua????o estrat??gica e a decis??o ministerial sobre a concess??o de ato de assentimento pr??vio, de acordo com a Lei no 6.634/79. Ao possibilitar o cruzamento de informa????es de diversos bancos de dados, em raz??o da especialidade do Gabinete de Seguran??a Institucional da Presid??ncia da Rep??blica (GSI/PR), o sistema oportuniza o diagn??stico de incongru??ncias e conflitos de atividades entre ??rg??os da Administra????o P??blica Federal indireta e o indicativo da situa????o fundi??ria do Pa??s, tanto no aspecto territorial quanto no da riqueza mineral e respectivos interessados em sua explora????o. O sistema permite que os bancos ???conversem entre si???, o que o torna um marco na hist??ria da gest??o p??blica federal, por possibilitar o conhecimento do nosso territ??rio em tempo real, com informa????es confi??veis, precisas e amig??veis geradas em banco de dados textuais associados a uma base cartogr??fica digital composta por mapas digitalizados, fotografias a??reas e imagens de sat??lites

Planejamento em sa??de: m??dulo I

Texto elaborado para apoiar as atividades did??ticas do M??dulo I do curso de qualifica????o de cerca de quarenta t??cnicos do Minist??rio da Sa??de (MS) na utiliza????o do enfoque participativo do Planejamento Estrat??gico-Situacional (PES), de Carlos Matus, realizado presencialmente na Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (ENAP), em Bras??lia

Planejamento em sa??de: m??dulo I I

Texto elaborado para apoiar as atividades did??ticas do M??dulo II do curso de qualifica????o de cerca de quarenta t??cnicos do Minist??rio da Sa??de (MS) na utiliza????o do enfoque participativo do Planejamento Estrat??gico-Situacional (PES), de Carlos Matus, realizado presencialmente na Escola Nacional de Administra????o P??blica (ENAP), em Bras??lia

Gest??o e fiscaliza????o de contratos administrativos

Dotar o aluno de referencial te??rico e pr??tica simulada que permita o controle, acompanhamento e fiscaliza????o do fiel cumprimento das obriga????es assumidas pelas partes do contrato administrativo, ao mesmo tempo em que opera as mudan??as permitidas ou determinadas pela lei para a manuten????o das condi????es iniciais do contrato e para a realiza????o eficaz do objeto

Elabora????o de indicadores de desempenho institucional

O Material do Aluno ?? o instrumento did??tico complementar ??s aulas presenciais do curso que, juntamente ??s orienta????es do professor e ??s pr??ticas realizadas na sala de aula, possibilita o aprendizado dos temas apresentados. Este documento apresenta seguinte estrutura: Cap??tulo 1 ??? Introdu????o: apresenta o contexto do curso de Elabora????o de Indicadores de Desempenho Institucional. Cap??tulo 2 ??? Conceitos Gerais: apresenta os conceitos que envolvem a melhor forma de defini????o e sele????o de indicadores. Cap??tulo 3 ??? S??o apresentados os principais atributos dos indicadores. Cap??tulo 4 ??? Classifica????o de indicadores de desempenho Institucional. Cap??tulo 5 ??? Estabelecimento de indicadores que ir??o compor um sistema de medi????o do desempenho institucional. Cap??tulo 6 ??? Apresenta????o dos elementos complementares: descri????o de indicadores, interpreta????o de seus resultados, estabelecimento de metas, a informatiza????o, a comunica????o de seus resultados e o desdobramento do sistema de medi????o do foco estrat??gico para o gerencial e o operacional. Cap??tulo 7 ??? Bibliografia. Este material tamb??m tem por finalidade servir de instrumento de consulta r??pida para esclarecer eventuais d??vidas do aluno na aplica????o dos conhecimentos adquiridos no exerc??cio de seu trabalho

Curso de monitoramento tem??tico do PPA 2012-2015 e acompanhamento or??ament??rio 2013

O curso teve como ementa: apresentar conceitos b??sicos de Monitoramento e Avalia????o; a evolu????o hist??rica da metodologia de monitoramento e avalia????o dos PPAs: 2000-2003; 2004-2007; e 2008-2011; o Monitoramento das Agendas Estrat??gicas de Governo; o monitoramento e avalia????o do PPA 2012-2015: metodologia, concep????o de monitoramento e avalia????o, e suporte informatizado (SIOP); o monitoramento das prioridades da Presid??ncia, dos programas tem??ticos, incluindo os indicadores, os objetivos e as metas do plano; a proposta de monitoramento participativo do PPA 2012-2015, por meio da rela????o do governo com o F??rum Interconselhos de pol??ticas p??blicas; e o acompanhamento das a????es e os fundamentos dos planos or??ament??rios (PO) do Or??amento de 2013