This project presents a structured lesson plan aimed at supporting Jewish high school educators in guiding teens through complex social issues from a values-based, Jewish perspective. Grounded in experiential education and moral development theory, the lesson plan is designed to foster open discussion, critical thinking, and self-reflection among students. The sessions address topics such as peer pressure, identity, ethical dilemmas, and communal responsibility, integrating Jewish texts, personal narratives, and active learning strategies. The curriculum emphasizes relevance to contemporary teen life while reinforcing Jewish ethical frameworks and communal belonging. The work underscores the importance of equipping educators with tools to engage youth meaningfully and sensitively, creating a classroom space where Jewish identity and modern social challenges can be explored in tandem.
The Medieval Wall System (MWS), constructed in the tenth–thirteenth centuries AD across parts of Mongolia, China and Russia, was one of several long walls built along ancient frontiers in Asia. Despite a growing body of literature about this network of walls and trenches, many questions still surround its construction and function. Here, the authors present results of archaeological investigations on the Mongolian Arc of the MWS, revealing new construction dates and insights into daily life. Rather than a regimented defence, the MWS, at least in parts, was a symbolic boundary that endured within the social landscape long after it was abandoned.
The study examines two autofictional narratives — The Seventh Autobiography (2000) and The Eight, or Unfinished Autobiography (2007) by the Czech writer Ota Filip (1930–2018). The texts were written in reaction to a media scandal as well as some traumatic events in the author’s private life. The study attempts to understand the different ways in which the two texts were received, both in the Czech context and when compared to the reactions to the German version, Der siebente Lebenslauf (2001). The cognitive-hermeneutic theory of autobiography and autofiction by Liesbeth Korthals Altes is the basis of my analysis of textual and paratextual clues that allow reading the Autobiographies in different cognitive frames, or in the evaluation framework of “five worlds” as presented by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot. An intepretation of Filip’s works within the concept of the “Inspired World” is also related to the context of Czech autofiction literature (Ludvík Vaculík, Pavel Kohout, Bohumil Hrabal).
December 2024: Jan Tlustý is an associate professor in the Department of Czech Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno, as well as in the Department of Czech Language and Literature at the Faculty of Education, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. He serves as chief editor of the scholarly journal Bohemica Litteraria. His research focuses on interpretation and aesthetic experience, particularly from the perspectives of phenomenology, hermeneutics, cognitive science and Czech poststructuralism (studies on Jan Patočka, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur, Milan Jankovič, and others). He is the author of Příliš hlučná prázdnota: Mezery, otřesy a smysl literárního díla, 2022 (Too loud an emptiness: Gaps, shaking, and meaning in works of literature). His research also extends to autofiction in Czech and world literatures (studies on Bohumil Hrabal, Ota Filip, and John Maxwell Coetzee) and to the work of literary scholar Zdeněk Kožmín.
The stability of electrode materials in aqueous environments presents a significant challenge for the long-term performance of energy storage systems, particularly when operating at potentials that promote water electrolysis. Many electrode materials undergo spontaneous self-discharge, resulting in a gradual loss of stored charge. While previous studies have shown that metallic and inorganic electrodes in aqueous solutions can experience significant self-discharge, much less is known about this phenomenon in organic electrodes. To bridge this gap, this study investigates the self-discharge behavior of polyimide (PI)-based electrodes, focusing on 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride-derived polyimide (PNTCDA) in aqueous electrolyte solutions. Through a systematic evaluation of charge loss, we demonstrate that while water reduction primarily drives reversible self-discharge, it also indirectly contributes to irreversible capacity loss by generating reactive species and conditions that accelerate the hydrolytic degradation of the polymeric structure. These processes are particularly pronounced when the anode material is in its electrochemically reduced state at low potentials. Comparisons with nonaqueous systems reveal that even small amounts of water can significantly accelerate capacity loss, underscoring the susceptibility of organic-based electrodes to instability when operating within potential windows where water is reduced. These findings highlight the critical need for strategies to mitigate both reversible self-discharge and irreversible degradation processes in aqueous battery systems.
The dry Sahara was potentially wetter in the past during the warm African Humid Period. Although debated, this climatic shift is a possible scenario in a future warmer climate. One major line of evidence reported for past green periods in the Sahara is the presence of paleo-lakes. Even today, Saharan desert lakes get filled from time to time. However, very little is known about these events due to the lack of available in situ observations. In addition, the hydrometeorological conditions associated with these events have never been systematically investigated. This study proposes filling this knowledge gap by examining the meteorology of lake-filling episodes (LFEs) of Sebkha el Melah – a commonly dry lake in the northwestern Sahara. Heavy-precipitation events (HPEs) and LFEs are identified using a combination of precipitation observations and lake volume estimates derived from satellite remote sensing. Weather reanalysis data are used together with three-dimensional trajectory calculations to investigate the moisture sources and characteristics of weather systems that lead to HPEs and to assess the conditions necessary for producing LFEs. Results show that hundreds of HPEs occurred between 2000 and 2021, but only six LFEs eventuated. The ratio between the increase in lake water volume during LFEs and the precipitation volume during HPEs that triggered the lake filling, known as the runoff coefficient, provides a very useful characteristic to assess storm impacts on water availability. For the six LFEs investigated in this study, the runoff coefficient ranges across 5 orders of magnitude, much lower than the ratios often cited in the literature for the Sahara. We find that LFEs are generated most frequently in autumn by the most intense HPEs, for which the key ingredients are (i) the formation of surface extratropical cyclones to the west of the North African Atlantic coast in interplay with upper-level troughs and lows, (ii) moisture convergence from the tropics and the extratropical North Atlantic, (iii) a pre-moistening of the region upstream of the catchment over the Sahara through a recycling-domino-process, (iv) coupled or sequential lifting processes (e.g. orographic lifting and large-scale forcing), and (v) the stationarity of synoptic systems that result in long-duration (typically 3 d) HPEs. Based on the insights gained into Saharan LFEs in the present-day climate, we suggest that the initial filling and persistence of Saharan lakes may be related to changes in the intensity, frequency, or synoptic pattern of HPEs rather than to a change in mean precipitation alone. Future studies can leverage these insights to better assess the mechanisms involved in the greening of the Sahara in the past and, potentially, in a warmer future.
The way digital news platforms represent migration issues can signifi-cantly impact intergroup relations and policymaking. A recurring question in thedebate on the role of news platforms is whether they merely transmit informa-tion on migration, or actively hype specific issues. Drawing on a comprehensiveset of socioeconomic statistics on migrants in Denmark, and employing a longitu-dinal automated content analysis of migration news content, we utilize time-seriesanalysis to understand how four distinct categories of threat (security, economic,cultural, and generalized) relate to socioeconomic data on terror attacks, migrantcrime levels, economic performance, and demographic trends. The results reveal adirect effect of terror attacks, economic performance, and demographic trends onmigration news. We discuss the implications of socioeconomic and demographicdevelopments as factors in digital media content to understand the role of mediaand substantiate contemporary debates
Researchers aspire to capture various aspects of dialogue emerging in classroom interactions using systematic analyses. Recent years have seen increasing demand for ‘mixed methods’ approaches that offer more information. These approaches build on converging theoretical clarity and understandings, technological tools and better communication among scholars interested in classroom discussions. In this chapter, we showcase several different ways of mixing methods and enriching the information from classroom observations. The first is combining analytic tools to capture and integrate qualitative and quantitative data, and it suggests using network models to interpret the results of dialogue coding. The second suggests examining more than one grain size of analytic unit (e.g., turn, episode and lesson), or coding transcribed interaction in a top-down or bottom-up manner or both. The third approach suggests synthesising across different frameworks of analysis, to understand disciplinary and multimodal dialogues. Sociocultural discourse analysis and epistemic network analysis illustrate multiple approaches.
In an archaeological excavation conducted in 2016 on the northern slope of Tel Lachish, the triangular lower-right corner of a Hebrew ostracon was found. It was assigned to Level II, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Despite the very faded condition of the inscription, the following phrase can be cautiously reconstructed for its bottom line: “On the 1[6?] (day of the month) Shapan [son (of) ].” This phrase probably summarizes or closes an administrative document.
Aqueous batteries with metal anodes exhibit robust anodic capacities, but their energy densities are low because of the limited potential stabilities of aqueous electrolyte solutions. Current metal options, such as Zn and Al, pose a dilemma: Zn lacks a sufficiently low redox potential, whereas Al tends to be strongly oxidized in aqueous environments. Our investigation introduces a novel rechargeable aqueous battery system based on Mn as the anode. We examine the effects of anions, electrolyte concentration, and diverse cathode chemistries. Notably, the ClO4-based electrolyte solution exhibits improved deposition and dissolution efficiencies. Although stainless steel (SS 316 L) and Ni are stable current collectors for cathodes, they display limitations as anodes. However, using Ti as the anode resulted in increased Mn deposition and dissolution efficiencies. Moreover, we evaluate this system using various cathode materials, including Mn-intercalation-based inorganic (Ag0.33V2O5) and organic (perylenetetracarboxylic dianhydride) cathodes and an anion-intercalation-chemistry (coronene)-based cathode. These configurations yield markedly higher output potentials compared to those of Zn metal batteries, highlighting the potential for an augmented energy density when using an Mn anode. This study outlines a systematic approach for use in optimizing metal anodes in Mn metal batteries, unlocking novel prospects for Mn-based batteries with diverse cathode chemistries.
