“None of the Kings on Earth is Their Equal in ʿaṣabiyya”: The Mongols in Ibn Khaldūn's Works

The rise of the Mongol empire was a shock to the Arab world and led many Arab authors to describe these conquerors in decidedly negative terms. The great historian Ibn Khaldūn also discusses the Mongols' rise and their conquests. As a nomadic people they challenged and defeated sedentary populations and founded their own dynasties. Consequently, the Mongol conquests perfectly fit Ibn Khaldūn's theories on ?a?abiyya – which is superior in nomadic groups – and the rise and fall of dynasties. For the Maghrebi historian, the rise of the Mongols was a natural step in the course of history. This consequently colours his view of the Mongols and affects the way he portrays them, especially regarding the themes of violence and religion – recurring themes in many contemporary works dealing with the Mongols – and in his depiction of the Turco-Mongolian conqueror Timur, who is presented in a more favourable light by Ibn Khaldūn than he is in many contemporary works.     

Predictive validity of the K-ABC for exceptional preschoolers

This 5-year follow-up study examined the predictive validity of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) for 39 children identified during preschool as exhibiting language impairment (n = 10), behavior control deficits (n = 13), or normal language and behavioral development (n = 16). Mean age at follow-up was 9.75 years. The results generally supported the predictive validity of the K-ABC (p<.001). However, analyses by group indicated that the relationship between baseline K-ABC and follow-up K-ABC, language, and achievement measures for the language-impaired subjects was weak (p>.05). Although these results must be interpreted cautiously because of the small sample size, they suggest that for young children likely to be referred as at risk for future learning problems, the K-ABC may not be useful for prediction of later cognitive skills. Implications for practitioners are discussed.     

中小学教师师德观的内隐研究

师德对教师的教育教学行为有着重要的作用,而教师师德的好坏又直接取决于教师的师德观.通过对86名中小学特级教师的师德观及其影响因素的实证研究发现,教师的师德观存在很大的不平衡性和个体差异,在"严谨治学"、"有责任心"、"积极性"、"拥有新知识、积极创新"方面存在明显的性别差异,在"热爱学生"、"有责任心、积极性"方面存在明显的职称差异,在"热爱教育、热爱学校、热爱本专业方面"存在明显的地区差异,而年龄、教龄和学历对教师的师德观没有显著影响.在中小学教师师德培养中,应加强对教师"严谨治学"、"公平对待学生"、"提高科研水平"等的培养.     

Does eccentric exercise stimulate sarcomerogenesis?

Eccentric exercise has been associated with an increase in serial sarcomere number in some studies,1 but not in others.2 Similarly,increasing excursion of muscles resulted in sarcomerogenesis in some studies using growing animals,3 but not in others using skeletally mature animals.4 However,chronic elongation and chronic shortening appears to be a strong regulator of sarcomere number increase5,6 and decrease,5,7 respectively,in animal models.Despite an abundance of research on the regulation of sarcomerogenesis under a variety of conditions,the mechanisms underlying in series sarcomere number adaptations in skeletal muscles remain a puzzle,especially in non-invasive human studies where measurements of sarcomerogenesis following interventions have not been possible to date.     

Practical Applications as a Source of Credibility: A Comparison of Three Fields of Dutch Academic Chemistry

In many Western science systems, funding structures increasingly stimulate academic research to contribute to practical applications, but at the same time the rise of bibliometric performance assessments have strengthened the pressure on academics to conduct excellent basic research that can be published in scholarly literature. We analyze the interplay between these two developments in a set of three case studies of fields of chemistry in the Netherlands. First, we describe how the conditions under which academic chemists work have changed since 1975. Second, we investigate whether practical applications have become a source of credibility for individual researchers. Indeed, this turns out to be the case in catalysis, where connecting with industrial applications helps in many steps of the credibility cycle. Practical applications yield much less credibility in environmental chemistry, where application-oriented research agendas help to acquire funding, but not to publish prestigious papers or to earn peer recognition. In biochemistry practical applications hardly help in gaining credibility, as this field is still strongly oriented at fundamental questions. The differences between the fields can be explained by the presence or absence of powerful upstream end-users, who can afford to invest in academic research with promising long term benefits.     

Virology Experts in the Boundary Zone Between Science,Policy and the Public: A Biographical Analysis

This article aims to open up the biographical black box of three experts working in the boundary zone between science, policy and public debate. A biographical-narrative approach is used to analyse the roles played by the virologists Albert Osterhaus, Roel Coutinho and Jaap Goudsmit in policy and public debate. These figures were among the few leading virologists visibly active in the Netherlands during the revival of infectious diseases in the 1980s. Osterhaus and Coutinho in particular are still the key figures today, as demonstrated during the outbreak of novel influenza A (H1N1). This article studies the various political and communicative challenges and dilemmas encountered by these three virologists, and discusses the way in which, strategically or not, they handled those challenges and dilemmas during the various stages of the field’s recent history. Important in this respect is their pursuit of a public role that is both effective and credible. We will conclude with a reflection on the H1N1 pandemic, and the historical and biographical ties between emerging governance arrangements and the experts involved in the development of such arrangements.     

Desalination of masonry structures: Fine tuning of pore size distribution of poultices to substrate properties

Desalination is a relatively new intervention in the field of conservation of architectural heritage. Especially the desalination of immovable objects, such as masonry structures, is still a trial-error practice. In the field, different desalination materials and methods are used, sometimes with unsatisfactory results. Better understanding of the desalination process is needed in order to support the conservator with clear guidelines for choosing a suitable desalination material and method. The research presented in this paper constitutes the first step towards the development of a modular system of poultices, which can be adapted, i.e. fine-tuned to different types of substrates. Starting point is to make use of advection, i.e. the transport of salt ions with water flow. This transport mechanism is faster than diffusion and the application on immovable objects is relatively easy. In order to optimize salt extraction, a poultice working by advection should have smaller pores than the substrate. Starting from this principle the pore sizes of different desalination materials (sand, cellulose, kaolin and bentonite) mixed in different proportions, have been measured. Interesting results were obtained, showing that the desalination materials commonly used in the field are often not the most suitable ones. On the basis of the results, recipes for poultices, adapted to a specific substrate, can be formulated.     

3-min all-out effort on cycle ergometer is valid to estimate the anaerobic capacity by measurement of blood lactate and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of a single 3-min all-out maximal effort to estimate anaerobic capacity (AC) through the lactate and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) response methods (AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast}) on a cycle ergometer. Eleven physically active men (age?=?28.1?±?4.0?yrs, height?=?175.1?±?4.2?cm, body mass?=?74.8?±?11.9?kg and ?O_2max?=?40.7?±?7.3?mL?kg^?1?min^?1), participated in the study and performed: i) five submaximal efforts, ii) a supramaximal effort at 115% of intensity of ?O_2max, and iii) a 3-min all-out maximal effort. Anaerobic capacity was estimated using the supramaximal effort through conventional maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (MAOD) and also through the sum of oxygen equivalents from the glycolytic (fast component of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) and phosphagen pathways (blood lactate accumulation) (AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast}), while during the 3-min all-out maximal effort the anaerobic capacity was estimated using the AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast} procedure. There were no significant differences between the three methods (p?>?0.05). Additionally, the anaerobic capacity estimated during the 3-min all-out effort was significantly correlated with the MAOD (r?=?0.74; p?=?0.009) and AC_{[La^?]+EPOCfast} methods (r?=?0.65; p?=?0.029). Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the 3-min all-out effort is valid to estimate anaerobic capacity in physically active men during a single cycle ergometer effort.