The use of script as an aesthetic device is longstanding in Islamic art. Indeed, one of the earliest forms of Islamic art are terracotta oil lamps with text inscribed on their surface.2 These inscriptions are not merely decorative but also reference the light emitted from the lamps as a metaphor for revelation. As I will show, the use of script in Islamic art is not only meant to delight the eye; it is, moreover, a cognitively faceted aesthetic device. Following an overview of script as an aesthetic device in Islamic art, I survey its legacy in the contemporary art world of the Middle East.

Through a literary-theatrical reading of international legality, this Article challenges the “settled script” produced by international legal scholars to frame and assess the legality of two historical events—the Grenada Revolution (1979–1983) and the U.S. Invasion of Grenada (1983). It does so by reading the Cold War as a sensibility performed by these scholars, one that recognized the operation of rival international legal orders and one that crafted a different script—Cold War Customary Law (“CWCL”)—to decide questions of international legality in a Cold War context. In addition to offering a new way to read the Cold War and international legality, this Article argues first that it is important to uncover this parallel and competing script of international legality operating at the time, and not dismiss it as unrelated political or ideological discourse, as it clearly influenced the interpretive logic and reasoning practices international lawyers deployed to frame what constituted legality in international law. Second, it argues that this Cold War sensibility in international legal scholarship on intervention and revolution predated the events in Grenada, and that if a different theatrical mise en scène is adopted—one which eschews “the short durée” or “evental history” of the settled script—this sensibility can be understood as being both continuous and discontinuous with rival imperial forms of international law operating in the Caribbean across time and place, where its discontinuities open up space to recover revolutionary Caribbean subjects of international law and a sensibility of shame in the present.

Introduction: Emergency physicians (EP) are expected to be competent in a variety of uncommon but life-saving procedures, including the bougie assisted cricothyrotomy (BAC). Given the rarity and high-stakes nature of the BAC, simulation is often used as the primary learning and training modality. However, mental practice (MP), defined as the “cognitive rehearsal of a skill in the absence of overt physical movement”, has been shown to be as effective as physical practice in several areas, including athletics, music, team-based resuscitation and surgical skill acquisition. MP scripts incorporate cues from different sensory modalities to supplement instructions of how to complete the skill. We sought to explore EPs perspectives on the kinesthetic, visual and cognitive aspects of performing a BAC to inform the development of a MP BAC script. Methods: We undertook a qualitative interview study of EPs at a single tertiary care centre who had done a BAC in clinical practice. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling. The primary method for data collection was in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews, which were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection and analysis were concurrent; transcripts were coded independently by two researchers using qualitative content analysis on a coding framework based on the previously developed BAC checklist. At each procedural step, the kinesthetic, visual and cognitive cues that enhance MP were identified. Results: Eight EPs (5 staff; 3 Royal College residents) participated in the interviews. All participants had completed at least one BAC in their clinical practice. Data analysis revealed recurrent themes signifying successful completion of each procedural step. These include visual (ie. seeing a spray of blood upon entry into the airway) and kinesthetic (ie. feel of the tracheal rings on a finger) cues that describe aspects of the procedure not found in traditional teaching modalities, such as textbooks. Conclusion: Knowledge gleaned from the interviews of EPs with lived experience gives us a deeper insight into the sensory aspects of performing a BAC in clinical practice. We expect that using these experientially derived cues to inform the development of a MP script will increase its validity and applicability to learners and for skill maintenance. Future work includes evaluating the utility of the developed script in acquiring and maintaining competence performing the BAC.

Numerical methods of a 3D multiphysics, two-phase transport model of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is studied in this paper. Due to the coexistence of multiphase regions, the standard finite element/finite volume method may fail to obtain a convergent nonlinear iteration for a two-phase transport model of PEMFC [49,50]. By introducing Kirchhoff transformation technique and a combined finite element-upwind finite volume approach, we efficiently achieve a fast convergence and reasonable solutions for this multiphase, multiphysics PEMFC model. Numerical implementation is done by using a novel automated finite element/finite volume program generator (FEPG). By virtue of a high-level algorithm description language (script), component programming and human intelligence technologies, FEPG can quickly generate finite element/finite volume source code for PEMFC simulation. Thus, one can focus on the efficient algorithm research without being distracted by the tedious computer programming on finite element/finite volume methods. Numerical success confirms that FEPG is an efficient tool for both algorithm research and software development of a 3D, multiphysics PEMFC model with multicomponent and multiphase mechanism.

Like all scientific innovations, nutrigenomics develops through a constant interplay with society. Normative assumptions, embedded in the way researchers formulate strands of nutrigenomics research, affect this interplay. These assumptions may influence norms and values on food and health in our society. To discuss the possible pros and cons of a society with nutrigenomics, we need to reflect ethically on assumptions rooted in nutrigenomics research. To begin with, we analysed a set of scientific journal articles and explicated three normative assumptions embedded in the present nutrigenomics research. First, values regarding food are exclusively explained in terms of disease prevention. Health is therefore a state preceding a sum of possible diseases. Second, it is assumed that health should be explained as an interaction between food and genes. Health is minimised to quantifiable health risks and disease prevention through food–gene interactions. The third assumption is that disease prevention by minimisation of risks is in the hands of the individual and that personal risks, revealed either through tests or belonging to a risk group, will play a large role in disease prevention. Together, these assumptions suggest that the good life (a life worth living, with the means to flourish and thrive) is equated with a healthy life. Our thesis is that these three normative assumptions of nutrigenomics may strengthen the concerns related to healthism, health anxiety, time frames and individual responsibilities for health. We reflect on these ethical issues by confronting them in a thought experiment with alternative, philosophical, views of the good life.

The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that blood fearful and nonfearful individuals would be differentiated by their pattern of recall of schematic and non-schematic prose material. Blood fearful (n=36) and nonfearful (n=40) individuals were presented with five prose passages describing harm or injury. Nine sentences in each passage described events representative of the schema content of most individuals, whereas six sentences in each passage described events that are not representative of typical schema content. Participants read passages that either described themselves experiencing the situations or described themselves witnessing others in the situations and completed a free recall task in both immediate (i.e. 2 minutes) and delayed (i.e. one week) recall conditions. Results did not replicate studies from the cognitive psychology literature on which this study was based. Instead, participants who read passages describing themselves in these situations recalled the gist of the material more accurately than participants who read passages in which they witnessed another individual in the situation. Blood fearful participants recalled the affective tone of neutral passages less accurately than nonfearful participants. Results suggest that activation of schema content has little influence on memory performance, although assessing the affective tone of recalled material detected subtle differences in memory performance between fearful and nonfearful groups.

The present study examined the recall of material representative and non representative of schemata for social and evaluative situations. Socially anxious (n = 24) and nonanxious (n = 25) individuals were presented with three positively valenced and three negatively valenced prose passages describing common social and evaluative scenarios. Eight of the sentences in each passage described events representative of the schema content of most individuals, whereas three of the sentences in each passage described events that are not representative of typical schema content. Participants completed a free recall task in both immediate (i.e. 2 minutes) and delayed (i.e. one week) recall conditions. Although there were no group differences as a function of type of content (i.e. schematic, non-schematic), socially anxious individuals were less likely than nonanxious individuals to accurately recall the gist of passages containing negative information in the immediate recall condition. In all, this study provided little evidence for the influence of maladaptive schema content on memory for threatening material in anxious individuals, but it added to an increasingly large literature suggesting that some types of anxiety are associated with an avoidance of processing emotional material.