Search

This article examines approaches to the problem of evil in historical and contemporary Jewish theology. The material is structured conceptually rather than as a chronological survey. The introduction contrasts classical Jewish formulations of the problem of evil with the standard formulations of the problem in Christian and Western philosophical thought. The former tend to focus on evil’s distribution rather than its existence, while the latter ask how evil can exist in the world God created if God possesses the traditional attributes of omnipotence, omniscience, and moral perfection. The Introduction then turns to Jewish conceptions of attributes of God which are particularly germane to the problem of evil and notes the important distinction between natural and moral evil. The second section turns to theodicies and defences, mainly utilizing categories familiar from contemporary philosophical discussion of the problem of evil, and analysing relevant Jewish theological material under these headings. The discussion includes Talmudic theodicies and theodicies considered by medieval Jewish thinkers such as Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Joseph Albo, and others. The final two subsections deal with theodical approaches in Kabbalah and with the post-Holocaust theodicies of Eliezer Berkovits and Ignaz Maybaum. The third section introduces the approach to the problem of evil termed in the contemporary philosophical literature ‘sceptical theism’. Classical Jewish texts that appear to anticipate sceptical theism are noted in this context. The fourth section focuses on antitheodicy and its treatment in the thought of Jewish theologians such as Richard Rubenstein, Emil Fackenheim, Joseph Soloveitchik, Emmanuel Levinas, and Irving Greenberg. The Jewish theological significance of treatments of the Holocaust in literature, for example in the work of Primo Levi and Elie Wiesel, is briefly considered. The fifth section explores, from a Jewish theological perspective, some strengths and weaknesses of the different general approaches to the problem of evil that have been discussed in this article – theodicy/defence, sceptical theism, and antitheodicy. Finally, the conclusion emphasizes the great variety of approaches to the problem of evil in the history of Jewish theology and argues that Jewish theological approaches to the problem can often both enrich and be enriched by contemporary debates in the philosophy of religion.

Base isolation is a well-known technique used to reduce accelerations and inertial forces in structures during earthquakes. However, excessive displacements of the structure due to flexibility of the isolation layer bearings may contribute to moat wall impact events. These impact events have the potential to cause substantial structural damage. This impact behavior and the effects on structural dynamics have been shown to be highly complex and difficult to model by means of pure numerical simulation. In this paper, the cyber-physical technique called Real-Time Hybrid Simulation (RTHS) is employed to capture the uncertainties in force profiles of moat wall impacts and to analyze the complex interactions between impacts and the dynamics of base-isolated structures during earthquake excitations. It is shown that RTHS is capable of accurately capturing the interactions between the isolation layer and moat wall during impact events induced by ground motions. In addition, the RTHS technique is used to analyze the role played by moat wall material nonlinearities in reducing the inertial demand on the structure during impact events. Finally, possible extensions of the research to larger scales as well as consideration of additional moat wall variants are proposed.

An investigation considering the efficiency gains of electrical pulse-shaping for a two-stage reluctance accelerator system has been undertaken. An optimum gross efficiency of (1.36 ± 0.02)% was achieved, amounting to an increase of (290 ± 20)% relative to the performance of an equivalent single-stage accelerator. The performance increase due to pulse-shaping for a two-stage setup was found to surpass that achieved for this single-stage setup in terms of both efficiency and velocity. This investigation highlights the potential of pulse-shaping methods to increase the feasibility and flexibility of electrical acceleration for a variety of practical applications. The intention of this paper was to exhibit the potential of reluctance acceleration technology in multi-stage, initially by using a two-stage system. Possible avenues for further investigation are proposed, to build upon the results of this study.

In this study, we address various measures that have been employed to distinguish between syllable and stress- timed languages. This study differs from all previous ones by (i) exploring and comparing multiple metrics within a quantitative and multifactorial perspective and by (ii) also documenting the impact of corpus-based word frequency. We begin with the basic distinctions of speech rhythms, dealing with the differences between syllable-timed languages and stress-timed languages and several methods that have been used to attempt to distinguish between the two. We then describe how these metrics were used in the current study comparing the speech rhythms of Mexican Spanish speakers and bilingual English/Spanish speakers (speakers born to Mexican parents in California). More specifically, we evaluate how well various metrics of vowel duration variability as well as the so far understudied factor of corpus-based frequency allow to classify speakers as monolingual or bilingual. A binary logistic regression identifies several main effects and interactions. Most importantly, our results call the utility of a particular rhythm metric, the PVI, into question and indicate that corpus data in the form of lemma frequencies interact with two metrics of durational variability, suggesting that durational variability metrics should ideally be studied in conjunction with corpus-based frequency data.

Abstract Background Pediatric onset of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with major organ involvement, and African patients tend to develop more aggressive disease than patients of European descent. Although cardiovascular involvement is common in pediatric SLE, there are few published reports on the subject. This study describes the frequency and characteristics of cardiac and vascular manifestations of pediatric SLE in a multi-ethnic South African cohort. Methods Demographic, clinical, and echocardiographic data were collected from pediatric SLE patients at two centers in Cape Town, South Africa. At the time of investigation, this cohort consisted of 93 participants diagnosed with SLE according to international classification criteria prior to the age of 19. Individuals with cardiac and/or vascular involvement were identified by retrospective chart review. Cardiac manifestations were defined as presence of pericardial effusion, myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, cardiac failure, Libman-Sacks endocarditis, myocardial infarction, and arrhythmia. Vascular manifestations included deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, sinus thrombosis, stroke, critical limb ischemia, cerebral vasculitis and systemic vasculitis. Statistical analysis was performed using R (v3.4.1). Results Cardiac and vascular involvement was present in 47% of the cohort. Previous studies have reported prevalence of 5%—50%. Demographic features of those with cardiac/vascular involvement did not differ from the overall cohort. Echocardiographic data were available for 23 participants. The most common cardiac manifestations were pericardial effusion (n = 24) and cardiac failure (n = 8), while the most common vascular manifestations were cerebral vasculitis (n = 9), stroke (n = 7), and pulmonary embolism (n = 7). Cardiovascular manifestations were frequently severe; one third of pericardial effusion cases required intervention, including three cases of cardiac tamponade. Cardiac and vascular involvement conferred an increased risk of mortality (31.1% versus 10.4%). Conclusions Cardiac and vascular involvement were highly prevalent in this South African cohort. The mortality rate was high, and severe manifestations were frequent. Prospective research is needed to improve knowledge of pediatric SLE in Africa and to improve outcomes for this high-risk population.

BackgroundHIV infection has been associated with a non-erosive inflammatory arthritis in children, although few published reports exist. This study describes the clinical, laboratory and imaging features of this noncommunicable disease in a series of HIV-infected children in South Africa.MethodsA database search was conducted to identify HIV-infected children enrolled in a Paediatric Rheumatology service in Cape Town, South Africa between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2020. Retrospective data were collected from individuals classified with HIV arthropathy, based on a predefined checklist. Demographic, clinical, laboratory, sonographic, therapeutic, and outcomes data were extracted by chart review. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using R (v4.0.3).ResultsEleven cases of HIV arthropathy were included in the analysis. Cases predominantly presented in older boys with low CD4+ counts. Median age at arthritis onset was 10.3 years (IQR 6.9 – 11.6) and the male-female ratio was 3.0. The median absolute CD4+ count was 389 cells/uL (IQR 322 – 449). The clinical presentation was variable, with both oligoarthritis and polyarthritis being common. Elevated acute phase reactants were the most consistent laboratory feature, with a median ESR of 126 mL/h (IQR 67 – 136) and median CRP of 36 mg/L (IQR 25 – 68). Ultrasonography demonstrated joint effusions and synovial hypertrophy. Response to therapy was slower than has generally been described in adults, with almost all cases requiring more than one immunosuppressive agent. Five children were discharged in established remission after discontinuing immunotherapy, however outcomes data were incomplete for the remaining six cases.ConclusionsIn this case series, HIV arthropathy was associated with advanced immunosuppression. Therapeutic modalities included immunomodulators and antiretroviral therapy, which consistently induced disease remission although data were limited by a high rate of attrition. Prospective studies are needed to define and understand this HIV-associated noncommunicable disease.

Abstract T cells discriminate between healthy and infected cells with remarkable sensitivity when mounting an immune response, which is hypothesized to depend on T cells combining stimuli from multiple antigen‐presenting cell interactions into a more potent response. To quantify the capacity for T cells to accomplish this, we have developed an antigen receptor that is optically tunable within cell conjugates, providing control over the duration, and intensity of intracellular T‐cell signaling. We observe limited persistence within the T‐cell intracellular network on disruption of receptor input, with signals dissipating entirely in ~15 min, and directly show sustained proximal receptor signaling is required to maintain gene transcription. T cells thus primarily accumulate the outputs of gene expression rather than integrate discrete intracellular signals. Engineering optical control in a clinically relevant chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), we show that this limited signal persistence can be exploited to increase CAR‐T cell activation threefold using pulsatile stimulation. Our results are likely to apply more generally to the signaling dynamics of other cellular networks.

Most motile bacteria sense and respond to their environment through a transmembrane chemoreceptor array whose structure and function have been well-studied, but many species also contain an additional cluster of chemoreceptors in their cytoplasm. Although the cytoplasmic cluster is essential for normal chemotaxis in some organisms, its structure and function remain unknown. Here we use electron cryotomography to image the cytoplasmic chemoreceptor cluster in Rhodobacter sphaeroides and Vibrio cholerae. We show that just like transmembrane arrays, cytoplasmic clusters contain trimers-of-receptor-dimers organized in 12-nm hexagonal arrays. In contrast to transmembrane arrays, however, cytoplasmic clusters comprise two CheA/CheW baseplates sandwiching two opposed receptor arrays. We further show that cytoplasmic fragments of normally transmembrane E. coli chemoreceptors form similar sandwiched structures in the presence of molecular crowding agents. Together these results suggest that the 12-nm hexagonal architecture is fundamentally important and that sandwiching and crowding can replace the stabilizing effect of the membrane.