francaisLa loi regionale sur la protection et sur la mise en valeur des oliveraies monumentales des Pouilles est une action cle pour la protection des zones agricoles et de leur production. Cette etude a realise une analyse microeconomique basee sur une approche de type etude de cas afin d�evaluer la performance et la rentabilite de 5 exploitations biologiques dans le �Parc rural des anciens oliviers�. Ce travail a evalue la durabilite economique des anciennes oliveraies par rapport aux autres types d�oliveraies existant. Les resultats montrent que les anciennes oliveraies ont une marge nette positive meme si plus basse que dans le cas des systemes intensifs. Toutefois, une meilleure gestion et l�optimisation des pratiques agricoles des anciens oliviers peuvent reduire les couts de production, produire plus d�huile d�olive extra vierge que d�huile lampante et reduire l�ecart en termes de profit net des anciennes oliveraies. Les subventions gouvernementales peuvent contribuer a ameli...

The full article is also available online. For readers in Egypt: https://madamirrorreloaded.appspot.com/www.madamasr.com/en/2018/12/21/opinion/u/reconciling-egyptians-with-their-ancient-past/ For readers outside of Egypt: https://madamasr.com/en/2018/12/21/opinion/u/reconciling-egyptians-with-their-ancient-past/

Prophets are human beings with divine call and message for a specific audience. In ancient Israel they speak on behalf of Yahweh on political, religious and social issues of their time. One of the roles of prophecy in ancient Israel was that it served as a medium for instituting social change and reform. The intention of this paper is to consider the Prophets as agents of Social Change in ancient Israel with the view of establishing parallel with the prophetic ministry in the Nigerian society. The method used is historical and theological interpretative approach. The paper reasons that there is a wide disparity between prophets in ancient Israel and the ones in Nigeria. The paper concludes that there is the need for the prophets in Nigeria to be bold, true to their calling and discharge their duty without fear or favour.

Triterpene acid and phenolic constituents from nine ancient varieties of apple (Malus domestica) fruits cultivated in Fanna, Friuli Venezia Giulia region, northeast Italy, were analyzed and compared with four commercial apples ('Golden Delicious', 'Red Delicious', 'Granny Smith' and 'Royal Gala'). Total phenolic and flavonoid contents were measured by spectrophotometric assays. The quali-quantitative fingerprint of secondary metabolites including triterpene acid was obtained by LC-DAD-(ESI)-MS and LC-(APCI)-MS, respectively. Based on the two LC-MS datasets, multivariate analysis was used to compare the composition of ancient fruit varieties with those of four commercial apples. Significant differences related mainly to the pattern of triterpene acids were found. Pomolic, euscaphyc, maslinic and ursolic acids are the most abundant triterpene in ancient varieties pulps and peels, while ursolic and oleanolic acids were prevalent in the commercial fruits. Also, the content of the phenolic compounds phloretin-2-O-xyloglucoside and quercetin-3-O-arabinoside was greater in ancient apple varieties. The antioxidant (radical scavenging, reducing power, metal chelating and phosphomolybdenum assays) and enzyme inhibitory effects (against cholinesterase, tyrosinase, amylase and glucosidase) of the samples were investigated in vitro. Antioxidant assays showed that the peels were more active than pulps. However, all the samples exhibited similar enzyme inhibitory effects. Ancient Friuli Venezia Giulia apple cultivars can be a source of chlorogenic acid and various triterpene acids, which are known for their potential anti-inflammatory activity and beneficial effects on lipid and glucose metabolism. Our results make these ancient varieties suitable for the development of new nutraceutical ingredients.

Visual notes for a paper on the possible decipherment of a logogram for K’OJ or K’OH, “mask, image.” This was made in 2019 and circulated to a few colleagues for feedback. It remains very preliminary and only a working hypothesis. For a related discussion of syllabic spellings of the noun k’oj, see my recent discussion of the k’o syllable, here: https://mayadecipherment.com/2020/06/05/a-new-variant-of-the-syllable-ko-in-maya-writing/ - DS