Yes

Yes / Purpose: To compare spectacles bought online with spectacles from optometry practices. Methods: Thirty-three participants consisting of single vision spectacle wearers with either a low (N = 12, mean age 34 ± 14 years) or high prescription (N = 11, mean age 28 ± 9 years) and 10 presbyopic participants (mean age 59 ± 4 years) wearing progressive addition lenses (PALs) purchased 154 pairs of spectacles online and 154 from UK optometry practices. The spectacles were compared via participant-reported preference, acceptability, and safety; the assessment of lens, frame, and fit quality; and the accuracy of the lens prescriptions to international standard ISO 21987:2009. Results: Participants preferred the practice spectacles (median ranking 4th, IQR 1–6) more than online (6th, IQR 4–8; Mann-Whitney U = 7345, p < 0.001) and practice PALs (median ranking 2nd, IQR 1–4) were particularly preferred (online 6.5th, IQR 4–9, Mann-Whitney U = 455, p < 0.001). Of those deemed unacceptable and unsafe, significantly more were bought online (unacceptable: online 43/154 vs. practice 15/154, Fisher’s exact p = 0.0001; unsafe: online 14/154 vs. practice 5/154, Fisher’s exact p = 0.03). Conclusions: Participants preferred spectacles from optometry practice rather than those bought online, despite lens quality and prescription accuracy being similar. A greater number of online spectacles were deemed unsafe or unacceptable because of poor spectacle frame fit, poor cosmetic appearance, and inaccurate optical centration. This seems particularly pertinent to PAL lenses, which are known to increase falls risk. Recommendations are made to improve both forms of spectacle provision. / College of Optometrists

This thesis contains descriptions and definitions of the Iron Age Proto-Aeolic capitals from Israel - Palestine area. The modern area, which my materials cover is Israel and Jordan. The time period of the capitals is between the 9th century BC and the late 8th or the beginning of the 7th century BC. Attention has been put on issues of typological characteristics, usage and time periods of the capitals and how this, through the new examples, described here for the first time, created a new typology and usage for the Proto-Aeolic capitals.

My dissertation project seeks to understand when and how do national judges play an active and significant role in how international legal orders do or do not affect their polities. Specifically, I look at when and how British judges play a role in how European Union law through the European Court of Justice and European human rights law through the European Court of Human Rights affect the British polity. These international legal orders contain both vertical and horizontal aspects. Vertical aspects include the highest court and its judges defined by the treaty, which operates as the international, hierarchical authority on the treaty and is tasked with ensuring the compliance of the member states of the treaty. Horizontal aspects include member state courts and judges who interact with other member state courts and judges as equals voluntarily to share an understanding of the law. Britain is interesting because it may seem like a counterintuitive place to find such dynamics. Britain has a strong resistance to international authority, a deeply entrenched idea of Parliamentary Supremacy, and a dualist legal tradition where Parliament translates international law into domestic law prior to its use by the courts, which contributes to a lack of expectation of British judges engaging in international judicial activism, making Britain a hard case. In this context, we should expect that international law only matters to the extent that domestic actors are forced to incorporate it by a strong international legal order with vertical supremacy and unambiguous authority. To the contrary, my dissertation shows that British judges are quite active in many international legal orders in ways that do not merely reflect the degree of established vertical legal authority. Through dynamics that are quite autonomous from British politicians' difficult interactions with international authority, British judges play a very active role in managing and integrating international law into British politics. To see these dynamics and understand how international law has affected British politics, we must pay special attention to horizontal legal integration. Horizontal legal integration occurs when judges intentionally and selectively borrow legal concepts and precedents from other national or international jurisdictions.

This thesis deals with economic diplomacy of the Czech Republic. The first chapter focuses on a definition, functions and tasks, players and models of management of economic diplomacy. The second chapter characterizes from a perspective of state actors approaches to economic diplomacy in selected European countries which can server as an inspiration for the Czech Republic. The third chapter is devoted to the current situation of the economic diplomacy of the Czech Republic, planned innovations and its possible development and challenges in the coming years.

The northern Iberian Bishopric of Calahorra was re-founded in 1045 by Garcia 111 of Navarre. Between that date and the death of its eighth post-restoration bishop in 1190 all or part of its diocesan territory changed hands seven times between the Kingdoms of Navarre, Leon-Castile/Castile, and Aragon, as they competed over the riojan frontier- zone on which it was located. The position of the diocese on such a volatile secular frontier had consistently profound, but also steadily changing, effects on its political and institutional development. In the initial phase of Calahorra's restoration, its bishop was enormously empowered by his central role in the consolidation of Navarre's southern and western frontiers, but was held back from establishing a centralized diocesan administration by the insecurities inherent in the borderland condition of his see. Following a change of political regime in the Rioja in 1076, the bishopric suffered the severe consequences of its total identification with a defeated secular power when its embryonic diocesan structures were comprehensively dismantled and its bishops subjected to a dominant and hostile crown that effectively undermined their diocesan authority. The debilitation of royal authority in the Rioja and the region's political marginalization between 1109 and 1134 provided the context for the emergence of the see's independent political stance and its notably autonomous and rapid development of a strong cathedral. When Leonese-Castilian regional dominance was forcefully reasserted between 1134 and 1157, the Bishops of Calahorra were able to put the forceful currents of canonical reform that emanated from an increasingly comprehensive and emphatically territorial secular ecclesiastical hierarchy to use in combining their centrality to the north-eastern border politics of the Crown of Leon-Castile with the independent pursuit of a specifically diocesan agenda. When Castile ceased serving Calahorra's territorial interests towards the end of the twelfth century, the see used the political leverage it gained by its inclusion in the Aragonese Metropolitanate of Tarragona to distance itself from Castilian politics, thus revealing its maturity as a frontier power in its own right.

The Kingdom of God is wherever the Triune God is worshipped as Lord. It exists beyond time and place, but breaks into our time and place wherever creation worships the Triune God as Lord. The local church, in its present time and geographical place, is the microcosm of the Kingdom of God. As such, the local church contains within it all the resources necessary for the Kingdom of God to be established. Therefore, the local church is called to lead creation to worship the Triune God as Lord. It does this by fulfilling three specific works as specified in Scripture: the work of evangelism; the work of discipleship and the work of reconciliation. The modern day church must start a revolution to discover afresh these works and become what Scripture describes as the ecclesia of the hodos: the local church extending the Kingdom of God. / Systematic Theology & Theological Ethics / M.Th. (Systematic Theology)

Text in German / The impulse for this research comes from the present crisis of the penitential practice within the Roman Catholic communities of Germany, where notwithstanding all pastoral efforts the practice of sacramental confession has dropped to almost nothing. The procedure adopted is based on the method of R. Zerfass. 1" step: An investigation on the present practice has been done with a previous research: 2nd step: The present research, in the first chapter deals with the New Testament origins of penance and the historical development up to the present time. An essential result attained is the insight that conversion (Mk 1,14 f.) does not consist of a message of doom but urges the audience to pursue the salvation of the reign of God. As a consequence the believer experiences an ethic motivation whereby he takes as orientation the rules of the kingdom of God. 3rd step: The sociological situation of the target group is the topic of chapter two. The study is based on the work of G. Schulze. The central point made by his analysis is the affirmation that people in contemporary society are basically experience orientated and that all opportunities and offers are assessed according to their experiential value. Because of the confusing oversupply of experiences and the avoidance of disappointments caused by unfulfilled expectations homogeneous groups (milieus) emerge. People, in search of experience orient themselves according to these experiences and shape them in their turn. In the realm (market) of experiences which cannot be controlled supply and demand come together. The supplier who do not follow the laws of the market is ousted because of failing to supply what is demanded. 4th step: In chapter 3 a practical theological theory is developed that present penitential crises is routed in a crises of faith. For this reason an updated pastoral approach to conversion needs to take as its starting point the liberation message of Jesus and at the same time to take into consideration the rules that govern the market, the contemporary segmentation of the milieu included. The final step will consist in a pastoral concretisation / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / D.Th. (Practical Theology)

Les fouilles françaises de Médamoud se sont déroulées entre 1924 et 1939 sous la direction de F. Bisson de la Roque (entre 1924 et 1932) et de Cl. Robichon (entre 1933 et 1939). Elles ont mis au jour de nombreux monuments s’échelonnant de la XIe dynastie jusqu’à l’époque byzantine, mais aucune synthèse n’avait encore offert une étude globale de l’histoire du site. L’ensemble de cette documentation constitue un corpus riche mais hétérogène dont il a fallu restituer le contexte de découverte. En effet, les deux étapes des fouilles sont inégalement publiées et l’étude des archives nous a permis de reconstituer le déroulement, les modalités et les résultats des actions sur le terrain. Après avoir restitué l’histoire des fouilles et proposé une nouvelle datation des vestiges mis au jour, nous avons analysé l’état du temple depuis sa fondation. L’existence du temple primitif a ainsi été prouvée, même si nous avons modifié son plan et très largement nuancé les théories d’A. Varille quant à son usage cultuel. Ensuite, Sésostris III a refondé le temple, qui a ensuite été modifié par Thoutmosis III. Une nouvelle étude des maçonneries a permis de réfuter la présentation traditionnelle qui supposait des destructions successives du bâtiment et nous avons proposé, au contraire, qu’une partie du temple du Moyen Empire et du Nouvel Empire furent inclus par les Ptolémées dans leur propre programme architectural. Le dieu de Médamoud, Montou, a également été étudié à travers la documentation du site qui le présente comme le dieu thébain par excellence. L’essentiel du programme iconographique n’était pas consacré à l’exaltation guerrière de la divinité mais plutôt à la légitimation royale et au culte des ancêtres, parmi lesquels Sésostris III occupait une place de choix. / Medamud’s French excavations took place between 1924 and 1939 under the supervision of F. Bisson de la Roque (between 1924 and 1932) and of CL. Robichon (between 1933 and 1939). They excavated numerous monuments which spread from the XIe dynasty to the Byzantine period although there is no global overview of the history of the site. It was necessary to re-establish the discovery’s context of all of this information as the corpus of documents was extensive but heterogeneous. As the two excavation stages were unequally published, studying the archives allowed us to establish how the field actions took place, its methods and results. After having summarized the excavations’ history and offered the uncovered vestiges a new dating, we analysed the temple’s condition since its founding. In this way, the existence of the « temple primitif » has been proven even though we modified its plan and widely qualified A. Varille’s theories regarding its cult uses. Senwosret III rebuilt the temple, which was modified by Thutmose III afterwards. Thanks to a new study of the masonry, we re-examined the traditional assumption, which supposed successive destruction of the building. Instead, we believe that parts of the Middle Kingdom’s temple and of the New Kingdom’s were included by the Ptolemies in their own architectural plans. Regarding Montu the god of Medamud, he is presented as the ultimate Theban god through the site’s documentation. Most of the iconography wasn’t dedicated to the war glorification of the deity but rather to royal legitimisation and ancestor worship among which Senwosret III occupies a prominent place.

This thesis investigates how the burial chamber of the 8th Dynasty pyramid of king Qakare Ibi at Saqqara in Egypt (c. 2109-2107 B.C.) was inscribed. It uses a holistic approach to focus on the textual programme and its unusual aspects in comparison to older pyramids. In doing so, it addresses issues of textual transmission and of scribal practice in the process of inscribing the walls of subterranean chambers in pyramids. The aim is to contextualise the texts of Ibi within the Memphite tradition of Pyamid Texts and the development of mortuary literature on different media from the late third millennium BCE Old Kingdom to the Middle Kingdom in the early second millennium BCE. The first chapter presents the background to this research and information on king Ibi and his pyramid. The second chapter treats research on the arrangement of the texts on the walls of subterranean chambers of royal pyramids of kings and queens and compares the layout of the texts in the pyramid of Ibi with older pyramids. It then discusses in detail one section on the east wall of Ibi, where the order of spells diverges from other transmitted sequences. The unusual combination of spells and the practice of shortening spells is investigated further in the third chapter, where two sections of texts on the south wall are analysed. The fourth chapter explores garbled texts and discusses processes of copying and inscribing the texts onto the walls of pyramids. The fifth chapter analyses the modifications of the writing system in pyramids, especially the mutilation of hieroglyphs, and how this practice relates to the tradition of altering signs in pyramids. Finally, the sixth chapter synthesises the results of the preceding chapters in two sections. The first section summarises the process of inscribing pyramids and contextualises aspects of scribal practices within it. The second section concludes the thesis with a discussion of the features of the textual programme of Ibi and of how it relates to the broader transmission of mortuary literature.