Recent Trends in Historical and Literary Study of the Qur'ân

Tren Baru Studi Sejarah dan Sastra Terhadap al-Qur'an. Dua buah karya yang dipublikasikan ilmuan Inggris dan Amerika pada tahun 1971, Hagarism oleh Patricia Crone dan Michael Cook, dan Quranic studies: sources and methods of scriptural interpretation oleh John Wansbrough merevolusi studi baik sastra dan sejarah al-Qur'an maupun masa awal Islam. Tidak satupun dari kedua karya ini mendapatkan pengakuan signifikan dari kalangan ilmuan Islam dan menuai protes keras baik dari ilmuan Barat maupun Muslim. Tanpa memfokuskan pada kedua karya tersebut, artikel ini mengeksplorasi keilmuan Barat terkini dalam kebangkitan dan upaya mereka menakar hubungan antara pendekatan sejarah dengan sastra terhadap al-Qur'an secara tegas menekankan kedua pendekatan ini bukan menjadi ancaman bagi Islam. Pada akhirnya ada potensi signifikan untuk menciptakan pembicaraan kreatif antara Muslim dan non-Muslim tentang karakter dan pesan al-Qur'an yang menyertai munculnya karya-karya oleh berbagai ilmuan yang menulis dalam bahasa- bahasa Barat dalam kurun waktu 30 tahun terakhir

Polyostotic osteoid osteoma: A case report.

Osteoid osteomas are common, benign osteoblastic tumors that can occur in any bone in the body. They are almost always solitary, with only rare reports of multiple tumors in the same patient. When multiple, they typically are found within the same bone. We present a unique case of a young female athlete who presented initially at 16 years old with a right tibial osteoid osteoma and later at 18 years old with a right acetabular osteoid osteoma. Our case demonstrates the rare entity of polyostotic osteoid osteoma, the potential limitations of MRI in the diagnosis of osteoid osteoma, and the utility of radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of osteoid osteoma

BitFund: A Benevolent Blockchain Funding Network

A decentralized funding system that supports companies of online products through mining cryptocurrencies and which renders mining pools benign. Working in tandem with blockchain cryptocurrencies, the system utilizes a user’s computing power to mine cryptocurrencies and future blockchain technologies. The system mines cryptocurrencies through a machine’s hardware during periods of low usage from the user. The blockchain payments received from the mining will be divvied between the services the user accesses via a percentage of use. A layer of blockchain technology is added to authenticate companies of online products and confirm the wallets of these companies. Each block contains the online service wallet’s public key for approved cryptocurrencies, a form of communication, and a DNS to confirm transmissions to the correct online service. After widespread adoption, disputes of DNS registration will result in the oldest block being the legitimate owner. Online services registered would be responsible for updating the blockchain. As the decentralized network of machines grows, the threat of manipulation through the 51% attack decreases as large mining pools lose the percentage of mining they have

A Graphical Representation of an Executing Program

This thesis describes the rationale for a computer program used as a teaching aid, as well as, the design, development, and implementation of that computer program. The program is a prototype that displays, line by line, a graphical depiction of a BASIC program being executed. Icons are used to represent FOR-NEXT loops, the contents of variables, I/O, and other programming elements. The internal logic associated with the Arithmetic-Logic Unit is also represented. The purpose is to produce an environment where the student may visualize the processes occurring in memory by viewing a symbolic portrayal of an executing program. The example program is at an introductory- to intermediate-level, designed to be a review for the novice BASIC programming student

Bortezomib Augments Natural Killer Cell Targeting of Stem-Like Tumor Cells.

Tumor cells harboring stem-like/cancer stem cell (CSC) properties have been identified and isolated from numerous hematological and solid malignancies. These stem-like tumor cells can persist following conventional cytoreductive therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, thereby repopulating the tumor and seeding relapse and/or metastasis. We have previously shown that natural killer (NK) cells preferentially target stem-like tumor cells via non- major histocompatibility complex (MHC) restricted mechanisms. Here, we demonstrated that the proteasome inhibitor, bortezomib, augments NK cell targeting of stem cell-like tumor cells against multiple solid human tumor-derived cancer lines and primary tissue samples. Mechanistically, this was mediated by the upregulation of cell surface NK ligands MHC class I chain-related protein A and B (MICA and MICB) on aldehyde dehydrogenases (ALDH)-positive CSCs. The increased expression of MICA and MICB on CSC targets thereby enhanced NK cell mediated killing in vitro and ex vivo from both human primary tumor and patient-derived xenograft samples. In vivo, the combination of bortezomib and allogeneic NK cell adoptive transfer in immunodeficient mice led to increased elimination of CSCs as well as tumor growth delay of orthotopic glioblastoma tumors. Taken together, our data support the combination bortezomib and NK transfer as a strategy for both CSC targeting and potentially improved outcomes in clinical cancer patients

Limitations of Counseling and Testing in CDC\u27s HIV Prevention Efforts

To the Editor: We were delighted to see that our colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had read our article (Darrow et al., 1998a) and responded (Wolitski and Doll, 1999). Their criticisms of our cross-sectional study of 51 HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM) and live in South Beach are welcomed and appreciated. In this brief reply, we continue the dialogue by addressing their concerns and recommending an appropriate course of action

Recent results from the TFTR ICRF DT Program

The first experiments to be performed with ICRF heating of DT plasmas are reported. ICRF heating of minority ions, tritium (second harmonic resonance), as well as direct electron heating are being performed during the DT phase of TFTR. RF power modulation and Fourier transform techniques are used to attempt to elucidate the competition between tritium second harmonic, direct electron, and {sup 3}He fundamental heating in DT plasmas. A significant fraction of the RF power has been found to couple to the tritium ions via second harmonic heating. Relevant RF coupling physics is investigated using {sup 3}He minority heating (43 MHz), H minority heating (64 MHz), and mode conversion (43 MHz, comparable densities of {sup 3}He and {sup 4}He) at a toroidal field of 4.5T