Sira Culture, Hadith and the Veneration of Muḥammad in the Later Middle Period: Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Dimašqī (d. 842/1438) as a Case Study.

The article investigates the social and cultural practices of Sira production and consumption in the later Middle Period. It probes into the place held by Sira regarding the veneration of the Prophet, especially in relation to Hadith. Its first part shows that in the Middle Period Sira was intended as a vast literary repository characterized by fluidity of format, diverse social fruition, and plurality of practices in transmission and consumption. It was a literary field characterized by narrative malleability and creativity, for which there was popular demand and scholarly dedication. The life and work of the Šāfiʿī scholar and Hadith expert Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Dimašqī (d. 842/1438), in particular his Compilation of Traditions on the Life and Birth of the Chosen One (Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār fī l-siyar wa-mawlid al-muḫtār) occupies the second part of the article. Here, Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār is taken as a written exemplification of the tight relationship between Sira, Hadith and devotion to the Prophet typical of the period, of 14th-15th century Damascus in particular. Overall, the article argues that the intended meaning and use of a text as rich as Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār can be fully grasped only when we put it in close conversation with the Hadith culture and veneration for the Prophet of the time. It suggests the existence of a pervasive “Sira culture” binding people in a relationship of meaning to their shared memories of the life of the Prophet. Such culture was nurtured by remembrance of the Prophet’s excellency and life milestones. It aimed at cultivating salvificCet article étudie les pratiques sociales et culturelles associées à la production littéraire et à la fruition de Sira au Moyen Age islamique, en particulier dans les domaines mamelouks (1250-1517). Plus particulièrement, cette étude pose des questions sur la place tenue par la Sira vis-à-vis la vénération du Prophète, notamment par rapport au Hadith. Dans la première partie, on montre que dans la période en question par Sira on entendait un vaste dépôt littéraire caractérisé par fluidité de format, diversification sociale de jouissance et pluralité de pratiques de transmission et de consommation. C'était un domaine littéraire caractérisé par malléabilité narrative et créativité, pour lequel il y avait autant de demande populaire que de dévouement cultivé. À la vie et l'œuvre du savant Šāfiʿīte, expert de Hadith, Ibn Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Dimašqī (m. 842/1438), en particulier à son Recueil de traditions sur la vie et la naissance de l'Élu (Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār fī l- siyar wa-mawlid al-muḫtār) est dédiée la deuxième partie de l'article. Ici, l’on conçoit Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār comme une illustration textuelle de la relation intime entre Sira, Hadith et vénération du Prophète typique de l'époque médiévale, en particulier à Damas au XIV-XVe siècle. Dans ses conclusions, l'article soutient que la signification d'un texte aussi riche que Ǧāmiʿ al-āṯār ne peut être pleinement saisie que lorsque nous la mettons en conversation avec la culture du Hadith et la vénération du Prophète de l'époque. Ce qui ressort est l'existence d'une « culture de la Sira » liant les croyants à leurs mémoires partagées de la vie du Prophète dans une relation de sens. Une telle culture - nourrie par la mémoire de l'excellence du Prophète et des jalons de sa vie - visait à cultiver des sentiments d'amour salvifique pour le Prophète qui assureraient aux croyants une place dans l'au-delà

Traduccions del català al serbi i del serbi al català

La relació literària entre el serbi i el català es caracteritza per les poques traduccions existents entre les dues llengües al llarg de la història. En els darrers anys, però, han augmentat les traduccions del català al serbi i -en menor mesura- en la direcció inversa. L'esforç entusiasta dels traductors, les trobades d'escriptors i els programes institucionals de difusió de la cultura catalana a l'estranger han impulsat els intercanvis literaris entre les dues cultures. S'han publicat un total de catorze llibres de literatura catalana en serbi i, en diverses revistes literàries sèrbies, han aparegut una cinquantena de traduccions de poemes o fragments d'obres d'autors catalans. De literatura sèrbia en català, només hi ha sis llibres traduïts però hi ha un nombre molt més significatiu de traduccions publicades en revistes literàries o a la xarxa.The literary relationship between Serbia and Catalonia is characterized by the small amount of translated works throughout history. In recent years, however, important increase in number of translations from Catalan to Serbian and to a lesser extent from Serbian to Catalan is seen. The enthusiastic efforts from the translators, meetings between writers and institutional programs to promote Catalan culture abroad played the main role in literary exchange between two cultures. From Catalan to Serbian was published a total of fourteen books, and in several literary magazines appeared around fifty poems and fragments of different works by Catalan writers. Only six books were translated from Serbian to Catalan and the amount of translated work published in literary magazines or online is much more significant

An Interview with Konrad Hirschler

L'intervista con Konrad Hirschler discute alcuni dei cambianti più importanti che hanno caratterizzato gli area studies di ambito 'islamico' negli ultimi anni, ossia l'irrompere della prospettiva globale e dello studio della cultura materiale e documentaria nelle società musulmane pre-ottomane.Konrad Hirschler is a historian of manuscript cultures with a focus on Arabic North Africa and West Asia in the pre-print era. He combines social and cultural history to study what meanings different social strata and milieux ascribed to written artefacts and for what purposes they employed such artefacts. His work has focused in particular on reconstructing vanished libraries. This has led to a strong interest in the question of artefacts’ trajectories and provenances. In recent years, he has become increasingly interested in the materiality of the written word. As a result, he strives to develop cross-disciplinary initiatives among various disciplines in the humanities as well as between humanities and natural sciences

Relational climate, quality and costs: evidence from diabetes care

Shortfalls in quality of care and rising costs have resulted in a widespread interest in developing strategies that enhance the efficiency of health care delivery. The implementation of multidisciplinary integrative teams of providers is a popular quality improvement intervention designed to manage patients with chronic conditions. However, little attention has been paid to the work environment, which may facilitate organizational change success. Relational climate is a measure of the work environment that captures shared employee perceptions of interpersonal relationships including teamwork, conflict resolution and diversity acceptance. A strong relational climate may improve treatment design, care delivery and process evaluation, leading to better quality and lower costs. This dissertation contains three chapters that seek to understand the influence of relational climate in primary care on quality and costs of diabetes care. Study 1, Relational Climate and Quality of Diabetes Care, measured quality of diabetes care using process-based and intermediate outcome indicators. It assessed whether relational climate was associated with quality of diabetes care. We used longitudinal data (2008– 2012) from the Veterans Health Administration. Multivariate regression analyses accounting for patient, clinic and parent facility characteristics suggested a positive association between relational climate and process-based indicators of diabetes quality of care. Study 2. Relational Climate and Costs of Diabetes Care, evaluated the association between relational climate and costs incurred by diabetic patients differentiating among outpatient, inpatient and total costs. It compared a Generalized Linear Model with the gamma distribution and the log link and a logged model with the Duan’s smearing adjustor. Cost models accounted for quality of diabetes care, besides other patient and clinic characteristics. Results indicated that relational climate contributes to lower outpatient and total costs. Study 3. The Indirect Association of Relational Climate and Costs through Quality, refines the cost-saving estimates of relational climate by accounting for the indirect influence of relational climate on costs through quality. The quality and the cost equations were estimated simultaneously within a treatment-effects model to account for selection bias in treatment compliance. We concluded that a stronger relational climate contributes to lower total costs. The results of this dissertation suggest that improving relational climate is a cost-effective intervention

Diari de Guerra de Salvador Porras i Manaut (1937-1939)

El document que presentem és el "Diari de Guerra" de Salvador Porras i Manaut. És un dietari escrit per aquest jove de la quinta del quaranta a partir de la seva experiència de mobilització en la Guerra espanyola del segle XX

Coastal bathymetry from satellite high resolution monitoring

[EN] Bathymetry is traditionally obtained by echo sounding technology. However, bathymetry can be also obtained from satellite imaging, which is much more cheaper than echo-sound measurements. This is obtained by analyzing the waves near to the shoreline. In order so, wave properties such as wavelength and celerity should be measured, after which the bathymetry is estimated using linear wave theory. In this internship a new method based in the continuous wavelet transform has been implemented. In order to obtain the celerity, two images with a time lag are needed. Two data sets are used. On the one hand a video product, with 12 Pléiades images with a time lag between them of 8s. On the other hand a set of Sentinel-2 images. In the latter, a time shift between bands because of a lag in the acquisition is exploited. An application for the extraction and preparation of Sentinel-2 data in a form of a Graphical User Interface has been implemented. The site that has been studied will be the shore of Capbreton, which hosts one of the world’s deepest canyons. The images have been be pre-filtered by using FFT and Radon filters, with several methods that include windowing of fixed and variable size. Those filtering techniques have be implemented and its results compared. Best results are obtained using a variable-size windowing technique. Finally, the wavelet method has been applied to both datasets to achieve wave propagation information.Soñes Bori, J. (2019). Coastal bathymetry from satellite high resolution monitoring. Universitat Politècnica de València. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/140103TFG

Environmental friendly measures to protect the Romanian Coast

Hard works (groins, detached breakwaters) induce steady hydrodynamic behaviours that can lead to local problems such as erosive gradients. These hindrances may be exacerbated at urban areas due to climate change and population pressure. Submerged vegetation may be a cost-effective solution for damping hydrodynamic forcings, plus alleviating some of the hard work drawbacks. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of submerged vegetation for attenuating wave energy at an urban Romanian beach. Such analysis will be conducted with numerical modelling