'Islamic fatalism': life and suffering among Bangladeshi psychiatric patients and their families in London--an interview study 2

An interview study of 44 Bangladeshi patients and relatives in eastern London demonstrated frequent appeals to God and deprecation of personal agency. This paper offers an interpretation of this apparent 'fatalism', which argues for the logical downplaying of human agency and ambition in archaic Arabia, contemporary rural Sylhet and among first generation Sylheti migrants in London

Mental Health and the Paranormal

To date, there has been a dearth of work examining the relationships between paranormal experiences and mental health. After defining paranormal experience and its prevalence, I examine a number of areas related to paranormal experience and psychopathology: psi and the unconscious, dissociation and fantasy proneness, schizotypy, transliminality and reality monitoring, child abuse, reasoning and information processing, and transpersonal psychology. Finally, I discuss the clinical implications of these findings

Letters to the Rebbe: Religion and healing among the Lubavitch of Stamford Hill

This thesis examines sickness and healing among Lubavitchers, a group of Chassidic Jews living in North London. It attempts to answer a number of questions: To what extent do their ideas about the body, sickness and the cosmos derive from their religious texts? How do they conceptualise the relation between words and objects, between religious texts and the body? Under what circumstances do they resort to symbolic healing? How do they understand healing? Are rituals intended to effect change in the world or their own dispositions or both? Lubavitchers response to sickness must be understood within the context of Chassidic ideas relating to suffering and misfortune. At times of severe sickness or that not responding to biomedical treatments, appeal is made to their spiritual leader, the Rebbe. He mediates between the material and spiritual worlds and effects physical healing through the manipulation of religious artefacts. Deriving from Tanya, Lubavitchers emphasise the unity of everything in the universe and the close interrelation between the physical and spiritual, words and objects and religious texts and the body. Healing "works" on account of the fact that there is a close correspondence between Hebrew words and parts of the body. These esoteric expertises are only applied in times of sickness not in other areas of daily life. Much of the time Lubavitchers live in an enchanted world where the divine intrudes into mundane events and miracles are commonplace. However at other times they live in a pragmatic world of cause and effect The thesis confirms the Malinowskian hypothesis that symbolic measures come into play when pragmatic actions fail. In the accounts presented the petitioners argue that they expect, through the Rebbe, to effect some definite change in the natural world: ie their petitions are strong illocutionary acts. From the analyst's point of view, a "magical view" of the world may be imputed to Lubavitchers. In practice their explanations of their actions are often not well systematised and actions we might call "magical" they themselves call religious. The various Lubavitcher campaigns reinforce the power of the Rebbe and legitimate his authority. This is especially the case with the Messiah Campaign. Following his death, messianic expectations intensified as did proselytisation

An investigation of the applicability of Walker and Fetsko ink transfer equation on and the influence of ink viscosity on heat set ink used on the web offset process

The Walker and Fetsko ink transfer equation is the most used ink transfer equation to predict the ink and paper behavior on the ink transfer step in the printing process. All previous studies have shown that this equation is mostly applicable in the three major printing processes, letterpress, lithography and gravure. A study by Schaeffer, Fisch and Zettlemoyer reported extensive measurements for several oil-base ink and paper combination over a range of proof-press printing conditions. Yuri Bery did a series of studies for modifying the Walker and Fetsko equation in gravure inks for Weyerhaeuser Company. All the studies showed that although generally the Walker and Fetsko ink transfer equation can be applied to all three major printing processes, there are always some modifications needed for different rheological characteristics and printing conditions . The trends for the lithographic process is toward Web Offset printing. The components of Web Offset ink is quite different from conventional sheetfed lithographic ink in the pigment and vehicle used. This paper is to find out if the Walker and Fetsko ink transfer equation can be also applied to the Web Offset ink. By investigating the effect of viscosity - one of the most important characteristics in rheology of ink - on the transfer parameters, the ink transfer mechanism model can be examined to see whether it is the same for oil base ink as for the heat-set Web Offset ink. The result of this experiment showed there is a significant different absorption behavior between coated paper and uncoated paper. This difference is effecting the applicability of the Walker and Fetsko ink transfer equation in this particular type of ink and paper combination

Covid-19 and the Apocalypse: Religious and Secular Perspectives

The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to existential crises. One way of finding meaning in this is through apocalyptic narratives. We differentiate between religious (based upon eschatology) and secular apocalypticism (based upon radical political and economic change) and argue that both are to be found in the wake of Covid-19 infection. For religious believers, the apocalypse signifies the rapture of the faithful into heaven while those on earth will undergo the tribulations. For secular believers, the apocalypse signifies sociopolitical change. The paper ends by speculating upon the socio-political and economic changes during and after the pandemic- the New Jerusalem

Key Odorants of Pycnanthemum incanum and Stereochemistry of Chiral Compounds

Pycnanthemum, a genus in the Lamiaceae family, is comprised of a diverse group of aromatic plants commonly known as wild mountain mint. Due in part to their high terpene content, Pycnanthemum species have broad potential for health-promoting, cosmetic, culinary, and food flavoring applications. However, to fully understand the scope of applications and benefits of the different members of the Pycnanthemum genus a deeper understanding of the chemical composition of the plants is needed. To gain insight into the odorants driving the characteristic aroma of Pycnanthemum spp., a species with a pungent mintlike odor, Pycnanthemum incanum, was selected for comprehensive odorant characterization. Odorants present in P. incanum were identified by coupling solvent assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE) and aroma extract dilution analysis (AEDA), which afforded 24 odorants including 14 odorants with flavor-dilution (FD) factors ≥4. Selected odorants were quantitated by stable isotope dilution assays (SIDAs), and odor-activity values (OAVs) were calculated. The odorants with the highest OAVs included β-ionone (floral, violet; OAV 300), myrcene (terpeny, OAV 120), linalool (floral, citrus; OAV 79), and pulegone (mint, medicinal; OAV 58). In addition, an odor recombination model was developed based on the quantitative data and sensorially compared to the original plant odor. Descriptive analysis confirmed that the sensory attributes of the odor recombination model showed no differences from those of the original P. incanum plant material. Lastly, enantiomeric proportions of chiral odorants in P. incanum were determined by chiral chromatography and the results revealed that the enantiomeric ratios were unique; however, comparable to those reported in other plant species. The characterization of key odorants contributing to the odor of Pycnanthemum incanum provided valuable insight into the chemistry of this underutilized plant and provides a foundation for future studies aimed at the characterization of other species in the Pycnanthemum genus