The humanistic roots of Islamic administration and leadership for education : philosophical foundations for cross-cultural and transcultural teaching

For a number of decades, a humanistic approach has been a minor but persistent one in the Western field of administrative and leadership studies, and only recently has been broadening to include other humanist traditions (Dierksmeier et al., 2011) and has yet to be fully explored in educational administration and its pedagogy and curriculum although some foundational work has been done (e.g., Samier, 2005). The focus in this chapter is on the Islamic humanist tradition as it relates to the teaching of educational administration and leadership in a Muslim context, with implications for cross-cultural and transcultural use. The second purpose of the chapter is to show the correspondences that exist between the Islamic and Western humanist traditions in terms of human values, knowledge and educational ideal, which in this chapter are argued to be close to the Western Idealist tradition and the German Bildung conception of education as well as the strong interpretive and hermeneutic foundations that originated in the Islamic tradition and which influenced the foundations of many relevant European schools of thought, particularly in the Enlightenment.The initial section of the chapter is a comparative examination of the central principles of the Islamic humanist tradition from the classical through to contemporary times with the Western humanist tradition as they relate to conceptions of the good, ethics, the construction of meaning and a set of higher order values predicated upon human dignity, integrity, empathy, well-being, and the public good (Goodman, 2003) covering a number of important scholars like Al Farabi, al Isfanhani, and Edward Said (e.g., Kraemer, 1986). In both, professions are viewed as meaningful work that allow for large measures of decision making, and are grounded in human qualities and needs including autonomy, freedom and emancipation balanced with responsibilities, obligations and duties to society. These are compared with the corresponding principles of knowledge in Western humanism which includes a strong constructivist view of reality (Makdisi, 1990). Secondly, the chapter examines the principles of good or ideal leadership and administration that humanism aims at in its preparation of officials, including those in the educational sector in both the classical Islamic tradition (Hassi, 2012) and Western approaches to humanistic administration and leadership (Czarniawska-Joerges & Guillet de Monthoux, 1994; Gagliardi & Czarniawska, 2006; Leoussi, 2000). The third section focusses on close correspondences that exist between the Islamic (Afsaruddin, 2016; al-Attas, 1980; Yasin & Jani, 2013) and Western (Aloni, 2007; Veugelers, 2011) humanist education traditions in terms of educational ideal as well as the kind of teaching practices that distinguish these traditions (Daiber, 2013; Dossett, 2014) as they apply to educational administration and leadership (Greenfield & Ribbins, 1993). The chapter concludes with a discussion of how the Islamic humanist tradition can contribute to cross-cultural and transcultural graduate teaching in international educational administration (Khan & Amann, 2013)

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Antarctic climate cooling and response of diatoms in glacial meltwater streams

To understand biotic responses to an Antarctic cooling trend diatom samples from glacial meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, the largest ice-free area in Antarctica. Diatoms are abundant in these streams, and 24 of 40 species have only been found in the Antarctic. The percentage of these Antarctic diatom species increased with decreasing annual stream flow and increasing harshness of the stream habitat. The species diversity of assemblages reached a maximum when the Antarctic species accounted for 40-60% of relative diatom abundance. Decreased solar radiation and air-temperatures reduce annual stream flow, raising the dominance of these Antarctic species to levels above 60%. Thus, cooling favors the Antarctic species, and lowers diatom species diversity in this region. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union

Extreme streams : flow intermittency as a control on diatom communities in meltwater streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

In the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, stream biota is limited by the brief availability of liquid water. The benthic microbial mats harbor diatoms that have adapted to hydrologic stresses, including numerous endemic species. We found a strong relationship between diatom community composition and flow intermittency in a data set including seven streams that spanned a gradient in flow intermittency. In particular, two genera represented by numerous endemic species in Dry Valley habitats, Hantzschia and Luticola, had high abundances in moderately and highly intermittent streams, respectively. The Shannon Index of diversity was greatest in streams with intermediate flow intermittency, with lower diversity in more stable streams resulting from lower evenness, and lower diversity in highly intermittent streams resulting from lower richness. These results indicate that multiple metrics of biodiversity may be useful in assessing the response of diatom communities to changing hydrologic regime. We propose that flow intermittency acts as a species filter that increases habitat heterogeneity in Dry Valley streams and may allow endemic species to persist. Future Antarctic warming may alter diatom community composition and habitats that act as refugia for desiccation-tolerant taxa

The hydroecology of an ephemeral wetland in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica

The McMurdo Dry Valleys is a polar desert on the coast of East Antarctica where ephemeral wetlands become hydrologically active during warm and sunny summers when subsurface flows are generated from melting snowfields. To understand the structure and function of polar wetland ecosystems, we investigated the hydroecology of one such wetland, the Wormherder Creek wetland, during the warm and sunny summer of 2008 – 2009, when the wetland was hydrologically reactivated. Conservative tracer (LiCl) was injected for a 2-hr period into a stream above the wetland to determine flow path orientations and hydrologic residence times. Tracer results indicated that surface water is rapidly exchanged with wetland groundwater and wetland residence times may exceed two austral summers. Major ion concentrations were uniform in samples from surface water and shallow groundwater throughout the wetland. Microbial mats in the wetland had high autotrophic index values (the ratios of chlorophyll a [Chl-a]/ash-free dry mass), ranging from 9 to 38 μg Chl-a/mg ash-free dry mass, indicative of actively photosynthesizing mat communities. The diatom communities in the mats were relatively uniform compared to those in mats from regularly flowing McMurdo Dry Valleys streams, with four endemic and one widespread diatom taxa of the genus Luticola accounting for an average of 86% of the community. These results indicate that the hydrologic characteristics of the wetland contribute to uniform geochemical conditions. In turn, uniform geochemical conditions may explain the high autotrophic index values of the microbial mats and relatively low spatial variation of the diatom community