Unfertige Studien II: Bemerkungen zum Korankommentar des Aṣamm

Abu Bakr al-Asamm’s (d. 200/816 or 201/817) commentary of the Qur’an is one of the oldest of its genre. It originated in Basra but seems to have become a “book” only when, in the middle of the 3rd century H., it was transferred from Baghdad to Eastern Iran. There it was used by a number of authors, Sunni as well as Shii. The greatest number of quotations is found in Maturidi’s (d. 333/944 ?) Ta’wilat. The article deals with the material found in this source, its tendency as well as its relationship to quotations in later authors up to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210). The work has not survived, and we can only speculate where and for how long several copies, complete or incomplete survived

History of Pre-Modern Chinese Studies in Germany

Research into traditional China at German universities began in the early nineteenth century. It took several decades, however—until after the unification of Germany in 1871—positions at the universities of first Leipzig and then Berlin and Hamburg to be established in order to professionalize traditional China studies. The third and fourth decades of the twentieth century saw a rapid expansion, but Nazi rule between 1933–1945 led to massive emigration of German sinologists. This article looks into the details of this development and the disastrous consequences it had for German sinology. It then proceeds to the new beginnings made after World War II when some emigrants returned to Germany from China. East Germany lost many sinologists, who left the GDR when the Berlin wall was built. The article finishes with the challenges that a politically important China presents to traditional sinology

Perceived Knowledge of Heart Failure and Adherence to Self-Care Recommendations

During the last decade, research has indicated that patient education is an essential component in the comprehensive management of heart failure. However, few data are available that evaluate how effective that education is and the relationship between knowledge and self-care adherence. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between patients’ perceived knowledge of heart failure and their reported self-care adherence with diet, exercise, and medication in the management of their chronic disease. Orem’s self-care theory provided the framework for this study. This study was a secondary analysis of the baseline data collected from a self-reporting questionnaire used in the experimental study conducted by Kay Setter Kline, PhD, RN and colleagues. The results from the participants (n = 86) indicated that there was a positive weak relationship between perceived knowledge of heart failure and adherence to taking the prescribed medication dose and to exercise. No significant differences were found between length of heart failure diagnosis and perceived knowledge or adherence to self-care recommendations to diet, exercise, and medications

A Comparative Study of Forecasting Techniques for the US Air Force Medical Material Management System

A computer simulation experiment was conducted to evaluate and compare five individual forecasting models across nine different demand patterns. The models were based on the Medical Materiel Management System used by the US Air Force hospitals. Results indicated the best model varied depending on the demand pattern, the safety stock level, the noise level of the demand pattern, and the measure of forecast error. Across all demand patterns, exponential smoothing and 12-month moving average were best for the short term forecast used by the system, regardless of noise level in the demand patterns. Analysis of models within a single demand pattern showed, in most cases, several models as ranking equally well. When overall system requirements were considered, the exponential smoothing method was by far the best choice

The stylistic evolution of the English brass ensemble

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe threefold problem was to determine (1) the characteristics of style of English brass ensemble music, (2) the significant stages of the developmental of the brass instruments, and (3) the contribution made by the medium to English musical culture. The methods of historical inquiry were employed for the first part of the study which traces the development of the English brass instruments and ensemble practices. The methodology used for the second half of the dissertation which is devoted to the stylistic analysis of selected English brass compositions, was as follows: The brass music selected was examined on the basis of three aspects of musical style: overall form, internal structure and sonority [TRUNCATED

A Thermodynamic Interpretation of Time for Superstring Rolling Tachyons

Rolling tachyon backgrounds, arising from open strings on unstable branes in bosonic string theory, can be related to a simple statistical mechanical model - Coulomb gas of point charges in two dimensions confined to a circle, the Dyson gas. In this letter we describe a statistical system that is dual to non-BPS branes in superstring theory. We argue that even though the concept of time is absent in the statistical dual sitting at equilibrium, the notion of time can emerge at the large number of particles $N \to \infty$ limit.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, v2: reference added, v3: minor clarification, version to appear in journa