Syncretic Forms of Spiritual Healing Practices Among the Muslim Gurage of Southwestern Ethiopia

At the time when Islam was propagated into the Sabat Bet Gurage, the second and third generations of the Abret shrine had been accommodated some elements of the traditional belief system and they adopted it into the frame of Sufi Islam. The main focus of this paper is to examine the processes how the indigenous healing practices were accommodated into the frame of Sufi Islam and the mechanisms applied for the persistency of the spiritual healing power of the leaders of Abret shrine. The religious leaders of the Abret shrine have been claiming that they have an extraordinary power to cure diseases which were previously believed to be healed only through performing traditional ritual rites. They claim that they had received baraka (blessing of the Prophet) that ensued from the common genealogical line descended to the Qurayyish tribe of the prophet Mohammed. And, it is believed the baraka that the Abret leaders possess has caused for the sacredness of the earth sample and spring water around the shrine that are used for healing purposes.  Thus, this paper underscores the processes of the Islamization of indigenous healing practices and how ritually sanctified diseases were defined under the frame of Sufi Islam

Syncretic Forms of Spiritual Healing Practices Among the Muslim Gurage of Southwestern Ethiopia

At the time when Islam was propagated into the Sabat Bet Gurage, the second and third generations of the Abret shrine had been accommodated some elements of the traditional belief system and they adopted it into the frame of Sufi Islam. The main focus of this paper is to examine the processes how the indigenous healing practices were accommodated into the frame of Sufi Islam and the mechanisms applied for the persistency of the spiritual healing power of the leaders of Abret shrine. The religious leaders of the Abret shrine have been claiming that they have an extraordinary power to cure diseases which were previously believed to be healed only through performing traditional ritual rites. They claim that they had received baraka (blessing of the Prophet) that ensued from the common genealogical line descended to the Qurayyish tribe of the prophet Mohammed. And, it is believed the baraka that the Abret leaders possess has caused for the sacredness of the earth sample and spring water around the shrine that are used for healing purposes.  Thus, this paper underscores the processes of the Islamization of indigenous healing practices and how ritually sanctified diseases were defined under the frame of Sufi Islam

Modern Developments in Engineering of Oxygen Steelmaking Shops for Bottom and Combined Blowing

The bottom blown basic oxygen steelmaking process was introduced and tested on low phosphorus hot metal in North America during 1971, The OBM/Q-BOP process proved to be an improvement over the top blown basic oxygen process in many aspects - capital costs, operating_costs, and process capabilities. Capital costs could be saved mainly because of much reduced Space requirements and deletion (particularly in the case of open hearth con-version) of extensive overhead material storage and han-dling systems due to the absence of lop lances and beca-use pneumatic material handling and bottom injection per-mitted replacement of gravity fed top additions. Operat-ing costs were reduced by a combination of high produc-tivity due to the capability of greater specific oxygen blowing rates and better product yields, both from charged-and additive materials

Is gene therapy a good therapeutic approach for HIV-positive patients?

Despite advances and options available in gene therapy for HIV-1 infection, its application in the clinical setting has been challenging. Although published data from HIV-1 clinical trials show safety and proof of principle for gene therapy, positive clinical outcomes for infected patients have yet to be demonstrated. The cause for this slow progress may arise from the fact that HIV is a complex multi-organ system infection. There is uncertainty regarding the types of cells to target by gene therapy and there are issues regarding insufficient transduction of cells and long-term expression. This paper discusses state-of-the-art molecular approaches against HIV-1 and the application of these treatments in current and ongoing clinical trials

Complete BFT Embedding of Massive Theory with One- and Two-form Gauge Fields

We study the constraint structure of the topologically massive theory with one- and two-form fields in the framework of Batalin-Fradkin-Tyutin embedding procedure. Through this analysis we obtain a new type of Wess-Jumino action with novel symmetry, which is originated from the topological coupling term, as well as the St\"uckelberg action related to the explicit gauge breaking mass terms from the original theory.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, references adde

The interplay of the Notch signaling in hepatic stellate cells and macrophages determines the fate of liver fibrogenesis

Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) known as “master producers” and macrophages as “master regulators”, are the key cell types that strongly contribute to the progression of liver fibrosis. Since Notch signaling regulates multiple cellular processes, we aimed to study the role of Notch signaling in HSCs differentiation and macrophages polarization and to evaluate its implication in liver fibrogenesis. Notch pathway components were found to be significantly upregulated in TGFβ-activated HSCs, inflammatory M1 macrophages, and in mouse and human fibrotic livers. Interestingly, inhibition of Notch using a selective γ-secretase inhibitor, Avagacestat, significantly inhibited TGFβ-induced HSC activation and contractility, and suppressed M1 macrophages. Additionally, Avagacestat inhibited M1 driven-fibroblasts activation and fibroblasts-driven M1 polarization (nitric oxide release) in fibroblasts and macrophages co-culture, and conditioned medium studies. In vivo, post-disease treatment with Avagacestat significantly attenuated fibrogenesis in CCl4-induced liver fibrosis mouse model. These effects were attributed to the reduction in HSCs activation, and inhibition of inflammatory M1 macrophages and upregulation of suppressive M2 macrophages. These findings suggest that Notch signaling plays a crucial role in HSC activation and M1/M2 polarization of macrophages in liver fibrosis. These results provide new insights for the development of novel therapies against liver fibrosis through modulation of Notch signaling

Power flow and small signal stability analysis on the interconnected Philippine power grid

SummaryThe Philippines, as one of the developing nations in south-east Asia, has isolated power system networks which bring forth challenges in its operational systems, especially when subjected to a deregulated environment. This paper presents an analysis on the power flow and small signal stability of the interconnected three isolated Philippine Power Grid. To achieve this, eigenvalue analysis is employed to probe the small signal stability of the main power grids. The free software, Power Systems Analysis Toolbox (PSAT), is used to develop the model using MATLAB®/Simulink®. There have been no publicly available studies regarding stability of the proposed link between the major grid and the Mindanao (south island) grid. Participation factors were further studied to determine which states contributes most with the variety of modes. The lowest oscillatory damping modes are also assessed to better understand the systems characteristics

Brønsted and Lewis acidity of modified montmorillonite clay catalysts determined by FT-IR spectroscopy

The surface acidity of different modified montmorillonite clay catalysts, Al3+-exchanged montmorillonite (Al3+-Mont) and aluminium pillared montmorillonite (Al-PILC) was determined by DRIFTS (diffuse reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectra) using pyridine as probe molecule. The method involved treating the clay sample directly with pyridine, drying the sample at 120 °C and recording FT-IR spectra in the region 1650 and 1350 cm−1. The spectra obtained showed well resolved absorption bands for Lewis and Brønsted acid sites in the clay catalysts. In order to understand the role of acid sites present on clay catalysts, esterification of propionic acid with p-cresol has been studied. The Brønsted acidity data obtained by FT-IR study for modified montmorillonite clay catalysts correlated well with the catalytic activity in the esterification reaction. Among the modified clay catalysts, Al3+-Mont and H+-Mont clay catalysts showed good activity and Al-PILC showed negligible activity in esterification. The inactivity of Al-PILC catalysts is attributed to the absence of Brønsted acidity

Analytical solution of the generalized discrete Poisson equation

We present an analytical solution to the generalized discrete Poisson equation, a matrix equation which has a tridiagonal matrix with fringes having an arbitrary value for the diagonal elements. The results are of relevance to a variety of physical problems, which require the numerical solution of the Poisson equation. As examples, the formula has been applied to the solution of the electrostatic problem of tunnelling junction arrays with two and three rows

Synthesis of phenylacetates using aluminium-exchanged montmorillonite clay catalyst

Liquid phase esterification of phenylacetic acid with phenol and substituted phenols has been investigated over montmorillonite clay exchanged with H + - Al 3+ - and aluminium polyhydroxy oligomer cations. Among the catalysts studied, Al 3+ - montmorillonite dried at 100°C showed 67 conversion, while the same catalyst dried at 200deg;C showed reduced conversion of 36. Al 3+ - montmorillonite dried at 400°C and montmorillonite exchanged with aluminium polyhydroxy oligomer cations dried at 100°C and calcined at 500°C failed to bring about the reaction. Effects of mole ratio of reactants, reaction period and catalyst amount on yield of the ester and catalyst regeneration are also investigated. Esterification of phenylacetic acid with phenol, cresols, nitrophenols and resorcinol has been carried out in the presence of montmorillonite clay exchanged with H +-ions, Al 3+-ions and polyhydroxy oligomer cations of Al. Na +-montmorillonite (raw clay) was inactive, H +- and Al 3+-montmorillonites, dried at 100°C, showed 52 and 67 conversions to ester, respectively, upon refluxing the phenylacetic acid (20 mmol) and p-cresol (40 mmol) for 6 h. While Al 3+- montmorillonite dried at 200°C showed a conversion of 36 the same catalyst when dried at 400°C showed no conversion. Montmorillonite exchanged with aluminium polyhydroxy oligomers dried at 100°C and calcined at 500°C to get pillared clay (d 0 0 1=17.5 à ) failed to bring about the esterification. Effect of concentration of reactants, amount of catalyst and the reaction time on the yield of p-cresyl phenylacetate has been investigated. The esterification of phenylacetic acid with phenol and substituted phenols like m-cresol, o-cresol, p-nitro phenol and o-nitro phenol showed reduced yield due to steric factors. The activity of the clay catalyst after regeneration has also been studied. © 2004 Published by Elsevier B.V