Conceptualization of Spiritual Education in Seyyed Hosein Nasr`s Thoughts and Comparing It with the Current Definitions

The aim of this article is to probe the concept of spiritual education in Seyyed Hosein Nasr`s thoughts and to compare it with the current definitions of the concept. This study has been done through the qualitative method called transcendental analysis. Therefore, that concept was conceptualized through investigating and eliciting the requisite assumptions from Nasr`s philosophical approach. Findings showed that in Nasr`s thoughts, spiritual education is the process of actualizing all the innate potentialities of human as a whole towards his or her monotheistic nature through developing knowledge, love, righteous actions and acquiring virtues to transcend his or her existential layers to train his or her spirit, to know the Ultimate Reality and to return to his or her prototype in God. It is acquirable by taking action based on a heavenly religion. The aim of spiritual education is to know the Ultimate Reality intuitively. Compared to the current definitions, the concluded concept is more similar to that of Carr’s and Tabatabaie’s ideas while it is different from Miller, Duff and Bigger’s perspectives. Keywords: spirituality; spiritual education; conceptual comparison; Seyyed Hosein Nasr

Opposition policies on identity cards

ID cards are a key point of difference between the main parties. Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have pledged to scrap them, while Labour will continue with their plans to introduce them. The LSE Identity Project has been following developments in the UK’s Identity Policy since the early days of the Identity Cards Bill in 2005. Here, Dr Edgar A. Whitley and Dr Gus Hosein from the LSE Identity Project analyse the Labour Party’s manifesto comment on identity cards

Behavior Classification Using Multi-site LFP and ECoG Signals

Abstract-Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy that alleviates the motor signs of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Existing DBS is open loop, providing a time invariant stimulation pulse train that may generate cognitive, speech, and balance side effects. A closed-loop DBS system that utilizes appropriate physiological control variables may improve therapeutic results, reduce stimulation side effects, and extend battery life of pulse generators. Furthermore, by customizing DBS to a patient’s behavioral goal, side effects of stimulation may arise only when they are non-detrimental to the patient’s current goals. Therefore, classification of human behavior using physiological signals is an important step in the design of the next generation of closed-loop DBS systems. Ten subjects who were undergoing DBS implantation were recruited for the study. DBS leads were used to record bilateral STN-LFP activity and an electrocorticography (ECoG) strip was used to record field potentials over left prefrontal cortex. Subjects were cued to perform voluntary behaviors including left and right hand movement, left and right arm movement, mouth movement, and speech. Two types of algorithms were used to classify the subjects’ behavior, support vector machine (SVM) using linear, polynomial, and RBF kernels as well as lp-norm multiple kernel learning (MKL). Behavioral classification was performed using only LFP channels, only ECoG channels, and both LFP and ECoG channels. Features were extracted from the time-frequency representation of the signals. Phase locking values (PLV) between ECoG and LFP channels were calculated to determine connectivity between sites and aid in feature selection. Classification performance improved when multi-site signals were used with either SVM or MKL algorithms. Our experiments further show that the lp-norm MKL outperforms single kernel SVM-based classifiers in classifying behavioral tasks. References [1] H. M. Golshan, A. O. Hebb, S. J. Hanrahan, J. Nedrud, and M. H. Mahoor, “A multiple kernel learning approach for human behavioral task classification using STN-LFP signal,” EMBC, 38th IEEE International Conference on., pp.1030-1033, 2016. [2] H. M. Golshan, A. O. Hebb, S. J. Hanrahan, J. Nedrud, and M. H. Mahoor, “An FFT-based synchronization approach to recognize human behaviors using STN-LFP signal,” To appear in ICASSP, 42nd IEEE International Conference on., 2017

Pemikiran Imran N. Hosein tentang Peperangan Yakjuj dan Makjuj di dalam An Islamic View of Gog and Magog in The Modern World Menurut Perspektif Hadis

Imran N. Hosein merupakan sarjana Islam kontemporari yang banyak membicarakan eskatologi Islam di dalam karya-karya yang menarik seperti An Islamic View Of Gog And Magog In The Modern World yang menyentuh tentang Yakjuj dan Makjuj. Walaubagaimanapun pemikiran beliau tentang perang Yakjuj dan Makjuj didapati tidak selari dengan pandangan ulama hadis. Oleh itu, artikel ini membincangkan mengenai pemikiran Imran N. Hosein tentang perang Yakjuj dan Makjuj yang akan berlaku di akhir zaman menurut perspektif hadis. Objektif penulisan ini adalah untuk mendedahkan kepada masyarakat Islam kemungkinan berlakunya salah faham dalam memahami hadis berkaitan Yakjuj dan Makjuj. Kesan daripada silap mengerti dan tafsiran yang tidak tepat terhadap hadis-hadis fitan menimbulkan persepsi keliru kepada umum. Metodologi kajian ini adalah berbentuk kualitatif melalui kaedah analisis kandungan buku An Islamic View Of Gog And Magog In The Modern World. Dalam pada itu juga, pengkaji menggunakan metode dokumentasi yang merujuk sepenuhnya kepada kitab-kitab syarah hadis, tesis, disertasi, jurnal, laman sesawang dan buku-buku rujukan yang berkaitan. Hasil dapatan merumuskan bahawa Perang Yakjuj dan Makjuj tidak dinyatakan di dalam teks hadis. Ia merupakan satu salah faham dan kesilapan dalam memahami hadis tentang Yakjuj dan Makjuj. Imran N. Hosein didapati menafsirkan hadis mengikut akal dan logik semata-mata selain terpengaruh dengan Isrā`īliyyāt. Kekeliruan ini berpunca daripada pengabaian salah satu kaedah memahami hadis fitan iaitu merujuk kepada mereka yang pakar di dalam ilmu hadis. Imran N. Hosein is a contemporary Islamic scholar who talks about Islamic eschatology in interesting works such as An Islamic View Of Gog And Magog In The Modern World, which touches on Yakjuj and Makjuj. However, his thoughts about the Yakjuj and Makjuj wars were inconsistent with the views of hadith scholars. Therefore, this article discusses Imran N. Hosein's thoughts about the battle of Yakjuj and Makjuj that will happen at the end of time according to the hadith perspective. This writing aims to reveal to the Muslim community the possibility of misunderstandings in understanding the hadith related to Yakjuj and Makjuj. The effects of misunderstandings and inaccurate interpretations of the fitan hadiths create a confused perception for the public. The methodology of this study is qualitative through the content analysis method of the book An Islamic View Of Gog And Magog In The Modern World. In the meantime, the researcher uses a documentation method that fully refers to hadith books, theses, dissertations, journals, websites, and related reference books. The findings concluded that the War of Yakjuj and Makjuj was not mentioned in the hadith text. It is a misunderstanding and mistake in understanding the hadith about Yakjuj and Makjuj. Imran N. Hosein was found to interpret the hadith according to common sense and logic in addition to being influenced by Isrā`īliyyāt. This confusion stems from the neglect of one of the methods of understanding hadith fitan, which refers to those who are experts in the science of hadith.       &nbsp

MORRIE SCHWARTZ’S PERSPECTIVES ON AMERICAN VALUES IN MITCH ALBOM’S TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE

Keywords: American values, perspectives, individualism, materialism, and activity and workValues are abstract concepts used by the society as the orientation in lifestyle, think, act, and so on. In connecting with literary works, they are on which values as intrinsic aspects rely on. That is because literary works are seen as the mirror of the social condit ion, including values. Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays  with Morrie is one of the literary works which contains American values,  especially from Morrie’s point of view as the main character. Those values that appear in the novel are used as the object of the study. In other words, this study disscusses American values from Morrie Schwartz’s perspectives. Through Morrie Schwartz’s idea about American values, this study is wished to give the new yet useful point of view related to the values of life.Sociological approach to literature is used in this study because Tuesdays with Morrie is based on true story which contains real descriptions of American culture and social condition, especially the values.The result of the study reveals that Morrie Schwartz had his own perspectives toward American values. Most of his concern was about the importance of human relation above all values. Those perspectives were delivered through Morrie Schwartz’s opinions, crit icisms, and suggest ions. From this study, it is revealed that Morrie Schwartz had the idea of intimate indivualism, a state of being free to express oneself yet fully consider about relating to others. He also had a thought that material possessions was not the key to happiness, but love within human relationship was. Family and marriage were believed to be the spheres to decreace individualism and materialism. To Morrie Schwartz, growing old was not the limitation for people to be actively productive.Finally, it is suggested to the next researcher to cunduct a study about Morrie Schwartz’s effort in gaining life sat isfact ion by using socio-psycological approach because his efforts (thoughts, feelings, and actions) to reach the goal were so much related to the society.  Â

Shifting themes, shifting roles: the development of research blogs

The study described in this paper investigated the use of research blogs by postgraduate students over a four-year period. An initial, one-year, pilot focused on the research blogs of three first-year doctoral students (Ferguson, Clough, & Hosein, 2007). Analysis indicated that blogs were used to promote a community where students were encouraged to reflect and share ideas, skills and stories of research life. The blogs also acted as memory repositories and encouraged collaboration. The main study followed the students’ blogs for another three years, as they completed their doctorates and took jobs as early-career researchers. It investigated changes in the use and content of research blogs during this period. All three students continued to make use of their blogs for reflection over this period, and the blogs’ use as a memory repository became increasingly important, especially during the period of writing up research. Once the students had made the transition to early-career researcher, the nature of their blog use changed and began to fragment. This was due, in part, to issues of confidentiality, and data protection associated with their employment. While they continued to use their original research blogs to promote community and collaboration, the constraints of their work meant that new posts were often posted in closed blogs, or were marked as protected. At the same time, they were required or encouraged to make use of project-related blogs as part of a planned communication strategy by their employers. The findings of this longitudinal study clarify the changing expectations and needs of learners, employers and society in relation to researchers’ blogs, and identify skills, awareness and knowledge needed to support the use of blogging by research students

Klausul Non-kompetisi dalam Perjanjian Kerja Dikaitkan dengan Prinsip Kerahasiaan Perusahaan dalam Perspektif Hak untuk Memilih Pekerjaan Berdasarkan Hukum Positif Indonesia

An employment agreement which includes a non-competition clause is created by the company for the purpose of protecting its business secrets. In practice, however, this clause limits workers' rights and is contrary to Indonesia's positive law. The purpose of the study determines the principle of confidentiality with regard to the right to choose an occupation under Indonesian positive law and to formulate protection for workers in the case of inclusion of non-competition clauses related to corporate secrecy in the perspective of the right to choose an occupation.This research was conducted by using normative juridical approach by reviewing the literature,that is using secondary data in law scope through studying literature. This research is an analytical descriptive research, which be used to understand the reality that happened in field that is related to Indonesian positive law. The research results showed that. First, an employment agreement in which there is a non-competition clause, has infringed a man's right specifically the right to freedom to choose an ocuupation which protected and guaranteed by the state as stated in the Law on Human Rights and the Employment,so this kind of clause still causing a dilemma because on the one hand the company has an interest in trade secrets and other material interests, whereas workers have the right of freedom to choose a job.Second, Protection to workers related to their rights in choosing a job has been granted by the state. It is contained in Article 38 paragraph (2) of the Human Rights Law and the Employment Law