Sufism on the Silver Screen: Indonesian Innovations in Islamic Televangelism

As a carrier of Islam's esoteric tradition, Sufism would seem to be an unlikely candidate for promoting Islamic piety in the popular mass media in Muslim majority societies of the twenty-first century. It is thus remarkable that several of the most sensationally popular of Indonesia's new breed of televangelists have promoted Islam by modelling ‘Sufistik' forms of intensified piety. This article examines the electronically-mediated mass predication programs of two of Indonesia's best known televangelists, Abdullah Gymnastiar and M. Arifin Ilham. Both are recognised by the viewing public as ‘Sufistik'. The article identifies the elements of the Sufi tradition upon which the preachers draw. It also examines how those elements can be projected effectively on television to convey the intense spiritual intimacy with God which Muslims seek through Sufi devotions

Volcanic and Tectonic Processes Along Anomalous Mid-Ocean Ridges

The morphological and structural characteristics of the global spreading ridge system are systematically related to spreading rate and magma supply (e.g. Macdonald, 1982). Because intermediate spreading-rate ridges (ISRs) spreading between 60 and 80 mm/yr have characteristics of both fast and slow spreading ridges, they are ideal environments to study the differences controlling upper crustal accretion. We examine the distribution of seamounts along spreading ridges to understand the relationship between seamount volcanism and axial morphology along four ISRs: the Juan de Fuca Ridge (JdFR), the Galápagos Spreading Centers (GSC), the Southeast Indian Ridge (SEIR), and the Eastern Lau Spreading Centers (ELSC). Before determining the distribution of volcanoes on the seafloor, the Modified Basal Outlining Algorithm (MBOA) developed by Bohnenstiehl et al. (2012) is assessed for its accuracy in picking volcanic edifices relative to a traditional field-based geologic mapping approach at the Springerville Volcanic Field, Arizona. There, MBOA is able to closely match the geologic map, under-predicting height and area by 4% and over-predicting volume by 13%. Applying MBOA to determine the seamount abundance, volume and spatial distribution along the ISRs indicate that (1) seamounts do not form at the ends of segments along the JdFR, GSC or ELSC, but do form at the ends of segments along the SEIR, (2) a systematic relationship exists between axial morphology and ridge migration in the hotspot reference frame along the SEIR, and (3) segments offset in the direction of ridge migration have axial highs along the leading segment end and axial valleys along the trailing segment end. Given that ridge migration oblique to spreading direction causes enhanced melting beneath the leading segment end (Katz et al., 2004), we attempt to understand the formation of faults when the near-field spreading direction is oblique to the far-field stretching direction (i.e., the direction plates are pulled apart). Three dimensional finite-element modeling of an idealized MOR indicates that faults slip in a direction halfway between the spreading and stretching directions outside of the axial graben. Inside the axial graben, faults slip in a direction approaching the stretching direction. This indicates simply pulling the lithosphere causes the orientation of volcanic and tectonic structures to change without changing the underlying structure of the upwelling asthenosphere

PVN-LOT-391-M-017

Islam's devotional and mystical tradition, Sufism (tasawwuf), is commonly cast as antithetical to Salafi Islam. Self-identified 'Salafis', with their ideological roots in anti-liberal strands of twentieth-century modernist Islam, do commonly view Sufis as heretics propagating practices wrongly introduced into Islam centuries after the time of the pious ancestors (the Salaf). Yet reformist zeal that fixes on the singular importance of the Salaf (particularly the Prophet Muhammad and his principal companions) as models for correct piety can also be found amongst Sufis. This paper calls attention to the Salafist colouration of Sufism in two areas of popular culture: television preaching and the popular religious 'how-to' books and DVDs that make the preachers' messages available for purchase. It reprises the teachings of two of the best known Indonesian Muslim televangelists, 'Hamka' (b. 1908, d. 1981) and M. Arifin Ilham (b. 1969), both of whom also happen to be champions of Sufism, and analyses the different rhetorical uses each has made of references to the 'Salaf' and the notion of 'Salafist' Islam

The memory of music and music of memory: A portfolio of original compositions

The thesis explores through composition the processes of listening, remembering, storing, and recalling music and the ephemeral nature of these same actions, recognising that musical experiences can never truly be preserved. To explore preservation and entropy in memory and music, the portfolio of works is guided by three research areas: multi-level systemisation in compositional methods; reflection on the experience of music itself; and integration of acoustic and electronic techniques. The research concepts draw from the fields of ecological psychoacoustics, music cognition, memory studies, history of music technology, and philosophy and aesthetics.The thesis consists of three volumes with accompanying supplemental materials. The first two volumes present a portfolio of original compositions, comprising sixteen works ranging from three to twenty minutes and from soloist to large string ensemble, including six electroacoustic pieces, with a combined duration of circa 100 minutes. Appendix One contains one piece, Artefacts for symphony orchestra, the composition of which provided the foundation for this project. The third volume is a commentary on the portfolio (c. 27,000 words), providing context for the works and their compositional processes in terms of conceptual and theoretical bases, academic context, musical techniques and analysis, employment of electronic technology, the influence of other composers and artists, and placement of my work within the field of composition. The commentary is divided into five parts. Part One covers research concepts and context; Part Two examines structural use of systemisation and collage; Part Three outlines approaches to harmony; Part Four describes the use of electronics in the portfolio, connecting these techniques to the research concepts; Part Five presents a detailed description and analysis of three pieces that illustrate a synthesis of the methods explored over the course of composing the portfolio. The supplementary materials include recordings of the works and Max/MSP patches accompanying the electroacoustic works

Effect of Phosphorus on Cleavage Fracture in Κ-Carbide

To understand the origin of cleavage fracture which dominates in Fe(Mn)-Al-C alloys at a high phosphorus concentration, we performed first-principles study of the phosphorus effect on ideal cleavage energy and critical stress in κ-carbide, Fe3 AlC, a precipitate in the austenitic alloys. We find that phosphorus has higher solubility in Fe3 AlC than in γ-Fe and sharply reduces the cleavage characteristics of κ-carbide. We show that strong anisotropy of the Fe-P bonds in Fe3 (Al,P) C under tensile stress, leads to the appearance of large structural voids and may facilitate crack nucleation

Evolving polarisation of infiltrating and alveolar macrophages in the lung during metastatic progression of melanoma suggests CCR1 as a therapeutic target

Metastatic tumour progression is facilitated by tumour associated macrophages (TAMs) that enforce pro-tumour mechanisms and suppress immunity. In pulmonary metastases, it is unclear whether TAMs comprise tissue resident or infiltrating, recruited macrophages; and the different expression patterns of these TAMs are not well established. Using the mouse melanoma B16F10 model of experimental pulmonary metastasis, we show that infiltrating macrophages (IM) change their gene expression from an early pro-inflammatory to a later tumour promoting profile as the lesions grow. In contrast, resident alveolar macrophages (AM) maintain expression of crucial pro-inflammatory/anti-tumour genes with time. During metastatic growth, the pool of macrophages, which initially contains mainly alveolar macrophages, increasingly consists of infiltrating macrophages potentially facilitating metastasis progression. Blocking chemokine receptor mediated macrophage infiltration in the lung revealed a prominent role for CCR2 in Ly6C+ pro-inflammatory monocyte/macrophage recruitment during metastasis progression, while inhibition of CCR2 signalling led to increased metastatic colony burden. CCR1 blockade, in contrast, suppressed late phase pro-tumour MR+Ly6C- monocyte/macrophage infiltration accompanied by expansion of the alveolar macrophage compartment and accumulation of NK cells, leading to reduced metastatic burden. These data indicate that IM has greater plasticity and higher phenotypic responsiveness to tumour challenge than AM. A considerable difference is also confirmed between CCR1 and CCR2 with regard to the recruited IM subsets, with CCR1 presenting a potential therapeutic target in pulmonary metastasis from melanoma