The exegesis of Tabatabaei and the Hermeneutics of Hirsch: a comparative study

This thesis is a comparative study between Hermeneutics on the one hand and exegesis of the Holy Qur'an on the other. Its objective is to discover whether there are salient points of convergence between the two disciples, and whether issues germane to the Hermeneutical tradition in the West have been referred to and/or employed in Muslim works of Qur'an commentary. To this end, the works of one of the most prominent Shi'ite philosophers and exegetes. Allama Mohammad Hossein Tabataei, have been analysed and compared with the perspective and methodology of E D. Hirsch, one of the most important hermeneuticians in the Western World. Hirsch has been chosen since, in the opinion of the author, there is a considerable number of commonalities between the Hirschian approach to hermeneutics and the exegetical methodology of Tabatabaei and other Shi'ite Muslim interpreters of the Qur'an.. Hirsch, as an objectivist, along with a number of other Hermeneutical scholars, are critical of those who subscribe to philosophical Hermeneutics, such as Heideger and Gadimer. The same approach is taken in Tabatabaei's works, thus providing a strong rationale for an academic comparison of these two scholars. For this reason, this thesis attempts to study the theories of Tabatabaei and Hirsch in order to highlight the similarities and differences in their works. The central hypothesis is that while small differences in approach exist, there is much common ground, and that it is possible to use certain facets of Hirschian hermeneutics in the interpretation of the Qur'an, thus modernising some of the existing exegetical approaches employed by Shi'ite scholars.Since the aim of this thesis is to compare the interpretive works of Tabatabaei with those of Hirsch's, an introductory chapter has been dedicated to the study of the evolution of Shi'ite exegesis from the beginning to date. Tabatabaei's Al-Mizan has been chosen as the foremost work of Shi'ite exegesis in the modem period. Furthermore, a complete chapter has also been dedicated to Tabatabai's exegetical modus operandi as reflected in Al-Mizan, in order to arrive at a better understanding of his perspectives. This research arrives at the conclusion that philosophical Hermeneutics and Epistemology have opened new horizons on which we will always be dependent. Whatever interpretive theories with regards to the understanding of the text are accepted, or whatever the tendency as far as literary criticism is concerned, or whatever ideas are accepted in the arena of philosophy of human and social sciences, the discussion of the nature of understanding in general cannot be avoided. This does not mean that Hermeneutics is limited to these new theories. Rather, the opportunity always exists to introduce new interpretive theories in connection with the understanding of the text. It is indeed possible to study these discussions in detail in a separate sphere independent of the other branches of Islamic sciences and arrive at a number of stable principles in the interpretation of the text in Islamic research

Drought assessment modelling using biophysical parameters and remote sensing data

This study considers the advancement in technical development of a few disciplines as an infrastructure for developing a suitable model and methodology for agricultural drought assessment in semi-arid area. It evaluates capabilities of multisource remote sensing data in developing raster-based biophysical drought assessment models. The capability for expressing the spatial and inter-annual variation of evapotranspiration (ET) over a study area by the proposed models has made it efficient. The base model, Mapping EvapoTranspiration at high Resolution with Internal Calibration (METRIC) has been evaluated for its performance in estimating ET over the pistachio plantation in a semi-arid region. The result proved that the base model gives good accuracy and is suitable for the selected study area. The base model, METRIC, is found sensitive to a number of meteorological parameters. Two-factor analysis for the primary inputs of the base model shows that the surface albedo and surface temperature pairs is the most effective while other tested pairs are found to be least effective. The study suggests that improving the equations of the effective pair should increase the accuracy. In this case, the multilayer perceptron Artificial Neural Network (ANN) technique is used for estimating spatial and temporal distribution of actual ET from satellite based biophysical parameters. The result shows that a strong correlation exist between ET values computed using METRIC and those generated using ANN. ANN sensitivity analysis shows that surface temperature, soil heat flux and surface albedo are the most significant parameters. Exploratory factor analysis using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was performed to select the most significant biophysical parameters to be used as input to a newly developed BioPhysical Water Stress Index (BPWSI). The BPWSI is a new model for estimating water stress index using the selected biophysical parameters. The results of BPWSI are found to be significant and can be used for predicting the pistachio water status which represents the indication of agricultural drought

Application of visible and near-infrared spectrophotometry for detecting salinity effects on wheat leaves (Triticumasativum L.)

Soil and water salinity is the most limiting factor for plant growth and productivity. Due to a high rate of evaporation, agricultural lands become saline in arid regions after a while. This leads to a decline in plant production. The present study investigated the capability of visible and near infrared (VNIR) spectrophotometry as a non-destructive method in detecting salinity effect on wheat leaves. A completely randomized design was work out with four salinity levels and three replicates. Wheat seeds were planted in plastic pots and irrigated with four levels of saline water [0 (control), 4, 8 and 12 dSm-1] Leaf spectrophotometry at VNIR (190-1100 nm) wavelength was performed on wheat leaves at the nodule-formation growth stage. The results indicated that treatments are discriminated mostly by reflectance and absorption spectra of 530-660 nm although a difference existed between the control treatment and the other treatments at 700-1100 nm. The difference between the treatments of T0, T4 and T12 was found to be significant (

Iranian Authors\u27 Contributions to the Library Philosophy and Practice

Objective: This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric analysis and scientific visualization of the contribution made by Iranians\u27 authors in the Library Philosophy and Practice (LPP) from 2006 to 2019. Material and Methods: This bibliometric analysis used Scopus database for retrieving data on all papers published by Iranians in LPP during the study time span. VOSviewer and Microsoft Excel software packages were used for data analysis. Findings: Out of 139 papers authored by Iranians in LPP, the first published paper belonged to 2006. An increasing trend can be seen in annual publication number, with 1 and 64 papers in 2007 and 2019, respectively. The first ranked active author was Khasseh A.A. with 9 papers. Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and Payame Noor University were in the top of the contributing institutes, each with authoring 20 papers followed by Islamic Azad University, Central with 13 papers. Iranian more collaborated with Indians. The mean rate of received citations per paper was 0.62. The top three highly-cited authors were Isfandyiari-Moghaddam, A. (with 13), Khasseh A.A. and Saberi M.K. (each with 11) and Biranvand (with 10), respectively. Citing some known journals in their papers, Iranian researchers considered main topics in LIS field, including bibliometrics, altmetrics and library management and technologies. Conclusion: This study is a relatively comprehensive bibliometric analysis of Iranians\u27 contributions to LPP. The result can be helpful as a road map for researchers and readers countrywide as well as the editorial team of the journal

Effect of Self-Citation on H-Index: A Study of Top 1% Highly Cited Iranian Scientists in Medical Sciences

Background: H-index is one of the main bibliometric indicators for evaluating researchers. It has been criticized due to the effect of self-citation rate on its increase. Aim: This study aimed at analyzing the state of top 1% highly-cited Iranian scientists in medical sciences in ESI for investigating the effect of their self-citations on their h-indices. Methods: Iranian Medical Science Scientometric Information Database, Essential Science IndicatorsTM (ESI) and Scopus indexing/abstracting database were used for data extraction. Data analysis was conducted in Excel and SPSS.. Results: In total, 6.15% of citations were self-citations that resulted in increase in h-index by 2.49 units. After excluding self-citations, the h-indexes of 23.4% of the studied scientists did not change and the mean rate of h-index decreased by 2.49. A correlational test showed the strong correlation between self-citation count and h-index rate (r=.718). Conclusion: Self-citation is present as a common phenomenon in all scientific communities and increases in h-index. If not used for manipulating bibliometric indicators, it can make the scientific works more visible for potential readers and consequently receiving more citations

An Upgrade Pinning Block: A Mechanical Practical Aid for Fast Labelling of the Insect Specimens

A new mechanical innovation is described to deal with standard labelling of dried specimens on triangular cards and/or pinned specimens in personal and public collections. It works quickly, precisely, and easily and is very useful for maintaining label uniformity in collections. The tools accurately sets the position of labels in the shortest possible time. This tools has advantages including rapid processing, cost effectiveness, light weight, and high accuracy, compared to conventional methods. It is fully customisable, compact, and does not require specialist equipment to assemble. Conventional methods generally require locating holes on the pinning block surface when labelling with a resulting risk to damage of the specimens. Insects of different orders can be labelled by this simple and effective tool

Evaluating the Speed and Performance of the Websites of Hospitals and Specialty and Super-specialty Clinics of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences by GTmetrix

Objective: Medical websites are useful tools for training and informing patients, their families, and the public about diseases, procedures, drugs, and healthy life. Speediness and performance are of main criteria for evaluating these websites. This study aimed to evaluate the speed and performance of the websites of hospitals and specialty and super-specialty clinics of Hamadan University of Medical Science by GTmetrix. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, the speed and performance of 15 websites of hospitals and specialty and super-specialty clinics affiliated with the Hamadan University of Medical Science, Hamadan, Iran, were analyzed by using GTmetrix tool and extracting data in its two sections: GTmetrix Grade and Web Vitals. Data were described and analyzed in SPSS and Excel. Results: 14 studied websites (93%) were very weak in page loading speed scores. In performance scores, all websites were rated fewer than 50 percent. The first and last ranks in the structure score belonged to Imam Hasan Mojtaba Hospital and Omid Clinic in common with 55 percent and Besat Hospital with 26 percent, respectively. All studied cases (but Shahid Heidari Hospital of Nahavand) ranked much longer than recommended in their LCPs. All cases were within the good threshold in their TBT scores. The majority of the cases (13 out of 15) are in the CLS threshold of much longer than recommended. Conclusion: It is suggested that website designers and ICT administrators in hospitals and medical clinics in Iran, especially ones affiliated with UMSHA, be familiar with website measures such as GTmetrix and train in detecting the defects causing low performance, speed, and structure of websites as well as the procedures for removing them