The Dynamics of US Labor Force Attachment

No abstract.

Divine Testing and the Covid Pandemic: Searching for Hope in Sufi Commentaries

The Qur’an carries many references to the created world being subjected to divine testing. It, therefore, seems obvious to ask whether the COVID pandemic that has caused so much suffering across the world and continues to ravage communities represents a test by God for faithful believers. Tests can be daunting experiences, causing apprehension and fear. To what extent should faithful believers regard the COVID pandemic as a fearful, traumatic experience? On the other hand, how can believers find ways to focus on a sense of hope in the midst of the current troubles? This paper will initially consider a range of responses to the COVID pandemic by religious leaders and commentators. It will then draw out Qur’an verses referred to in these responses and will engage with these verses through the lens of several Sufi commentaries, in a search for layered meanings below a surface reading of the verses concerned

Divine Testing and the Covid Pandemic: Searching for Hope in Sufi Commentaries

The Qur’an carries many references to the created world being subjected to divine testing. It, therefore, seems obvious to ask whether the COVID pandemic that has caused so much suffering across the world and continues to ravage communities represents a test by God for faithful believers. Tests can be daunting experiences, causing apprehension and fear. To what extent should faithful believers regard the COVID pandemic as a fearful, traumatic experience? On the other hand, how can believers find ways to focus on a sense of hope in the midst of the current troubles? This paper will initially consider a range of responses to the COVID pandemic by religious leaders and commentators. It will then draw out Qur’an verses referred to in these responses and will engage with these verses through the lens of several Sufi commentaries, in a search for layered meanings below a surface reading of the verses concerned

Exegeting Sūra al Fātiḥa for the Masses: Bediüzzaman Said Nursi and Haji Muḥammad Saʿīd bin ʿUmar

أهداف البحث: تتناول هذه المقالة وجهات النظر التفسيرية حول أشهر سورة في القرآن من مفسرين عاشا في سياقات متنوعة في أواخر القرن التاسع عشر وأوائل القرن العشرين، ويمكن القول إن بديع الزمان سعيد نورسي هو اللاهوتي الأكثر تأثيراً الذي خرج من تركيا العثمانية خلال تاريخها الطويل، وعلى النقيض من ذلك، يتمتع الحاج محمد سعيد بن عمر بسمعة محلية باعتباره باحثًا في المنطقة الماليزية الإندونيسية ولكنه غير معروف خارجها. منهج الدراسة: تستند الدراسة إلى تحليل مقارن لتفسير هذين العالمين في سورة الفاتحة، واستكشاف الأساليب التي استخدماها للوصول إلى المسلمين العاديين بتفسيرهم، وليس فقط المتعلمين تعليماً عالياً. النتائج: جاء بديع الزمان سعيد النورسي والحاج محمد سعيد بن عمر من خلفيات وسياقات مختلفة تمامًا. علاوة على ذلك، كانت أساليبهم التفسيرية مختلفة اختلافًا جوهريًا، حيث كان الأول أكثر عقلانية والأخير أكثر حرفيًا. ومع ذلك، نجح كل منهما في إنتاج تفاسير وصلت إلى الجماهير، وبالتالي نجحا في تحقيق أهدافهما العامة المتمثلة في تعزيز الالتزام الديني والروح الديناميكية للمسلمين في سياقاتهم الخاصة. أصالة البحث: هذا البحث أصيل من نواح مختلفة: أولاً- الدراسات المقارنة لسعيد النورسي مع مفسري اللغة الملاوية قليلة العدد. ثانيًا- يتطلب تحديد أوجه التشابه في النتائج على الرغم من الاختلافات في الأساليب في مجال التفسير مزيدًا من الاهتمام الأكاديمي، ويجب أن تحفز هذه المقالة الاهتمام بمزيد من هذه الدراسات.Purpose: This article considers exegetical perspectives on the best known Sūra of the Qur’ān from two exegetes who lived in diverse contexts in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Caliphate. Bediüzzaman Said Nursi is arguably the most influential theologian to emerge from  in Ottoman Turkey in its long history. Haji Muḥammad Saʿīd bin ʿUmar, by contrast, enjoys a local reputation as a scholar in the Malay-Indonesian region but is unknown outside of that area. Methodology: This research is based on a comparative analysis of the exegesis of both scholars on Sūra al-Fātiḥa, exploring the techniques they used to reach ordinary Muslims with their exegesis, not just highly educated Muslims. Findings: Said Nursi and Muḥammad Saʿīd bin ʿUmar came from quite different backgrounds and contexts. Moreover, their exegetical styles were fundamentally different, with the former’s being more thematic and the latter’s being more literalist. Nevertheless, each succeeded in producing exegesis that reached the masses, thereby meeting their overall goals of reinforcing the commitment to faith and dynamic spirit of Muslims in their respective contexts. Originality: This research is original in various ways. First, comparative studies of Said Nursi and Malay-language exegetes are few in number. Second, the identification of similarities in the results of studies on exegesis despite the use of different methods requires greater scholarly attention. This article should stimulate interest in further studies on the matter

The development of direct payments in the UK: implications for social justice

Direct payments have been heralded by the disability movement as an important means to achieving independent living and hence greater social justice for disabled people through enhanced recognition as well as financial redistribution. Drawing on data from the ESRC funded project Disabled People and Direct Payments: A UK Comparative Perspective, this paper presents an analysis of policy and official statistics on use of direct payments across the UK. It is argued that the potential of direct payments has only partly been realised as a result of very low and uneven uptake within and between different parts of the UK. This is accounted for in part by resistance from some Labour-controlled local authorities, which regard direct payments as a threat to public sector jobs. In addition, access to direct payments has been uneven across impairment groups. However, from a very low base there has been a rapid expansion in the use of direct payments over the past three years. The extent to which direct payments are able to facilitate the ultimate goal of independent living for disabled people requires careful monitoring

Politics and the media : the stormy year before the calm?

Politics and the media : the stormy year before the calm

On the Theory of the Virial Development of the Equation of State of Monoatomic Gases

The problem of the condensation of a gas is intimately related to the asymptotic behavior of the virial coefficients, Bm, as m→∞. The problem of the evaluation of the virial coefficients may be divided into two distinctly different ones. The first of these, which is purely combinatorial in nature and is independent of the intermolecular force law, is that of determining the number of a certain type of connected graphs of l points and k lines which are called ``stars.'' This problem is solved by means of generating functions, with the result that the total number of such stars is asymptotically equal to(12l(l−1)k),for almost all k. Arguments are also presented which indicate that the total number of topologically different stars is1l!(12l(l−1)k).With these results the combinatorial problem is essentially solved.The second problem is that of evaluating certain integrals of functions which depend on the intermolecular potential. This problem is not so near to a solution. For a purely repulsive force, asymptotic expressions are obtained for k=l, and k=l+1. The partial contributions to the virial coefficient in these two cases are:(−1)l⋅53(52π)12(2b)l−1(l−1)l5∕2,and(−1)l2⋅5324π3(2b)l−1,respectively. Results for some simple one‐dimensional rigid lines are also given.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69794/2/JCPSA6-21-11-2056-1.pd

On the Notion of Pressure in a Canonical Ensemble

Recently a controversy has arisen between J. De Boer and H. S. Green concerning the notion of pressure in a canonical ensemble. According to Green, only classically is the pressure as derived from the partition function equal to that obtained from the virial theorem, while at low temperatures, at which quantum effects become important, there will be considerable deviations between the two. De Boer attempts to prove that the two pressures are actually identical. We have come to the same conclusion, and shall show this in several ways; first, by considering a simple example (Section 2), and then in general using the energy representation (Section 3). We believe that the discrepancy between the two pressures which Green has found is in fact due to improper handling of the effect of the wall of the vessel in which the particles are contained. Finally, we are of the opinion that Green's criticism of De Boer's calculation is not justified, and in the last section arguments are given to show that the traces of all commutators of interest in quantum statistical mechanics are zero.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69356/2/JCPSA6-18-8-1066-1.pd