Evolution, the Purpose of Life and the Order of Society

This essay treats the pseudo-biographical monographs with which the Turkish author Halit Ertuğrul popularizes the teachings of Said Nursi, founder of the Nurcu movement. Rejection of the theory of evolution plays a central role in these narratives, where a religious person acts as a prompter who demonstrates to a person led astray by materialism the futility of his ideology. As soon as ‘the materialists’ have understood this, they change their life entirely and free themselves from the sociopolitical delusions of communism or behavioral problems. The theory of evolution functions in these accounts not only as a basis of atheism and materialism but also as the antithesis of a harmonious order of the cosmos, which ought to be reflected in a harmonious order of society. This paper is one of a collection that originated in the IAHR Special Conference “Religions, Science and Technology in Cultural Contexts:  Dynamics of Change”, held at The Norwegian University of Science and Technology on March 1–2, 2012. For an overall introduction see the article by Ulrika Mårtensson, also published here. &nbsp

The Islamic Creationism of Harun Yahya

For some time Islamic publishing in the West has been associated with pamphlets in awkward English printed on pulp. Strolling through Islamic bookshops in Britain one immediately realizes how things have changed: beautifully edited books are offered for considerable prices. A notable part of these publications is dedicated to the defence of Islam against the challenges of Christianity and materialism. Outstanding examples for this new tendency are the writings of the prolific Turkish author Harun Yahya (pseudonym of Adnan Oktar), whose list of Turkish publications includes about 180 titles, most of them dedicated to the refutation of Darwinism

« L’islam a débuté étranger et étranger il redeviendra » : Muḫtaṣar sīrat ar-rasūl de Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Wahhāb en tant que programme et propagande

Parmi les œuvres de Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, on trouve une biographie du Prophète intitulée Résumé de la vie du Prophète (Muḫtaṣar sīrat ar-rasūl). Seuls deux islamologues occidentaux se sont jusqu’à présent confrontés à cet ouvrage, bien qu’il soit bien connu que le fondateur du wahhabisme eût pris grand soin de modeler son activité sur la vie de Muḥammad. Chase Robinson fait remarquer dans une courte note d’Islamic Historiography la structure inhabituelle de l’ouvrage ; Shahab Ahmed, dan..

Ein Cytochrom P450 2C8/9-abhängig gebildeter EDHF hyperpolarisiert Thrombozyten und hemmt deren Adhäsion an Endothelzellen

Im Rahmen dieser Dissertation wurde der potentielle Einfluss des endothelialen hyperpolarisierenden Faktors (EDHF) auf Thrombozyten untersucht und geprüft, ob die EDHF Wirkungen durch eine (oder mehrere) Epoxyeicosatriensäuren (Produkte der endothelialen CYP450 Monooxygenase) ausgelöst sein könnten. EDHF wurde bisher hauptsächlich, neben NO und Prostazyklin, als dritter funktionell bedeutender vom Endothel gebildeter vasodilatierender Faktor charakterisiert. Für NO und Prostazyklin ist vielfach eine Freisetzung in das Gefäßlumen und damit neben der lokalen dilatierenden Wirkung auch eine Beeinflussung zirkulierender Blutbestandteile, wie Thrombozyten beschrieben. Beide können die thrombozytäre Aktivierung und Aggregation effektiv hemmen und dadurch gefäßprotektive Wirkungen ausüben. Ob EDHF ebenfalls Blutbestandteile wie Thrombozyten beein-flussen kann, war die Hauptfragestellung dieser Arbeit. Wir konnten erstmals im Bioassay zeigen, dass kultivierte menschliche Endothelzellen (HUVEC) nach entsprechender Stimulation einen EDHF freisetzen, der Thrombozyten hyperpolarisiert. Weiterhin konnten wir nachweisen, dass dieser Faktor die thrombozytäre Adhäsion an Endothelzellen sowie die thrombozytäre Aktivierung (P-Selektin Expression) hemmte. Diese Effekte waren - analog zu den hyper-polarisierenden Effekten - vermittelt durch Aktivierung von Calcium aktivierbaren Kalium-Kanälen (KCa-Kanäle) mit großer (BKCa) und mittlerer (IKCa) Leitfähigkeit, nicht jedoch von denen mit geringerer (SKCa) Leitfähigkeit. Die beobachteten Hemmeffekte waren durch die EDHF Wirkungen auf das thrombozytäre Membranpotential erklärbar, ein zusätzlicher ergänzender membranpotentialunabhängiger Effekt konnte jedoch nicht ausgeschlossen werden. Der in unserem Bioassay nachweisbare EDHF zeigte ähnliche Eigenschaften wie exogen verabreichte Epoxyeicosatriensäuren (EETs) - Produkte, die durch die Cytochrom P450 2C8/9 Oxidase im Endothel aus Arachidonsäure gebildet werden. Erhärtet wurden diese Befunde durch eine CYP2C9 stabil überexprimierende Zellinie mit endothelialen Eigenschaften, welche verschiedene EETs in physiologischen Konzen-trationen freisetzte und deren Überstand ähnliche hyperpolarisierende und antiadhäsive Effekte auf Thrombozyten wie der EDHF hatte. EDHF stellte somit unter unseren experimentellen Bedingungen eine Epoxyeicosa-triensäure (oder eine Mischung verschiedener EETs) dar. Bei vielen Herz-Kreislauf Erkrankungen spielen thrombozytäre Aktivierung und Adhäsion eine wichtige Rolle. Insbesondere beim akuten Herzinfarkt, der Haupttodesursache in westlichen Industrieländern, kommt es in patho-physiologisch, z.B. durch Atherosklerose, vorgeschädigten Gefäßen, aufgrund einer arteriellen Thrombusbildung zum kompletten Gefäß-verschluss mit Myokardischämie. Daher könnte EDHF bzw. EET - infolge seiner thrombozytenhyperpolarisierenden und antiadhäsiven Effekte - von großer Bedeutung sein, vor allem, wenn er durch Risikofaktoren wie freie Sauerstoffradikale und Hyperlipidämie weniger stark beeinflusst würde als NO. Die Daten dieser Dissertation könnten somit zukünftiger Ansatzpunkt für weitere Untersuchungen sowie Basis für die Entwicklung potentiell gefäßprotektiver Medikamente zur effektiveren Therapie kardiovaskulärer Erkrankungen darstellen

Propagating Islamic Creationism on the Internet

Although negative reactions accompanied the reception of Darwinism in the Islamic World from the beginning, a full fledged Islamic creationist movement did notappear before the 1970s. Originally it was restricted to Turkey, where Islamic groups attempted to undermine the materialist foundation of Marxism and Kemalism. From the late 1990s onwards the subject became popular among Muslims inthe diaspora. This was due to the efforts of Adnan Oktar alias Harun Yahya, ahitherto marginal figure in Turkey, to propagate his ideas via the Internet. The Internet allows him to adapt his propaganda constantly to new issues and creationistand anti-creationist publications and to recruit volunteers willing to translate hisbooks. Thanks to the combination of a neglected subject with the innovative use ofnew media Oktar gained the opinion leadership in this field. Even movements, the founders of which had attacked Darwinism, now refer to Oktar as main authorityon this issue. However, he failed to gain an equal degree of attention for topics like conspiracy theories and eschatology. In these fields he had to compete with a bulk ofexisting material in conventional media. The success of his former disciple Mustafa Akyol shows that using the Internet as main means of propaganda may restrict thepolitical impact. He became the chief Muslim ally of Christian creationists in the USA by managing to get published by respectable “old media”. For him the Internet only fulfils an auxiliary function

Al-Shāṭibīs sufismekritik: Hvorfor en ʿālim fra al-Andalus forkastede askese og virtuosereligiositet

The faqīh (Islamic legal scholar) al-Shāṭibī (d. 1388) from Granada is primarily known for his innovative approach within the field of legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh). However, he dedicated much attention to the criticism of sufism. But like other Islamic scholars who opposed Sufism he did not primarily attack infringements on the ‘rights of God’. Instead he highlighted that the ascetic practices propagated by the Sufis are detrimental to the welfare of both the individual Muslim and society as a whole. Furthermore he argues that their charismatic authority based on their asceticism and miracles allegedly bestowed on them threatens to undermine Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) along rational and intersubjective lines

Unsere geschützte Natur

Anliegen dieses Faltblattes ist es, bei der interessierten Öffentlichkeit Verständnis für die Ziele des Naturschutzes zu erreichen und die zum Schutz von Natur und Landschaft unverzichtbaren Schutzgebietskategorien und Kriterien vorzustellen

Characterization of Motorcycle Encroachments in the US

In 2020, there were 5,579 motorcyclist fatalities in the U.S., which is the highest on record. Despite accounting for only 3% of registered vehicles, motorcycles are involved in 42% of fatal guardrail impacts. Roadside safety hardware testing guidelines are outlined in the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) for passenger vehicles and large trucks but these procedures do not include any motorcycle impacts. Although international test procedures for roadside hardware prescribe motorcycle crash tests, it is not known if the prescribed test conditions reflect the conditions at which motorcycles depart the roadway in the U.S. A better understanding of the characteristics of motorcycles departing the roadway in the U.S. is needed before the development of motorcycle crash tests. This study used the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) 17-88 database to compare the encroachment and impact characteristics of motorcycles, passenger vehicles, single-unit trucks, and tractor-trailer trucks. Motorcycles were found to have a similar distribution of impact angles to passenger vehicles, with an 85th percentile of 24 degrees. The median and 85th percentile impact angle was found to be shallower for tractor-trailer trucks compared with motorcycles and passenger vehicles. Additionally, large trucks and motorcycles were found to roll over at a higher frequency than passenger vehicles. During the first event, almost 80% of motorcycles were upright. By the second event, almost 50% of motorcyclists were separated from the motorcycle. This indicates that a large percentage of riders lose contact with the motorcycle during the first event and are separated during any subsequent events. Based on these results, future motorcycle-barrier tests should consider an upright configuration and an impact angle of 24 degrees

Properties of Encroachments and the Associated Roadway and Roadside Environment in the Second Strategic Highway Research Program

An encroachment is defined as a vehicle departing the lanes of the traveled way and entering the roadside or median. Encroachments have been previously characterized by Hutchinson and Kennedy and by Cooper, in studies conducted in 1964 and 1978, respectively. Both studies are more than 40 years old, and both roadways and vehicles have changed significantly since data collection ended, presenting the need for an updated encroachment study. This study identified and characterized encroachment events in the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study (SHRP 2 NDS). Then, we compared the statistical distributions of roadway and roadside environmental factors weighted by their occurrence in SHRP 2 NDS normal driving and during these encroachment events. This weighting represented the typical infrastructure SHRP 2 vehicles encountered, as opposed to the infrastructure installed. Segments of roadway encountered more frequently or encroachment areas represented more frequently were weighted more heavily. A total of 863,280 SHRP 2 trips containing normal driving and road-departure events were selected from the SHRP 2 dataset which included 215,993 h of driving. A total of 278,415 departure events were found. Encroachment events were similar to normal driving in roadway grade, shoulder width, and lane width. Encroachment events occurred more frequently on roadway sections with depressed medians, one or two lanes in the travel direction, smaller horizontal curve radii, or rumble strips present

Comparison of Vehicle-Based Crash Severity Metrics for Predicting Occupant Injury in Real-World Oblique Crashes

The flail space model (FSM) is currently used in U.S. roadside hardware crash testing as a means of assessing occupant injury risk using observed vehicle kinematics data. European roadside hardware crash tests use an FSM variant along with a variant of the acceleration severity index (ASI). Although the FSM and ASI are currently used in roadside hardware testing, other vehicle-based crash severity metrics exist. Previous research has focused on examining the ability of these metrics to predict injury in frontal crashes. Despite the Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware prescribing a significant number of oblique crash tests, there has been little research on how well these metrics predict real-world oblique crash injury. This study compared the ability of six different vehicle-based metrics to predict occupant injury in oblique crashes: maximum delta-v, occupant impact velocity, ridedown acceleration, ASI, occupant load criterion, and vehicle pulse index. The crash severity metrics were calculated from real-world crash pulse data recorded by event data recorders. Oblique crashes from the National Automotive Sampling System Crashworthiness Data System were used to train logistic regression models that predict moderate to fatal injuries. The models were then compared on a dataset of oblique crashes from the Crash Investigation Sampling System. The results of this study confirmed that vehicle-based metrics provide a reasonable means of predicting real-world occupant injury risk in oblique crashes and suggest little difference between the investigated metrics. In addition to the vehicle-based metrics, belt use and vehicle damage location were found to influence injury risk