A critical reading of Fazlur Rahman's Islamic methodology in history : the case of the living Sunnah

Includes bibliographical references.Sunnah has become synonymous with hadith as it is found primarily in the six canonical works of hadith. This change, Rahman argues, came about after Mohammad b. Idris al-Shafi'i articulated his bayan scheme, which in a nutshell means that the entirety of law resides in two texts the Qur'an and the Sunnah and that Sunnah is only the Sunnah of Muhammad (concept and content). In search for uniformity and stability, Rahman claims, that Shafi'i destroyed the living Sunnah or more precisely the organic relationship between Sunnah, ijtihad (progressive interpretation) and ijma. But was this living Sunnah conceptually linked to the """"Ideal Sunnah"""" of the Prophet? Why did Shafi'i decimate an entire tradition and what were his reasons and how did he do it? This thesis seeks to answer these questions by critically analyzing Rahman's living Sunnah notion. On the other hand whilst it appreciates Shafi'i's argument for the Sunnah, of the Prophet only, as the exclusive legislative supplement to the Qur'an it problematizes how Shafi'i dealt with the materials from which he reconstructed (the content) the Prophetic Sunnah (as a concept)

Probing the theological resources of a seventeenth‐century Timbuktu tārīkh : the Tārīkh al‐Sūdān and Ashʿarī kalām

Abstract: The Tārīkh al-Sūdān, the so-called Tarīkh al-fattāsh, and the Notice historique, Timbuktu’s three famous seventeenth-century tārīkhs (chronicles) piqued the interest of Western scholars, travellers and colonial officials since the mid nineteenth-century. The first Western written works began to be produced at the end of the nineteenth century and burgeoned over the twentieth century with several large projects continuing into the present century, as recent as 2015. These works were primarily, though not exclusively, concerned with the authorship, sources, political properties of the tārīkhs, and Timbuktu’s social history. This article is interested in Muslim theology as a resource of the Tārīkh al-Sūdān, one the three tārīkhs. It focuses in particular on the precepts of Ashʿarī kalām (theology) of Sunni Islam as the key resource the author of the Tarīkh al-Sūdān

Implications of Transitional Care Interventions on Hospital Readmissions in Patients With Destination Therapy Left Ventricular Assist Devices

Background: The rising number of patients with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) require care management to successfully transition home after implantation. These patients and their families need to manage their heart failure, and the complexities of an LVAD and the associated lifestyle modifications. Translating knowledge of transitional care interventions in patients with chronic diseases to those with an LVAD may provide valuable insight. To help inform the furthering of care transitions in the LVAD patient population, an integrative review was conducted. Aim: The aim of this review was to explore the transitions of care interventions of care in patients and its potential for application in the destination therapy LVAD. Methods: This integrative review was guided by the Whittemore and Knafl's methodology. Results: A total of 12 articles from 264 retrieved articles met inclusion criteria and were included in the literature review. Discussion: This review identified that evidence-based transitional care interventions have been shown to decrease avoidable rehospitalization, the associated costs, and improve quality of life when compared to usual care. Implications for Practice: A common feature of transitional care interventions is the inclusion of nurse leadership. Nurses should be prepared to participate in transitional care interventions to optimally improve outcomes for patients with heart failure and potentially those with an LVAD. Additionally, to make transitional care interventions more effective they should be implemented with moderate intensity or greater. Conclusion: This review provided information supporting the trialing of transitional care interventions in patients with an LVAD and suggests pilot research to optimize interventions for this population

Determination of Selected Heavy Metals in Food and Water Consumed by Households

Environmental pollution is a worldwide problem and heavy metals belong to the most important of all pollutants. Nowadays it became an alarming issue. The main threats to human health from heavy metals are associated with exposure to mercury, cadmium, lead, copper, and arsenic. These metals have extensive effects on human health which has reviewed by international bodies such as the WHO. Exposure to heavy metals is increasing in some parts of the world, specifically in less developed countries. In the present study, the assessment of selected heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, lead and copper will be carried out in water and food consumed by households. Detection and estimation of heavy metals will be performed by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. Here 96% of nitric acid has used to remove organic material by decomposing them into carbon dioxide and make the metals soluble. This research will investigate the exposure to heavy metals in the average diet as well as the level of contaminations in water and food in Bangladesh. This will provide information on the dietary study for taking necessary actions against potential sources of contamination. Research findings will provide the necessary evidence to mobilize support for implementing national policies that commit the Government to reduce heavy metal contamination of food and water

Waste tyre powder-based activated carbons by Co2 activation for methylene blue and phenol removal

The development of industries in Malaysia has led to water pollution. Adsorption is an effective technique in the treatment of wastewater as it utilizes low cost adsorbent, no sludge generation, and simple to operate. Pyrolysis waste tyre powder is a suitable precursor of activated carbon due to its high carbon content, less commercial value and abundantly available. This work aims to evaluate the adsorption properties of activated carbons prepared from pyrolysed waste tyre powder for the removal of positively charged methylene blue and negatively charged phenol from water. The activated carbons were prepared by physical activation using carbon dioxide at activation temperatures of 900 to 1000 °C for 2 to 8 h. The resultant activated carbons were modified with hydrofluoric acid followed by nitric acid, and were characterized for Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, pH value at the point of zero charge, scanning electron microscope, functional groups and thermal gravimetric analysis. The adsorption of methylene blue and phenol were studied at varying concentrations (5 - 200 mg/L), contact times (5 min - 72 h) and temperatures (30 - 60 oC). The isotherm, kinetics and thermodynamics models were employed to describe the adsorption data. The specific surface area of activated carbons increased with activation temperature and time. The maximum adsorption of methylene blue is 132 mg/g. The oxidized activated carbon showed an increase of methylene blue adsorption from 102 mg/g (bulk) to 107 mg/g. However, the phenol adsorption decreased from 48 to 39 mg/g after oxidation. The equilibrium data of methylene blue adsorption fitted well with the Langmuir and Redlich-Peterson models, while that of phenol adsorption obeyed the Freundlich isotherm. The kinetics data of both model pollutants could be described by the pseudo-second-order model. The rate-limiting step in the adsorption of methylene blue and phenol could be dominated by pore diffusion. The positive enthalpy change and entropy change indicate that the adsorption of methylene blue is endothermic and spontaneous at high temperatures, while the phenol adsorption is exothermic and spontaneous at low temperatures. In conclusion, the activated carbons prepared are feasible to be used as an adsorbent

Carrier-phase GNSS attitude determination and control for small UAV applications

As part of our recent research to assess the potential of low-cost navigation sensors for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) applications, we investigated the potential of carrier-phase Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for attitude determination and control of small size UAVs. Recursive optimal estimation algorithms were developed for combining multiple attitude measurements obtained from different observation points (i.e., antenna locations), and their efficiencies were tested in various dynamic conditions. The proposed algorithms converged rapidly and produced the required output even during high dynamics manoeuvres. Results of theoretical performance analysis and simulation activities are presented in this paper, with emphasis on the advantages of the GNSS interferometric approach in UAV applications (i.e., low cost, high data-rate, low volume/weight, low signal processing requirements, etc.). The simulation activities focussed on the AEROSONDE UAV platform and considered the possible augmentation provided by interferometric GNSS techniques to a low-cost and low-weight/volume integrated navigation system (presented in the first part of this series) which employed a Vision-Based Navigation (VBN) system, a MicroElectro-Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) based Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and code-range GNSS (i.e., GPS and GALILEO) for position and velocity computations. The integrated VBN-IMU-GNSS (VIG) system was augmented using the inteferometric GNSS Attitude Determination (GAD)sensor data and a comparison of the performance achieved with the VIG and VIG/GAD integrated Navigation and Guidance Systems (NGS) is presented in this paper. Finally, the data provided by these NGS are used to optimise the design of a hybrid controller employing Fuzzy Logic and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) techniques for the AEROSONDE UAV

Design and integration of vision based sensors for unmanned aerial vehicles navigation and guidance

In this paper we present a novel Navigation and Guidance System (NGS) for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) based on Vision Based Navigation (VBN) and other avionics sensors. The main objective of our research is to design a lowcost and low-weight/volume NGS capable of providing the required level of performance in all flight phases of modern small- to medium-size UAVs, with a special focus on automated precision approach and landing, where VBN techniques can be fully exploited in a multisensory integrated architecture. Various existing techniques for VBN are compared and the Appearance-based Navigation (ABN) approach is selected for implementation

Carrier-phase GNSS attitude determination and control system for unmanned aerial vehicle applications

This paper presents the results of a research activity performed by Cranfield University to assess the potential of carrierphase Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for attitude determination and control of small to medium size Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Both deterministic and recursive (optimal estimation) algorithms are developed for combining multiple attitude measurements obtained from different observation points (i.e., antenna locations), and their efficiencies are tested in various dynamic conditions. The proposed algorithms converge rapidly and produce the required output even during high dynamics manoeuvres. Results of theoretical performance analysis and simulation activities are presented in this paper, with emphasis on the advantages of the GNSS interferometric approach in UAV applications (i.e., low cost, high data-rate, low volume/weight, low signal processing requirements, etc.). Modelling and simulation activities focussed on the AEROSONDE UAV platform and considered the possible augmentation provided by interferometric GNSS techniques to a low-cost and low-weight/volume integrated navigation system recently developed at Cranfield University, which employs a Vision-based Navigation (VBN) system, a Micro-Electro-mechanical Sensor (MEMS) based Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and code-range GNSS (i.e., GPS and GALILEO) for position and velocity computations. The integrated VBN-IMU-GNSS (VIG) system is augmented by using the inteferometric GNSS Attitude Determination (GAD) and a comparison of the performance achievable with the VIG and VIG/GAD integrated Navigation and Guidance Systems (NGS) is presented. Finally, the data provided by these NGS are used to optimise the design of an hybrid controller employing Fuzzy Logic and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) techniques for the AEROSONDE UAV