Democracy in Islamic political thought

This paper surveys the growth and various phases of and influences on the concept of democracy in the Islamic political thought of the last two centuries. Among the thinkers covered in the survey are Rifa'a Tahtawi (1801-73), Khairuddin at-Tunis (1810-99), Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani (1838-97), Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), Abdurrahman al-Kawakibi (1849-1903), Rashid Rida (1865-1935), Hasan al-Banna (1904-49), Ali Abd Ar-Raziq (1888-1966), Sayyid Qutb (1906-66), Sa'id Hawwa, and Malik Bennabi (1905-73). Reference is made to the influence of Sayyid Mawdudi (1903-79), on the thought of Sayyid Qutb. The paper traces also the bearing of Bennabi's thought on Rachid Ghannouchi and on the Islamic movements of our times

Uporaba strategij odzivanja na pohvale iranskih ucencev anglescine: raziskovanje sogovornikove relativne moci polozaja in spola

This article reports on a study that set out to investigate how Iranian EFL learners respond to compliments in English. The data were collected using a discourse completion task (DCT) consisting of a variety of situations that required the participants, 26 EFL learners (13 males and 13 females) to respond to compliments directed at them. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. To this end, the participants’ responses were coded according to a coding scheme adopted from Yu (2004) which identified six compliment response strategies (CRSs). The findings indicated that, regardless of or concerning gender and power (–P and =P), the first three most frequent CR strategies included “Acceptance”, “Combination” and “Amendment”. These findings were then analyzed in light of previous similar studies that revealed that the participants had followed their first cultural norms not only in using the strategies mentioned above but also in employing very infrequently such strategies as “Face Relationship”, “No acknowledgment”, and “Non-acceptance”. As regards the role of gender, a Chi-square test was run which showed that males and females differed significantly in their use of CRSs. Furthermore, males used more CR strategies compared to females. The qualitative analysis of the semantic formulas of the CR strategies also revealed that, by accepting a compliment, Iranian EFL learners sought agreement and consequently relied on positive politeness to foster rapport and solidarity. (DIPF/Orig.

Effects of Quorum Quenchers on Aspergillus fumigatus Conidia Aggregation, Adhesion to Surfaces, and Biofilm Formation

Aspergillus fumigatus can produce in vitro an extracellular hydrophobic matrix with biofilm features under static growth conditions. Microbial quorum sensing (QS) system regulates genetic competence and biofilm formation. Notwithstanding, triclosan, as a synthetic antimicrobial, disrupts QS signal in some bacteria, yeasts, and dermatophytes through blocking the biosynthesis of amino acid and fatty acids in the microbes. In this study, triclosan quorum quenching role as well as the effects of microbial quorum quenchers, furanone, farnesol and tyrosol were investigated against A. fumigatus for the first time. Amphotericin B (AMB), a common antifungal agent used against A. fumigatus infection, carries adverse effects against human health. So, triclosan’s antifungal effect in combination with AMB was also studied. Microbial cells’ detrimental attachment and biofilm formation on the indwelling medical implants, healthcare and hospital facilities, prompts interests to introduce feasible and cost-effective methods for eliminating/reducing microbial attachment to the surfaces. Using water contact angle (WCA) measurements, hydrophobicity of some hydrophilic surfaces (glass, acrylic, HDPE, nylon 6 and UPVC), and hydrophobic surfaces (PTFE and silicone) was measured following coating them with the mentioned antimicrobial agents. A. fumigatus conidia were exposed to the agents and the subsequent changes in the conidial viability, biofilm biomass production, total and EPS-related protein/ polysaccharide/ and nucleic acid were studied. The effect of AMB was weaker than the other agents on mitigating the biofilm formation. eDNA release was observed from A. fumigatus mycelia treated with triclosan, tyrosol and farnesol as compared with untreated control group. This eDNA release appeared to be due to necrosis occurrence in the treated samples verified by gel electrophoresis and protein quantity analysis. As a novel finding, the necrosis induced by triclosan followed by apoptosis induced by AMB resulted in a synergistic interaction to reduce the conidia viability even at the sub-MIC doses of triclosan and AMB. Confocal microscopy of the A. fumigatus exposed to triclosan-AMB combination confirmed the synergistic interaction between them against the fungus biofilm. Assaying for hydrophobicity of the conidia cell wall revealed a change from hydrophobic to hydrophilic property. ags3 down-regulation approved with real-time PCR assay showed triclosan’s quorum sensing inhibitory role against A. fumigatus. This was through inhibiting conidia aggregation, and hence prohibiting initiation of quorum sensing signalling pathway. Through SDS-PAGE assay it was established that the conidia cell wall hydrophobic rodlet layer was absent in farnesol-treated sample. This study revealed some of the physio-chemical properties that are involved in A. fumigatus conidia attachment to the surfaces. This work for the first time established that hydrophobic surfaces, PTFE and silicone, coated with farnesol showed hydrophilicity, while AMB changed UPVC surface charge from hydrophilic to hydrophobic. Taken together, besides influencing the conidia cell wall hydrophobicity, farnesol and AMB can also be used to coat the surfaces in clinical healthcare settings to diminish hydrophobic/hydrophilic microbial cells attachment to the surfaces

QoE-Based Low-Delay Live Streaming Using Throughput Predictions

Recently, HTTP-based adaptive streaming has become the de facto standard for video streaming over the Internet. It allows clients to dynamically adapt media characteristics to network conditions in order to ensure a high quality of experience, that is, minimize playback interruptions, while maximizing video quality at a reasonable level of quality changes. In the case of live streaming, this task becomes particularly challenging due to the latency constraints. The challenge further increases if a client uses a wireless network, where the throughput is subject to considerable fluctuations. Consequently, live streams often exhibit latencies of up to 30 seconds. In the present work, we introduce an adaptation algorithm for HTTP-based live streaming called LOLYPOP (Low-Latency Prediction-Based Adaptation) that is designed to operate with a transport latency of few seconds. To reach this goal, LOLYPOP leverages TCP throughput predictions on multiple time scales, from 1 to 10 seconds, along with an estimate of the prediction error distribution. In addition to satisfying the latency constraint, the algorithm heuristically maximizes the quality of experience by maximizing the average video quality as a function of the number of skipped segments and quality transitions. In order to select an efficient prediction method, we studied the performance of several time series prediction methods in IEEE 802.11 wireless access networks. We evaluated LOLYPOP under a large set of experimental conditions limiting the transport latency to 3 seconds, against a state-of-the-art adaptation algorithm from the literature, called FESTIVE. We observed that the average video quality is by up to a factor of 3 higher than with FESTIVE. We also observed that LOLYPOP is able to reach a broader region in the quality of experience space, and thus it is better adjustable to the user profile or service provider requirements.Comment: Technical Report TKN-16-001, Telecommunication Networks Group, Technische Universitaet Berlin. This TR updated TR TKN-15-00

Cooperation Through Education: How Southern West Bank, Palestine, Can Be Developed Through Agricultural Engineering

Rosana G. Moreira, Editor-in-Chief; Texas A&M UniversityThis is an Invited Paper from International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR, Commission Internationale du Genie Rural) E-Journal Volume 4 (2002): A. Tamimi. Cooperation Through Education: How Southern West Bank, Palestine, Can Be Developed Through Agricultural Engineering. Vol. IV. September 2002