Punishing apostasy : the case of Islam and Shari'a law re-considered

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Acts of blasphemy against Islam by Muslims in Egypt : is the death penalty written in the Qur'an?

There is an initial introduction to the definition of the act of blasphemy within Islam, and how this concept can be legally determined, in its various forms. There is also a short analysis of the different legal school's opinion as to whether or not the accused are able to repent their deeds before the accusations could lead to a court case. In this context, there is a brief reference to how Islamic scholars and jurists interpreted the ahadith (Traditions) to establish the relevant legal punishments for blasphemy. This is followed by a detailed assessment of how certain verses in the Qur'an have been selected by those who interpret them, to promote the death penalty as the established and standardised punishment for blasphemy. Attention is also paid to those scholars who reject this interpretation, as they argue that it does not reflect the Qur'anic Message. Finally, some very recent modern cases of blasphemy that have occurred in Egypt are assessed in some detail. These include the cases of the feminist writer Nawal al Sa'adawi, in April 2001 and Salaheddin Mohsen who was imprisoned in January 2001. The article also covers the case of Farag Foda who was convicted of blasphemy and was then shot dead in the street, in 1992 and the case of Naguib Mahfouz, the first Egyptian Nobel Prize winner, who had also been accused of blasphemy and was later stabbed in the neck, in a knife attack, in 1994. Other cases are also discussed, and the conclusion provides an overview of the present situation in Egypt, and within Islamic law in general. The question is then raised as to how the historical interpretation of the Qur'an, together with the legal documents of the different Islamic schools of law, could respond to the need for a change in the way in which the law on punishment for blasphemy is presently implemented.peer-reviewe

The Arab, European, Inter-American and African perspectives on understanding human rights; the debate between 'universalism' and 'cultural relativism'

The article begins with a description of how the term 'human rights' originated, and a consideration of how 'universal' it is possible for human rights to be, when comparing the differing views of human rights in existing cultural systems. There follows a discussion of the continual argument between the 'universal' approach towards human rights with the diametrically opposed perspective of 'cultural relativism.' There is a contrast between the African and Islamic priority of 'duties' within the community and the western approach of individualistic 'rights'. The second part of the article deals with the contemporary Arab, European, Inter-American and African UN Commissions on Human rights. The article concludes whether it is possible to establish a system which could intertwine both these two approaches, by using some level of compromise and mutual respect.peer-reviewe

Hash-ssessing the freshness of SPARQL pipelines

International audienceThe recent increase of RDF usage has witnessed a rising need of "verification" around data obtained from SPARQL endpoints. It is now possible to deploy Semantic Web pipelines and to adapt them to a wide range of needs and use-cases. Practically, these complex ETL pipelines relying on SPARQL endpoints to extract relevant information often have to be relaunched from scratch every once in a while in order to refresh their data. Such a habit adds load on the network and is heavy resource-wise, while sometimes unnecessary if data remains untouched. In this article, we present a useful method to help data consumers (and pipeline designers) identify when data has been updated in a way that impacts the pipeline's result set. This method is based on standard SPARQL 1.1 features and relies on digitally signing parts of query result sets to inform data consumers about their eventual change

Engaging Information Professionals in the Process of Authoritative Interlinking

peer reviewe

De-icing federated SPARQL pipelines: a method for assessing the "freshness" of result sets

International audienceIn recent years, the ever-increasing number of available linkeddata endpoints has allowed the creation of complex data pipelines leveraging these massive amounts of information. One crucial challenge for federated pipeline designers is to know when to query the various sources they use in order to obtain fresher final results. In other words, they want to know when a data update on a specific source impacts their own final results. Unfortunately, the SPARQL standard does not provide them with a method to be aware of such updates; and therefore pipelines are regularly relaunched from scratch, often uselessly. To help them decide when to get fresher results, we propose a constructive method. Practically, it relies on digitally signing result sets from federated endpoints in order to create a specific query able to warn when, and explain why, the pipeline result set is outdated. In addition, as our solution is exclusively based on SPARQL 1.1 built-in functions, it is fully-compliant with all the endpoints

The MOUSE approach: Mapping Ontologies using UML for System Engineers

To address the problem of semantic heterogeneity, there has been a large body of research directed toward the study of semantic mapping technologies. Although various semantic mapping technologies have been investigated,  facilitating the process for domain experts to perform a semantic data integration task is still not easy. This is because one is required not only to possess domain expertise but also to have a good understanding of knowledge engineering. This paper proposes an approach that automatically transforms an abstract semantic mapping syntax into a concrete executable mapping syntax, we call this approach MOUSE (Mapping Ontologies using UML for System Engineers). In order to evaluate MOUSE, an implementation of this approach for a semantic data integration use case has been developed (called SDI, Semantic Data Integration). The aim is to enable domain experts, particularly system engineers, to undertake mappings using a technology that they are familiar with (UML), while ensuring the created mappings are accurate and the approach is easy to use. The proposed UML-based abstract mapping syntax is evaluated through usability experiments conducted in a lab environment by participants who have skills equivalent to real life system engineers using the SDI tool. Results from the evaluations show that the participants could correctly undertake the semantic data integration task using the MOUSE approach while maintaining accuracy and usability (in terms of ease of use)

Can non-viral technologies knockdown the barriers to siRNA delivery and achieve the next generation of cancer therapeutics?

Cancer is one of the most wide-spread diseases of modern times, with an estimated increase in the number of patients diagnosed worldwide, from 11.3 million in 2007 to 15.5 million in 2030 (www.who.int). In many cases, due to the delay in diagnosis and high increase of relapse, survival rates are low. Current therapies, including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, have made significant progress, but they have many limitations and are far from ideal. Although immunotherapy has recently offered great promise as a new approach in cancer treatment, it is still very much in its infancy and more information on this approach is required before it can be widely applied. For these reasons effective, safe and patient-acceptable cancer therapy is still largely an unmet clinical need. Recent knowledge of the genetic basis of the disease opens up the potential for cancer gene therapeutics based on siRNA. However, the future of such gene-based therapeutics is dependent on achieving successful delivery. Extensive research is ongoing regarding the design and assessment of non-viral delivery technologies for siRNA to treat a wide range of cancers. Preliminary results on the first human Phase I trial for solid tumours, using a targeted non-viral vector, illustrate the enormous therapeutic benefits once the issue of delivery is resolved. In this review the genes regulating cancer will be discussed and potential therapeutic targets will be identified. The physiological and biochemical changes caused by tumours, and the potential to exploit this knowledge to produce bio-responsive ‘smart’ delivery systems, will be evaluated. This review will also provide a critical and comprehensive overview of the different non-viral formulation strategies under investigation for siRNA delivery, with particular emphasis on those designed to exploit the physiological environment of the disease site. In addition, a section of the review will be dedicated to pre-clinical animal models used to evaluate the stability, safety and efficacy of the delivery systems