bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Generating strategies with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) through the use of TIC’s (Information and Communication Technologies)
Authors: CASTORENA-PEÑA Jesús Abraham , SILVA-AVILA Alicia Elena , GONZÁLEZ-BENÍTEZ Rubén Álvaro , MARTÍNEZ-CASTRO Jehú Efraín
Published: October 2020

Organizations are facing an uncertain scenario due to business dynamics and the evolution of their technical terminology to adapt to new ways of competing in the environment, which requires assertive indicators to ensure permanence and success in the medium and long term of any company. Through the use of KPIs, organizations have the opportunity to analyze and monitor relevant information from their company to make the operations of a company's sales area more efficient. The objective of this study is to propose a set of key performance indicators (KPI's) that allow the performance of a company dedicated to the activity of commercialization and manufacture and import of cleaning products to be measured, which is analyzed using the monetary variables of units or percentages. For the development of the investigation, Microsoft SQL Server was used as technological tools for the creation of the data model, and for the design, construction and analysis of the KPIs, the BSC Designer tool was used.
The company and its responsibility in the national and international context
Authors: SANROMÁN-ARANDA Roberto
Published: October 2020

The company as an economic activity is immersed from the economic, legal, administrative and even often social point of view. When having the need to offer quality goods and services is forced to have different controls and different mechanisms that make it a socially responsible company and that have an impact in the international context, especially in the exchange of goods and services. they offer by technological and electronic means what reverberates throughout the world in a massive and vertiginous way. The company is responsible for the damage caused by its activity, often without the intention of causing such damage, simply by the dynamism it performs, which may have repercussions within the national territory or outside, depending on the execution of its business activity.
Sistema remoto de alimentación semiautomatizado para mascotas
Authors: ZAPIEN-RODRIGUEZ Jose Manuel , CRUZ-BRICEÑO Guadalupe Janeth , ROSILES-REYES Carlos Andres , TORRES-CARRILLO Eva Alejandra
Published: October 2020

The overload of activities of the people causes the lack of time for the care of the pets, which causes that they do not receive their food in adequate schedules, or the opposite case of only leaving a food tower without measuring proportions. This causes serious problems in the health of pets in the long term, either malnutrition or obesity. The objective of the project is to feed the pets adequately at set times, avoiding health problems due to a bad diet in the pet due to lack of time, likewise avoiding the waste of food by giving specific portions according to the intake Automatic decision by weight and race size. This project will be carried out with recycled materials, reducing the cost of processing. A base that will hold an aluminum blade, this will be responsible for turning allowing or obstructing the passage of food. In the upper part there is a container with lid to store the food. With the help of an application created for cell phones where you enter the weight of your pet and the size of its breed, the amount of food that corresponds to it is calculated, this calculation is based on a food table. In this application you can also set different schedules for the three daily meals.
Design of technological strategy for Big Data with Hadoop software
Authors: VALDEZ-MENCHACA Alicia , VAZQUEZ-DE LOS SANTOS Laura , CORTES-MORALES Griselda , PAIZ-RIVERA Ana
Published: October 2020

The objective of this research project is the design and implementation of a technological strategy for the use of big data technologies as Apache Hadoop, as well as its supporting software projects that allows to prepare medium-sized companies in new innovative technologies. As part of the methodology, an analysis of the best big data practices, analysis of the software for design and configure big data in a linux server for the technological proposal. As a first result, a roadmap for the installation and configuration of Hadoop software running on a Linux virtual machine has been obtained, as well as the proposal of the technological strategy whose main components are: analysis of the technological architecture, selection of processes or data to be analyzed and installation of Hadoop, among others.
Design and construction a didactic vending machine
Authors: MORALES-AGUILAR Eric , SANTILLAN-FLORES Selma E. , GONZÁLEZ-LÓPEZ Juan M. , VILLALVAZO-LAUREANO Efrain
Published: October 2020

This paper proposes the design and construction of a didactic vending machine, students pretend to be immersed in a work with delivery date as many companies that work for projects do. The project of vending machine to be developed will have as parameters that dispatch four different products, with a control panel, a 16 x 2 LCD screen which shows the cost of the chosen product or product, will have to give change and its data processing is via Arduino, a 3D simulation is carried out to ensure the compatibility of all components, an innovation presented by the prototype to be developed is that it sends a text message when a product is about to run out, with the product description, the number of machine and its location, this provides the supplier with better control over their large-scale machines. A comprehensive financial investment analysis is performed to ensure the viability of the project.
Cálculo de parámetros eléctricos en líneas de transmisión de alta tensión
Authors: ALBINO-PADILLA Ismael , ESCAMILLA-SANCHEZ Juan Carlos , MORALES-AGUILAR Eric , MARTINEZ Daniel F.
Published: October 2020

This article aims to determine the electrical parameters of the transmission lines, it will focus on the calculation of geometric inductance and capacitance. For this, the cases of the single-phase and three-phase lines with equilateral spacing are studied. The COMSOL Multiphysics program is used to obtain the parameters of the lines. The simulation results are compared with the classic basic equations.
Impacto del gasto público en la calidad del sistema de salud de México
Authors: ZÁRATE-MARTÍNEZ María Guadalupe , AGUILERA-ARREDONDO Paulina , JIMÉNEZ-RICO Artemio
Published: October 2020

Health is considered a Human Right that every person should receive for free and in quality, it is important in the fact that it is a basic service for the development of a country. In Mexico, public spending on health is equivalent to 2.5% of GDP, however, the OECD indicates that it is necessary to allocate at least 6% to have an optimal Health System. In the same tenor, Mexico has 2.9 nurses per thousand inhabitants, while Norway has 17.8 nurses per thousand. The objective of this research is to analyze public spending for the health sector to determine its impact on the main indicators that measure the quality of service provided by the Mexican Health System. Some results indicate that Mexico faces complex and challenging health needs and that there are huge discrepancies compared to other countries. This research contributes to providing a broader perspective on the public expenditure allocated to the Health System of Mexico in order to design public policies that allow offering high-quality care focused on people.
Un caso de estudio relacionado con la importancia de educar sobre la seguridad informática a nivel personal y empresarial
Authors: URUETA-HINOJOSA Daniel E. , ALANÍS-CANTÚ Reynaldo , TORRES-DEL CARMEN Felipe de J. , MOTA-CRUZ Juan E.
Published: October 2020

Currently, with the massification of electronic media such as cell phones and computers, computer security is more in force than ever before; nevertheless, the level of culture in the matter of the users is far from being the ideal. The present work shows a study conducted with two different types of computer attacks, one remotely and the anther one connecting a physical device to a computer. Subsequently, the execution and validation of the proposal in a social environment is shown, finally the conclusions obtained are shown.
Current society and education
Authors: DOMINGUEZ-LUGO Alma Jovita , CORTES-MORALES Griselda , CASTORENA-PEÑA Abraham , SALAZAR-GAITAN Pablo Arturo
Published: October 2020

The current life of young people is quite different from the one their parents lived where libraries were visited, encyclopedias were consulted, etc. Today they live in a world where everything is new, where technologies embrace maintenance and increasingly want to have more and more modern things; but at the same time they are so immersed in that world that without thinking, they are leaving the directions behind. The same society has modified the teaching processes, so that it has been diminished in a matter of attention and commitment by the students. To be up-to-date, ubiquitous education arose long ago, where information technologies enter teachinglearning techniques. In this article, an analysis of indicators was carried out that allows an overview of how students are affected by the society in which they live and when different types of education are available.
Sintonización genética de sistema de inferencia difuso aplicado al control de posición en un motor de corriente directa
Authors: RODRÍGUEZ-FRANCO Martín Eduardo , DELGADO-GUERRERO Sergio Humberto , LÓPEZ-ÁLVAREZ Yadira Fabiola , JARA-RUIZ Ricardo
Published: October 2020

This paper proposes the development and application of a genetic algorithm to improve the function of a fuzzy inference machine used in the shaft position control of a direct current motor. In this first stage, the study is executed on system leaving out the transfer function that defines the dynamic characteristics of the mentioned actuator, which leads to the subsequent physical verification of its behavior. The analysis of the calculated error is considered as the difference between the desired position and the current position reached by motor shaft, as well as the signal that the inference system will generate to correct the given magnitude of error. Likewise, the theoretical foundations that support this application and the methodology executed to obtain the results that confirm the effectiveness in the use of the genetic algorithm as a means of tuning the fuzzy inference system developed are described, when describing a global error lower than 20% in the control action deducted with respect to the one desired.
Temperature monitoring indoor based on a 6LoWPAN network
Authors: TAMARIZ-FLORES Edna Iliana , TORREALBA-MELÉNDEZ Richard , BALBUENA-AGUILAR Arturo , LÓPEZ-LÓPEZ Mario
Published: October 2020

Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are increasingly present in applications of daily life, such as health care, agriculture, and environmental monitoring. According to the definition of a smart city, it requires connectivity to exchange information based on various technologies such as the WSN for the Internet of Things. Therefore, a 6LoWPAN is a type of hybrid network connected to the Internet through devices with limited resources using IPv6. For that reason, a 6LoWPAN becomes key in the implementation of a WSN. Due to the situation derived from COVID-19, the sanitary measures established indoor will allow the development of applications such as the one presented in this work, which establishes temperature monitoring in a university laboratory. The focus of this project is based on analyze of data transmission in a 6LoWPAN implemented through the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The devices used correspond to the Texas Instruments CC2650stk and a CC2531 packet sniffer. The monitored data is stored in a database for graphical presentation.
Design y development of a graphical user interface in LabVIEW for acquisition and visualization of climatological data (temperature and relative humidity)
Authors: PEREZ-GARCIA Víctor , QUINTANILLA-DOMINGUEZ Joel , YAÑEZ-VARGAS Israel , AGUILERA-GONZALEZ José
Published: October 2020

This paper describes the design and development of a Graphical User Interface through the virtual instrumentation software NI LabVIEW using the VISA function, to graphically visualize and storage the data of the climatological variables of temperature and relative humidity. The graphical interface offers the option to export the date, time and data of the two variables to text documents with extension “.txt”, which acquires the information of the electronic board wireless monitoring and control, which uses a main device PIC16F877A microcontroller. AMT1001 Precision Analog Sensor was used to sense temperature and relative humidity. The PIC16F877A was programmed using a C programming language in the CCS Compiler compiler, to the data acquisition, and send it via RS232 communication to the computer, using the PL2303 module USB to TTL converter. To check the GUI operation, the electronic wireless monitoring and control card was connected to the computer equipment by wire, however, the monitoring of the climate variables can be done wirelessly by XBEE technology. Future work aims to monitor the climate of a horticultural greenhouse with XBBE technology, so that the data is sent wirelessly to a computer that has the GUI, and is also connected to Ethernet or WIFI, which will have the LabVIEW graphical interface explained in this article, and the data will be displayed / analyzed through the internet.
Interface design for monitoring and estimation system for flooding through an image analysis of remote sensing (SAVUI)
Authors: YAÑEZ-VARGAS Israel , GONZÁLEZ-RAMÍREZ Andrea , ASTUDILLO-MONTENEGRO Felipe , FLORES-GARCÍA Jaqueline
Published: October 2020

In recent years the floods in Mexico caused economic and human losses, therefore, it is necessary to use the possible tools that can provide help to the government to reduce damage from natural disasters. For this, we decided to develop a graphical user interface, known as GUI in Matlab for the segmentation of SAR, Multispectral and POLSAR images, with the intention of detecting flooding and vulnerable areas to flooding. The designed software compute a rivers segmentation in order to make the comparison between image with flooding and the image without flooding from the same area, and to obtain a visually result where a projection of the vulnerable areas to flooding in the original image this with help of basic segmentation algorithms such as grayscale, binarization, dilation, wavelet, normalization, filtering and edge detection.
Una propuesta didáctica mediante el Robot Nao para la enseñanza del idioma inglés como una herramienta de apoyo para la educación 4.0
Authors: MANCILLA Víctor , HUERTA Patricia , TREJO Alejandra , CARRANZA Cielo
Published: October 2020

NAO is a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank Robotics (formerly Aldebaran Robotics). NAO allows interactivity with its components, making it a versatile platform for the development of applications in different sectors, such as health, education and research. The present work entitled “A didactic proposal through the Nao Robot for teaching English as a support tool for education 4.0.” Its main objective is to design, develop and implement learning situations that increase the level of expression and understanding of the English language, through the humanoid robot Nao, who will help to carry out activities that allow people to interact with the robot first so that people do not shy away from speaking this language. The project is designed to teach English to children and young people of school age belonging to an educational institution, with the help of the Nao Humanoid Robot belonging to the area of educational robotics of the Polytechnic University of Juventino Rosas. For the design of the activities to be carried out, the grammar topics that are taught in the levels of schooling from primary to university were investigated to be able to achieve the design that is needed at each educational level and so the Nao Humanoid Robot can perform its task of Correctly, these topics belong to the curriculum designed by the SEP (Secretary of Public Education).
Analisis Peristiwa Komunikasi Ritual Tofa Lele Pada Kegiatan Bertani Atoni Pah Meto
Authors: Manafe Yermia Djefri
Published: October 2020

ABSTRAK

Ritual tofa lele merupakan salah satu tahapan kegiatan pertanian yang wajib dilaksanakan petani Atoni Pah Meto. Tofa lele adalah kegiatan membersihkan atau mencabuti gulma yang tumbuh di sekitar tanaman utama petani. Tujuan Penelitian ini untuk menganalisis peristiwa komunikasi. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah etnografi komunikasi. Pendekatan ini digunakan untuk memberikan pemahaman mengenai pandangan dan nilai-nilai suatu masyarakat sebagai cara untuk menjelaskan sikap dan perilaku anggota-anggotanya. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa melalui komponen komunikasi sebuah peristiwa komunikasi dapat diidentifikasi. Komponen etnografi komunikasi sebagai berikut:  Setting atau Latar, Partisipan (Participants), Tujuan (End), Isi pesan (Act Secuence), Bentuk Isi Pesan (Key), Kaidah Interaksi Jalur bahasa yang digunakan (Insturumentalities), Norma-Norma Interpretasi (Norms), Genre atau tipe peristiwa komunikatif, Topik, dan Urutan Tindakan. Berdasarkan analisis terhadap komponen etnografi komunikasi, maka kesimpulan penelitian ini adalah komunikasi pada ritual tofa lele dapat dipahami melalui isi doa adat yang mengandung makna pengharapan agar para petani dijauhi dari berbagai bentuk malapetaka selama melakukan kegiatan tofa lele serta permohonan agar gulma tidak menghambat pertumbuhan dan kesuburan tanaman yang ada dalam kebun para petani.

Kata Kunci: Tofa Lele, Komunikasi Ritual, Peristiwa Komunikasi, Komponen Komunikasi

 

ABSTRACT

Tofa lele ritual is one of the stages of agricultural activities that must be carried out by Atoni Pah Meto farmers. Catfish tofa is the activity of cleaning or pulling weeds that grow around the main crop of farmers. The purpose of this study was to analyze communication events. The method used in this research is communication ethnography. This approach is used to provide an understanding of the views and values ​​of a society as a way to explain the attitudes and behavior of its members. The results show that through the communication component a communication event can be identified. The ethnographic components of communication are as follows: Setting or Setting, Participants, Objectives (End), Message Content (Act Secuence), Form of Message Content (Key), Interaction Rules of Language used (Insturumentalities), Interpretation Norms (Norms) ), Genre or type of communicative event, topic, and action sequence. Based on an analysis of the communication ethnographic component, the conclusion of this study is that communication on tofa lele rituals can be understood through the contents of traditional prayers which contain the hope that farmers are kept away from various forms of catastrophe during tofa lele activities and requests that weeds do not inhibit plant growth and fertility in the farmers' garden.

 

Keywords: Tofa Lele, Ritual Communication, Communication Events, Communication  Components
Strategi Perancangan Komunikasi Visual Promosi Karya Seni Ukir Kayu Motif Khas Timor
Authors: Liliweri Yohanes K. N. , Mandaru Silvania S.E. , Daga Lukas L.
Published: October 2020

ABSTRAK

            Seni ukir kayu motif khas Timor merupakan salah satu produk  budaya asli Timor yang patut dilestarikan. Modernisasi menggerus hampir semua nilai dan aspek kehidupan, sehingga wawasan ketertarikan intens terhadap seni ukir dengan motif khas Timor sangatlah terbatas. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk  1) Mengidentifikasi kekuatan, kelemahan, peluang, dan ancaman pelestarian seni ukir kayu motif khas Timor di Kecamatan Oebobo Kota Kupang dan 2) menyusun strategi perancangan komunikasi visual guna mendorong promosi seni ukir kayu motif khas Timor. Analisis data dilakukan dengan menggunakan SWOT.        Penelitian ini menghasilkan beberapa strategi perancangan yakni: a) kebutuhan pembinaan berkelanjutan peningkatan kualitas karya seni dan pemanfaatan media komunikasi visual untuk mempromosikan hasil karya dari para seniman ukir, b) membangun kerja sama pihak perguruan tinggi dan lembaga adat yang memiliki kepedulian terhadap kebudayaan Timor, c) perlu ada komunitas formal seniman ukir, serta  menjalin kerja sama untuk mengagendakan promosi hasil karya seni dalam berbagai event resmi pemerintah, d) perlu melibatkan lembaga /organisasi pemberdayaan terhadap hasil karya seni, sekaligus memberikan reward kepada generasi muda produktif yang menghasilkan karya seni berkualitas tinggi, dan e) adanya  media penyampaian informasi komunikasi visual berbasis online, sebagai sarana informasi hasil karya seni. Bahkan dapat dibangun gedung pusat promosi hasil karya seni.
Muslim Parents' Activism in the Multicultural Education (MCE) Curriculum
Authors: Alavi Gulafshan
Published: October 2020

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of parental involvementin the public school system and its effects on Muslim students'achievements, their perceptions of school culture, and the feeling in thecommunity-at-large about Islam. The study analyzes two neighboringcommunities of Muslims in the State of Connecticut, Stamford andNorwalk. The paper also studies the Multicultural Education(MCE)/Diversity curriculum in public schools to find effective waysfor Muslim parents to become involved in their children's education. Inthis context, an examination will be made of education issues affectingMuslim families: ways of increasing achievement scores; the roleplayed by the socio-economic status of a student and hisher schoolingexperience; the importance of the teacher; and the positive relationshipbetween the MCEDversity curriculum and the ideals of democracythat we cherish in this country.
Finding Fran
Authors: Meyer-Hoffman Gretchen Iman
Published: October 2020

Finding Fran is a memoir of two women, once best friends, who take verydifferent paths. The author is now a feminist history professor and her highschool friend, Fran, is Noura-a Muslim living in Egypt Banner looksback on their lives to find out what led one to feminism and the other toIslam. Unfortunately, while Banner offers many interesting insights into thelives of both women, she never fully answers this fundamental question.The book is divided into four parts. Part I, "My Story (1944-1952),"explores Banner's family history as well as her life up Wltil high school. Shetraces the lives of various family members in order to discover how theyaffected her childhood and her outlook on life. In the second part, "Fran &Me (1952-1956)," Banner tells the story of their high school friendship.It is a friendship of two smart and artistically talented girls, who are oftenbold and passionate in a time and place that glorified passive, femininewomen. Together they navigate the seemingly esoteric system of footballplayers and prom queens without ever really belonging to that system.In college they separate, Banner to UCLA and Fran to Stanford. This isthe beginning of their two different paths. Banner takes to academia andfeminism, while Fran is drawn to the various spiritual movements of the1960s. These years are covered in the third section, "Passages (1956-1982)." Banner includes chapters on their college life and the yearsimmediately following, and then delves into her life as an academic and afeminist.The last section covers Fran/Noura's life between 1967 and 1990. Shestudies Zen and other spiritual movements, such as the Gurdjieff system. Inlate 1960s, she moves to a commune in New Mexico. There she discoverswesternized Sufi practices that have been cut from their Islamic base. Hercontinuing quest leads her to study Islam. She eventually becomes aMuslim and a member of a traditional Sufi order. Later, she studies in SaudiArabia, and currently, she residues in Egypt.In keeping with the personal nature of the book, Banner includes acollection of photographs ranging from old family snapshots to the twowomen together in high school in 1956 and again in Egypt in 1992. Muchof Banner's analysis comes in the prologue and the epilogue. She alsoincludes detailed notes for each chapter ...
The Making of an Egyptian Arab Nationalist
Authors: Reid Donald
Published: October 2020

Thirty years in the making, this ambitious book covers the first forty-threeyears of the life of Abd al-Rahman Azzam Pasha, the political activist andwriter who became the first secretary-general of the Arab League (1945-1952). Few biographies of public figures in the Arab world have treatedtheir subjects in comparable depth and detail. The Making of an EgyptianArab Nationalist is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in thecomplexities of evolving national and religious identities in 20th-century Egypt.Coury sets out to refute interpretations elaborated by such scholars asElie Kedourie, P. J. Vatikiotis, Nadav Safran, and Richard Mitchell thirtyor forty years ago. He argues that their works, reflecting the influence ofOrientalism, perpetuated false assumptions that Islam and Arab cultureharbored essentialist and atomistic tendencies toward extremism,irrationality, and violence. He maintains that in treating 20th-centuryEgypt, they set up a false dichotomy between a rational, western-inspiredterritorial patriotism and irrational, artificial pan- Arab and Islamicmovements. Ahmad Lutfi al-Sayyid's circle before World War I and theWafd Party in the interwar period represented the first school who opposedBritish imperialism but were eager to borrow western rationalism, science,secular liberalism, and democracy. In the 1930s this moderate patriotismbegan to give way before pan-Arab and Islamic movements tainted with theextremism, terrorism, and irrationality which the West has long attributedto Islam.Coury cites hopefully revisionist works by Rashid Khalidi, PhilipKhoury, Ernest Dawn, and Hassan Kayali but is dismayed that other recentstudies have perpetuated the old, hostile stereotypes. "Martin Kramer'sArab Awakening and Islamic Revival (1996)," he says, "reveals that eventhe old-fashioned Kedourie-style hysteria, compounded, as it sometimes is,by Zionist rage (Kramer refers to Edward Said as Columbia's 'part-timeprofessor of Palestine') is still alive and well . . . "Coury insists that Azzam's "Egyptian Arab nationalism" sprang from theperspectives, needs, and interests of an upper and middle bourgeoisiefacing specific challenges. The rank and file following came from a lower ...
Human Rights and Revolutions
Authors: Sajoo Amyn B.
Published: October 2020

"For liberals committed to the priority of the individual and theinviolability of individual rights, religion and revolution are both suspect,"observes Timothy McDaniel in this volume's final essay, "The StrangeCareer of Radical Islam." Although the sentiment is intended to usefullycomplicate the canvas of contemporary human rights discourse, it iscurious that the nexus of religion with human rights and revolutionsreceives no analytical attention at all in the volume's twelve precedingcontributions - not even in Lynn Hunt's otherwise trenchant openingsurvey of "The Paradoxical Origins of Human Rights." Ostensibly, whatthis book casts as the paradox of revolutions, as both fueling and underminingthe pursuit of human rights, is played out by revolutionary Islamicmovements that profess liberation (according to their own lights), onlyto deliver repression. But the result is that "radical Islam," which isundefined, becomes the sole context in which the reader is invited to reflecton the religion-human rights nexus, much less the particular interfaceof Islam and Muslims with the welter of rights-movements, ideas andpractices.Which is all the more regrettable in view of Hunt's insightful groundingat the outset, (Chapter One), of the interplay of democracy and humanrights in attitudes toward the autonomy of the individual, coupled withcommunal recognition of key elements of the human condition. Drawingon French revolutionary history, she illustrates how newly robust claims onbehalf of the person - as in the opposition to what had been the casualinfliction of "legal" torture to elicit confessions and information, or tolettres de cachets that allowed parents to jail disobedient offspring -emerged alongside a print culture of novels and newspapers that exposedthe psyche of social strangers. The upshot, for Hunt, is an "imaginedempathy" (after Benedict Anderson's "imagined community") - a keypsychological field of identification with other autonomous individuals,often female, as being like oneself. Surely there is abundant scope forapplying this notion to the unfolding of human rights discourses, whether"traditionalist" or "modem," in the Muslim world (or for that matter to ...
Overcoming the Cultural Divide
Authors: Safi Louay M.
Published: October 2020

The September 11 attacks on America invoked, among other things, a debate over the quality ofreligious education in Muslim societies. The calls for educational reform oflslamic religious schools have been most recently echoed by well-positioned individuals in the West. Several scholars, jour­nalists, and commentators have concluded that the fanaticism that moti­vated the highjackers who drove civilian airplanes into civilian targets is rooted in an educational system that teaches hate and intolerance. Traditional religious schools in Muslim societies, the argument goes, have become breeding grounds for religious fanatics who are willing to use force and violence to impose their narrow views of the world on the rest of humanity. New advocates of curtailing religious instruction and the strengthening of liberal education would like to see increased pressure on Muslim governments to restructure religious curricula to achieve the desired end. Under this pressure, the Pakistani government has already closed several religious schools.

The concerns of western critics over traditional .Islamic education, while real, are greatly exaggerated. One reason is that religious fanaticism is still only the outlook and experience of fringe groups operating on the margins of society; another reason is that radical groups are to a great extent the creatures of oppressive regimes that dominate Muslim societies. Evidently, that reliance on state power has strengthened the hands of extremists and undermined the efforts of reformists.

Still, the realization of the extent to which .Islamic traditionalism is at odds with western modernity is quite significant, because it underscores the need for western analysts and policy-makers to reconsider their current approach to dealing with Islamic resurgence. The universal monologue in which western cultures and norms are elevated to universal standards must give way to a cross-cultural dialogue that aims at finding a middle ground for common humanity, while respecting the cultural individuality of non­western societies ...
Between Jihad and Salaam
Authors: Hoffman Jamaluddin
Published: October 2020

Today, politicians and political activists of every stripe recognize the powerof the international media. From the most gilded generalissimo to the grulrbiest guerrilla, there are few who would pass up a chance to plead their caseon the world stage. This has given foreign correspondents, particularlythose from first world countries like the United States, easy access tomovers and shakers across the globe. Unfortunately, understanding doesnot always come with access.Nowhere has this lack of understanding been more pervasive- or morepernicious - than among those reporters covering the Islamic world. JoyceM. Davis, deputy foreign editor for Knight Ridder newspapers and formerdeputy senior editor at National Public Radio, sets out to remedy this prolrlem in her book, Between Jihad and Salaam: Profiles in Islam. Throughinterviews with 17 "Islamic leaders," Davis endeavors "to help us understandthe intellectual vitality that is now igniting the Muslim world."However, like too many of her colleagues, the author quickly becomes lostin the surface realities of that world. In the end, her book does little to challengethe stereotypes and misconceptions she promises to shatter.Davis begins the book with an introduction that outlines her missionwhile revealing the limits of her own understanding. While she deftly dispelssome of the more blatant misunderstandings about Islam, she alsothrows around technical terms like "lslamists" and "scholars" without ...
Muslims, Their Beliefs and Practices
Authors: Ruano Delfina Serrano
Published: October 2020

Muslims, Their Beliefs and Practices is the revised 2nd edition of a previous work with the same title divided in two volumes: Vol. I, "The Formative Period," published in 1990, and vol. 11, "Contemporary Period," which appeared in 1993. The present issue, like the preceding one, is a synthesis of the development of Islam throughout its history, from the 7th to the 20th century, with an insight into the challenges of the future. The author makes a review of Muslims' perceptions of their religion as well as the scholarly activity - by Muslims and non Muslims - dedicated to it. This critical atti­tude distinguishes the book from other introductions to Islam. According to its bibliography, the book is addressed to an audience deemed reluctant as regards to languages other than English. Yet the style and content of the book make of it a complicated reading for a lay public who tries a first approach to Islam. Muslims, Their Beliefs and Practices is organized in six parts, each one introduced by a list of the most significant dates for the subject matter in question. Practical examples excerpted from the sources or the author's per­sonal experience are used to illustrate his arguments. Notes appear at the end. Subsequently, the reader is provided with a glossary, a bibliography additional to that mentioned in the notes, a list of websites ofuse for students of Islam, a thematic index and finally, an index of Qur'anic citations. Part I, "Formative Elements of Classical Islam," contains three chapters. Chapter 1, "Prehistory", covers the 6th century, a period in the history of Arabia on which research about the constituent elements of the new religion has focused. For his part, Rippin puts forward a gradual process from the 6th to the 8th centuries in the broader spatial context of the Near East as a more suitable model to understand the emergence of Islam. In Chapter 2, "The Qur'an," the author describes its form and content. Going further, he poses the questions of how, why and when the Qur'an became a text with the aspect it has today. Chapter 3, "Muhammad," discusses the problems of the historicity of the Prophet's biography as well as its significance. Part II, "The Emergence of Islamic Identity," includes four chapters. Chapter 4, "Political action and theory," turns around three subjects: (a) the role ofreligion in the territorial expansion of the Arabs, (b) the role of poli­tics in the enunciation of the classical form oflslam, and (c) the final sepa­ration between both the religious and the political spheres with the emer­gence of the class of the religious scholars (ulama). The latter assumed the formulation of Islamic faith and law: a process analyzed in chapters 5, "Theological Exposition," and 6, "Legal Developments," respectively. His treatment of these aspects appears rather influenced by the writings of P. Crone, M. Hinds and N. Calder. Chapter 7 is dedicated to the description and interpretation oflslam's external face: "Ritual Practice." ...
Conference on Islam in Africa
Authors: Haron Muhammed
Published: October 2020

Academic studies regarding "Islam in Africa" have increased at a rapidpace over the past few years. In the 1960s, works of Trimingham and Lewiswere among the few which dealt with the subject. Towards the end of the1990s, one could select from a number of works; for example, one had achoice between Westurland and Brenner, Fischer and Stewart, Levtzion andMazrui and others. This reflects to what extent the African continent and,in particular, Islam has attracted the attention of scholars who represent avariety of disciplines.A similar group of scholars participated in the conference sponsored bythe Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University SUNY, NYon "Islam in Africa" from April 19-22, 2001. This report reflects the overallprogram adopted by the conference and mentions some of the paperspresented.The conference began on Thursday, April 19, 2001. During the two hoursRene Laremont, the deputy director of the Institute, chaired the two publicpresentations by John Esposito and Ali Mazrui, respectively. Esposito's topicfor that evening was "Islam in a Global Perspective: A Wider View" andMazrui's was "Islam and Cultural Globalization in Africa." Esposito coveredseveral issues. He started his presentation with autobiographical notes abouthow he got involved with Islam and Muslims. He then examined the developmentoflslamic resurgence movements; highlighted global perceptions ofMuslims and Islam; tackled the issue of the supposed Islamic "threat";responded to Huntington's Clash of Civilizations (Foreign Affairs 1993, andNY 1996); and reflected - in passing - upon Pipes' harmful articles andNewsweek's negative reports. He concluded with comments on the twinprocesses of"lslamization" and "kafirization" and briefly explained how theyimpacted upon the concepts of democracy, pluralism, and minorities.In Ali Mazrui's presentation, two types of globalization were pointedout: economic and cultural. The first type has deepened the divisions and ...
Re-Telling the History of Political Thought
Authors: Bullock Katherine H.
Published: October 2020

This paper explores the construction of the canon of political theory. I argue that the interpretation of the canon that defines ancient pagan Greeks as the founders of western political thought, includes medieval Christian thinkers, and yet defines out Muslim and Jewish philosophers is based upon western eth­nocentric secular assumptions about the proper role of reason, experience and revelation in philosophical thinking.
The Israeli-Syrian Peace Talks
Authors: Barhoum Khalil
Published: October 2020

According to Uri Savir, one of the two Israeli chief negotiators who ledtheir country's team to the Israeli-Syrian talks in Washington, DC, in the1990s, "there was a sense among both delegations that, if necessary, wecould go on living without peace." This sense of a fallback position,engendered mainly by the absence of any urgent existential need to reacha final settlement, is what distinguishes these talks from the IsraeliPalestiniannegotiations whose failure is fraught with many risks andunforeseen consequences.Cobban's book draws on research she conducted for her 1991 book,The Super-Powers and the Syrian-Israeli Conflict, and her 1997 monograph,Syria and the Peace: A Good Chance Missed Published and partlyfunded by the United States Institute of Peace, a federal institution createdby Congress in 1984 to promote research on the peaceful managementand resolution of international conflicts, the volume consists ofeight chapters, supplemented with a forward by the president of theInstitute, Richard Solomon, and a thirty-page section devoted to notes.The book contains no illustrations, photographs, appendices, or bibliographicinformation; however, it does offer a small map of Syria andIsrael at the beginning of the book and an eight-page index section at theend.Although somewhat overshadowed by the off-again-on-again IsraeliPalestiniantalks during the 1990s, the Israeli-Syrian negotiations (pro­pelled initially by the 1991 Madrid Peace conference) lasted a period of 52months and, to varying degrees of enthusiasm and success, engaged threesuccessive Israeli governments. The author offers a fascinating account of ...
The Environmental Dimensions of Islam
Authors: Ouis Soumaya Pernilla
Published: October 2020

Dr. Mawil Izzi Dien, Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University ofWales, has been writing about Islam and environmental issues for almosttwo decades. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam is a summary of hisprevious writings presented together with new additions. Izzi Dien is oneof the most prominent scholars in the new discourse of Islamic ecotheology,although he himself seldom refers to other Muslim scholars in this field,which somehow gives the wrong impression that he is the only one amongMuslims dealing with environmental issues.After a short introductory chapter, Izzi Dien discusses in chapter 2"The Environment and Its Components in Islam." This chapter gives aninformative introduction to Qur'anic terminology on various environmentalcomponents and their status in Islam, such as water, earth, living organisms,diversity and biogeological cycles.This Qur'anic terminology is further developed in chapter 3, deaLingwith theology pertaining to the environment. This chapter deals with issuessuch as the question of creation and the unseen and the Divine origin ofeverything: constancy, comprehensiveness, balance, and universal laws innature as the Creation. I sympathize with much of the argument presentedregarding the role of human beings in Creation, i.e., their trusteeship, partnershipand responsibility. This chapter would have been strengthened by adiscussion of the accusations from the environmental movement that themonotheistic religions represent an anthropocentric, and thus problematic,view of nature. For instance, the idea expressed in the Qur'an that God madenature subservient 􀀱·akhkhara) to human beings may be criticized (seeQur'anic verses 2:29; 45:12-13; and 14:33-34), but the author chooses notto discuss this concept at all or to refer to other scholars' criticisms.Another problem is his unusual definition of positivism, a philosophyheld accountable for promoting a hegemonic position of science associatedwith a problematic view of nature. He sees positivism as something thatIslam promotes, as in his view, it implies that human beings "are an active,positive force placed on this earth to construct, improve, and reform it." lnthe Qur'an we read about examples of how people who destroyed their ownhabitat were punished by God in the form of ecocatastrophes ...
Farce Majeure
Authors: Kutty Faisal
Published: October 2020

One of the fundamental principles of justice is that no accusation be allowed to stand unless there is sufficient evidence to support the allegation. Butsuch principles do not seem to get in the way of propagandists in their mission to discredit. Nobody knows this better than the Sudanese government. And no one has written more on Sudan's plight than Dr. David Hoile, the director of the European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council. 

Farce Majeure is a comprehensive critique, based largely on Hoile's previously published articles, of the Clinton administration's Sudan policy. Hoile, who has specialized in Sudanese issues for several years, argues that the Clinton administration succeeded in two areas with respect to its policy: preventing a peaceful resolution of the Sudanese civil war, and succeeding in the propaganda war, at least in North America. Hoile then explores how and why this was achieved and helps the reader to understand how Sudan moved from being an insignificant African state, at least from a western van­tage point, into a nation constantly in the international limelight.

Chapter I provides a good, albeit brief, analysis of the evolving rela ­tionship between the US and Africa's largest country, since its indepen­dence in 1956. Granted that the book's focus is the period from 1993 to 2000, readers could have benefited from a more extensive discussion of the historical context. In chapters I and 5 the author identifies what may be at the root of American aversion to Sudan: ...
Fast Food Nation
Authors: Hussain Maria
Published: October 2020

Combining in-depth historical and socio-political analyses of the American food industry with an easy-flowing language style, Fast Food Nation is nearly impossible to put down. Mind-boggling in scope, yet as intimate as one's own kitchen, this book allows the reader to grasp the true horror of the global food situation. Schlosser provokes both laughter and tears, ultimately inspiring the reader to engage in the "higher jihad" of controlling one's appetite with the understanding of how personal consumer choices have political consequences.

Section One, "The American Way," takes us through four chapters. The first, entitled "The Founding Fathers," talks about how the mass production of the automobile transformed post-WWII American society and its land scape, and introduces us to the hard-working businessmen who gave fast food a permanent place in the car culture, replacing the lovely countryside with a nearly identical, ugly sprawl of fast food restaurants, subdivisions, and strip malls in every town.

Chapter 2, "Your Trusted Friends," explains the appeal of the fast food industry to children and adults longing for their past childhood through the use of toys and mascots such as Ronald McDonald and Taco Bell's talk­ing dog. Gearing advertisements to the psychology of children has become a big business. Al I the major toy crazes such as Beanie Babies and Pokemon have been promoted by fast food chains. Cross-promotions extend to cartoons, movies, amusement parks, and now schools. Due to funding shortages, many schools have started promoting brand names of fast food and soda companies, whose ads now cover school hallways, buses, and even rooftops, while the products are sold to children during school hours ...
The Islamic Quest for Democracy, Pluralism, and Human Rights
Authors: Sabet Amr G. E.
Published: October 2020

In a sequel to his earlier Moderate and Radical Islamic Fundamentalism: The Quest for Modernity, Legitimacy, and the Islamic State, Moussalli makes a claim to highlight and, where possible, construct the important ideological and religious arguments on democracy, pluralism, and human rights, as these principles continue to be developed by modern Islamic political discourses. He maintains that by linking classical and medieval Islamic thought with pre-­ sent political and religious debates, Islamic discourses, at least in their so­called moderate versions, have both absorbed and Islamized western values. They have come, therefore, to "constitute a theology ofliberation and an epis­temological break with the past." The basic argument that Moussalli attempts to present is both simple and grand. Islamic jurisprudence, philosophy, and theology protect individ­ual and communal rights and legitimize political, social, economic, intel­lectual, and religious differences, while providing the grounds for viewing the people as the ultimate source of political sovereignty. While the history of the highest Islamic political institution - the caliphate - is mostly one of authoritarianism, classical and medieval Islamic political thought, in con­trast, incorporated the seeds of such notions as democracy, pluralism, and human rights together with comparable doctrines of equality, freedom, and justice. Hence, Moussalli's purpose is to emphasize the distinction between Islam as a religious belief system and the Islamic state as a human con­struct. Such a distinction, he alleges, would provide for limitless possibili­ties of interpretation and reinterpretation, construction as well as decon­ struction. It would further al low for "humanizing the divine" as a means of establishing hannony and cooperation with the West. Each of the first three chapters begin with a short introduction and analysis to the relevant classical and medieval notions of Muslim political thought. This is followed, respectively, by a review of modem moderate and radical .lslamist discourses, as developed from and beyond earlier the­oretical and nonnative Muslim thought, about the perceived compatible western notions. Chapter 1 examines the various concepts of shura (coun­sel), ikhtiyar (choice), bay>ah ( oath of allegiance), and !}ma> ( consensus of the Muslim community), which are presented as being the theoretical meth­ods that should govern in political rule ...