bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Introduction to teaching science with three-dimensional images of dinosaur footprints from Cristo Rey, New Mexico
Authors: Martinez Valeria V. , Serpa Laura F.
Published: January 2022

Abstract. In this paper we discuss the use of three-dimensional (3-D)
imagery and virtual field trips to teach pre-university and non-major
university geoscience courses. In particular, 3-D PDF (Portable Document Format) files can be used to either
prepare students for or completely replace a field trip when logistical
problems make the actual trip too difficult to be effective or when some
students need an alternative accommodation. Three-dimensional images can
replace or supplement classroom activities, such as the identification of
rocks and minerals from hand samples or the identification of geologic
structures from 2-D photographs and limited field observations. Students can
also become involved in data collection and processing to further their
understanding of photogrammetry and visualization. The use of 3-D imagery
can make additional time available to instructors to cover more advanced
topics and teach students more about the role of science in geologic
research. We use an example from Cristo Rey, New Mexico, where dinosaur footprints and
tracks are present but difficult to see in many cases, and they are often in places
that are hard to access for many people. At this site, approximately 10 000 photographs were collected and processed as 3-D images to show one
approximately 72 m2 area of known footprints. However, we also conducted
some very simple digital manipulations of the images that allowed us to
identify new footprints and tracks that were not apparent when viewed in the
field. The photographs and 3-D images have been donated to the Insights El Paso Science Center (denoted Insights Museum herein) that owns the fossil site, and they are now being used to develop
educational materials and lessons for the nearby communities.
The μDose system: determination of environmental dose rates by combined alpha and beta counting – performance tests and practical experiences
Authors: Kolb Thomas , Tudyka Konrad , Kadereit Annette , Lomax Johanna , Poręba Grzegorz , Zander Anja , Zipf Lars , Fuchs Markus
Published: January 2022

Abstract. The μDose system is a recently developed analytical instrument applying a combined α- and β-sensitive scintillation technique for determining the radioactivity arising from the decay chains of 235U, 238U and 232Th as well as from the decay of 40K. The device was designed to meet the particular requirements of trapped charge dating methods and allows the assessment of environmental (i.e. low) levels of natural radionuclides. The μDose system was developed as a piece of low-cost laboratory equipment, but a systematic test of its performance is still pending. For the first time, we present results from a comprehensive performance test based on an inter-laboratory comparison. We compare the results obtained with μDose measurements with those from thick source alpha counting (TSAC), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and low-level high-resolution gamma spectrometry (HRGS) applied in five participating laboratories. In addition, the reproducibility and accuracy of μDose measurements were tested on certified reference materials distributed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA; RGU-1, RGTh-1 and RGK-1) and on two loess standards (Nussy and Volkegem) frequently used in trapped charge dating studies. We compare μDose-based results for a total of 47 sediment samples with results previously obtained for these materials by well-established methods of dose rate determination. The investigated natural samples cover a great variety of environments, including fluvial, aeolian, littoral, colluvial and (geo-)archaeological sites originating from high and low mountain regions as well as from lowlands in tropical areas, drylands and mid-latitude zones of Europe, Africa, Australia, Central Asia and the Americas. Our results suggest the μDose system's capability of assessing low-level radionuclide contents with very good accuracy and precision comparable to well-established dosimetry methods. Based on the results of our comparative study and with respect to the practical experiences gained so far, the μDose system appears to be a promising tool for trapped charge dating studies.
Modeling subgrid lake energy balance in ORCHIDEE terrestrial scheme using the FLake lake model
Authors: Bernus Anthony , Ottlé Catherine
Published: January 2022

Abstract. The freshwater 1-D FLake lake model was coupled to the ORCHIDEE land surface model to simulate lake energy balance at the global scale. A multi-tile approach has been chosen to allow the modelling of various types of lakes within the ORCHIDEE grid cell. The different categories have been defined according to lake depth which is the most influential parameter of FLake, but other properties could be considered in the future. Several depth parameterization strategies have been compared, differing by the way to aggregate the depth of the subgrid lakes, i.e., arithmetical, geometrical, harmonical mean and median. Five atmospheric reanalysis datasets available at 0.5° or 0.25° resolution, have been used to force the model and assess model systematic errors. Simulations have been performed, evaluated and intercompared against observations of lake water temperatures provided by the GloboLakes database over about 1000 lakes and ice phenology derived from the Global Lake and River Ice Phenology database. The results highlighted the large impact of the atmospheric forcing on the lake energy budget simulations and the improvements brought by the highest resolution products (ERA5 and E2OFD). The median of the Root Square Mean Errors (RMSE) calculated at global scale range between 3.2 K and 2.7 K among the forcings, CRUJRA and ERA5 leading respectively to the best and worst results. Depth parameterization strategy appeared to be less influent, with RMSE differences less than 0.1 K for the four aggregation scenarios tested. The simulation of ice phenology presented systematic errors whatever the forcing used and the depth parameterization. Freezing onset was shown to be the less sensitive to forcing and depth parameterization with median of the errors ranging between 10 and 14 days. Larger errors were observed on the simulation of the end of the freezing period significantly influenced by the atmospheric forcing used. Such errors already highlighted in previous works, could be the result of deficiencies in the modeling of snow/ice parameterization processes. Various pathways are drawn to improve the model results, including the use of remote sensing data to better constrain the lake radiative parameters (albedo and extinction coefficient) as well as the lake depth thanks to the recent and forthcoming high resolution satellite missions.
Hidden-State Modelling of a Cross-section of Geoelectric Time Series Data Can Provide Reliable Intermediate-term Probabilistic Earthquake Forecasting in Taiwan
Authors: Wen Haoyu , Chen Hong-Jia , Chen Chien-Chih , Ciamarra Massimo Pica , Cheong Siew Ann
Published: January 2022

Abstract. Geoelectric time series (TS) has long been studied for its potential for probabilistic earthquake forecasting, and a recent model (GEMSTIP) directly used the skewness and kurtosis of geoelectric TS to provide Time of Increased Probabilities (TIPs) for earthquakes in several months in future. We followed up on this work by applying the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) on the correlation, variance, skewness, and kurtosis TSs to identify two Hidden States (HSs) with different distributions of these statistical indexes. More importantly, we tested whether these HSs could separate time periods into times of higher/lower earthquake probabilities. Using 0.5-Hz geoelectric TS data from 20 stations across Taiwan over 7 years, we first computed the statistical index TSs, and then applied the Baum-Welch Algorithm with multiple random initializations to obtain a well-converged HMM and its HS TS for each station. We then divided the map of Taiwan into a 16-by-16 grid map and quantified the forecasting skill, i.e., how well the HS TS could separate times of higher/lower earthquake probabilities in each cell in terms of a discrimination power measure that we defined. Next, we compare the discrimination power of empirical HS TSs against those of 400 simulated HS TSs, then organized the statistical significance values from these cellular-level hypothesis testing of the forecasting skill obtained into grid maps of discrimination reliability. Having found such significance values to be high for many grid cells for all stations, we proceeded with a statistical hypothesis test of the forecasting skill at the global level, to find high statistical significance across large parts of the hyperparameter spaces of most stations. We therefore concluded that geoelectric TSs indeed contain earthquake-related information, and the HMM approach to be capable at extracting this information for earthquake forecasting.
Incorporating historical information to improve extreme sea level estimates
Authors: MacPherson Leigh R. , Arns Arne , Fischer Svenja , Méndez Fernando J. , Jensen Jürgen
Published: January 2022

Abstract. Extreme value analysis seeks to assign probabilities to events which deviate significantly from the mean and is thus widely employed in disciplines dealing with natural hazards. In terms of extreme sea levels (ESLs), these probabilities help to define coastal flood risk which guides the design of coastal protection measures. While tide gauge and other systematic records are typically used to estimate ESLs, combining systematic data with historical information has been shown to reduce uncertainties and better represent statistical outliers. This paper introduces a new method for the incorporation of historical information in extreme value analysis which outperforms other commonly used approaches. Monte-Carlo Simulations are used to evaluate a posterior distribution of historical and systematic ESLs based on the prior distribution of systematic data. This approach is applied at the German town of Travemünde, providing larger ESL estimates compared to those determined using systematic data only. We highlight a potential to underestimate ESLs at Travemünde when historical information is disregarded, due to a period of relatively low ESL activity for the duration of the systematic record.
Virtual field trip to the Esla Nappe (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain): delivering traditional geological mapping skills remotely using real data
Authors: de Paz-Álvarez Manuel I. , Blenkinsop Thomas G. , Buchs David M. , Gibbons George E. , Cherns Lesley
Published: January 2022

Abstract. The restrictions implemented to contain the spread of the
COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 and 2021 have forced university-level
educators from around the world to seek alternatives to the residential physical
field trips that constitute a fundamental pillar of Geoscience programmes.
The field-mapping course for second-year Geology BSc students from
Cardiff University was replaced with a virtual mapping course set in the
same area as previous years, the Esla Nappe (Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain). The
course was designed with the aim of providing the students with the same
methodology employed in physical mapping, including such skills as gathering discrete data at stops
located along five daily itineraries. Data included bedding attitude,
outcrop descriptions with a certain degree of ambiguity, photographs and/or
sketches, panoramic photos, and fossil images. Data were provided to the
students through georeferenced KMZ files in Google Earth. Students were
asked to keep a field notebook, define lithological units of mappable scale,
identify large structures such as thrust faults and folds with the aid of
age estimations from fossils, construct a geological map on a hard-copy
topographic map, draw a stratigraphic column and cross sections, and plot
the data in a stereonet to perform structural analysis. The exercise allowed
for successful training of diverse geological field skills. In light of
the assessment of reports and student surveys, a series of improvements for
the future is considered. Though incapable of replacing a physical field
course, the virtual exercise could be used in preparation for the
residential field trip.
Uncertainties in projected surface mass balance over the polar ice sheets from dynamically downscaled EC-Earth models
Authors: Boberg Fredrik , Mottram Ruth , Hansen Nicolaj , Yang Shuting , Langen Peter L.
Published: January 2022

Abstract. The future rates of ice sheet melt in Greenland and
Antarctica are an important factor when making estimates of the likely rate
of sea level rise. Global climate models that took part in the fifth Coupled
Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) have generally been unable to
replicate observed rates of ice sheet melt. With the advent of the sixth
Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), with a general increase in
the equilibrium climate sensitivity, we here compare two versions of the
global climate model EC-Earth using the regional climate model HIRHAM5
downscaling of EC-Earth for Greenland and Antarctica. One version (v2) of
EC-Earth is taken from CMIP5 for the high-emissions Representative
Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario and the other (v3) from CMIP6 for
the comparable high-emissions Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 5-8.5 (SSP5-8.5)
scenario. For Greenland, we downscale the two versions of EC-Earth for the
historical period 1991–2010 and for the scenario period 2081–2100. For
Antarctica, the periods are 1971–2000 and 2071–2100, respectively. For the
Greenland Ice Sheet, we find that the mean change in temperature is 5.9 ∘C when downscaling EC-Earth v2 and 6.8 ∘C
when downscaling EC-Earth v3. Corresponding values for Antarctica are 4.1 ∘C for v2 and 4.8 ∘C for v3. The
mean change in surface mass balance at the end of the century under these
high-emissions scenarios is found to be −290 Gt yr−1 (v2) and −1640 Gt yr−1 (v3) for Greenland and 420 Gt yr−1 (v2) and 80 Gt yr−1
(v3) for Antarctica. These distinct differences in temperature change and
particularly surface mass balance change are a result of the higher
equilibrium climate sensitivity in EC-Earth v3 (4.3 K) compared with 3.3 K
in EC-Earth v2 and the differences in greenhouse gas concentrations between
the RCP8.5 and the SSP5-8.5 scenarios.
Creative Practice Research: Interrogating creativity theories through documentary practice
Authors: Kerrigan Susan
Published: January 2022

This paper presents research into creative practice that broadens understandings of

theories about creativity by investigating a practitioner’s agency through documentary

production practice. The primary theory used to interrogate my self-reflective

process-based research into documentary creativity is ’The System’s Model of

Creativity’ (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). This paper will provide a brief summary of the

findings of a larger research project investigating my documentary creative practice,

while also presenting an alternative way of using theory about creativity to interrogate

the complex internalised layering that is creative practice.

Discussion of my creative documentary practice research identifies internalized and

embodied knowledge and the acquisition of externalized knowledge, both of which

were acquired and consequently embodied during the production of two oral history

documentaries. This primarily systemic approach to creativity research may be useful

to other researchers as this particular creativity theory is generic and should,

therefore, transcend form and content.
Thoroughly modern coffee
Authors: Adams Jillian
Published: January 2022

_First Wave describes the post WWII proliferation of low quality coffee … second wave

is exemplified by companies … mass producing higher quality espresso coffee for cafes

and supermarkets. Third wave coffee makers are distinguished by their dedication to

extracting the best from coffee in its purest, unadulterated form._ (Ross 2009)

An article in the Melbourne Age on 13 October 2009 left me feeling both annoyed and

intrigued. The wave analogy implies Australia’s coffee culture did not start until after

World War II and that post-war migrants from Southern Italy brought the coffee

drinking habit to Australia. The ‘coffee snobbery’ inherent in the article, and the subtle

suggestion that third wave coffee is accessible only to distinguished coffee drinkers, is

also intriguing. This paper dismisses the wave analogy as a way of explaining the

development of a coffee culture in Australia and, instead, explores the relationship that

Australians have had with coffee since the 1930s. It challenges the collective belief that

post-war migrants from Southern Italy transported their coffee culture to Australia and

asks the question; is an appreciation of taste and flavour a cultural asset belonging to an

elite coffee drinking group or has it become important because coffee has lost its

connection to sophistication and become a mainstream beverage?
Apocryphal stories in Kate Grenville’s Searching for the Secret River
Authors: Lynch Gay
Published: January 2022

In researching The Secret River (SR) Kate Grenville mobilised apocryphal stories in two ways: by employing and discarding a family apocryphal story; and by creating an alternative history of the Hawkesbury River settlement that is potentially apocryphal. Analysing SR as apocryphal oral family history and as national collective memory further clarifies its cultural and literary context. Grenville deliberately revives a hidden story of Australian settlement in which Indigenous people are massacred, for the purpose of writing against the historical canon - her reconciliatory gesture as a privileged beneficiary of her ancestor’s presumed dispossession of Indigenous people. Whether or not SR finds its place in Australian collective memory, its reception exposes points of tension between historical fiction writers and historians. This paper focuses on the way Searching for the Secret River (SFSR) explicates the contradictions and anxieties embodied in Grenville’s fictional text, rather than on the text itself, and her shaping of apocryphal narratives in particular times. Recent contretemps over the credibility of Australian historical fiction make an investigation of apocryphal stories timely. The Secret River, a literary transformation of historically unreliable, archetypal stories speculates about an alternative hidden history and has been economically successful; it bears the hallmarks of apocryphal stories.
Ekphrasis for writers: John Ashbery’s ‘Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror’
Authors: Kaplan Genevieve
Published: January 2022

As teachers of creative writing, we strive to ‘open up the field’ for our students, to ‘broaden their horizons’, to show them that poetry doesn’t need to be a narrow thing. As many students, especially in introductory courses, come to class assuming that poems must rhyme, that stories must be told chronologically, that all diction must be well-mannered, one of our jobs as educators is to show them other possibilities. In poetry writing, models and exercises can be particularly helpful, especially in dealing with preconceived notions of form and language. But we must also encourage students to move beyond exercise and towards a legitimate creative product. Ekphrastic writing can be particularly useful here. Rather than focusing on technique or surface issues, as exercises frequently do, ekphrasis is essentially a mode of content - relating a poem (or other piece of writing) to a painting (or other artwork), often beginning through the act of description.
Into the labyrinth. Early career research: the academic journey and the publishing maze
Authors: Carthew Mark
Published: January 2022

Early Career Researchers (ECRs) can learn a great deal from the insights of philosophers such as Aristotle and Socrates, although most would not necessarily wish to emulate Socrates’ aggravation of the Athenian proletariat and subsequent execution (by poisoning) for stirring the status quo.

While some similarities may appear between academic gatekeepers and the ancient Athenian hegemony, early career researchers are by definition trying to establish themselves; however, biting the hand that feeds you is a cardinal sin in both publishing and academia, as well as a poor option in achieving fulfilment of life choices.

In this reflection based on my active practitioner perspective as a PhD in writing candidate and established children’s writer, I wish to explore some of the factors affecting an early career researcher’s ability to find publishing outlets and forums for their work and interests. I will in turn highlight the importance of having accessible and encouraging support structures for ECRs, the body academic and publishing forums associated with the arts and writing faculty.
Islamic Finance: A Bulwark against Contagion in the Global Banking System
Authors: Al-Roubaie Amer
Published: January 2022

The objective of this article is to shed some light on the performance of Islamic financial institutions in view of the current global financial crisis. Islamic financial activities and products are conducted in compliance with the shari’ah and, therefore, they are less vulnerable to changes in monetary variables than conventional financial products. Due to the prohibition of interest and because of ethical and moral constraints, Islamic banks are restricted from investment in speculative transactions which lessens default risk and enhances effectiveness of liquidity management. Islamic modes of investment contribute to society’s wellbeing through the creation of wealth and employment to ensure economic stability and human development. In Islam, knowledge, information and work are the main ingredients for success (falah). In an information-intensive world, honesty, accountability and transparency are vital for market performance and business activities. The global financial crisis has caused instability in financial markets weakening confidence in the global economic system as well as increasing uncertainty about future macroeconomic trends.
The Role of Adjustable-Rate Subprime Mortgages and Credit Default Swaps in the Global Financial Crisis
Authors: Abdullah (Leslie Terebessy) Abdul Karim
Published: January 2022

This study focuses on three key areas where excessive risk taking created systemic vulnerabilities and thus contributed to the current crisis. The first was the awarding of high-risk adjustable-rate subprime mortgages to people with limited abilities to pay them back. The second was using the same high-risk mortgages as collateral for new borrowings in the form of mortgage-backed securities (MBSs) and ‘collateralised debt obligations’ (CDOs). If the subprime mortgages defaulted, the securities funded by those mortgages would also default. The third area where excessive risk taking took place was in the trading in credit default swaps, essentially unregulated insurance on debt. Trading in ‘naked’ credit default swaps, in particular, added considerably more risk to an overleveraged system by significantly magnifying potential liabilities especially for providers of insurance who did not hedge their sales.
Mubin Sheppard - Tunku: His Life and Times. The Authorized Biography of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj
Authors: Marcinkowski Christoph
Published: January 2022

The reissuing of Mubin Sheppard’s Tunku: His Life and Times, the biography of Malaysia’s ‘Father of Independence’ Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj (1903-1990), by Pelanduk Publications, one of Malaysia’s leading publishing houses, could not be timelier as Malaysians and their friends had been celebrating the 50th anniversary of the country’s freedom from colonialism. This work by Sheppard, a historian of Malaysian culture and heritage who was a close friend of the Tunku, became a classic after it was published by Pelanduk for the first time - in the present version - in 1995.
Modern Intellectual Approaches to Islamic Law
Authors: Kazemi-Moussavi Ahmad
Published: January 2022

This article deals with creative proposals by four contemporary authors who promoted reform either from within the shari’ah or by borrowing methods such as empiricism and hermeneutics beyond the conventional scope of the shari’ah. To revive the forgotten sphere of Islamic public law, Mohammad Hashim Kamali puts forth the idea of identifying Islamic notions of ijma’, shura and ijtihad with modern statutory law and government ordinances. Abd al-Hamid Abu Sulayman proposes that the application of Islamic legal norms (ahkam) must be aligned within space-time considerations, which centre on two principles of necessity and fine-tuning (talfiq). Taha Jabir al-Alwani signifies the important role that knowledge of ‘rational priorities’ (‘ilm al-awlawiyyat) can play in balancing and stabilising Islamic jurisprudence. He extends the scope of ijtihad in such broad sense to bring the higher objectives of the shari’ah into account to conform to timely requirements. Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd is one of the first Muslim scholars to approach the shari’ah by applying modern hermeneutics as a method of inquiry into the interpretation of legal texts. The modern hermeneutics, he believes, opens the gate for new understandings to update Islamic law.
Interfaith Dialogue as a New Approach in Islamic Education
Authors: Bakar Osman
Published: January 2022

I would like to take up the issue of the need to re-examine our traditional approaches to Islamic education. This is in view of certain fundamental changes that are taking place both in the demographic and political maps of Muslim majority countries and in the Muslim perception of Islamic education itself.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger [Pope Benedict XVI] - Truth and Tolerance: Christian Belief and World Religions
Authors: Marcinkowski Christoph
Published: January 2022

Pope Benedict XVI has dealt in quite a number of his works with the issues of secularisation and contemporary religious and cultural identity. Many of these works are now also readily accessible in English. It would be a rewarding task to collate his approach with those of thinking representatives of contemporary Muslim thought. In Truth and Tolerance, Benedict - still Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the time when its original German edition went to the press - presents, aside from some new contributions, milestone-articles that he has published over the last 15 years in the field of ‘theology of religions’ in various journals. What Benedict has to say about interfaith relations today might also be of interest to the audience of this journal, since he is in the Muslim world - usually exclusively (and perhaps selectively) - associated with his 2006 ‘Regensburg lecture’ which was perceived by some as misrepresenting the religion of Islam.
Why Issues of Islamic Leadership are Important to ASEAN
Authors: Bakar Osman
Published: January 2022

In Southeast Asia, it is only rarely that issues of Islamic leadership are seriously discussed at respectable forums organised by prominent organisations, even when these are Muslim-initiated or Muslim-led. This is quite a surprising thing - and an unfortunate one. Given the large Muslim presence in the region, one would expect to see the opposite picture as true. Therefore, when I was invited by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Manila to deliver a keynote speech at its two-day conference in April 2010 on the theme of Islamic leadership in a changing ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) I did not hesitate to accept. At last, I thought, there is a positive change of mindset in the region concerning the international role of Islamic leadership. AIM organised the regional conference in collaboration with the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia (IKIM) and the Paramadina University in Jakarta.
'Abd al-Latif al-Husayn: Al-Amanah fi ’l-islam wa-atharuha fi ’l-mujtama'
Authors: Eggen Nora S.
Published: January 2022

Intrinsic to the ethos of Islam are concepts of trust, not only the theological concept of trust in God (tawakkul), but also various concepts of social trust. Yet the latter are often an implicit premise rather than an explicitly treated topic within the literature, and few if any writings are wholly dedicated to treating this important social and moral issue from an Islamic perspective. A commendable exception to this rule is the book under review. It was originally written as a doctoral thesis, submitted at the al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh in 2003 and has been published in Dar Ibn al-Jawzi’s series of theses (Rasa’il jami'iyyah).
James A. Roumasset, Kimberly M. Burnett and Arsenio Balicasan (eds), Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes
Authors: Winkel Eric
Published: January 2022

The word ‘sustainability’ has blossomed into so many ideas (some count 500) that it risks losing any scientific value. The authors of Sustainability Science for Watershed Landscapes take a concept of positive sustainability that posits sustainable growth as neither an objective nor a constraint. Their most important contribution is their effort “to embrace policy sciences” (p. 3, Ravago et al.).
Classical and Contemporary Approaches to Education: An Islamic Perspective
Authors: Kamali Mohammad Hashim
Published: January 2022

The gap between the classical and contemporary approaches to education in Islam is a theme which has not yet met with adequate response and solution. To fully comprehend the nature of classical education demands no less than a thorough understanding of its characteristic features as distinct from the modern methods of education, yet appreciating how later developments brought about its eclipse. This article charts the historical trajectories of education in Islam, surveying the scriptural, philosophical, and institutional foundations and examines how they have been affected by reforms following the advent of modernity and its attendant philosophies. The discourse begins with an enquiry into the ethico-religious basis of learning in the Quran, Sunnah and juristic doctrine, as well as the spirit that guides them, such as academic freedom, classifications of knowledge, and teaching methodologies. The discussion proceeds to consider contemporary challenges to Islamic approaches to learning especially those coming from scientific modernity, rationality and science, which need to be negotiated, confronted if necessary, and integrated when deemed beneficial.
Education Toward Values
Authors: Rayan Sobhi
Published: January 2022

This article deals with different value systems from the perspective of their source, nature, and implementation, and with the link between education and values. The achievement of values is considered to be of the highest importance in human life. Ethical doctrines vary about the source of values - whether they are derived from human beings or received from external authority. This dispute about the nature of values creates different views concerning the education of values, about the role of the educational system in the acquisition of values, and about the impact of values on pupils, both theoretical and practical.
Navigating a Fractal World: Ibn Al-'Arabi, Civilisational Renewal, and the New Sciences
Authors: Winkel Eric
Published: January 2022

After surveying visions of the future, this article engages some of the most interesting conceptualisations coming from the ‘new sciences’ and resonating with the perspective of civilisational renewal. The focus is on the environment, as the most accessible point of departure for visions of the future, and ‘transition’, as the best description of where we are. From here, the language of Islamic civilisational renewal is brought out to both deepen and sharpen the contemporary discourse.
The 'Common Good' and Malaysia's Education System
Authors: Nalla Zarina
Published: January 2022

This Viewpoint is an attempt to understand the concept of the ‘common good’ and in light of this, assess how the Malaysian school system can best educate young minds to create and serve this ideal. As a concept, the ‘common good’ is often debated among commentators. It would be safe to say, however, that it may be understood in two ways: first, as a state of general welfare which occurs when society attains the greatest good for the greatest number of individuals, not shared equally in an arithmetic sense but according to people’s needs and abilities. The second, and more important, aspect would be the procedural principles, set up by custodians of that society, to best ensure the growth and flourishing of every citizen.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr (in conversation with Muzaffar Iqbal), Islam, Science, Muslims and Technology
Authors: Mustapha Norhayati
Published: January 2022

At the outset Muzaffar Iqbal explains the context within which the book was conceived by relating his first encounter with Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Islamabad, March 1995, where the latter was due to deliver a keynote address at an international conference organised by the OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) on “Science in Islamic Polity in the Twenty-First Century”. Nasr follows with his essay on “The Cosmos as Subject of Scientific Study”, after which four separate conversations occupy the second section while the third and last sections present the text of Nasr’s keynote address at the said conference.
Contemporary Malaysian Families: Evidence-Based Interventions
Authors: Abdul Rahman Aminah
Published: January 2022

Malaysian families today are facing numerous challenges related to changing family values and structures, pressures of complex family responsibilities and inadequate support systems. Some of these key challenges include increase in divorce, family dysfunction, child abuse, abandoned babies, domestic violence, drug addiction, HIV/AIDS and family related matters such as family economic instability. At the same time, the impact of globalisation has led to new values being accepted by the young people. Indeed, the challenges that Malaysian families will be facing in the future will be tremendous.
Mehran Kamrava (Ed.), Innovation in Islam: Traditions and Contributions
Authors: Parray Tauseef Ahmad
Published: January 2022

Innovation in Islam - consisting of twelve chapters, eleven essays by a multidisciplinary group of leading scholars from across the world and a descriptive introductory chapter by the editor - offers in-depth analyses of the history, meaning and context, causes, consequences, and obstacles to innovation in Islam.
Rethinking Diplomacy and Islam
Authors: Kazemi-Moussavi Ahmad
Published: January 2022

The evolving interaction between Islam and politics has brought to fore the necessity of rethinking the nature and goals of diplomacy in Islam. Here, I will examine the nature of democracy, its history in Islam, and its present situation in the Muslim community in general. Diplomacy in its initial context refers to the process of communication between governments through their official agents with the goal of furthering international cooperation. Through time it came to include noncooperative elements such as propaganda, subversion, manipulation, and economic pressure which were viewed as techniques of foreign policy affecting the international system. Diplomacy is still considered as intellectual politics which serves as the best alternative to physical conflict.
The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Islam, Christianity and the Environment
Authors: Bakar Osman
Published: January 2022

The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (RABIIT), the publisher of this volume, has become better known throughout the world as an institution dedicated to the pursuit of meaningful interfaith dialogue on a global scale. Perhaps its most well known initiative is A Common Word, the historic global Muslim-Christian interfaith initiative which has brought together leading Muslim and Christian scholars and public figures from all parts of the world and generated a series of dialogues held in major cities of the West and the Islamic world.
The Srebrenica Genocide: Seventeen Years After
Authors: Mrahorovic Senad
Published: January 2022

In the beginning of 2012, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina have once again witnessed disturbing events in the Bosnian entity known as Republika Srpska. Several distinguished personalities were awarded the highest decoration, including Boris Tadic, the current president of the Republic of Serbia. With this award, President Tadic has been added to the list of people who previously have received the same decoration, such as Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, Slobodan Milosevic and others who were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for charges of genocide and other war crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s. While the trial of Milosevic lasted for almost two years, it did not end, however, owing to his sudden death. The other two figures namely, Karadzic and Mladic, are currently being tried in The Hague by the ICTY.
The Identity Crisis of the Contemporary Muslim Ummah: The Loss of Tawhidic Epistomoly as its Root Cause
Authors: Bakar Osman
Published: January 2022

The author aims to show that the identity of the Muslim community (ummah) in the modern and contemporary period is in a state of crisis. The ummah is defined as a knowledge-community founded on, nourished and sustained by the quranic tawhidic epistemology. The article presents an established concept and theory of crisis for the purpose of arguing that the ummah is facing a knowledge- and identity-crisis. It traces the roots of this crisis to the substantial loss of the tawhidic epistemology that has helped sustain this identity for the greater part of Islamic history before the modern era. It argues further that Muslim modern education in the colonial era based on secular epistemologies quickened the decline of tawhidic epistemology to the point of making it helpless to respond effectively to the challenges posed by those modern epistemologies. The author argues that an unresolved intellectual conflict between the surviving elements of tawhidic epistemology and modern epistemologies has resulted in an epistemological crisis of great consequences to Muslim life and thought. To help overcome this epistemological crisis, he argues for the renewal (tajdid) of tawhidic epistemology in the light of contemporary human thought. Concrete measures are also suggested as to helping make this renewal a reality.
Making Knowledge Useful: Appying al-Ghazali's Teaching in the Malay World
Authors: Moris Megawati
Published: January 2022

The eighteenth century scholar of Malay-Arab descent Shaykh Abd al-Samad al-Palimbani wrote a seminal Malay-Jawi text entitled Siyar al-Salikin ila Ibadat Rabb al-Alamin, being a translation-cum-commentary on the Mukhtasar Ihya Ulum al-Din of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Abd al-Samad’s Siyar exercised a great impact on Malay religious life and thought, by applying al-Ghazali’s teachings to solve the intellectual and religious problems faced by the Malay community during his era. Abd al-Samad discerned two main crises: first, the lack of knowledge among the Malays on the essential teachings of Sufism or tasawwuf; secondly, scholars who suffered from self-delusion and misled their students. He creatively applied encyclopaedic scholarship by providing an extensive bibliography of over one hundred titles of works on Sufism, categorised for each stage of study to ensure qualified access to esoteric knowledge as well as to avoiding misunderstanding of doctrines. Thereby Abd al-Samad made al-Ghazali’s spiritual teachings relevant and useful to the Malays in their attempt to discern truth from falsehood when dealing with competing currents of thought and beliefs prevailing at the time. The problems faced by Malay Muslims three hundred years ago are instructive for us today. Muslims may respond creatively as did Shaykh Abd al-Samad by drawing upon the higher Islamic intellectual tradition for solutions to their present predicament.
Religion and State in Saudi Arabia and the Role of the Wahabi Establishment in Governance
Authors: Scott Michael K.
Published: January 2022

From the report authored by Mahmoud Marouf and appearing in al-Quds al-Arabi (1 October, 2012), translated by IAIS-Malaysia Visiting Fellow Michael K. Scott, and covering the Center for Arab Unity Studies’ Conference on Religion and State in the Arab World that convened in Hammamat, Tunisia in October 2012:

The role of the religious establishment in governance in Saudi Arabia sparked heated discussion late last year in the “Religion and State in the Arab World” conference organised by the Center for Arab Unity Studies, with the participation of dozens of prominent Arab intellectuals and researchers.
Going 'Beyond Microfinance': Enhancing Islamic Microfinance Programmes in Bangladesh
Authors: Al-Mubarak Tawfique
Published: January 2022

Microfinance programmes have been operating in Bangladesh since the early seventies. With the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and the Grameen Bank (GB) as the pioneers, many other Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Microfinance Institutes (MFIs) have grown up to provide banking services to the ‘bankless’ poor of the society. Most of these MFIs disburse cash loans, and in most cases at a high rate of interest. Of course, interest as riba is among the gravest of prohibitions in Islam. Besides, a majority of the clients who take such microfinance loans often live below the poverty level, and have their own priorities to meet before investing the loan in a profit-bearing investment. As a result, the loans turn out to be consumption loans without resulting in any profit to pay the interest therefrom. In the long run, the clients fall into the ‘debt-trap’ and get poorer. This paper suggests that if instead of disbursing cash facilities, the clients were provided with employment under specific projects of which some portions could also be sold to them after the project has recovered its capital, poverty eradication ought to become an easier task. This then goes ‘beyond microfinance’ facilities.
Facilitating Affordable Housing in the UK Market Through Socially-Oriented Islamic Financial Institutions
Authors: Jha Yusuf
Published: January 2022

In the context of the growing global shortage of affordable housing, policy discourse in the last decade has centred on ways to get the private sector involved through a variety of public-private partnerships. This paper focusses on two such contemporary applications of community centred alternatives in Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and Shared Ownership Co-operatives (SOCs) and explores ways in which mainstream Islamic Finance can engage and support them. By focusing on the “private funding gap” that exists between mainstream finance and these community centered programs, the paper posits that Islamic Finance Institutions (IFIs) are well placed to provision financial support to such initiatives through the effective use of cash based endowments or awqaf. Such a re-structuring process within Islamic Finance proposes not only to allow IFIs effectively to assist in providing affordable housing but also promises to enable them to fulfil their originally stated socio-economic ideals better.
Caliph and the 'Islamic State' - Lessons of History
Authors: Crow Karim Douglas
Published: January 2022

The declaration of a so-called ‘Islamic State’ in parts of Syria and Iraq on 27 June 2014/1 Ramadan 1435 by Sunni Jihadist renegades led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (a.k.a. Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri, or Abu Du’a, born 1971)2 claimed a universal authority throughout the Muslim ummah in the manner of the caliphs of old. The veteran Iraq observer Patrick Cockburn objectively describes IS to be “the most powerful and effective extreme jihadi group in the world… violent and sectarian… highly fanatical.” Abu Bakr sends a powerful message resonating in the minds of militants across the Islamic world, by denying the legitimacy of the political and religious leaders of 1.6 billion Muslims. “I do not promise you, as the kings and rulers promise their followers and congregation, luxury, security and relaxation,” he said in his Khutbah in Mosul; “instead I promise you what Allah promised his faithful followers” [i.e. Paradise through martyrdom]. In his audio message posted online on 1 July 2014, Ibrahim stated it was the duty of all Muslims to immigrate to his self-styled ‘Islamic State’, and he named a list of countries from the Central African Republic to Myanmar and Xinjiang (in Chinese Turkistan) where violations are being committed against Muslims. “Your brothers on every piece of this earth are waiting for you to rescue them,” he declared; “By Allah, we will take revenge! by Allah we will take revenge! even if after a while.”
The Historical Role of Work Social Support, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Innovation Capabilities
Authors: Zeeshan Rasool  , Rubab Asghar  , Shahzad Ali Gill  , Ali Junaid Khan
Published: January 2022

This study aims to observe the impact of work social system (WSS) on innovative capability through knowledge sharing process and corporate social responsibility (CSR) through happiness feeling and job satisfaction. Several models from empirical studies were developed to test the relations such as organizational trust as moderator and happiness, knowledge sharing and job satisfaction as mediators. The data was collected in the form of questionnaires from the bank employees in the southern region of Pakistan. The study finds the results in consistent with the previous studies which show the positive relation between trust, innovation, and the supervisory support. This paper concludes that taking volunteer activities increases job satisfaction, happiness feeling in employees. This study has implications of promoting positive environment and culture by the managers and using organizational trust as a moderator instead of a mediator.
The Campaigns of the First Three Years of Tukultī-Ninurta’s I (1242-1206 BC)
Authors: TSAKANYAN RUSLAN
Published: January 2022

The chronology of events during the reign of Tukultī-Ninurta I does not stand out with
particular accuracy, which often sparked controversy. In particular, it refers to the
irregular sequence of events in the king's records. In this article, examining the records of
the Assyrian king, we have singled out the raids of his first three years, 1242-1239 BC.
SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION AS A PLATFORM FOR PROMOTING THE AGENDA OF CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE
Authors: Abajyan Aram
Published: January 2022

The article discusses main issues and tendencies of two China-proposed initiatives, namely Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The key focus of the research combines the major points and expected results of BRI and the growing role of SCO in current International Relations. While exploring these two structures, we conclude that SCO is pushing forward BRI, serving as a strong influential and effective platform.
The organization helped China to build up unprecedentedly intense ties with local states, creating natural conditions to play an active and constructive role in BRI agenda. From the very beginning Chinese BRI is closely related with SCO sharing reciprocal approaches, common features, principles and goals. They are historically linked together both geographically and ideologically. Specific projects under BRI together with the existing economic cooperation structure of SCO are truly complementing each other. SCO members view the BRI favorably, and China’s effective usage of the SCO has already resulted in many of its foreign policy goals being reached or at least had significant progress.