Sexual assault leaves the victims with unbearable emotional pain from the experience. The unwanted aggression against their freewill causes them to suffer physically and mentally. On top of that, they also have to fight to be treated fairly and respectfully during their court trials. There has been some controversy regarding rape prosecution in the Islamic legal system. The reason for this controversy is that the rape victim would usually be either charged with zina because of her confession, or committing qadhf, (...) as a result of her failure to provide four male eyewitnesses. This paper aims at investigating the fundamental legal rights of rape victims who complain of being raped, to be defended fairly, and to get exemption from punishment as provided in Islamic law. This paper also seeks to investigate the admissibility of the individual testimony of the victim against the rapist. This paper suggests that proving rape is not similar to proving zina, because a rape victim who lodges a report or complains of her ordeal of being raped should not be treated the same as a person who confesses to zina. Proving rape is also different from accusing the rapist with committing zina. This study will explore opinions and arguments of classical Muslim scholars of Islamic jurisprudence from various schools of thought. (shrink)

The continuous development of information communication technology facilitates the conventional grid in transforming into an automated modern system. Internet-of-Things solutions are used along with the evolving services of end-users to the electricity service provider for smart grid applications. In terms of various devices and machine integration, adequate authentication is the key to an accurate source and destination in advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Various protocols are deployed to lead the identification between two parties, which require high computation time and communicational bit (...) operations for system development. Therefore, Kerberos-based authentication protocols were designed in this study with the assistance of elliptic curve cryptography to manage the mutual authentication between two parties and reduce the time and bit operations. The protocols were evaluated in a widely adopted tool, AVISPA, which builds an understanding of the proposed protocol and ensures mutual authentication without unauthorized knowledge. In addition, upon comparing security and performance assessments to the current schemes, it was found that the protocol in this study required less time and bits to transmit information. Consequently, it effectively provides multiple security features making it suitable for resource constraint smart meters in AMI. (shrink)

Background The use of lengthy, detailed, and complex informed consent forms is of paramount concern in biomedical research as it may not truly promote the rights and interests of research participants. The extent of information in ICFs has been the subject of debates for decades; however, no clear guidance is given. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the perspectives of research participants about the type and extent of information they need when they are invited to participate in (...) biomedical research. Methods This multi-center, cross-sectional, descriptive survey was conducted at 54 study sites in seven Asia-Pacific countries. A modified Likert-scale questionnaire was used to determine the importance of each element in the ICF among research participants of a biomedical study, with an anchored rating scale from 1 to 5. Results Of the 2484 questionnaires distributed, 2113 were returned. The majority of respondents considered most elements required in the ICF to be ‘moderately important’ to ‘very important’ for their decision making. Major foreseeable risk, direct benefit, and common adverse effects of the intervention were considered to be of most concerned elements in the ICF. Conclusions Research participants would like to be informed of the ICF elements required by ethical guidelines and regulations; however, the importance of each element varied, e.g., risk and benefit associated with research participants were considered to be more important than the general nature or technical details of research. Using a participant-oriented approach by providing more details of the participant-interested elements while avoiding unnecessarily lengthy details of other less important elements would enhance the quality of the ICF. (shrink)

The general relationship between a bank and customer is contractualin nature. For conventional banks, the banker-customer relationship is basedon the debtor-creditor relationship with the bank earning a profit from a spreadmade between interest charged on the borrower of funds and interest paid tothe depositors. In Islamic banking, due to the different contractual transactionsof Islamic banking operation, it is based on a multi-contractual relationships.However, bank consumers perceive that banks enhance their profits by treatingconsumers unfairly and failing to take responsibility when things (...) go wrong.This study examines the duty of care of conventional and Islamic banks towardsbank consumers. It also focuses on the Islamic banks’ duty of care from theperspective of maqāṣid al-Sharī‛ah, to those who use their services. Adoptingthe doctrinal analysis method, this study analyses and compares the duty ofcare of both conventional and Islamic banks. Findings of this study includethat misconduct by banking industries remains rife and that unfair treatment ofcustomers are frequent. As for Islamic banks, the maqāṣid al-Sharī‛ah basedduty of care is found missing in their Islamic banking operation. This studysuggests that the duty of care for both banks should be reformed to improvebank consumers’ experience. For Islamic banks, an improved standard is usefulin performing their duties based on Islamic values. (shrink)

With the rapid advancements made in biotechnology, bioethical discourse has become increasingly important. Bioethics is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary field that goes beyond the realm of natural sciences, and has involved fields in the domain of the social sciences. One of the important areas in bioethical discourse is religion. In a country like Malaysia, where Muslims make up the majority of the population, Islam plays a crucial role in providing the essential guidelines on the permissibility and acceptability of biotechnological applications (...) in various fields such as medicine, agriculture, and food processing. This article looks at the framework of a complementary model of bioethics derived from the perspective of Islam. The framework is based on ‘maqasid al-shariah’ (purposes or objectives of Islamic law) which aims to protect and preserve mankind’s faith, life, intellect, progeny, and property. It is proposed that ‘maqasid al-shariah’ be used as a pragmatic checklist that can be utilized in tackling bioethical issues and dilemmas. (shrink)

This article presents the Islamic bioethical deliberation on the issue of sex assignment surgery for infants with disorders of sex development or intersexed as a case study. The main objective of this study is to present a different approach in assessing a biomedical issue within the medium of the Maqasid al-Shari’ah. Within the framework of the maqasidic scheme of benefits and harms, any practice where benefits are substantial is considered permissible, while those promoting harms are prohibited. The concept of Maqasid (...) al-Shari’ah which is the mechanistic interpretation of Qur’an and Hadith presents the holistic attention of Islam on many life activities, including healthcare. Indeed, this concept encompasses many aspects of worldly life, both for the human individual and collectively for the whole society. In healthcare, the practice of SAS on DSD newborns has presented an assortment of implications on the future livelihood of the affected individual. The process of decision-making seems to be very multifaceted since every element such as the determination of the ‘correct’ sex and the urgency of early surgery must consider the benefits and harms, as well as the child’s rights and best interest. The application of the concept of Maqasid al-Shari’ah, would convey a pragmatic approach that is often disregarded in Western medicine. This approach considers the right of the individual to live life optimally, individually and socially and practice his faith, precisely, in accordance with the assigned gender. (shrink)

Maqasid al-Shariah based Islamic bioethics is an Islamic bioethics concept which uses the objectives of the Shariah as its approach in analysing and assessing bioethical issues. Analysis based on maqasid al-Shariah based Islamic bioethics will examine any bioethical issues from three main aspects namely intention, method, and output or final goal of the studied issues. Then, the evaluation will be analysed from human interest hierarchy, inclusivity, and degree of certainty. The Islamic bioethics concept is a manifestation of dynamic Islamic jurisprudence (...) which can overcome new complex and complicated bioethical issues such as tri-parent baby technology issues. Therefore, this article will introduce and explain the concept of maqasid al-Shariah based Islamic bioethics and outline a general guidance of maqasid al-Shariah based Islamic bioethics to determine a maqṣad based on standards of human good or well-being and harm. (shrink)

Mitochondrial replacement technology (MRT) is an emerging and complex bioethical issue. This treatment aims to eliminate maternal inherited mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) disorders. For Muslims, its introduction affects every aspect of human life, especially the five essential interests of human beings—namely, religion, life, lineage, intellect, and property. Thus, this technology must be assessed using a comprehensive and holistic approach addressing these human essential interests. Consequently, this article analyses and assesses tri-parent baby technology from the perspective of Maqasidic bioethics—that is, Islamic bioethics (...) based on the framework of Maqasid al-Shariah. Using this analysis, this article suggests that tri-parent baby technology should not be permitted for Muslims due to the existence of third-party cell gametes which lead to lineage mixing and due to the uncertain safety of the therapy itself and because the major aim of the technology is to fulfil the affected couples interest to conceive their own genetically healthy child, not to treat and cure mtDNA disorders sufferers. (shrink)

The outburst of the fourth Industrial Revolution had a significant impact on many aspects of life. The discovery of new technologies in medicine has resulted in innovations: organ transplants. The introduction of three-dimensional (3D) organ printing technology promises improvements to the field. Organs such as the liver, kidneys, heart and others are printed to meet the needs of the actual organs. However, the production of prototype organs to replace the original organs is associated with the issue of changing the creation (...) of Allah. Accordingly, this study will analyse the issue of changing the creation of God in three-dimensional (3D) organ printing technology according to the perspective of Islamic law. Several appropriate methodologies in Islamic law (usul fiqh) are used such as legal reasoning through maqasid shariah perspective and analogical reasoning. The result shows that three-dimensional (3D) organ printing technology falls under the permissible category of changing the creation of Allah because it can save human lives. The production of organs through 3D printing involving changes included in the category of necessity (daruri) and need (hajiy) is permissible, but the category of desirable (tahsini) requires further specifications. (shrink)

Embryonic Stem Cell Research raises ethical issues. In the process of research, embryos may be destroyed and, to some, such an act entails the ‘killing of human life’. Past studies have sought the views of scientists and the general public on the ethics of ESCR. This study, however, explores multi-faith ethical viewpoints, in particular, those of Buddhists, Hindus and Catholics in Malaysia, on ESCR. Responses were gathered via semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Three main ethical quandaries emerged from the data: sanctity of (...) life, do no harm, and ‘intention’ of the research. Concerns regarding the sanctity of life are directed at particular research protocols which interfere with religious notions of human ensoulment and early consciousness. The principle of ‘do no harm’ which is closely related to ahimsa prohibits all acts of violence. Responses obtained indicate that respondents either discourage research that inflicts harm on living entities or allow ESCR with reservations. ‘Intention’ of the research seems to be an interesting and viable rationale that would permit ESCR for the Buddhists and Hindus. Research that is intended for the purpose of alleviating human suffering is seen as being ethical. This study also notes that Catholics oppose ESCR on the basis of the inviolability of human life. (shrink)

Tri-parent baby technology is an assisted reproductive treatment which aims to minimize or eliminate maternal inheritance of mutated mitochondrial DNA. The technology became popular following the move by the United Kingdom in granting license to a group of researchers from the Newcastle Fertility Centre, Newcastle University to conduct research on the symptoms of defective mtDNA. This technology differs from other assisted reproductive technology because it involves the use of gamete components retrieved from three different individuals. Indirectly, it affects the preservation (...) of lineage which is important from an Islamic point of view. This paper aims to analyze and discuss the implications of the tri-parent technology on preservation of lineage from the perspective of Maqasid al-Shari’ah based the Islamic bioethics. The analysis shows that there are a few violations of the preservation of lineage, hence the tri-parent baby technology should not be permitted. (shrink)

Rapid development in the area of assisted reproductive technology, has benefited mankind by addressing reproductive problems. However, the emergence of new technologies and techniques raises various issues and discussions among physicians and the masses, especially on issues related to bioethics. Apart from solutions provided using conventional bioethics framework, solutions can also be derived via a complementary framework of bioethics based on the Higher Objectives of the Divine Law in tackling these problems. This approach in the Islamic World has been applied (...) and localised in the Malaysian context. Thus, this paper highlights a conceptual theoretical framework for solving current bioethical issues, with a special focus on ART in the Malaysian context, and compares this theory with conventional theories of bioethics. (shrink)

An exciting development in the field of assisted reproductive technologies is In Vitro Gametogenesis (IVG) that enables production of functional gametes from stem cells in the laboratory. Currently, development of this technology is still at an early stage and has demonstrated to work only in rodents. Upon critically examining the ethical dimensions of various possible IVG applications in human fertility treatment from a Sunni Islamic perspective, together with benefit-harm (maslahah-mafsadah) assessment; it is concluded that utilization of IVG, once its efficacy (...) and safety are guaranteed, could be permissible by strictly adhering to Islamic ethical principles related to marriage, biological/genetic relatedness, sexual intercourse, and moral status of the embryo/fetus versus that of the gamete. As a result, IVG will be acceptable for treating primary infertility, age-related infertility, and preventing genetic diseases. However, it will be unacceptable for application in posthumous reproduction, donor gametes, genetic enhancement, and procreation in same-sex couples. (shrink)

The release of over 6,000 genetically modified mosquitoes (GMM) into uninhabited Malaysian forests in 2010 was a frantic step on the part of the Malaysian government to combat the spread of dengue fever. The field trial was designed to control and reduce the dengue vector by producing offspring that die in the early developmental stage, thus decreasing the local Aedes aegypti population below the dengue transmission threshold. However, the GMM trials were discontinued in Malaysia despite being technologically feasible. The lack (...) of systematic studies in terms of cost-benefit analysis, questionable research efficacy and safety-related concerns might have contributed to the termination of the field trial. Hence, this research aims to evaluate the feasibility of GMM release in Malaysia by using a holistic approach based on an Islamic ethical-legal assessment under the maslahah-mafsadah (benefit-risk) concept. Three main strategies based on the maslahah-mafsadah concept approach have been applied: 1) an evidence-based approach, 2) an impact-based approach and, 3) a priority approach. The analysis concluded that GMM could be categorised as zanniyyah (probable). GMM is a promising alternative for dengue control, but many issues must be addressed before its widespread adoption. (shrink)

The smart wearable device is a new breed of mobile device that offers diversified utilities for health, sport, and finance for consumers worldwide. The current study aims to investigate the provocation of the intention to use smart wearable payment devices among Malaysian consumers. The unified theory of technology acceptance and use of technology was employed with the cross-sectional survey-based data to explain the adoption of the smart wearable payment device. Furthermore, the UTAUT model was extended with trust and lifestyle compatibility (...) factors to investigate smart wearable payment device adoption. The survey-based data were collected through the online survey and analyzed through the symmetrical modeling approach of partial least squares structural education modeling to evaluate theoretical associations between the study constructs. The fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis was employed as an asymmetrical approach. As a result, it was found that the ease of use, lifestyle compatibility, and trust significantly impacted the intention to adopt smart wearable payment devices. However, social influence and facilitating conditions did not support the intention of adopting smart wearable payment devices. Adopting these devices requires policy and infrastructure development to harness the adoption of smart wearable payment devices. This paper is concluded with study limitations and future research suggestions. (shrink)

A board of directors consists of a set of key personnel that hold vital positions in a company. Based on the premise of the resource dependence theory, we explore the association between board diversity and innovation performance in Malaysia. The sample consists of 220 companies from the industrial product sector of the main market of Bursa Malaysia for the financial year 2013. Board diversity is represented by a comprehensive score that includes age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, education, tenure, area of experience (...) and directorship in other companies. Results of the regression analysis show that there is a positive association between board diversity and innovation performance. Our findings contribute to the policy involving the diversity of corporate boards by suggesting that policy, such as one of gender diversity in Malaysia, is expanded to include multi-dimensional aspects of board diversity that better represent the economic, legal and cultural environment of a country. (shrink)

This paper describes maslahah, a fundamental concept in Islam and its application in deliberating permissibility of human germline gene editing from an Islamic perspective. This paper refers to He Jiankui’s research that led to the birth of the world’s first gene edited babies, who were edited to be protected from HIV. The objective, procedure, and output of the research were assessed against the conditions of maslahah. It can be concluded that the experiment did not meet the conditions; it is inconsistent (...) with the objectives of shariah and some fundamental Islamic teachings that it did not preserve greater benefit, hence it could be considered impermissible. (shrink)

BackgroundThe research shows a growing trend in using an electronic platform to supplement or replace traditional paper-based informed consent processes. Instead of the traditionally written informed consent document, electronic informed consent may be used to assess the research subject’s comprehension of the information presented. By doing so, respect for persons as one of the research ethical principles can be upheld. Furthermore, these electronic methods may reduce potential airborne infection exposures, particularly during the pandemic, thereby adhering to the beneficence and nonmaleficence (...) principle. This scoping review aims to identify the ethics related criteria that have been included in electronic informed consent processes and to synthesize and map these criteria to research ethics principles, in order to identify the gaps, if any, in current electronic informed consent processes.MethodsThe search was performed based on internet search and three main databases: PubMed, SCOPUS and EBSCO. PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews : Checklist and Explanation guideline was used to report this work.ResultsOf 34 studies that met the inclusion criteria, 242 essential original constructs were collated, and 7 concepts were derived. Digital content showed the highest percentage of collated original constructs followed by accessibility, comprehension engagement, autonomy, confidentiality, language, and parental consent. Twenty-five new items were synthesized for eConsent criteria which may provide guidance for ethical review of research involving eConsent.ConclusionThe current study adds significant value to the corpus of knowledge in research ethics by providing ethical criteria on electronic informed consent based on evidence-based data. The new synthesized items in the criteria can be readily used as an initial guide by the IRB/rec members during a review process on electronic informed consent and useful to the future preparation of a checklist. (shrink)

This paper presents a general-purpose update semantics for expressions of subjective uncertainty in natural language. First, a set of desiderata are established for how expressions of subjective uncertainty should behave in dynamic, update-based semantic systems; then extant implementations of expressions of subjective uncertainty in such models are evaluated and found wanting; finally, a new update semantics is proposed. The desiderata at the heart of this paper center around the contention that expressions of subjective uncertainty express beliefs which are not persistent, (...) whereas propositions express beliefs that are persistent. I argue that if we make the move of treating updates in a dynamic semantics as Bayesian updates, i.e. as conditionalization, then expressions of subjective uncertainty will behave the way we want them to without altering the way propositions behave. (shrink)

Prior research suggests that Corporate Environmental Performance enables businesses to build strong corporate image and reputation, thus leading to improved firm financial performance. However, studies relating to the relationship between CEP and firm risk are scarce. This research intends to bridge the gap in the literature by examining whether CEP helps firms to reduce their financial risk. Results of the Ordinary Least Squares regression with fixed effects provide strong evidence that environmental performance is negatively associated with firm volatility and firm (...) downside risk. The results are robust after controlling for moderating effects such as financial, institutional and environmental management. (shrink)

Pediatric biobanking is considered important for generating biomedical knowledge and improving health care. However, the inclusion of children’s samples in biobanks involves specific ethical issues. One of the main concerns is how to appropriately engage children in the consent procedure. We suggest that children should be involved through a personalized assent procedure, which means that both the content and the process of assent are adjusted to the individual child. In this paper we provide guidance on how to put personalized assent (...) into pediatric biobanking practice and consider both the content and process of personalized assent. In the discussion we argue that the assent procedure itself is formative. Investing in the procedure should be a requirement for pediatric biobank research. Although personalized assent will require certain efforts, the pediatric community must be aware of its importance. The investment and trust earned can result in ongoing engagement, important longitudinal information, and stability in/for the research infrastructure, as well as increased knowledge among its participants about research activity. Implementing personalized assent will both respect the child and support biobank research. (shrink)

While heredity is predominantly controlled by what deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) sequences are passed from parents to their offspring, a small but growing number of traits have been shown to be regulated in part by the non‐genetic inheritance of information. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is defined as heritable information passed from parents to their offspring without changing the DNA sequence. Work of the past seven decades has transitioned what was previously viewed as rare phenomenology, into well‐established paradigms by which numerous traits can (...) be modulated. For the most part, studies in model organisms have correlated transgenerational epigenetic inheritance phenotypes with changes in epigenetic modifications. The next steps for this field will entail transitioning from correlative studies to causal ones. Here, we delineate the major molecules that have been implicated in transgenerational epigenetic inheritance in both mammalian and non‐mammalian models, speculate on additional molecules that could be involved, and highlight some of the tools which might help transition this field from correlation to causation. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis of inquisitive rising declaratives (Gunlogson 2001, Jeong 2018) within the Table model (Farkas & Bruce 2010). On this account, intonational tunes are modifiers of context update functions: rising intonation removes the speaker commitment component of a context update. This delivers a compositional account of the contributions of sentence type and intonational tune to the illocutionary mood of an utterance, showing how the semantic type of declarative sentences, the rising intonational tune, and a general-purpose utterance function (...) (Farkas & Roelofsen 2017) conspire to derive the basic discourse effect of rising declaratives without any construction-specific stipulations. The account makes use of only the most fundamental representational primitives independently necessary to model assertions and neutral questions, showing that rising declaratives can be accounted for without recourse to projected commitments, metalinguistic issues, or explicit marking of commitment strength, evidence source, or epistemic bias (cf. Gunlogson 2008, Northrup 2014, Malamud & Stephenson 2015, Farkas & Roelofsen 2017). Inferences of bias generated by rising declaratives are accounted for with a novel pragmatics for the Table model, formalizing what is implicit in discussions of the role played in the model by speaker commitments and projected Common Grounds. (shrink)

The concept of knowledge and its implication to national development, with reference to Malaysia; and analysis from Islamic viewpoint.

Penelitian ini menekankan pada bagaimana manusia di sepanjang sejarah dapat merumuskan konsepsi mereka berkenaan dengan ketuhanan. Timur yang dahulu merupakan pusat peradaban, hidup di tengah-tengah pertikaian antar peradaban dan perbedaan kelas yang didominasi oleh laki-laki atau kaum patriark, menilai Tuhan dalam perspektif laki-laki dengan sifat maskulinitasnya. Sementara Barat (pasca-Aufklarung) yang kembali membuka ruang diskusi ilmiah mereka, mencoba untuk kembali ke dalam gagasan terkuno manusia mengenai sifat-sifat alam yang dinilai memiliki sifat-sifat feminin, yang oleh para eco-feminis sebut sebagai “The Mother God.”.

Israel has always mattered to American Christians. They are among the strongest supporters of the State of Israel in the United States. The paper argues that the support that was extended by American Christians in general and the Christian Right in particular, to Israel and the Jewish people is the continuation of a long tradition in conservative American Christians rooted mainly in their theological doctrine. However, the study shows that the Christian Right is ambivalent in its view on Jews. On (...) the one hand, Jews are considered to be God’s chosen people and to have a special Biblical status and role. On the other hand, the Christian Right is allegedly anti-Semitic, as it views Jews as a condemned nation for their rejection of Christ as the Messiah, the reason for which they are unsaved and need to be converted to Christianity. Interestingly, both views, love and hatred of Jews, are based on the Biblical teachings and grounded in conservative Protestant theology; their paradoxical views on Jews are not a new phenomenon among conservative American Christians. Nevertheless, the study found that the support of the American Christians of the establishment of the State of Israel goes beyond theological doctrines or values. In fact, the humanitarian considerations of the liberal Christian and secular organizations in particular, were significant in contributing to the establishment of the Jewish state. (shrink)

Purpose Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, this study aims to explore the factors influencing educators’ acceptance and utilization of chat generative pretrained transformer (ChatGPT) in the context of higher educational institutions. This study additionally examines the moderating influence of trust on the association between intention and adoption of ChatGPT. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire was disseminated to 1,214 educators following the purposive sampling method. The hypothesized relationships between the extended UTAUT model constructs and (...) ChatGPT adoption were examined using structural equation modeling. Findings The results of this study indicate positive impact of ChatGPT adoption and its use behavior (UB) among educators. Performance expectancy, effort expectancy, hedonic motivation, facilitating conditions and habit have a positive impact on behavior intention to use this tool among educators in higher education institutions, However, the educators intend to use ChatGPT in a personal capacity and are negatively influenced by the social groups. Moreover, behavior intention to adopt ChatGPT has a larger effect on the UB due to the higher involvement of trust. Practical implications This research adds to the literature on technology adoption by emphasizing the significance of trust in the adoption of emerging technologies, such as big language models. This study’s findings have implications for ChatGPT technology developers, legislators and academics considering the implementation of ChatGPT for teaching and research. Originality/value This research investigates ChatGPT adoption among higher education educators using the UTAUT model. It emphasizes the role of trust in adoption, highlights key adoption factors and reveals a paradox: educators are personally inclined to use ChatGPT but hesitant due to negative social influence. This study's novelty lies in its focus on trust and its implications for developers, legislators and educators, offering valuable insights for integrating ChatGPT in education. (shrink)

The paper formalizes a change of camera angle on the classic Stalnakerian account of assertion, foregrounding that the speaker is presenting herself as though she knows the sentence she’s uttered to be true, and deriving context update from a proposal that the context set be modified so as to become a member of the same property of epistemic states as the speaker’s. The resulting formalization is one on which often, but crucially not always, an assertion serves to propose that the (...) context set be intersected with the denotation of the sentence that has been uttered. Rather than assigning ad hoc update effects to epistemic modals, exceptional updates for epistemic modals fall out of the interaction between the speaker-oriented epistemicity of epistemic modals and the speaker-oriented epistemicity of assertion. This circumvents arguments that disagreement over epistemic modals is fatal to a solipsistic contextualist account of their semantics. The model builds a bridge from truth-conditional semantics to expressivist update effects via a uniform conception of assertive update, and shows how relativist effects can be derived using a relativist illocutionary machinery, rather than a relativist semantic machinery. (shrink)

Vaccination is an important tool for handling healthcare programs both in developed and developing countries. The current global scenario calls for a more‐efficacious, acceptable, cost‐effective and reliable method of immunization for many fatal diseases. It is hoped that the adoption of oral vaccines will help to provide an effective vaccination strategy, especially in developing countries. Mucosal immunity generated by oral vaccines can serve as a strong first line of defense against most of the pathogens infecting through the mucosal lining. Advances (...) in elucidating the mechanism of action of oral vaccines will facilitate the design of more effective, new generation vaccines. There are promising developments in the use of different agents to effectively deliver the vaccine candidate. It is hoped that ongoing research may be able to set another cardinal point, after polio vaccine, in eradicating infectious diseases. BioEssays 29:591–604, 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

With the development of wireless technology, two basic wireless network models that are commonly used, known as infrastructure and wireless ad hoc networks, have been developed. In the literature, it has been observed that channel contention is one of the main reasons for packet drop in WANETs. To handle this problem, this paper presents a routing protocol named CCBR. CCBR tries to determine a least contended path between the endpoints to increase packet delivery ratio and to reduce packet delay and (...) normalized routing overhead. Moreover, throughout the active data section, each intermediate node computes its channel contention value. If an intermediate node detects an increase in channel contention, it notifies the source node. Then the source node determines another least contended route for transmission. The advantages of CCBR are verified in our NS2-based performance study, and the results show that CCBR outperforms ad hoc on-demand distance vector in terms of packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and routing overhead by 4% to 9%. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Cultura. International Journal of Philosophy of Culture and Axiology Jahrgang: 8 Heft: 2 Seiten: 189-208.

This paper is diagnostic type rather than a solution one. There are claims among certain quarters that The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 is a Western mould human rights. However, I will argue that human rights are benchmark for modernization and progress in democracy, and it is traceable within Islam. Using Syed Hussein Alatas‘s Ideal of Excellence as thereotical framework, my attempt is to highlight the memory of Tanzimat during Ottoman empire as one triumph heritage and successful story of (...) human rights modernization within Islam, and not the moment or starting point of failure for the Ottoman. Unfortunately, this modernization does not reflected in the Malay world as it is perceived as the weakening process of Ottoman. Today, similar challenges faced by Ottoman are being faced by the Malay world. Legalistic Islam and Wahhabism are among others that slowing down the modernization of human righs within Malay world. (shrink)

THE DESTINY OF MAN: Beyond Socrates to Programmed PhilosophyThe Destiny of Man tells the scientific story of the world that is based on a Theory of the World: which Unifies knowledge, Simplifies education and creates one culture thus realizing mankind's quest to find his destiny by knowing the worldThe story starts with the first Western scientists, Thales and his colleagues in pre-Hellenic Greece, through the contributions of modern scientists. Conclusion: The world is a programmed system and mankind has discovered its (...) program. This partly realizes the enduring quest of mankind, namely, to find his destiny by knowing the world. The world program enables the following selected transitions among others:- From: To:- Information Understanding- Fragmented language Comprehensive language- Classical philosophy Scientific philosophy- The Age of Specialties The Age of Generalism or Universal Science- 18th century Literary Enlightenment 21st century Scientific Enlightenment- Eclectic education Systematic, axiomatic education- The religious-scientific polemic Its resolution- Fragmented cultures One world culture. (shrink)

On advance medical directives in Malaysia from Islamic bioethics; papers of a seminar.

This study aims to measure the latent mean difference in perfectionism and marital satisfaction by counseling help-seeking attitudes. The respondents were 327 married graduate students from a research university in Malaysia. An online self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The respondents completed the Almost Perfect Scale- Revised, Dyadic Almost Perfect Scale, Marital Satisfaction Scale, and Attitudes toward Seeking Professional Psychology Help Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examined the instruments and the results indicated that construct validity were (...) achieved. The latent mean difference in perfectionism and marital satisfaction by counseling help-seeking attitudes were tested using multigroup invariance analysis. The respondents with negative attitudes toward counseling help-seeking reported a higher latent mean in perfectionism but a lower latent mean in marital satisfaction compared to those with positive attitudes toward counseling help-seeking. The implications of these findings for counseling services are discussed. (shrink)

This research examines the complex interplay of religiosity, sexuality, and infidelity. We adopted a case study approach in this research, and discourse was made central to the analysis. There were two participants; both identified as homosexuals. One participant, Fahrin, is married while the other, Muzz, is divorced at the time of the interview. The participants were subjected to an in-depth, semi-structured interview to gauge their experiences, perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and thoughts on their sexuality, Islamic faith as well as relationship with (...) their spouses. The data were then transcribed and analyzed using the Discursive Action Model and Discursive Psychology frameworks. From the analysis, two overarching themes were identified. They are the allocation of blame and accountability and the participants’ attachment to their Islamic identity. The discussion then revolves around the societal role that pressures gay men to marry women and contextualizes the position of Islam on Homosexuality. (shrink)

RésuméDepuis Ibn Mattawayh et Mānkdīm jusqu'à George Hourani et Marie Bernand, les spécialistes ont montré un intérêt constant pour la théorie de la connaissance d' ʿAbd al-Jabbār, intérêt plus grand encore depuis la parution des textes de Muʿtazilites tardifs comme leKitāb al-Muʿtamad fī Uṣūl al-Dīnd'Ibn al-Malāḥimī, et leKitāb Taṣaffuḥ al-Adillade son maître Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī. Cet article examine la théorie de la connaissance immédiate d' ʿAbd al-Jabbār à partir de sonMughnī, ainsi que de textes écrits par ses élèves ou par (...) des Muʿtazilites tardifs. Est aussi étudié le rapport entre cette théorie et les arguments théologiques d'ʿAbd al-Jabbār. Ce travail est divisé en deux parties: en premier lieu, j'étudie la définition de la connaissance immédiate par ʿAbd al-Jabbār et les réactions de ses successeurs; en second lieu, j'analyse sa conception des types de connaissance immédiate étroitement liés à ses arguments théologiques. Et à partir de là, je montre comment le désaccord à propos du contenu de cette connaissance est à l'origine du débat opposant les théologiens musulmans (mutakallimūn) à propos de la validité de certains arguments théologiques. (shrink)