9 research outputs found
Key Factors in the Implementation of Wearable Antennas for WBNs and ISM Applications: A Review WBNs and ISM Applications: A Review
No full textThe increasing usage of wireless technology has prompted the development of a new generation antenna compatible with the latest devices, with on-body antennas (wearable antennas) being one of the revolutionary applications. This modern design is relevant in technologies that require close human body contact, such as telemedicine and identification systems, due to its superior performance compared to normal antennas. Some of its finer characteristics include flexibility, reflection coefficient, bandwidth, directivity, gain, radiation, specific absorption rate (SAR), and efficiency that are anticipated to be influenced by the coupling and absorption by the human body tissues. Furthermore, improvements like band-gap structure and artificial magnetic conductors (AMC) and (DGS) are included in the wearable antenna that offers a high degree of isolation from the human body and significantly reduces SAR. In this paper, the development of on-body antennas and how they are affected by the human body were reviewed. Additionally, parameters that affect the performance of this new antenna model, such as materials and common technologies, are included as an auxiliary study for researchers to determine the factors affecting the performance of the wearable antenna and the access to a highly efficient antenna
Fabric–Metal Barrier for Low Specific Absorption Rate and Wide-Band Felt Substrate Antenna for Medical and 5G Applications
No full textThis study proposed the dimensions of 55 mm × 34 mm × 1 mm for wearable antenna; the copper Y-slot patch and copper partial ground are attached to a felt substrate. The partial ground has the higher impact in antenna gain enhancement compared with the full ground, making it the most suitable candidate for wearable applications and suitable for embedding in fabrics for use in medical applications. In addition, the proposed antenna design combined a fabric–metal barrier operated at 2.4 GHz 65.4% with a low specific absorption rate (SAR) of 0.01 watts per kilogramme (W/kg) and 0.006 W/kg per 10 g and a gain of 6.48 dBi. The proposed antenna has an omnidirectional radiation pattern. The two-layer barrier is designed to achieve high electromagnetic (EM) absorption and reduce the antenna’s absorption coefficient (SAR) for safe use in applications involving human activities. Simulation and measurement results on the arm and the head of the human body indicated that the antenna has excellent performance. In addition, the measurement results agreed well with the simulation results, making the proposed wearable antenna reliable for medical and 5G applications
ADVANCES IN MANAGING ANEMIA IN ELDERLY IN PRIMARY CARE
No full textIntroduction: Anemia is considered to be important risk factors that lead to the development of several late complications and morbidities especially in the elderly. It is associated with higher rates of hospital admissions worse survival outcomes. Most studies have concluded that the risk of anemia continues to increase after an individual passes fifty years of age, with a prevalence of more than twenty percent in individuals older than eighty-five years. it is important to establish the best ways to approach anemic elderly patients and to determine best work-up methodsAim of work: In this review, we will discuss the most recent approaches for management of anemia in the elderly, with a focus on transfusion therapy.Methodology: We did a systematic search for anemia in elderly in the emergency department using PubMed search engine (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and Google Scholar search engine (https://scholar.google.com). We only included full articles.Conclusions: Anemia is considered to be one of the most common conditions present in the elderly population. anemia can range from mild, to moderate, or even severe in some cases. Most cases off anemia can be asymptomatic and detected accidentally prior to surgeries or on routine investigations. we discussed indications for blood transfusion in anemic elderly patients. Further studies are still required to determine the thresholds for blood transfusion in each subgroup of patients.
Key words: Anemia, elderly, management, recent advance
Safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics profile of antimalarial drugs in pregnancy : pharmacoepidemiology studies
Get PDFBackground: Malaria in pregnancy is an important public health problem in sub Saharan Africa. It is known to be the most common and preventable cause of harmful birth outcomes in malaria endemic areas. It is therefore important for a pregnant woman to be treated with safe and effective antimalarial medication. Drug safety in pregnancy is of a greater concern due to limited safety data available in this vulnerable group. This is because pregnant women are not involved in clinical trials related to drug development process due to safety reasons and hence, most of these medicines come to market with limit information available about their safety in pregnancy. Hence, establishing a drug safety monitoring mechanism would be important to generate safety data when a given medicine is already in the market, especially medications against tropical diseases.
Pregnant women are at increased risk of malaria infection and illness than non-pregnant individuals due to physiological, hormonal and immunological changes that occur in their body after conception. The changes are also responsible for various therapeutic challenges that face this vulnerable group. This explains the presence of significant alteration of antimalarial pharmacokinetic (PK) properties in pregnancy and hence lead to a reduced drug blood concentration, which will ultimately lower antimalarial cure rate. Another factor that affects antimalarial effectiveness in pregnancy is parasite resistance against sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), a drug that is used for intermittent preventive treatment of malaria in pregnancy (IPTp).
The objectives of the thesis were to assess the magnitude of drugs exposure during pregnancy in relation to pregnancy outcomes, to describe the feasibility of establishing active pharmacovigilance system in developing countries using Health Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) platform, to determine safety of artemether-lumefantrine (AL) exposure in first trimester of pregnancy, to evaluate pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties of artemether-lumefantrine in pregnant and non-pregnant women, and to determine the effectiveness of IPTp-SP in prevention of placental malaria, maternal anaemia and low birth weight in areas with different malaria transmission intensity.
Method: Three different study designs were used independently to respond to different specific objectives of this thesis; (i) a longitudinal follow up study was conducted to generate artemether/lumefantrine (AL) safety data in first trimester secondary to its inadvertent exposure in two Health Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) areas in Tanzania. Pregnant women with gestational age ? 20 weeks were enrolled and followed up on monthly bases until delivery. Drugs exposures during the entire pregnancy period were also recorded. The latter was used to document the feasibility of establishing active pharmacovigilance system using HDSS platform in one of the studied HDSS area. (ii) To determine AL PK, a prospective study involving pregnant in second and third trimester and non-pregnant women, both with uncomplicated P falciparum malaria. Plasma samples were collected at pre-defined dates for bioassay to determine drug level. Participants were followed up on pre-defined schedule visits until day 42. Inter- and intra-individual variability was assessed and covariated effects quantified using a nonlinear mixed-effect modeling approach (NONMEM®). (iii) Another prospective study enrolling pregnant women to assess the effectiveness of IPTp in two areas with different malaria transmission intensity. Pregnant women were recruited in the labor ward and structured questionnaire was used for interview. Placental parasitaemia was screened by using both light microscope and real-time quantitative PCR.
Findings
Pharmacovigilance system
91% (994 of 1089) of pregnant women who were piloted to assess feasibility of establishing active PV system completed the follow up until delivery. 98% of pregnant women reported to have taken at least one medication during pregnancy, mainly drugs provided in the antenatal program. Other most reported drugs were analgesics (24%), antibiotics (17%) and antimalarials (15%), excluding IPTp. Iron and folate supplementations were associated with decreased risk of miscarriage/stillbirth (OR 0.1; 0.08 – 0.3).
AL safety
82% (1783 of 2167) of pregnant women who used and not used antimalarial drugs in first trimester were followed until delivery and recorded their pregnancy outcome. 319 (17.9%) used antimalarial drugs in first trimester and AL was the most frequent antimalarial used [53.9% (172 of 319)]. Others were 24.4 % quinine, 20.7% SP and 3.4% amodiaquine. Quinine exposure in first trimester was associated with increased risk of miscarriage/stillbirth (OR 2.5; 1.3 – 5.1) and premature birth (OR 2.6; 1.3 – 5.3). AL, SP and amodiaquine exposure were found not to be harmful.
PK analysis
33 pregnant women and 22 non-pregnant women with malaria were treated with AL (80/480mg) twice daily for 3 days. Lumefantrine (LF) bioavailability and metabolism rate into desmethyl-lumefantrine were respectively 34% lower and 78% higher in pregnant than in non-pregnant patients. Overall PCR uncorrected therapeutic failure was 18% in pregnant and 5% in non-pregnant women (OR 4.0; p value 0.22). A higher median day 7 LF concentration was associated with adequate clinical and parasitological response.
Effectiveness of IPTp
350 pregnant women were recruited and screened for placental parasitaemia (175 each from high and low malaria transmission areas). Prevalence of placenta parasitaemia was 16.6% in high transmission area and 2.3% in low transmission area. One or more doses of IPTp in high transmission area had 80% impact against placental malaria (OR 0.2; CI 0.06 – 0.7; p=0.015) and 60% in low transmission (OR 0.4; CI 0.04 – 4.5; p=0.478). Primigravida and residing in high transmission area were significant risk factors for placental malaria (OR 2.4; CI 1.1 – 5.0) and (OR 9.4; CI 3.2 – 27.7), respectively. The numbers needed to treat (NNT) was 4 (CI 2 – 4) women in high transmission area and 33 (CI 20 – 50) low transmission area to prevent one placental malaria. IPTp use was not statistically significant associated with decreased risk of maternal anaemia or low birth weight, regardless are of transmission intensity.
Conclusion:
Overall medicine use in pregnancy period is very high, including AL exposure in first trimester albeit this drug is not the first line treatment for malaria in early pregnancy. AL use in first trimester was safer as opposed to quinine, the first line drug which was associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. We therefore recommend to consider other options than quinine for standard antimalarial drug in first trimester, and AL could be the best one.
HDSS platforms represent a reliable and feasible support to build on a pharmacovigilance system to assess safety of drugs in pregnancy since it has proved to be feasible. We recommend that pharmaceutical companies and other global financial bodies should invest more on the establishment of active pharmacovigilance system in pregnancy in tropical developing countries. The latter will boost safety data pool of newly marketed medicines and anti-infective agents for treating different illnesses in pregnancy.
LF bioavailability is significantly lowered in pregnant women due to altered PK properties as opposed to non-pregnant women in the same area. This may be responsible for therapeutic failure among pregnant women secondary to the observed low post-treatment prophylaxis. We recommend to evaluate a modified treatment regimen of malaria in pregnancy. ---------- Muhtasari
Utangulizi: Ugonjwa wa malaria kwa mama mjamzito ni tatizo kuu kwenye afya ya jamii hasa Africa kusini mwa jangwa la Sahara. Malaria ni miongoni mwa magonjwa yanayoweza kuzuilika. Ugonjwa huu unasababisha mazara makubwa sana kwa mtoto mchanga tokea akiwa tumboni kwa mama yake hasa sehemu zenye malaria kwa kiwango cha juu. Hivyo basi ni vema mama mjamzito atibiwe na dawa salama na zenye uwezo mkubwa wa kuangamiza vidudu vya malaria. Usalama wa dawa kwa mama mjamzito ni kitu chenye changamoto kubwa kutokana na uhaba wa takwimu muhimu za usalama wa dawa za malaria kwa wajawazito. Sababu kuu inatokana na mama wajawazito kutohusishwa kwenye majaribio ya dawa kipindi cha za mwanzoni pale ambapo dawa husika bado hazijapewa kibali cha kuingia sokoni kwa sababu ya kuhofia usalama wa kiafya hasa kwa mtoto aliyopo tumboni. Hilo linapelekea kwa dawa nyingi kuingia sokoni zikiwa na upungufu wa taarifa muhimu juu ya usalama wake kwa mama mjamzito. Kwa sababu hiyo, ni muhimu kuwa na mfumo wa kipekee wa kumfuatilia mama mjamzito pale atakapotumia dawa ambazo zipo tayari sokoni ili kuboresha taarifa za kiusalama kiafya kutokana na matumizi yake kipindi cha ujauzito.
Mama mjamzito anahatari kubwa ya kuambukizwa ugonjwa wa malaria pamoja na kuuguwa kuliko mama ambaye hana ujauzito. Hili linatokana na mabadiliko kipindi cha ujauzito ambayo yanasababishwa na kupunguwa kwa kinga ya mwili na mabadiliko ya homoni mwilini mwake. Mabadiliko haya yanachangia pia kuathiri ufanisi wa dawa mwilini kwake kupambana na vijidudu vya malaria na hivyo kupunguza uwezo wa uponyaji. Usugu wa dawa dhidi ya vijidudu vya malaria, kwa mfano dawa ya SP huchangia pia kuathiri uwezo wa kumponya mgonjwa wa malaria.
Dhumini kuu la utafiti huu ni (i) kujuwa wingi wa dawa anazotumia mama mjamzito ukilinganisha na matokeo ya mimba yake, (ii) kuonyesha uwezekano wa kuwa na mfumo pekee wa kudhibitisha matumizi ya dawa ambao utaweza kufuatilia usalama na matumizi ya dawa kwa ujumla kwa mama mjamzito, kwenye nchi inayoendelea kwa kutumia mfumo wa HDSS (Health Demographic Surveillance System), (iii) kuhakiki usalama wa matumizi ya dawa mseto (ALU) ya malaria kipindi cha mimba changa, (iv) kutathimini unyambulisho wa dawa ya mseto mwilini mwa mgonjwa sambamba na kulinganisha ufanisi wake wa kuangamiza vijidudu vya malaria, na (v) kutathimini ufanisi wa dawa ya SP ambayo mama mjamzito anapatiwa kliniki kama inasaidia kuangamiza vijidudu vya malari kwenye kondo la uzazi, kuzuia upungufu wa damu kwa mama na mtoto kutozaliwa na kilo pungufu kwenye maeneo yenye viwango tofauti vya maambukizo ya malaria.
Methodolojia: Njia tatu tofauti zilitumika kupata majibu husika ya malengo ya utafiti huu; (i) Kufuatilia mama wajawazito tokea kipindi cha mwanzo cha ujauzito wao hadi wanapojifungua na kurekodi taarifa za matumizi ya dawa (ikiwemo dawa mseto) na matokeo ya ujauzito. Zoezi hili lilifanyika kwenye vituo vya HDSS huko Rufiji na Kigoma mjini. (ii) Unyambulisho wa ufanisi wa dawa mseto uliwahusisha wanawake ambao ni wajawazito (wenye umri wa mimba kuanzia wiki 13 na kuendelea) na wale wasio wajawazito lakini wote wakiwa wametambulika hawana malaria kali. Walipewa dawa mseto na kutolewa damu kwa kipindi tofauti tofauti ndani ya siku 42 za kuwafuatilia ili kupima kiwango cha dawa kwenye damu na kuhakiki vijidudu vya malaria vinavyo angamia. (iii) Kuhakiki ufanisi wa SP kama kinga ya malaria kwa mama mjamzito (IPTp) ilihusisha kuwatambua akina mama wajawazito wakiwa kwenye hospitali mbili tofauti ambazo zipo kwenye maeneo yanye viwango tofauti vya uambukizaji wa malaria. Utambuzi wa akinamama hawa ulikuwa muda mfupi kabla hawajajifungua na ulihusisha kukusanya damu toka kwenye kondo la uzazi mara tu baada ya kujifungua na kupima kama kuna maambukizi ya vijidudu vya malaria.
Matokea: (i) Mfumo wa ukusanyaji taarifa ya matumizi ya dawa kipindi chote cha ujauzito. Asilimia 90 (994/1089) ya mama wajawazito waliweza kufuatiliwa mpaka walipo jifunguwa. Jumla ya 98% waliripoti kutumia walau aina moja ya dawa kipindi cha ujauzito, hasa zikiwa dawa zinazotolewa kwenye mpango maalumu wa mama na mtoto. Dawa nyingi zikiwa ni dawa za kuzuia maumivu (24%), antibayotiki (17%) na dawa za kutibu malaria (15%). Imeonekana dawa za kuongeza wingi wa dama zinahusiana na kupunguza hatari ya mimba kuharibika na mtoto kuzaliwa njiti.
(ii) Usalama wa dawa mseto: Jumla ya mama wajawazito 1783 kati ya 2167 (82%) waliyotumia na ambao hawajatumia dawa za malaria kipindi cha miezi mitatu ya mwanzo ya ujauzito walifuatiliwa na kurekodi matokeo yao ya ujauzito wao. 319 (17.9%) walitumia dawa za malaria kipindi hicho cha mwanzo cha ujauzito na kati ya hawa 53.9% walitumia dawa mseto. Wengine walitumia quinine (24.4%), SP (20.7%) na amodiaquine (3.4%). Matumizi ya quinine kipindi cha miezi mitatu ya mwanzo ya mimba yalihusishwa na kuharibika kwa mimba na kuzaa mtoto njiti. Dawa ya mseto, SP na amodiaquine zilionyesha kutokuwa na mathara yeyote.
(iii) Unyambulisho wa ufanisi ya dawa mseto: Utafiti huu ulihusisha wajawazito 33 na wanawake wasio wajawazito 22 waliyo na malaria na kutibiwa na dozi kamili ya dawa mseto mara mbili kutwa kwa siku 3. Sehemu ya dawa ya mseto ilionekana kuwa pungufu kwa wajawazito ukilinganisha na wale wasiyo wajawazito. Kwenye kipindi cha kuwafuatiliya wagonjwa (ndani ya siku 42), 18% ya wajawazito na 5% ya wasiyo wajawazito waligundulika kuwa bado wana vijidudu vya malaria. Kuwa na kiwango kikubwa cha dawa ya mseto kwenye mzunguko wa damu ulihusishwa na kupona malaria kwa ufasaha.
(iv) Ufanisi wa SP kama kinga ya malaria kwa mama mjamzito. Jumla ya mama wajawazito 350 walihusiswa kwenye utafiti huu, 175 toka kila sehemu yenye malaria ya kwa kiwango cha juu na pia toka kwenye sehemu ya malaria kwa kiwango cha chini. Maambukizo ya malaria kwenye kondo la uzazi ilikuwa 16.6% kwenye eneo la malaria cha kiwango cha juu na 2.3% kwenye eneo lenye malaria kwa kiwango cha chini. Matumizi ya SP yalionyesha uwezekano wa kuzuia maambukizi ya kondo la uzazi hasa eneo lenye malaria ya juu. Kuwa na ujauzito wa kwanza na kuishi eneo lenye malaria ya juu ni kiambata hatarishi cha kupata maambukizo ya kondo la uzazi
Hitimisho: Kwa ujumla matumizi ya dawa kipindi cha ujauzito yapo kwenye kiwangu cha juu, ikiwemo matumizi ya dawa mseto kwenye kipindi cha mimba changa, japokuwa dawa hii siyo chaguo la kwanza kwenye tiba ya malaria kwenye kipindi hichi. Dawa mseto imeonekana kuwa salama zaidi kuliko quinine hivyo ni bora kuanza kufikiria jinsi itakavyoweza kupendekezwa kwa matumizi kipindi cha mimba changa.
Kupitia HDSS imeonyesha inaweza kusaidia kuwa na mfumo wa uhakika na kuaminika wa kukusanya taarifa muhimu za matumizi ya dawa kwa mama mjamzito kwenye nchi masikini. Hivyo ni bora makampuni ya dawa, wafadhili kwa kushirikiana na taasisi za afya ndani na nje ya nchi wafikirie jinsi ya kufadhili mfumo huu ili kusaidia kuboresha takwimu za usalama wa dawa kwa mama wajawazito.
Imethibitika kuwa dawa mseto inapunguwa kwa kiasi kikubwa mwilini mwa mwanamke mjamzito ukilinganisha na mwanamke asiyo mjamzito. Hili huenda ikapelekea mama mjamzito kutopona kwa ufasaa na kupungukiwa uwezekano wa kukabiliyana na maambukizo mapya ya malaria kipindi cha usoni hasa baada ya kumaliza dozi ya malaria. Hivyo tunapendekeza kupitiwa upya dozi ya malaria inayotumika sasa na mama mjamzito na kushauri upatikanaji wa dozi mpya kwa hili kundi la wajawazito
De-mystifying the Muslimah: Exploring Different Perceptions of Selected Young Muslim Women in Britain
No full textIn this research I argue that although Islam as a faith is inherently emancipatory, Muslim
women are doubly marginalised: by patriarchal interpretations of their faith within Muslim
communities and by pluralist society that often does not understand the faith-based values
and practices of Muslim women. The empowerment of Muslim women is crucial not just for
the women themselves but also for socio-political dynamics within the Muslim community
and its relationships in pluralist society. It is from this context, and acknowledging the paucity
of academic literature written by Muslim women, that I set out to give voice to them, so that
their opinions may be heard in discourses that they think are relevant to their lives. By
encouraging Muslim women to take voice and by facilitating mechanisms for these voices to
be heard, this research presents alternate narratives of Muslim women that challenge
dominant media imagery of the oppressed and subjugated Muslim woman. These narratives,
which are by and for Muslim women, portray instead the inherent diversity in the category
'Muslim woman' and thus add more facets to the category 'woman'.
I used an ethnographic methodology that involved participants as contributors in the creation
of new knowledge. Semi-structured interviews with 45 young university-educated Muslim
women and 7 group discussions were used as initial data-gathering tools. The penultimate
ethnographic stage involved Muslim women creating 3-minute long self-representational
digital stories (DSTs), which consist of an autobiographical narrative accompanied by still
pictures. This was a process of self-reflection for the women and an opportunity to take voice
and to be heard. The subsequent screening of these DSTs to audiences who were not
Muslim resulted in discussion and active debate about the reasons for prevalent
(mis)understandings of Muslim women and stereotypes were challenged. In its initiation of
more balanced representations of Muslim women this research empowers Muslim women,
and by contributing to dialogue and cohesion it also empowers pluralist society as a whole.
This research clarifies the overlapping priorities and identities of young British Muslim
women and initiates new discourses, as narrated by the women, on subjects including
religious interpretation and practice, feminism, media representation and social cohesion. In
the research findings I propose an evolving British-Muslim identity among Muslim youth (in
this case young women) which is distinct from that of their parents; a theological articulation
of a 'feminist' struggle for women's rights; and the need to engage with the media and others
to create positive representations of Muslim women. Experiences with DSTs indicate the
potential of personal narratives and interaction for the purposes of inter-community dialogue
The regulation of labour and the state in the Sudan : a study of the relationship between the stage of social and economic development and the autonomy of labour relations law
Get PDFThe thesis is a study of labour regulation and the State in the
Sudan in the light of a general theoretical conception of labour law and
the State. The first Chapter defines the concepts of analysis that are
used throughout the study, isolates the "essential" properties of the
Capitalist State and Law from the historically concrete forms which they
assume in a particular society and distinguishes between processes which
influence development of the form of law and others which influence its
sociological development. Drawing on the analysis in Chapter I, Chapter
II exposes the inter-relationship between the Sudanese social formation,
State and Law and the implication of this inter-relationship for both the
form and substance of labour relations law. Chapters III, IV and V are
specific verifications of the hypothesis regarding the inter-relationship
between the State and labour relations law in the Sudan and that
regarding the development of the "substance" and "ideology" of law in
general.
The thesis considers law as an empirically-founded discipline.
But, it distinguishes between various types of empirical facts about law
corresponding with respective semi-autonomous social levels at which law
asserts its existence. The research method followed describes the
empirical facts about law at the particular level and, in order to
determine the epistemological significance of these facts, analytically
relates them to empirical facts at other levels. Wherever used in the
thesis the term "theory" signifies either this methodological procedure of
analysing the inter-connection of empirical facts at a certain level and
their inter-relation with other facts at other levels, or the substantive
generalizations about law which findings at these various levels would
allow.
I consider my application of this methodology to the study of
labour rela tions law, the historical dimension this application introduces
in socio-economic analysis of this law, the criticism of certain Marxist
and other sociological conceptions of law it enables, and the
socio-histor ical relativity of the "substance" and "ideology" of law it
reveals as original contributions to the knowledge of labour law. The
compilation and evaluation within the framework of the thesis of
empirical materials on industrial relations in the Sudan are likewise
original contribution to the knowledge of Sudanese "labour law" and
labour law in general
The global Information technology report 2015: ICTs for inclusive growth
Get PDFInformation and communication technologies (ICTs) are transforming our economies and societies. Since 2001, The Global Information and Technology Report series and the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) have been taking the pulse of the ICT revolution worldwide.
The NRI identifies the capacity of countries to leveraging ICT, by assessing the overall political and business environment, the level of ICT readiness and usage of ICT among the population, businesses and government, as well as the overall impacts of ICTs on the economy and society at large.
The 2015 results, which covers 143 economies, confirms the dominance of advanced economies and the persistence of the multiple-faceted digital divides not only across but also within economies. They reveal the pervasive digital poverty that deprives the neediest from the opportunities offered by ICTs.
Beyond this diagnosis, under the theme “ICTs for Inclusive Growth”, the 2015 edition of the report provides solutions from leading experts and practitioners to alleviate digital poverty and make the ICT revolution a global reality. 
Astrology in literature: how the prohibited became permissible in the Arabic poetry of the mediaeval period
Get PDFThis thesis is concerned to position the art of astrology within the context of classical Arabic poetry, primarily by investigating and elucidating attitudes to the notion of
qadar (fate) and the ideology in which it was embedded. These attitudes were revelatory of the broader world view of the Arabs of those periods, and their shifts from those held in the pre-Islamic and early Islamic eras tell us a good deal about the importance given to the nature and role of fate and about the various understandings of its influence. The pre-Islamic Arab's notion of qadar was in some ways similar to that of the early Muslims: both emphasised predetermination and the irresistible power of fate. But while the jahilf (Pre-Islamic) Arabs identified fate with the malign power of dahr (Time), the Muslims believed the power of fate lies in the hands of God the
Omnipotent, who alone is responsible for the fate of the whole universe. Thus the astrology of the pre-Islamic era was one aspect of divination (kihana) and claimed to be
able to reveal in advance an individual's destiny, which could be avoided by taking certain precautions. These precautions, however, were considered effective only in
relatively trivial cases; they were useless in the areas of major impact: a person's happiness or misery (shaqiiwa aw sa ada), sustenance (rizq) and one's term (ajal), the
three inevitable and irresistible manifestations of fate. In the Islamic period not only these major aspects of life are governed and controlled by the Omnipotent; the destiny
of the universe, in even its most minute details, is determined and controlled by God alone. Astrology was considered to be of no value whatsoever, and its practitioners were subject to the death penalty. These two irreconcilable views are evident in early Islamic poetry, which reflected clearly the response of poets, and society, to astrology from the perspective of qadar.
When the orthodox caliphate was replaced by dynastic rule the status of astrology was changed dramatically. The idea that the stars, as indicators, play a role in the life of
human beings found popowerful supporters in some governors of the Islamic world, who allowed astrology to fulfil a public function regardless of the hostility of the official
religion of that society. This social phenomenon generated rich material of a controversial character in the realm of literature. Investigating the factors, motivations
and impact of mediaeval political, theological and philosophical attitudes to astrology, in relation to the notions of free will and predestination, is the concern of this study
Proceedings of International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022
Get PDFThis conference proceedings contains articles on the various research ideas of the academic & research communities presented at the International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022 (TECH POST 2022) that was held at Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 24-25 September 2022. TECH POST 2022 was organized by the Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya. The theme of the conference is “Embracing Innovative Engineering Technologies Towards a Sustainable Future”. TECH POST 2022 conference is intended to foster the dissemination of state-of-the-art research from five main disciplines of Engineering: Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Chemical Engineering. The objectives of TECH POST 2022 are to bring together innovative researchers from all engineering disciplines to a common forum, promote R&D activities in Engineering, and promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge and research know-how between researchers, engineers, and students.
Conference Title: International Technical Postgraduate Conference 2022Conference Acronym: TECH POST 2022Conference Date: 24-25 September 2022Conference Location: Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (Hybrid Mode)Conference Organizers: Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
