Prominent Period Research Articles

ASPEK PEMBIAYAAN HUTANG MENURUT SYEIKH DAUD AL-FATANI DALAM FURŪ‘ AL-MASĀ’IL

Furū‘ al-Masā’il is a popular work by the prolific Malay scholar, Sheikh Daud al-Fatani (1131-1265H/1718-1847M). It is also considered a masterpiece written during a prominent period in fiqh discipline which includes fiqh al-mu‘āmalāt; being directly related to the economic and finance fields. This article scrutinizes debt financing aspect as perceived indirectly by the author in the mu‘āmalāt chapter. This article applies a literary critical method known as taḥqīq al-nuṣūṣ. It was found that debt financing can be identified under four (4) subtopics of contract: al-salam, al-ijārah, al-qarḍ and al-murābaḥah. It also points out that debt financing is relevant to the practice in Malaysian Islamic banking. This particular relevancy can be summarized into two main aspects: aspect of definition and aspect of application. In addition, this article also illustrates that with some modifications in preparing debt financing concepts in accordance to Sheikh Daud’s views, the practice will become more Shariah compliant as well as more practical.

A Luni-Solar Connection to Weather and Climate I: Centennial Times Scales

Lunar ephemeris data is used to find the times when the Perigee of the lunar orbit points directly toward or away from the Sun, at times when the Earth is located at one of its solstices or equinoxes, for the period from 1993 to 2528 A.D. The precision of these lunar alignments is expressed in the form of a lunar alignment index (ϕ). When a plot is made of ϕ, in a frame-of-reference that is fixed with respect to the Perihelion of the Earth’s orbit, distinct periodicities are seen at 28.75, 31.0, 88.5 (Gleissberg Cycle), 148.25, and 208.0 years (de Vries Cycle). The full significance of the 208.0-year repetition pattern in ϕ only becomes apparent when these periodicities are compared to those observed in the spectra for two proxy time series. The first is the amplitude spectrum of the maximum daytime temperatures (Tm) on the Southern Colorado Plateau for the period from 266 BC to 1997 AD. The second is the Fourier spectrum of the solar modulation potential (ϕm) over the last 9400 years. A comparison between these three spectra shows that of the nine most prominent periods seen in ϕ, eight have matching peaks in the spectrum of ϕm, and seven have matching peaks in the spectrum of Tm. This strongly supports the contention that all three of these phenomena are related to one another. A heuristic Luni-Solar climate model is developed in order to explain the connections between ϕ, Tm and ϕm.

Potential links between continental rifting, CO2 degassing and climate change through time

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is a key influence on Earth’s climate. Today, significant quantities of CO2 are emitted at continental rifts, suggesting that the spatial and temporal extent of rift systems may have influenced deep carbon fluxes and thus climate change throughout geological time. Here we test this hypothesis by conducting a worldwide census of continental rift lengths over the last 200 million years. We estimate tectonic CO2 release rates through time and show that along the extensive Mesozoic and Cenozoic rift systems, rift-related CO2 degassing rates reached more than 300% of present-day values. Using a numerical carbon cycle model, we find that two prominent periods of enhanced rifting 160 to 100 million years ago and after 55 million years ago coincided with greenhouse climate episodes, during which atmospheric CO2 concentrations were more than three times higher than today. We therefore propose that continental fragmentation and long-term climate change could plausibly be linked via massive CO2 degassing in rift systems. Degassing of large amounts of CO2 from continental rifts may have contributed to greenhouse climate episodes over the past 200 million years, according to numerical models.

Land conflicts and social differentiation in eastern Uganda

ABSTRACTRising competition and conflict over land in rural sub-Saharan Africa continues to attract the attention of researchers. Recent work has especially focused on land governance, post-conflict restructuring of tenure relations, and large-scale land acquisitions. A less researched topic as of late, though one deserving of greater consideration, pertains to how social differentiation on the local-level shapes relations to land, and how these processes are rooted in specific historical developments. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, this paper analyses three specific land conflicts and situates them within a broad historical trajectory. I show how each dispute illuminates changes in class relations in Teso since the early 1990s. I argue that this current period of socioeconomic transformation, which includes the formation of a more clearly defined sub-regional middle class and elite, constitutes the most prominent period of social differentiation in Teso since the early 20th century.

Periodicities in solar wind-magnetosphere coupling functions and geomagnetic activity during the past solar cycles

In this paper, we study the solar-terrestrial relation through the wavelet analysis. We report periodicities common between multiple solar wind coupling functions and geomagnetic indices during five solar cycles and also and the strength of this correspondence. The $\mathit{Dst}$ (found to be most predictable in Newell et al., J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 112(A1):A01206, 2007) and $\mathit{AL}$ (least predictable in Newell et al., J. Geophys. Res. Space Phys. 112(A1):A01206, 2007) indices are used for this purpose. During the years 1966–2016 (which includes five solar cycles 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24), prominent periodicities $\leq720$ days with power above 95% confidence level were found to occur around 27, 182, 385, and 648 days in the $\mathit{Dst}$ index while those in the $\mathit{AL}$ index were found in bands around 27, 187, and 472 days. Ten solar wind coupling functions were then used to find periodicities common with the indices. All the coupling functions had significant power in bands centered around 27, 280, and 648 days while powers in fluctuations around 182, 385, and 472 days were only found in some coupling functions. All the drivers and their variants had power above the significant level in the 280–288 days band, which was absent in the $\mathit{Dst}$ and $\mathit{AL}$ indices. The normalized scale averaged spectral power around the common periods in the coupling functions and the indices indicated that the coupling functions most correlated with the $\mathit{Dst}$ index were the Newell (27 and 385 days), Wygant (182 days), and Scurry-Russell and Boynton (648 days) functions. An absence of common power between the coupling functions and the $\mathit{Dst}$ index around the annual periodicity was noted during the even solar cycles. A similar analysis for the $\mathit{AL}$ index indicated that Newell (27 days), Rectified (187 days), and Boynton (472 days) were the most correlated functions. It was also found that the correlation numbers were relatively weaker for the $\mathit{AL}$ index, specially for the 187 day periodicity. It is concluded that as the two indices respond to solar wind forcing with varying levels of strength at various prominent scales and the coupling function used, the response might be dependent on the scale (days or months or years) of interest at which the solar wind driving is to be predicted.

The 2016 super-Eddington outburst of SMC X-3: X-ray and optical properties and system parameters

On 2016 July 30 (MJD 57599), observations of the Small Magellanic Cloud by Swift/XRT found an increase in X-ray counts coming from a position consistent with the Be/X-ray binary pulsar SMC X-3. Follow-up observations on 2016 August 3 (MJD 57603) and 2016 August 10 (MJD 57610) revealed a rapidly increasing count rate and confirmed the onset of a new X-ray outburst from the system. Further monitoring by Swift began to uncover the enormity of the outburst, which peaked at 1.2 x 10^39 erg/s on 2016 August 25 (MJD 57625). The system then began a gradual decline in flux that was still continuing over 5 months after the initial detection. We explore the X-ray and optical behaviour of SMC X-3 between 2016 July 30 and 2016 December 18 during this super-Eddington outburst. We apply a binary model to the spin-period evolution that takes into account the complex accretion changes over the outburst, to solve for the orbital parameters. Our results show SMC X-3 to be a system with a moderately low eccentricity amongst the Be/X-ray binary systems and to have a dynamically determined orbital period statistically consistent with the prominent period measured in the OGLE optical light curve. Our optical and X-ray derived ephemerides show that the peak in optical flux occurs roughly 6 days after periastron. The measured increase in I-band flux from the counterpart during the outburst is reflected in the measured equivalent width of the H-alpha line emission, though the H-alpha emission itself seems variable on sub-day time-scales, possibly due to the NS interacting with an inhomogeneous disc.

Redefining the Republic of Letters: The Literary Public and Mudie’s Circulating Library

In late 1860, Charles Mudie’s plans to expand his circulating library inspired his detractors and competitors to challenge the validity of his ‘right to selection’ – the process by which he chose which texts he would loan from his library. Over the next few months, prominent periodicals featured correspondence and editorials that decried or supported Mudie’s ostensible monopoly over literary exchange. While the initial argument was economic, the dispute extended beyond economics to religion, literary quality and culture. To connect these disparate fields, writers turned to the politics of interpretation: that is, whether specialists should define literary culture, or if a public comprised of individual, ‘common’ readers should determine their own standards for books. Mudie’s opponents advocated for individual readers’ right to read what they liked, how they liked. His supporters argued that the public needed specialists to guide their literary tastes. The resulting exchange about what I call the ‘literary...

Climatic periodicities recorded in lake sediment magnetic susceptibility data: Further evidence for solar forcing on Indian summer monsoon

The Indian summer monsoon exhibits considerable spatio-temporal variability. It is therefore important to understand its dynamics and the inherent periodicities. In this study, we have performed spectral and wavelet analyses of magnetic susceptibility data for sediments from Thimmannanayakanakere (TK)–a small lake in southern India. The main objective of this investigation is to identify and explain the possible origin of the prominent periodicities present in the magnetic susceptibility data. Significant periodicities in the TK χlf data are centered at 906, 232, 147, 128, 96, 61, 54 and 44 years, which might have a solar origin. The wavelet power spectrum of the raw and detrended χlf data confirms the findings of spectral analysis and also provides temporal variations of the significant cyclicities during the past 3700 cal. years B.P. Positive correlation is documented between sunspot activity and TK χlf data; cross-spectral analysis of the reconstructed sunspot data and TK χlf data suggest that there is a strong coherence between the two datasets as significant periodicities are documented in both. There is a good match between the TK χlf and the reconstructed total solar irradiance data for the past 1200 years. However, an out-of-phase relationship is documented at certain time-intervals, which may be attributed to uncertainties in the age-depth model. The results obtained from this study show that solar variations are the main controlling factor of the southwest monsoon and, like other archives from different regions in India, the TK lake sediments have also recorded these solar signatures.

ASPEK PEMBIAYAAN HUTANG MENURUT SYEIKH DAUD AL-FATANI DALAM FURŪ‘ AL-MASĀ’IL: Debt Financing Aspect According to Sheikh Daud al-Fatani in Furū‘ al-Masā’il

Furū‘ al-Masā’il is a popular work by the prolific Malay scholar, Sheikh Daud al-Fatani (1131-1265H/1718-1847M). It is also considered a masterpiece written during a prominent period in fiqh discipline which includes fiqh al-mu‘āmalāt; being directly related to the economic and finance fields. This article scrutinizes debt financing aspect as perceived indirectly by the author in the mu‘āmalāt chapter. This article applies a literary critical method known as taḥqīq al-nuṣūṣ. It was found that debt financing can be identified under four (4) subtopics of contract: al-salam, al-ijārah, al-qarḍ and al-murābaḥah. It also points out that debt financing is relevant to the practice in Malaysian Islamic banking. This particular relevancy can be summarized into two main aspects: aspect of definition and aspect of application. In addition, this article also illustrates that with some modifications in preparing debt financing concepts in accordance to Sheikh Daud’s views, the practice will become more Shariah compliant as well as more practical.

A continental arc tempo discovered in the Pacific-Gondwana margin mudpile?

Abstract The integration of detrital zircon age and trace element analyses provides a powerful tool with which to reconstruct continental arc evolution. Detrital zircons from the Ross-Delamerian orogen along the Pacific-Gondwana margin in north Victoria Land in Antarctica yield a broad 700–500 Ma U-Pb age population that shows a prominent period of activity centered at ca. 630–550 Ma. This activity is well correlated with the highest zircon Th/U and U/Yb ratios, suggesting an increase in lithospheric contribution coincident with fluid input from oceanic slab subduction, respectively. A low Yb/Gd ratio over this same period also suggests crustal thickening. Determination of zircon parent rock types using trace element proxies reveals the presence of previously unrecognized distinct pulses of granitoid activity that occur over tens of millions of years. Lulls between granitoid flare-ups overlap with increases in mafic-carbonatite-alkaline magma production, suggesting an influx of mantle or lower crustal melts during syn-subduction extension. A concomitant increase in the number of metamorphic zircons (U/Th > 10) and 40Ar/39Ar white mica cooling ages found during these extensional episodes suggest that significant thermal perturbations of the crust coincided with orogenic cooling, which was possibly influenced by uplift and exhumation.

Glimpses of stellar surfaces

We use high accuracy photometric data obtained with the Kepler satellite to monitor the activity modulations of the Kepler-210 planet host star over a time span of more than four years. Following the phenomenology of the star's light curve in combination with a five spot model, we identify six different so-called spot seasons. A characteristic, which is common in the majority of the seasons, is the persistent appearance of spots in a specific range of longitudes on the stellar surface. The most prominent period of the observed activity modulations is different for each season and appears to evolve following a specific pattern, resembling the changes in the sunspot periods during the solar magnetic cycle. Under the hypothesis that the star exhibits solar-like differential rotation, we suggest differential rotation values of Kepler-210 that are similar to or smaller than that of the Sun. Finally, we estimate spot life times between 60 days and 90 days, taking into consideration the evolution of the total covered stellar surface computed from our model.

Delayed instructional feedback may be more effective, but is this contrary to learners' preferences?

AbstractThis research investigates learners' preferences for the timing of feedback provided to multiple‐choice questions within technology‐based instruction, hitherto an area of little empirical attention. Digital materials are undergoing a period of renewed prominence within online learning and multiple‐choice questions remain a common component. There is evidence that a delay in the provision of feedback following a learner's response to multiple‐choice questions leads to an increase in subsequent performance. However, the learner's perspective on delayed feedback is yet to be explored. Learner preferences are pertinent as learning designs that run contrary to preferred learning behaviours can have a negative affect on motivation and therefore engagement. During a series of formative tests, subjects were presented with a choice of viewing either immediate or delayed feedback and their choices were recorded. Over a 2‐year period data were collected relating to 599 subjects. Qualitative interviews were also conducted to investigate why subjects made their choices. In this research, subjects expressed a marked preference for immediate feedback, 95.33% chose to view feedback immediately following their response to a question. The reasons for this preference are explored and the implications for learning design are considered.

On the relationship between quasi-biennial variations of solar activity, the heliospheric magnetic field and cosmic rays

Quasi-biennial oscillations (QBO) of solar activity (T ≈ 1–4 years) are considered to be a variation of basic solar activity, associated with the solar dynamo process. They are transferred into interplanetary space by the open magnetic flux of the Sun, generating QBO in the intensity of cosmic rays (CR). This paper discusses the observational characteristics of QBO in CR and their relationship with QBO on the Sun and in the interplanetary medium. The delay time of QBO in CR relative to the solar and heliospheric magnetic field suggests that the formation of QBO in the open magnetic flux of the Sun occurs within 3–5 months. The paper considers the question of the prominent periodicity of CR (T = 1.6 years) that has prevailed in CR and in the heliospheric magnetic field for more than 10 years but was not stable over 60 years of observations. Distinctions in the characteristics of QBO and long-term variations of CR suggest features of the mechanism of their formation.

The Politics of Contentment: Passions, Pastoral, and Community in Shakespeare’s As You Like It

This essay excavates early modern concepts of contentment in order to reconsider the political significance of Shakespeare’s As You Like It . Drawing upon the etymological connection between “content” and “contain,” Renaissance writers discussed contentment as a means of fortifying the self: of protecting the subject from the external threats of capricious fortune and the internal divisions caused by the passions. For his part, Shakespeare explores the relationship between individual, interpersonal, and political contentment. In As You Like It , contentment both sustains the individual self and unites the self and other peaceably and profitably. Upon this foundation of shared positive affect, Duke Senior builds an Arden society that opposes the political oppression of the court and promotes political virtues of liberty, counsel, and consent. Shakespeare juxtaposes this representation with the powerful desires of Rosalind and the isolating discontent of Jaques, but he nevertheless maintains the political value of contentedness. Resisting reductive twentieth-century understandings of contentment as resigned, static, and socially conservative, I argue that Shakespeare engages the prominent period discourse on contentment to rethink the prevailing political order.

Characteristics of recessional moraines at a temperate glacier in SE Iceland: Insights into patterns, rates and drivers of glacier retreat

Icelandic glaciers are sensitive to climate variability on short-term timescales owing to their North Atlantic maritime setting, and have been undergoing ice-marginal retreat since the mid-1990s. Recent patterns, rates and drivers of ice-frontal retreat at Skálafellsjökull, SE Iceland, are examined using small-scale recessional moraines as a geomorphological proxy. These small-scale recessional moraines exhibit distinctive sawtooth planform geometries, and are constructed by a range of genetic processes associated with minor ice-margin re-advance, including (i) combined push/squeeze mechanisms, (ii) bulldozing of pre-existing proglacial material, and (iii) submarginal freeze-on. Remote-sensing investigations and lichenometric dating highlight sequences of annually-formed recessional moraines on the northern and central parts of the foreland. Conversely, moraines are forming on a sub-annual timescale at the southeastern Skálafellsjökull margin. Using annual moraine spacing as a proxy for annual ice-margin retreat rates (IMRRs), we demonstrate that prominent periods of glacier retreat at Skálafellsjökull are coincident with those at other Icelandic outlet glaciers, as well as those identified at Greenlandic outlet glaciers. Analysis of IMRRs and climate data suggests summer air temperature, sea surface temperature and the North Atlantic Oscillation have an influence on IMRRs at Skálafellsjökull, with the glacier appearing to be most sensitive to summer air temperature. On the basis of further climate data analyses, we hypothesise that sea surface temperature may drive air temperature changes in the North Atlantic region, which in turn forces IMRRs. The increase in sea surface temperature over recent decades may link to atmospheric-driven variations in North Atlantic subpolar gyre dynamics.

Lumbopelvic muscle activation patterns in adolescent fast bowlers

Introduction: Adolescent fast bowlers are prone to sustaining lumbar injuries. Numerous components have been identified as contributing factors; however, there is limited empirical evidence outlining how the muscles of the lumbopelvic region, which play a vital role in stabilising the spine, function during the bowling action and the influence of such activation on injuries in the fast bowler. Methods: Surface electromyography was utilised to measure the function of the lumbar erector spinae, lumbar multifidus, gluteus medius and gluteus maximus muscles bilaterally during the fast bowling action in a group of 35 cricket fast bowlers aged 12–16 years. Results: Two prominent periods of activation occurred in each of the muscles examined. The period of greatest mean activation in the erector spinae and multifidus occurred near back foot contact (BFC) and within the post-ball-release (BR) phase. The period of greatest mean activation for the gluteus medius and gluteus maximus occurred during phases of ipsilateral foot contact. Discussion: The greatest periods of muscle activation in the paraspinal and gluteal muscles occurred at times where vertical forces were high such as BFC, and in the phases near BR where substantial shear forces are present. Conclusion: The posterior muscles within the lumbopelvic region appear to play a prominent role during the bowling action, specifically when compressive and shear forces are high. Further research is required to substantiate these findings and establish the role of the lumbopelvic muscles in the aetiology of lumbar injury in the cricket fast bowler.

Anton Weidinger and the Emergence of His Voice: The Keyed Trumpet

This paper examines Anton Weidinger, the 18th- and early 19th-century keyed trumpet player for whom Joseph Haydn and Johann Nepomuk Hummel composed their trumpet concerti. As the most successful of many attempts to chromaticize the trumpet in the late 18th century, during which the Baroque clarino style of trumpet-playing was waning, Weidinger’s keyed trumpet enjoyed a short-lived period of prominence from about 1800 to 1804, the period during which Weidinger premiered these two concerti. Subsequently, the keyed trumpet declined in popularity, and eventually it was replaced by the valve trumpet. Both concerti emphasize the chromatic capabilities of the new instrument. A detailed examination of some passages from the third movements of the two concerti suggests a deliberate attempt on the part of Hummel (perhaps under Weidinger’s influence) to “quote” and outdo the most virtuosic passages in the Haydn concerto and to cast the new instrument as capable of playing in a “singing” operatic style. Musical quotation from Luigi Cherubini’s opera Les Deux Journées further cements the implicit connection Hummel draws between the keyed trumpet and opera (and, by extension, the human voice). The paper concludes that Weidinger and Hummel sought, in Hummel’s concerto, to announce to the musical world that the trumpet was ready to move beyond its Classical status as a tutti instrument. Though the success of Weidinger and his keyed trumpet was transient, the two concerti composed for him today stand as cornerstones of the solo trumpet literature.

THE PROFITS AND PERILS OF PUBLICITY: ALLGEMEINE LITERATUR- ZEITUNG, THE THURN UND TAXIS POST, AND THE PERIODICAL TRADE AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

Recent historiography on the growth of periodical publishing has emphasized newspapers and journals as constituents of an emergent communications system in early modern Europe. This system comprised the newspapers, journals and other publications that contributed its content, and also the postal systems that were the principal method of distributing that content. This article describes how the growth of this system in central Europe was supported in large measure by financial incentives that it offered to both constituents. First, in contrast with postal systems in France and the UK, the Thurn und Taxis Reichspost inserted itself as a middleman in the sale of periodicals, which gave the Reichspost an incentive to promote the trade. Second, the financial conditions for periodical publication made their costs depend more heavily on costs that were scalable to circulation than is true today, which resulted in the viability of publications with a lower circulation. The same cost structure also made it possible for certain prominent periodicals of the era to earn considerable profits for their publishers, as illustrated in this article by Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, which was published in Jena from 1785.

Periodicity of the solar radius revisited by using empirical mode decomposition and the Lomb–Scargle method**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Using the Hilbert–Huang transform and the Lomb–Scargle method, we investigate periodicities in the daily solar radius data during the time interval from February 1978 to October 1999 derived from Calern Observatory. The following prominent periods are found: (1) the rotation cycle signal; (2) several mid-term periods including 122, 162.9 and 225 days, annual-variation periodicities (319 and 359 days), quasi-triennial oscillations (3.46 and 3.94 years); (3) the 11-year Schwabe cycle, which is in anti-phase with solar activity. This result indicates that the strong magnetic field associated with the Sun has a greater inhibitive effect on the radius variation.

Using variograms to detect and attribute hydrological change

Abstract. There have been many published studies aiming to identify temporal changes in river flow time series, most of which use monotonic trend tests such as the Mann–Kendall test. Although robust to both the distribution of the data and incomplete records, these tests have important limitations and provide no information as to whether a change in variability mirrors a change in magnitude. This study develops a new method for detecting periods of change in a river flow time series, using temporally shifting variograms (TSVs) based on applying variograms to moving windows in a time series and comparing these to the long-term average variogram, which characterises the temporal dependence structure in the river flow time series. Variogram properties in each moving window can also be related to potential meteorological drivers. The method is applied to 91 UK catchments which were chosen to have minimal anthropogenic influences and good quality data between 1980 and 2012 inclusive. Each of the four variogram parameters (range, sill and two measures of semi-variance) characterise different aspects of the river flow regime, and have a different relationship with the precipitation characteristics. Three variogram parameters (the sill and the two measures of semi-variance) are related to variability (either day-to-day or over the time series) and have the largest correlations with indicators describing the magnitude and variability of precipitation. The fourth (the range) is dependent on the relationship between the river flow on successive days and is most correlated with the length of wet and dry periods. Two prominent periods of change were identified: 1995–2001 and 2004–2012. The first period of change is attributed to an increase in the magnitude of rainfall whilst the second period is attributed to an increase in variability of the rainfall. The study demonstrates that variograms have considerable potential for application in the detection and attribution of temporal variability and change in hydrological systems.