Intellectual (Neo-) Imperialism: The Examples of “Islam[ism(s)]” and “Jihad[ism(s)]”

In any scientific endeavour, or considered as such, methodology and epistemology are paramount, not to mention ontology: what is the nature of the reality that we are studying? What is the nature of the knowledge that is being produced and its rationality? What are the methods applied to the field of study? However, when it to comes to “Islam”, the “Middle East”, or the “Orient”, the starting points are assumptions and truisms, particularly in “scientific” fields such as Political Science or International Relations, especially when the subject is the relation between politics and religion. In the last few decades, Islam has become a central point of reference for a wide range of political activities, arguments and opposition movements. The term “political Islam”, or “Islamism”, has been adopted by many scholars in order to identify this seemingly unprecedented irruption of Islamic religion into the secular domain of politics and thus to distinguish these practices from the forms of personal piety, belief, and ritual conventionally subsumed in Western scholarship under the unmarked category “Islam”. There have been tremendous, innumerable websites, voluminous publications and many projects on “Islamism(s)” and “Post-Islamism(s)”, the idea that political Islam had failed. However, when reality did not confirm that prediction, a new term was coined: “neo-Islamism”. This paper aims to explore the thesis that, as in other fields, these labels are nothing more than an attempt by Area Studies within Western academia to mould reality according to preconceived ideas and according to policy-oriented circles and funded by governmental organizations, and that, when dealing with “Islam” and “politics”, we are urgently in need of a different epistemology.

Ethics of Observation in the Polar Regions

Whilst satellite observations over the Polar Regions yield vastly beneficial scientific knowledge, ethical questions complicate their use in the context of the Polar Regions, in particular, questions about military or strategic advantage vis-a-vis human security concerns. The Antarctic Treaty System is committed to use of its space for peaceful purposes which, in the fulfilment of high-level science, seems plausible. Yet where military endeavour is coupled with such scientific endeavour, or where global security concerns seek an entree to the knowledge acquired by such observation, the question of whether either Pole can remain free from human non-peaceful purpose is bedevilling.

Speech 21.04.2021, 12.00: Excellence Award of the Romanian Sociological Association (ARS) for the paper Capital in post-communist Romania, Romanian Academy Publishing House, 2018

s early as the dawn of modern age, Benjamin Constant (1819) wrote that the current democracy, unlike the ancient one, based on slavery and perpetual wars, is based on capital, while Braudel (1979) shows that capitalism as a concept could not exist without the other concepts preceding it in the sequence they occur in society, i.e. capital and capitalist. Therefore, I regarded capital, meaning the foundation of both democracy and capitalism, as a particularly challenging object of study from the standpoint of its formation, development, location in the economy and ownership in post-communist Romania. I deem the amount, quality, origin and behaviour of capital are pivotal for a solid democracy and an efficient functioning of capitalist market economy in our country. The book Capital in post-communist Romania, based on long data series, may cast a historical perspective on the economic and social phenomena and processes under scrutiny. They are meant to help devise and implement public policies for making the objectively necessary corrections to the Romanian society after such an intricate transition, as well as to prepare the actions for securing Romania’s future development. I viewed this scientific endeavour as useful after identifying a shortage of information and, against this backdrop, of analysis on economic and social results of Romania’s transition, also by comparison with other former communist countries.

Structural Biology of Nanobodies against the Spike Protein of SARS-CoV-2

Nanobodies are 130 amino acid single‑domain antibodies (VHH) derived from the unique heavy-chain-only subclass of Camelid immunogloblins. Their small molecular size, facile expression, high affinity and stability have combined to make them unique targeting reagents with numerous applications in the biomedical sciences. The first nanobody agent has now entered the clinic as a treatment against a blood disorder. The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has seen the global scientific endeavour work to accelerate the development of technologies to try to defeat a pandemic that has now killed over four million people. In a remarkably short period of time, multiple studies have reported nanobodies directed against the viral Spike protein. Several agents have been tested in culture and demonstrate potent neutralisation of the virus or pseudovirus. A few agents have completed animal trials with very encouraging results showing their potential for treating infection. Here, we discuss the structural features that guide the nanobody recognition of the receptor binding domain of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.

An overview of plant collecting in Angola from 1690 to 2000

Angola is a large south-tropical African country with a rich plant diversity of over 7000 species. The vast majority of the plants collected in the country for deposition in preserved collections was obtained while Angola was under Portuguese rule. An historical analysis is presented of plant collecting in the country from the earliest times until the end of the 20th century. We also reflect on connections between biodiversity science and slavery; only recently have these links been acknowledged and receiving attention. The social environment prevalent in Angola at the time of its historical botanical exploration is discussed to enable an improved understanding of connections between scientific endeavour, colonialism, and slavery in the country. Gender- and ethnic group-based aspects are analysed and discussed.

Imaging and visualizing SARS-CoV-2 in a new era for structural biology

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a global impact and has put scientific endeavour in the spotlight, perhaps more than any previous viral outbreak. Fortuitously, the pandemic came at a time when decades of research in multiple scientific fields could be rapidly brought to bear, and a new generation of vaccine platforms was on the cusp of clinical maturity. SARS-CoV-2 also emerged at the inflection point of a technological revolution in macromolecular imaging by cryo-electron microscopy, fuelled by a confluence of major technological advances in sample preparation, optics, detectors and image processing software, that complemented pre-existing techniques. Together, these advances enabled us to visualize SARS-CoV-2 and its components more rapidly, in greater detail, and in a wider variety of biologically relevant contexts than would have been possible even a few years earlier. The resulting ultrastructural information on SARS-CoV-2 and how it interacts with the host cell has played a critical role in the much-needed accelerated development of COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics. Here, we review key imaging modalities used to visualize SARS-CoV-2 and present select example data, which have provided us with an exceptionally detailed picture of this virus.

امام غزالی اور سلسلہ علت و معلول کی حقیقت

The issue of causality remained one of the heatedly debated issues in the early centuries of Islam. The fundamental question faced by Muslim theologians was whether cause and effect havea self-sustained relationship or each event in the universe is continuously governed by the Will of God? If the former is the case, then how are miracles possible? If latter, why do we observe regularity in events? The impossibility of miracles could not be accommodated by Muslim theologians because miraclesareregarded as one of the primary means of establishing the truth of prophethood. This article explains the critique levelled by Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī in his famous book Tahāfut al Falāsifah on the position of Muslim philosophers about causality. Al-Ghazālī’s primary concern was to show that the cause-and-effect relationship is neither necessary nor sufficient; what we call “cause-and-effect relationship” is an opinion based on the observation of one event happening after the other. In his opinion, we never observe “cause,” rather we only observe two events. In recent past, some Muslim thinkers have accused al-Ghazālī of diverting Muslims away from scientific endeavour by criticising the principle of causality. Others confused al-Ghazālī’s critique of causality with David Hume’sposition. The article attemptsto bring forth the flaws behind these views.

REJECTING SCIENCE WITH SCIENCE: BOUNDARY-WORK IN ANTI-MASK TWITTER REPLY THREADS DURING COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by a controversy in the United States over the public health benefits of mask-wearing, especially on social media. Many have contested the scientific consensus that masks are an effective method to prevent and slow the spread of COVID-19 infections, often along explicitly political lines. Here, we investigate specifically how Twitter users engaging in arguments about mask-wearing invoke scientific principles to argue against masks. We further analyze the sources that these users cite to support their claims. Using a qualitative approach drawing from constructivist grounded theory, we show how these users work to defend the legitimacy of their claims and their external sources by selectively exploiting rhetorical values of scientific endeavour. We analogize their work to the process of scientific boundary-work, in which actors consciously manipulate the boundary between science and not-science for personal and political gain.

Evolution of Evidence-Based Medicine in Stroke

The introduction and evolution of evidence-based stroke medicine has realized major advances in our knowledge about stroke, methods of medical research, and patient outcomes that continue to complement traditional individual patient care. It is humbling to recall the state of knowledge and scientific endeavour of our forebears who were unaware of what we know now and yet pursued the highest standards for evaluating and delivering effective stroke care. The science of stroke medicine has evolved from pathophysiological theory to empirical testing. Progress has been steady, despite inevitable disappointments and cul-de-sacs, and has occasionally been punctuated by sensational breakthroughs, such as the advent of reperfusion therapies guided by imaging.

The History of the Discovery of Ectopic Epithelial Cells in Lower Peritoneal Organs: The So-Called Mucosal Invasion

Through microscopy, early researchers identified the epithelium on the inner surfaces of the uterus, cervix and Fallopian tubes. The identification of ectopic epithelium was gradual, starting from the gross pathology study of unusual cystic lesions. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, attention focused on the epithelium as a critical component. The term ‘adenomyoma’ was coined around eighteen eighty to designate the majority of mucosa-containing lesions. Several theories were advanced to explain its aetiology. In the main, lesions were considered to arise from invasion from uterine epithelium; implantation of endometrium through retrograde menstruation; hematogenous or lymphatic spread; or from embryonic remnants. Although initially widely rejected, around 1920, an almost unanimous consensus formed on the endometrial nature of epithelial invasions. During the following years, adenomyosis and endometriosis came to be used to distinguished lesions within or outside the uterus. Adenomyosis was attributed to direct infiltration of uterine mucosa into the myometrium, and endometriosis to the implantation of endometrial cells and stroma into the peritoneal cavity through retrograde menstruation. Around the same time, ovarian lesions, initially described as ovarian hematomas or chocolate cysts, were regarded as a form of endometriosis. Three variants of endometriosis were thus described: superficial peritoneal, deep nodular and ovarian endometriomas. Ectopic epithelium has long been recognised as having similarities to tubal, or cervical epithelium. Lesions containing mixed epithelium are often termed Müllerianosis. This article demonstrates the stepwise evolution of knowledge, the role of the pioneers and the difficulties that needed to be overcome. It also demonstrates the value of collaboration and the inter-connected nature of the scientific endeavour.