Militant Islamism is a phenomenon that has received significant attention during the lastdecades. Security scholars and policymakers have attempted to cope with the growingconcern of sympathizers willing to carry out terrorist attacks, but until today the need for afurther understanding of circumstances motivating this violence still remains. This causesdifficulties in effective policy responses to tackle militants as well as it strengthens hatredand equivocal perceptions on Islamic practices. This thesis is constituted on the idea that charismatic leadership partakes in the motivationalforces behind militant sympathizers. The aim of this thesis is to explore the relationship ofself-concepts provided by charismatic leadership theory towards the contents exposed bymilitant leaders within Islamism. This relationship is examined in an analytical study ofspeeches through the cases of two former representative and inspirational leaders of militantIslamism: Osama Bin Laden and Anwar Al Awlaki. The idea is to contribute with a motivational account that is also sensitive to the context ofthis specific leadership based on past research. Remarks are thus exposed through aframework of concepts by Boas Shamir in charismatic leadership and the assisting tools of aqualitative content analysis. A deeper comprehension of how charismatic leadershipfunctions is significant for the future of policies in Islamist militancy and leadership.Following results indicates to pursue the joint study of Islamist militancy in relation tocharismatic response for more conclusive research.

Die aktuelle Ausgabe des Newsletter für Freunde, Absolventen und Ehemalige der Technischen Universität Chemnitz.

Using the famous Teapot Dome oil field in Casper, Wyoming, USA as a test case, we demonstrate how high-resolution compressional (P) and horizontally polarized shear (SH) wave seismic reflection surveys can overcome the limitations of conventional 3D seismic data in resolving small-scale structures in the very shallow subsurface (< 100-200 m (~328-656 ft)). We accomplish this by using small CMP intervals (5 ft and 2.5 ft, respectively) and a higher frequency source. The integration of the two high-resolution seismic methods enhances the detection and mapping of fine-scale deformation and stratigraphic features at shallow depth that cannot be imaged by conventional seismic methods. Further, when these two high-resolution seismic methods are integrated with 3D data, correlated drill hole logs, and outcrop mapping and trenching, a clearer picture of both very shallow reservoirs and the relationship between deep and shallow faults can be observed. For example, we show that the Shannon reservoir, which is the shallowest petroleum reservoir at Teapot Dome (depth to the top of this interval ranging from 76-198 m (250-650 ft)) can only be imaged properly with high-resolution seismic methods. Further, northeast-striking faults are identified in shallow sections within Teapot Dome. The strike of these faults is approximately orthogonal to the hinge of Teapot Dome. These faults are interpreted as fold accommodation faults. Vertical displacements across these faults range from 10 to 40 m (~33 to 131 ft), which could potentially partition the Shannon reservoir. The integration of 3D and high-resolution P-wave seismic interpretation helped us determine that some of the northeast-striking faults relate to deeper faults. This indicates that some deeper faults that are orthogonal to the fold hinge cut through the shallow Shannon reservoir. Such an observation would be important for understanding the effect on fluid communication between the deep and shallow reservoirs via these faults. Furthermore, the high-resolution seismic data provide a means to better constrain the location of faults mapped from drill hole logs. Relocation of theses faults may require re-evaluation of well locations as some attic oil may have not been drained in some Shannon blocks by present well locations. Therefore our study demonstrates how conventional 3D seismic data require additional seismic acquisition at smaller scales in order to image deformation in shallow reservoirs. Such imaging becomes critical in cases of shallow reservoirs where it is important to define potential problems associated with compartmentalization of primary production, hazard mitigation, enhanced oil recovery, or carbon sequestration.

In early 2001, as I began exploring the role of religion in conflict, I came across a declaration by a then little-known leader, Osama bin Laden, and his fellows. That declaration was of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders.1 Many analysts now see it as one of the founding documents of al Qaeda, the amorphous terrorist umbrella group. The purpose of the declaration was to issue a fatwa that, because United States troops were stationed in the holy Arabian peninsula and threatened Muslims, particularly in Iraq, it was every Muslim¿s duty ¿to kill the Americans and their allies ¿ civilians and military ¿ ... in any country in which it is possible to do it.¿ Of course, the first thing that struck me, as an American, was that here was a group that wished to kill me solely because of my birthplace. They did not seem to care that I might not support specific actions of my government, even if I supported that government generally. Nor was there any discussion of whether methods other than violence might be more useful in persuading my fellow citizens as to the justice of their cause. I wondered, as a student of peace studies, what I could do in the face of such seemingly implacable hatred. The second thing that struck me about the declaration was its language. I noticed, in particular, a certain flourish that one does not often find in political analysis. The image that ¿nations are attacking Muslims like people fighting over a plate of food¿ has always stayed in my mind because the simple image has such rhetorical power. I also noticed, in accordance with my research interests, the use of religious teachings as a justification for violence. Yet poetic rhetoric and religious dogma were not the only contents of that declaration. Bin Laden and his fellows made coherent political points. They cited as 1 bin Laden, Osama; al-Zawahiri, Ayman; Taha, Abu-Yasir Rifa¿i Ahmad; Hamzah, Mir; Rahman, Fazlul, 1998, ¿Nass Bayan al-Jabhah al-Islamiyah al-Alamiyah li-Jihad al-Yahud wa-al-Salibiyin¿ (¿Declaraton of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders¿), al-Quds al-Arabi (UK) 9(2732), 23 Feb.: 3, <data.alquds.co.uk/Alquds/1998/02Feb/23%2520Feb% 2520Mon/QudsPage03.pdf>. Cornell University Library hosts an English translation and a photocopy of the original at <www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/wif.htm> and <./fatw2.htm>, respectively (all web addresses as at 27 Jan. 2005). examples of the harm caused by the United States: the post-Gulf War presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia, ¿dictating to its rulers [and] humiliating its people;¿ the continued bombing of Iraq ¿even though all [Saudi] rulers are against their territories being used to that end;¿ and, finally, the way that these actions contributed to the security of Israel by weakening Arab nations. Thus, beneath its religious expression the declaration contained political points with which I could engage. Now, as I categorically oppose the use of violence, I unreservedly reject the conclusion of the fatwa. Moreover, I do not assume that a single statement is evidence of this group¿s true intent. It may very well be the case, as analysts more versed in their politics than I have argued, that al Qaeda¿s real goal is the establishment of an Islamic caliphate. Its affiliation with Afghanistan¿s Taliban certainly supports this argument. In spite of these things, though, their use of political arguments meant they were trying to reach an audience that cared about such things. I could address that audience as well, and try to propose different courses of action that would address the same concerns. Thus, I could step outside of my original framework, in which I envisioned implacable hatred, and argue for nonviolent ways of addressing the issues. Yet the religious idiom of the declaration was also an important factor. Given that the declaration addressed Muslims as Muslims, by only trying to argue political points with them I might alienate people for whom the religious language meant a great deal. Already in my research I had come to the conclusion, drawing on R. Scott Appleby¿s The Ambivalence of the Sacred,2 that the people best placed to show the peaceful potential of a religion are believers in that religion. I am not, however, religious. Thus, this conclusion left me with no recourse in the face of the religious aspects of conflict. I began to wonder what role a nonreligious ¿ or, as I came to think of myself, a secular ¿ person could play in peacemaking when religion is an element of a conflict. Moreover, 2 Appleby, R. Scott, 2000, The Ambivalence of the Sacred: Religion, Violence, and Reconciliation (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield). I saw that different seculars would have different reactions to bin Laden¿s arguments. Some would reject the message because of the religious medium. Some, like I first did, would perceive the sociopolitical elements but continue to ignore the religious language. Others, as I also briefly did, might consider the religious element but leave out the issue of their own secular nature. Yet no perspective provided a good model for what I, as a secular, might do. Thus, the goal of my thesis became to analyze the various models of secularity, find the most beneficial principles, and construct from these a model for secular best practice. That Osama bin Laden¿s words should catalyze this thesis brings me to two important points. First, this is not a thesis about Islam. If a disproportionate number of the examples that I use throughout the thesis focus on Islam, this should not indicate that Islam deserves special attention concerning conflict and violence. Rather, the focus here is always on secularity and secular responses to religion in situations of conflict. However, particularly after September 11th, the largely secular policy and scholarly establishments of Europe and North America have produced a great deal of material concerning Islam. Thus, while I sought out more diverse sources dealing with secularity, I often used the religion most commented on by secular sources as an exemplar. That leads to the second point, which is that this is not a thesis about terrorism. Given its scope and the place of religion in it, most obvious case study to use in this thesis is the ¿war on terror¿ ¿ which I call such for ease of use, as that is what the Western media generally call it, not because I think it is an adequate designation. I will cover this topic in the final chapter, but because the thesis is about peace and violence in conflict, and not about specific forms of violence, it will not figure elsewhere. Because this thesis is concerned with violence and, specifically, with the promotion of peace, it has an overt prescriptive element. This stems in large part from my Peace Studies background. Peace Studies entails a normative commitment to pursue peaceful situations through nonviolent means. Thus, at several points I actively enjoin readers to take or not take certain types of action because, by my analysis, that is the best way to promote peaceful relationships. More generally, by the title of this thesis, I ask readers to ¿rethink secular and sacred¿ ¿ both what these terms mean, and more importantly how they relate to one another. In particular, this goal leads me to avoid discussing the concept of tolerance. Tolerance is often held to be a virtue by those who seek to promote nonconfrontational religious interaction. However, as many other writers have pointed out, the word ¿tolerance¿ itself stems from physiological and biological studies, where it means the ability to withstand negative factors, such as poisons or drugs.3 Thus I find that its social meaning is essentially negative, denoting forbearance of what one finds repugnant. While in a very limited sense I feel that tolerance is necessary, it is only as a first step to actively engaging with what one might at first find off-putting. By itself, tolerance does not encourage one to rethink one¿s relationship with something, and thus a nonconfrontational situation is not necessarily a peaceful one. As I researched the thesis, although I was aware of academic work concerning tolerance, I found that none of it contributed to my goals. Thus, the thesis took shape in such a way that a treatment of tolerance was unnecessary. As a final note I would like to mention another topic that did not fit into this thesis, which I regard as something of a loss ¿ gender. During my research, I was also aware of work in this field, and, again, the structure of this thesis is such that it was not necessary to mention it explicitly. However, if there is one single issue that cuts across religious and secular groups, as well as the conflicts I analyze, it is the effect of gender roles and issues. Yet the very breadth of the topic put me in a bind ¿ either I could thoroughly treat it and produce a much different thesis, or I could cursorily treat it, perhaps in the chapter on theory and methodology. I chose to do neither, because the first option would have obscured the value that this thesis does have, and the second would have been a paltry treatment of such a weighty topic. However, the theoretical schools I use 3 See, for example, the Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1st 1933), Simpson, J.A., and Weiner, E.S.C., co-eds., in. al. (Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1989), v. 18, pp. 199-200. in this thesis are amenable to a gendered interpretation. This is particularly the case with integral theory, the chief proponent of which, Ken Wilber, has addressed gender issues in a number of his primary works. One can easily discern what I define in this thesis as a strong-open analysis in his analysis of feminisms. He notes both the strength of the radical feminist perspective that champions female distinctiveness as well as the desire of liberal feminists to open social and political spheres traditionally closed to women, and seeks to bring them together.4 Thus, I am confident that this thesis can bolster future research that specifically addresses gender issues as they arise in conflicts with a religious element.

No description available.

This thesis presents methods useful in a bin picking application, such as detection and representation of local features, pose estimation and multi-cue integration. The scene tensor is a representation of multiple line or edge segments and was first introduced by Nordberg in [30]. A method for estimating scene tensors from gray-scale images is presented. The method is based on orientation tensors, where the scene tensor can be estimated by correlations of the elements in the orientation tensor with a number of 1D filters. Mechanisms for analyzing the scene tensor are described and an algorithm for detecting interest points and estimating feature parameters is presented. It is shown that the algorithm works on a wide spectrum of images with good result. Representations that are invariant with respect to a set of transformations are useful in many applications, such as pose estimation, tracking and wide baseline stereo. The scene tensor itself is not invariant and three different methods for implementing an invariant representation based on the scene tensor is presented. One is based on a non-linear transformation of the scene tensor and is invariant to perspective transformations. Two versions of a tensor doublet is presented, which is based on a geometry of two interest points and is invariant to translation, rotation and scaling. The tensor doublet is used in a framework for view centered pose estimation of 3D objects. It is shown that the pose estimation algorithm has good performance even though the object is occluded and has a different scale compared to the training situation. An industrial implementation of a bin picking application have to cope with several different types of objects. All pose estimation algorithms use some kind of model and there is yet no model that can cope with all kinds of situations and objects. This thesis presents a method for integrating cues from several pose estimation algorithms for increasing the system stability. It is also shown that the same framework can also be used for increasing the accuracy of the system by using cues from several views of the object. An extensive test with several different objects, lighting conditions and backgrounds shows that multi-cue integration makes the system more robust and increases the accuracy. Finally, a system for bin picking is presented, built from the previous parts of this thesis. An eye in hand setup is used with a standard industrial robot arm. It is shown that the system works for real bin-picking situations with a positioning error below 1 mm and an orientation error below 1o degree for most of the different situations. / <p>Report code: LiU-TEK-LIC-2005:15.</p>

No description available.

The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about what characterizes a teaching situation that contributes to preschoolers' curiosity about bees and pollination. The study used variation theory and an important starting point for the theory is to understand how learning takes place. The study is based on developing a teaching situation that contributes to children's curiosity about bees and pollination, where we used the learning study as a method that enables a systematic improvement of the teaching situation. The participants in the study are 4-5 years old. The teaching situation carried out in three cycles. By using the learning study method, the data is analyzed to see what works better and what doesn't, a content analysis was used to be able to revise the activity. In the result, all teaching situations are reported in chronological order with associated analysis and revision for the next cycle. Through this, we could see in the results that the children's curiosity was aroused more in the last cycle compared to the first when the time span was doubled. In order to arouse the children's curiosity, the pedagogues' approach played an important role by being active and asking open questions. The results show that for a teaching situation to arouse the children's curiosity, there needs to be a space for the children's active participation, which means the children's questions, hypotheses and ideas. / Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om vad som karaktäriserar en undervisningssituation som bidrar till förskolebarns nyfikenhet för bin och pollinering. I studien användes variationsteorin och en betydelsefull utgångspunkt för teorin är att förstå hur lärandet går till. Studien grundar sig i att utveckla en undervisningssituation som bidrar till barns nyfikenhet för bin och pollinering där vi använt learning study som metod som möjliggör en systematisk förbättring av undervisningssituationen. De deltagande i studien är 4-5 år. Undervisningssituationen genomförde i tre cykler. Genom att använda metoden learning study analyseras data för att se vad som fungerar bättre och inte, en innehållsanalys användes för att kunna revidera aktiviteten. I resultatet redovisas alla undervisningssituationer i kronologisk ordning med tillhörande analys samt revidering inför nästa cykel. Genom detta kunde vi i resultatet se att barnens nyfikenhet väcktes mer i den sista cykeln jämfört med den första då tidsspannet fördubblades. För att väcka barnens nyfikenhet spelade pedagogernas förhållningssätt en viktig roll genom att vara aktiva och ställa öppna frågor. Resultatet påvisar för att en undervisningssituation ska väcka barnens nyfikenhet behöver det finnas ett utrymme för barnens aktiva deltagande, vilket innebär barnens frågor, hypoteser och idéer.

For the construction of a wind farm, one needs to assess the wind resources of the considered site location. Using reference time series from numerical weather prediction models, global assimilation databases or observations close to the area considered, the on-site measured wind speeds and wind directions are corrected in order to represent the actual long-term wind conditions. This long-term correction (LTC) is in the typical case performed by making use of the linear regression within the Measure-Correlate-Predict (MCP) method. This method and two other methods, Sector-Bin (SB) and Synthetic Time Series (ST), respectively, are used for the determination of the uncertainties that are associated with LTC.The test area that has been chosen in this work, is located in the region of the North Sea, using 22 quality controlled meteorological (met) station observations from offshore or nearby shore locations in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. The time series that has been used cover the eight year period from 2002 to 2009 and the year with the largest variability in the wind speeds, 2007, is used as the short-term measurement period. The long-term reference datasets that have been used are the Weather Research and Forecast model, based on both ECMWF Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and National Centers for Environmental Prediction Final Analysis (NCEP/FNL), respectively and additional reference datasets of Modern Era Re-Analysis (MERRA) and QuikSCAT satellite observations. The long-term period for all of the reference datasets despite QuikSCAT, correspond to the one of stations observations. The QuikSCAT period of observations used cover the period from November 1st, 1999 until October 31st, 2009.The analysis is divided into three parts. Initially, the uncertainty connected to the corresponding reference dataset, when used in LTC method, is investigated. Thereafter the uncertainty due to the concurrent length of the on-site measurements and reference dataset is analyzed. Finally, the uncertainty is approached using a re-sampling method of the Non-Parametric Bootstrap. The uncertainty of the LTC method SB, for a fixed concurrent length of the datasets is assessed by this methodology, in an effort to create a generic model for the estimation of uncertainty in the predicted values for SB.The results show that LTC with WRF model datasets based on NCEP/FNL and ERA-Interim, respectively, is slightly different, but does not deviate considerably in comparison when comparing with met station observations. The results also suggest the use of MERRA reference dataset in connection with long-term correction methods. However, the datasets of QuikSCAT does not provide much information regarding the overall quality of long-term correction, and a different approach than using station coordinates for the withdrawal of QuikSCAT time series is preferred. Additionally, the LTC model of Sector-Bin is found to be robust against variation in the correlation coefficient between the concurrent datasets. For the uncertainty dependence of concurrent time, the results show that an on-site measurement period of one consistent year or more, gives the lowest uncertainties compared to measurements of shorter time. An additional observation is that the standard deviation of long-term corrected means decreases with concurrent time. Despite the efforts of using the re-sampling method of Non-Parametric Bootstrap the estimation of the uncertainties is not fully determined. However, it does give promising results that are suggested for investigation in further work. / För att bygga en vindkraftspark är man i behov av att kartlägga vindresurserna i det aktuella området. Med hjälp av tidsserier från numeriska vädermodeller (NWP), globala assimileringsdatabaser och intilliggande observationer korrigeras de uppmätta vindhastigheterna och vindriktningarna för att motsvara långtidsvärdena av vindförhållandena. Dessa långtidskorrigeringsmetoder (LTC) genomförs generellt sett med hjälp av linjär regression i Mät-korrelera-predikera-metoden (MCP). Denna metod, och två andra metoder, Sektor-bin (SB) och Syntetiska tidsserier (ST), används i denna rapport för att utreda de osäkerheter som är knutna till långtidskorrigering.Det testområde som är valt för analys i denna rapport omfattas av Nordsjöregionen, med 22 meteorologiska väderobservationsstationer i Danmark, Norge och Sverige. Dessa stationer är till största del belägna till havs eller vid kusten. Tidsserierna som används täcker åttaårsperioden från 2002 till 2009, där det året med högst variabilitet i uppmätt vindhastighet, år 2007, används som den korta mätperiod som blir föremål för långtidskorrigeringen. De långa referensdataseten som använts är väderprediktionsmodellen WRF ( Weather Research and Forecast Model), baserad både på data från NCEP/FNL (National Centers for Environmental Prediciton Final Analysis) och ERA-Interim (ECMWF Interim Re-analysis). Dessutom används även data från MERRA (Modern Era Re-Analysis) och satellitobservationer från QuikSCAT. Långtidsperioden för alla dataset utom QuikSCAT omfattar samma period som observationsstationerna. QuikSCAT-datat som använts omfattar perioden 1 november 1999 till 31 oktober 2009.Analysen är indelad i tre delar. Inledningsvis behandlas osäkerheten som är kopplad till referensdatans ingående i långtidskorrigeringsmetoderna. Därefter analyseras osäkerhetens beroende av längden på den samtidiga datan i referens- och observationsdataseten. Slutligen utreds osäkerheten med hjälp av en icke-parametrisk metod, en s.k. Bootstrap: Osäkerheten i SB-metoden för en fast samtidig längd av tidsserierna från observationer och referensdatat uppskattas genom att skapa en generell modell som estimerar osäkerheten i estimatet.Resultatet visar att skillnaden när man använder WRF-modellen baserad både på NCEP/FNL och ERA-Interim i långtidskorrigeringen är marginell och avviker inte markant i förhållande till stationsobservationerna. Resultatet pekar också på att MERRA-datat kan användas som långtidsreferensdataset i långtidsdkorrigeringsmetoderna. Däremot ger inte QuikSCAT-datasetet tillräckligt med information för att avgöra om det går att använda i långtidskorrigeringsmetoderna. Därför föreslås ett annat tillvägagångssätt än stationsspecifika koordinater vid val av koordinater lämpliga för långtidskorrigering. Ytterligare ett resultat vid analys av långtidskorrigeringsmetoden SB, visar att metoden är robust mot variation i korrelationskoefficienten.Rörande osäkerhetens beroende av längden på samtidig data visar resultaten att en sammanhängande mätperiod på ett år eller mer ger den lägsta osäkerheten i årsmedelvindsestimatet, i förhållande till mätningar av kortare slag. Man kan även se att standardavvikelsen av de långtidskorrigerade medelvärdena avtar med längden på det samtidiga datat. Den implementerade ickeparametriska metoden Bootstrap, som innefattar sampling med återläggning, kan inte estimera osäkerheten till fullo. Däremot ger den lovande resultat som föreslås för vidare arbete.

The story of Joseph (in the Bible), Yusuf (in the Quran), has inspired literatures in many languages. This paper explores how some Swahili writers and translators have dealt with this inspiration, the implications for their language use and the way they have interpreted Yusuf as a theme for their writings. After a brief introduction on the importance of the story itself and putting the focus on a major theme of the plot, the following works are discussed: the new Quran translation by Sh Ali Muhsin (1995), a short novel by Mzee Salim A. Kibao (1975), two short stories by Amur bin Nasur il-Omeiri (1894), the utenzi Qissat-il Yusuf (l913) and Abdulrazak Gurnah\'s English written novel Paradise (1995). The paper concludes with the observation that in analyzing how these Swahili writers have integrated the story of Yusuf in their writings, prose as well as poetry, it becomes clear that attempts in defining what is ‘foreign’ (or ‘Oriental’) and what is ‘indigenous’ (or ‘African’) are bound to fail.