one of the most important topics in the field of jurisprudence and interpretation of the noble quran is freedom of religion which is also drawn into the political sphere. discussions on the seeming conflict between verses of sword and denial of duress have aroused controversies among researchers. one of the four following possible relationships can be established between verses of sword and den...

The derivation of legal norms from narrative texts is a familiar, indeed pervasive feature of Qur’an exegesis. It is striking that in at least one passage, the text of the Qur’an appears to engage in its own internal process of interpreting biblical narrative as having normative legal consequences. The passage arises in the third sura of the Qur’an, The House of Imran, in the course of a length...

The rendering of Sanskrit poetry from text to speech is a problem that has not been solved before. One reason may be the complications in the language itself. We present unique algorithms based on extensive empirical analysis, to synthesize speech from a given text input of Sanskrit verses. Using a prerecorded audio units database which is itself tremendously reduced in size compared to the col...

In this article, we review di verse studies of the anteced ents, facial display, and social consequences of embarrass ment. These studies indicate that embarrassment serves an appeasement function, recon ciling social relations when they have gone awry. We then speculate about how embar rassment is elaborated into more complex social interac tions, such as teasing and flir tation. We conclude b...

“Nature” is one of the most challenging concepts in philosophy, and notoriously difficult to define. In ancient Greece, two strategies for coming to terms with nature were developed. On the one hand, nature was seen as a perfect geometrical order, analysable with the help of geometry and deductive reasoning. On the other hand, a more Dionysian view emerged, stressing nature’s unpredictability, ...

The discussion of a philosophy of engineering and/or engineering education has encouraged the community to try and bring some coherence to the field. This select and annotated bibliography is one resource intended to enhance and continue the conversation. In conjunction with a preparatory review, this bibliography introduces the 2011 FIE special workshop on the subject of exploring the philosop...