Breaking the Conventions : Shakespeare, the Fair Young Man and the Dark Lady

The aim of this essay is to show how Shakespeare’s sonnets violated and reversed the conventional ideas in terms of beauty and idealisation. Furthermore, I will examine the way Shakespeare presented his beloved woman as an absolute opposite of the one created by Petrarch, and how he shifted all the divine metaphors from a woman to a fair young man, creating a new object of praise and admiration.

Al-Mahdi - Gestalt och budskap : En litteraturstudie jämförande sudanesisk Mahdi och indisk Mahdi inom islam

Followers of three world religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are waiting for the Messiah. Muslims are even waiting for aspiritual leader al-Mahdi. Two different persons claimed the title of al-Mahdi, at the end of the nineteenth century. Theyappeared almost at the same time, at the totally different places of the earth, with a completely different message and underthe rule of the British colonial power. The aim of the study is to compare the both religious figures, Mirza Ghulam Ahmadfrom India and Muhammad Ahmad from Sudan regarding their different messages, to illustrate the social, political andreligious factors that lead to the entirely different profile and image of these two men and how their organizations havedeveloped after their death up till today. The result shows that the Sudanese Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad claimed hisMahdiship in the year 1881. He became a political leader in a time when Sudan was under the rule of a colonial power. Hetook advantage of the religion for personal purposes and tried to liberate his native country Sudan. The contemporaryMuslim clergy criticized him for his claim because the content of the Hadith traditions did not support his claim ofMahdiship. He maintained his sole right for the interpretation of religion and of the laws of Sharia. He made changes even inthe chief pillars of Islam by asserting that Jehad with sword was more imperative than the pilgrimage journey to Mecca. Heasserted that the Prophet Muhammad himself had entrusted him to launch the holy war against the non-believers. He hadimmense ambitions which were never fulfilled since he suddenly died four years after his claim for Mahdiship, in June 1885.This day his followers are organized as a political party in Sudan with a modest roll in the Sudanese politics. The IndianMahdi Mirza Ghulam Ahmad claimed in 1889 to be Mahdi, Mujaddid, Muhaddas, Messiah and a Prophet at a time of socialand political peace, though Islam as a religion was firmly pushed by the Hindu and Christian missionaries. He had no politicalambitions at all and was utterly loyal to the British colonial power. His mission was to crush the Cross and to demonstrateIslam’s excellence over all the religions of the world through overwhelming arguments. He proclaimed that Jesus was humanand a Prophet and not the son of God. Jesus survived from the cross and died a natural death after he had lived for manyyears. Ahmad claimed that God had commanded him to put stop to the religious wars. The contemporary Muslim clergyblamed him for being an imposter, melancholic and hypochondriac who had self invented the divine revelations. He died year1908, nineteen years after his claim and the communion he found is established today in more than hundred countries of theworld. Reasons for the breakdown of mission of the Sudanese Mahdi were that his objectives were political and he challengedthe colonial power with the sword. Another decisive factor was his sudden death merely four years after the beginning of hismission. Reasons for the success of Indian Mahdi were that his objectives were purely religious and he was wholly loyal to theforeign government. He survived nineteen years after the beginning of his mission which made it possible for him to create acommunion based on solid grounds. His followers continued on the same path and never engaged in local politics where everthey lived. For further studies it will be of great interest to study the life of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad and objectively examine thearguments he presented in support of his divine appointment. Furthermore it is enriching to study the organization andactivities of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community to explore if they are in accordance with the basic principles of Ahmad.

Performance Evaluation of Different PV-Array Configurations under Weak Light Conditions and Partial Shadings

The paper analyses empirical performance data of five commercial PV-plants in Germany. The purpose was on one side to investigate the weak light performance of the different PV-modules used. On the other hand it was to quantify and compare the shading losses of different PV-array configurations. The importance of this study relies on the fact that even if the behavior under weak light conditions or the shading losses might seem to be a relatively small percentage of the total yearly output; in projects where a performance guarantee is given, these variation can make the difference between meeting or not the conditions.When analyzing the data, a high dispersion was found. To reduce the optical losses and spectral effects, a series of data filters were applied based on the angle of incidence and absolute Air Mass. To compensate for the temperature effects and translate the values to STC (25°C), five different methods were assessed. At the end, the Procedure 2 of IEC 60891 was selected due to its relative simplicity, usage of mostly standard parameters found in datasheets, good accuracy even with missing values, and its potential to improve the results when the complete set of inputs is available.After analyzing the data, the weak light performance of the modules did not show a clear superiority of a certain technology or technology group over the others. Moreover, the uncertainties in the measurements restrictive the conclusiveness of the results.In the partial shading analysis, the landscape mounting of mc-Si PV-modules in free-field showed a significantly better performance than the portrait one. The cross-table string using CIGS modules did not proved the benefits expected and performed actually poorer than a regular one-string-per-table layout. Parallel substrings with CdTe showed a proper functioning and relatively low losses. Among the two product generations of CdTe analyzed, none showed a significantly better performance under partial shadings.

Estimation of Parameters in Random Effect Models with Incidence Matrix Uncertainty

Random effect models have been widely applied in many fields of research. However, models with uncertain design matrices for random effects have been little investigated before. In some applications with such problems, an expectation method has been used for simplicity. This method does not include the extra information of uncertainty in the design matrix is not included. The closed solution for this problem is generally difficult to attain. We therefore propose an two-step algorithm for estimating the parameters, especially the variance components in the model. The implementation is based on Monte Carlo approximation and a Newton-Raphson-based EM algorithm. As an example, a simulated genetics dataset was analyzed. The results showed that the proportion of the total variance explained by the random effects was accurately estimated, which was highly underestimated by the expectation method. By introducing heuristic search and optimization methods, the algorithm can possibly be developed to infer the 'model-based' best design matrix and the corresponding best estimates.

"Ja, denna stig är stigarnas stig" : Taoistiska influenser i Vilhelm Ekelunds verk

In this article I show how Taoist philosophy has influenced the Swedish poet, essayist and aphorist Vilhelm Ekelund. I note that the author mentions the Taoist philosophers Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu and discusses their ideas on a couple of occasions in his later works (Atticism – Humanism, 1943; Plus salis–, 1945). Examples of such explicit influence can also be found in Ekelund’s private notebooks, posthumously published in two volumes: Hemkomst och flykt (1972) and Ur en scholaris’ verkstad (1974). I argue that Taoist philosophy implicitly influenced the Swedish author as early as the second part of the 1910’s – when he started to emphasize such principles as moderation, composure, dispassion and non-desire in his writing. I also discuss other important ideals which Ekelund shared with the Taoist philosophers, such as poverty, humility, simplicity and dishonour. Finally, I see a parallel in the anti-intellectual aspects of Taoist thinking and Ekelund’s use of the term misologi (misology), a word which often has positive connotations in his works. In Ekelund’s prose, as well as in the famous Taoist text Tao Te Ching, excessive intellectualism is frequently criticized.

The hand of God is over their hands (Q. 48:10) : on the notion of covenant in al-Ṭabarī’s account of Karbalāʾ

This article is an analysis of the story of the killing of Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī at Karbalāʾ in 61/680, as it is presented by Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad b. Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310/923). The main argument is that the notion of the divine covenant, which permeates the Qur’an, constitutes a framework through which al-Ṭabarī views this event. The Qur’anic idea of the covenant is read in structural/thematic continuity with the Hebrew Bible account of the covenant between Yahweh and the Hebrew people, which has, in turn, been traced back in its basic form to Late Bronze Era treaties between rulers and their vassals.   The present study focusses on four speeches ascribed to Ḥusayn during the encounter he and his group had with the vanguard of the Kūfan army led by al-Ḥurr. These are analysed in accordance with their use of Qur’anic covenant vocabulary. They are also categorised within the broader framework of the eight standard characteristics of Ancient West Asian and Biblical covenants, as presented by George Mendenhall and Gary Herion, which have recently been developed in a Qur’anic context by Rosalind Ward Gwynne. This article argues that al-Ṭabarī’s Karbalāʾ narrative presents the pact of loyalty to Ḥusayn as a clear extension of the divine covenant.