Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Villanova University, Pennsylvania

RAE2008

The Iranian Foreign Policy in the Persian Gulf Region under the Rule of President Hassan Rouhani: Continuity of Change

Although Iran borders with many states and has direct access to the Caspian Sea as well as the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf region seems to be the most vital area to its security and prosperity. Yet since the 70’s Iran’s relations with the Arab states in the region have been rather strained and complex. The main reason for that had been the success of the Islamic revolution in 1979 which later resulted in a new dimension of Sunni-Shia rivalry. Moreover, post-revolutionary Iranian authorities also intended to maintain the regional hegemony from the Imperial State of Iran period. As a result, successive Iranian governments competed for hegemony in the Persian Gulf with the littoral Arab states which consolidated their regional positions due to close links and intensive cooperation with the West especially with the United States. Despite some political and economic initiatives which were undertaken by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this rivalry was also evident between 2005–2013. The main aim of this article is to find out whether Iranian foreign policy towards the Arab states in the Persian Gulf region has undergone any significant changes since Hassan Rouhani became the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran in August 2013. According to Mohammad Reza Deshiri, the Iranian foreign policy after 1979 can be divided into so-called waves of idealism and realism. During dominance of idealism values and spirituality are more important than pragmatism while during the realistic waves political as well as economic interests prevail over spirituality. Iranian idealism is connected with export of revolutionary ideas, Shia dominance as well as the restoration of unity among all muslims (ummah). On this basis both presidential terms of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can be classified as ‘waves of idealism’, albeit some of his ideas were very pragmatic. The question is if Hassan Rouhani’s foreign policy represents a continuity or a change. Is the current Iran’s foreign policy towards the Persian Gulf region idealistic or rather realistic? The main assumption is that there will be no Arab-Iranian rapprochement in the Persian Gulf without a prior normalization of political relations between Iran and the West especially the United States.

"A Good Reder": the middle English Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy, instruction, publics, and manuscripts

The present work is a study of the Middle English prose text known as The Wise Book of Philosophy and Astronomy, a consideration of its transmission and reception history, and a survey of its manuscript witnesses; it also incorporates an edition of the text from two of its manuscripts. The text is a cosmological treatise of approximately five thousand words, written for the most part in English, with astronomical and astrological terms in Latin, though the English translation is frequently given. It is written anonymously, and survives in thirty-three manuscripts.

Palaeoclimate change recorded in Upper Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) Kazhdumi Formation Borehole spectral Gamma-Ray Logs, South Pars Gas field, Persian Gulf

Th/U and Th/K data from spectral gamma-ray logs obtained from outcrop successions have been used as a rapid and inexpensive proxy for determining possible episodes of humid-arid palaeoclimate change. Such outcrop-based measurements have never been tested using spectral gamma-ray data obtained from wireline logs in subsurface boreholes. Th/K and Th/U ratios have traditionally been used to decipher sequence stratigraphic patterns, at outcrop and in borehole. The possible influence of palaeoclimate on such ratio changes has yet to be proven, especially from borehole data. In this work, we compare borehole-derived Th/K (and to a lesser extent Th/U) to palaeoenvironmental changes inferred from palynology and deduce that both sea level and changing hinterland weathering regimes caused discrete fluctuations observed in the spectral gamma-ray logs. This is the first time such subsurface information has been used in this way. Interpretation of wireline logs in terms of palaeoclimate as well as sea level may now be considered, and the use of such logs in palaeoclimate reconstruction is strengthened.

Knowledge Formation and the Great Divergence between China and Europe: Manuscripts and Printed Books, ca. 581–1840

Literature dealing with the history of Chinese printed books and printing is voluminous. Yet studies of how knowledge in general and utilitarian forms of knowledge in particular were generated, accumulated and circulated by printed books and their relationship with the long-term socio-economic transformation of China are rare. This paper aims to open up the subject by examining the long-term trends in the production of manuscripts and books and focusing on the connections between the generation and dissemination of useful knowledge in China and the production and circulation of printed books over the centuries and dynasties from circa 581 to 1840 compared to Europe. It connects trends in this indicator for knowledge formation and diffusion to economic growth, urbanization, changes in higher forms of education, the rise of literacy, the development of printing technologies, and changes in perceptions of the natural world. It concludes that human capital formation in China probably proceeded at a slower rate,which is relevant for narratives of the “divergence” between China and Europe.