C: Reviews and notes: Bibliographies and works of reference

FIHRIS MAKHTUTAT MAKTABAT MAKKA AL‐MUKARRAMA: QISM AL‐QUR'AN WA‐'ULUMIH; QISM AL‐TARIKH = HANDLIST OF MANUSCRIPTS IN THE LIBRARY OF MAKKA AL‐MUKARRAMA: QUR'AN AND QUR'ANIC SCIENCES; HISTORY SECTION. Prepared by MUHAMMAD AL‐HABIB al‐HILA. London, Al‐Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994. 2 vols. Each 145 pp. Col. facsims. £18 each.

FIHRIS MAKHTUTAT BA'D AL‐MAKTABAT AL‐KHASSA FI AL‐YAMAN. Compiled by ‘ABD ALLAH MUHAMMAD AL‐HABSHI. Edited by CHULYAN YUHASIN (JULIAN JOHANSEN). London, Al‐Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1994. 8, 506pp. £24.

DIE PERSISCHE HANDSCHRIFTEN DER UNIVERSITÄTSBIBLIOTHEK HEIDELBERG. By SEYFEDDIN NAJMABADI. (Heidelberger Bibliotheksschriften, 46.) Heidelberg: Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, 1990. [iii], ix, 126pp. 5 facsim. plates.

CHRESTOMATHIE DE PAPYROLOGIE ARABE. DOCUMENTS RELATIFS A LA VIE PRIVEE, SOCIALE ET ADMINISTRATIVE DANS LES PREMIERS SIECLES ISLAMIQUES. Préparée par ADOLF GROHMANN. Retravaillée et élargie par RAIF GEORGES KHOURY. (Handbuch der Orientalistik. Erste Abteilung. Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten. Ergänzungsband II, zweiter Halbband.) Leiden, Brill, 1993. x, 260pp. 34 plates. Hf1. 220.‐

ARABISCHE BRIEFE AUS DEM 7.‐10. JAHRHUNDERT. By WERNER DIEM. (Corpus Papyrorum Raineri Archeducis Austriae, herausgegeben von der Generaldirektion der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Band XVI.) Vienna, Hollinek, 1993. Textband, 109 pp., Tafelband, 35 plates.

A WORLD WITHIN: JEWISH LIFE AS REFLECTED IN MUSLIM COURT DOCUMENTS FROM THE SIJILL OF JERUSALEM (XVIth CENTURY). By AMNON COHEN. 2 vols. Philadelphia, PA, University of Pennsylvania, Center for Judaic Studies, 1994 [Jewish Quarterly Review, Supplement 1994]. Vol. 1, 212pp.; Vol. 2, 375pp. (facsimiles).

A GLOSSARY OF SUFI TECHNICAL TERMS. Compiled by ‘ABD AL‐RAZZAQ al‐QASHANI. Trans, from the Arabic by NABIL SAFWAT; revised and edited by DAVID PENDLEBURY. London, The Octagon Press, 1991. xvii (English text); 167pp. (Arabic text). £20.

ARABIC‐ENGLISH AND ENGLISH‐ARABIC DICTIONARIES IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Compiled by GEORGE DIMITRI SELIM. (Near East Series, 5.) Washington, Library of Congress, 1992. 213pp. US$6.50

CHRISTIAN ARABIC OF BAGHDAD. By FARIDA ABU‐HAIDAR. (Semitica Viva, Band 7.) Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1991. IX, 203pp. DM 78.‐

ARABIC LOANWORDS IN ETHIOPIAN SEMITIC. By WOLF LESLAU. Wiesbaden, Harrossowitz, 1990. xvii, 373pp. DM98.‐

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 1995. London, Europa Publications, 1994. xx, 1022pp. £160.

UMWELTPROBLEME IM VORDEREN ORIENT: EINE AUSWAHL‐BIBLIOGRAPHIE = ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN THE NEAR AND MIDDLE EAST: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY. By GERDA HANSEN. (Dokumentationsdienst Vorderer Orient, Reihe A, 21.) Hamburg, Deutsches Ubersee‐Institut, Übersee‐Dokumentation, Referat Vorderer Orient, 1993. ix, 62pp. DM 13.‐

DER GOLFKRIEG (1990/91): EINE AUSWAHLBIBLIOGRAPHIE = THE GULF WAR (1990/91): A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY. By INGEBORG OTTO, MARIANNE SCHMIDT‐DUMONT, with an introduction by HANS KRECH. (Dokumentationsdienst Vorderer Orient, Reihe A, 20.) Hamburg, Deutsches Ubersee‐Institut, Übersee‐Dokumentation, Referat Vorderer Orient, 1992. xviii, 314pp. DM38.‐

HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF LIBYA. Second edition. By RONALD BRUCE ST. JOHN. (African Historical Dictionaries, 33.) Metuchen, The Scarecrow Press, 1991. 192pp. Maps. £18.75.

ETHNIC GROUPS IN THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY. Edited by PETER ALFORD ANDREWS. (Beihefte zum Tübinger Altas des Vorderen Orients, Reihe B (Geisteswissenschaften) Nr. 60.) Wiesbaden, Reichert, 1989. 659pp.

ARMENIA. Compiled by VREJ NERSES NERSESSIAN. (World Bibliographical Series, 163.) Oxford, Clio Press, 1993. 304pp. Map. £49.50.

WOMEN IN ISLAMIC BIOGRAPHICAL COLLECTIONS: FROM IBN SA'D TO WHO'S WHO. By RUTH RODED. Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publications, 1994. x, 157pp. £28.95

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON WOMEN IN YEMEN. By JOKE BURINGA. Edited by MARTA COLBURN. (Yemen Development Series, no.2.) Westbury, American Institute for Yemeni Studies, 1992. 158pp. US$10.‐     

Lost in Translation: A Multi‐Level Case Study of the Metamorphosis of Meanings and Action in Public Sector Organizational Innovation

This paper explores the early implementation of an organizational innovation in the UK National Health Service (NHS) – Treatment Centres (TCs) – designed to dramatically reduce waiting lists for elective care. The paper draws on case studies of 8 TCs (each at varying stages of their development) and aims to explore how meanings about TCs are created and evolve, and how these meanings impact upon the development of the organizational innovation. Research on organizational meanings needs to take greater account of the fact that modern organizations like the NHS are complex multi‐level phenomena, comprising layers of interlacing networks. To understand the pace, direction and impact of organizational innovation and change we need to study the interconnections between meanings across different organizational levels. The data presented in this paper show how the apparently simple, relatively unformed, concept of a TC framed by central government is translated and transmuted by subsequent layers in the health service administration, and by players in local health economies, and, ultimately, in the TCs themselves, picking up new rationales, meanings and significance as it goes along. The developmental histories of TCs reveal a range of significant re‐workings of macro policy with the result that there is considerable diversity and variation between local TC schemes. The picture is of important disconnections between meanings, that in many ways mirror Weick's (1976) ’loosely coupled systems’. The emergent meanings and the direction of micro‐level development of TCs appear more strongly determined by interactions within the local TC environment, notably between what we identify as groups of ’idealists’, ’pragmatists’, ’opportunists’ and ’sceptics’ than by the framing (Goffman 1974) provided by macro and meso organizational levels. While this illustrates the limitations of top down and policy‐driven attempts at change, and highlights the crucial importance of the front‐line local ’micro‐systems’ (Donaldson and Mohr 2000) in the overall scheme of implementing organizational innovations, the space or headroom provided by frames at the macro and meso levels can enable local change, albeit at variable speed and with uncertain outcomes.     

Is Secularism Neutral?

This article argues that secularism is not neutral. Secularization is a process, the secular state is a structure, whereas secularism is a political philosophy. Secularism takes two main forms: first, a “benevolent” secularism that endeavours to treat all religious and nonreligious belief systems even‐handedly, and, second, a “hostile” kind that privileges unbelief and excludes religion from the public sphere. I analyze the European Court of Human Rights decision in Lautsi v Italy, which illustrates these types. The article concludes that secularism as a political philosophy cannot be neutral, and the secular state is not neutral in its effects, standpoint, governing assumptions or treatment of religious truth claims.     

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: current and future perspectives

Over the last 30 years prenatal diagnosis has been available to couples at genetic risk to determine the genetic health of a naturally conceived pregnancy. Prenatal diagnosis involves fetal cell sampling either by chorionic villous sampling at 10-12 weeks or by amniocentesis at 12-15 weeks gestation and testing for genetic disease. If the fetus is affected, termination of pregnancy is a difficult and emotional issue for the couple. The advent of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) and more recently preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) now provides an alternative reproductive option that allows couples to commence a pregnancy knowing that their baby will not be affected with the indicated genetic condition. This article explores the option of PGD, its clinical application now and into the future and the current status of regulation and legislation. With recent changes to national legislation, scientists now have the opportunity to access affected PGD embryos donated by patients to establish disease-specific stem cells that may be useful models of human disease and a means to develop more effective therapies for treatment.     

Identification of traumatic injury in burned cranial bone: an experimental approach.

Interpreting patterns of injury in victims of fire-related deaths poses challenges for forensic investigators. Determining manner of death (accident, suicide or homicide) using charred remains is compounded by the thermal distortion and fragmentation of soft and skeletal tissues. Heat degrades thin cranial structures and obscures the characteristic signatures of perimortem ballistic, blunt, and sharp force trauma in bone, making differentiation from thermal trauma difficult. This study documents the survivability and features of traumatic injury through all stages of burning for soft tissue reduction and organic degradation of cranial bone. Forty cadaver heads were burned in environments simulating forensic fires. Progression of thermal degradation was photographically documented throughout the destructive stages for soft tissues and bone to establish expected burn sequence patterns for the head. In addition to testing intact vaults, a percentage were selectively traumatized to introduce the variables of soft tissue disruption, fractures, impact marks, and incisions throughout the cremation process. Skeletal materials were recovered, reconstructed, and correlated with photographs to discern burn patterns and survivability of traumatic features. This study produced two important results: (1) Identification of preexistent trauma is possible in reconstructed burned cranial bone. Signatures of ballistic (internal and external bevel, secondary fractures), blunt force (impact site, radiating fractures), and sharp force (incisions, stabs, sectioning) survive the cremation process. (2) In non-traumatized specimens, the skull does not explode from steam pressure but does fragment as a result of external forces (collapsed debris, extinguishment methods) and handling. The features of both results are sequentially described throughout the progression of thermal destruction.