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INTRODUCTION: Environmental factors such as wind, temperature, humidity, and sun exposure are known to affect influenza and viruses such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) transmissions. COVID-19 is a new pandemic with very little information available about its transmission and association with environmental factors. The goal of this paper is to explore the association of environmental factors on daily incidence rate, mortality rate, and recoveries of COVID-19. METHODS: The environmental data for humidity, temperature, wind, and sun exposure were recorded from metrological websites and COVID-19 data such as the daily incidence rate, death rate, and daily recovery were extracted from the government's official website available to the general public. The analysis for each outcome was adjusted for factors such as lock down status, nationwide events, and the number of daily tests performed. Analysis was completed with negative binominal regression log link using generalised linear modelling. RESULTS: Daily temperature, sun exposure, wind, and humidity were not significantly associated with daily incidence rate. Temperature and nationwide social gatherings, although non-significant, showed trends towards a higher chance of incidence. An increase in the number of daily testing was significantly associated with higher COVID-19 incidences (effect size ranged from 2.17–9.96). No factors were significantly associated with daily death rates. Except for the province of Balochistan, a lower daily temperature was associated with a significantly higher daily recovery rate. DISCUSSION: Environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, wind, and daily sun exposure were not consistently associated with COVID-19 incidence, death rates, or recovery. More policing about precautionary measures and ensuring diagnostic testing and accuracy are needed.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- Notes on contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- 1 'Yes, but not in the South': the BJP, Congress, and regional parties in South India -- 2 India's foreign policy and Hindutva: the new impact of culture and identity on the formulation and practice of Indian foreign policy 2014-2017 -- 3 Allegories of 'love jihad' and ghar wapsi: interlocking the socio-religious with the political -- 4 Understanding the BJP's victory in Uttar Pradesh -- 5 Election 2014 and the battle for India's soul -- 6 Collapse of the Congress party -- 7 Explaining the inconvenient truths of Indian political behaviour: Hindutva, Modi, and Muslim voters in 2014 -- 8 The dance of democracy: election 2014 and the marginalised and minorities -- 9 Aam Aadmi Party's electoral performance in Punjab: implications for an all India political scenario -- 10 The 'people' and the 'political': Aam Aadmi and the changing contours of the anti-corruption movement -- 11 The 2014 national elections from the margins of modern India -- 12 Big national parties in West Bengal: an exceptional outcast? -- 13 National elections in a tribal state: the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya -- 14 Electoral politics in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and the problem of communal polarisation -- 15 Lok Sabha elections in (un)divided Andhra Pradesh: issues and implications in Telangana and Seemandhra -- 16 An inquiry into the causes and consequences of the saffron whirlwind that swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 Assembly election -- Index.

ONE OF BOOKLIST'S TOP TEN RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY BOOKS OF 2016 This enthralling story of the making of an American is also a timely meditation on being Muslim in America today. Threading My Prayer Rug is a richly textured reflection on what it is to be a Muslim in America today. It is also the luminous story of many journeys: from Pakistan to the United States in an arranged marriage that becomes a love match lasting forty years; from secular Muslim in an Islamic society to devout Muslim in a society ignorant of Islam, and from liberal to conservative to American Muslim; from student to bride and mother; and from an immigrant intending to stay two years to an American citizen, business executive, grandmother, and tireless advocate for interfaith understanding. Beginning with a sweetly funny, moving account of her arranged marriage, the author undercuts stereotypes and offers the refreshing view of an American life through Muslim eyes. In chapters leavened with humor, hope, and insight, she recounts an immigrant's daily struggles balancing assimilation with preserving heritage, overcoming religious barriers from within and distortions of Islam from without, and confronting issues of raising her children as Muslims--while they lobby for a Christmas tree! Sabeeha Rehman was doing interfaith work for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the Muslim community center at Ground Zero, when the backlash began. She discusses what that experience revealed about American society.

The sources of Shari'a and the ethos of an 'Islamic' identity -- The Shari'a and siyar in the development of the law of nations -- Conceptualising terrorism in the international legal order -- Hostage-taking in international law and terrorism against 'internationally protected persons' -- Aerial and maritime terrorism -- Financing of international terrorism -- The OIC [Organization of Islamic Conference] and approaches to international terrorism -- Concluding observations.