Internet Access and Use: Does Cell Phone Interviewing Make a Difference?

Looks at whether adding cell phone interviews to surveys about Americans' use of and attitudes toward the Internet lead to significantly different survey results by comparing the demographic data and responses of landline and cell phone interviewees

Digital Social Space? Interpreting Digital Action and Behavior for Today’s Churches

The internet has changed the ways human beings connect and understand one another. Through the use of social media, people find themselves immersed in a digital environment consisting of various practices and behaviors. As Christianity continues to negotiate the often tricky relationship it has with digital experience, what philosophical and methodological stance should practical theology take towards the internet? This paper argues that Henri Lefebvre’s concept of social space provides a helpful avenue to engage contemporary digital interactivity and experience. Social space is the lived expression of exchanged between subjects who both live in and comprise it. As such, churches should recognize the internet’s social spatiality. The internet is no longer something one uses as a tool; instead it has become woven into the very fabric of contemporary life. A total reorientation towards the internet, by churches and theologians, is necessary in order to connect to contemporary culture and religion

A new methodology for the quantitative visualization of coherent flow structures in alluvial channels using multibeam echo-sounding (MBES)

In order to investigate the interactions between turbulence and suspended sediment transport in natural aqueous environments, we ideally require a technique that allows simultaneous measurement of fluid velocity and sediment concentration for the whole flow field. Here, we report on development of a methodology using the water column acoustic backscatter signal from a multibeam echo sounder to simultaneously quantify flow velocities and sediment concentrations. The application of this new technique is illustrated with reference to flow over the leeside of an alluvial sand dune, which allows, for the first time in a field study, quantitative visualization of large-scale, whole flow field, turbulent coherent flow structures associated with the dune leeside that are responsible for suspending bed sediment. This methodology holds great potential for use in a wide range of aqueous geophysical flows

Costs and Benefits of Full Dual-Frame Telephone Survey Designs

Assesses the cost, sample composition, weighting, and substantive effect on survey results involved in interviewing respondents by cell phone, including those with landlines. Includes demographic profiles of cell phone-only, landline-only, and dual users

Cerebral small vessel disease and intracranial bleeding risk: prognostic and practical significance

Balancing the risks of recurrent ischaemia and antithrombotic-associated bleeding, particularly intracranial haemorrhage (ICH), is a key challenge in the secondary prevention of ischaemic stroke and transient ischaemic attack. In hyperacute ischaemic stroke, the use of acute reperfusion therapies is determined by the balance of anticipated benefit and the risk of ICH. Cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) causes most spontaneous ICH. Here, we review the evidence linking neuroimaging markers of CSVD to antithrombotic and thrombolytic-associated ICH, with emphasis on cerebral microbleeds (CMB). We discuss their role in the prediction of ICH, and practical implications for clinical decision making. Although current observational data suggests CMB presence should not preclude antithrombotic therapy in patients with ischaemic stroke or TIA, they are useful for improving ICH risk prediction with potential relevance for determining the optimal secondary prevention strategy, including the use of left atrial appendage occlusion. Following ICH, recommencing antiplatelets is probably safe in most patients, while the inconclusive results of recent randomised controlled trials of anticoagulant use makes recruitment to ongoing trials (including those testing left atrial appendage occlusion) in this area a high priority. Concern regarding CSVD and ICH risk after hyperacute stroke treatment appears to be unjustified most patients, though some uncertainty remains regarding patients with very high CMB burden and other risk factors for ICH. We encourage careful phenotyping for underlying CSVD in future trials, with potential to enhance precision medicine in stroke

Paced to perfection: Exploring the potential impact of WaveLight Technology in athletics

Athletics is in the midst of a technological revolution, which has had a major impact on endurance running performance. Since 2016, most men’s and women’s world records, from the 5000 m to the Marathon have been broken, while the all-time list of fastest performances has been recalibrated. While much emphasis has been placed on the introduction of the so-called ‘super-shoe’ technology, other innovations may have contributed to these improvements. For instance, when Eliud Kipchoge completed the marathon in under 2-hours in 2019, his race-kit and the course were carefully designed (i.e., long-straight sections and minimal undulations/ curves), but a lesser appreciated innovation was the pacing device that was used. The use of pacing lights represented a key factor in Kipchoge’s performance, and this approach to pacing was translated to international track athletics during 2020. This translation of technology coincided with world record performances in the Men’s 5000 m and 10000 m, and the Women’s 5000 m

Why a Theology of Foot Washing is Necessary

An essay on why foot washing (washing of the saints' feet) should remain a valuable practice for Original Free Will Baptists and Christianity. In this essay, I explore the ministerial implications foot washing has for identity formation, tradition, and community building. I suggest that foot washing is a visible and physical reminder of what our responsibilities are as Christians. Foot washing requires us to be weak for the sake of others, thus reminding us of the humility of Christ

Listening to the Rhythms: Preparing for Theological Conversation

An exploration of the rhythms and relationships that come from theological conversation. This paper explores the necessity of relationship and connection when doing theology. I argue that theology must be relational beginning with a theological encounter with the other. This paper incorporates the thoughts of Henri Lefebvre, Jean-Luc Nancy, and Paul Tillich

Identification and characterisation of RNA targets of the RNA binding proteins TRa2a and TRa2B

PhD ThesisAlternative splicing – the production of multiple messenger RNA isoforms from a single gene – is regulated in part by RNA binding proteins. The overall aim of this study was to identify and characterise novel targets of the RNA binding proteins Tra2α and Tra2β, in order to further understand their biological functions. Tra2β is implicated in male germ cell development and in the initial stages of this project, I utilised data from a previous Tra2β HITS-CLIP experiment to validate and characterise novel RNA targets from the mouse testis using minigenes. These included a large testis-enriched exon from Nasp and a posion exon from Tra2a. The identification of a Tra2β-responsive poison exon within the Tra2a gene suggested that Tra2β may directly regulate Tra2α protein expression. Subsequent experiments in a human breast cancer cell line revealed that following depletion of Tra2β, Tra2α is up-regulated, and could functionally compensate in splicing regulation. Tra2β is also up-regulated in several human cancers and we hypothesised that Tra2β may regulate alternative splicing programmes of functional importance in cancer. Therefore for the majority of this project, I investigated RNA targets of Tra2α and Tra2β in the human invasive breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231. Two transcriptome-wide approaches were used to identify RNA targets in this study. Firstly, I used iCLIP to map the transcriptome-wide binding sites of Tra2β in MDA-MB-231 cells. Secondly, I used RNA-seq to investigate the functional effect of joint Tra2 protein depletion on the transcriptome. Combining the iCLIP and RNA-seq data facilitated the identification of target exons which were both directly bound by Tra2β and functionally responsive to Tra2 protein depletion. Unexpectedly, Tra2 protein dependent exons included both alternative and constitutively spliced exons. A Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of the experimentally validated exons revealed that Tra2 protein dependent exons were functionally enriched in genes associated with chromosome biology. These included a functionally important exon from CHEK1, which encodes a key DNA damage response protein. Joint depletion of Tra2α and Tra2β led to reduced expression of the full-length CHK1 protein, accumulation of the DNA damage marker γH2AX and decreased cell viability. Together, this data suggests that human Tra2 proteins jointly control constitutive and alternative splicing patterns via paralog compensation which are important for cell viability