56 research outputs found
Spiritual formation in secondary education: An investigation into how children use collective worship within secondary education
The past thirty years has witnessed significant changes in the practice of collective worship in UK schools, although the statutory requirements relating to collective worship have not changed since 1988. Predominantly, collective worship in schools is managed and delivered by adults. However I became aware, from my professional context and practice as a chaplain in a faithbased urban secondary school, little attention has been given to the ways children actually experience and make use of collective worship. The aim of my research has therefore been to gain a more child-centred perspective on collective worship, and to generate a deeper understanding of how children might use collective worship to reflect on their relationships and life experiences.
My research methods reflect the aim to privilege the children’s voices: the primary data source comes from children’s own accounts of participating in collective worship, using a longitudinal qualitative method across four years. Using a definition drawn from Hay and Nye (1996, 2006) and Hyde (2008), the study employs thematic analysis to interpret the data using the framework of spirituality as relationship with God (or Transcendent), self and other (including people and the world).
The results revealed in this study show that children construct collective worship as a sacred space in which they are able to reflect on their own understandings of God, faith and the world. Crucial to this process is an emerging sense of self and its connection with these relationships. Through critical reflection within collective worship children encounter a particular dynamic that I have identified as reluctance-permission-opportunity. I therefore argue this dynamic underpins a child’s evolving sense and awareness of faith and relationship with God, other and self, and represents aspects of a three-dimensional model of spiritual reflection and maturity. The study concludes that the sacred space of collective worship is actively constructed by the children, building on the established frameworks offered by the statutory provision of school-based collective worship. The constructed sacred space of collective worship is – for the children – precious, set apart, revelatory, special and life-changing. As such there is a sense of ownership by the children of this sacred space.
This thesis suggests new approaches to researching and understanding children’s spirituality as well as implications for professional practice. It represents a contribution to knowledge by advancing a more nuanced understanding of children’s spiritual development than currently exists. The notion of a three-dimensional dynamic also offers a contribution to theoretical understandings of the concepts of spiritual formation. The findings of the research are seen as having implications for professional practice in collective worship by arguing for a child-centred approach to critical spiritual exploration and reflection, and therefore to the design and provision of collective worship
A missing operationalization: entrepreneurial competencies in multinational enterprise subsidiaries
We seek to provide a comprehensive operationalization of firm-specific variables that constitute multinational enterprise subsidiary entrepreneurial competencies. Towards this objective, we bring together notions from the fields of entrepreneurship and international business. Drawing on an empirical study of 260 subsidiaries located in the UK, we propose a comprehensive set of scales encompassing innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, learning, intra-multinational networking, extra-multinational networking and autonomy; which capture distinct subsidiary entrepreneurial competencies at the subsidiary level. Research and managerial implications are discussed
A new VLA/e-MERLIN limit on central images in the gravitational lens system CLASS B1030+074
We present new VLA 22-GHz and e-MERLIN 5-GHz observations of CLASS B1030+074,
a two-image strong gravitational lens system whose background source is a
compact flat-spectrum radio quasar. In such systems we expect a third image of
the background source to form close to the centre of the lensing galaxy. The
existence and brightness of such images is important for investigation of the
central mass distributions of lensing galaxies, but only one secure detection
has been made so far in a galaxy-scale lens system. The noise levels achieved
in our new B1030+074 images reach 3 microJy/beam and represent an improvement
in central image constraints of nearly an order of magnitude over previous
work, with correspondingly better resulting limits on the shape of the central
mass profile of the lensing galaxy. Simple models with an isothermal outer
power law slope now require either the influence of a central supermassive
black hole, or an inner power law slope very close to isothermal, in order to
suppress the central image below our detection limit. Using the central mass
profiles inferred from light distributions in Virgo galaxies, moved to z=0.5,
and matching to the observed Einstein radius, we now find that 45% of such mass
profiles should give observable central images, 10% should give central images
with a flux density still below our limit, and the remaining systems have
extreme demagnification produced by the central SMBH. Further observations of
similar objects will therefore allow proper statistical constraints to be
placed on the central properties of elliptical galaxies at high redshift.Comment: Accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 16
pages, 8 figure
Hydrological modelling as a tool for interdisciplinary workshops on future drought
© 2018, © The Author(s) 2018. Transformative interdisciplinary methods and tools are required to address crucial water-related challenges facing societies in the current era of the Anthropocene. In a community-based study in the Limpopo basin of South Africa, physical and social science methods were brought together to run interdisciplinary workshops aimed at enhancing preparedness for possible future drought. To generate storylines for the workshops, relevant scenarios were modelled using a catchment-scale hydrological model, SHETRAN. Set up using freely available data, local knowledge, and narrative-based group interviews on past experiences of drought, the model acted as a locally-relevant tool for prompting discussions about potential future drought impacts, responses and preparedness, and to stimulate the production of community future narratives. In this paper, we discuss the elements involved in the modelling process: the building of the model through an interdisciplinary approach; setting up the model with limited data; and the translation of the model results into storylines for the workshops. We found that by using this methodology scientific grounding was given to the workshop storylines, and that the local context of the model and the engaging approach of creating narratives encouraged participant involvement in discussions about the future. The method of generating these future stories was an important process for the participants in developing their thinking about possible futures, preparedness and adaptation. In this paper we show how this alternative approach of using a hydrological model has benefits and we discuss the limitations and lessons of the approach for future interdisciplinary research
The XXL Survey V: Detection of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect of the Redshift 1.9 Galaxy Cluster XLSSU J021744.1-034536 with CARMA
We report the detection of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect of galaxy
cluster XLSSU J021744.1-034536, using 30 GHz CARMA data. This cluster was
discovered via its extended X-ray emission in the XMM-Newton Large Scale
Structure survey, the precursor to the XXL survey. It has a photometrically
determined redshift , making it among the most distant
clusters known, and nominally the most distant for which the SZ effect has been
measured. The spherically integrated Comptonization is
, a measurement which is relatively
insensitive to assumptions regarding the size and redshift of the cluster, as
well as the background cosmology. Using a variety of locally calibrated cluster
scaling relations extrapolated to z~2, we estimate a mass - from the X-ray flux and SZ signal. The measured
properties of this cluster are in good agreement with the extrapolation of an
X-ray luminosity-SZ effect scaling relation calibrated from clusters discovered
by the South Pole Telescope at higher masses and lower redshifts. The full
XXL-CARMA sample will provide a more complete, multi-wavelength census of
distant clusters in order to robustly extend the calibration of cluster scaling
relations to these high redshifts.Comment: ApJ, in press. 9 pages, 4 figures, 4 table
UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on. Work package 7: Operationalising scenarios in the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on
Summary
Study aims and approach
An aim of the UK NEA Follow-on (UK NEAFO) is to develop and communicate the evidence base of
the UK NEA and make it relevant to decision and policy making. It also provides an important
opportunity for those working on scenario methods and concepts to scrutinise the role of futures
thinking in the management of ecosystem services and so develop their effectiveness as decision
support tools. In this study we have therefore asked: how can the UK NEA scenarios help us to
understand, manage and communicate the consequences of changes in ecosystem services across all
scales?
There are many different understandings about what scenarios are, and what they should be used
for. To clarify the issues surrounding the role of scenarios, we have approached this work from two
angles. We have firstly looked at the way the storylines can support decision making processes.
Secondly, we have looked at the content of the scenarios themselves and explored how through the
use of models the UK NEA scenarios as products might be refined to enhance their value as
analytical tools.
Scenarios in Action
We used the opportunity of a series of meetings with stakeholders to develop the UK NEA scenarios
from a process perspective. These meetings took various forms, but throughout the main aim was to
find out whether people found the scenarios sufficiently believable, challenging and relevant.
In workshops organised by the scenario team in Leeds, Edinburgh and Belfast, we worked with
participants on a series of tasks designed to help them immerse themselves in the scenarios and
reflect on them critically. While those we worked with had many comments about the scenarios in
detail, the evidence we collected from these meetings suggests that the majority of people found
the scenarios to be plausible and the projections consistent. The majority also agreed with the
proposition that the suite of scenarios as a whole addressed a relevant ranges of issues.
We explored with the workshop participants several ways in which the storylines could be enriched,
by: developing the narrative about the way people might live in the different scenario worlds;
developing time-lines for the scenarios; thinking more deeply about regional and local differences;
and, exploring how the scenarios would frustrate or facilitate the embedding of the ecosystem
approach in decision making. We found that while all of these elements had value in terms of
stimulating discussion and understanding of the scenarios, they were not needed in order to address
deficiencies in the original storylines in terms of plausibility or credibility.
The evidence we collected therefore suggests that the existing narratives are probably sufficient as
an entry point for discussions about the future of ecosystem services in the UK. What was apparent
from the observations that we made in the workshops was that it would probably be a mistake to
‘over-engineer’ or ‘over-specify’ the narratives because there needs to be room for discussion and
probing. We were struck how people took the existing scenarios and found new features and ideas
in them than had not been identified by in the original work. For example, in one session National
Security, with its emphasis on resource efficiency, was found to be ‘greener’ than it initially looks. In
another Local Stewardship was discovered to need some degree of central control and regulation to
work efficiently. These kinds of discussion are evidence of the reflection, deliberation and social
learning that can be promoted by using the UK NEA scenarios.
UK NEAFO Work Package 7: Operationalising scenarios
7
In the workshop we organised in Belfast we found that the presentation of the scenarios could be
tailored to a specific region (i.e. Northern Ireland) and, through area-specific breakout groups during
the workshop, to specific localities within it. However, our experiences here emphasised the need
for considerable preparation, consultation with the stakeholder community, and changing of the
workshop format to make the scenarios intelligible and engaging to local stakeholders.
Work on the use of the scenarios in a more explicit decision support role will be reported via the
work on response options (WP8), which considered how they could be used to ‘stress-test’ policy
response options. The experience gained from the work undertaken in the early stages of UK NEAFO
was that the scenarios appeared to provide a suitable platform for the work, but that the stresstesting
methodology needed to be refined. During the follow-on we have also interviewed policy
leads in Defra, for example, to gain a better picture of policy needs, and the way scenarios might
usefully serve them. Apart from the challenge of ‘relevance’ it is clear that the time needed for
people to work with scenarios probably means that they are less useful to policy customers in the
context of their everyday work but can be useful at a very broad and strategic level. However, there
is clearly an opportunity for scenarios to be used more extensively through commissioned work. The
importance of commissioned work has been emphasised during the follow-on phase by invitations
to observe the work of the CAMERAS1 work in Scotland, and the Noise Study being undertaken for
Defra. Both are actively using the UK NEA scenarios. The outcomes of these on-going studies will be
reported elsewhere by others. Nevertheless, even though these projects are at a preliminary stage
they help us better understand how scenarios can be used to communicate the consequences of
changes in ecosystem services to different groups and individuals.
Scenarios as products: developing the model base
The UK NEA scenarios were initially used to make both qualitative and quantitative projections. The
quantitative work mainly involved modelling how land cover would change under the different
scenarios (Haines-Young et al. 2011). Although these data were used to make an analysis of the
changes in marginal economic values for some ecosystem services during the initial phase of the UK
NEA, they have not been fully exploited. At the time it was recognised that there were many gaps in
our understanding of the links between land cover and ecosystem services; UK NEAFO has provided
the opportunity to address some of these deficiencies.
Thus in the follow-on work we have sought to extend the range of models that can be used to
explore the UK NEA scenarios. The modelling work has not sought to change the scenarios
fundamentally, but to enrich the insights that can be derived from exploring the differences
between them in a systematic, and quantitative way. The goal, has been to extend the analysis that
can be built up around the narratives and hence enrich the scenarios as ‘products’. Four topic areas
were selected as the focus for this work: flood and drought risk (based on an analysis of changes in
river flows), biodiversity (farmland birds), marine and cultural ecosystem services.
Catchment modelling
We looked at the effects of land-use change on river flows under each of the UK NEA scenarios. We
modelled hydrological discharge within 34 UK catchments and calculated four hydrological indicators
for each catchment: average annual discharge, flood hazard, and Q5 and Q95 (measures of the
magnitude of unusually high (Q5) and unusually low (Q95) flows). For our flood hazard indicator we
calculated the interval between floods of a size currently occurring every 30 years. Although we kept
climate constant in the models, as we wanted to isolate the effects of land cover change, we ran
them for both the high and low climate change land cover variants for each scenario.
1 A Coordinated Agenda for Marine, Environment and Rural Affairs Science, 2011-2016.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Research/About/EBAR/CAMERASsite
In general, the ‘green’ scenarios, Nature@Work and Green and Pleasant Land, as well as National
Security, were associated with lower flows than currently occur (when measured using any of the
four indicators). However, for a given scenario there was a great deal of variability between
catchments in terms of the size and statistical significance of the differences. The magnitude of
change across all scenarios and catchments ranged from -13% to 6% for average annual discharge,
-14 to 7% for Q5, -24 to 27 % for Q95 and -16 to 36 years for flood hazard. Differences were
particularly evident between Nature@Work and World Markets, with the latter associated with
higher flows than occur currently, and the majority of the statistically significant increased flows.
Some catchments showed significant changes that were different in sign between these two
scenarios.
Taken together, our results indicate that that in managing change a balance needs to be struck
between alleviating the likelihoods of increased drought and increased flooding, depending on the
likely effects of these phenomena in the catchment.
Farmland birds
We looked at the relationship between land use data produced during the first phase of the UK NEA
and models of farmland bird populations, in 1kmx1km squares covered by the Breeding Bird Survey
(BBS) and Winter Farmland Bird Survey (WFBS).
We used Functional Space Models to estimate the annual population growth rate under each
scenario of each of the 19 farmland bird species used to calculate the farmland bird index (Gregory
et al. 2004). We used this to look at the relationship between land use under the scenarios and: i)
the average population growth rate for all 19 species, and ii) a subset of 11 species showing
declining population trends under current land use. Overall we found that land use change across
the scenarios had relatively little impact. However, the only statistically significant change was for
declining species under Green and Pleasant Land, where population growth rates became
significantly more negative.
We used Mechanistic Models to estimate the number of over-winter ‘bird-days’ for two types of
seed-eating farmland birds, a yellowhammer-type and linnet-type These species were chosen
because they differ in their food preferences with respect to cereal, oil and weed seeds, but
between them are representative of the diversity of seed-eating farmland birds as a whole. We
found a significant decline in the ecological value of lowland agricultural areas for these species
across all UK NEA scenarios, but the greatest impact was for scenarios with the highest monetised
values for ecosystem services, as measured by the first phase of the UK NEA (Nature@Work, Green
and Pleasant Land). This appears to be due to the fact that, compared with the baseline, the area of
arable crops declines most sharply under these scenarios, due partly to changes in land use but also
because of conversion of arable land to other habitats important for ecosystem services (e.g.
woodland).
Taken together these results imply a trade-off between overall value for ecosystem services and
conservation of farmland birds, and highlight the need to consider the specific impacts of land use
change on biodiversity, alongside other ecosystem services.
Marine ecosystem services
Only a limited attempt was made to model marine ecosystem services during the first phase of the
UK NEA. In the follow-on we have conducted preliminary work to produce spatially explicit models
for three important marine ecosystem services: fisheries landings, aquaculture production and
carbon sequestration. We made comparisons between baseline data and time slices for 2015, 2030
UK NEAFO Work Package 7: Operationalising scenarios
9
and 2060 under four of the UK NEA scenarios that were considered most relevant for the sector, and
mapped these across UK territorial waters.
There is a high degree of uncertainty associated with the models, mainly due to a lack of suitable
data and poor knowledge of the drivers of change. In many cases, in the absence of robust
quantitative models, we needed to take the qualitative descriptions of the UK NEA scenarios and
combine these with expert knowledge to estimate changes in the three types of ecosystem service.
We estimated that in three of the four scenarios: Nature@Work, Local Stewardship and National
Security, fisheries landings would be, by 2060 only slightly lower or at higher levels than they are
today. Under World Markets, however, projected landings would decline significantly by 2060, due
to a lack of regulation combined with high levels of investment from private capital. In the light of
this, it was interesting that aquaculture was at higher levels under World Markets than under any of
the other scenarios, although all of them showed higher levels than the baseline. This was because
under this scenario more investment capital would be available to invest in fish farms.
We believe that carbon sequestration would be most likely to be impacted by the World Markets
and Natural Security, due to higher CO2 emissions causing an increase in ocean acidification.
Our results, although tentative, mark a significant first step in attempts to map and project the
impact of possible future change on marine ecosystem services.
Cultural Ecosystem Services
In the first phase of the UK NEA, the relationship between the drivers of change and cultural
ecosystem services (CES) was mainly explored through the impact they had on land cover. For UK
NEAFO, we additionally used the Monitor of Engagement for the Natural Environment (MENE)
dataset. We examined how the UK NEA scenarios can be used as a framework to explore the
relationship between the supply of cultural spaces in the landscape and peoples preferences for
different types of natural spaces and practices in them. We have developed a Bayesian Belief
Network (BBN) that allows users to explore these relationships interactively and look at the potential
impacts of changes socio-demographic structure of the kind described by the UK NEA scenarios.
Our spatial analysis of the MENE data showed that people tend to select locations with higher
woodland cover than the average for the surroundings, when they travel intermediate distances
from their home, but that this tendency declines when they travel longer distances. Woodland cover
is projected to double under both Nature@Work and Green and Pleasant Land, and both provide
more opportunities to visit woodland close to home than under scenarios such as World Markets.
However, our analysis shows that on the basis of the current geography of people and woodlands,
the way planting is targeting under Green and Pleasant Land has the potential to deliver greater joint
benefits from biodiversity change and cultural ecosystem services than Nature@Work.
The BBN we have developed using the HUGIN Expert software allows the relationships within the
MENE data to be explored interactively; it is hosted on a prototype website that is open to the wider
community. By examining the relationships between socio-demographic characteristics of the MENE
respondents, the types of natural spaces they visit and the activities they do in them, this BBN tool
allows users to explore the impacts of possible future change on the supply and demand of CES.
Conclusion
How can plausible future scenarios help understand, manage and communicate the consequences of
changes in ecosystem services across all scales? In this work we have shown that they can be used to
promote understanding by the deliberative processes that they engender. The UK NEA scenarios
appear to be sufficiently rich and comprehensive to support debate across a wide range of topic
areas relevant to current policy concerns. The scenarios can also help understanding by providing a
framework in which current models can be applied and the outcome used both to test the
plausibility of the scenarios themselves and to deepen the insights that can be derived from them.
These analytical ‘scenario products’ can be equally important both in terms of deepening our
understanding of the assumptions on which the scenarios are built and in stimulating debate about
their implications.
We have shown that the distinction between the ‘process’ and ‘product’ dimensions of scenario
thinking is a useful one, given the many ways scenarios can be used. The distinction clarifies some of
the different purposes and problems that scenarios work seeks to address. However, our work also
demonstrates that both components have their strengths, and neither can be taken isolation. If we
are to use scenarios to understand, manage and communicate the consequences of changes in
ecosystem services across different scales and in different contexts, then targeted analytical studies
developed within the qualitative framework of the UK NEA scenarios, can enrich our understanding
of today’s issues and how we might respond to them
Blazars in the Fermi Era: The OVRO 40-m Telescope Monitoring Program
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) aboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
provides an unprecedented opportunity to study gamma-ray blazars. To capitalize
on this opportunity, beginning in late 2007, about a year before the start of
LAT science operations, we began a large-scale, fast-cadence 15 GHz radio
monitoring program with the 40-m telescope at the Owens Valley Radio
Observatory (OVRO). This program began with the 1158 northern (declination>-20
deg) sources from the Candidate Gamma-ray Blazar Survey (CGRaBS) and now
encompasses over 1500 sources, each observed twice per week with a ~4 mJy
(minimum) and 3% (typical) uncertainty. Here, we describe this monitoring
program and our methods, and present radio light curves from the first two
years (2008 and 2009). As a first application, we combine these data with a
novel measure of light curve variability amplitude, the intrinsic modulation
index, through a likelihood analysis to examine the variability properties of
subpopulations of our sample. We demonstrate that, with high significance
(7-sigma), gamma-ray-loud blazars detected by the LAT during its first 11
months of operation vary with about a factor of two greater amplitude than do
the gamma-ray-quiet blazars in our sample. We also find a significant (3-sigma)
difference between variability amplitude in BL Lacertae objects and
flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs), with the former exhibiting larger
variability amplitudes. Finally, low-redshift (z<1) FSRQs are found to vary
more strongly than high-redshift FSRQs, with 3-sigma significance. These
findings represent an important step toward understanding why some blazars emit
gamma-rays while others, with apparently similar properties, remain silent.Comment: 23 pages, 24 figures. Submitted to ApJ
A Transient Sub-Eddington Black Hole X-ray Binary Candidate in the Dust Lanes of Centaurus A
We report the discovery of a bright X-ray transient, CXOU J132527.6-430023,
in the nearby early-type galaxy NGC 5128. The source was first detected over
the course of five Chandra observations in 2007, reaching an unabsorbed
outburst luminosity of 1-2*10^38 erg/s in the 0.5-7.0 keV band before returning
to quiescence. Such luminosities are possible for both stellar-mass black hole
and neutron star X-ray binary transients. Here, we attempt to characterize the
nature of the compact object. No counterpart has been detected in the optical
or radio sky, but the proximity of the source to the dust lanes allows for the
possibility of an obscured companion. The brightness of the source after a >100
fold increase in X-ray flux makes it either the first confirmed transient
non-ULX black hole system in outburst to be subject to detailed spectral
modeling outside the Local Group, or a bright (>10^38 erg/s) transient neutron
star X-ray binary, which are very rare. Such a large increase in flux would
appear to lend weight to the view that this is a black hole transient. X-ray
spectral fitting of an absorbed power law yielded unphysical photon indices,
while the parameters of the best-fit absorbed disc blackbody model are typical
of an accreting ~10 Msol black hole in the thermally dominant state.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Herschel-ATLAS: Blazars in the science demonstration phase field
To investigate the poorly constrained sub-mm counts and spectral properties of blazars we searched for these in the Herschel-ATLAS (H-ATLAS) science demonstration phase (SDP) survey catalog. We cross-matched 500 μm sources brighter than 50 mJy with the FIRST radio catalogue. We found two blazars, both previously known. Our study is among the first blind blazar searches at sub-mm wavelengths, i.e., in the spectral regime where little is still known about the blazar SEDs, but where the synchrotron peak of the most luminous blazars is expected to occur. Our early results are consistent with educated extrapolations of lower frequency counts and question indications of substantial spectral curvature downwardsand of spectral upturns at mm wavelengths. One of the two blazars is identified with a Fermi/LAT Υ-ray source and a WMAP source. The physical parameters of the two blazars are briefly discussed. These observations demonstrate that the H-ATLAS survey will provide key information aboutthe physics of blazars and their contribution to sub-mm counts.We are grateful to the referee, P. Padovani, for very useful comments. Thanks are due to the PACO collaboration for having made available the data on the 2 blazars. M.M. and L.B. thanks the staff at the Australia Telescope Compact Array site, Narrabri (NSW), for the valuable support they provide in running the telescope. Work partially supported by the Italian Space Agency (contract I/016/07/0 "COFIS'' and ASI/INAF Agreement I/072/09/0 for the Planck LFI Activity of Phase E2). This research has made use of the NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) which is operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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