Perspectives on the Missiological Legacy of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation

Upon the occasion of the 500th anniversary Martin Luther’s publication of his 95 theses, this composite article brings together five perspectives on the missiological legacy of the reformer and the subsequent Protestant Reformation. The blend of voices makes clear that Luther and the subsequent Protestant Reformation do not have a simple missiological legacy but rather various legacies: theological, ecclesiological, political, and practical; some of which co-exist, and even collide, in the same ecclesiastical community. The scandalous legacy of a splintered and splintering church remains. Yet, demonstrations of mutual recognition, reciprocal respect, and genuine fellowship can be found in certain missiological circles

Marine litter education boosts children’s understanding and self-reported actions

Marine litter is a significant environmental problem inherently linked to individuals’ purchasing, use and disposal behaviour. This research examined 176 British schoolchildren’s (aged 8–13 years) baseline marine litter understanding and self-reported actions, and tested the impact of an educational intervention. All children participated in the educational intervention and completed a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire. At baseline, children were quite concerned about marine litter and recognised some of the causes and impacts of the problem. Children also reported taking a number of actions to help solve the problem. After the intervention, children were significantly more concerned, had a better understanding of the causes and negative impacts, and reported engaging in more actions to reduce the potential causes of marine litter. Understanding the perceptions and behaviours of children is crucial as they represent current and future actors and a potentially important source of social influence among their peers, parents and community

Attenuation of FJ44 Turbofan Engine Noise with a Foam-Metal Liner Installed Over-the-Rotor

A Williams International FJ44-3A 3000-lb thrust class turbofan engine was used as a demonstrator for a Foam-Metal Liner (FML) installed in close proximity to the fan. Two FML designs were tested and compared to the hardwall baseline. Traditional single degree-of-freedom liner designs were also evaluated to provide a comparison. Farfield acoustic levels and limited engine performance results are presented in this paper. The results show that the FML achieved up to 5 dB Acoustic Power Level (PWL) overall attenuation in the forward quadrant, equivalent to the traditional liner design. An earlier report presented the test set-up and conditions

Development of alkaline electrochemical characteristics demonstrates soil formation in bauxite residue undergoing natural rehabilitation

Mining and mineral processing industries have generated a large amount of polymineral wastes, causing the destruction and degradation of huge areas of landscapes at extensive geographical locations. Rehabilitation of these mine waste landscapes is critical to social and economic sustainability of mining and metallurgy operations, such as alumina refineries. The Bayer process to refine alumina generates large amounts of highly alkaline bauxite residues which are hazardous to plant growth. Innovative methodologies are urgently needed to address this economic and environmental challenge, one of which is soil formation from bauxite residues. Mineral weathering appears the prerequisite to the initiation of soil formation and development of functional soil properties in BRDAs. The present study investigated natural changes of mineralogy, zeta potential, isoelectric point, surface protonation, active alkaline groups and associated implications for rehabilitation of the BRDA. Alkaline calcite, hydrogarnet and sodalite minerals were slowly transformed or dissolved with declining levels over weathering time. Amorphous and semi-amorphous minerals also decreased with a corresponding decrease in BET and sorption sites. Zeta potential curve of fresh residue had steeper slope, than those of aged residues. The IEP of fresh residue was significantly higher, but those of aged residues were significantly lower, with a significant decrease of IEP with increasing time. These attributes in mineralogy and electrochemical characteristics such as transformation of alkaline minerals, and decreases of surface protonation and active alkaline groups, may be used to help the assessment of soil formation status in the bauxite residues of different age and associated rehabilitation requirements

Researching the Ends of Identity: Birth and Death on Social Media

This paper argues that expanding the scope of social media studies to examine birth and early life at one end, and death and memorialisation at the other, demonstrates that social media is never just about an individual, but also the way individuals are always already joined together as families, groups, communities and more. Mapping these ends of identity also reveals more of the nuances of everyday social media use and its impact

Nature versus Nurture: The curved spine of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity -- temperature relation

The physical processes that define the spine of the galaxy cluster X-ray luminosity -- temperature (L-T) relation are investigated using a large hydrodynamical simulation of the Universe. This simulation models the same volume and phases as the Millennium Simulation and has a linear extent of 500 h^{-1} Mpc. We demonstrate that mergers typically boost a cluster along but also slightly below the L-T relation. Due to this boost we expect that all of the very brightest clusters will be near the peak of a merger. Objects from near the top of the L-T relation tend to have assembled much of their mass earlier than an average halo of similar final mass. Conversely, objects from the bottom of the relation are often experiencing an ongoing or recent merger.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures, submitted to MNRA

Responsible innovation and political accountability: genetically modified mosquitoes in Brazil

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record.In this paper, we analyse the introduction of genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in Brazil and use this case to probe the notion of Responsible Innovation and its applicability to the development of new public health biotechnologies in the global South. OX513A, a strain of GM Aedes aegypti mosquitoes developed by the British firm Oxitec, has been used experimentally in Brazil since 2009, when it was imported into the country as a promising new tool in the fight against dengue. We discuss the regulatory history of OX513A in Brazil, as well as the forms of ‘community engagement’ that have accompanied the release of transgenic mosquitoes. We argue that the conduct of a scientific research project is only part of a broader effort to localise insect biotechnology in Brazil, an effort that has enjoyed very visible support from political authorities across the country. We conclude by arguing that if the framework of Responsible Innovation is to have purchase on this sort of transnational and multifaceted innovation trajectory, it has to include at its centre a strong notion of political accountability.Research by Javier Lezaun was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [grant number 263447: BioProperty]. Research by Sarah Hartley was supported by the Leverhulme Trust ‘Making Science Public’ programme [grant number RP2011-SP-013]

Scholarly communication in transition: The use of question marks in the titles of scientific articles in medicine, life sciences and physics 1966–2005

The titles of scientific articles have a special significance. We examined nearly 20 million scientific articles and recorded the development of articles with a question mark at the end of their titles over the last 40 years. Our study was confined to the disciplines of physics, life sciences and medicine, where we found a significant increase from 50% to more than 200% in the number of articles with question-mark titles. We looked at the principle functions and structure of the titles of scientific papers, and we assume that marketing aspects are one of the decisive factors behind the growing usage of question-mark titles in scientific articles