A Qualitative Study of the Self in New Age Spirituality Culture

How does a modern person express spirituality? This study, which includes participant observations and semi-structured interviews of representative groups and individuals, examines a particular concept of self in the practice of an alternative quest (alternative to organized religion) for a culture of spirituality. My analysis will explain how participation in the alternative culture known as “New Age” aligns with an individual concept of self in the context of differing global traditions, religions, and beliefs. The central issue that I will address will be the dynamic of the concept of self in the context of the group in the alternative culture. I will also address the questions of discontent with mainstream society among the subjects of this study, and the forms of spirituality that participation in New Age practices provides

Re-Enchanting the Social: Identity Transformation, Embodiment, and Prefigurative Religious Practices in New Spirituality Culture

This study explores contemporary and alternative forms of religion active in the Pittsburgh area. Otherwise known as New Age and neopagan, new spiritualities are a domain of religiosity marked by individualism, multiculturalism, and idiosyncratic experimentation with identity that is both subjectively oriented, yet communalistic. Under investigation are the rituals and material culture of study participants, which includes examining the physical manifestations of what are often internal, invisible, and subjective processes. Chapter themes include ritual and structure, commodification and healing, psychonautics and re-enchantment, all of which are defined and discussed via participant comments. Understanding processes of meaning-making, and how beliefs work within these subcultures, is enabled in part through an examination of spirituality texts and discourses. Included therefore is an analysis of such texts, in which the story of modern seekership is interpreted and contextualized, but additionally through the medium of such popular collective myths as Alice in Wonderland and The Matrix. Some questions include, what are the social structures of new spiritualities? What kinds of communities exist to house them? How do norms operate, and what sorts of power dynamics govern such cultural spaces? What are the common goals of individuals who follow new spiritualities? What kinds of embodied experiences define them? How are relationships conducted? What is the role of gender? How is sexuality conceived of? And how does this form of religiosity reproduce itself? Answering these questions partly involves contrasting new spiritualities with traditional religions and normative society. New spirituality is a way of life, and a world view. It is an approach to living that is guided by particular values, beliefs, and practices, all of which shape members’ orientation to among other things healthcare, diet, technology, and the environment

Transcriptional Profiling of Synovial Macrophages Using Minimally Invasive Ultrasoundâ Guided Synovial Biopsies in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144312/1/art40453_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144312/2/art40453.pd

Plants in aquatic ecosystems: current trends and future directions

Aquatic plants fulfil a wide range of ecological roles, and make a substantial contribution to the structure, function and service provision of aquatic ecosystems. Given their well-documented importance in aquatic ecosystems, research into aquatic plants continues to blossom. The 14th International Symposium on Aquatic Plants, held in Edinburgh in September 2015, brought together 120 delegates from 28 countries and six continents. This special issue of Hydrobiologia includes a select number of papers on aspects of aquatic plants, covering a wide range of species, systems and issues. In this paper we present an overview of current trends and future directions in aquatic plant research in the early 21st century. Our understanding of aquatic plant biology, the range of scientific issues being addressed and the range of techniques available to researchers have all arguably never been greater; however, substantial challenges exist to the conservation and management of both aquatic plants and the ecosystems in which they are found. The range of countries and continents represented by conference delegates and authors of papers in the special issue illustrate the global relevance of aquatic plant research in the early 21st century but also the many challenges that this burgeoning scientific discipline must address

Chironomidae (Insecta: Diptera) Collected from Hydrilla Verticillata (Hydrocharitaceae) and other submersed aquatic Macrophytes in Lake Bisina and other Ugandan Lakes

A survey of the aquatic weed Hydrilla verticillata was conducted in selected Kenyan and Ugandan lakes, and emerging chironomid adults were collected from samples of Hydrilla and seven other aquatic macrophytes. Hydrilla was absent from Lake Victoria, in sites where it previously occurred. Hydrilla was found in four of nine lakes examined in Uganda, i.e. Bisina, Kyoga, Bunyonyi and Mutanda. From 7424 collected chironomid adults, 43 species were identified, 21 (49%) representing new Ugandan records. Thirty-nine (91%) of the species were found on Hydrilla. Three species represent probable undescribed taxa. At our primary site, Lake Bisina, the genera Tanytarsus and Dicrotendipes dominated the chironomid community, comprising 76% of emerged adults. A species accumulation curve for chironomid species associated with Lake Bisina macrophytes suggested that further plant sampling would uncover additional species. Polypedilum wittei, formerly considered for possible biological control of Hydrilla, was not specific to that plant, emerging from six of the seven other species of submersed macrophytes we sampled. A second candidate Polypedilum species, P. dewulfi, was not found in Uganda. No insectrelated damage to Hydrilla was observed. Chironomid data were compared between Uganda collections and those from a concurrent, similar study in lake Tanganyika. Alpha- and ß-diversity values indicated that the chironomid communities on aquatic plants from Lake Bisina and Lake Tanganyika (Burundi) were markedly different. Studies of chironomids and other invertebrates associated with macrophytes in other African lakes will add significantly to knowledge of the natural history of these important aquatic environments.Keywords: Lake Victoria, weed, biodiversity, biological control, Lake TanganyikaJournal of East African Natural History 101(1): 29–66 (2012