Preaching to be heard in a television age: a study of the homiletical response to the modern media context

This thesis begins with the argument that television is a dominant influence on modern society. Television is, for example, a primary source of information and a dominant medium of entertainment. The most profound changes television has brought to modern culture, however, are more fundamental. The television age has engendered a new language and patterns of communication.The dilemma is how to communicate the gospel authentically from the Christian pulpit in a society where television dominates the patterns of communication. This thesis argues that preaching, in order to be heard today, must adopt the new language and communicative structures used by television. Old forms of deductive, conceptual preaching no longer encounter and involve an audience. The communicative tools of imagination, dialogue and experience must become central to an understanding of the preaching task. In addition, an awareness of the visual communications of body and face makes new demands of presentation.As well as changes in technique, fundamental reflection on the theology of communication and nature of preaching can take place in light of the media context. Television challenges more than simply the structures of preaching, and it offers more than a threat. Models for communication practice that reflect both the theological understanding of Christian communication and the desire to be effective are examined. There is, for example, clear grounds for preferring Incarnational and Trinitarian models over older straight-line or monological models for Christian communication.By means of case study, interview and sermon content analysis an investigation was made into the role (perceived and actual, as far as it can be determined) of television in the lives of a small group of preachers and students. The opinions and attitudes members of the two groups have toward television were explored. In addition, for the preachers and preachers in training, the potential that television has for informing preaching practice in any way (content, structure or genre) was examined.The second element in the empirical research explored the understanding and experience of preaching. Investigating the priorities for preaching and the common structures employed in that practice, there was an attempt to discover the areas of this communicative act that are receptive to new influences. In addition, the presence of certain responses to the change in cultural communication patterns was explored.Finally the thesis raises the issue of training for preaching. The case study with the New College students concerning the teaching of preaching is the primary tool for this section. With the history from the Edinburgh preachers as a background, this final section explores the possibilities for teaching preaching in the training of ministers today.The writer of this thesis professes a faith in the efficacy of preaching. The Christian message can still be communicated through preaching, but most effectively through preaching that is heard in a television age. The person of Christ can encounter human beings through image; and a living faith may be seen through experiential preaching

Volatile organic compound concentrations and the impacts of future oil and natural gas development in the Colorado Northern Front Range

2018 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Recent advances in unconventional extraction of oil and natural gas (O&NG) have caused an increase in the number of wells in the Colorado Northern Front Range (CNFR) which has doubled Colorado's natural gas production over the last 15 years. Increased O&NG activity can lead to increased emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which may negatively impact air quality and human health. This study looks at five sites (an elementary school, residential area, Fossil Creek Natural Area, Soapstone Natural Area, and a gas station) in Fort Collins and Timnath with the objectives of determining the gradient of VOC concentrations across a subsection of the CNFR, providing a baseline to compare potentially elevated VOC concentrations from future O&NG development, and a better understanding of the influence of O&NG emissions on air quality in the CNFR. Whole air samples were collected at all locations using an evacuated 6L stainless steel canister equipped with a calibrated flow controller that sampled at a constant flow rate for approximately 1 week. Sampling began at the elementary school and gas station in the summer of 2015 and concluded in November of 2016. Sampling at the two natural areas and the residential area took place in the fall of 2015. VOC concentrations were analyzed using an online gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GC-FID) system. An in-situ real-time GC was also deployed along with an All-In-One (AIO) weather station at the residential area providing hourly VOC and meteorological measurements for approximately 3 weeks in the fall of 2015. A suite of 48 VOCs were measured in this study. Ambient concentrations of BTEX compounds (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylenes) are often of particular interest due to their carcinogenic effects and toxicity; therefore, they were studied in-depth as part of this thesis. Benzene was found to have median ambient concentration at the elementary school, residential area, Fossil Creek Natural Area, Soapstone Natural Area, and the gas station of 0.18, 0.14, 0.32, 0.09, and 0.55ppbv, respectively. Through the use of VOC correlations with propane and acetylene and VOC ratios, it was determined that O&NG emissions have a large influence on ambient VOC concentrations in the CNFR. The mean ratio of i-pentane to n-pentane found at the elementary school, residential area, Fossil Creek Natural Area, Soapstone Natural Area, and the gas station was 1.07, 1.17, 1.16, 1.05, and 2.35, respectively. This indicates that the elementary school and Soapstone Natural Area are strongly influence by O&NG emissions while the residential area and Fossil Creek Natural Area have a mixed influence from O&NG activity as well as vehicular emissions. In contrast the gas station, displayed a clear combustion signature, as expected. Additional VOC ratios were utilized; however, i-pentane to n-pentane ratio was determined to be the most robust tool to assess source apportionment in the CNFR. In addition, through the use of meteorological data coupled with the real-time GC VOC measurements, there is strong evidence that local O&NG sources can have a large impact on air quality at the residential area. The OH reactivity at each location was evaluated in order to compare the ozone production potential by the VOCs measured at each site. Fossil Creek NA showed the largest total OH reactivity in the fall while Soapstone NA displayed the lowest. At Soapstone NA, 66.7% of the total OH reactivity resulted from aromatics, which is the highest, and 11.4% resulted from alkenes, which is the lowest compared to each group's contribution at other sites. At the elementary school, 3.2% of the OH reactivity in the summer was attributed to isoprene, whereas in the fall, winter, and spring only 2.0%, 0.41%, and 0.76% of the OH reactivity resulted from isoprene, respectively. Development of new unconventional O&NG wells is ongoing in the CNFR and there are plans to develop wells in close proximity to the elementary school. The American Meteorological Society (AMS)/Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) steady-state dispersion model AERMOD was utilized to project the potential increased concentration of benzene as a result of this development. The model was run utilizing the 5th, 25th, median, 75th, and 95th percentile emission rates of benzene found by a past study at production sites in the CNFR. The annual average concentration increases above background at the school (0.18 ± 0.08ppbv) for the 5th, 25th, median, 75th, and 95th percentile emission rates were found to be 0.0067, 0.11, 0.33, 0.89, and 6.7ppbv, respectively. The strongest benzene enhancement at the school occurred 0:00 (midnight) - 08:00 and 17:00 - 23:00 (0.46ppbv); however, during school attendance hours (08:35 - 15:13) the concentration increase was 0.024ppbv

Impact of tumor-specific targeting on the biodistribution and efficacy of siRNA nanoparticles measured by multimodality in vivo imaging

Targeted delivery represents a promising approach for the development of safer and more effective therapeutics for oncology applications. Although macromolecules accumulate nonspecifically in tumors through the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect, previous studies using nanoparticles to deliver chemotherapeutics or siRNA demonstrated that attachment of cell-specific targeting ligands to the surface of nanoparticles leads to enhanced potency relative to nontargeted formulations. Here, we use positron emission tomography (PET) and bioluminescent imaging to quantify the in vivo biodistribution and function of nanoparticles formed with cyclodextrin-containing polycations and siRNA. Conjugation of 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-1,4,7,10-tetraacetic acid to the 5' end of the siRNA molecules allows labeling with 64Cu for PET imaging. Bioluminescent imaging of mice bearing luciferase-expressing Neuro2A s.c. tumors before and after PET imaging enables correlation of functional efficacy with biodistribution data. Although both nontargeted and transferrin-targeted siRNA nanoparticles exhibit similar biodistribution and tumor localization by PET, transferrin-targeted siRNA nanoparticles reduce tumor luciferase activity by {approx}50% relative to nontargeted siRNA nanoparticles 1 d after injection. Compartmental modeling is used to show that the primary advantage of targeted nanoparticles is associated with processes involved in cellular uptake in tumor cells rather than overall tumor localization. Optimization of internalization may therefore be key for the development of effective nanoparticle-based targeted therapeutics

HCI performance evaluation of horizontal and vertical list controls

Microsoft Windows 95 uses both vertical arrangements of items in lists and horizontal groupings of smaller vertical lists. This paper reports the results of an experiment to evaluate selection times using horizontal and vertical lists. Two GOMS (Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules) models were developed to predict differences. There was no significant difference in selection times, but the results showed interesting trends in learning behaviour

#ArsonEmergency and Australia's "Black Summer": Polarisation and misinformation on social media

During the summer of 2019-20, while Australia suffered unprecedented bushfires across the country, false narratives regarding arson and limited backburning spread quickly on Twitter, particularly using the hashtag #ArsonEmergency. Misinformation and bot- and troll-like behaviour were detected and reported by social media researchers and the news soon reached mainstream media. This paper examines the communication and behaviour of two polarised online communities before and after news of the misinformation became public knowledge. Specifically, the Supporter community actively engaged with others to spread the hashtag, using a variety of news sources pushing the arson narrative, while the Opposer community engaged less, retweeted more, and focused its use of URLs to link to mainstream sources, debunking the narratives and exposing the anomalous behaviour. This influenced the content of the broader discussion. Bot analysis revealed the active accounts were predominantly human, but behavioural and content analysis suggests Supporters engaged in trolling, though both communities used aggressive language.Comment: 16 pages, 8 images, presented at the 2nd Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Disinformation in Open Online Media (MISDOOM 2020), Leiden, The Netherlands. Published in: van Duijn M., Preuss M., Spaiser V., Takes F., Verberne S. (eds) Disinformation in Open Online Media. MISDOOM 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 12259. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61841-4_1

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