Flash Research Writing

In this workshop we will use the principals of flash fiction writing and apply them to research writing as a vehicle for getting your research writing well under way. Your writing censor will be sent out for ice cream or a drink while we break down the elements of a research study into multiple components that can be described in 100 words or less. In this workshop you will write up each of the components of your study using flash writing principals that we will demonstrate. At the end of the workshop you will have a quality product to take home that includes a complete story of each of the sections of your research project that you are currently working on. The atmosphere in this workshop will be supportive, creative, and high standards only. You\u27re going to love it. Guaranteed

An experience of modularity through design

We aim to utilise the experiences of a marine industry-based design team to determine the need for research into a modular design methodology in an industrial environment. In order to achieve this we couple the outcome of a current design project with the findings of a recent literature survey with the objectives of firstly, clarifying why a methodology is required and, secondly, defining the key elements which the methodology would have to realise or address. The potential benefits of modularity have long been recognised in the shipbuilding industry. Many shipbuilders adopt a 'module' approach to ship construction whereby the ship structure is separated into a number of large structural 'blocks' to ease manufacture and manoeuvrability during construction. However, as understanding of the capabilities of modularity as a design tool develops there is increased interest in capitalising on the differing life phase benefits of modularity such as reduced design costs and time, increased ease of maintenance, upgrade, re-use, redesign and standardisation across individual products and product families. This is especially pertinent in naval shipbuilding where the maintenance of a class of ship requires that all previously designed ships in that class must be of similar outfitting and must be able to interface with the new ship, in terms of propulsion, weapons, communications and electronics, and thus often require some form of retrofit. Therefore, many shipbuilders are moving from viewing modularity as a purely 'manufacturing' principle to a design centred principle. However, as noted by Chang and Ward 'none of the design theories or tools in the mechanical world serves as an articulate procedure for designers to follow in practising modular design'. Thus, despite the identification of a need to introduce modular principles at an earlier stage than detail design and construction, there is little aid in the form of tools, techniques and methodologies for designers in practice

Reporting methodological search filter performance comparisons : a literature review

© 2014 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2014 Health Libraries Journal.Peer reviewedPostprin

Conservative Pluralists: The Cultural Politics of Mormon-Evangelical Dialogue in the United States at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century

At the turn of the twenty-first century, Mormon and evangelical intellectuals in the United States initiated theological dialogues and other exchanges meant to promote friendlier relations between their religious communities. This Mormon-evangelical dialogue was unexpected. During the late twentieth century, evangelical countercult apologists had launched the most intensive wave of anti-Mormonism seen in the U.S. since the anti-polygamy campaigns of the nineteenth century. Furthermore, Mormons and evangelicals had historically been aloof or hostile toward interfaith dialogue and the ecumenical movement. Mormon-evangelical dialogue represented a turn toward pluralism by groups known for their theological exclusivism. Theirs was, however, a cautious turn toward pluralism. Afraid of compromising their religious identities or truth claims, Mormon-evangelical dialogists rejected pluralist theologies and defied the liberal convention that divorced interfaith dialogue from evangelism. Instead, these dialogists practiced a high diplomacy in which they pursued competing partisan agendas--evangelism or apologetics--while they also tried to meliorate sectarianism among their coreligionists by advocating civility and mutual exchange. Mormon-evangelical dialogists characterized these complicated interactions as true pluralism, by contrast to liberal interfaith dialogue, which they believed tended toward relativism. American Jews, Muslims, Catholics, and mainline Protestants voiced similar anxieties about relativism during the same period as they reconsidered how to engage with religious others. Mormon-evangelical dialogue exemplifies how some American religious conservatives at the beginning of the twenty-first century thought that pluralism should be practiced. Using methods of intellectual history, this study untangles the multiple agendas at work in Mormon-evangelical dialogue during its formative period, 1997-2008: Mormons' attempts to discredit the countercult movement, evangelicals' hopes of converting Mormons to Protestant orthodoxy, Mormon and evangelical dialogists' efforts to marginalize more sectarian voices within their movements, and dialogists' promotion of conservative culture war politics. The study contextualizes the dialogue in longer historical trajectories and broader cultural shifts to show how these conservative intellectuals renegotiated the terms under which their religious communities simultaneously accommodated and resisted forces in post-1960s American culture that promoted pluralism. Primary sources include sermons and devotional literature, theological and apologetic publications, evangelism training programs, films, audio recordings of conferences and other events, websites, and blogs

Faithful scholarship: the mainstreaming of Mormon studies and the politics of insider discourse

Though Mormon scholars have pursued Mormon studies since the 1960s, only in the first years of the twenty-first century did a few non-Mormon schools begin to institutionalize the study of Mormonism. Bringing Mormon studies into the academic mainstream has required negotiation among various interests. The most influential Mormon players in these negotiations promote "faithful scholarship," scholarship predicated on orthodox Mormon presuppositions. Efforts to mainstream faithful scholarship offer a case study for examining issues currently debated in religious studies, especially around the question of how much academic authority insiders' discourse about their religions ought to have. First, I narrate the development of scholarship on Mormonism from 1959 to 2006, focusing on the contests within Mormonism that led to faithful scholarship's becoming the dominant model for Mormon scholars. Then I analyze the means and consequences of faithful scholarship's influence on ongoing initiatives to institutionalize Mormon studies at non-Mormon academic institutions

Macrofaunal Community Structure in the Introduced and Native Submerged Macrophyte Beds of the Lake Pontchartrain Estuary.

Introductions of exotic aquatic plants raise concerns for the health of assemblages of native species. The possible influence of the establishment of the exotic Eurasian watermilfoil Myriophyllum spicatum on fish and invertebrate assemblages in the Lake Pontchartrain estuary was examined with a microhabitat approach. Fish and invertebrate assemblage structure and population responses were compared among macrophyte species and unvegetated areas. Native macrophytes included wild celery Vallisneria americana and wigeongrass Ruppia maritima. Additionally, the relationships of the common submerged macrophytes to environmental and temporal variables were analyzed. A total of 517 samples, collected with a modified Wegener ring, included 3,564 fishes of 29 species and 53,006 macroinvertebrates of 13 taxa. The distribution and abundance of M. spicatum were positively related to turbidity and depth, whereas for V. americana they were positively related to sandy substrates. Along the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain, high wave energy probably limited the distribution of M. spicatum and R. maritima and favored the dominance of V. americana. In the Lake Pontchartrain estuary, R. maritima was probably replaced, in part, by M. spicatum. Most fishes and invertebrates were denser in submerged vegetation, although no significant differences in assemblage structure of fishes and macroinvertebrates were detected among submerged macrophyte species. Three of the common fishes and all of the common invertebrates differed significantly in density among macrophyte species, but overall patterns were not clearly different. Juvenile blue crab Callinectes sapidus, which were analyzed in three size classes, were more abundant in vegetated areas than in unvegetated areas, and all size classes were significantly denser in at least one native macrophyte species than in M. spicatum. Resident fishes were more abundant in spring and summer, whereas transient fishes were more abundant during recruitment events, usually in late winter and early spring. Amphipods and other small invertebrates were generally more common in winter. The use of M. spicatum by blue crab declined with increasing crab size, whereas the use of V. americana increased. Although the apparently benign exotic macrophyte M. spicatum did not measurably affect assemblage structure, it did significantly influence distributions of several littoral fishes and macroinvertebrates

Choosing and using methodological search filters : searchers' views

© 2014 The authors. Health Information and Libraries Journal © 2014 Health Libraries Group.Peer reviewedPostprin