On the edge of mystery towards a spiritual hermeneutic of the urban margins

The questions explored in this thesis are: whether it is possible to have a shared spirituality between those who work on the urban margins and the people with whom they work; and what factors might assist such a reciprocal sense of depth exchange?The focus for the empirical work was on a situation where a group of religious and lay women are living and working on a peripheral urban housing estate. Although it was necessary to employ sociological research methods, this is not a sociological case study, but rather the exploration of lived spirituality within the Christian tradition.The emerging importance of conversation and dialogue leads to interaction with Gadamer and Tracy. The work of Rahner, particularly his emphasis on the dynamic drive towards divine mystery inherent within humanity, proves important, as it becomes evident that by virtue of their own discovery of the transcendent, the people of the estate are celebrating grace, but have come to it in and through the sacrament of their own lives.It is suggested that this operative fact of grace at work amongst the marginalised merits further consideration by the church. Here the vital function of a critical listening faculty is imperative. Indeed, it is suggested that such a developed faculty has more universal applicability throughout all forms of ministry. The facilitative tool for such an attuned listening is seen to be the openness to engagement with the contemplative dimension. Thus there is a re-engagement with the classical spiritual tradition, which is seen to authenticate the integrated nature of contemplation and action. Finally, detailed consideration is given to the process of the interior journey and the qualities engendered along the way vital for a contemporary spiritual hermeneutic. Here interaction with the work of Merton proves invaluable.Thus the course of the thesis is an unfolding of a spiritual hermeneutic which, it is suggested, has ramifications not exclusively on the urban margins, but as a potential dynamic force within the church at the close of the twentieth century

Exploring the theoretical foundations of visual art programmes for people living with dementia

Despite the growing international innovations for visual arts interventions in dementia care, limited attention has been paid to their theoretical basis. In response, this paper explores how and why visual art interventions in dementia care influence changes in outcomes. The theory building process consists of a realist review of primary research on visual art programmes. This aims to uncover what works, for whom, how, why and in what circumstances. We undertook a qualitative exploration of stakeholder perspectives of art programmes, and then synthesised these two pieces of work alongside broader theory to produce a conceptual framework for intervention development, further research and practice. This suggests effective programmes are realised through essential attributes of two key conditions (provocative and stimulating aesthetic experience; dynamic and responsive artistic practice). These conditions are important for cognitive, social and individual responses, leading to benefits for people with early to more advanced dementia. This work represents a starting point at identifying theories of change for arts interventions, and for further research to critically examine, refine and strengthen the evidence base for the arts in dementia care. Understanding the theoretical basis of interventions is important for service development, evaluation and implementation

Particularized protection: UNSC mandates and the protection of civilians in armed conflict

The protection of civilians at risk in armed conflict has, since the late 1990s, become institutionalized at the United Nations (UN), gaining acceptance as a normative rationale for UN peacekeeping. However, the bulk of civilians in need of protection in armed conflict are unlikely to attain it. The article develops an argument on ‘particularized protection’ - particularized in that UN Security Council (SC) mandates are formulated and adjusted over time to direct mission protection to specific subsets of civilian populations, that is, those relevant to the UN itself, the host state, other states, NGOs and the media, leaving most local civilians receiving little effective protection. Particularized protection, we argue, is a result of the institutional dynamics involving actors producing mandates - the UNSC - and those providing protection - peacekeeping missions - whereby mandates are specified to direct mission protection to selected, particularized groups. We demonstrate these dynamics in two cases, Côte d’Ivoire and Somalia

Developing work breakdown structure matrix for managing offsite construction projects

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Offsite construction techniques continue to receive considerable attention in academic/research discourse. Whilst discourse in seminal literature critique the positive and negative aspects of offsite; on balance, the benefits outweigh the barriers, especially when fully integrated and managed. From a project management perspective, the techniques applied to construction projects typically commence in determining the project’s work breakdown structure (WBS). Whilst the WBS is applicable to offsite deliverables, reflecting site-based construction activities and concomitant dependencies with the manufacturing processes, there are slight discrepancies in processes, and equally, some areas of repetition and duplication. This mismatch has a fundamental impact on integration, creating pockets of confusion, where less seamless (sub-optimal) synergy between offsite and onsite works is lost. This is an acknowledged challenge. There is, therefore, a real need to retain the product breakdown structure, whilst ensuring a seamless interface with the onsite works is maintained. This is a challenge. Whilst the WBS-matrix has been implemented in the project management domain to bridge the ‘products’ and ‘activities’, this arrangement has not yet been developed for offsite building construction projects. This paper reports an on-going research project set up to implement WBS-matrix for offsite construction projects. Two cases of recently completed offsite construction building projects were studied to analyse current practices–to inform the way forward to further develop the WBS-matrix. Findings from this research provide clear guidance for practitioners involved in offsite construction projects; particularly on the development of the WBS-matrix for manufacturing deliverables/activities in order to more effectively manage offsite construction projects.Published versio

The TB structural genomics consortium: providing a structural foundation for drug discovery

Structural genomics, the large-scale determination of protein structures, promises to provide a broad structural foundation for drug discovery. The tuberculosis (TB) Structural Genomics Consortium is devoted to encouraging, coordinating, and facilitating the determination of structures of proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and hopes to determine 400 TB protein structures over 5 years. The Consortium has determined structures of 28 proteins from TB to date. These protein structures are already providing a basis for drug discovery efforts