Reshaping the Ultimate Other:Levantine Conversion from Extremist Islam to Christianity through the Lenses of Deradicalization and Missiology

This thesis explores the intersection of the seemingly disparate fields of Christian mission and deradicalization seeking understanding of a recent phenomenon of deradicalization and religious conversion from Islam to Christianity in the Levant. It seeks understanding of the phenomenon through a look at Levantine history and two interdisciplinary fields: Missiology and Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)/Deradicalization. The recent conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the resulting migration and conversion phenomenon are discussed along with themes that emerge from the stories of individuals on the conversion and deradicalization pathway. The research employs an ethnographic, life-story approach. Interviews were conducted with 52 former extremists and religious workers in the region representing 21 faith communities in the countries of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Iraq. Seven primary themes emerge which are: 1.) precarity, 2.) the supernatural, 3.) movement opposite prevailing power currents, 4.) the mutual transformation of both extremists and clergy 5.) surprising kindness, 6.) love and family belonging and 7.) the strong desire of former extremists to ‘rescue’ others, described as generativity. These themes are viewed through the lenses of missiology and deradicalization and a conversation is posed between the fields with insights proposed for both. The thesis concludes that the process of change entailed in conversion and deradicalization is very similar and that the aims of deradicalization and mission are compatible and complementary in many ways. Levantine churches through synchronizing the ‘what,’ ‘why’ and ‘how’ of mission and by serving the pragmatic, social and ideological needs of people have been effective at forming ‘contrast communities’ that tell a compelling alternative story to the hostile narratives of extremists. They challenge us to contemplate the power of relationships, love, kindness and belonging to reshape and influence even the enemy ‘other’

Biomass round bales infield aggregation logistics scenarios

Biomass bales often need to be aggregated (collected into groups and transported) to a field-edge stack or a temporary storage before utilization. Several logistics scenarios for aggregation involving equipment and aggregation strategies were modeled and evaluated. Cumulative Euclidean distance criteria evaluated the various aggregation scenarios. Application of a single-bale loader that aggregated bales individually was considered as the “control” scenario with which others were compared. A computer simulation program developed determined bale coordinates in ideal and random layouts that evaluated aggregation scenarios. Simulation results exhibited a “diamond pattern” of bales on ideal layout and a “random pattern” emerged when ≥ 10% variation was introduced. Statistical analysis revealed that the effect of field shape, swath width, biomass yield, and randomness on bale layout did not affect aggregation logistics, while area and number of bales handled had significant effects. Number of bales handled in the direct method significantly influenced the efficiency. Self-loading bale picker with minimum distance path (MDP, 80%) and parallel transport of loader and truck with MDP (78%) were ranked the highest, and single-bale central grouping the lowest (29%) among 19 methods studied. The MDP was found significantly more efficient (4%-16%) than the baler path. Simplistic methods, namely a direct triple-bale loader with MDP (64%-66%), or a loader and truck handling six bales running parallel with MDP (75%-82%) were highly efficient. Great savings on cumulative distances that directly influence time, fuel, and cost were realized when the number of bales handled was increased or additional equipment was utilized

Reverberation Mapping of the Kepler-Field AGN KA1858+4850

KA1858+4850 is a narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy at redshift 0.078 and is among the brightest active galaxies monitored by the Kepler mission. We have carried out a reverberation mapping campaign designed to measure the broad-line region size and estimate the mass of the black hole in this galaxy. We obtained 74 epochs of spectroscopic data using the Kast Spectrograph at the Lick 3-m telescope from February to November of 2012, and obtained complementary V-band images from five other ground-based telescopes. We measured the H-beta light curve lag with respect to the V-band continuum light curve using both cross-correlation techniques (CCF) and continuum light curve variability modeling with the JAVELIN method, and found rest-frame lags of lag_CCF = 13.53 (+2.03, -2.32) days and lag_JAVELIN = 13.15 (+1.08, -1.00) days. The H-beta root-mean-square line profile has a width of sigma_line = 770 +/- 49 km/s. Combining these two results and assuming a virial scale factor of f = 5.13, we obtained a virial estimate of M_BH = 8.06 (+1.59, -1.72) x 10^6 M_sun for the mass of the central black hole and an Eddington ratio of L/L_Edd ~ 0.2. We also obtained consistent but slightly shorter emission-line lags with respect to the Kepler light curve. Thanks to the Kepler mission, the light curve of KA1858+4850 has among the highest cadences and signal-to-noise ratios ever measured for an active galactic nucleus; thus, our black hole mass measurement will serve as a reference point for relations between black hole mass and continuum variability characteristics in active galactic nuclei

Circular proteins in plants - Solution structure of a novel macrocyclic trypsin inhibitor from Momordica cochinchinensis

Much interest has been generated by recent reports on the discovery of circular (i.e. head-to-tail cyclized) proteins in plants. Here we report the three-dimensional structure of one of the newest such circular proteins, MCoTI-II, a novel trypsin inhibitor from Momordica cochinchinensis, a member of the Cucurbitaceae plant family. The structure consists of a small beta -sheet, several turns, and a cystine knot arrangement of the three disulfide bonds. Interestingly, the molecular topology is similar to that of the plant cyclotides (Craik, D. J., Daly, N. L., Bond, T., and Waine, C. (1999) J. Mol. Biol, 294, 1327-1336), which derive from the Rubiaceae and Violaceae plant families, have antimicrobial activities, and exemplify the cyclic cystine knot structural motif as part of their circular backbone. The sequence, biological activity, and plant family of MCoTI-II are all different from known cyclotides. However, given the structural similarity, cyclic backbone, and plant origin of MCoTI-II, we propose that MCoTI-II can be classified as a new member of the cyclotide class of proteins. The expansion of the cyclotides to include trypsin inhibitory activity and a new plant family highlights the importance and functional variability of circular proteins and the fact that they are more common than has previously been believed, Insights into the possible roles of backbone cyclization have been gained by a comparison of the structure of MCoTI-II with the homologous acyclic trypsin inhibitors CMTI-I and EETI-II from the Cucurbitaceae plant family

Explosive volcanism in complex impact craters on Mercury and the Moon: influence of tectonic regime on depth of magmatic intrusion

Vents and deposits attributed to explosive volcanism occur within numerous impact craters on both the Moon and Mercury. Given the similarities between the two bodies it is probable that similar processes control this spatial association on both. However, the precise morphology and localization of the activity differs on the two bodies, indicating that the nature of structures beneath impact craters and/or volcanic activity may also be different. To explore this, we analyze sites of explosive volcanism within complex impact craters on the Moon and Mercury, comparing the scale and localization of volcanic activity and evidence for post-formation modification of the host crater. We show that the scale of vents and deposits is consistently greater on Mercury than on the Moon, indicating greater eruption energy, powered by a higher concentration of volatiles. Additionally, while the floors of lunar craters hosting explosive volcanism are commonly fractured, those on Mercury are not. The most probable explanation for these differences is that the state of regional compression acting on Mercury's crust through most of the planet's history results in deeper magma storage beneath craters on Mercury than on the Moon. The probable role of the regional stress regime in dictating the depth of intrusion on Mercury suggests that it may also play a role in the depth of sub-crater intrusion on the Moon and on other planetary bodies. Examples on the Moon (and also on Mars) commonly occur at locations where flexural extension may facilitate shallower intrusion than would be driven by the buoyancy of the magma alone

Quantum state preparation and macroscopic entanglement in gravitational-wave detectors

Long-baseline laser-interferometer gravitational-wave detectors are operating at a factor of 10 (in amplitude) above the standard quantum limit (SQL) within a broad frequency band. Such a low classical noise budget has already allowed the creation of a controlled 2.7 kg macroscopic oscillator with an effective eigenfrequency of 150 Hz and an occupation number of 200. This result, along with the prospect for further improvements, heralds the new possibility of experimentally probing macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM) - quantum mechanical behavior of objects in the realm of everyday experience - using gravitational-wave detectors. In this paper, we provide the mathematical foundation for the first step of a MQM experiment: the preparation of a macroscopic test mass into a nearly minimum-Heisenberg-limited Gaussian quantum state, which is possible if the interferometer's classical noise beats the SQL in a broad frequency band. Our formalism, based on Wiener filtering, allows a straightforward conversion from the classical noise budget of a laser interferometer, in terms of noise spectra, into the strategy for quantum state preparation, and the quality of the prepared state. Using this formalism, we consider how Gaussian entanglement can be built among two macroscopic test masses, and the performance of the planned Advanced LIGO interferometers in quantum-state preparation

Search for gravitational wave bursts in LIGO's third science run

We report on a search for gravitational wave bursts in data from the three LIGO interferometric detectors during their third science run. The search targets subsecond bursts in the frequency range 100-1100 Hz for which no waveform model is assumed, and has a sensitivity in terms of the root-sum-square (rss) strain amplitude of hrss ~ 10^{-20} / sqrt(Hz). No gravitational wave signals were detected in the 8 days of analyzed data.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures. Amaldi-6 conference proceedings to be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom

Searching for a Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves with LIGO

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) has performed the fourth science run, S4, with significantly improved interferometer sensitivities with respect to previous runs. Using data acquired during this science run, we place a limit on the amplitude of a stochastic background of gravitational waves. For a frequency independent spectrum, the new limit is $\Omega_{\rm GW} < 6.5 \times 10^{-5}$. This is currently the most sensitive result in the frequency range 51-150 Hz, with a factor of 13 improvement over the previous LIGO result. We discuss complementarity of the new result with other constraints on a stochastic background of gravitational waves, and we investigate implications of the new result for different models of this background.Comment: 37 pages, 16 figure