Redemption from the Inside-Out: The Power of Faith-Based Programming

Prisons are tense, cheerless, and often degrading places in which all inmates struggle to maintain their equilibrium despite violence, exploitation, lack of privacy, stringent limitations on family and community contacts, and a paucity of opportunities for meaningful education, work, or other productive activities. As a general matter, prisoners come to see prison as their home and try to make the most of the limited resources available in prison; they establish daily routines that allow them to find meaning and purpose in their prison lives, lives that might otherwise seem empty and hopeless. The resilience shown by prisoners should not be construed as an argument for more or longer prison sentences or for more punitive regimes of confinement, but rather is a reminder that human beings can find meaning in adversity. Prisons are meant to be settings of adversity but should strive to accommodate the human needs of their inhabitants and to promote constructive changes in behavior. Here, there are programmatic offerings that may provide prisoners with the hope, skills, and empowerment necessary to overcome barriers to achievement and success as human beings in any social context. A current line of inquiry has focused on faith based prison programs and the potential benefits that a deepened spiritual life might have on coping with the doing time experience, changing old lifestyles, and reducing the likelihood of people returning to prison. These points will be explored throughout this chapter

Irrigation market for solar thermal parabolic dish systems

The potential size of the onfarm-pumped irrigation market for solar thermal parabolic dish systems in seven high-insolation states is estimated. The study is restricted to the displacement of three specific fuels: gasoline, diesel and natural gas. The model was developed to estimate the optimal number of parabolic dish modules per farm based on the minimum cost mix of conventional and solar thermal energy required to meet irrigation needs. The study concludes that the potential market size for onfarm-pumped irrigation applications ranges from 101,000 modules when a 14 percent real discount rate is assumed to 220,000 modules when the real discount rate drops to 8 percent. Arizona, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas account for 98 percent of the total demand for this application, with the natural gas replacement market accounting for the largest segment (71 percent) of the total market

The first signs of language: Phonological development in British sign language

A total of 1018 signs in one deaf child’s naturalistic interaction with her deaf mother, between the ages 19-24 months were analysed. This study summarises regular modification processes in the phonology of the child sign’s handshape, location, movement and prosody. Firstly changes to signs were explained by the notion of phonological markedness. Secondly, the child managed her production of first signs through two universal processes: structural change and substitution. Constraints unique to the visual modality also caused sign language specific acquisition patterns, namely: more errors for handshape articulation in locations in peripheral vision, a high frequency of whole sign repetitions and feature group rather than one-to-one phoneme substitutions as in spoken language development

Space shuttle entry and landing navigation analysis

A navigation system for the entry phase of a Space Shuttle mission which is an aided-inertial system which uses a Kalman filter to mix IMU data with data derived from external navigation aids is evaluated. A drag pseudo-measurement used during radio blackout is treated as an additional external aid. A comprehensive truth model with 101 states is formulated and used to generate detailed error budgets at several significant time points -- end-of-blackout, start of final approach, over runway threshold, and touchdown. Sensitivity curves illustrating the effect of variations in the size of individual error sources on navigation accuracy are presented. The sensitivity of the navigation system performance to filter modifications is analyzed. The projected overall performance is shown in the form of time histories of position and velocity error components. The detailed results are summarized and interpreted, and suggestions are made concerning possible software improvements

The curatorial consequences of being moved, moveable or portable: the case of carved stones

It matters whether a carved stone is moved, moveable or portable. This influences perceptions of significance and of form and nature – is it a monument or an artefact? This duality may in turn affect understanding and appreciation of the resource. It has implications for how and if carved stones can be legally protected, who owns them, where and how they are administered, and by whom. The complexities of the legislation mean that all too often this is also a grey area. This paper explores these curatorial issues and their impact