Around The World In Eight Days

Theological schools in the two-thirds world struggle with untrained staff and inadequate resources. On-site evaluations, training workshops, automation projects and blitz cataloging are four ways Christian librarians can assist through short visits overseas. Good communication and preparation are essential for a successful visit. Follow-up communication can tum a short visit into a long-term partnership

Connecting the Gospel and Reality Via Fiction

Despite the fact that last year The Purpose Driven Life outsold Harry Potter 5, other than a blip around the time of Mel Gibson\u27s record breaking film The Passion of the Christ, there has been a steady decline in the number of Christian bookstores over the past two years. And yet religious books are big sellers. Popular fiction is strong. Evangelical publishers are moving beyond Christian versions of secular genres and even breaking new ground in some areas. Ray Blackston\u27s Flabbergasted (Revell, 2003) pokes fun at Southern church culture, where singles rank churches according to which has the best pick of the opposite sex. It has been called chick lit from a male point of view. The good news is that evangelical fiction IS getting better- there are fewer bad books being published. Publishers note more professionalism and solid technique from writers, as well as a less sanitized view of life. Eerdman\u27s is bringing out fiction that is moral but without specific Christian references. They are also republishing the classics - George MacDonald, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, etc. And there is a growing amount of Christian literary fiction. Lawrence Dorr\u27s short stories about a Hungarian Calvinist during and after World War II are wrenching struggles with God, human nature and the problem of evil. (A Bearer of Divine Revelation, Eerdman\u27s, 2003) W Dale Cramer\u27s Sutter\u27s Cross (Bethany, 2002) received a starred review from Publisher\u27s Weekly. They wrote, Contemporary offerings such as this well-crafted debut from Cramer give the evangelical Christian fiction market reason to hope that the term \u27excellent CBA novel\u27 is not an oxymoron

All Shall Fade: Homer\u27s Foreshadowing of the End of the Heroic Age in The Iliad

Homer\u27s epic poems are filled with demi-gods and great heroes. However, in The Iliad, Homer undermines the triumph of these heroes by foreshadowing the end of their age and the forthcoming time of mortals. This essay examines how Achilleus\u27 shield, Nestor\u27s longevity, Paris\u27 effeminate nature, and Odysseus\u27 reliance on craftiness rather than physical prowess all indicate the rapid advance of the age of mortal men

Starting the journey: discovering the point of D&T

Starting with the question ‘Why teach Design and Technology in secondary schools?’, this paper describes the first stages of a journey to discover a values framework for D&T in English secondary schools. Events and reflections, some of which are described, have informed the initial stages of my PhD studies which is to develop a framework defining the value of D&T in secondary school education in England. This paper is a presentation of some initial findings for the framework. This is only the start of my PhD journey in which there are three stages: 1. An exploratory study of interviews and personal rationales to develop a framework of the value of D&T, 2. Using the framework to make judgements about the profiles different stakeholders have of the subject 3. Using the framework, evaluate the practice in schools The values reported here have been identified from two stakeholder groups: trainee D&T teachers from my own university and D&T academics. At this stage in the study I am not comparing the values held by different stakeholders only in discovering their values which will inform the values framework

Heavy superpartners with less tuning from hidden sector renormalisation

In supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model, superpartner masses consistent with collider bounds typically introduce significant tuning of the electroweak scale. We show that hidden sector renormalisation can greatly reduce such a tuning if the supersymmetry breaking, or mediating, sector runs through a region of strong coupling not far from the weak scale. In the simplest models, only the tuning due to the gaugino masses is improved, and a weak scale gluino mass in the region of 5 TeV may be obtained with an associated tuning of only one part in ten. In models with more complex couplings between the visible and hidden sectors, the tuning with respect to sfermions can also be reduced. We give an example of a model, with low scale gauge mediation and superpartner masses allowed by current LHC bounds, that has an overall tuning of one part in twenty.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figure

Developing learner autonomy and critical thinking in masters' students

This paper analyses the idea of student autonomy, which was discussed within the specific context of the MSc in Social Research Methods offered by the London Metropolitan University’s Department of Applied Social Sciences (DASS) - more specifically within the Qualitative Research Methods module. Within this module, an assessment structure and application of assessment methods has been developed, designed to stimulate and foster autonomous learning, skills and personal development in participating students. This kind of autonomy, it is argued, is a key component of best higher education practice and is an integral part of the Learning and Teaching Strategy (LTS) for DASS