134 research outputs found
Andrew Melville, sacred chronology and world history: the Carmina Danielis 9 and the Antichristus
The accepted view of the ecclesiastical reformer Andrew Melville (1545–1622) as the dynamic leader of the Presbyterian movement in Jacobean Scotland has been severely eroded in recent years, with particular criticism of the actual importance of his contribution to the Kirk and to Scottish higher education. While this reductionism has been necessary, it has resulted in an inversion of the overwhelmingly positive traditional image of Melville, and does not give us a rounded assessment of his life and works. This article attempts to partially redress this balance by looking at a neglected aspect of Melville's Latin writings, which showcase his talents as a humanist intellectual and biblical commentator. It focuses on two long poems that are both commentaries and paraphrases of Daniel and Revelation: the Carmina Danielis and the Antichristus. Through these poems, we see how Melville engaged with two problems exercising reformed theologians across Europe: the dating of key biblical events and the historicised meaning of prophecies within these texts. We also find evidence that Melville read widely among both contemporary and ancient commentators on both these issues
Government Borrowing, Bank Liquidity and Interest Rates. Quarterly Economic Commentary Special Article, September 1980
Ireland's participation in the EMS, the introduction of exchange controls, and
the break in the traditional parity between the Irish pound and sterling brought
about a totally new environment in which changes in domestic bank liquidity came
to play an important role in determining the level of Irish interest rates.
This paper looks at the main influences on bank liquidity and examines the
sources of changes in it over recent years since 1975, with particular reference to
1979 and 1980. The purpose is to highlight the relationships between bank liquidity
and the Government Borrowing Requirement and show how the manner in which
the Government finances its deficit can affect the level of interest rates.
The size of the annual Government deficit has now grown to such large
proportions that the manner in which it is financed has become an important policy
issue. By illustrating the effects on interbank rates and gilt yields it is hoped that the
paper will contribute to the debate about whether the deficit should be financed by
monetary or non-monetary means and whether the Government should borrow
abroad or from the Central Bank
Is social capital formation and maintenance under threat in County Sligo? : A critical review and exploration 1993-2013
This thesis seeks to assess the extent to which social capital formation and the commensurate maintenance of this substance, imputed to ‘bind society’, has been under threat in County Sligo over the period 1993-2013. Relatedly, issues around individualism, community and social self-encapsulation, as a consequence of the recent era of significant economic recession and austerity, are unpacked by providing a within case and non-generalizable case study of County Sligo.\ud
Adopting a mixed method approach, this research was operationalized by undertaking an extensive literature review of social capital. From this review a list of issues and themes emerged. These initially informed a topic guide for a focus group session consisting of community activists from all walks of life in County Sligo. The views of the focus group participants laid the foundations for a quantitative survey which in turn paved the way for a number of one-to-one interviews with leading members of County Sligo society representing a range of organisations.\ud
The findings from this research indicate that there is significant and widespread anger at the way leading institutions of the State behaved over the preceding decades including concern at the manner in which consecutive County Development Plans did not adequately facilitate, encourage or support the development of the social capitalisation of Sligo. Low levels of trust in society emerge as a major issue. However, people in County Sligo distinguish between interpersonal trust and institutional trust and indicate that they are prepared to reach out and engage in collective re-social capitalisation activities transcending social, economic, ethnic cleavages.\ud
That human nature will find the strength to heal the wounds and face the future with hope and some confidence was the principle finding of this research and that Sligo people have a pride in their county
BUDGET PERSPECTIVES 2011. RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 18 October 2010
The Budget Perspectives Conference, co‐hosted annually by the Economic
and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Foundation for Fiscal Studies
provides a forum for discussing key public policy issues of both immediate
concern (in upcoming budgets) and longer term concern. In the context of the
current fiscal and economic crisis, research insights aimed at making more
efficient use of scarce resources are needed now more than ever. Furthermore,
research on the allocation of benefits and tax burdens is critical not only for
intrinsic reasons but also to ensure that policies are publicly acceptable. It is
not enough for policy to promote efficiency and fairness – it must be seen to
do so. The research papers presented at this year’s annual Budget Perspectives
conference continue in this tradition, providing an opportunity for policymakers,
social partners and researchers to engage on some of the major issues
that we face today
Sediment Management for Southern California Mountains, Coastal Plains, and Shoreline
During FY77, with financial support from Los Angeles County,
U. S. Geological Survey, Orange County, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers,
and discretionary funding provided by a grant from the Ford Foundation,
substantial progress was made at EQL and SPL in achieving the objectives
of the initial Planning and Assessment Phase of the CIT/SIO
Sediment Management Project. The current timetable for completion
of this phase is June 1978.
This report briefly describes the project status including
general administration, special activities, and technical work
First demonstration of hydrophobic membrane contactors for removal of ammonia from condensate wastewater
Hydrophobic membrane contactors represent a promising solution to the problem of recovering ammoniacal nitrogen from wastewater. The process has been shown to work best with wastewater streams that present high ammonia concentrations, low buffering capacities and low total suspended solids. The removal of ammonia from rendering condensate, produced during heat treatment of waste animal tissue, was assessed in this research using a hydrophobic membrane contactor. The main objective was to test the ammonia stripping technology using two types of hydrophobic membrane materials, polypropylene and polytetrafluoroethylene, at pilot scale and carry out process modification for ammonia removal. The results
demonstrate that polypropylene membranes are not compatible with the condensate waste as it caused wetting. The polytetrafluoroethylene membranes showed potential and had a longer lifetime than the polypropylene membranes, removing up to 64% of ammonia from the condensate waste. The product formed contained a 30% concentrated ammonium sulphate salt which has a potential application as a fertilizer. This is the first demonstration of hydrophobic membrane contactors for treatment of condensate wastewater
Phenotypic Responses to a Lifestyle Intervention Do Not Account for Inter-Individual Variability in Glucose Tolerance for Individuals at High Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Background: Lifestyle interventions have been shown to delay or prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes among high risk adults. A better understanding of the variability in physiological responses would support the matching of individuals with the best type of intervention in future prevention programmes, in order to optimize risk reduction. The purpose of this study was to determine if phenotypic characteristics at baseline or following a 12 weeks lifestyle intervention could explain the inter-individual variability in change in glucose tolerance in individuals with high risk for type 2 diabetes.Methods: In total, 285 subjects with normal glucose tolerance (NGT, FINDRISC score > 12), impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) were recruited for a 12 weeks lifestyle intervention. Glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity, anthropometric characteristics and aerobic fitness were measured. Variability of responses was examined by grouping participants by baseline glycemic status, by cluster analysis based on the change in glucose tolerance and by Principal Component Analysis (PCA).Results: In agreement with other studies, the mean response to the 12 weeks intervention was positive for the majority of parameters. Overall, 89% improved BMI, 80% waist circumference, and 81% body fat while only 64% improved fasting plasma glucose and 60% 2 h glucose. The impact of the intervention by glycaemic group did not show any phenotypic differences in response between NGT, IFG, and IGT. A hierarchical cluster analysis of change in glucose tolerance identified four sub-groups of “responders” (high and moderate) and “non-responders” (no response or deteriorated) but there were few differences in baseline clincal and physiological parameters or in response to the intervention to explain the overall variance. A further PCA analysis of 19 clinical and physiological univariables could explain less than half (48%) of total variability.Conclusion: We found that phenotypic characteristics from standard clinical and physiological parameters were not sufficient to account for the inter-individual variability in glucose tolerance following a 12 weeks lifestyle intervention in inidivuals at high risk for type 2 diabetes. Further work is required to identify biomarkers that complement phenotypic traits and better predict the response to glucose tolerance
Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have
fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in
25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16
regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of
correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP,
while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in
Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium
(LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region.
Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant
enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the
refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa,
an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of
PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent
signals within the same regio
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