Why practical theology must go public

This is the author's post-print pdf version of an article published in Practical Theology. The article can be found at http://essential.metapress.com/content/122841/This journal article makes the case for a strong affinity between pastoral studies and practical theology as conceived in the UK and the emerging field of public theology

Regular graphs with four eigenvalues

AbstractWe study the connected regular graphs with four distinct eigenvalues. Properties and feasibility conditions of the eigenvalues are found. Several examples, constructions and characterizations are given, as well as some uniqueness and nonexistence results

Inductive power transfer for on-body sensors defining a design space for safe, wirelessly powered on-body health sensors

Pervasive Health: 9th International Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare, 20-23 May 2015, Istanbul, TurkeyDesigners of on-body health sensing devices face a difficult choice. They must either minimise the power consumption of devices, which in reality means reducing the sensing capabilities, or build devices that require regular battery changes or recharging. Both options limit the effectiveness of devices. Here we investigate an alternative. This paper presents a method of designing safe, wireless, inductive power transfer into on-body sensor products. This approach can produce sensing devices that can be worn for longer durations without the need for human intervention, whilst also having greater sensing and data capture capabilities. The paper addresses significant challenges in achieving this aim, in particular: device safety, sufficient power transfer, and human factors regarding device geometry. We show how to develop a device that meets stringent international safety guidelines for electromagnetic energy on the body and describe a design space that allows designers to make trade-offs that balance power transfer with other constraints, e.g. size and bulk, that affect the wearability of devices. Finally we describe a rapid experimental method to investigate the optimal placement of on-body devices and the actual versus theoretical power transfer for on-body, inductively powered devices. EPSR

Sequencing Interval Situations and Related Games

In this paper we consider one-machine sequencing situations with interval data. We present different possible scenarioes and extend classical results on well known rules and on sequencing games to the interval setting

Unit Commitment for Systems With Significant Wind Penetration

The stochastic nature of wind alters the unit commitment and dispatch problem. By accounting for this uncertainty when scheduling the system, more robust schedules are produced, which should, on average, reduce expected costs. In this paper, the effects of stochastic wind and load on the unit commitment and dispatch of power systems with high levels of wind power are examined. By comparing the costs, planned operation and performance of the schedules produced, it is shown that stochastic optimization results in less costly, of the order of 0.25%, and better performing schedules than deterministic optimization. The impact of planning the system more frequently to account for updated wind and load forecasts is then examined. More frequent planning means more up to date forecasts are used, which reduces the need for reserve and increases performance of the schedules. It is shown that mid-merit and peaking units and the interconnection are the most affected parts of the system where uncertainty of wind is concerned.Science Foundation IrelandElectricity Research Centre (ERC) Industry Memberske SB. 26/7/1

Development and Validation of an Attitudinal-Profiling Tool for Patients With Asthma

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Transcriptional Control of the Human Aggrecan Gene

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease and is the leading cause of physical disability in industrialised nations. Cartilage has received the most attention in the study of OA due to articular chondrocytes acting as potential instigators of disease. These cells are responsible for the anabolic-catabolic balance required for matrix maintenance due to their ability to synthesise the structural components of the extra-cellular matrix along with matrix-degrading proteases. In order to better understand the mechanism by which this balance is shifted in OA, it would be useful to investigate the roles of the genes that are expressed in these cells. One of the most powerful tools to do this would be an inducible and chondrocyte-specific system that utilises a cartilage-specific promoter, such as the aggrecan promoter. Aggrecan, one of the major structural components of cartilage, is a large aggregating chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan. This PhD set out to further our understanding of the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that govern the chondrocyte-specific expression of the gene. A series of constructs containing various combinations of non-coding aggrecan DNA (mostly upstream of the transcriptional start site and including the first untranslated exon) were used to generate transgenic mouse embryos and an adult line in which the cartilage-specific expression of the transgene indicated the presence of cis-regulatory elements. These studies have identified three putatively important regions. One serves as a basal/core promoter at and around the transcriptional start site (TSS) (containing what could possibly be a non-essential 92bp sequence depending on the developmental stage of the mouse). Another located 10kb upstream of the TSS can serve as an enhancer, and finally another located within a 7kb region further upstream. One or more of these elements seem to respond to injury as indicated by increased promoter activity in the OA-induced knees of the adult line containing all three regulatory regions. Using a combination of our data alongside published work (Han and Lefebvre, 2008), a cartilage-specific Cre recombinase line was generated and tested for specificity and continual gene expression under the induction of OA. The work presented in this thesis can now be used to contribute to knowledge on the pathogenesis of OA

A Dual-Color Fluorescence-Based Platform to Identify Selective Inhibitors of Akt Signaling

Background: Inhibition of Akt signaling is considered one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for many cancers. However, rational target-orientated approaches to cell based drug screens for anti-cancer agents have historically been compromised by the notorious absence of suitable control cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: In order to address this fundamental problem, we have developed BaFiso, a live-cell screening platform to identify specific inhibitors of this pathway. BaFiso relies on the co-culture of isogenic cell lines that have been engineered to sustain interleukin-3 independent survival of the parental Ba/F3 cells, and that are individually tagged with different fluorescent proteins. Whilst in the first of these two lines cell survival in the absence of IL-3 is dependent on the expression of activated Akt, the cells expressing constitutively-activated Stat5 signaling display IL-3 independent growth and survival in an Akt-independent manner. Small molecules can then be screened in these lines to identify inhibitors that rescue IL-3 dependence. Conclusions/Significance: BaFiso measures differential cell survival using multiparametric live cell imaging and permits selective inhibitors of Akt signaling to be identified. BaFiso is a platform technology suitable for the identification of smal

Present and Future CP Measurements

We review theoretical and experimental results on CP violation summarizing the discussions in the working group on CP violation at the UK phenomenology workshop 2000 in Durham.Comment: 104 pages, Latex, to appear in Journal of Physics