From darkness to light: children speak of divine encounter

Studies have shown that children share both positive and dark spiritual experiences. The former dominates the literature but whilst the need to address the dark side of spirituality has been raised it has not, as yet, been dealt with as widely as the more positive aspects (de Souza 2012). This paper draws on an empirical study with 44 children aged 8-11 who were interviewed in school after visiting a sacred space. Three key themes arising from their conversations are covered in this paper: divine encounter; physical feelings and fear. It is argued that the most appropriate way of understanding these phenomena is to draw on different fields and disciplines, notably although not exclusively theology, psychoanalysis, psychology and neuroscience are considered. The paper concludes that it is important to recognise both the light and dark and the blurred boundaries between them, in addition to different ways of perceiving them, in order to understand the whole child

Cystic fibrosis mice carrying the missense mutation G551D replicate human genotype phenotype correlations

We have generated a mouse carrying the human G551D mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR) by a one-step gene targeting procedure. These mutant mice show cystic fibrosis pathology but have a reduced risk of fatal intestinal blockage compared with 'null' mutants, in keeping with the reduced incidence of meconium ileus in G551D patients. The G551D mutant mice show greatly reduced CFTR-related chloride transport, displaying activity intermediate between that of cftr(mlUNC) replacement ('null') and cftr(mlHGU) insertional (residual activity) mutants and equivalent to approximately 4% of wild-type CFTR activity. The long-term survival of these animals should provide an excellent model with which to study cystic fibrosis, and they illustrate the value of mouse models carrying relevant mutations for examining genotype-phenotype correlations

General Gauss-Bonnet brane cosmology

We consider 5-dimensional spacetimes of constant 3-dimensional spatial curvature in the presence of a bulk cosmological constant. We find the general solution of such a configuration in the presence of a Gauss-Bonnet term. Two classes of non-trivial bulk solutions are found. The first class is valid only under a fine tuning relation between the Gauss-Bonnet coupling constant and the cosmological constant of the bulk spacetime. The second class of solutions are static and are the extensions of the AdS-Schwarzchild black holes. Hence in the absence of a cosmological constant or if the fine tuning relation is not true, the generalised Birkhoff's staticity theorem holds even in the presence of Gauss-Bonnet curvature terms. We examine the consequences in brane world cosmology obtaining the generalised Friedmann equations for a perfect fluid 3-brane and discuss how this modifies the usual scenario.Comment: 20 pages, no figures, typos corrected, refs added, section IV changed yielding novel result

Normal frames and the validity of the equivalence principle

We investigate the validity of the equivalence principle along paths in gravitational theories based on derivations of the tensor algebra over a differentiable manifold. We prove the existence of local bases, called normal, in which the components of the derivations vanish along arbitrary paths. All such bases are explicitly described. The holonomicity of the normal bases is considered. The results obtained are applied to the important case of linear connections and their relationship with the equivalence principle is described. In particular, any gravitational theory based on tensor derivations which obeys the equivalence principle along all paths, must be based on a linear connection.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX 2e, the package amsfonts is neede

Normal frames and the validity of the equivalence principle. I. Cases in a neighborhood and at a point

A treatment in a neighborhood and at a point of the equivalence principle on the basis of derivations of the tensor algebra over a manifold is given. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the existence of local bases, called normal frames, in which the components of derivations vanish in a neighborhood or at a point. These frames (bases), if any, are explicitly described and the problem of their holonomicity is considered. In particular, the obtained results concern symmetric as well as nonsymmetric linear connections.Comment: LaTeX2e, 9 pages, to be published in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Genera

Ab Initio Study of Hybrid b-bar-gb Mesons

Hybrid b-bar-gb molecules in which the heavy b-bar-b pair is bound together by the excited gluon field g are studied using the Born-Oppenheimer expansion and numerical simulations. The consistency of results from the two approaches reveals a simple and compelling physical picture for heavy hybrid states.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, uses REVTeX and epsf, final published versio

Interacting Spin-2 Fields

We construct consistent theories of multiple interacting spin-2 fields in arbitrary spacetime dimensions using a vielbein formulation. We show that these theories have the additional primary constraints needed to eliminate potential ghosts, to all orders in the fields, and to all orders beyond any decoupling limit. We postulate that the number of spin-2 fields interacting at a single vertex is limited by the number of spacetime dimensions. We then show that, for the case of two spin-2 fields, the vielbein theory is equivalent to the recently proposed theories of ghost-free massive gravity and bi-metric gravity. The vielbein formulation greatly simplifies the proof that these theories have an extra primary constraint which eliminates the Boulware-Deser ghost.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figures. v3 alternative argument using constrained spatial vielbeins has been removed (see footnote 3

Normal frames and the validity of the equivalence principle. III. The case along smooth maps with separable points of self-intersection

The equivalence principle is treated on a mathematically rigorous base on sufficiently general subsets of a differentiable manifold. This is carried out using the basis of derivations of the tensor algebra over that manifold. Necessary and/or sufficient conditions of existence, uniqueness, and holonomicity of these bases in which the components of the derivations of the tensor algebra over it vanish on these subsets, are studied. The linear connections are considered in this context. It is shown that the equivalence principle is identically valid at any point, and along any path, in every gravitational theory based on linear connections. On higher dimensional submanifolds it may be valid only in certain exceptional cases.Comment: 15 standard LaTeX 2e (11pt, A4) pages. The package amsfonts is require

Call Me Caitlyn: Making and making over the 'authentic' transgender body in Anglo-American popular culture

A conception of transgender identity as an ‘authentic’ gendered core ‘trapped’ within a mismatched corporeality, and made tangible through corporeal transformations, has attained unprecedented legibility in contemporary Anglo-American media. Whilst pop-cultural articulations of this discourse have received some scholarly attention, the question of why this 'wrong body' paradigm has solidified as the normative explanation for gender transition within the popular media remains underexplored. This paper argues that this discourse has attained cultural pre-eminence through its convergence with a broader media and commercial zeitgeist, in which corporeal alteration and maintenance are perceived as means of accessing one’s ‘authentic’ self. I analyse the media representations of two transgender celebrities: Caitlyn Jenner and Nadia Almada, alongside the reality TV show TRANSform Me, exploring how these women’s gender transitions have been discursively aligned with a cultural imperative for all women, cisgender or trans, to display their authentic femininity through bodily work. This demonstrates how established tropes of authenticity-via-bodily transformation, have enabled transgender to become culturally legible through the wrong body trope. Problematically, I argue, this process has worked to demarcate ideals of ‘acceptable’ transgender subjectivity: self-sufficient, normatively feminine, and eager to embrace the possibilities for happiness and social integration provided by the commercial domain

Exact Gravitational Shock Wave Solution of Higher Order Theories

We find an {\it exact} pp--gravitational wave solution of the fourth order gravity field equations. Outside the (delta--like) source this {\it not} a vacuum solution of General Relativity. It represents the contribution of the massive, $m=(-\beta)^{-1/2}$, spin--two field associated to the Ricci squared term in the gravitational Lagrangian. The fourth order terms tend to make milder the singularity of the curvature at the point where the particle is located. We generalize this analysis to $D$--dimensions, extended sources, and higher than fourth order theories. We also briefly discuss the scattering of fields by this kind of plane gravitational waves.Comment: 12 pages, REVTEX, Fully revised version. Amplitude of the wave computed. Discussion section added. Figure added. To appear in Phys. Rev.