Making and being made: some preliminary thoughts on craft-education as a model for Christian formation

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE Publications via the DOI in this recordCraft-education was an important pedagogical model in the ancient world, but its importance was obscured by the common contrast between rhetoric and philosophy. Christian writers such as Gregory of Nyssa used craft-education as a model for Christian formation, because of its powerful emphasis on commitment, time, effort and the willingness of both pupil and teacher to submit to change. In the latter part of my article I will offer a preliminary assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of craft-education as a model for the process of Christian formation

Introduction

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this recordIntroduction to Studies in Church History, Volume 55 (Churches and Education

Sexual Size Dimorphism and Bohemian Waxwings, Bombycilla garrulus

Sexual size dimorphism is common among birds, with males generally being larger than females. Sexual size dimorphism is typically more extreme in polygynous species; socially monogamous males are typically only 5% larger than females. However, cryptic sexual size dimorphism has been found in some socially monogamous species. I used standard external measurements as well as two internal measurements (keel length and pectoral muscle mass) to determine whether, or to what extent, Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus) exhibit sexual size dimorphism. Males were only slightly larger than females in all of the characters measured except keel and tarsus length. Keel and tarsus length were 0.6% and 1% longer, respectively, in females than in males. The similar size exhibited by males and females may be related to the amount of parental care provided by males. Smaller body size in males may reflect a trade-off between selection for increased male size and energetic constraints imposed by parental care

Carbohydrate Metabolism in Drought-Stressed Leaves of Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan)

Pigeonpea is a tropical grain-legume, which is highly dehydration tolerant. The effect of drought stress on the carbohydrate metabolism in mature pigeonpea leaves was investigated by withholding water from plants grown in very large pots (50 kg of soil). The most striking feature of drought-stressed plants was the pronounced accumulation of D-pinitol (1D-3-methyl-chiro-inositol), which increased from 14 to 85 mg g−1 dry weight during a 27 d stress period. Concomitantly, the levels of starch, sucrose and the pinitol precursors myo-inositol and ononitol all decreased rapidly to zero or near-zero in response to drought. The levels of glucose and fructose increased moderately. Drought stress induced a pronounced increase of the activities of enzymes hydrolysing soluble starch (amylases) and sucrose (invertase and sucrose synthase). The two anabolic enzymes sucrose phosphate synthase (sucrose synthetic pathway) and myo-inositol methyl transferase (pinitol synthetic pathway) also showed an increase of activity during stress. These results indicate that pinitol accumulated in pigeonpea leaves, because the carbon flux was diverted from starch and sucrose into polyol

Physical Activity and Telomere Biology: Exploring the Link with Aging-Related Disease Prevention

Physical activity is associated with reduced risk of several age-related diseases as well as with increased longevity in both rodents and humans. Though these associations are well established, evidence of the molecular and cellular factors associated with reduced disease risk and increased longevity resulting from physical activity is sparse. A long-standing hypothesis of aging is the telomere hypothesis: as a cell divides, telomeres shorten resulting eventually in replicative senescence and an aged phenotype. Several reports have recently associated telomeres and telomere-related proteins to diseases associated with physical inactivity and aging including cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, and hypertension. Interestingly several reports have also shown that longer telomeres are associated with higher physical activity levels, indicating a potential mechanistic link between physical activity, reduced age-related disease risk, and longevity. The primary purpose of this review is to discuss the potential importance of physical activity in telomere biology in the context of inactivity- and age-related diseases. A secondary purpose is to explore potential mechanisms and important avenues for future research in the field of telomeres and diseases associated with physical inactivity and aging

Narrow Line Photoassociation in an Optical Lattice

With ultracold $^{88}$Sr in a 1D magic wavelength optical lattice, we performed narrow line photoassociation spectroscopy near the $^1$S$_0 - ^3$P$_1$ intercombination transition. Nine least-bound vibrational molecular levels associated with the long-range $0_u$ and $1_u$ potential energy surfaces were measured and identified. A simple theoretical model accurately describes the level positions and treats the effects of the lattice confinement on the line shapes. The measured resonance strengths show that optical tuning of the ground state scattering length should be possible without significant atom loss.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure