Laughing Buddhas: The Everyday Embodiment of Contemplative Leadership

Many of us struggle to find a theoretical framework within which to approach leadership. We may draw upon personal aspects of spiritual practice, scholarship, and vocational experience with hopes of developing a deeper method of conceptualizing all the elements that comprise relevant and meaningful ways of being and leading in the world. The purpose of this phenomenological study extends the inquiry, examining leadership as a path toward wholeness and investigating the research question – what is called into being for the contemplative leader? The roots of the question originate with the conceptual framework set forth by Kriger and Seng (2005), advanced by Fry and Kriger (2009), and further elaborated upon by the author (Nolan, 2012a; Nolan 2012b), adding new perspectives on progressive stages of mental complexity (Kegan & Lahey, 2009) and progressive stages of being from the Buddhist wisdom tradition. In order to enter the lifeworld of contemplative leaders and inquire into their everyday embodied experience, five female leaders serving within community-based settings engaged in a series of in-depth, phenomenological interviews. Thick and rich data emerged. Findings of this study suggest there are eight C\u27s of a being expressed by the contemplative leader, supporting the construction of an integrative model of Contemplative Leadership. The electronic version of this Dissertation is accessible in the open-access Ohiolink ETD Center, www.ohiolink.edu/etd

Characterisation of the legume SERK-NIK gene superfamily including splice variants: Implications for development and defence

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE </it>(<it>SERK</it>) genes are part of the regulation of diverse signalling events in plants. Current evidence shows SERK proteins function both in developmental and defence signalling pathways, which occur in response to both peptide and steroid ligands. <it>SERKs </it>are generally present as small gene families in plants, with five <it>SERK </it>genes in Arabidopsis. Knowledge gained primarily through work on Arabidopsis SERKs indicates that these proteins probably interact with a wide range of other receptor kinases and form a fundamental part of many essential signalling pathways. The <it>SERK1 </it>gene of the model legume, <it>Medicago truncatula </it>functions in somatic and zygotic embryogenesis, and during many phases of plant development, including nodule and lateral root formation. However, other <it>SERK </it>genes in <it>M. truncatula </it>and other legumes are largely unidentified and their functions unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>To aid the understanding of signalling pathways in <it>M. truncatula</it>, we have identified and annotated the <it>SERK </it>genes in this species. Using degenerate PCR and database mining, eight more <it>SERK</it>-like genes have been identified and these have been shown to be expressed. The amplification and sequencing of several different PCR products from one of these genes is consistent with the presence of splice variants. Four of the eight additional genes identified are upregulated in cultured leaf tissue grown on embryogenic medium. The sequence information obtained from <it>M. truncatula </it>was used to identify <it>SERK </it>family genes in the recently sequenced soybean (<it>Glycine max</it>) genome.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A total of nine <it>SERK </it>or <it>SERK-like </it>genes have been identified in <it>M. truncatula </it>and potentially 17 in soybean. Five <it>M. truncatula SERK </it>genes arose from duplication events not evident in soybean and Lotus. The presence of splice variants has not been previously reported in a <it>SERK </it>gene. Upregulation of four newly identified <it>SERK </it>genes (in addition to the previously described <it>MtSERK1</it>) in embryogenic tissue cultures suggests these genes also play a role in the process of somatic embryogenesis. The phylogenetic relationship of members of the <it>SERK </it>gene family to closely related genes, and to development and defence function is discussed.</p

Citizenship and identity in diverse societies

This article examines the relationship between the legal status of citizenship and psychological research about blended identity in diverse societies such as Australia. A blended identity could include Australian national identity as well as other identities relevant to a person’s selfdefinition

Phonetic variability and grammatical knowledge: an articulatory study of Korean place assimilation.

The study reported here uses articulatory data to investigate Korean place assimilation of coronal stops followed by labial or velar stops, both within words and across words. The results show that this place-assimilation process is highly variable, both within and across speakers, and is also sensitive to factors such as the place of articulation of the following consonant, the presence of a word boundary and, to some extent, speech rate. Gestures affected by the process are generally reduced categorically (deleted), while sporadic gradient reduction of gestures is also observed. We further compare the results for coronals to our previous findings on the assimilation of labials, discussing implications of the results for grammatical models of phonological/phonetic competence. The results suggest that speakers’ language-particular knowledge of place assimilation has to be relatively detailed and context-sensitive, and has to encode systematic regularities about its obligatory/variable application as well as categorical/gradient realisation

Characteristics and treatments of large cystic brain metastasis: radiosurgery and stereotactic aspiration.

Brain metastasis represents one of the most common causes of intracranial tumors in adults, and the incidence of brain metastasis continues to rise due to the increasing survival of cancer patients. Yet, the development of cystic brain metastasis remains a relatively rare occurrence. In this review, we describe the characteristics of cystic brain metastasis and evaluate the combined use of stereotactic aspiration and radiosurgery in treating large cystic brain metastasis. The results of several studies show that stereotactic radiosurgery produces comparable local tumor control and survival rates as other surgery protocols. When the size of the tumor interferes with radiosurgery, stereotactic aspiration of the metastasis should be considered to reduce the target volume as well as decreasing the chance of radiation induced necrosis and providing symptomatic relief from mass effect. The combined use of stereotactic aspiration and radiosurgery has strong implications in improving patient outcomes

The 2HA line of Medicago truncatula has characteristics of an epigenetic mutant that is weakly ethylene insensitive

BACKGROUND The Medicago truncatula 2HA seed line is highly embryogenic while the parental line Jemalong rarely produces embryos. The 2HA line was developed from one of the rare Jemalong regenerates and this method for obtaining a highly regenerable genotype in M. truncatula is readily reproducible suggesting an epigenetic mechanism. Microarray transcriptomic analysis showed down regulation of an ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE 3-like gene in 2HA callus which provided an approach to investigating epigenetic regulation of genes related to ethylene signalling and the 2HA phenotype. Ethylene is involved in many developmental processes including somatic embryogenesis (SE) and is associated with stress responses. RESULTS Microarray transcriptomic analysis showed a significant number of up-regulated transcripts in 2HA tissue culture, including nodule and embryo specific genes and transposon-like genes, while only a few genes were down-regulated, including an EIN3-like gene we called MtEIL1. This reduced expression was associated with ethylene insensitivity of 2HA plants that was further investigated. The weak ethylene insensitivity affected root and nodule development. Sequencing of MtEIL1 found no difference between 2HA and wild-type plants. DNA methylation analysis of MtEIL1 revealed significant difference between 2HA and wild-type plants. Tiling arrays demonstrated an elevated level of miRNA in 2HA plants that hybridised to the antisense strand of the MtEIL1 gene. AFLP-like methylation profiling revealed more differences in DNA methylation between 2HA and wild-type. Segregation analysis demonstrated the recessive nature of the eil1 phenotype and the dominant nature of the SE trait. CONCLUSIONS We have demonstrated that EIL1 of Medicago truncatula (MtEIL1) is epigenetically silenced in the 2HA seed line. The possible cause is an elevated level of miRNA that targets its 3'UTR and is also associated with DNA methylation of MtEIL1. Down regulation of MtEIL1 makes it possible to form nodules in the presence of ethylene and affects root growth under normal conditions. Segregation analysis showed no association between MtEIL1 expression and SE in culture but the role and mechanism of ethylene signalling in the process of plant regeneration through SE requires further investigation. The work also suggests that epigenetic changes to a particular gene induced in culture can be fixed in regenerated plants.This work was funded by the Australian Research Council (CEO348212) through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Integrative Legume Research (CILR)

Molecules with multiple personalities: how switchable materials could revolutionise chemical sensing

Worldwide, the demand for sensing devices that can conform with the requirements of large-scale wireless sensor network (WSN) deployments is rising exponentially. Typically, sensors should be very low cost, low power (essentially self-sustaining), yet very rugged and reliable. At present, functioning WSN deployments involve physical transducers only, such as thermistors, accelerometers, photodetectors, or flow meters, to monitor quantities like temperature, movement, light level and liquid level/flow. Remote, widely distributed monitoring of molecular targets remains relatively unexplored, except in the case of targets that can be detected directly using ‘non-contact’ techniques like spectroscopy. This paper will address the issues inhibiting the close integration of chemical sensing with WSNs and suggest strategies based on fundamental materials science that may offer routes to new sensing surfaces that can switch between different modes of behaviour (e.g. active-passive, expand-contract)

Process Heat Exchanger Options for the Advanced High Temperature Reactor

The work reported herein is a significant intermediate step in reaching the final goal of commercial-scale deployment and usage of molten salt as the heat transport medium for process heat applications. The primary purpose of this study is to aid in the development and selection of the required heat exchanger for power production and process heat application, which would support large-scale deployment

More Than Listening: Harnessing the Power of Feedback to Drive Collaborative Learning

Foundations can and should do a better job of gathering feedback from and learning with both grantees and the communities they seek to serve. This type of collaborative learning has the potential to inform and strengthen foundation strategy, grantmaking practices, evaluation, and communications. Gathering meaningful input is difficult, however, given power dynamics between foundations and those they support. Even when authentic input has been gathered, it can be difficult to apply insights to ongoing work. What does it look like for a foundation to get feedback from its grantee and community stakeholders? Much of the feedback discussions taking place in the sector center on the role of nonprofit organizations. This article explores how foundations can harness the power of feedback to improve philanthropic practice, using the experiences of the James Irvine Foundation as a case example. It provides information about the foundation and its commitment to constituent feedback, presents two cases from its own experience gathering feedback from community stakeholders and grantee partners, and then lays out a series of culminating lessons and insights based on this work. Overall, Irvine believes that collaborative learning requires more than just listening. To truly harness the power of feedback, foundations must act on what they are hearing, share how they are responding with those who provided feedback, and open up this learning to others who can benefit. To do this effectively, foundations must evolve their internal organizational practices to better incorporate external perspectives

The Gosport War Memorial Hospital Panel report and its implications for nursing

Where do we even begin? How do mere words encapsulate the full horror of the Gosport War Memorial Hospital (GWMH) report (Gosport Independent Panel, 2018) and its profound implications for nursing? Many of us thought that in our careers we would never again read anything as damning of health care and health services as the Francis Report; Darbyshire &amp; McKenna, 2013; Hayter, 2013; Nolan, 2013). We were wrong. Politicians, hospitals, health services, educators and regulators at that time were falling over each other to reassure us that ‘lessons had been learned’, ‘things had changed’, ‘new systems were in place’ and that such disasters and failures ‘must never happen again’