Contemplation and Social Transformation: The Example of Thomas Merton

This essay examines the relationship between the Christian tradition of contemplation and social action. It takes as its paradigm the life and writings of Thomas Merton (Fr Louis), an American Cistercian monk at the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, who became one of the most widely-read and influential spiritual writers as well as Christiansocial commentators of the mid-twentieth century. Merton, who often wrote through an autobiographical medium, gradually moved away from an early emphasis on contemplative withdrawal to a belief that the monastic life is a form of counter-cultural solidarity with those who struggle for social transformation and justice. The essay more broadly explores the theological basis for a coherence of mysticism and action in contrast to some misinterpretations of the Christian language of interiority. It concludes with an exploration of the relationship between contemplation and politics in a number of twentieth and twenty-first century theologians, both Catholic and Protestant.The American Cistercian monk and social activist Thomas Merton (1915-1968) has been described as one of the greatest spiritual writers of the twentieth century. He merited this description partly because, while a Roman Catholic,he embraced a generous “catholicity” beyond the boundaries of a single institution (cf. Mursell 2001:340)

Understanding causality and uncertainty in volcanic observations: an example of forecasting eruptive activity on Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat

Following a cessation in eruptive activity it is important to understand how a volcano will behave in the future and when it may next erupt. Such an assessment can be based on the volcano's long-term pattern of behaviour and insights into its current state via monitoring observations. We present a Bayesian network that integrates these two strands of evidence to forecast future eruptive scenarios using expert elicitation. The Bayesian approach provides a framework to quantify the magmatic causes in terms of volcanic effects (i.e., eruption and unrest). In October 2013, an expert elicitation was performed to populate a Bayesian network designed to help forecast future eruptive (in-)activity at Soufrière Hills Volcano. The Bayesian network was devised to assess the state of the shallow magmatic system, as a means to forecast the future eruptive activity in the context of the long-term behaviour at similar dome-building volcanoes. The findings highlight coherence amongst experts when interpreting the current behaviour of the volcano, but reveal considerable ambiguity when relating this to longer patterns of volcanism at dome-building volcanoes, as a class. By asking questions in terms of magmatic causes, the Bayesian approach highlights the importance of using short-term unrest indicators from monitoring data as evidence in long-term forecasts at volcanoes. Furthermore, it highlights potential biases in the judgements of volcanologists and identifies sources of uncertainty in terms of magmatic causes rather than scenario-based outcomes

From social contract to 'social contrick' : the depoliticisation of economic policy-making under Harold Wilson, 1974–75

The 1974-79 Labour Governments were elected on the basis of an agreement with the TUC promising a redistribution of income and wealth known as the Social Contract. However, the Government immediately began to marginalise these commitments in favour of preferences for incomes policy and public expenditure cuts, which has led the Social Contract to be described as the 'Social Contrick'. These changes were legitimised through a process of depoliticisation, and using an Open Marxist framework and evidence from the National Archives, the paper will show that the Treasury's exchange rate strategy and the need to secure external finance placed issues of confidence at the centre of political debate, allowing the Government to argue there was no alternative to the introduction of incomes policy and the reduction of public expenditure

Corporate innovation - the role of internal revolutionaries

This integrating essay reviews three books, Inclusive Leadership, written with a co-author, Brian Hirsh, Ronin and Revolutionaries and The Ronin Age. The essay explores the idea of the internal revolutionary, or Ronin, and examines various models of leadership and influence that have characterised organisational thinking over many years, and the challenges that Ronin pose for leadership and effective management. It also explores the extent to which the focus on innovative thinking is increased by the growing importance of knowledge as a key competitive issue

Structure activity relationships of αv integrin antagonists for pulmonary fibrosis by variation in aryl substituents

Antagonism of alphav beta6 is emerging as a potential treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis based on strong target validation. Starting from an alphav beta3 antagonist lead and through simple variation in the nature and position of aryl substituent, the discovery of compounds with improved alphav beta6 activity is described. The compounds also have physicochemical properties commensurate with oral bioavailability and are high quality starting points for a drug discovery programme. Compounds 33S and 43E1 are pan alphav antagonists having ca 100 nM potency against alphav beta3, alphav beta5, alphav beta6 and alphav beta8 in cell adhesion assays. Detailed structure activity relationships with these integrins are described which also reveal substituents providing partial selectivity (defined as at least a 0.7 log difference in pIC50 values between the integrins in question) for alphav beta3 and alphav beta5

Iron chlorosis in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) grown on high pH calcareous vertisol

Genotypic differences exist in the sensitivity of cultivars of chickpea to iron deficiency. Sensitive cultivars exhibited typical iron deficiency symptoms when grown on calcareous soils with high pH. FeSO4 sprays (0.5%) corrected deficiency symptoms and increased yields by up to 50% in cultivars inefficient in iron utilization, but gave no increase in cultivars that were efficien

Effects of pod exposure on yield of chickpeas (Cicer arietinum)

Pod photosynthesis is known to contribute to seed filling in a number of legume crops, and may also be of importance in chickpeas (Cicer arietium L.), which have green pods possessing stomata. Although the pods of chickpeas are borne in the leaf axils, they generally hang below the leaves and are consequently more or less shaded; but a few lines have recently been identified in which the pods are borne above the leaves. This “exposed pod” character could be incorporated into new cultivars by breeding if it were shown to be of advantage. The effect on yield and yield components of exposing pods of normal cultivars was investigated in field experiments at three locations in India: at Hyderabad and Hissar during the winter season, and in the Lahaul valley in the Himalayas during the summer season. A significant effect of pod exposure on yield or yield components was not observed in any of the experiments, except at Hissar where a slight but significant increase in 100-seed weight was noted. The “exposed pod” character is unlikely to be of use in breeding for higher yield potentials

Cytogerontology since 1881: A reappraisal of August Weismann and a review of modern progress

Cytogerontology, the science of cellular ageing, originated in 1881 with the prediction by August Weismann that the somatic cells of higher animals have limited division potential. Weismann's prediction was derived by considering the role of natural selection in regulating the duration of an organism's life. For various reasons, Weismann's ideas on ageing fell into neglect following his death in 1914, and cytogerontology has only reappeared as a major research area following the demonstration by Hayflick and Moorhead in the early 1960s that diploid human fibroblasts are restricted to a finite number of divisions in vitro. In this review we give a detailed account of Weismann's theory, and we reveal that his ideas were both more extensive in their scope and more pertinent to current research than is generally recognised. We also appraise the progress which has been made over the past hundred years in investigating the causes of ageing, with particular emphasis being given to (i) the evolution of ageing, and (ii) ageing at the cellular level. We critically assess the current state of knowledge in these areas and recommend a series of points as primary targets for future research