Molecular shape as a means to control the incidence of the nanostructured twist bend phase

Liquid crystalline phases with a spontaneous twist-bend modulation are most commonly observed for dimers and bimesogens with nonamethylene spacers. In order to redress this balance we devised a simple chemical intermediate that can be used to prepare unsymmetrical bimesogens; as a proof of concept we prepared and studied eleven novel materials with all found to exhibit the twist-bend phase and exhibit a linear relationship between TN-I and TTB-N. A computational study of the conformational landscape reveals the octamethyleneoxy spacer to have a broader distribution of bend-angles than the nonamethylene equivalent, leading to reductions in the thermal stability of the TB phase. This result indicates that a tight distribution of bend-angles should stabilise the TB phase and lead to direct TB-Iso phase transitions, and conversely a broader distribution should destabilise the TB phase which may allow new states of matter that are occluded by the incidence of this phase to be revealed

El significado de la deferencia en el discurso republicano : de la «deference» a la «influence»

John Pocock analyzes in this preparatory work of the Machiavellian Moment, the meaning of the concept of deference for the republican discourse constructed by Harrington. Deference is the natural recognition of a man of the superiority of other one, without resigning for it to his own esteem and to the independence that leads him to play a role in the society. For the classical democratic theory of deference is an exigency of the democratic game that allows that everyone occupies a place in the political life depending on his qualities. Deference is not the same thing that influence and must not be confused with patronage, two categories that are in the base of our current systems of representative democracy, constructed from the democratic egalitarianism prophesied by Tocqueville.John Pocock analiza en este trabajo preparatorio del Momento Maquiavélico, el significado del concepto de deferencia para el discurso republicano construido por Harrington. Deferencia es el reconocimiento natural de un hombre de la superioridad de otro, sin renunciar por ello a su propia estima y a la independencia que le lleva a desempeñar un rol propio en la sociedad. Para la idea democrática de los Antiguos, la deferencia es una exigencia del juego democrático que permite que todos ocupen un lugar en la vida política en función de sus particulares cualidades. Deferencia no es lo mismo que influencia y no debe confundirse con patronazgo, dos categorías que están en la base de nuestros actuales sistemas de democracia representativa, construida desde el igualitarismo democrático profetizado por Tocqueville

Humanity in crisis. HIV/AIDS and its impact on the church and community in South Africa

The writing of this thesis is to investigate the role that the church can have with people living with HIV / AIDS. This investigation takes us both into the role of the Evangelical Christian Church as a healing community, and becoming a haven for those who walk alone and suffer quietly because no one cares. Never before in the history of the world have we faced such a pandemic. It knows no boundaries, leaving a path of death and destruction to all who treat it lightly. HIV / AIDS has touched every community within the global village. There is not a parliament or doctor that has not pondered this terrible disease. My question through this thesis is the role of the church. Can the church rise to embrace the enormous social need that HIV / AIDS presents. South Africa is a vast land with many race and cultural groupings. Effective therapy and pastoral care I believe transcends all race and cultural barriers. All human beings respond to love and shelter, the very basic of our human needs. South Africa has the highest rate of infection in the world. It is estimated that we will have over a million orphans to care for soon. Let the church not lag behind, let us set the pace of showing the love and care for all people with HIV / AIDS.Dissertation (MTh (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Practical Theologyunrestricte

Creating a strategic justice ministry in the local church that will enable the church to care for orphans in (Benoni), South Africa

No abstract available.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009.Practical Theologyunrestricte

A novel on-field training intervention improves novice goalkeeper penalty kick performance

This study developed an on-field anticipation training intervention with the aim of improving novice goalkeeper penalty kick performance. Eighteen participants were allocated to either one-player (OP); or three-player (TP) training. The OP group faced “traditional” practice, with one player running-up to execute each kick. The TP group faced three players in a form of variable practice; two players stopped their run-up approximately 1.2m from the ball with the third-player executing the kick. Following training, results revealed that TP made significantly more saves when facing non-deception kicks in comparison with OP. An implication for applied practice is that there are potential gains to be made through training anticipation skills via new on-field practices rather than the current research focus on video-based training

The diversity and evolution of ecological and environmental citizen science

Citizen science—the involvement of volunteers in data collection, analysis and interpretation—simultaneously supports research and public engagement with science, and its profile is rapidly rising. Citizen science represents a diverse range of approaches, but until now this diversity has not been quantitatively explored. We conducted a systematic internet search and discovered 509 environmental and ecological citizen science projects. We scored each project for 32 attributes based on publicly obtainable information and used multiple factor analysis to summarise this variation to assess citizen science approaches. We found that projects varied according to their methodological approach from ‘mass participation’ (e.g. easy participation by anyone anywhere) to ‘systematic monitoring’ (e.g. trained volunteers repeatedly sampling at specific locations). They also varied in complexity from approaches that are ‘simple’ to those that are ‘elaborate’ (e.g. provide lots of support to gather rich, detailed datasets). There was a separate cluster of entirely computer-based projects but, in general, we found that the range of citizen science projects in ecology and the environment showed continuous variation and cannot be neatly categorised into distinct types of activity. While the diversity of projects begun in each time period (pre 1990, 1990–99, 2000–09 and 2010–13) has not increased, we found that projects tended to have become increasingly different from each other as time progressed (possibly due to changing opportunities, including technological innovation). Most projects were still active so consequently we found that the overall diversity of active projects (available for participation) increased as time progressed. Overall, understanding the landscape of citizen science in ecology and the environment (and its change over time) is valuable because it informs the comparative evaluation of the ‘success’ of different citizen science approaches. Comparative evaluation provides an evidence-base to inform the future development of citizen science activities

Human myeloid progenitor glucocorticoid receptor activation causes genomic instability, type 1 IFN- response pathway activation and senescence in differentiated microglia; an early life stress model

One form of early life stress, prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids (GCs), confers a higher risk of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders in later life. Increasingly, the importance of microglia in these disorders is recognized. Studies on GCs exposure during microglial development have been limited, and there are few, if any, human studies. We established an in vitro model of ELS by continuous pre-exposure of human iPS-microglia to GCs during primitive hematopoiesis (the critical stage of iPS-microglial differentiation) and then examined how this exposure affected the microglial phenotype as they differentiated and matured to microglia, using RNA-seq analyses and functional assays. The iPS-microglia predominantly expressed glucocorticoid receptors over mineralocorticoid receptors, and in particular, the GR-α splice variant. Chronic GCs exposure during primitive hematopoiesis was able to recapitulate in vivo ELS effects. Thus, pre-exposure to prolonged GCs resulted in increased type I interferon signaling, the presence of Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-positive (cGAS) micronuclei, cellular senescence and reduced proliferation in the matured iPS-microglia. The findings from this in vitro ELS model have ramifications for the responses of microglia in the pathogenesis of GC- mediated ELS-associated disorders such as schizophrenia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder