Growth or decline in the Church of England during the decade of Evangelism: did the Churchmanship of the Bishop matter?

The Decade of Evangelism occupied the attention of the Church of England throughout the 1990s. The present study employs the statistics routinely published by the Church of England in order to assess two matters: the extent to which these statistics suggest that the 43 individual dioceses finished the decade in a stronger or weaker position than they had entered it and the extent to which, according to these statistics, the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Evangelical tradition differed from the performance of dioceses led by bishops shaped in the Catholic tradition. The data demonstrated that the majority of dioceses were performing less effectively at the end of the decade than at the beginning, in terms of a range of membership statistics, and that the rate of decline varied considerably from one diocese to another. The only exception to the trend was provided by the diocese of London, which experienced some growth. The data also demonstrated that little depended on the churchmanship of the diocesan bishop in shaping diocesan outcomes on the performance indicators employed in the study

Centres of Hecke algebras: the Dipper-James conjecture

In this paper we prove the Dipper-James conjecture that the centre of the Iwahori-Hecke algebra of type A is the set of symmetric polynomials in the Jucys-Murphy operators.Comment: 27 pages. To appear J. Algebr

A casein kinase 1 prevents expulsion of the oocyte meiotic spindle into a polar body by regulating cortical contractility.

During female meiosis, haploid eggs are generated from diploid oocytes. This reduction in chromosome number occurs through two highly asymmetric cell divisions, resulting in one large egg and two small polar bodies. Unlike mitosis, where an actomyosin contractile ring forms between the sets of segregating chromosomes, the meiotic contractile ring forms on the cortex adjacent to one spindle pole, then ingresses down the length of the spindle to position itself at the exact midpoint between the two sets of segregating chromosomes. Depletion of casein kinase 1 gamma (CSNK-1) in Caenorhabditis elegans led to the formation of large polar bodies that contain all maternal DNA, because the contractile ring ingressed past the spindle midpoint. Depletion of CSNK-1 also resulted in the formation of deep membrane invaginations during meiosis, suggesting an effect on cortical myosin. Both myosin and anillin assemble into dynamic rho-dependent cortical patches that rapidly disassemble in wild-type embryos. CSNK-1 was required for disassembly of both myosin patches and anillin patches. Disassembly of anillin patches was myosin independent, suggesting that CSNK-1 prevents expulsion of the entire meiotic spindle into a polar body by negatively regulating the rho pathway rather than through direct inhibition of myosin

Measuring attitude toward theistic faith : assessing the Astley-Francis Scale among Christian, Muslim and secular youth in England

Empirical research within the social scientific study of religion in general and within the psychology of religion in particular remains very conscious of the complex nature of its subject matter. Empirical research in this field needs to take cognisance of the many forms in which religion is expressed (say, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism) and the many facets within the forms (say, beliefs, behaviours and affiliation). Working in the 1970s, Francis (1978a; 1978b) advanced the view that the attitudinal dimension of religion offered a particularly fruitful basis for coordinating empirical enquiry into the correlates, antecedents and consequences of religiosity across the life span

The teenage religion and values survey in England and Wales : an overview

The Teenage Religion and Values Survey was conducted throughout the 1990s among young people between the ages of 13 and 15 years. A total of 33,982 young people took part in the survey. As the next phase of this research begins for the twenty-first century this paper looks back at the survey conducted in the 1990s and considers two aspects of the research. First, this paper considers the methodology behind designing such a survey. Second, this paper considers some of the insights generated by the survey under five headings: personality, spiritual health, religious affiliation, belonging without believing, and church leaving

The Oswald Clergy Burnout Scale: reliability, factor structure and preliminary application among Australian clergy

This study assesses the Oswald Clergy Burnout Scale (OCBI), the psychometric properties of which have not been previously described. Analysis of responses from a large number (N  = 3,012) of ministers in charge of Australian congregations showed that the scale’s internal reliability was satisfactory, and that the scale could be represented by two factors, identified, respectively, as the personal and social aspects of burnout. This structure was supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Several demographic and job-related variables that might relate to burnout were regressed on the total, personal and social factor scores. Age is the predominant (negative) predictor of burnout as measured by the total scale and the personal factor scores. All variables predict burnout as measured by the social factor. However, in all models, the predictor variables account for no more than 5% of the total variance. These findings suggest that demographic factors and working conditions are poor predictors of burnout among clergy

Mystical orientation and the perceiving process : a study among Anglican clergymen

This study examines the hypothesised link between mystical orientation and the perceiving process within the Jungian model of psychological type. Data were provided by 232 Anglican clergymen serving in the Church in Wales who completed both the Francis-Louden Mystical Orientation Scale and the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data demonstrated that intuitive types recorded significantly higher scores than sensing types on the index of mystical orientation, supporting the hypothesis based on Ross' thesis

Mantle heterogeneity during the formation of the North Atlantic Igneous Province: Constraints from trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope systematics of Baffin Island picrites

Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope and major and trace element data from ~62 Ma picrites from Baffin Island constrain the composition of mantle sources sampled at the inception of North Atlantic Igneous Province (NAIP) magmatism. We recognize two compositional types. Depleted (N-type) lavas have low 87Sr/86Sri (0.702990–0.703060) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1220–0.1247) and high 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512989–0.512999) and are depleted in incompatible elements relative to primitive mantle. Enriched (E-type) lavas have higher 87Sr/86Sri (0.703306–0.703851) and 187Os/188Osi (0.1261–0.1303), lower 143Nd/144Ndi (0.512825–0.512906), and incompatible element concentrations similar to, or more enriched than, primitive mantle. There is also a subtle difference in oxygen isotope composition; E-type lavas are marginally lower in δ18Oolivine value (5.16–4.84‰) than N-type lavas (5.15–5.22‰). Chemical and isotopic variations between E- and N-type lavas are inconsistent with assimilation of crust and/or subcontinental lithospheric mantle and appear to instead reflect mixing between melts derived from two distinct mantle sources. Strontium-Nd-O isotope compositions and incompatible trace element abundances of N-type lavas suggest these are largely derived from the depleted upper mantle. The 187Os/188Osi ratios of N-type lavas can also be explained by such a model but require that the depleted upper mantle had γOs of approximately −5 to −7 at 62 Ma. This range overlaps the lowest γOs values measured in abyssal peridotites. Baffin Island lava compositions are also permissive of a model involving recharging of depleted upper mantle with 3He-rich material from the lower mantle (Stuart et al., Nature, 424, 57–59, 2003), with the proviso that recharge had no recognizable effect on the lithophile trace element and Sr-Nd-Os-O isotope composition. The origin of the enriched mantle component sampled by Baffin Island lavas is less clear but may be metasomatized and high-temperature-altered recycled oceanic lithosphere transported within the proto Iceland plume. Differences between Baffin Island lavas and modern Icelandic basalts suggest that a range of enriched and depleted mantle sources have been tapped since the inception of magmatism in the province. Similarities between Baffin Island lavas erupted and those of similar age from East and West Greenland also suggest that the enriched component in Baffin Island lavas may have been sampled by lavas erupted over a wide geographic range

A Comparison of Continuously Controlled and Controlled K-theory

We define an unreduced version of the e-controlled lower $K$-theoretic groups of Ranicki and Yamasaki, and Quinn. We show that the reduced versions of our groups coincide (in the inverse limit and its first derived, $\lim^1$) with those of Ranicki and Yamasaki. We also relate the controlled groups to the continuously controlled groups of Anderson and Munkholm, and to the Quinn homology groups of Quinn