Spiritual Narrative and Secondary School Pupils: How do pupils respond to spiritual narrative? What factors might influence response or evoke conceptual change?

Many of the great religions attach importance to spiritual narrative - from Christian parables to Zen koans - and believe they have an important function in conveying a sense of the transcendent and other morally and educationally valuable messages. There is considerable ambiguity, however, surrounding their use and function and indeed their definition. This thesis seeks initially to elucidate how different disciplines view spiritual narrative, and then exposes a "classic" spiritual narrative (the story of Adam and Eve's expulsion from Eden) to the scrutiny of different age groups from different schools. The analysis of their responses suggests that there is no straightforward "fit" with any one theory. However, in educational theory, it appears that "warm factors" (from Paul Pintrich) and the "will to meaning" (from Vygotsky) re-balance purely maturational and "coldly" cognitive views of response. Likewise from the theological tradition, prior religious literacy (from Andrew Wright) or literacy in a secular/materialistic mind-set, appear to be factors in pupils' response to spiritual narrative, re-balancing views (from Rebecca Nye and David Hay) which focus on universal, perhaps innate, spiritual orientation.

Nature conservation in changing socio-political conditions at Londolozi Private Game Reserve

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-98).Worldwide, nature conservation paradigms have changed markedly since the turn of the 19th century. These changes have affected the way that conservation has been practiced in the eastern lowveld of South Africa. At the same time sociopolitical conditions in South Africa have also undergone enormous shifts which have affected the distribution of rural people and land use practices in the rural lowveld. This study examines private nature conservation and its relationship to local rural people in the lowveld using Londolozi Private Game Reserve as a case study. Various methods of data collection were used. These included focus group interviews with local rural people, a survey questionnaire with lodge staff, informal interviews with land owners, and visits to rural homes and schools. In addition the author drew on eight years of work and research experience on private game reserves in and around the study area. The application of fortress conservation in the lowveld resulted in the removal of black people from Crown and privately owned land, land that they were living on. They were removed to the western borders of the current Sabi Sand Wildtuin (SSW). This complete exclusion of local people from the conservation land in the Kruger National Park (KNP) and SSW remained the status quo until Londolozi, in 1976 and almost at least a decade before the rest of the conservation world began to engage with local black people on its borders. Londolozi paid particular attention to the rural staff working at the lodge. In the 1990's fortress conservation was replaced with community conservation approaches which sought to use market-based strategies to demonstrate the value of conservation to rural people bordering conservation areas. Londolozi retracted from its essentially bottom-up approach and implemented a number of infrastructural, management devised, top-down community projects in the local areas. It did this through the Conservation Corporation Africa (CC Africa) Rural Investment Fund. These projects, although more obvious to the wider community outside the reserve, were inefficient and wasted money in some cases. In 2007, Londolozi returned to focussing on individual rural staff members rather than on infrastructural community development projects. The effect has been very positive for the 200 or so rural staff at Londolozi, but the wider community outside the fences sees little benefit or point to this approach. The community lodged a number of land claims on the SSW and Londolozi. The merits of the only gazetted claim on Londolozi would seem to be tenuous at best

The Current Challenges to UK National Security and How They Might be Addressed

This article offers a qualitative assessment of the current major security challenges facing the UK, as of the first half of 2017. It argues that to address their increased number, the UK’s intelligence-led security community must not only be expanded in terms of size but also of reach. It should seek to generate better actionable intelligence, chiefly but not exclusively from electronic sources, and exploit it more effectively. Intelligence should also be deployed to assist in preventing young British Muslims from being drawn into terrorism. Whilst recognising that good intelligence by itself cannot deliver total security, itself an unrealisable aim, and that many other measures are needed to keep any country as safe as possible, the article concludes that intelligence, and intelligence-led security activity is the best single means of keeping democracies as safe as possible from terrorism whether it is of the Islamist or any other variet

Receipt from J.W. Doughty, M.D. for services rendered to Elizabeth Griffin and George Griffin

Receipt from J.W. Doughty, M.D. for services rendered to Elizabeth Griffin and George Griffin.https://digitalmaine.com/arc_sos_paupers/1029/thumbnail.jp

Genome wide analysis of dna repair by expression profiling

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) are syndromes characterised by defects iqf nucleotide excision repair (NER), they can be distinguished by contrasting clinical manifestations. Although the genes responsible for XP and CShave been identified, the precise molecular roles of the normal proteins remains poorly understood. In the present study, primary dermal fibroblasts derived from patients assigned to XP complementation group C (XP-C XP8CA) and CS type A (CS-A CS3BE) were characterised. Patient XP8CA was homozygous for a 2 bp TG deletion in the XPC gene at codon 547 resulting in a premature termination at position 572, while patient CS3BE was a compound heterozygote for a 37G>T (E13X) and a novel 479C>T (A 160V) mutation in CKNl, the jene that encodes the CSA protein. Permanent XP-C and CS-A cell lines were established by transducing primary XP8CA and CS3BE fibroblasts with a retroviral vector, expressing the catalytic subunit of telomerase, hTERT. The reconstitition of telomerase activity resulted in: (1) the preservation of the primary NER capabilities (2) an extension of proliferative lifespan (3) maintenance of the p53/p21WAF/CIPI and pRb/pl6INK4A tumour suppressor pathways. Using microarrays, the UV-induced global transcriptional response of telomerised XP-C ajd CS-A fibroblasts was characterised. The data indicate that UV-irradiation resulted in the differential regulation of a diverse range of cellular responses such as transcription, cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and apoptosis. Additionally, cell type-specific signatures were observed in telomerised XP-C and CS-A fibroblasts. The utility of RNAi was also demonstrated by transiently ablating XPC of CSA function in telomerised repair competent (MRC-5) fibroblasts, and a stable, permanent mutant was constructed by retrovirally transducing the telomerised CS-A cell line with an PC-specific shRNA construct. Thus, permanent and stable telomerase-immortalised XP-C and CS-A cell lines have been established and partially characterised at both the genetic and molecular level, so providing in vitro models for investigating NER.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Physical activity and screen time behaviour in metropolitan, regional and rural adolescents: A cross-sectional study of Australians aged 9–16 years

Objectives: While there is consistent evidence that rural adults in Australia are less active than their urban counterparts, studies relating geographical remoteness to activity patterns in Australian adolescents have yielded inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to describe objectively and subjectively measured patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviours across remoteness categories in a representative sample of 9–16 year old Australians. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Methods: 2071 Australian adolescents provided self-report use of time data on four days and wore a pedometer for at least 6 days within the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey. Comparisons of activity patterns were made across four objectively-determined remoteness categories (Major City, Inner Regional, Outer Regional and Remote), adjusting for household income, parental education and age. Results: Adolescents living in major cities self-reported 11–29 min less moderate to vigorous physical activity each day than their counterparts living in geographically more remote areas, and took 150–850 fewer steps each day. While there were no differences in time spent in sport or active transport, differences in free play participation were significant. Males in major cities also reported higher levels of screen time. Differences were somewhat more marked among males than among females. Conclusions: Activity levels among Australian adolescents show contrasting patterns of geographical differences to those found in Australian adults. Higher levels of free play among rural Australian adolescents may be due to more available space and less fear of traffic and stranger risks

A theoretical explanation for the Central Molecular Zone asymmetry

It has been known for more than thirty years that the distribution of molecular gas in the innermost 300 parsecs of the Milky Way, the Central Molecular Zone, is strongly asymmetric. Indeed, approximately three quarters of molecular emission comes from positive longitudes, and only one quarter from negative longitudes. However, despite much theoretical effort, the origin of this asymmetry has remained a mystery. Here we show that the asymmetry can be neatly explained by unsteady flow of gas in a barred potential. We use high-resolution 3D hydrodynamical simulations coupled to a state-of-the-art chemical network. Despite the initial conditions and the bar potential being point-symmetric with respect to the Galactic Centre, asymmetries develop spontaneously due to the combination of a hydrodynamical instability known as the "wiggle instability" and the thermal instability. The observed asymmetry must be transient: observations made tens of megayears in the past or in the future would often show an asymmetry in the opposite sense. Fluctuations of amplitude comparable to the observed asymmetry occur for a large fraction of the time in our simulations, and suggest that the present is not an exceptional moment in the life of our Galaxy.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Videos of the simulations are available at http://www.ita.uni-heidelberg.de/~mattia/download.htm

Development of high pressure and cryogenic techniques, and their application to neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction is an extremely powerful technique in condensed matter research; it can be used to measure crystallographic structures, including some of those undeterminable using X-rays. It is also perhaps the most powerful technique for determining magnetic structures, and for probing the strength of magnetic interactions, revealing information beyond that extractable from a magnetometer. High pressure is used by many condensed matter researchers as an additional thermodynamic variable, or tool to perturb otherwise stable systems, and has been used with neutron diffraction for many years. When coupled with low temperatures, this has led to the discovery of an enormous range of non-ambient phases of matter, with a range of exotic properties, some of which are discussed in this thesis. Pressure has a very strong effect on the magnetic properties of a material, with many of the most unusual magnetic phases existing only at extremely low temperatures, or pressures which can only be reached on very small samples. The main topic for this thesis is the study, development, and implementation of new techniques to combine low temperatures, high pressures, and neutron diffraction measurements from micro sized samples. A new pressure cell has been designed, tested, and commissioned with neutron beam time on the WISH diffractometer at the ISIS neutron facility. The cell is compact, with a total mass of approximately 5 kg, and is capable of generating large loads in excess of 4.5 tonnes force. Depending on the sample size used with the cell, the opposed anvil system is capable of generating a range of different pressures beyond what is widely available for low temperature neutron diffraction measurements. To save wasted experimental time in cooling and warming the device, the cell is capable of varying the applied load continuously down to 5 K, whilst the sample pressure can also be measured in-situ using a compact spectrometer system. Obtaining refineable neutron diffraction data from the small samples (< 1mm3) possible in an opposed anvil pressure cell is challenging due to extremely low ratios of signal-to-background when compared with large volume pressure cells. Finite element analysis (FEA) was performed to minimise the mass of the cell, whilst also minimising the amount of supporting material in the beam. Despite this, the signal from the sample is typically very weak; to overcome this, a novel 3D printed device has been designed and tested to collimate extremely small samples, removing much of the background signal from the surrounding material. It has enabled neutron data to be collected from samples an order of magnitude smaller than previously measurable in the cell. To maximise the pressures achievable in the pressure cell, for a given sample volume, an extended FEA study was performed to understand the evolutions of stresses in the cell, and understand the limitations of using sapphire as an anvil material. To complement this work, a compact piston cylinder cell has also been designed for a combination of different measurements. One of the key challenges in high pressure research is in knowing, or ensuring, that the conditions the sample is under are approximately the same for a variety of different measurements. Since different instruments, and techniques, may not allow for the same apparatus to be used between them, this is not always possible. A compact clamped piston cylinder cell has been designed, suitable for in-situ electrical measurements, with additional potential for simultaneous neutron diffraction measurements. The device is demonstrated through an ultrasonic characterisation of the compound UGe2. In addition to the information obtainable from neutron diffraction, much can be learnt from studying the transport properties of a material. This information can be used alongside neutron data to provide a full understanding of how a material behaves. One technique of interest measures how the electrical properties of a material changes under applied magnetic field. This is difficult to achieve under pressure due to the often anisotropic construction of the pressure cell affecting the magnetic field on the sample in different orientations, and the challenge in getting wires to the sample under pressure. This thesis presents the design, and preliminary testing, of an ultra compact high symmetry piston cylinder cell designed to be taken to sub-Kelvin temperatures and rotationally oriented in applied magnetic field. The spherical construction of the cell means that the field on the sample position is, to a very close approximation, identical in all orientations. Finally, this thesis presents a study of the binary alloy Pd3Fe under pressure. Pd3Fe was recently reported to undergo a large-volume collapse under high pressure at room temperature, resulting in near zero thermal expansion]. There are several competing theories on the mechanism behind this process. To investigate further, a series of single crystal Pd3Fe samples were grown, cut, prepared, and extensively analysed. The results of this study suggest that the cause for the large volume collapse may not be magnetic in nature, as previously expected

Genome wide analysis of dna repair by expression profiling

Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) and Cockayne syndrome (CS) are syndromes characterised by defects iqf nucleotide excision repair (NER), they can be distinguished by contrasting clinical manifestations. Although the genes responsible for XP and CShave been identified, the precise molecular roles of the normal proteins remains poorly understood. In the present study, primary dermal fibroblasts derived from patients assigned to XP complementation group C (XP-C XP8CA) and CS type A (CS-A CS3BE) were characterised. Patient XP8CA was homozygous for a 2 bp TG deletion in the XPC gene at codon 547 resulting in a premature termination at position 572, while patient CS3BE was a compound heterozygote for a 37G>T (E13X) and a novel 479C>T (A 160V) mutation in CKNl, the jene that encodes the CSA protein. Permanent XP-C and CS-A cell lines were established by transducing primary XP8CA and CS3BE fibroblasts with a retroviral vector, expressing the catalytic subunit of telomerase, hTERT. The reconstitition of telomerase activity resulted in: (1) the preservation of the primary NER capabilities (2) an extension of proliferative lifespan (3) maintenance of the p53/p21WAF/CIPI and pRb/pl6INK4A tumour suppressor pathways. Using microarrays, the UV-induced global transcriptional response of telomerised XP-C ajd CS-A fibroblasts was characterised. The data indicate that UV-irradiation resulted in the differential regulation of a diverse range of cellular responses such as transcription, cell cycle arrest, DNA repair and apoptosis. Additionally, cell type-specific signatures were observed in telomerised XP-C and CS-A fibroblasts. The utility of RNAi was also demonstrated by transiently ablating XPC of CSA function in telomerised repair competent (MRC-5) fibroblasts, and a stable, permanent mutant was constructed by retrovirally transducing the telomerised CS-A cell line with an PC-specific shRNA construct. Thus, permanent and stable telomerase-immortalised XP-C and CS-A cell lines have been established and partially characterised at both the genetic and molecular level, so providing in vitro models for investigating NER

Response of the Geospace System to the Solar Wind Dynamic Pressure Decrease on 11 June 2017: Numerical Models and Observations

On 11 June 2017, a sudden solar wind dynamic pressure decrease occurred at 1437 UT according to the OMNI solar wind data. The solar wind velocity did not change significantly, while the density dropped from 42 to 10 cm−3 in a minute. The interplanetary magnetic field BZ was weakly northward during the event, while the BY changed from positive to negative. Using the University of Michigan Block Adaptive Tree Solarwind Roe Upwind Scheme global magnetohydrodynamic code, the global responses to the decrease in the solar wind dynamic pressure were studied. The simulation revealed that the magnetospheric expansion consisted of two phases similar to the responses during magnetospheric compression, namely, a negative preliminary impulse and a negative main impulse phase. The simulated plasma flow and magnetic fields reasonably reproduced the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms and Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft in situ observations. Two separate pairs of dawn‐dusk vortices formed during the expansion of the magnetosphere, leading to two separate pairs of field‐aligned current cells. The effects of the flow and auroral precipitation on the ionosphere‐thermosphere (I‐T) system were investigated using the Global Ionosphere Thermosphere Model driven by simulated ionospheric electrodynamics. The perturbations in the convection electric fields caused enhancements in the ion and electron temperatures. This study shows that, like the well‐studied sudden solar wind pressure increases, sudden pressure decreases can have large impacts in the coupled I‐T system. In addition, the responses of the I‐T system depend on the initial convection flows and field‐aligned current profiles before the solar wind pressure perturbations.Key PointsThe decrease in the solar wind dynamic pressure led to two separate pairs of oppositely rotating vortices in the dawn and duskFACs accompanied each magnetospheric vortex and altered the ionosphere convection patternsJoule heating increased in the regions sandwiched by the perturbation FACs, leading to increased ion temperaturesPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149314/1/jgra54868.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/149314/2/jgra54868_am.pd