Community, word and wonder: discerning key elements in the faith inquiry of Chinese international students

The internationalisation of British universities has led to increased opportunities for cultural, social and religious transnational collaboration and interchange on campus. Amid the growing discourse on international student issues within the academy, including the engagement and apparent interest in Christianity among Mainland Chinese students, research on their actual interaction with Christianity in Britain remains scarce and limited in scope. This qualitative study involved participant-observation of Christian activities for international students, literature produced by faith-based organisations, and in-depth interviews with 25 ethnically Chinese students, of which 18 were from Mainland China. Analysed using a grounded theory methodology, the data reveals the wider motivating factors behind Chinese students’ involvement in Christian activities organised by multi-ethnic British churches, beyond socio-cultural and linguistic interests. Within the faith inquiry process, students’ emerging beliefs are shaped by participation in Christian community groups, study of Bible texts, and numinous experiences. The iterative and progressive interaction of these elements contributes to a process of ‘ordinary theologising’ involving both the emergence of nascent theological understandings, and the deconstruction of some existing beliefs. Significant influences which shape the process include relational learning within the Christian community, Chinese approaches to religious practice, and encounters with the transcendent. Using an emergent framework incorporating ‘ordinary theology’ (Astley 2002) and modalities of Chinese religion (Chau 2019), the findings show that Chinese students are active agents in a process of theological construction which has hitherto remained under-examined. Beyond socio-cultural motivations, their nascent theologising – including conversion, for some – leads to clarity of inhabited Christian beliefs, despite internal dissonance and expectations of interpersonal conflict. The findings of this study are pertinent to understandings of faith exploration and belief change, specifically among international students, and more broadly, within migrant communities. It makes a unique contribution to original knowledge within the field of Practical Theology as an empirical study of biblically-centred activities for inquirers from non-Western, non-Christian backgrounds

Diet and distribution of the Eurasian otter, Lutra lutra and American mink, Neovison vison on the River Hull

Conflict between the invasive American mink Neovison vision, and native Eurasian otter Lutra lutra has been identified in several studies, however many questions remain surrounding factors contributing to possible co-existence. Furthermore, each species presence poses possible further economic and ecological threats. Links between mink predation and water vole, Arvicola amphibius decline have been listed as a key factor in the vole’s high risk categorisation. Understanding of mink preference to endangered species therefore may be essential in future conservation efforts. In contrast, otter-human conflict has potential to negatively impact upon efforts to restore otter populations. Regular spraint collection and eDNA analysis have been combined to identify distribution, diet and species specific preferences. Whilst distribution analysis did not support the possibility of co-existence, mink diet has identifiably evolved to reduce conflict with otters in the region. Within this, mink were found to predate on endangered species, supporting removal efforts. Contrastingly, otter preference data was not concluded to display a preference for stocked species

The stratigraphy of the Permian and Triassic formations in Guadalupe County, New Mexico

Geological Science

Stereographic cloud heights from the imagery of two scan-synchronized geostationary satellites

Scan synchronization of the sensors of two SMS-GOES satellites yields imagery from which cloud heights can be derived stereographically with a theoretical two-sigma random uncertainty of + or - 0.25 km for pairs of satellites separated by 60 degrees of longitude. Systematic height errors due to cloud motion can be kept below 100 m for all clouds with east-west components of speed below hurricane speed, provided the scan synchronization is within 40 seconds at the mid-point latitude, and the spin axis of each satellite is parallel to that of the earth

Terminal ballistics of 7.62 mm armour piercing projectiles against spaced, oblique RHA plates

Spacing and obliquity, when used together, are known to provide one of the most weight efficient solutions for armor protection. Although this configuration has been widely used over almost 100 years there is little quantitative or design data for such systems. In the present study a series of tests were performed using a steel-cored 7.62mm bullet (DAG 7.62x51) against RHA plates of varying thicknesses, spacing and obliquity of the front plate. This work showed that front plate should be substantially thinner than the rear, a ratio of 0.48:1 gave the best results. The highest mass efficiency (2.00) was for a large spacing (400mm) but this could be reduced to 50mm with only a 17% reduction in ballistic efficiency if a slightly more oblique front plate was used