Christian sound systems in Britain: its origins, functions and theology

The Christian sound system movement in Britain represents an exchange between ‘church hall’ and ‘dancehall’ which started in the late 1990s. This contentious engagement between ‘secular’ and ‘sacred’ spaces is related to the wider discipline of theology and popular culture. The aim of this study is to explore how Christians have engaged their faith within black popular culture; focussing on sound systems. Current scholarship has analysed sound systems in Britain through the lens of social theory, artistry and technology. This essay investigates the history and function of the Christian sound system movement in Britain through qualitative interviews with members of ‘Shekinah Sound Ministries’ and ‘His Majesty’s Sound System’. The controversies involved in the Christianisation of the ‘dubplate’ is discussed as well as the criticisms directed at the movement for using reggae music as a tool for evangelism in the early years. The data highlights the importance of the MC, selector and engineer as the primary practitioners involved in ‘ministering the music’ to the audience. The thesis positions the Christian sound system movement within the history of black Christian music in Britain. Both traditions draw from an African Caribbean heritage which then mixes in other contemporary styles to reflect a black British religious expression. This thesis extends the discussion further by searching for theological themes behind the Christian sound system performance which have been previously ignored in the literature. This paper suggests that the Christian sound systems in Britain demonstrate an interfacing of theology with culture

Macroeconomic risk factors in Australian commercial real estate, listed property trust and property sector stock returns: A comparative analysis using GARCH-M

This paper employs a Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity in Mean (GARCH-M) model to consider the effect of macroeconomic factors on Australian property returns over the period 1985 to 2002 Three direct (office, retail and industrial property) and two indirect (listed property trust and property stock) returns are included in the analysis, along with market returns, short, medium and long-term interest rates, expected and unexpected inflation, construction activity and industrial employment and production. In general, the macroeconomic factors examined are found to be significant risk factors in Australian commercial property returns. However, the results also indicate that forecast accuracy in these models is higher for direct office, listed property trust and property stock returns and that the persistence of volatility shocks varies across the different markets, with volatility half lives of between five and seven months for direct retail and industrial property, two and three months for direct office property and less than two months with both forms of indirect property investment

VALUE AND VALUES - WHAT MOTIVATES CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP IN SOUTH AFRICA?

The expectation that business has a responsibility to the immediate communities in which they operate and to national development imperatives has become entrenched in society. Globally, businesses have responded by embracing the discourse and practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR), albeit at different levels. Such responses have been shaped by local business cultures and the national economic and political contexts.The discourse on CSR or corporate social investment (CSI) has ascended to global prominence, and there are numerous definitions of what it consists of. However, emerging and common themes point towards legislative compliance, meeting stakeholder expectations and contributing to the upliftment of the broader society while increasing and sustaining business profitability

Macroeconomic risk factors in Australian commercial real estate, listed property trust and property sector stock returns: A comparative analysis using GARCH-M

This paper employs a Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity in Mean (GARCH-M) model to consider the effect of macroeconomic factors on Australian property returns over the period 1985 to 2002. Three direct (office, retail and industrial property) and two indirect (listed property trust and property stock) returns are included in the analysis, along with market returns, short, medium and long-term interest rates, expected and unexpected inflation, construction activity and industrial employment and production. In general, the macroeconomic factors examined are found to be significant risk factors in Australian commercial property returns. However, the results also indicate that forecast accuracy in these models is higher for direct office, listed property trust and property stock returns and that the persistence of volatility shocks varies across the different markets, with volatility half lives of between five and seven months for direct retail and industrial property, two and three months for direct office property and less than two months with both forms of indirect property investment.Property returns; listed property trust, property stocks, market risk; interest rate risk; industrial

The New Old Legal Realism

Do the decisions of appellate courts matter in the real world? The American judicial system, legal education, and academic scholarship are premised on the view that they do. The authors want to reexamine this question by taking the approach advocated by the original Legal Realists. The current project seeks to add to our knowledge of the relevance of case law by focusing on an area that has received little examination: how pronouncements about employment discrimination law by appellate courts translate into understandings and behavior at the ground level. As our lens, we use evidence of how people talk about the relevance of changes in the law. This new Old Legal Realist perspective suggests that social and economic factors play a more important role than case law in outcomes on the ground. Cases cannot have an impact, if the local social and economic variables are not aligned in a fashion that allows the impact to occur

Impact of Ghrelin and Cocaine on Intracranial Self-Stimulation in Rats

Ghrelin (GHR) is a 28-amino acid peptide that is secreted in the peripheral and central nervous systems and correlates with hunger. GHR is the only gut hormone known to stimulate food intake. Psychostimulant drugs, such as cocaine (COC), induce locomotion and augment reward-seeking behavior. Recent studies have examined the effects of GHR on locomotion and report an augmenting effect when combined with COC. In the present study, we examine the effects of systemic injections of COC, GHR, and a pairing of both on rate-frequency curves, maximal response rate, and threshold (the frequency that produces 50% of the maximal response rate) obtained during intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB). In this task, rats press a lever to deliver electrical pulses to their own brain via an implanted electrode. Rats are run in 75 minute sessions, consisting of five 15-minute passes; during each pass, the intensity (in ?amps) is kept constant, while the frequency of stimulation is lowered each minute from 141 Hz to 28 Hz (decreased in 0.05 log units). Each rat runs multiple trials on separate days and is injected with either vehicle (0.5 ml saline), COC (0, 2.5, and 5.0 mg/kg), GHR (5.0, 10.0, and 30.0 nMol/rat), or a combination of GHR and COC (10.0 nMol/rat GHR and 2.5 mg/kg COC). GHR produced a significant dose-dependent effect, where the rate-frequency curves shifted to the right, maximal response rate and 50% response rate decreased, and threshold increased. COC produced the opposite effect. A combination of GHR and COC shifted the rate-frequency curves to the right and caused a significant increase in threshold. Dopamine (DA) plays a critical role in reinforcement and is found in neurological reward pathways, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NA). Since GHR receptors exist in these two areas, some researchers suggest that there may be a common pathway shared by the rewarding aspects of food and psychostimulants leading to obesity and drug abuse, respectively. The present results suggest that in some circumstances, GHR may inhibit already active reinforcement systems

Isolation and characterization of microsatellites in the lichen Buellia frigida (Physciaceae), an Antarctic endemic

Premise of the study: Microsatellite markers were characterized for an Antarctic endemic, Buellia frigida, to investigate population structure and origin of Antarctic lichens. Methods and Results: Five primer sets were characterized. All loci were polymorphic with eight to 16 alleles per locus in a sample of 59 lichens. Conclusions: The microsatellite markers potentially provide insight into population structure and gene flow of B. frigida

Lean towards learning: connecting Lean Thinking and human resource management in UK higher education

From its origins in the automotive industry, Lean Thinking is increasingly being seen as a solution to problems of efficiency and quality in other industries and sectors. In recent years attempts have been made to transfer Lean principles and practice to the higher education sector with indications of mixed consequences and debate over its suitability. This paper contributes to the debate by drawing evidence from thirty-four interviews conducted across two UK universities that have implemented Lean in some of their activities and we pay particular attention to the role of the HR function in facilitating its introduction. The findings suggest there are problems in understanding, communicating and transferring Lean Thinking in the higher education context; that, despite HR systems being vital facets of Lean, HR professionals are excluded from participation; and that as a consequence the depth and breadth of Lean application in the two institutions is very limited

Introducing a spectrum of moral evaluation: integrating organizational stigmatization and moral legitimacy

Audiences frequently change how they evaluate organizations, and these judgments often have a moral basis. For example, audiences may shift their evaluation from stigmatization to legitimacy or vice versa. These radical shifts in audience evaluation can have a major impact on organizations, yet organization theory struggles to account for them. We offer a solution to this problem by proposing a spectrum of moral evaluation that situates key moral judgments relative to each other. Our core argument is that integrating stigmatization and moral legitimacy into a broader spectrum of moral evaluation provides organization theorists with a much-needed toolkit to explore the consequential normative transformations often experienced by contemporary organizations. Specifically, it allows for a graded conception of moral evaluation, connects concepts – stigma and legitimacy – that are often considered in isolation, and offers opportunities for theoretical cross-fertilization