Special Divine Acts: Three Pseudo-Problems and a Blind Alley

Traditionally, special divine acts have been understood as involving intervention in the course of nature, so as to cause events that nature would not, or could not, otherwise produce. The concept of divine intervention has come under heavy fire in recent times, however. This has caused many philosophers and theologians either to abandon the possibility of special divine acts or to attempt to show how such acts need not be understood as interventions in natural processes. This paper argues that three objections typically raised against special divine acts conceived as interventions in the natural order are pseudo-problems and pose no reason to abandon the traditional conception of such acts. Further, it argues that attempted noninterventionist accounts constitute a blind alley of investigation, inasmuch as they fail to provide a secure foundation for a robust account of the possibility of special divine acts

The Origins, Context and Political Significance of the Mushala Rebellion against the Zambian One-Party State

The article focuses on the origins, context, and political significance of Adamson Mushala's rebellion against the Zambian one-party state. While making no substantial military gains, Mushala succeeded in destabilizing the North-Western Province, the site of his insurgency, and creating an atmosphere of fear and paranoia among local and national leaders of the ruling United National Independence Party (UNIP). The Zambian postcolonial state was threatened by the enduring relevance of such allegiances. Mushala capitalized on the strength of local systems of ethnic affiliation, following in the footsteps of chieftain authorities, who had expressed their rejection of UNIP's national project by leading their people across the barely visible colonial borders separating an enduring Lunda polit

Ellipsoidal optical reflectors reproduced by electroforming

An accurately dimensioned convex ellipsoidal surface, which will become a master after polishing, is fabricated from 316L stainless steel. When polishing of the master is completed, it is suspended in a modified watt bath for electroforming of nickel reflectors

Living for the City

A holistic understanding of the diverse history of the cross-border Central African Copperbelt, considered here as a single region, this study integrates neglected aspects of Copperbelt history including women, non-mining communities, informal settlements and urban agriculture into the region's history

Conforming polisher for aspheric surface of revolution Patent

Conforming polisher for aspheric surfaces of revolution with inflatable tub

Cover Text Steganography: N-gram and Entropy-based Approach

Steganography is an ancient technique for hiding a secret message within ordinary looking messages or objects (e.g., images), also known as cover messages. Among various techniques, hiding text data in plain text file is a challenging task due to lack of redundant information. This paper proposes two new approaches to embed a secret message in a cover text document. The two approaches are n-gram and entropy metric-based generation of stego text. We provide examples of encoding secret messages in a cover text document followed by an initial evaluation of how well stego texts look close to the plain texts. Furthermore, we also discuss several related work as well as our future work plan

A Model for Online Support in Classroom Management: Perceptions of Beginning Teachers

Classroom management is a challenge for beginning teachers. To address this challenge, a model to provide support for beginning teachers was developed, consisting of a one-day workshop on classroom management, followed with online support extending over eight weeks. Specific classroom management strategies included (a) developing a foundation based on relationships; (b) preventing disruptions with procedures and routines; (c) responding to disruptions and rule violations; (d) providing inclusion for students with special needs; and (e) resolving extreme or continuing conflicts. Participants in the study were beginning teachers at both the elementary and secondary levels. After completing the classroom management workshop, teachers reviewed online video clips of strategies they had learned, applied the strategies in their respective classrooms, and engaged in online discussions of the results obtained. Researchers conducted a qualitative assessment of the discussion entries posted by the new teachers to determine the strategies employed, emerging themes, and the results obtained. Participants successfully employed classroom management strategies and reported generally positive results. Additional research is needed with a larger number of participating teachers

Professional Doctorates: Grasping A New Way

It is one thing to write a curriculum for a professional doctorate with a graduate profile that talks of practice-change and leadership development. Our experience of initiating the Doctor of Health Science in 2002 was that it was all too easy to fall back on the PhD mindset. It took inspiration from the literature, and pioneering candidates, to show us how this programme could be distinctively different from a PhD. We tell our story to reveal both challenges and possibilities. We see that all our candidates have a focus on bringing change to practice. Some do this through research ‘on’ practice, others by research ‘in’ practice, and then there are those caught up in the research/practice nexus. We believe a professional doctorate programme has potential to significantly grow the candidate into a leader of practice-change