The rise and fall of the Pentecostals: the role and significance of the body in Pentecostal spirituality

This paper addresses the role and significance of the body in contempor­ary Pentecostalism. It begins with a description of the various body-centred spiritual experiences common in this tradition. Next, it considers the social context of the Pentecostal body, arguing that the premium and importance placed on outward bodily experiences is consistent with a broader societal focus on bodies and bodily appearance. Finally, it draws on in-depth interview data with Pentecostals to illustrate the processes involved in coming to have an experience in which one’s body becomes the highly visible locus of spirituality. No longer restrained and ordered, the contemporary Christian body is exuberant, released to worship and be overcome by God. Being slain in the Spirit is the most prominent example of this shift in contemporary spirituality. The Pentecostal emphasis on bodily experiences is consistent with the late modern interest in the outward appearance of the body

Cut-off low pressure systems and extreme rainfall over South Africa

Includes bibliographical references (p. 257-271).This thesis is an investigation of cut-off low pressure systems over South Africa. These weather systems have been responsible for many of the flooding disasters that have affected South Africa, particularly the coastal regions, over recent decades. The thesis has two main objectives, namely, to construct a 30-year climatology of cut-off lows over South Africa, and to further understanding of the evolution of the low-level flow that leads to these systems producing extreme quantities of rainfall

Utilizing Political Ideologies To Market A Political Candidate

This article explores the reductionist approach of political ideologies as used by political candidates, which is part of the common feature of political marketing. Understanding the value or belief system which is accepted as fact or truth by the targeted group, places the candidate in a position to promote them self as a well-intentioned, committed leader who seeks to motivate the audience to action. Modern marketing of political candidates begins by understanding central concepts of ideologies. The utilization of ideologies is complex, in that there is no single concept or claim revealing surprising affinities with various images of the candidate. It also has distinctive function, by misrepresenting the totality of the ideology by forming a total belief in the candidate versus the ideology in a particular way. People must commit or surrender to the demands of the candidate, thus making it possible for the candidate to get elected. The branding of the candidate while utilizing political ideologies in part disables people from easily disregarding information perceived to be antithetical to the concepts of the ideology (Quelch, 2007)

Application of Genome-Wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Typing: Simple Association and Beyond

The International HapMap Project and the arrival of technologies that type more than 100,000 SNPs in a single experiment have made genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (GW-SNP) assay a realistic endeavor. This has sparked considerable debate regarding the promise of GW-SNP typing to identify genetic association in disease. As has already been shown, this approach has the potential to localize common genetic variation underlying disease risk. The data provided from this technology also lends itself to several other lines of investigation; autozygosity mapping in consanguineous families and outbred populations, direct detection of structural variation, admixture analysis, and other population genetic approaches. In this review we will discuss the potential uses and practical application of GW-SNP typing including those above and beyond simple association testing

Forecasting Drought in Europe with the Standardized Precipitation Index : An assessment of the performance of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Variable Resolution Ensemble Prediction System

This report describes an assessment of the performance of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) variable resolution ensemble prediction system (varEPS) as a tool for forecasting drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) with one month lead time. The model is verified using standard verification measures of the Brier Score, the Brier Skill Score, reliability and relative operating characteristics. It is found that for the 1-month SPI, the model has little skill in forecasting drought events and the forecast is generally unreliable. For the 3-month SPI the model has more skill, but this skill comes from the use of 2 months of reanalysis precipitation in and 1-month of forecast precipitation in building in the 3-month SPI. Calibration of the forecasts through adjusting the forecast probabilities to observed frequencies improved the verification statistics. Two case studies using the model were analysed and it was found that the model did not give useful guidance, and in fact calibration had the effect of underestimating the probability of extreme events where the model had some skill. It is recommended that ensemble probabilistic forecasts not be used as a tool for decision making with regard to drought without further improvement in the model performance.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Empirical essays on recent patterns in the British labour market

This thesis presents three essays, which each address a salient recent pattern in the British labour market. The first essay concerns whether or not men and women experience the business cycle differently, through their labour market outcomes, and why this might be the case. The second essay seeks to explain the cyclical amplification of unemployment duration, in particular the substantial and persistent increase in UK long-term unemployment observed during and since the Great Recession. The final essay studies recent changes in British wage inequality. To shed light on the possible factors driving these changes, it asks simply whether they are mostly determined by increasing or decreasing wage dispersion within or between firms. Gender and the business cycle: an analysis of labour markets in the US and UK Starting from an improved understanding of the relationship between gender labour market stocks and the business cycle, we analyse the contributing role of flows in the US and UK. Focusing on the post-2008 recession period, the subsequent greater rise in male unemployment can mostly be explained by a less cyclical response of flows between employment and unemployment for women, especially the entry into unemployment. Across gender and country, the inactivity rate is generally not sensitive to the state of the economy. However, a flows based analysis reveals a greater importance of the participation margin over the cycle. Changes in the rates of flow between unemployment and inactivity can each account for around 0.8-1.1 percentage points of the rise in US male and female unemployment rates during the latest downturn. For the UK, although the participation flow to unemployment similarly contributed to the increase of the female unemployment rate, this was not the case for men. The countercyclical flow rate from inactivity to employment was also more significant for women, especially in the US, where it accounted for approximately all of the fall in employment, compared with only forty percent for men. Long-term unemployment and the Great Recession: evidence from UK stocks and flows Although modest by historical standards, long-term unemployment nonetheless more than doubled during the UK’s Great Recession. Only a small fraction of this persistent increase can be accounted for by the changing composition of unemployment across personal and work history characteristics. Through extending a well-known stocks-flows decomposition of labour market fluctuations, the cyclical behaviour of participation flows can account for over two-thirds of the high level of long-term unemployment following the financial crisis, especially the procyclical flow from unemployment to inactivity. The pattern of these flows and their changing composition suggest a general shift in the labour force attachment of the unemployed during the downturn. Recent changes in British wage inequality: evidence from firms and occupations Using a linked employer-employee dataset, we study the increasing trend in British wage inequality over the past two decades. The dispersion of wages within firms accounts for the majority of changes to wage variance. Approximately all of the contribution to inequality dynamics from firm-specific factors are absorbed by controlling for the changing occupational content of wages. The modest trend in between-firm wage inequality is explained by a combination of changes in between-occupation inequality and the occupational composition of firms and employment. These results are robust to using weekly, hourly or annual measures of employee pay