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Maternal Silences: Motherhood and Voluntary Childlessness in Christianity
No full textIn Christianity, there is an ideology of motherhood that pervades scripture, ritual, and doctrine, yet there is an academic silence that means relatively little space has been given to motherhood and mothering, and even less to voluntary childlessness, from a faith perspective. By drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with Christian women living in Britain, narrating their experiences of motherhood and voluntary childlessness, I suggest there are also lived maternal silences encountered by women in contemporary Christianity. There is a maternal expectation produced through church teaching, liturgy and culture that constructs women as ‘maternal bodies’ (Gatrell 2008); this silences and marginalises women from articulating their complex relationship with religion, motherhood, and childlessness in ways that challenge their spiritual development. However, this article also introduces the everyday and intentional tactics women employ to disrupt the maternal expectation, and hereby interrupt the maternal silence
Stereotypical Notions of the Entrepreneur: An Analysis from a Perspective of Gender
No full textThis is an Accepted Manuscript version of the following article, accepted for publication in [Journal of Promotion Management]. [Hancock, C., Pérez-Quintana, A., & Hormiga, E. (2014). Stereotypical notions of the entrepreneur: An analysis from a perspective of gender. Journal of Promotion Management, 20(1), 82-94]. It is deposited under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.The principal objective of this paper is an analysis of the stereotypical figure of the entrepreneur in the Spanish context, from a perspective of gender. We provide evidence that the characteristics largely associated with an entrepreneurial individual are stereo-typically male or androgynous, with a notable absence of female typologies. Our findings suggest that this relationship has an influence on the continued predominance of male entrepreneurial activity. This study contributes to the growing empirical literature on female entrepreneurship from an understudied perspective; gender stereotyping, demonstrating that socially constructed gender stereotyping persists in contemporary Spanish culture
The developing landscape of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for spinal cord injury in cerebrospinal fluid and blood
Get PDFThis version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sc.2016.174OBJECTIVES:
The identification of prognostic biomarkers of spinal cord injury (SCI) will help to assign SCI patients to the correct treatment and rehabilitation regimes. Further, the detection of biomarkers that predict permanent neurological outcome would aid in appropriate recruitment of patients into clinical trials. The objective of this review is to evaluate the current state-of-play in this developing field.
SETTING:
Studies from multiple countries were included.
METHODS:
We have completed a comprehensive review of studies that have investigated prognostic biomarkers in either the blood or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of animals and humans following SCI.
RESULTS:
Targeted and unbiased approaches have identified several prognostic biomarkers in CSF and blood. These proteins associate with cellular damage following SCI and include components from neurons, oligodendrocytes and reactive astrocytes, that is, neurofilament proteins, glial fibrillary acidic protein, Tau and S100 calcium-binding protein β. Unbiased approaches have also identified microRNAs that are specific to SCI, as well as other cell damage-associated proteins.
CONCLUSIONS:
The discovery and validation of stable, specific, sensitive and reproducible biomarkers of SCI is a rapidly expanding field of research. So far, few studies have utilised unbiased approaches aimed at the discovery of biomarkers within the CSF or blood in this field; however, some targeted approaches have been successfully used. Several studies using various animal models and some with small human patient cohorts have begun to pinpoint biomarkers in the CSF and blood with putative prognostic value. An increased sample size will be required to validate these biomarkers in the heterogeneous clinical setting
Overcurrent relays coordination optimisation methods in distribution systems for microgrids: a review
Get PDFElectric power networks connected with multiple distributed generations (microgrids) require adequate protection coordination. In this paper, the overcurrent relay coordination concept in distribution system has been presented with details. In this available literature, the previous works on optimisation methods utilised for the coordination of over current relays; classification has been made based on the optimisation techniques, non-standard characteristics, new constraints that have been proposed for optimal coordination and dual setting protection schemes. Then a comprehensive review has been done on optimisation techniques including the conventional methods, heuristic and hybrid methods and the relevant issues have been addressed
Shifting Models of Energy Companies towards Green Economy in Europe
No full textThe traditional model of European energy company has been characterised by big entities that usually play a relatively important role as national champions in terms of market share, assets value, vertical integration, political influence and employment volumes, among other factors. However, last decade has seen how these big dinosaurs are losing market power in favour of new actors. On one side Russian and Chinese competitors have started showing interest in the Western European energy sector, and they are developing purchasing strategies to acquire part of the business in different countries, taking advantage of the vulnerable financial position that many of these companies suffer. On the other side having been unable to change their business models away from the focus on fossil fuels into the renewable energies sector has made traditional companies lose market share in favour of a new model of companies, smaller in terms of assets but quite focused on a market segment with a privileged institutional support, particularly thanks to the European Union targets for 2020 on renewable energy.
This chapter uses the framework of green economy as the one that approaches macroeconomic issues through innovative ways, promoting green investments through the most adequate regulatory measures, and considering green energy as one of the sectors where these investments should be focused. Bearing this in mind, the chapter will try to point out the existing constraints to reach the new model of development (sustainable development, as promoted by a green economy) and also the barriers that energy companies impose themselves through old fashioned strategies that do not take into consideration the wider demands from a much larger group of stakeholders in a changing society. It will also address the changing governance framework caused by recent political events such as Brexit and the shifting EU institutional discourse towards 2030 targets
The Development and Growth of Tissues Derived From Cranial Neural Crest and Primitive Mesoderm Is Dependent on the Ligation Status of Retinoic Acid Receptor γ: Evidence That Retinoic Acid Receptor γ Functions to Maintain stem/progenitor Cells in the Absence of Retinoic Acid
Get PDFAn important study demonstrating how retinoic acid receptor gamma plays a key role in tissue formation and regenerationFinal publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/scd.2014.0235Retinoic acid (RA) signaling is important to normal development. However, the function of the different RA receptors (RARs)--RARα, RARβ, and RARγ--is as yet unclear. We have used wild-type and transgenic zebrafish to examine the role of RARγ. Treatment of zebrafish embryos with an RARγ-specific agonist reduced somite formation and axial length, which was associated with a loss of hoxb13a expression and less-clear alterations in hoxc11a or myoD expression. Treatment with the RARγ agonist also disrupted formation of tissues arising from cranial neural crest, including cranial bones and anterior neural ganglia. There was a loss of Sox 9-immunopositive neural crest stem/progenitor cells in the same anterior regions. Pectoral fin outgrowth was blocked by RARγ agonist treatment. However, there was no loss of Tbx-5-immunopositive lateral plate mesodermal stem/progenitor cells and the block was reversed by agonist washout or by cotreatment with an RARγ antagonist. Regeneration of the caudal fin was also blocked by RARγ agonist treatment, which was associated with a loss of canonical Wnt signaling. This regenerative response was restored by agonist washout or cotreatment with the RARγ antagonist. These findings suggest that RARγ plays an essential role in maintaining stem/progenitor cells during embryonic development and tissue regeneration when the receptor is in its nonligated state
Book Review: Shortt, R. (2019) Outgrowing Dawkins: God for Grown-Ups. London: SPCK.
Get PDFThis book is a direct response to Richard Dawkins’ book Outgrowing God: a beginner’s guide (Bantam Press, 2019) and continues Shortt’s long-standing engagement with New Atheism in such works as God Is No Thing (2015) and Does Religion Do More Harm than Good (2019). The substance of Shortt’s defence of religion is not that it does not have its destructive and dark sides, or even that atheism and religious doubt may not be legitimate intellectual positions. Rather, Shortt takes issue with charges that religious belief is illogical and intellectually specious, that religious commitment is deluded and infantile and religious institutions inherently barbaric and authoritarian
White-faced Darter distribution is associated with coniferous forests in Great Britain
Get PDFAbstract
1) Understanding of dragonfly distributions is often geographically comprehensive but less so in ecological terms.
2) White-faced darter (Leucorhinnia dubia) is a lowland peatbog specialist dragonfly which has experienced population declines in Great Britain. White-faced darter are thought to rely on peat-rich pool complexes within woodland but this has not yet been empirically tested.
3) We used dragonfly recording data collected by volunteers of the British Dragonfly Society from 2005 to 2018 to model habitat preference for white-faced darter using species distribution models across Great Britain and, with a more detailed landcover dataset, specifically in the North of Scotland.
4) Across the whole of Great Britain our models used the proportion of coniferous forest within 1km as the most important predictor of habitat suitability but were not able to predict all current populations in England.
5) In the North of Scotland our models were more successful and suggest that habitats characterised by native coniferous forest and areas high potential evapotranspiration represent the most suitable habitat for white-faced darter.
6) We recommend that future white-faced darter monitoring should be expanded to include areas currently poorly surveyed but with high suitability in the North of Scotland.
7) Our results also suggest that white-faced darter management should concentrate on maintaining Sphagnum rich pool complexes and the maintenance and restoration of native forests in which these pool complexes occur
Vibration energy harvesting of multifunctional carbon fibre composite laminate structures
Get PDFA sustainable power supply for a wide range of applications, such as powering sensors for structural health monitoring and wireless sensoring nodes for data transmission and communication used in unmanned air vehicles, automobiles, renewable energy sectors, and smart city technologies, is targeted. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study that describes an innovative technique to harvest energy resulted from environmental vibrations. A piezoelectric energy harvester was integrated onto a carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminate structure using the co-curing method. The integrated composite with the energy harvester was lightweight, flexible and provided robust and reliable energy outcomes, which can be used to power different low-powered wireless sensing nodes. A normalised power density of 97 μW cm−3m−2s4 was obtained from resonance frequency of 46 Hz sinusoidal waves at amplitude of 0.2 g; while the representative environmental vibration waves in various applications (aerospace, automotive, machine and bridge infrastructure) were experimentally and numerically investigated to find out the energy that can be harvested by such a multifunctional composite structure. The results showed the energy harvested at different vibration input from various industrial sectors could be sufficient to power an autonomous structural health monitoring system and wireless communications by the designed composite structure
Contrasting responses to salinity and future ocean acidification in arctic populations of the amphipod Gammarus setosus
Get PDFClimate change is leading to alterations in salinity and carbonate chemistry in arctic/sub-arctic marine ecosystems. We examined three nominal populations of the circumpolar arctic/subarctic amphipod, Gammarus setosus, along a salinity gradient in the Kongsfjorden-Krossfjorden area of Svalbard. Field and laboratory experiments assessed physiological (haemolymph osmolality and gill Na+/K+-ATPase activity, NKA) and energetic responses (metabolic rates, MO2, and Cellular Energy Allocation, CEA). In the field, all populations had similar osmregulatory capacities and MO2, but lower-salinity populations had lower CEA. Reduced salinity (S = 23) and elevated pCO2 (~1000 μatm) in the laboratory for one month increased gill NKA activities and reduced CEA in all populations, but increased MO2 in the higher-salinity population. Elevated pCO2 did not interact with salinity and had no effect on NKA activities or CEA, but reduced MO2 in all populations. Reduced CEA in lower-rather than higher-salinity populations may have longer term effects on other energy demanding processes (growth and reproduction)
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