13506 research outputs found
Sort by
Recognising a Human Right to Abortion
Get PDFThis thesis presents an argument for the recognition of a human right to abortion in the international human rights framework. Firstly, I identify the key conceptual issues with the current human rights system; its approach to gender-based rights, issues with cross-cultural traction, and the relative lack of protection afforded to economic, social, and cultural rights. I go on to consider the specific limitations of the international human rights framework in relation to abortion, in light of worldwide variations in access to abortion and recent backsliding. The remainder of my thesis seeks to address these issues, by adopting Alan Gewirth’s Principle of Generic Consistency (PGC) and applied in conjunction with feminist values as the foundation for a genuinely universal human rights framework. I argue that the PGC establishes a moral right to abortion which must be recognised as a human right and set out a framework for the progressive realisation of the right to abortion capable of responding to the socio-economic, political, religious, and cultural variation in how abortion is currently addressed. I also consider specific barriers to accessing abortion which must be addressed in order for the right to abortion to be effective. Finally, given the limited enforcement mechanisms available to human rights bodies and the ongoing contested nature of abortion, I consider how the right to abortion could be realised indirectly, through legal change achieved through local social movements, national courts, and regional human rights bodies. My thesis demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge by applying the PGC as a feminist-adjacent theory capable of addressing the key issues with the international human rights approach to abortion
Toward a Renewed Christian Reading of Proverbs 8
No full textThis thesis is a study of Proverbs 8 as Christian Scripture. The recognition of a text as Christian Scripture is a contestable and complicated one, and this dissertation explores the various facets of it in an attempt to produce a reading of Proverbs 8 which is fruitful for a faithful Christian life today. The thesis begins with a section laying out a foundation for studying a passage. First, a chapter offers a methodology for studying the passage with attention to its historical, literary, and theological facets. Next, standard philological analysis is applied to Proverbs 8, the results of which form the basis of reflection in the remainder of the dissertation.
In the second section of the dissertation, the life of the text through the history of interpretation is explored through the lens of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s concept of wirkungsgeschichtliches Bewusstsein. Pre-modern readers (Athanasius and Matthew Henry) are compared with modern readers of two types: those writing without an explicit claim to benefit Christian faith (Otto Plöger, Michael Fox, Bernd Schipper) and those who do have some discernable desire for their research to positively impact Christian faith (Franz Delitzsch, Gerhard von Rad, Tremper Longman, Daniel Treier). The comparison of these illustrates both the changes within the discipline of biblical studies and the rich capacity of the text to generate meanings in various contexts.
This richness leads into the third section of the dissertation, in which attempts are made toward a renewed Christian reading of the text. The section begins with an engagement with Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor, two major thinkers who offer an opportunity to re-think biblical study. Then the book and passage are read through the heuristic of a conception of wisdom as embodied know-how. The dissertation ends with three readings of the passage which each draw the text into a different sphere of reflection: existential, theological, and canonical
SEXUAL “SIN” AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SELF
Get PDFThis project explores the experiences of cognitive dissonance caused by the sexual activity of unmarried Christian adults in the UK. It identifies processes of the formation, negotiation, and maintenance of participants’ religious identities, and the impacts that sexual activity has on these processes. Using anonymous narratives, autoethnographic material, and semi-structured interviews, it uncovers some of the impacts these experiences had on their religious beliefs and their relationships. In doing so, it highlights potential causal factors for young adults distancing themselves from the Church and limiting its authority over their lifestyle choices. The dissertation argues that unmarried Christians experience their sexual selves through complex and interlinking processes of negotiation between beliefs, actions, and identities. It states that the process of negotiation is often a painful one due to experiences of cognitive dissonance, which usually has vast implications on the believers themselves, their sexual partner/s, and their church communities. It suggests that establishing firm beliefs about sex outside of marriage prior to sexual opportunities is vital in order to avoid this. Finally, it suggests that the Church could potentially enable this by encouraging thorough, open, and honest dialogue about sex and marriage
Characterising Shape Variation in the Human Right Ventricle Using Statistical Shape Analysis: Preliminary Outcomes and Potential for Predicting Hypertension in a Clinical Setting
Get PDFVariations in the shape of the human right ventricle (RV) have previously been shown to be predictive of heart function and long term prognosis in Pulmonary Hypertension (PH), a deadly disease characterised by high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries. The extent to which ventricular shape is also affected by non-pathological features such as sex, body mass index (BMI) and age is explored in this thesis. If fundamental differences in the shape of a structurally normal RV exist, these might also impact the success of a predictive model. This thesis evaluates the extent to which non-pathological features affect the shape of the RV and determines the best ways, in terms of procedure and analysis, to adapt the model to consistently predict PH. It also identifies areas where the statistical shape analysis procedure is robust, and considers the extent to which specific, non-pathological, characteristics impact the diagnostic potential of the statistical shape model. Finally, recommendations are made on next steps in the development of a classification procedure for PH. The dataset was composed of clinically-obtained, cardiovascular magnetic resonance images (CMR) from two independent sources; The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Newcastle University. Shape change is assessed using a 3D statistical shape analysis technique, which topologically maps heart meshes through an harmonic mapping approach to create a unique shape function for each shape. Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) was applied to the complete set of shape functions in order to determine and rank a set of shape features (i.e. modes and corresponding coefficients from the decomposition). MRI scanning protocol produced the most significant difference in shape; a shape mode associated with detail at the RV apex and ventricular length from apex to base strongly correlated with the MRI sequence used to record each subject. Qualitatively, a protocol which skipped slices produced a shorter RV with less detail at the apex. Decomposition of sex, age and BMI also derives unique RV shape descriptors which correspond to anatomically meaningful features. The shape features are shown to be able to predict presence of PH. The predictive model can be improved by including BMI as a factor, but these improvements are mainly concentrated in identification of healthy subjects
Estimating dose and exposure fraction from radiation biomarkers in the presence of overdispersion
Get PDFIt is typically assumed that the total -H2AX foci produced in a sample of blood cells is Poisson distributed, whose expected yield can be represented by a linear function of the absorbed dose. However, in practice, because of unobserved heterogeneity in the cell population, the standard Poisson assumption of equidispersion will most likely be contravened which will cause the variance of the foci counts to be larger than their mean. In both whole and partial body exposure this phenomenon is perceptible, unlike in the context of the dicentric assay in which overdispersion is usually considered only to be linked to partial exposure. For such situations, and as we will demonstrate, it is suitable to utilise a model that can handle overdispersion such as the quasi-Poisson or negative binomial regression.
The scenarios of most radiation accidents result in partial-body exposures or non-uniform dose distribution, leading to a differential exposure of lymphocytes in the body. Subsequently for the exposed individuals, their blood will contain a mixture of cells showing no radiation impact at all and cells featuring a distribution of counts according to dose of exposure. For such exposure scenarios, it remains that there are no statistical procedures to follow for the -H2AX assay. Part of this work will focus on updating the contaminated Poisson method, traditionally used in conjunction with cytogenetic biomarkers, to enable an estimate of the radiation dose and irradiated fraction to be found in the presence of both zero-inflation and overdispersion. As an extension, we discuss and compare how to measure the uncertainty associated with a given dose estimate via the delta, Merkle and ISO methods. We illustrate their applications firstly via simulated zero-inflated Poisson and NB1 data, with the non-inflated part being generated using an external -H2AX whole-body calibration curve, before applying the methodology to practical data
Parametric Predictive Bootstrap and Test Reproducibility
Get PDFBootstrap methods have become one of the most widely used statistical techniques due to their simplicity and good properties. In this thesis, we introduce a novel bootstrap method which we call the parametric predictive bootstrap (PP-B). The PP-B method relies on parametric models, and it is primarily designed for predictive inference. In the PP-B method, a single observation is sampled from the assumed distribution with estimated parameters based on an available data set of size n. Then, this observation is added to the data and the process is repeated, now with n+1 observations. This process continues to sample in total m values in the same way, each observation being added to the data and re-estimating the parameters before sampling the next observation. The PP-B sample consists of m newly drawn observations and excludes the n original data observations. The performance of the PP-B method is studied on finite and infinite data ranges, and compared to other bootstrap methods via simulations, which show that it works well as a method for predictive inference. The PP-B method is applied to a range of scenarios to evaluate its performance. It relies on an assumed parametric model and we examine how it performs when the model is misspecified.
A hypothesis test is one of the most important tools in the practical application of statistics. Statistical hypothesis tests can have different results when they are repeated. The reproducibility probability of hypothesis tests has gained increasing attention due to its importance in evaluating the variability and the stability of test results. The PP-B method is presented for the reproducibility probability (RP) of some parametric tests. Test reproducibility is naturally regarded as a predictive inference problem, which is consistent with the PP-B method. The explicitly predictive nature of PP-B provides an appropriate formulation for inferring RP, as the nature of RP is explicitly predictive as well. The performance of PP-B for RP is compared with the nonparametric predictive inference bootstrap method, which also has a predictive nature but does not assume a parametric model
Determinants of nesting and nest success in saltmarsh breeding Common Redshank, Tringa totanus, in North West England
Get PDFAbstract
Breeding populations of Common Redshank, Tringa totanus, Redshank hereafter, on British saltmarshes halved between 1985 and 2011, with the North West of England experiencing some of the largest losses. Understanding the drivers of these declines and exploring conservation management options to redress losses is the primary focus of this thesis.
I first evaluated the reliability of a standardised survey method (SSM) for estimating Redshank nesting density on saltmarshes. This involved multiple walked censuses on four saltmarshes in North West England. Estimates of peak nesting density derived from the SSM were compared to detailed nest monitoring information gathered at the same sites. The SSM was found to overestimate nesting density by 42% across the study sites. Reasons for this discrepancy were considered to be, (i) the presence of non-breeding birds, (ii) differing causes of nest failure across different habitats and areas, and (iii) geographical variation in, and temporal changes to, nesting phenology, the latter likely related to ongoing climate change.
I then examined the temporal and spatial distribution of wildfowl and livestock, and their effect on saltmarsh vegetation height in relation to Redshank nesting attempts. To do this, I used observational and experimental exclusion approaches on Banks Marsh, part of the Ribble Estuary National Nature Reserve, over a 30-month period. Cattle usage was variable spatially across the site with higher usage of the inner (landward) marsh compared to the outer marsh, but with a consistency of areas with greatest and least use between years. The number of nests trampled by cattle was relatively low (15%), occurring in areas of shorter vegetation and higher cattle use. Winter wildfowl herbivory played a crucial role in reducing saltmarsh vegetation height, with wildfowl grazed vegetation typically one third of the height of ungrazed vegetation (wildfowl excluded) during the peak Redshank nesting period. Redshank selected nest sites in taller vegetation and successful nests were in significantly taller vegetation than nests that failed. Using the data collected from Banks Marsh, I developed a logistic regression model based on key biotic (cattle, duck, and goose herbivory) and abiotic variables, including elevation above sea level, to predict where Redshank nest on saltmarshes. Winter grazing by Eurasian Wigeon, Mareca penelope, had a strong negative impact on Redshank nesting, whereas light, late summer grazing by cattle had a positive impact. A modelled reduction in Wigeon use whilst maintaining light cattle grazing optimised the availability of suitable nesting habitat. Under such a regime, Redshank numbers were projected to remain relatively unchanged in future under a scenario of a sea level rise of 0.25m. Under other scenarios of sea-level rise and management, Redshank populations were much reduced. The model developed provided a framework for simulating potential ‘trade-offs’ between wildfowl and breeding wader populations, where a conservation conflict could occur, and for long-term conservation management planning for future climate change impacts.
Finally, I investigated the effects of livestock and wildfowl herbivory, flooding, and predation on Redshank nest survival. I analysed self-collected and long-term nest-record data from Banks Marsh between 1969 and 2018, using Program MARK. Redshank nest survival was most strongly negatively affected by dramatic increases in winter duck herbivory. Increasing cattle grazing intensity during the Redshank breeding season also negatively impacted nest survival but to a lesser extent. Identifying the key environmental variables that influence Redshank nest survival should assist conservation managers to reflect on strategies to maintain this vulnerable species whilst also conserving other target species.
Overall, this project highlights, (i) the benefits of retesting established survey methods and developing improved population estimates, (ii) the need to address the impact of both wildfowl and livestock grazing in future research and conservation management for Redshank, and (iii) the value of long- term data that permit new insights into population dynamics of species
To Speak of God as Father in a World that is Inhumane: A Critical Analysis of the Christological Anthropology of Gustavo Gutiérrez
Get PDFThis thesis offers a critical analysis of the christological anthropology that is developed by Gustavo Gutiérrez. I will demonstrate how Gutiérrez’s theological project may be read as a response to the challenge of how to speak of God as Father in a world that is inhumane. This question provokes a response whose focus is anthropological and whose framework is Christological. While many engagements with Gutiérrez’s theology centre on such themes as the option for the poor, the role of praxis, or the Kingdom of God, this project will delineate the underlying convictions and commitments within which these concepts cohere. The three parts of this project correspond to the three facets of the challenge to which Gutiérrez addresses his theology: First, there is the historical question posed by a world that is inhuman. Second is the theological question of how to speak of God. Finally, there is the eschatological perspective encountered within the knowledge of God as Father. In each of these three parts I will move from a systematic exposition of these themes to a critical examination of the Christology according to which they take shape. Having made the fundamental structure of his thought evident, I will aim to expose and identify the internal inconsistencies that make this structure unstable. I will explore how Gutiérrez presents the person, work, and presence of Christ and ask whether his Christology is consistent with his own convictions and stable enough to support the weight that his theological project calls for it bear. I seek to develop an analysis that is attentive to the unity and coherence of Gutiérrez’s thought and so resource a critique that is not only distinctive in its pertinence but also in the possibilities that it opens for the development of his project in the future
Thomas Hobbes and the phenomena of civil war: A textual exposition of Hobbes’s commitment to the empirical and historical existence of the state of nature.
Get PDFDid Thomas Hobbes consider his conception of the state of nature to be based within any empirically verifiable reality?
The foundational predicates of this thesis can be reduced to two fundamental points:
1. That Hobbes’s belief in the existence in the state of nature was sincere.
2. The most pertinent empirical basis for the state of nature expressed by Hobbes was civil war, specifically, the English Civil War Period.
The analytical trajectory of the thesis will endeavour, whenever possible, to pursue channels of inquiry which correspond to the two key predicates adumbrated above.
The format has been styled as a “textual exposition” because the method endorsed will seek to expose Hobbes’s commitment to the existence of the state of nature from the words that he himself had written. Whether they be elements of his renowned philosophical system, or written material situated outside the terminus of his political science. Such as his correspondence, or lesser-known publications.
Secondary material written about Hobbes’s state of nature, and the judgments of such authors as created them will of course be consulted at various points. However, to the primary material, containing Hobbes’s own judgments on the state of nature and its relationship with civil war, is accorded the greater responsibility for validating the premises of this thesis
Walking in a Winter Wonderland? The role of weather for older adults’ winter walking practices in County Durham.
Get PDFCurrently we know that as age increases so does physical inactivity, and generally the more affluent an area is the more active people are. We also know that staying physically active through activities such as walking is important for healthy ageing for older adults. This is increasingly important due to an ageing population and the capability of preventive health care. However, in winter older adults are often less physically active citing the weather as something that dissuades participation. However, we currently know very little about how the varied and combined elements that comprise winter weather (precipitation, ice, wind, sunlight, snow, temperature, fog) shape older adults’ perceptions and experience of walking in winter. This thesis explores the role of weather for older adults’ winter walking practices. Both mobile and traditional semi-structured interviews and creative workshops were used to explore the role of the weather for older adults’ winter walking practices.
Data collected was analysed using reflexive thematic analysis that facilitated the findings to be separated into four key areas: Winter Weather and Mental Health, Adapting to the Winter Weather, Constructing and Reinforcing Place Based Identities, and Sensing the weather. Overall, the findings show the complexity of how weather, person, and place interact which effect how the participants live within and are physically active with a place. The findings of this study have also informed a set of practical recommendations for people supporting older adults to be active in winter
Data sources:
Access Repository Dashboard
Do you manage Open Research Online? Become a CORE Member to access insider analytics, issue reports and manage access to outputs from your repository in the CORE Repository Dashboard! 👇