The Scottish Reformations and the Origin of Religious and Civil Liberty in Britain and Ireland: Presbyterian Interpretations, c.1800-60

This article examines Presbyterian interpretations in Scotland and Ireland of the Scottish Reformations of 1560 and 1638–43. It begins with a discussion of the work of two important Presbyterian historians of the early nineteenth century, the Scotsman, Thomas McCrie, and the Irishman, James Seaton Reid. In their various publications, both laid the template for the nineteenth-century Presbyterian understanding of the Scottish Reformations by emphasizing the historical links between the Scottish and Irish churches in the early-modern period and their common theology and commitment to civil and religious liberty against the ecclesiastical and political tyranny of the Stuarts. The article also examines the commemorations of the National Covenant in 1838, the Solemn League and Covenant in 1843, and the Scottish Reformation in 1860. By doing so, it uncovers important religious and ideological linkages across the North Channel, including Presbyterian evangelicalism, missionary activity, church–state relationships, religious reform and revival, and anti-Catholicism

Presbyterian Religion, Historiography and Ulster Scots Identity, c. 1800 to 1914

The links between Presbyterians in Scotland and the north of Ireland are obvious but have been largely ignored by historians of the nineteenth century. This article addresses this gap by showing how Ulster Presbyterians considered their relationship with their Scottish co-religionists and how they used the interplay of religious and ethnic considerations this entailed to articulate an Ulster Scots identity. For Presbyterians in Ireland, their Scottish origins and identity represented a collection of ideas that could be deployed at certain times for specific reasons – theological orthodoxy, civil and religious liberty, and certain character traits such as hard work, courage, and soberness. Ideas about the Scottish identity of Presbyterianism were reawakened for a more general audience in the first half of the nineteenth century, during the campaign for religious reform and revival within the Irish church, and were expressed through a distinctive denominational historiography inaugurated by James Seaton Reid. The formulation of a coherent narrative of Presbyterian religion and the improvement of Ulster laid the religious foundations of a distinct Ulster Scots identity and its utilization by unionist opponents of Home Rule between 1885 and 1914.

John P. Mackintosh, Devolution and the Union

This article provides a discussion of the political thinking of John P. Mackintosh (1929–1978) around the debate over Scottish devolution, and the constitutional reform of the UK, during the 1960s and 1970s. The article explores Mackintosh's ‘Union State’ vision of the UK and connects this to his interest in, and study of, the Northern Ireland experience of devolution from 1921 to 1972. It also considers the significance of Mackintosh's confrontations with Scottish nationalism and suggests that his unionism was representative of a more authentic and rooted tradition than is usually acknowledged. The article offers an evaluation of Mackintosh's legacy and considers the extent to which the questions he posed, and the lines of argument he advanced, have retained their relevance and interest in the new context of partial devolution in the UK, and in the current period of renewed constitutional speculation and debate over the future of the Union and the UK.

The Analogical Peacock Hypothesis: The Sexual Selection of Mind-Reading and Relational Cognition in Human Communication

This integrative review presents a novel hypothesis as a basis for integrating two evolutionary viewpoints on the origins of human cognition and communication, the sexual selection of human mental capacities, and the social brain hypothesis. This new account suggests that mind-reading social skills increased reproductive success and consequently became targets for sexual selection. The hypothesis proposes that human communication has three purposes: displaying mind-reading abilities, aligning and maintaining representational parity between individuals to enable displays, and the exchange of propositional information. Intelligence, creativity, language, and humor are mental fitness indicators that signal an individual’s quality to potential mates, rivals, and allies. Five features central to the proposed display mechanism unify these indicators, the relational combination of concepts, large conceptual knowledge networks, processing speed, contextualization, and receiver knowledge. Sufficient between-mind alignment of conceptual networks allows displays based upon within-mind conceptual mappings. Creative displays communicate previously unnoticed relational connections and novel conceptual combinations demonstrating an ability to read a receiver’s mind. Displays are costly signals of mate quality with costs incurred in the developmental production of the neural apparatus required to engage in complex displays and opportunity costs incurred through time spent acquiring cultural knowledge. Displays that are fast, novel, spontaneous, contextual, topical, and relevant are hard-to-fake for lower quality individuals. Successful displays result in elevated social status and increased mating options. The review addresses literatures on costly signaling, sexual selection, mental fitness indicators, and the social brain hypothesis; drawing implications for nonverbal and verbal communication.

Voltage Dip Benchmarking in Power Quality and Disturbance Monitoring

This paper examines power quality benchmarks in the electricity supply industry (ESI) and impact of standards for the reduction of voltage dip incidents. The paper considers adherence to particular standards and is supported by several case studies from incidents where voltage dips have been detected and assessed by the power systems division of Scottish Power and where improvements have been implemented to help militate against subsequent incidents.

Laughter and Humour as Conversational Mind-Reading Displays

Laughter and humor are pervasive phenomena in conversa- tional interactions. This paper argues that they function as displays of mind-reading abilities in social interactions–as suggested by the Analogi- cal Peacock Hypothesis (APH). In this view, they are both social bonding signals and can elevate one’s social status. The relational combination of concepts in humor is addressed. However, it is in the inclusion of context and receiver knowledge, required by the APH view, that it contributes the most to existing theories. Taboo and offensive humor are addressed in terms of costly signaling, and implications for human computer inter- action and some possible routes to solutions are suggested.

Enteric methane emissions and nitrogen utilisation efficiency for two genotype of hill hoggets offered fresh, ensiled and pelleted ryegrass

Thirty-six 12-month-old hill hoggets were used in a 2 genotype (18 Scottish Blackface vs. 18 Swaledale×Scottish Blackface)×3 diet (fresh vs. ensiled vs. pelleted ryegrass) factorial design experiment to evaluate the effects of hogget genotype and forage type on enteric methane (CH4) emissions and nitrogen (N) utilisation. The hoggets were offered 3 diets ad libitum with no concentrate supplementation in a single period study with 6 hoggets for each of the 6 genotype×diet combinations (n=6). Fresh ryegrass was harvested daily in the morning. Pelleted ryegrass was sourced from a commercial supplier (Aylescott Driers & Feeds, Burrington, UK) and the ryegrass silage was ensiled with Ecosyl (Lactobacillus plantarum, Volac International Limited, Hertfordshire, UK) as an additive. The hoggets were housed in individual pens for at least 14 d before being transferred to individual respiration chambers for a further 4 d with feed intake, faeces and urine outputs and CH4 emissions measured. There was no significant interaction between genotype and forage type on any parameter evaluated. Sheep offered pelleted grass had greater feed intake (e.g. DM, energy and N) but less energy and nutrient apparent digestibility (e.g. DM, N and neutral detergent fibre (NDF)) than those given fresh grass or grass silage (P<0.001). Feeding pelleted grass, rather than fresh grass or grass silage, reduced enteric CH4 emissions as a proportion of DM intake and gross energy (GE) intake (P<0.01). Sheep offered fresh grass had a significantly lower acid detergent fibre (ADF) apparent digestibility, and CH4 energy output (CH4-E) as a proportion of GE intake than those offered grass silage (P<0.001). There was no significant difference, in CH4 emission rate or N utilisation efficiency when compared between Scottish Blackface and Swaledale × Scottish Blackface. Linear and multiple regression techniques were used to develop relationships between CH4 emissions or N excretion and dietary and animal variables using data from sheep offered fresh ryegrass and grass silage. The equation relating CH4-E (MJ/d) to GE intake (GEI, MJ/d), energy apparent digestibility (DE/GE) and metabolisability (ME/GE) resulted in a high r2 (CH4-E=0.074 GEI+9.2 DE/GE−10.2 ME/GE−0.37, r2=0.93). N intake (NI) was the best predictor for manure N excretion (Manure N=0.66 NI+0.96, r2=0.85). The use of these relationships can potentially improve the precision and decrease the uncertainty in predicting CH4 emissions and N excretion for sheep production systems managed under the current feeding conditions.

International on-line reciprocal peer tutoring to promote modern language development in primary schools

The paper reports data from an on-line peer tutoring project. In the project 78, 9–12-year-old students from Scotland and Catalonia peer tutored each other in English and Spanish via a managed on-line envi- ronment. Significant gains in first language (Catalonian pupils) modern language (Scottish pupils) and attitudes towards modern languages (both Catalonian and Scottish pupils) were reported for the exper- imental group as compared to the control group. Results indicated that pupils tutored each other in using Piagetian techniques of error correction during the project. Error correction provided by tutors to tutees focussed on morph syntaxys, more specifically the correction of verbs. Peer support provided via the on- line environment was predominantly based on the tutor giving the right answer to the tutee. High rates of impact on tutee corrected messages were observed. The implications for peer tutoring initiative taking place via on-line environments are discussed. Implications for policy and practice are explored