Reading words into statutes : when Homer nods

The grammatical meaning of a statutory provision may not always gel with the purpose of the statute. The court may strive to give the provision an interpretation at odds with its ordinary and natural meaning to meet the purpose of the legislation. On occasion, this may involve notionally adding words to, or substituting words in, a statutory provision. This process of “reading in” words demands that close attention be paid to the boundary between statutory construction and judicial legislation, particularly where a court is invited to carve out an exception from grammatically clear words. In Jones v Wrotham Park Settled Estates [1980] AC 74, Lord Diplock identified three pre-conditions to reading words into a statute. This article analyses the utility of those conditions within the context of the modern purposive approach to statutory interpretation and evaluates whether they remain sufficient guideposts for identifying the boundary between interpretation and legislation.

Virtual versus classroom language teaching : A comparative study of the learning outcomes and student responses between two English reading comprehension groups

A 26-hour English reading comprehension course was taught to two groups of second year Finnish Pharmacy students: a virtual group (33 students) and a teacher-taught group (25 students). The aims of the teaching experiment were to find out: 1.What has to be taken into account when teaching English reading comprehension to students of pharmacy via the Internet and using TopClass? 2. How will the learning outcomes of the virtual group and the control group differ? 3. How will the students and the Department of Pharmacy respond to the different and new method, i.e. the virtual teaching method? 4. Will it be possible to test English reading comprehension learning material using the groupware tool TopClass? The virtual exercises were written within the Internet authoring environment, TopClass. The virtual group was given the reading material and grammar booklet on paper, but they did the reading comprehension tasks (written by the teacher), autonomously via the Internet. The control group was taught by the same teacher in 12 2-hour sessions, while the virtual group could work independently within the given six weeks. Both groups studied the same material: ten pharmaceutical articles with reading comprehension tasks as well as grammar and vocabulary exercises. Both groups took the same final test. Students in both groups were asked to evaluate the course using a 1 to 5 rating scale and they were also asked to assess their respective courses verbally. A detailed analysis of the different aspects of the student evaluation is given. Conclusions: 1.The virtual students learned pharmaceutical English relatively well but not significantly better than the classroom students 2. The overall student satisfaction in the virtual pharmacy English reading comprehension group was found to be higher than that in the teacher-taught control group. 3. Virtual learning is easier for linguistically more able students; less able students need more time with the teacher. 4. The sample in this study is rather small, but it is a pioneering study. 5. The Department of Pharmacy in the University of Helsinki wishes to incorporate virtual English reading comprehension teaching in its curriculum. 6. The sophisticated and versatile TopClass system is relatively easy for a traditional teacher and quite easy for the students to learn. It can be used e.g. for automatic checking of routine answers and document transfer, which both lighten the workloads of both parties. It is especially convenient for teaching reading comprehension. Key words: English reading comprehension, teacher-taught class, virtual class, attitudes of students, learning outcomes

Pre-maps : An Educational Programme for Reading Tactile Maps

It is demanding for children with visual impairment to become aware of the world beyond their immediate experience. They need to learn to control spatial experiences as a whole and understand the relationships between objects, surfaces and themselves. Tactile maps can be an excellent source of information for depicting space and environment. By means of tactile maps children can develop their spatial understanding more efficiently than through direct travel experiences supplemented with verbal explanations. Tactile maps can help children when they are learning to understand environmental, spatial, and directional concepts. The ability to read tactile maps is not self-evident; it is a skill, which must be learned. The main research question was: can children who are visually impaired learn to read tactile maps at the preschool age if they receive structural teaching? The purpose of this study was to develop an educational program for preschool children with visual impairment, the aim of which was to teach them to read tactile maps in order to strengthen their orientation skills and to encourage them to explore the world beyond their immediate experience. The study is a multiple case study describing the development of the map program consisting of eight learning tasks. The program was developed with one preschooler who was blind, and subsequently the program was implemented with three other children. Two of the children were blind from birth, one child had lost her vision at the age of two, and one child had low vision. The program was implemented in a normal preschool. Another objective of the pre-map program was to teach the preschooler with visual impairment to understand the concept of a map. The teaching tools were simple, map-like representations called pre-maps. Before a child with visual impairment can read a comprehensive tactile map, it is important to learn to understand map symbols, and how a three-dimensional model changes to a two-dimensional tactile map. All teaching sessions were videotaped; the results are based on the analysis of the videotapes. Two of the children completed the program successfully, and learned to read a tactile map. The two other children felt happy during the sessions, but it was problematic for them to engage fully in the instruction. One of the two eventually completed the program, while the other developed predominantly emerging skills. The results of the children's performances and the positive feedback from the teachers, assistants and the parents proved that this pre-map program is appropriate teaching material for preschool children who are visually impaired. The program does not demand high-level expertise; also parents, preschool teachers, and school assistants can carry out the program.

Lilly Baum seated at a table outdoors reading a newspaper Portraits Women

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Observations on the Architecture of Evil: A New Reading of Eichmann on Kant

En route from Birmingham to Syria in 2013, British-Jihadi neophytes aged 22, Yusuf Sarwar and Mohammed Ahmed purchased two books via Amazon to prepare for their mission in Syria after joining ISIS: The Koran for Dummies and Islam for Dummies. Journalists were swift to disparage their reading. The book’s author, Princeton University campus imam, Sohaib Nazeer Sultan remarked “Even though they may have ordered it, I don't think they read it.” In 1933, aged 27, Adolf Eichmann moved to Berlin to join the Sicherheitsdienst SD whereupon he read Immanuel Kant’s book the Kritik der praktischen Vernunft (The Critique of Practical Reason) for the first time. After his trial in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt of course dismissed Eichmann’s reading of the German philosopher as thoroughly vacuous. Ever since, writers have sought to undermine the veracity of Eichmann’s account. The global Jihadis are illiterate, a journalist recently commented: they’re not well read in the Qur’an, and if they have read it, they have thoroughly misunderstood it. He cited as evidence Abdul Raqib Amin’s YouTube rhetorical: Forget everyone. Read the Koran, read the instruction of life. Find out what is jihad. Eichmann on the other hand was not illiterate in his youth. Before Berlin, he had already read Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals ; he would also re-read the Critique of Practical Reason, and from his testimony and terminology we can infer he was familiar with Kantian concepts that extend beyond both books...

Role of the Ribosomal P-Site Elements of m(2)G966, m(5)C967, and the S9 C-Terminal Tail in Maintenance of the Reading Frame during Translational Elongation in Escherichia coli

The ribosomal P-site hosts the peptidyl-tRNAs during translation elongation. Which P-site elements support these tRNA species to maintain codon-anticodon interactions has remained unclear. We investigated the effects of P-site features of methylations of G966, C967, and the conserved C-terminal tail sequence of Ser, Lys, and Arg (SKR) of the S9 ribosomal protein in maintenance of the translational reading frame of an mRNA. We generated Escherichia coli strains deleted for the SKR sequence in S9 ribosomal protein, RsmB (which methylates C967), and RsmD (which methylates G966) and used them to translate LacZ from its +1 and -1 out-of-frame constructs. We show that the S9 SKR tail prevents both the +1 and -1 frameshifts and plays a general role in holding the P-site tRNA/peptidyl-tRNA in place. In contrast, the G966 and C967 methylations did not make a direct contribution to the maintenance of the translational frame of an mRNA. However, deletion of rsmB in the S9 Delta 3 background caused significantly increased -1 frameshifting at 37 degrees C. Interestingly, the effects of the deficiency of C967 methylation were annulled when the E. coli strain was grown at 30 degrees C, supporting its context-dependent role.

We can work it out: an enactive look at cooperation

The past years have seen an increasing debate on cooperation and its unique human character. Philosophers and psychologists have proposed that cooperative activities are characterized by shared goals to which participants are committed through the ability to understand each other’s intentions. Despite its popularity, some serious issues arise with this approach to cooperation. First, one may challenge the assumption that high-level mental processes are necessary for engaging in acting cooperatively. If they are, then how do agents that do not possess such ability (preverbal children, or children with autism who are often claimed to be mind-blind) engage in cooperative exchanges, as the evidence suggests? Secondly, to define cooperation as the result of two de-contextualized minds reading each other’s intentions may fail to fully acknowledge the complexity of situated, interactional dynamics and the interplay of variables such as the participants’ relational and personal history and experience. In this paper we challenge such accounts of cooperation, calling for an embodied approach that sees cooperation not only as an individual attitude toward the other, but also as a property of interaction processes. Taking an enactive perspective, we argue that cooperation is an intrinsic part of any interaction, and that there can be cooperative interaction before complex communicative abilities are achieved. The issue then is not whether one is able or not to read the other’s intentions, but what it takes to participate in joint action. From this basic account, it should be possible to build up more complex forms of cooperation as needed. Addressing the study of cooperation in these terms may enhance our understanding of human social development, and foster our knowledge of different ways of engaging with others, as in the case of autism.

Reading Between the Lines: The Potential of Popular Young Adult Fiction in Adolescent Spiritual Formation

Popular culture is a powerful, shaping force in the lives of teenagers between the ages of fourteen through eighteen in the United States today. This dissertation argues the importance of popular fiction for adolescent spiritual formation and it investigates that importance by exploring the significance of narrative for theology and moral formation. The dissertation employs mythic and archetypal criticism as a tool for informing the selection and critique of narratives for use in adolescent spiritual development and it also incorporates insights gained from developmental psychology to lay the groundwork for the development of a curriculum that uses young adult fiction in a program of spiritual formation for teenagers in a local church setting. The dissertation defends the power of narrative in Christian theology and concludes that narrative shapes the imagination in ways that alter perception and are important for the faith life of teenagers in particular. I go on to argue that not all narratives are created equal. In using literary myth criticism in concert with theology, I use the two disciplines’ different aims and methods to fully flesh out the potential of theologies intrinsic to works meant for a largely secular audience. The dissertation compares various works of young adult fiction (M.T. Anderson’s Feed and Terry Pratchett’s Nation in dialogue with a theology of creation; Marcus Zusak’s I am the Messenger and Jerry Spinelli’s Stargirl in dialogue with salvation and saviors; and the four novels of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight saga in dialogue with a theology of hope (eschatology). The dissertation explores how each theme surfaces (even if only implicitly) from both literary and theological standpoints. The dissertation concludes with a sample four-week lesson plan that demonstrates one way the theological and literary critique can be formed into a practical curriculum for use in an adolescent spiritual development setting. Ultimately, this dissertation provides a framework for how practitioners of young adult formation can select, analyze, and develop materials for their teenagers using new works of popular young adult fiction. The dissertation comes to the conclusion that popular fiction contains a wealth of material that can challenge and shape young readers’ own emerging theology.

Visualising ribosome profiling and using it for reading frame detection and exploration of eukaryotic translation initiation

Ribosome profiling (ribo-seq) is a recently developed technique that provides genomewide information on protein synthesis (GWIPS) in vivo. The high resolution of ribo-seq is one of the exciting properties of this technique. In Chapter 2, I present a computational method that utilises the sub-codon precision and triplet periodicity of ribosome profiling data to detect transitions in the translated reading frame. Application of this method to ribosome profiling data generated for human HeLa cells allowed us to detect several human genes where the same genomic segment is translated in more than one reading frame. Since the initial publication of the ribosome profiling technique in 2009, there has been a proliferation of studies that have used the technique to explore various questions with respect to translation. A review of the many uses and adaptations of the technique is provided in Chapter 1. Indeed, owing to the increasing popularity of the technique and the growing number of published ribosome profiling datasets, we have developed GWIPS-viz (http://gwips.ucc.ie), a ribo-seq dedicated genome browser. Details on the development of the browser and its usage are provided in Chapter 3. One of the surprising findings of ribosome profiling of initiating ribosomes carried out in 3 independent studies, was the widespread use of non-AUG codons as translation initiation start sites in mammals. Although initiation at non-AUG codons in mammals has been documented for some time, the extent of non-AUG initiation reported by these ribo-seq studies was unexpected. In Chapter 4, I present an approach for estimating the strength of initiating codons based on the leaky scanning model of translation initiation. Application of this approach to ribo-seq data illustrates that initiation at non-AUG codons is inefficient compared to initiation at AUG codons. In addition, our approach provides a probability of initiation score for each start site that allows its strength of initiation to be evaluated.

Pairing QuantiFERON gold in-tube with opt-out HIV testing in a tuberculosis contact investigation in the Southeastern United States.

Knowing one's HIV status is particularly important in the setting of recent tuberculosis (TB) exposure. Blood tests for assessment of tuberculosis infection, such as the QuantiFERON Gold in-tube test (QFT; Cellestis Limited, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia), offer the possibility of simultaneous screening for TB and HIV with a single blood draw. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of all contacts to a highly infectious TB case in a large meatpacking factory. Twenty-two percent were foreign-born and 73% were black. Contacts were tested with both tuberculin skin testing (TST) and QFT. HIV testing was offered on an opt-out basis. Persons with TST >or=10 mm, positive QFT, and/or positive HIV test were offered latent TB treatment. Three hundred twenty-six contacts were screened: TST results were available for 266 people and an additional 24 reported a prior positive TST for a total of 290 persons with any TST result (89.0%). Adequate QFT specimens were obtained for 312 (95.7%) of persons. Thirty-two persons had QFT results but did not return for TST reading. Twenty-two percent met the criteria for latent TB infection. Eighty-eight percent accepted HIV testing. Two (0.7%) were HIV seropositive; both individuals were already aware of their HIV status, but one had stopped care a year previously. None of the HIV-seropositive persons had latent TB, but all were offered latent TB treatment per standard guidelines. This demonstrates that opt-out HIV testing combined with QFT in a large TB contact investigation was feasible and useful. HIV testing was also widely accepted. Pairing QFT with opt-out HIV testing should be strongly considered when possible.

Reading the landscape: the development of a typology of literary trails to inform experiential design

This article explores the under-researched field of self-guided trails. The focus of the research is on the experiential aspects of self-guided literary trails from the perspective of both the developer and user. An examination of existing literature on self-guided trails and literary tourism was undertaken and supplemented with a review of experiential design principles. Content analysis of a sample of literary heritage trails was then carried out and three distinctive typologies were developed, informed by aspects of experiential design. The research reveals that few literary trails developers utilise these principles and the article concludes with proposals for the design of more effective literary trail experiences.

Reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art in art education

This article focuses on the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art as a creative process, seeking to analyse which effects of meaning the articulations between the visual and sound systems produce, and the meaning that children give to then. It describes a video art, identifying the languages that compose it and the relationships that link them. Such reading exercise had as corpus of analysis the Chair video art, by Masaru Ozaki, and counted with the theoretical and methodological support of the discourse semiotics, especially with studies on assembly procedures that articulate visual and auditory languages. Also, it presents a focal study with the meanings that a group of children gave to the video art. The findings indicate the importance of including the reading of audiovisual productions of contemporary art at school through the problematization of effects of meaning produced by the interrelation between different languages. And they suggest some subsidies that allow teachers from different areas of knowledge to reflect about the visuality in their pedagogical practice; the choice of the audiovisual materials taken to the classroom and other ways of seeing these texts edited.

The effects of a volunteer mentoring programme on reading outcomes among eight- to nine-year-old children: A follow up randomized controlled trial

This article presents the findings of a randomized controlled trial evaluation of the effects of a revised version of the volunteer mentoring programme, Time to Read. Participating children received two 30-minute mentoring sessions per week from volunteer mentors who carried out paired reading activities with the children. The current trial involved 512 children aged eight to nine years from 50 primary schools. The programme was found to be effective in improving decoding skills (d=+.15), reading rate (d=+.22) and reading fluency (d=+.14) and there was some evidence of a positive effect in relation to the children’s aspirations for the future (d=+.11). However, no evidence was found of the programme having an effect on reading comprehension or reading confidence and enjoyment of reading. The article concludes by suggesting that mentoring programmes using non-specialist volunteers can be effective in improving foundational reading skills but would appear to be less effective in terms of improving higher-order skills such as comprehension. The article also suggests that such programmes are likely to be most effective if concentrating on core reading activities rather than attempting to address reading outcomes indirectly through improving children’s confidence or wider enjoyment of reading.

Speaking Out Against Rape:Feminist (Her)Stories and Anti-Rape Politics

In 1976, Susan Brownmiller published 'Against Our Will', widely credited as the founding text of feminist anti-rape theory, in which she famously declared that rape was 'nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear'.While the scholarship and politics of Against Our Will have been subjected to numerous and compelling critiques, the work retains canonical and even foundational status within feminist anti-rape politics. In this article I attempt a critical re-examination of feminist (her)story telling practices. By situating the story told in Against Our Will beside and within Brownmiller's story of the creation of the book and her own coming-to-consciousness, a more general reexamination of the role of women's speech and (her)story-telling in feminist anti-rape politics is afforded. This re-reading draws out two central aspects of the politics of (her)story-telling which can be found in Brownmiller's work and in the Joan W. Scott quotation above. Firstly, the need to be recognised as a 'just source' of women's stories has resulted in the granting of epistemological primacy to stories of women's experience or personal statements. Secondly, the desire to compensate for the lack of a 'classical myth' to authorise women's claims, resulting in an attempt to imbue these feminist (her)stories with their own mythology.

In and out of home care decisions: The influence of confirmation bias in developing decision supportive reasoning

The aims of this study were to identify the themes Social Workers regard as important in supporting decisions to remove children from, or return them to, the care of their parents. To further elicit underlying hypotheses that are discernible in interpretation of evidence. A case study, comprising a two-part vignette with a questionnaire, recorded demographic information, child welfare attitudes and risk assessments, using scales derived from standardised instruments, was completed by 202 Social Workers in Northern Ireland. There were two manipulated variables, mother’s attitude to removal and child’s attitude to reunification2 years later. In this paper we use data derived from respondents’ qualitative comments explaining their reasoning for in and out of home care decisions. Some 60.9% of respondent’s chose the parental care option at part one, with 94% choosing to have the child remain in foster care at part two. The manipulated variables were found to have no significant statistical effect. However, three underlying hypotheses were found to underpin decisions; (a)child rescue, (b) kinship defence and (c) a hedged position on calculation of risk subject to further assessment. Reasoning strategies utilised by social workers to support their decision making suggest that they tend to selectively interpret information either positively or negatively to support pre-existing underlying hypotheses. This finding is in keeping with the literature on ‘confirmation bias.’ The research further draws attention to the need to incorporate open questions in quantitative studies, to help guard against surface reading of data, which often does not ‘speak for itself.’