An Irish apostle: articulating and actualising apostolicity in the early Irish church

This thesis examines the earliest extant Latin Lives of Brigit and Patrick; Cogitosus’s Vita Brigidae and Muirchú’s Vita Patricii as evidence for a seventh-century debate on Irish apostolicity. While often dismissed as mere propaganda, this thesis shows they are highly sophisticated demonstrations of the continuing connection that Kildare and Armagh had to their patron saints and their authority. It examines the importance of this connection for concepts of ecclesiastical organisation, teaching authority and episcopal succession against the backdrop of the seventh-century Easter question in the Insular Church. This will show that apostolicity was considered to be intrinsically linked with orthodoxy and universality. A textual focus brings forth general patristic themes and ideas that Irish hagiographers evoked through specific words and phrases. The thesis contextualises hagiographical material using evidence from Hiberno-Latin and early Insular exegetical commentaries, referring to major patristic exegetes such as Origen, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory the Great as support. The introduction discusses the importance of apostolic ideology for the seventh-century Irish Church, and outlines a methodology for examining such abstract themes. The first chapter looks at how developments in apostolic ideology led to ideas of apostolic primacy seen in the Insular material. Chapters two, three, and four examine metaphors of food and feeding, the fountain and the stream, and the head and the body, as significant articulations of apostolicity. Chapter five examines how corporeal relics were understood as the visible proof of this continuity and preserved a saint’s authority for their episcopal heirs. Chapter six looks at how Muirchú engaged with Patrick’s connection to the universal Church and his self-professed lack of disciplina to reconcile his apostolicity with seventh-century norms. Chapter seven places the issues considered thus far in a thoroughly Insular context by examining how the earliest English sources present the Irish legacy in Northumbria after the synod of Whitby. Chapter eight looks at how the text of Patrick’s Confessio in the Book of Armagh relates to a wider seventh-century campaign by Armagh to rehabilitate Patrick’s apostolicity. The conclusion briefly summarizes the thesis, and suggests further avenues for researching this topic in the Insular material

Ethnic Identity and School Ambition : the Case of Second Generation Youth from a Latin-American Background in Montreal

Ce mémoire propose d’étudier l’articulation entre l’identité ethnique (à l’adolescence) et l’ambition scolaire – ici définie comme l’ensemble des motivations, des moyens de persévérance et du niveau scolaire – notamment à travers les concepts d’assimilation et de la résistance culturelle (McAndrew 2008). Nous nous intéressons aux jeunes issus de l’immigration latino-américaine à Montréal. Il s’agit d’une analyse qualitative, plus précisément d’analyse de discours qui nous a permis de comprendre comment leurs expériences et leurs représentations des Latinos et des Québécois influencent leur identification ethnique ainsi que leurs perceptions et décisions en milieu scolaire. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent que l’identification ethnique, en corrélation avec le statut socio-économique et le genre, semble être liée à l’ambition scolaire. Malgré une certaine confirmation de la relation classique entre statut socio-économique et niveau de scolarité, les discours des participants ont permis de faire ressortir une particularité ethnique susceptible de contribuer à expliquer le choix de continuer aux études supérieures. Cet impact est plus important chez les jeunes femmes de notre échantillon; celles avec le niveau de scolarité le moins élevé, ont un statut socio-économique moindre et s’identifient davantage à la culture latino, en contraste avec celles les plus éduquées ayant aussi un statut socio-économique supérieur et qui s’identifiaient davantage à la culture québécoise.

Early development, survival and growth rates of the giant clam Tridacna crocea (Bivalvia: Tridacnidae)

Tridacnid clams are conspicuous inhabitants of Indo-Pacific coral reefs and are traded and cultivated for the aquarium and food industries. In the present study, daily growth rates of larvae of the giant clam Tridacna crocea were determined in the laboratory during the first week of life. Adults were induced to spawn via intra-gonadal serotonin injection through the byssal orifice. After spawning oocytes were collected, fertilized and kept in 3 L glass beakers and raceways treated with antibiotics to avoid culture contamination. Larvae were fed twice with the microalga Isochrysis galbana and zooxanthellae were also offered twice during the veliger stage (days 4 and 6). Larval length was measured using a digitizing tablet coupled to a microcomputer. Larval mortality was exponential during the first 48 hours of life declining significantly afterwards. Mean growth rate was 11.3 mu m day-1, increasing after addition of symbionts to 18.0 mu m day-1. Survival increased to ca. 75% after the addition of zooxanthellae. The results describe the growth curve for T. crocea larvae and suggest that the acquisition of symbionts by larvae may be useful for larval growth and survival even before larvae have attained metamorphosis.

Early development, survival and growth rates of the giant clam Tridacna crocea (Bivalvia: Tridacnidae)

Tridacnid clams are conspicuous inhabitants of Indo-Pacific coral reefs and are traded and cultivated for the aquarium and food industries. In the present study, daily growth rates of larvae of the giant clam Tridacna crocea were determined in the laboratory during the first week of life. Adults were induced to spawn via intra-gonadal serotonin injection through the byssal orifice. After spawning oocytes were collected, fertilized and kept in 3 L glass beakers and raceways treated with antibiotics to avoid culture contamination. Larvae were fed twice with the microalga Isochrysis galbana and zooxanthellae were also offered twice during the veliger stage (days 4 and 6). Larval length was measured using a digitizing tablet coupled to a microcomputer. Larval mortality was exponential during the first 48 hours of life declining significantly afterwards. Mean growth rate was 11.3 μm day-1, increasing after addition of symbionts to 18.0 μm day-1. Survival increased to ca. 75% after the addition of zooxanthellae. The results describe the growth curve for T. crocea larvae and suggest that the acquisition of symbionts by larvae may be useful for larval growth and survival even before larvae have attained metamorphosis.

‘Keep telling until someone listens’ : understanding prevention concepts in children’s picture books dealing with child sexual abuse

Children’s picture books dealing with the topic of child sexual abuse appeared in the 1980s with the aim of addressing the need for age-appropriate texts to teach sexual abuse prevention concepts and to provide support for young children who may be at risk of or have already experienced sexual abuse. Despite the apparent potential of children’s picture books to convey child sexual abuse prevention concepts, very few studies have addressed the topic of child sexual abuse in children’s literature. This article critically examines a selection of 15 picture books (published in the US, Canada and Australia) for children aged 3–8 years dealing with this theme. It makes use of an established set of evaluative criteria to conduct an audit of the books’ content and applies techniques of literary discourse analysis to explain how these picture books satisfy criteria for child sexual abuse prevention. The analysis is used as a way to understand the discourses available to readers, both adults and children, on the topic of child sexual abuse. Key themes in the books include children’s empowerment and agency, and the need for persistence and hope.

Children’s strategies for making friends when starting school

Starting school is a critical and potentially stressful time for many young children, and having supportive relationships with parents, teachers and peers and friends offer better outcomes for school adjustment and social relationships. This paper explores matters of friendship when young children are starting school, and how they initiate friendships. In audio-recorded conversations with a researcher and their peers, the children proposed a number of strategies, including making requests, initiating clubs and teams, and peer intervention to support a friend. Their accounts drew on social knowledge and relational understandings, and showed that having someone, a friend, to play with was important for starting school. Children gave serious attention to developing strategies to initiate friendships.

Nietzsche, ensaio de uma pedagogia messiânica: sobre as origens e o desenvolvimento do conceito de bildung em sua primeira filosofia da cultura

Esse estudo procura investigar as origens do conceito de Bildung tal como ele é formulado no domínio dos textos que Nietzsche escreve entre 1858, época de sua formação secundária no Gymnasium, instituição de ensino neo-humanista da Alemanha do século XIX, e 1876, ano em que rompe definitivamente com Wagner, e quando parece abandonar certas expectativas a respeito de sua atividade como professor na Universidade de Basiléia, onde lecionava desde 1869. Entre esses dois limites cronológicos, é possível observar uma formulação desse conceito que sustenta o que poderíamos chamar de sua primeira filosofia da cultura, que atualiza e redimensiona uma série de tradições filosóficas, institucionais, sociais e estéticas, buscando uma unidade justamente no confronto com elas. A pesquisa que procuro empreender aqui pretende identificar os processos que derivaram nesse confronto e o tipo de tratamento sintético que Nietzsche deu aos problemas que lhe eram contemporâneos As conferências Sobre o futuro de nossos estabelecimentos de ensino, pronunciadas em Basiléia no inverno de 1872, funcionam como lugar privilegiado desse tratamento, enquanto criticam duramente a cultura e suas instituições na Alemanha da época e tentam definir as bases para o que seria o resgate da verdadeira cultura.

In vitro osteoblast response to ferritic stainless steel fiber networks for magneto-active layers on implants

The use of a porous coating on prosthetic components to encourage bone ingrowth is an important way of improving uncemented implant fixation. Enhanced fixation may be achieved by the use of porous magneto-active layers on the surface of prosthetic implants, which would deform elastically on application of a magnetic field, generating internal stresses within the in-growing bone. This approach requires a ferromagnetic material able to support osteoblast attachment, proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization. In this study, the human osteoblast responses to ferromagnetic 444 stainless steel networks were considered alongside those to nonmagnetic 316L (medical grade) stainless steel networks. While both networks had similar porosities, 444 networks were made from coarser fibers, resulting in larger inter-fiber spaces. The networks were analyzed for cell morphology, distribution, proliferation, and differentiation, extracellular matrix production and the formation of mineralized nodules. Cell culture was performed in both the presence of osteogenic supplements, to encourage cell differentiation, and in their absence. It was found that fiber size affected osteoblast morphology, cytoskeleton organization and proliferation at the early stages of culture. The larger inter-fiber spaces in the 444 networks resulted in better spatial distribution of the extracellular matrix. The addition of osteogenic supplements enhanced cell differentiation and reduced cell proliferation thereby preventing the differences in proliferation observed in the absence of osteogenic supplements. The results demonstrated that 444 networks elicited favorable responses from human osteoblasts, and thus show potential for use as magnetically active porous coatings for advanced bone implant applications. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.