title: The Vatican in dialogue with Islam: inclusion and engagement

authors: Pratt, Douglas

subjects: Islam

abstract: Since the epoch-making Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) the engagement of the Roman Catholic Church in interreligious dialogue and interfaith relations has developed and expanded. Other faiths, hitherto the object of missionary outreach for proselytising purposes, have been re-appraised as valued partners in dialogue. Islam, once regarded as the hostile 'other' to be held at bay, became, aside from Judaism, the first among the faiths with which the Church engages in dialogue. An overview of the origins and development of this dialogical activity during the twentieth century with special reference to the relation of the Vatican to Islam is the focus of this article. The topic is, of course, vast. The aim here is simply to distil the essential principles and processes, and to discuss some of the salient features. This dialogical development has not been without its difficulties; it remains, arguably, of critical concern.

text: The Vatican in dialogue with Islam: inclusion and engagement Since the epoch-making Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) the engagement of the Roman Catholic Church in interreligious dialogue and interfaith relations has developed and expanded. Other faiths, hitherto the object of missionary outreach for proselytising purposes, have been re-appraised as valued partners in dialogue. Islam, once regarded as the hostile 'other' to be held at bay, became, aside from Judaism, the first among the faiths with which the Church engages in dialogue. An overview of the origins and development of this dialogical activity during the twentieth century with special reference to the relation of the Vatican to Islam is the focus of this article. The topic is, of course, vast. The aim here is simply to distil the essential principles and processes, and to discuss some of the salient features. This dialogical development has not been without its difficulties; it remains, arguably, of critical concern.

year: 2010

title: Toxicity assessment of chlorophenols using a mediated microbial toxicity assay

authors: Pasco, Neil F.

subjects: direct toxicity assessment

abstract: While direct toxicity assessment (DTA) is now widely recognised as a useful tool for environmental risk assessment, many existing tests fail to meet end-user needs. This article describes the significant progress made to the MICREDOX® DTA assay, developed at Lincoln Ventures Ltd, brought about by miniaturising this assay to a multi-well plate format combined with limiting current microelectrode transduction. The benefits have been reduced: preparation time, reduced assay time, lower material costs and a higher level of replication achieved. To validate the precision of the miniaturised format, the concentrations required to cause a 50% decrease in signal (EC50) by an archetypal group of toxicants, the chlorophenols, were determined using two terrestrial bacterial strains, Escherichia coli K12 and Klebsiella oxytoca 13183. The assay time was then reduced by stepwise adjustment of the incubation time, from 60 down to 5 min, and the EC50s reported by E. coli to each of the toxicants after 45, 30, 15 and 5 min incubations were determined. The results obtained match closely with those reported by the Activated Sludge Respiration Inhibition Test and confirm the miniaturised multi-well plate MICREDOX® DTA assay reliably reports representative EC50 values for these toxicants. The previously described trends of increasing toxicity with increasing chlorine substitution and the observation that meta-substituted chlorophenols are more toxic than their ortho-substituted counterparts are also confirmed. The ability to monitor toxicity using terrestrial organisms, in volumes amenable to multi-well microtitre plates and incubations requiring only a few minutes, facilitates the rapid generation of highly reproducible, easy to operate and inexpensive DTA measurements.

text: Toxicity assessment of chlorophenols using a mediated microbial toxicity assay While direct toxicity assessment (DTA) is now widely recognised as a useful tool for environmental risk assessment, many existing tests fail to meet end-user needs. This article describes the significant progress made to the MICREDOX® DTA assay, developed at Lincoln Ventures Ltd, brought about by miniaturising this assay to a multi-well plate format combined with limiting current microelectrode transduction. The benefits have been reduced: preparation time, reduced assay time, lower material costs and a higher level of replication achieved. To validate the precision of the miniaturised format, the concentrations required to cause a 50% decrease in signal (EC50) by an archetypal group of toxicants, the chlorophenols, were determined using two terrestrial bacterial strains, Escherichia coli K12 and Klebsiella oxytoca 13183. The assay time was then reduced by stepwise adjustment of the incubation time, from 60 down to 5 min, and the EC50s reported by E. coli to each of the toxicants after 45, 30, 15 and 5 min incubations were determined. The results obtained match closely with those reported by the Activated Sludge Respiration Inhibition Test and confirm the miniaturised multi-well plate MICREDOX® DTA assay reliably reports representative EC50 values for these toxicants. The previously described trends of increasing toxicity with increasing chlorine substitution and the observation that meta-substituted chlorophenols are more toxic than their ortho-substituted counterparts are also confirmed. The ability to monitor toxicity using terrestrial organisms, in volumes amenable to multi-well microtitre plates and incubations requiring only a few minutes, facilitates the rapid generation of highly reproducible, easy to operate and inexpensive DTA measurements.

year: 2008

title: Reclaiming Kaitiakitanga : An intergenerational perspective of Kaitiakitanga within Te Parawhau

authors: Walker, Erana

subjects: Kaitiakitanga

abstract: Kaitiakitanga is a concept that is utilised widely throughout the Māori world for the protection and preservation of cultural aspects to Māori. Through years of application by westernised mainstream processes the value has largely been restricted to the realms of environmental protection. This restriction has often been the result of misinterpretation of Kaitiakitanga and its relevance as a concept to Māori. The purpose of the thesis is to question how the perspective of Kaitiakitanga is constructed in the minds of representatives from the hapū of Te Parawhau. To test for variance, the research spans across two generations of hapū members. Using Whakawhiti Kōrero for data collection as well as Kaupapa Māori methodology as guidance, the thesis explores perspectives of two generations of Te Parawhau descendants around Kaitiakitanga and how it can be developed to aid in the growth and prosperity of the hapū. Key themes highlighted by the analysis encompass ideas of connectedness as well as spiritual, physical, environmental and human elements of responsibility and obligation. The thesis introduces a distinct Te Parawhau analytical framework for its analysis of rich kōrero by hapū members in relation to Kaitiakitanga. Through this framework the value of Kaitiakitanga is tested for relevance to Te Parawhau and its future development. The world view of Te Parawhau has formed the basis of participant perspectives around Kaitiakitanga and leads the researcher to consider that such knowledge is important to the future functionality of Māori value’s. The thesis concludes to show that there are indeed differences in application and perspectives of Kaitiakitanga within the hapū of Te Parawhau.

text: Reclaiming Kaitiakitanga : An intergenerational perspective of Kaitiakitanga within Te Parawhau Kaitiakitanga is a concept that is utilised widely throughout the Māori world for the protection and preservation of cultural aspects to Māori. Through years of application by westernised mainstream processes the value has largely been restricted to the realms of environmental protection. This restriction has often been the result of misinterpretation of Kaitiakitanga and its relevance as a concept to Māori. The purpose of the thesis is to question how the perspective of Kaitiakitanga is constructed in the minds of representatives from the hapū of Te Parawhau. To test for variance, the research spans across two generations of hapū members. Using Whakawhiti Kōrero for data collection as well as Kaupapa Māori methodology as guidance, the thesis explores perspectives of two generations of Te Parawhau descendants around Kaitiakitanga and how it can be developed to aid in the growth and prosperity of the hapū. Key themes highlighted by the analysis encompass ideas of connectedness as well as spiritual, physical, environmental and human elements of responsibility and obligation. The thesis introduces a distinct Te Parawhau analytical framework for its analysis of rich kōrero by hapū members in relation to Kaitiakitanga. Through this framework the value of Kaitiakitanga is tested for relevance to Te Parawhau and its future development. The world view of Te Parawhau has formed the basis of participant perspectives around Kaitiakitanga and leads the researcher to consider that such knowledge is important to the future functionality of Māori value’s. The thesis concludes to show that there are indeed differences in application and perspectives of Kaitiakitanga within the hapū of Te Parawhau.

year: 2016