Religious education in the experience of young people from mixed-faith families

On the basis of recent ethnographic study at the University of Warwick of the religious identity formation of young people in ‘mixed-faith’ families, this article focuses on their (and their parents’) experiences and perceptions of religious education (RE) and of religious nurture in the community. The young people’s experience of RE differed between primary and secondary school and only a few were engaged in supplementary classes. We highlight the complementarity between school and home in young people’s religious learning and draw out implications for RE

What makes you not a Sikh? : a preliminary mapping of values

This study sets out to establish which Sikh values contrasted with or were shared by non-Sikh adolescents. A survey of attitude toward a variety of Sikh values was fielded in a sample of 364 non-Sikh schoolchildren aged between 13 and 15 in London. Values where attitudes were least positive concerned Sikh duties/code of conduct, festivals, rituals, prayer Gurdwara attendance, listening to scripture recitation, the amrit initiation. Sikh values empathized with by non-Sikhs concerned family pride, charity, easy access to ordination and Gurdwaras, maintaining the five Ks, seeing God in all things, abstaining from meat and alcohol and belief in the stories of Guru Nanak. Further significant differences of attitude toward Sikhism were found in comparisons by sex, age and religious affiliation. Findings are applied to teaching Sikhism to pupils of no faith adherence. The study recommends the extension of values mapping to specifically Sikh populations

LCF Life of NiCr-Y Coated Disk Alloys After Shot Peening, Oxidation and Hot Corrosion

In a prior companion study (Ref. 1), three different Ni-Cr coating compositions (29, 35.5, 45 wt% Cr) were applied at two thicknesses by Plasma Enhanced Magnetron Sputtering (PEMS) to two similar Ni-based disk alloys. One coating also received a thin ZrO2 overcoat. The low cycle fatigue (LCF) life of each coating was determined at 760 C and was less than that of the uncoated specimens. In this followon effort, shot peening was examined as a means to improve the as-deposited coating morphology as well as impart a residual compressive stress in the near-surface region. After evaluating the effect of the shot peening on the LCF life, the effectiveness of the shot-peened coating in protecting the disk alloy from oxidation and hot corrosion attack was evaluated. This evaluation was accomplished by exposing coated and shot-peened specimens to 500 h of oxidation followed by 50 h of hot corrosion, both at 760 C in air. These exposed specimens were then tested in fatigue and compared to similarly treated and exposed uncoated specimens. For all cases, shot peening improved the LCF life of the coated specimens. More specifically, the highest Cr coating showed the best LCF life of the coated specimens after shot peening, as well as after the environmental exposures. Characterization of the coatings after shot peening, oxidation, hot corrosion and LCF testing is presented and discussed

Real-time tracking of delayed-onset cellular apoptosis induced by intracellular magnetic hyperthermia

AIM: To assess cell death pathways in response to magnetic hyperthermia. MATERIALS & METHODS: Human melanoma cells were loaded with citric acid-coated iron-oxide nanoparticles, and subjected to a time-varying magnetic field. Pathways were monitored in vitro in suspensions and in situ in monolayers using fluorophores to report on early-stage apoptosis and late-stage apoptosis and/or necrosis. RESULTS: Delayed-onset effects were observed, with a rate and extent proportional to the thermal-load-per-cell. At moderate loads, membranal internal-to-external lipid exchange preceded rupture and death by a few hours (the timeline varying cell-to-cell), without any measurable change in the local environment temperature. CONCLUSION: Our observations support the proposition that intracellular heating may be a viable, controllable and nonaggressive in vivo treatment for human pathological conditions

Measuring attitude towards Buddhism and Sikhism : internal consistency reliability for two new instruments

This paper describes and discusses the development and empirical properties of two new 24-item scales – one measuring attitude toward Buddhism and the other measuring attitude toward Sikhism. The scale is designed to facilitate inter-faith comparisons within the psychology of religion alongside the well-established Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. Data were obtained from a multi-religious sample of 369 school pupils aged between 13 and 15 in London. Application of the two scales demonstrated that adolescents had a more positive attitude to Buddhism than Sikhism. The findings confirm the reliability of the scales and commend them for further use

Keeping the faith: reflections on religious nurture among young British Sikhs

Although young Sikhs are regularly accused of not attending gurdwara and not being interested in Sikhism, many young Sikhs are now learning about Sikhism outside traditional religious institutions. Using data gathered as part of a research project studying the transmission of Sikhism among 18- to 30-year-old British Sikhs, this essay explores how young Sikhs are learning about Sikhism in their pre-adult life stage. Examining the influences of the family and the school environment and the various methods used in gurdwaras, this essay offers a retrospective look on the ways in which young Sikhs are nurtured and socialised into Sikhism, providing an understanding from the perspective of young Sikhs themselves about which methods actually work and why

The Effectiveness of a NiCrY-Coating on a Powder Metallurgy Disk Superalloy

Protective ductile coatings could be necessary to mitigate oxidation and corrosion attack on superalloy disks in some turbine engine applications. However, the effects of coatings on fatigue life of the disk during service are an important concern. The objective of this study was to investigate how such a coating could perform after varied post-coating processing. Cylindrical gage fatigue specimens of powder metallurgy-processed disk superalloy LSHR were coated with a NiCrY coating, shot peened, preparation treated, exposed, and then subjected to fatigue at high temperature. The effects of varied shot peening, preparation treatment, and exposures on fatigue life with and without the coating were compared. Each of these variables and several of their interactions significantly influenced fatigue life

'Heaven starts at your parents' feet' : adolescent bowing to parents and associated spiritual attitudes

In a quantitative survey of religious attitudes and practices in a multi-religious sample of 369 school pupils aged between 13 and 15 in London, the practice of bowing to parents was found widespread in 22% of adolescents spanning several religious affiliations and ethnicities – especially Buddhists, Hindus and those of Indian, African and ‘Other Asian’ ethnicity. Whether an adolescent bowed correlated significantly with spiritual attitudes such as wanting to abstain from alcohol, hearing religious stories, being inspired by religious festivals and liking the idea of seeing God in everything. Findings suggest bowing to parents can have religious significance on all three levels of Jackson’s Interpretive Approach and therefore cannot be regarded as a ‘cultural accretion’ of religion. Study of bowing to parents could form a unifying exercise in shared values for study of religion in the plural classroom and facilitate community cohesion in certain religious membership groups