“Flee from the Worship of Idols”: Becoming Christian in Roman Corinth

The religious contexts in which early Christian communities grew were important factors in the first-century development of Christianity, affecting what it meant to become a Christian either as a convert from a background in Judaism or as a convert from a background in Greek, Roman, or Egyptian cults. Surrounding religions and cultural norms strongly influenced the first Christian communities in urban environments throughout the Roman Empire because the first generation of Christian converts came directly from other religious constructs. As the early Christians distinguished themselves from the Diaspora Jewish communities in which they originated and actively pursued Gentile converts, the fusion of believers with differing religious backgrounds caused uncertainty and conflict over acceptable beliefs and practices within Christian communities. Much of the historiography of early Christianity dwells on Christianity’s relationship to Judaism. The tendency to highlight the Christian-Jewish relationship is natural since Christianity originated in Israel as a Jewish sect. The conflict throughout the New Testament between the “Judaizers” and Paul lends itself to questions about Christianity’s relationship to the Jewish religion and culture: how members of Christian communities were different from those remaining in Jewish communities, when the differentiation occurred, and the extent to which Judaism was monolithic. Answering these questions has occupied volumes upon volumes, and writers such as Judith Lieu continue to address them, especially in Neither Jew nor Greek?, her collection of essays

A Creative Arts Approach in Teaching ESL at Ti-Ratana Orphanage, Desa Petaling, Malaysia

Drawing from Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory, this research study attempts to explore the potential of the creative arts to teach English as a second language based on the sociocultural theory of learning. The "We Love English!" tuition program utilized the creative arts to teach English as a second language to students living at Ti-Ratana, a Buddhist home for children in Desa Petaling. As a participantobserver, the researcher served as the creative arts director, a volunteer teacher, and a monthly team leader. Research data sources included direct observations made during the lessons; interviews with six volunteer teachers, two program organizers, and one childminder; and analysis of pertinent primary documents. Through comprehensive content analysis, the data were analyzed, categorized, and organized according to specific units of data, which represent inductive and deductive themes in the data. The major findings of this study consist of significant themes that surfaced in all three data sources during analysis. Every effort was made to strengthen the validity and reliability of this study, including data triangulation, the creation of an audit trail, user generalizability, heavy researcher involvement, peer evaluation, thick, rich descriptions, and reflexivity to guard against researcher bias. In short, the data generated from this research study suggest that the creative activities utilized during the "We Love English!" tuition program have the potential to teach English as a second language by creating the necessary environment in which sociocultural learning can take place - namely, by facilitating relationships, promoting social interaction, and fostering zones of proximal development. The creative activities facilitated a friendly, English-speaking environment in which students and volunteer teachers could interact freely and, consequently, build relationships. The relationships between the students and volunteers also appeared to put the students at ease in an English-speaking environment and encourage them to practice English while making language learning more fun. Limitations to the study include lack of time and volunteer turnover. The use of rapid analysis technique following interviews was one method used to mitigate the results of the lack of time, and there were six consistent volunteers, which helped to reduce the effect of volunteer turnover. The findings of this study could contribute to the field of community development and language education. Specifically, this project could serve as a model for community development and educational programs geared towards teaching English as a second language through the creative arts, especially to children at risk. This research study could also provide suggestions related to creating environments conducive for children to interact and build relationships as well as to explore, create, manipulate, and solve problems - ultimately, to reach their maximum learning potential. By creating a comfortable, familiar environment in which sociocultural learning can be realized, a relational, interactive approach to education is critical for maximizing the potential of students, especially children at risk. Therefore, secondlanguage education programs should explore the option of incorporating the creative arts. Education programs that are already based on the sociocultural learning theory could benefit from increased attention to the creative arts. This study also encourages volunteerism, as the findings indicate that dedicated, consistent teachers are critical in order for the creative arts to be effective in fostering relationships and encouraging social interaction. In the end, this research project demonstrates that the creative arts, when utilized in an English tuition program, have the potential to catalyze relationships, increase student interaction, and foster zones of proximal development, all of which contribute to sociocultural learning. It is hoped that further research will provide more conclusive links between the creative arts and second language learning and acquisition

Decreasing Simulation Anxiety in Nursing Education

The purpose of this quantitative research project was to examine the efficacy of pre-simulation progressive muscle relaxation in decreasing the level of anxiety experienced by nursing students during simulation exercises. Simulation is an important teaching strategy in nursing education; it provides an arena in which to practice skills and decision-making without putting real patients in danger of any mistakes. Student anxiety is a challenge of the simulation teaching strategy, because it can make students feel unsuccessful. Decreasing student anxiety will be important as simulation is used more frequently in nursing education. Our study assessed students’ anxiety before simulation and the effect of pre-simulation progressive muscle relaxation on student anxiety and outcomes including student skill performance and student satisfaction with simulation. The data showed students who were involved in PMR had significantly lower state and trait anxiety scores than those who did not experience PMR; students who participated in PMR reported being more satisfied with the simulation experience than those who were not subjected to PMR. Most students were satisfied with PMR, but some were not. PMR should be offered as a method for anxiety reduction for simulations in nursing education; however, students should be encouraged to find the anxiety reduction strategy that works for them, and more research is needed on this topic. Future research should examine the effects of PMR and anxiety on skill performance and possible factors that influence student satisfaction with PMR and other anxiety reduction methods. Further research should include qualitative methods in order to explore student attitudes about PMR and its use in managing simulation related anxiety

Outbreaks Reveal Deficiencies In Biotech R&d For Emerging Diseases

The absence of commercial diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines hindered control efforts during the recent Zika and Ebola epidemics. This study evaluates the connectivity and productivity of both viruses’ R&D networks before, during, and after the epidemics to ascertain the ability of current R&D practices to support the development of crucial biotechnologies. Both network maps exhibited low baseline connectivity with emergent collaborative R&D practices during the identified outbreak period that correlated with increased research productivity. It is argued that formally establishing permanent collaborative, open R&D practices prior to epidemics can enhance scientific knowledge and innovation capabilities to more effectively advance commercial availability of diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines for emerging diseases

An improved method for text summarization using lexical chains

This work is directed toward the creation of a system for automatically sum-marizing documents by extracting selected sentences. Several heuristics including position, cue words, and title words are used in conjunction with lexical chain in-formation to create a salience function that is used to rank sentences for extraction. Compiler technology, including the Flex and Bison tools, is used to create the AutoExtract summarizer that extracts and combines this information from the raw text. The WordNet database is used for the creation of the lexical chains. The AutoExtract summarizer performed better than the Microsoft Word97 AutoSummarize tool and the Sinope commercial summarizer in tests against ideal extracts and in tests judged by humans

Mixing it up: Multiple symbiont acquisition strategies as an adaptive mechanism in the coral Stylophora pistillata

In obligate symbioses, the host\u27s survival relies on the successful acquisition and maintenance of symbionts, which can be transferred from parent to offspring via direct inheritance (vertical transmission) or acquired anew each generation from the environment (horizontal transmission). Vertical transmission ensures progeny acquire their obligate symbionts, but progeny encountering an environment that differs from that of their parent may be disadvantaged by hosting a suboptimal symbiont. Conversely, horizontal symbiont acquisition provides hosts the benefit of acquiring symbionts well suited to the prevailing environment, but progeny may fail to acquire their obligate symbionts. Here I show that the coral Stylophora pistillata may garner the benefits of both transmission modes by releasing progeny with maternally derived symbionts that are also capable of subsequent horizontal symbiont acquisition. The algal symbionts (Symbiodinium) present in S. pistillata adults, juveniles, and larvae (planulae) were identified using denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and real-time PCR. DGGE confirmed previous reports that in the Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea, shallow water (2-6m) S. pistillata adult coral colonies host clade A Symbiodinium, while deep-water (24-26m) colonies host clade C. Real-time PCR uncovered previously undetected Symbiodinium present at low-levels in some deep, but no shallow water adult colonies. Planulae only inherited the dominant symbiont clade from their maternal colony. While most shallow water juveniles hosted only clade A Symbiodinium, deep-water juveniles either hosted clade C, clade A, or a mixture of both clades. As all planulae analyzed hosted only one symbiont clade, while some juvenile colonies hosted either multiple symbionts, or symbionts not characteristic of the depth in which they occurred, these data support environmental Symbiodinium acquisition, in addition to vertical symbiont inheritance, in the coral S. pistillata. Reciprocal depth transplant experiments of juvenile S. pistillata colonies were executed to monitor potential changes in the Symbiodinium. Hosting physiologically distinct Symbiodinium may allow coral host survival under varied environmental conditions. Therefore, horizontal symbiont acquisition may enable coral species with vertical transmission to acquire advantageous symbionts. In turn, this may provide genetic variation in the symbiosis on which natural selection can act, providing a mechanism for coral adaption to global climate change