Diversity in the American Church: A Case Focus on the Korean Immigrant Church

There are ethnic factions that exist within the Christian Church in the United States, and every ethnic faction seems to be marked by a set of theological or cultural features that distinguish it from other factions. This paper explores the socio-political history, function, and future direction of the Korean Immigrant Church (KIC). Specifically, this paper analyzes the origins of the robust connection between the Korean immigrant population and Protestant Christianity, the functional importance of the KIC, and demographic changes within KICs in the 21st Century. This paper also discusses a broader application of the KIC to other ethnically homogeneous Christian communities in America

Does diet play a role in the alleviation of rheumatoid arthritis symptoms?

This systematic review of scientific literature was undertaken to investigate the possibility of a role for diet in the alleviation of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) symptoms, with an objective of highlighting specific nutrients and/or certain food groups and diets that may impact upon the symptoms of RA. Studies displaying conflicting evidence (i.e. show diets that have no effect on RA symptom alleviation) were also reviewed. A comprehensive literature search to identify relevant papers was carried out with the use of criteria, in an attempt to identify as many studies as possible, but also to minimise selection bias for those that were found. Electronic databases, library catalogues and internet search engines played key parts in paper identification. A total of 31 papers were identified after meeting selection criteria and summaries and critical appraisals were compiled for comparison. Some studies show that fish oil supplementation displayed the greatest benefits through a reduction in the number of tender joints and morning stiffness. One paper offers a dosage figure for improvement in clinical symptoms as 40mg/kg body weight/day of oil containing n-3 fatty acids (FAs) combined with <10g/day of dietary (n-6) FAs. Periods of fasting with a vegetarian diet promotes a reduction in RA symptoms. Several studies identify Gammalinolenic Acid as capable of decreasing pro-inflammatory products of Arachidonic Acid. Similarly, elemental diets and foods devoid of allergens may benefit RA activity parameters, however improvements in RA symptoms seen in response to elemental diets are not sustained on individualised diets. Many researchers recognised the influence of a Mediterranean diet, rich in anti-oxidant containing vegetables, n-3 FAs and a lower ratio of n-6 to n-3 FAs as sources of inflammation reduction. Vitamin E treatment was shown to provide a small analgesic property compared to placebo, the mechanism of which and identification of additional vitamins and food sources with such potential require further study. Further work is required on establishing most beneficial supplement dosage, duration and length of treatment interval. Knowledge of correlations of food allergies in RA sufferers to immune responses compared to food antigens in the fluid of blood and joints would be useful

Toward Mitigating, Minimizing, and Preventing Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Risks

Cybercrime and cybersecurity are emerging fields of research, shaped by technological developments. Scholars in these interconnected fields have studied different types of cybercrimes as well as victimization and offending. Increasingly, some of these scholars have focused on the ways in which cybercrimes can be mitigated, minimized, and even prevented. However, such strategies are often difficult to achieve in reality due to the human and technical factors surrounding cybercrimes. In this issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, three papers adequately address such challenges using college student samples and nationally representative samples, as well as a framework through which cybersecurity can be better managed. Theoretically speaking, these studies use traditional criminological theories to explore different types of cybercrimes and cybersecurity while enhancing our understandings of both. The issue is concluded with a book review of a work about computer crime that was published before the Internet age and offers useful insights for current and future cybercrime studies

Trends in vegetation productivity and seasonality for Namaqualand, South Africa between 1986 and 2011: an approach combining remote sensing and repeat photography

This thesis presents an assessment of vegetation change and its drivers across a subset of Namaqualand, South Africa. Namaqualand forms part of the Succulent Karoo biome, which is characterised by exceptionally high species biodiversity but which has undergone severe transformation since the arrival of pastoral colonists. Vegetation productivity in Namaqualand is of great importance since there is a high dependence on natural resources, livestock and agriculture for both subsistence and income. However, there is considerable debate on the relative contribution of land-use change and climate change to vegetation change and land degradation in Namaqualand. Early studies based on bioclimatic envelop models suggest that an increase in temperature and more arid conditions could result in the vegetation cover of the Succulent Karoo being significantly reduced. On the other hand, more recent studies show that less extreme changes in rainfall could result in the vegetation of the biome remaining fairly stable with possible increases in the spatial extent by 2050. Furthermore, field observations and repeat photography, suggest that the change in vegetation in the region over the course of the 20th century generally portrays an increase in cover largely as a result of changes in land-use. By combining repeat photography and satellite data from NOAA-AVHRR and TERRA-MODIS sensors as well as baseline climatology data from the CRU TS 3.2 data set this study aimed to: (1) Determine the critical pathways of inter-annual and intra-seasonal vegetation change in the Namaqualand; (2) Investigate the role of land-use and climate variability as key drivers of vegetation change in Namaqualand

Growing intimate privatepublics: Everyday utopia in the naturecultures of a young lesbian and bisexual women’s allotment

The Young Women’s Group in Manchester is a ‘young women’s peer health project, run by and for young lesbian and bisexual women’, which runs an allotment as one of its activities. At a time when interest in allotments and gardening appears to be on the increase, the existence of yet another community allotment may seem unremarkable. Yet we suggest that this queer allotment poses challenges for conventional theorisations of allotments, as well as for understandings of public and private. In this article we explore how the allotment project might be understood to be intensely engaged in ‘growing intimate publics’, or what we term ‘privatepublics’. These are paradoxical intimacies, privatepublic spaces which are not necessarily made possible in the usual private sphere of domestic homes. Here we focus on the work involved in materialising the allotment, which we understand as a queer privatepublic ‘natureculture’ (Haraway, 2008) which appears as an ‘everyday utopia’ (Cooper, 2014)