Strategies for Seventh-day Adventist Theological Education in the South Pacific Islands

Problem: Theological education is an important concern of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific Islands. Current concerns include ascertaining the best type of theological education for the Adventist Church in this region; determining cultural influence on curriculum; designing a model for the coordination of theological education in Oceania; outlining alternative three-year diploma and four-year bachelor’s-degree curricula; and offering recommendations for the development of Adventist ministerial education in Oceania. The purpose of this study was to present strategies that may assist the Seventh-day Adventist Church to find possible solutions to these concerns. Method: This study utilizes the historical, descriptive, and developmental methods. Conclusions: The study arrived at the following conclusions; (1) until the early 1970’s, Adventist theological education kept abreast academically with most other Protestant denominations; (2) to keep pace with academic developments, a degree in theology needs implementing; (3) some indigenous persons will require advanced theological education overseas; (4) plans and policies should be implemented so ministerial students can learn to cope with new societal demands and situations; (5) degree training needs to be centralized; (6) theological training should be academically equivalent with other professional studies so the ministry cannot be considered an irrelevant and unimportant profession; (7) a balance should be maintained between theory and practice, faith and action, and study and work; (8) courses should concentrate less on Western academic curricula and more on practical skills and professional studies; (9) schools need to provide married students’ accommodations, 910) Fulton College may be the best institution to commence degree-level training; (11) the content of model three of the diploma-curriculum outlines is favored by the researcher; (12) of the bachelor-degree curriculums outlined, model eight, with its emphasis on practical-professional studies is favored by the researcher; (13) theological educators have the greatest impact and influence on students; (14) the Adventist Church should not rely upon vernacular training schools for its ministry; (15) degree-level training that provides an understanding of urban problems, marriage, and family life, and youth ministry is essential; and (16) training should prepare men for pastoral-evangelistic ministry. Recommendations: Recommendations arising from the study were: (1) establish an Inter-Union Educational Coordinating Committee to locate a degree-awarding training center and implement a coordinating master-plan, (2) introduce a Bachelor of Theology degree, (3) include Third World theological educators on the proposed training staff, (4) educate three indigenous ministers on the graduate-level annually, (5) replace expatriate staff with educated indigenous personnel, (6) provide accommodation for married students, (7) raise prerequisite, educational entrance levels to lay training schools, and graduate students with a Certificate of Theology, (8) and (9) alter Fulton and Sonoma college prerequisite levels, (10) commence theological extensions classes, (11) develop continuing theological-education programs for field personnel, (12) contextualize theological curriculum, (13) support cultural values in curricular content and methods, (14) conduct a needs assessment, (15) involve students in concurrent field education, (16) seek accreditation of proposed curricula with Association of Seventh-day Adventist Colleges, and (17) apply for non-accredited membership in local associations of theological schools for Fulton and Sonoma Colleges

NNLO predictions for dijet production in diffractive DIS

Cross sections for inclusive dijet production in diffractive deep-inelastic scattering are calculated for the first time in next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) accuracy. These cross sections are compared to several HERA measurements published by the H1 and ZEUS collaborations. We computed the total cross sections, 49 single-differential and five double-differential distributions for six HERA measurements. The NNLO corrections are found to be large and positive. The normalization of the resulting predictions typically exceeds the data, while the kinematical shape of the data is described better at NNLO than at next-to-leading order (NLO). Our results use the currently available NLO diffractive parton distributions, and the discrepancy in normalization highlights the need for a consistent determination of these distributions at NNLO accuracy

THYMOCYTES FROM MICE IMMUNIZED AGAINST AN ALLOGRAFT RENDER BONE-MARROW CELLS SPECIFICALLY CYTOTOXIC

Thymocytes from C57BL mice immunized with the DBA/2 lymphoma L5178Y exert in vitro an immunologically specific cytotoxic action against the target cells in the presence of bone-marrow cells. Neither the nonimmune bone marrow nor the immune thymocytes are by themselves cytotoxic. The cells in the bone marrow which take part in the cytotoxic action adhere to glass and are sensitive to anti-macrophage serum. These bone-marrow cells can also be rendered specifically cytotoxic by exposure to the supernatant obtained from a culture of immune thymocytes with the specific target cells. The thymocytes before they are confronted with the specific target cells are very radiosensitive; however, on coming into contact with the target cells, an immunologically specific increase in RNA synthesis occurs and thereafter the thymocytes' capacity to render bone-marrow cells cytotoxic is relatively radioresistant. Two classes of immune lymphocytes occur in mice immunized with allogeneic cells, those that are capable of killing target cells directly and those that produce a factor capable of rendering macrophages (or monocytes) specifically cytotoxic. In the thymus of immune animals only the latter are found while both categories are present in the spleen and lymph nodes of immune animals

Immunity as the predominant factor determining metastasis by murine lymphomas.

The metastatic behaviour of the L5178E (non-M) lymphoma and a highly metastatic subline L51787ES (M) were studied in syngeneic DBA2 mice. The non-M tumour rarely metastasizes in intact syngeneic mice, but produces extensive and rapidly lethal metastases when implanted into irradiated recipients. The metastatic behaviour of the M subline is unaffected by irradiation of the host. By conventional transplantation criteria, the non-M tumour is more immunogenic than the M subline. Both tumours, however, produce similar responses in a lymphnode weight-gain assay. Host-cell infiltration of the tumours growing s.c. is much greater in the non-M than the M, the infiltrating cells being Fc-receptor-positive and maturing into macrophages after 2 days in vitro. Although spontaneous in vitro motility of the M cells is much greater than that of the non-M, the metastatic behaviour of the tumours is clearly determined by host immunological responses

Subunit Association and DNA Binding Activity of the Heterotrimeric Transcription Factor NF-Y Is Regulated by Cellular Redox

NF-Y is a heterotrimeric transcription factor that specifically recognizes a CCAAT box motif found in a variety of eukaryotic promoter and enhancer elements. The subunit association and DNA binding properties of the NF-Y complex were examined as a function of redox state using recombinant NF-YA, NF-YB, and NF-YC subunits. Reduction of NF-YB by dithiothreitol (DTT) was essential for reconstitution of specific NF-Y CCAAT box DNA binding activity in vitro. Approximately 30% of the Escherichia coli-derived NF-YB subunit existed as intermolecular disulfide-linked dimers. NF-YB mutants in which the highly conserved cysteine residues at positions 85 and 89 had been converted to serines existed only as monomers and did not require DTT for functional NF-Y DNA binding activity. DTT was required, however, for the functional association of NF-YC with wild-type NF-YB but not with the NF-YB cysteine mutants. The cellular redox factors Ref-1 and adult T-cell leukemia-derived factor stimulated the DNA binding activity of recombinant NF-Y in the absence of DTT. Cells treated with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, an irreversible inhibitor of thioredoxin reductase, exhibited reduced endogenous NF-Y DNA binding activity. Together these results suggest that the cellular redox environment of mammalian cells is an important posttranscriptional regulator of NF-Y subunit association and DNA binding activities