Ezekiel and the Covenant of Friendship

The slippery idea of "spirituality" might, with care, be put to use by biblical exegetes. Spirituality is defined in this paper as the social enactment of religious ideas. Four categories are offered to analyze the biblical witness as a record of spirituality. These categories are, first, an ultimate end; second, an ideal self-image by which this end might be achieved; third, an encoding of teachings in Scripture by which the self-image can be realized or understood; and fourth, a proposal for a way of life that makes achievement of the ultimate end a practical possibility. Accordingly, Ezekiel's "spirituality" may be understood to have, on one hand, an ultimate end of a return of the people to the land with the presence of God; and on the other, an ideal self-image of conversion of the community toward this ultimate end. Then it encodes, in oracles of judgment and deliverance, teachings that enable adherents to form the ideal self-image, and finally, as a way of life that puts these teachings into practice, it proposes a "covenant of friendship" (Ezek 34:25 and 37:36) among the exiled people and between them and their captors.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66911/2/10.1177_014610799202200402.pd

High-Capacity Conductive Nanocellulose Paper Sheets for Electrochemically Controlled Extraction of DNA Oligomers

Highly porous polypyrrole (PPy)-nanocellulose paper sheets have been evaluated as inexpensive and disposable electrochemically controlled three-dimensional solid phase extraction materials. The composites, which had a total anion exchange capacity of about 1.1 mol kg−1, were used for extraction and subsequent release of negatively charged fluorophore tagged DNA oligomers via galvanostatic oxidation and reduction of a 30–50 nm conformal PPy layer on the cellulose substrate. The ion exchange capacity, which was, at least, two orders of magnitude higher than those previously reached in electrochemically controlled extraction, originated from the high surface area (i.e. 80 m2 g−1) of the porous composites and the thin PPy layer which ensured excellent access to the ion exchange material. This enabled the extractions to be carried out faster and with better control of the PPy charge than with previously employed approaches. Experiments in equimolar mixtures of (dT)6, (dT)20, and (dT)40 DNA oligomers showed that all oligomers could be extracted, and that the smallest oligomer was preferentially released with an efficiency of up to 40% during the reduction of the PPy layer. These results indicate that the present material is very promising for the development of inexpensive and efficient electrochemically controlled ion-exchange membranes for batch-wise extraction of biomolecules

Performance studies of the CMS strip tracker before installation

Peer reviewe

Gagasan-Gagasan Pokok Perjanjian Lama

Yogyakarta79 hlm.; 21 c

The Key Concepts of the Old Testament

Amsterdam94 p.; 18 c

Innovative customized CAD/CAM nickel-titanium lingual retainer versus standard stainless-steel lingual retainer: A randomized controlled trial

peer reviewedObjective: To compare computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) customized nitinol retainers with standard stainlesssteel fixed retainers over a 12-month study period. Methods: This randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted on 62 patients randomly allocated to a control group that received stainless-steel retainers or a test group that received customized CAD/CAM nickel-titanium retainers. Four time points were defined: retainer placement (T0) and 1-month (T1), 6-month (T2), and 12-month (T3) follow-up appointments. At each time point, Little’s irregularity index (LII) (primary endpoint) and dental stability measurements such as intercanine width were recorded in addition to assessment of periodontal parameters. Radiological measurements such as the incisor mandibular plane angle (IMPA) were recorded at T0 and T3. Failure events (wire integrity or debonding) were assessed at each time point. Results: From T0 to T3, LII and other dental measurements showed no significant differences between the two groups. The data for periodontal parameters remained stable over the study period, except for the gingival index, which was slightly, but significantly, higher in the test group at T3 (p = 0.039). The IMPA angle showed no intergroup difference. The two groups showed no significant difference in debonding events. Conclusions: This RCT conducted over a 12-month period demonstrated no significant difference between customized CAD/CAM nickel-titanium lingual retainers and standard stainlesssteel lingual retainers in terms of dental anterior stability and retainer survival. Both retainers eventually appeared to be equally effective in maintaining periodontal health

Long-term stability of open bite treatments

peer reviewedThe long-term stability of open bite treatments is very difficult to obtain due to several parameters (genetic, myofunctional or/and parafunctional diseases). Methods :17 adult patients suffering from basal open bite were treated by a combined orthodontic treatment and orthognathic surgery. The surgery protocol was always a Lefort I osteotomy, except in case of class II, where a sagittal mandibular osteotomy was also performed in the same operation. Five parameters were taken into account to assess the long term stability of the treatment : Angle class, occlusal plane rotation, type and duration of retention after orthodontic treatment, tongue position and overbite. Results : we had a minimum 2-years observation after a combined orthodontic/orthognathic surgery treatment to evaluate the long-term stability of this type of treatment. Cephalometric parameters (Angle class, occlusal plane rotation, tongue position and overbite) measured at T2 and T3 showed a good long term stability after 2 years (T3). Conclusions : The posterior maxillar impaction must be more important than the anterior maxillar impaction to be the key to a long-term stability in open bite treatments. The tongue position is also a relevant element to maintain the right dental occlusion. A minimum one year combined with bimaxillar retention is also required to obtain a good and stable result of treatment

Ionic motion in polypyrrole-cellulose composites : Trap release mechanism during potentiostatic reduction

This work investigates the movement of anions during potentiostatic controlled reduction of novel compositematerials consisting of high surface area cellulose substrates, extracted from the Cladophora sp. algae, coatedwith thin (∼50 nm) layers of the intrinsically conducting polymer (ICP) polypyrrole. The coating was achievedby chemical polymerization of pyrrole on the cellulose fibers with iron(III) chloride and phosphomolybdicacid, respectively. The composites are in the form of paper sheets and can be directly immersed into anelectrolyte solution for ion absorption/desorption. The motion of glutamate and aspartate anions during cathodicpolarization was investigated as a function of preceding anodic polarization at various potentials. The compositewas found to exhibit memory effect as the response to a cathodic polarization of constant magnitude produceddifferent responses depending on the magnitude of the preceding anodic potential. After the application of acathodic potential to the composite, the reduction current curvessgenerated by anions leaving thecompositeswere found to initially increase in magnitude followed by a monotonic decay. A similar responsehas not been described and analyzed for electrochemical reduction of anion containing ICP materials earlier.A theoretical model was developed to aid the analysis of the experimental data. The model accounts for bothfreely mobile anions and anions that may be temporarily trapped in a contracting PPy network during cathodicpolarization. By fitting the recorded reduction current curves to this model, detailed information about theionic movement in the composite could be obtained, which may be used to further optimize the materialsproperties of conducting polymer systems aimed for specific electrochemical ion exchange processes

Characterization of water in bacterial cellulose using dielectric spectroscopy and electron microscopy

It is shown that only 10% of the 99 wt% water present in bacterial cellulose (BC) gels, produced by Acetobacter xylinum, behave like free bulk water; the majority of the water mols. in the gels is more or less tightly bound to the cellulose. The magnitude of the diffusion coeffs. of ions transported in the water phase of the BC gels as well as the information contained in freeze fracture transmission electron microscopic images of the gel structures indicates that the bulk-like water is confined in "lakes" rather than forming a continuous phase throughout the gel. Water desorption isotherms suggest that these "lakes" decrease in size with increasing oxygen concn. used during the biosynthesis process of the gels