Laity and participation: a theology of being the church

The basic assumption of this thesis is that there should be a theology of the laity that is truly positive, ecumenical and catholic. The prime concern, therefore, is less with specific contents and more an exploration of the dimensions such a new theology should incorporate and how it could be achieved. At the beginning we observe that, regarding contents as well as "hermeneutics”, currently most lay theologies are dominated by negatives. Therefore, I suggest we explore participation in the sense of "being the Church" rather than "doing something within the church”. Opening sections look at appropriate coordinates for a biblical foundation for lay theology, while a brief overview of church history explores how and why the current status quo of the laity came about. In view of this, the main parts then focus on how a more positive presentation of lay participation can be achieved. Part two explores Roman Catholic lay theology, discussing relevant official documents from Vatican II up to the present and also "unofficial" positions presented by Hans Küng, Karl Rahner, Leo Karrer, and Medard Kehl. To get at least some ecumenical perspective, this is complemented in Part three by an exploration of lay issues in Anglicanism, including ARCIC I and II. Part four explores the laity in liberative theologies, particularly their approaches to being the Church in the world, orthopraxis, authenticity as well as base communities as new forms of being church. In Part V, building on my earlier discussion and criticisms, I offer an alternative model for developing a positive definition of the laity including the image of the Church as a spoked wheel. My central claim is the inadequacy of present discussions and the need to develop a theology that starts from the vocation of the Church as a whole and stresses the interdependence of clergy and laity with neither subordinate to the other

“Studi Storici” e le ricerche su Antonio Gramsci

This is the abstract of the contribution in Italian by Alexander Höbel regarding research and articles on Gramsci published in the review of the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci ‘Studi Storici

POLISH AND GERMAN CONSTITUTIONAL JURISPRUDENCE ON MATTERS OF EUROPEAN COMMUNITY LAW: A COMPARISON OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURTS’ APPROACHES

Germany and Poland are the two largest EU members in Central Europe. Although they are neighbouring countries, their historical situation and perspectives, and thus their expectations and motivations regarding EU membership, differ greatly. The two states’ legal systems, on the other hand, are largely similar. This article aims to compare how the two countries’ constitutional preconditions determine how their constitutional courts approach the integration of Community law. It also aims to point out similarities and differences between the courts’ approaches. Furthermore, it seeks to illuminate the difficult relationship between constitutional courts and the European Court of Justice and indicate possible ways of mitigating these theoretical and practical difficulties in the future

Anti-tumor effects of fibroblast growth factor-binding protein (FGF-BP) knockdown in colon carcinoma

Abstract Background Fibroblast growth factors FGF-1 and FGF-2 are often upregulated in tumors, but tightly bound to heparan sulphate proteoglycans of the extracellular matrix (ECM). One mechanism of their bioactivation relies on the FGF-binding protein (FGF-BP) which, upon reversible binding to FGF-1 or -2, leads to their release from the ECM. FGF-BP increases tumorigenicity and is highly expressed in tumors like colon carcinoma. In this paper, we analyse cellular and molecular consequences of RNAi-mediated FGF-BP knockdown in colon carcinoma, and explore the therapeutic effects of the nanoparticle-mediated delivery of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) for FGF-BP targeting. Results Employing stable RNAi cells, we establish a dose-dependence of cell proliferation on FGF-BP expression levels. Decreased proliferation is mirrored by alterations in cell cycle distribution and upregulation of p21, which is relevant for mediating FGF-BP effects. While inhibition of proliferation is mainly associated with reduced Akt and increased GSK3β activation, antibody array-based analyses also reveal other alterations in MAPK signalling. Additionally, we demonstrate induction of apoptosis, mediated through caspase-3/7 activation, and alterations in redox status upon FGF-BP knockdown. These effects are based on the upregulation of Bad, Bax and HIF-1α, and the downregulation of catalase. In a therapeutic FGF-BP knockdown approach based on RNAi, we employ polymer-based nanoparticles for the in vivo delivery of siRNAs into established wildtype colon carcinoma xenografts. We show that the systemic treatment of mice leads to the inhibition of tumor growth based on FGF-BP knockdown. Conclusions FGF-BP is integrated in a complex network of cytoprotective effects, and represents a promising therapeutic target for RNAi-based knockdown approaches.</p

Acoustic inter- and intra-room similarity based on room acoustic parameters

This paper shows various approaches for determining acoustic (dis-)similarity based on room acoustic parameter values derived from real measurements. The similarity is calculated across different room configurations and/or between different microphone-loudspeaker positions within the same room configuration. We compare supervised (LDA, Random Forrest) and unsupervised techniques (PCA, SPPA) and pre-selected visualizations in terms of their ability to exhibit inter- and intra-room (dis-)similarities. The data set generated comprises spatially high-resolution room impulse responses obtained from multiple source-receiver positions within a room configuration. The room acoustics are varied by introducing active walls and geometries accounting for specific room configurations. The results show that the separation of room configurations primarily relies on specific acoustic parameters, with the reverberation time playing an important role. Within a given room configuration, the acoustic parameters excluding the reverberation time mainly capture the orientation and distance between the source and receiver

Photostatistics Reconstruction via Loop Detector Signatures

Photon-number resolving detectors are a fundamental building-block of optical quantum information processing protocols. A loop detector, combined with appropriate statistical processing, can be used to convert a binary on/off photon counter into a photon-number-resolving detector. Here we describe the idea of a signature of photon-counts, which may be used to more robustly reconstruct the photon number distribution of a quantum state. The methodology is applied experimentally in a 9-port loop detector operating at a telecommunications wavelength and compared directly to the approach whereby only the number of photon-counts is used to reconstruct the input distribution. The signature approach is shown to be more robust against calibration errors, exhibit reduced statistical uncertainty, and reduced reliance on a-priori assumptions about the input state.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Diversification under sexual selection: the relative roles of mate preference strength and the degree of divergence in mate preferences

The contribution of sexual selection to diversification remains poorly understood after decades of research. This may be in part because studies have focused predominantly on the strength of sexual selection, which offers an incomplete view of selection regimes. By contrast, students of natural selection focus on environmental differences that help compare selection regimes across populations. To ask how this disparity in focus may affect the conclusions of evolutionary research, we relate the amount of diversification in mating displays to quantitative descriptions of the strength and the amount of divergence in mate preferences across a diverse set of case studies of mate choice. We find that display diversification is better explained by preference divergence rather than preference strength; the effect of the latter is more subtle, and is best revealed as an interaction with the former. Our findings cast the action of sexual selection (and selection in general) in a novel light: the strength of selection influences the rate of evolution, and how divergent selection is determines how much diversification can occur. Adopting this view will enhance tests of the relative role of natural and sexual selection in processes such as speciation

Diversification under sexual selection: the relative roles of mate preference strength and the degree of divergence in mate preferences

The contribution of sexual selection to diversification remains poorly understood after decades of research. This may be in part because studies have focused predominantly on the strength of sexual selection, which offers an incomplete view of selection regimes. By contrast, students of natural selection focus on environmental differences that help compare selection regimes across populations. To ask how this disparity in focus may affect the conclusions of evolutionary research, we relate the amount of diversification in mating displays to quantitative descriptions of the strength and the amount of divergence in mate preferences across a diverse set of case studies of mate choice. We find that display diversification is better explained by preference divergence rather than preference strength; the effect of the latter is more subtle, and is best revealed as an interaction with the former. Our findings cast the action of sexual selection (and selection in general) in a novel light: the strength of selection influences the rate of evolution, and how divergent selection is determines how much diversification can occur. Adopting this view will enhance tests of the relative role of natural and sexual selection in processes such as speciation