A biblical, cultural and missiological critique of traditional circumcision among Xhosa-speaking Christians

Among the Xhosa of South Africa, male circumcision remains a very important ritual. The question as to whether Christians should accept these rites and continue to send their children to traditional schools practising it is very important. In this article the implications of the ritual and the way in which proponents use the Bible are evaluated. It is argued that there should be an honest encounter with the rite from a biblical perspective. Solutions should be evaluated and explained. From a Christian perspective total rejection is not possible, but the church should remain faithful to the truth of the gospel

Follow-up of conservatively treated sleep apnoea patients

No Abstract

Using brand identity to build brand equity : a comparison between the South African and Dutch business-to-business architectural industry

Abstract: Existing research in the B2B field focuses on relationship marketing and not the importance of building brand equity. By focusing efforts on building brand equity B2B service firms have the opportunity to develop a long-term competitive advantage. Objective: This study explores how Dutch and South African business-to-business architectural firms compare in their development of brand equity and use of brand identity dimensions. These groups were selected because one (Dutch) holds a favourable brand equity position, while the other (South African) is perceived less favourably. Providing a direct comparison allows the South African business-to-business architectural industry to obtain knowledge and be in a better position to develop their brand equity and identity..

Quantum Universe on Extremely Small Space-time Scales

The semiclassical approach to the quantum geometrodynamical model is used for the description of the properties of the Universe on extremely small space-time scales. Under this approach, the matter in the Universe has two components of the quantum nature which behave as antigravitating fluids. The first component does not vanish in the limit ħ → 0 and can be associated with dark energy. The second component is described by an extremely rigid equation of state and goes to zero after the transition to large space-time scales. On small space-time scales, this quantum correction turns out to be significant. It determines the geometry of the Universe near the initial cosmological singularity point. This geometry is conformal to a unit four-sphere embedded in a five-dimensional Euclidean flat space. During the consequent expansion of the Universe, when reaching the post-Planck era, the geometry of the Universe changes into that conformal to a unit four-hyperboloid in a five-dimensional Lorentz-signatured flat space. This agrees with the hypothesis about the possible change of geometry after the origin of the expanding Universe from the region near the initial singularity point. The origin of the Universe can be interpreted as a quantum transition of the system from a region in the phase space forbidden for the classical motion, but where a trajectory in imaginary time exists, into a region, where the equations of motion have the solution which describes the evolution of the Universe in real time. Near the boundary between two regions, from the side of real time, the Universe undergoes almost an exponential expansion which passes smoothly into the expansion under the action of radiation dominating over matter which is described by the standard cosmological model.Квазiкласичний пiдхiд до квантово-геометродинамiчної моделi застосовано для опису властивостей всесвiту на екстремально малих просторово-часових масштабах. У цьому пiдходi матерiя у всесвiтi має двi компоненти квантової природи, якi поводять себе як антигравiтуючi рiдини. Перша компонента не набуває нульового значення в границi ħ → 0 та може бути асоцiйована з темною енергiєю. Друга компонента описується екстремально жорстким рiвнянням стану i прямує до нуля пiсля переходу до великих просторово-часових масштабiв. На малих просторовочасових масштабах ця квантова поправка вiдiграє значну роль. Вона визначає геометрiю всесвiту бiля точки початкової космологiчної сингулярностi. Ця геометрiя є конформною до одиничної 4-сфери, зануреної у 5-вимiрний евклiдовий плоский простiр. Пiд час наступного розширення всесвiту, пiсля досягнення пост-планкiвської ери, геометрiя всесвiту перетворюється на геометрiю, конформну до одиничного 4-гiперболоїда у 5- вимiрному плоскому просторi з лоренцiвською сигнатурою. Це узгоджується з гiпотезою про можливу змiну геометрiї пiсля виникнення всесвiту, що розширюється з областi поблизу точки початкової сингулярностi. Виникнення всесвiту може бути iнтерпретовано як квантовий перехiд системи з областi у фазовому просторi, забороненої для класичного руху, але де iснує траєкторiя в уявному часi, в область, де рiвняння руху мають розв’язок, що описує еволюцiю всесвiту у реальному часi. Поблизу межi мiж двома областями, з боку реального часу, всесвiт зазнає майже експоненцiального розширення, яке гладко переходить у розширення пiд дiєю випромiнювання, що домiнує над матерiєю, у вiдповiдностi iз стандартною космологiчною моделлю

Структура кредитной политики коммерческого банка

В статье раскрывается структура кредитной политики коммерческого банка

Comparative RNAi Screens in C. elegans and C. briggsae Reveal the Impact of Developmental System Drift on Gene Function

Although two related species may have extremely similar phenotypes, the genetic networks underpinning this conserved biology may have diverged substantially since they last shared a common ancestor. This is termed Developmental System Drift (DSD) and reflects the plasticity of genetic networks. One consequence of DSD is that some orthologous genes will have evolved different in vivo functions in two such phenotypically similar, related species and will therefore have different loss of function phenotypes. Here we report an RNAi screen in C. elegans and C. briggsae to identify such cases. We screened 1333 genes in both species and identified 91 orthologues that have different RNAi phenotypes. Intriguingly, we find that recently evolved genes of unknown function have the fastest evolving in vivo functions and, in several cases, we identify the molecular events driving these changes. We thus find that DSD has a major impact on the evolution of gene function and we anticipate that the C. briggsae RNAi library reported here will drive future studies on comparative functional genomics screens in these nematodes

Are energy drinks unique mixers in terms of their effects on alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences?

© 2018 Johnson et al. Introduction: Previous research has suggested that consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AMED) increases overall alcohol consumption. However, there is limited research examining whether energy drinks are unique in their effects when mixed with alcohol, when compared with alcohol mixed with other caffeinated mixers (AOCM). Therefore, the aim of this survey was to investigate alcohol consumption on AMED occasions, to that on other occasions when the same individuals consumed AOCM or alcohol only (AO). Methods: A UK-wide online student survey collected data on the frequency of alcohol consumption and quantity consumed, as well as the number of negative alcohol-related consequences reported on AO, AMED and AOCM occasions (N=250). Results: Within-subjects analysis revealed that there were no significant differences in the number of alcoholic drinks consumed on a standard and a heavy drinking session between AMED and AOCM drinking occasions. However, the number of standard mixers typically consumed was significantly lower on AMED occasions compared with AOCM occasions. In addition, when consuming AMED, students reported significantly fewer days consuming 5 or more alcohol drinks, fewer days mixing drinks, and fewer days being drunk, compared with when consuming AOCM. There were no significant differences in the number of reported negative alcohol-related consequences on AMED occasions to AOCM occasions. Of importance, alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences were significantly less on both AMED and AOCM occasions compared with AO occasions. Conclusion: The findings that heavy alcohol consumption occurs significantly less often on AMED occasions compared with AOCM occasions is in opposition to some earlier claims implying that greatest alcohol consumption occurs with AMED. The overall greatest alcohol consumption and associated negative consequences were clearly associated with AO occasions. Negative consequences for AMED and AOCM drinking occasions were similar, suggesting that energy drink was comparable with AOCM in this regard

Taenia multiceps larva from a gemsbok

Round (1968) records polycephalic cestode larvae (Coenurus) from various African mammals in Zoological gardens, viz. Alcelaphus sp., Capra ibex Linnaeus, 1758, Hippotragus equinus (Desmarest, 1804), Sylvicapragrimmia (Linnaeus, 1758). In the last eight years, however, similar larvae have been recovered from four free-living gemsbok, Oryx gazella (Linnaeus, 1758), in South West Africa (Verster, unpublished data). Because polycephalic larvae from intramuscular and subcutaneous tissues of ruminants have been assigned to either Taenia multiceps Leske, 1780 or to Taenia gaigeri (Hall, 1916), an available larva from one of these gemsbok was fed to a domestic dog to establish the identity of the resulting adult.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590;300dpi. adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format