A Missional Resurgence: Helping Bridges Church Rediscover Her Missional Purpose Resulting in Vibrant Growth

The church in America is facing difficult times. The majority of churches are experiencing plateaued or declining attendance and a lack of spiritual vitality. While every church is unique in her own experience, there are some common factors that can lead to new life and vibrancy. The purpose of this study was to understand how to lead a specific church, Bridges Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to rediscover her missional purpose and discover vibrant growth, as individuals and as a corporate body. This study utilized the REVEAL for Churches Survey, an online survey that is both descriptive and prescriptive in nature, to determine the spiritual vitality of the church and to determine specific interventions leading to greater vibrancy that have been successful in other churches which have taken the survey. This survey was administered to the church twice, once in the Spring of 2019 and again in 2020, with a year of implementing specific interventions between the two. These interventions were specifically focused on creating a more missional culture, a foundation of this church when planted in 2007 and through her first four years but which diminished over time. Each of the interventions was based on specific results from the REVEAL for Churches Survey and led to results placing Bridges Church in the top percentile of churches in the United States in regard to church health and vibrancy

The Exit Poll, BBC Election Night and systemic media bias

Accusations of BBC media bias have flowed thick and fast from right and left, but the real scandal of the 2019 Election Night was that seats projections were announced at 10pm, the exit poll vote shares were only made public briefly (in ‘footnote to history’ fashion) 30 minutes later, while meaningful discussion on the parties’ national vote shares came only seven hours later, when almost all viewers had gone to bed. Pippa Norris and Patrick Dunleavy argue that focusing solely on seats (and power) formed the centrepiece of a thoroughly over-legitimizing representation of the UK’s election process, exaggerating the Conservative and SNP victories, overstating Labour’s poor performance, and ignoring the injustices meted out to the Liberal Democrats (who greatly increased their votes), Greens and others. A simple re-framing could easily combat the BBC’s and other broadcasters’ now firmly enrooted ‘bias against understanding’, entailing something of a move back to older and more accurate election night formats

Sensor potency of the moonlighting enzyme-decorated cytoskeleton

Background: There is extensive evidence for the interaction of metabolic enzymes with the eukaryotic cytoskeleton. The significance of these interactions is far from clear. Presentation of the hypothesis: In the cytoskeletal integrative sensor hypothesis presented here, the cytoskeleton senses and integrates the general metabolic activity of the cell. This activity depends on the binding to the cytoskeleton of enzymes and, depending on the nature of the enzyme, this binding may occur if the enzyme is either active or inactive but not both. This enzyme-binding is further proposed to stabilize microtubules and microfilaments and to alter rates of GTP and ATP hydrolysis and their levels. Testing the hypothesis: Evidence consistent with the cytoskeletal integrative sensor hypothesis is presented in the case of glycolysis. Several testable predictions are made. There should be a relationship between post-translational modifications of tubulin and of actin and their interaction with metabolic enzymes. Different conditions of cytoskeletal dynamics and enzyme-cytoskeleton binding should reveal significant differences in local and perhaps global levels and ratios of ATP and GTP. The different functions of moonlighting enzymes should depend on cytoskeletal binding. Implications of the hypothesis: The physical and chemical effects arising from metabolic sensing by the cytoskeleton would have major consequences on cell shape, dynamics and cell cycle progression. The hypothesis provides a framework that helps the significance of the enzyme-decorated cytoskeleton be determined

Assessment of Pile Group Response under Lateral Load

Assessment of the response of a laterally loaded pile group based on soil-pile interaction is presented in this paper. The behavior of a pile group in uniform and layered soil (sand and/or clay) is predicted based on the strain wedge (SW) model approach that has been developed to predict the response of a flexible pile under lateral loading. The pile group is characterized in terms of three-dimensional soil-pile interaction and then transformed into its one-dimensional beam on elastic foundation equivalent with associated parameters (modulus of sugrade reaction). Therefore, the interference among the piles in a group is determined based on the geometry of the mobilized passive wedge of soil in front of the pile in addition to the pile spacing. The overlap of shear zones among the piles in the group varies along the length of the pile and changes from one soil to another in the soil profile. Also, the interference among the piles grows with the increase in lateral loading. The modulus of subgrade reaction determined will account for the additional strains (i.e. stresses) in the adjacent soil due to pile interference within the group

Ronald Reagan Rain

RONALD REAGAN RAIN is a collection of poems that explore the wildness and terror lurking beneath the surface of contemporary suburban landscapes in a largely imagined America. Images of menacing policemen, bears, fast food restaurants, and dead film stars appear as substantive figures that embody loss and a preoccupation with aging, money woes, and a failed national confidence. Influenced by Russel Edson and Georg Trakl, poets whose work is characterized by Hermeticism and Expressionism, the poems in RONALD REAGAN RAIN suggest a similar dual need for autonomy and compromise in both highly charged poetic fragments and longer prose passages that examine issues of civil and personal estrangement as the outside world calls for constant introspection and reassessments of identity

Posaconazole therapeutic drug monitoring in a regional hospital setting

BACKGROUND: Posaconazole therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is recommended to promote effective antifungal prophylaxis, but its utility has yet to be optimized. Breakthrough invasive fungal infections have been reported with serum concentrations/L, but there is little evidence to determine the optimal serum concentration for efficacy or concentrations associated with toxicity. Challenges for effective monitoring are greater in settings without posaconazole TDM facilities because of the long turnaround time before receipt of results. METHODS: Thirty-eight TDM episodes were performed on 18 patients in a regional center in Australia during a 30-month period. Australian guidelines recommend a trough serum concentration of ≥700 mcg/L. The response to concentrations below the recommendation threshold (700 mcg/L), the final serum plasma concentration for each patient, and the appropriateness of TDM were evaluated. RESULTS: A total of 19 (50%) concentrations were recorded to be \u3c 700 mcg/L. Of these 19 concentrations, the drug dose was increased on only 4 occasions. Eleven of 18 patients (61%) had initial concentrations CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrate a lack of confidence and consistency in ordering, interpreting, and following up posaconazole concentrations. Therefore, the use of TDM should be carefully considered, especially in regional centers. Such settings should consider the practicalities of posaconazole TDM and try to improve the process to ensure consistency and optimization of patient care