An Attempt to Increase the Communion Attendance at the Willowdale Seventh-day Adventist Church

Problem. Attendance at the Lord’s Supper is often lower or much lower than at the regular Sabbath services. The purpose of this project was to increase the attendance at the Lord’s Supper by generating a deeper understanding of this sacrament among a particular congregation. Method. My first task was to discover the perceptions of my members regarding the theology and the practice of the Lord’s Supper. A comprehensive survey was prepared and administered. The data was collected and analyzed as reported in Part One. The empirical data show a number of factors that contribute to low attendance at the Lord’s Table: lack of understanding of the theological significance of the Lord’s Supper, feeling unworthy, having unresolved differences with fellow believers, and feeling uncomfortable about foot washing. Once I discovered the issues in the empirical data that contribute to low attendance I turned to study the Scriptures, the writings of Ellen G. White and other non-Adventist literature in order to write four studies on the Lord’s Supper which appear in Part Two of this report. Results. Four sermons, informed by the preceding studies were then prepared. The sequel of the four sermons preached showed in the results of a second survey that preaching does have an effect on those in attendance at church. However, changes in attitude are a slow process. For those on the fringes of church fellowship, there is great need for pastoral visits and attention. The whole experiment indicated that the solution to the problem of low attendance lies in better preparation of baptismal candidates, education, home visitation, and some more education through the spoken and written word in the official church papers. Conclusions. Through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has reconciled humanity to himself. By his word God calls us into a new relationship with himself--a relationship that is inaugurated by baptism into Christ and nurtured through his Word and deepened through regular participation in the Lord’s Supper. That relationship expresses itself in a life of faith and loving service. When God’s people are gathered at the Lord’s Table to commemorate this redemptive act, Christ makes effective among them the benefits of his victory and elicits their response of faith, thanksgiving, and self-surrender. Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is present to build up his church, to strengthen its fellowship and to further its mission. In the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes in the clouds of heaven. We look back with thanksgiving to what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross, commune with him at the Table, and look forward to his final Parousia. This project demonstrates that by educating the membership regarding the value of participation in the sacrament, the attendance can be increased and stay at that level while making participation in the sacrament more meaningful to all in the church

The Evolving University: Disruptive Change and Institutional Innovation

AbstractThe domain of education, like many institutions in contemporary society, faces significant challenges to the completion of it s mission. This is especially true of higher education, which in many countries faces increasing expectations that it serves as a driver facilitating social and cultural advancement. New modes of inclusive delivery need to be tested with real students, new curriculum approaches need to be validated, new platforms need applications and content to succeed, and analytical tools need broadly based data to be truly useful. These also include new ways of collaborating and presenting domain specific subject matter. It is increasingly likely that the University of the future will not look like present-day institutional arrangements

Polarographic Investigations of Some Metal Monocarboxylato Complexes . I. Monocarboxylato Complexes of Lead

By the polarographic method of DeFord and Hume the stability constants of plumbous monocarboxylato co mplexes have been determined, in water solutions of a constant ionic s trength 2 and a con stant concentration of 2 M of monocarboxylic acid. The examinations were carried out in the monocarboxyla te concent r a t ion range up to 2 M. The following values of stability const a nts were obtained: formiato complexes /31= 13, /32 = 50, /33 = 30; acetato complexes /31 = 150 , /32 = 900, fJ3 = 3000; propionato complexes fJ 1 = 170, /J2 = 2200, /J3 = 5800 ; butyrato complexes /J 1 = 120 , /32 = 2000 , /3 3 = = 5800. It i s evident that with the increase of b ase strength and the size of the monoc arboxylate ion the complex stability increas es in the m\u27ljority of cases

Polarization control of metal-enhanced fluorescence in hybrid assemblies of photosynthetic complexes and gold nanorods

Fluorescence imaging of hybrid nanostructures composed of a bacterial light-harvesting complex LH2 and Au nanorods with controlled coupling strength is employed to study the spectral dependence of the plasmon-induced fluorescence enhancement. Perfect matching of the plasmon resonances in the nanorods with the absorption bands of the LH2 complexes facilitates a direct comparison of the enhancement factors for longitudinal and transverse plasmon frequencies of the nanorods. We find that the fluorescence enhancement due to excitation of longitudinal resonance can be up to five-fold stronger than for the transverse one. We attribute this result, which is important for designing plasmonic functional systems, to a very different distribution of the enhancement of the electric field due to the excitation of the two characteristic plasmon modes in nanorods

Leaving the Lecture Hall: Conducting HF/E Outside the Classroom

Georgia Tech HF/E students initiated and managed a multisemester project to experience the nuances of conducting HF/E outside the classroom setting. This article focuses on the lessons learned beyond the classroom: project management, team coordination, communication with non-HF/E team members, application of research methods, and integration of data to prioritize and guide design changes. The goal of this article is to help guide other HF/E students and educators when implementing similar projects by providing the lessons we learned from this experience

Exogenous Angiotensin I Metabolism in Aorta Isolated from Streptozotocin Treated Diabetic Rats

Purpose. Products of angiotensin (ANG) I metabolism may predispose to vascular complications of diabetes mellitus. Methods. Diabetes was induced with streptozotocin (75 mg/kg i.p.). Rat aorta fragments, isolated 4 weeks later, were pretreated with perindoprilat (3 μM), thiorphan (3 μM), or vehicle and incubated for 15 minutes with ANG I (1 μM). Products of ANG I metabolism through classical (ANG II, ANG III, and ANG IV) and alternative (ANG (1–9), ANG (1–7), and ANG (1–5)) pathways were measured in the buffer, using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results. Incubation with ANG I resulted in higher concentration of ANG II (P = 0.02, vehicle pretreatment) and lower of ANG (1–9) (P=0.048, perindoprilat pretreatment) in diabetes. Preference for the classical pathway is suggested by higher ANG III/ANG (1–7) ratios in vehicle (P=0.03), perindoprilat (P=0.02), and thiorphan pretreated (P=0.02) diabetic rat. Within the classical pathway, ratios of ANG IV/ANG II (P=0.01) and of ANG IV/ANG III (P=0.049), but not of ANG III/ANG II are lower in diabetes. Conclusions. Diabetes in rats led to preference toward deleterious (ANG II, ANG III) over protective (ANG IV, ANG (1–9), and ANG (1–7)) ANG I metabolites

Forward Neutron Production at the Fermilab Main Injector

We have measured cross sections for forward neutron production from a variety of targets using proton beams from the Fermilab Main Injector. Measurements were performed for proton beam momenta of 58 GeV/c, 84 GeV/c, and 120 GeV/c. The cross section dependence on the atomic weight (A) of the targets was found to vary as $A^(alpha)$ where $\alpha$ is $0.46\pm0.06$ for a beam momentum of 58 GeV/c and 0.54$\pm$0.05 for 120 GeV/c. The cross sections show reasonable agreement with FLUKA and DPMJET Monte Carlos. Comparisons have also been made with the LAQGSM Monte Carlo.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review D. This version incorporates small changes suggested by referee and small corrections in the neutron production cross sections predicted by FLUK

Comparing large lecture mechanics curricula using the Force Concept Inventory: A five thousand student study

The performance of over 5000 students in introductory calculus-based mechanics courses at the Georgia Institute of Technology was assessed using the Force Concept Inventory (FCI). Results from two different curricula were compared: a traditional mechanics curriculum and the Matter & Interactions (M&I) curriculum. Post-instruction FCI averages were significantly higher for the traditional curriculum than for the M&I curriculum; the differences between curricula persist after accounting for factors such as pre-instruction FCI scores, grade point averages, and SAT scores. FCI performance on categories of items organized by concepts was also compared; traditional averages were significantly higher in each concept. We examined differences in student preparation between the curricula and found that the relative fraction of homework and lecture topics devoted to FCI force and motion concepts correlated with the observed performance differences. Limitations of concept inventories as instruments for evaluating curricular reforms are discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Am. J. Phys. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1112.559

Does the position of the body impact the return of spontaneous circulation and hospital survival in sudden cardiac arrest patients?

Introduction: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a big medical problem.Material and methods: The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of sitting position in victims of OHCA at the arrival of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and examine whether maintaining a supine position until ambulance arrival impacts the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) and survival until hospital admission and discharge. The documentation of patients in the OHCA registry of part of Silesian Voivodeship 1–06.2018 was accessed and yielded 634 cases for analysis.Results: The sitting position was found in 41 (6.5%) patients. These patients were more frequently female: 46.3% vs 30.6%, and older: 74.0 (57.9–82.0) vs 67.7 (54.9–75.8) and less frequently received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders: 7.3% vs 63.6%, while ROSC was found with similar frequency: 34.2% vs 34.1%, survival until hospital admission in ROSC subgroups was lower in those in a sitting position than in a lying position: 50% vs 75.5%. None patients who were found in the sitting position survived until hospital discharge, while 33 (6.1%) patients out of those found in the lying positions survived. The univariable analysis showed that the sitting position was associated with female sex, older age, previously implanted implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) before OHCA. The multivariable logistic revealed that the sitting position was independently associated with chest pain and the presence of ICD.Conclusions: Patients found in a sitting position at the arrival of EMS constituted 6.5% of patients with OHCA in whom resuscitation attempts were undertaken and were at higher risk of unfavorable outcomes