Forgiveness: human and divine

Human forgiveness is always a personal response to personal wrong. In this it differs from pardon, which is a social activity undertaken only by one qualified to do so. Forgiveness is different from both understanding and tolerance in its response to personal wrong. True forgiveness always includes the letting go of resentment and results in healing for the one who forgives. Prior to an act of forgiveness, repentance on the part of the wrongdoer is desirable, but not essential. When repentance does take place, forgiveness includes a measure of trust being placed in the one forgiven. Since forgiveness is difficult, there are ways in which it is falsified, knowingly or unknowingly. Forgiveness is also difficult for the one being forgiven. He should be given the opportunity to make reparation. Many situations involve wrongs on both sides with a consequent need for mutual forgiveness. Sometimes an individual will feel it appropriate to repent of wrongs committed by those whom he is seen to represent. Self-forgiveness, though difficult to understand and open to abuse, is a real and necessary activity. God’s forgiveness is examined from the three-fold perspective of release from debt, justification, and the personal bearing of hurt and renewal of fellowship. Each perspective is found in the teaching of Jesus and Paul, although their emphases differ. From all three perspectives, the Gross is found to be the cost of forgiveness. Finally, the thesis notes the elements common to human and divine forgiveness. Both are personal, and so involve the feelings. Forgiveness is costly for both man and God. It is risky, for it can be refused or abused. It is a necessity, since both man and God have a deep need to be reconciled to those from whom they are estranged

A Case of Epidemic Lethargic Encephalitis.

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Spondylitis in chronic ulcerative colitis

A review of the roentgen films and hospital charts in 100 examples of chronic ulcerative colitis showed a 6 per cent prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis. There were no differences in the course or severity of the colitis that distinguished the patients with spondylitis from the entire group. The radiologic features of the spinal involvement were identical to those seen in ankylosing spondylitis. The concurrence of these two diseases is of interest from an etiologic viewpoint but is not explained.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/37687/1/1780030109_ftp.pd

Statistical properties of exoplanets IV. The period--eccentricity relations of exoplanets and of binary stars

A sample of spectroscopic binaries and a sample of single planetary systems, both having main-sequence solar-type primary components, are selected in order to compare their eccentricities. The positions of the objects in the (P.(1-e^2)^(3/2), e) plane is used to determine parts in the period-eccentricity diagram that are not affected by tidal circularization. The original eccentricities of binaries and planets are derived and compared. They seem to be weakly or not at all correlated with period in both samples, but two major differences are found :(1) The tidal circularization of planetary orbits is almost complete for periods shorter than 5 days, but it is not visible when P.(1-e^2)^{3/2} is longer than this limit. This suggests that the circularization occurs rapidly after the end of the migration process and is probably simultaneous with the end of the formation of the planet. By contrast, we confirm that the circularization of the binary orbits is a process still progressing a long time after the formation of the systems.(2) Beyond the circularization limit, the eccentricities of the orbits of the planets are significantly smaller than those of binary orbits, and this discrepancy cannot be due to a selection effect. Moreover, the eccentricities of binaries with small mass ratios are quite similar to those of all binaries with q<0.8. This suggests that the low eccentricities of exoplanet orbits are not a consequence of low-mass secondaries in a universal process. These remarks are in favor of the idea that binaries and exoplanets are two different classes of object from the point of view of their formation.Comment: To be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics (in press) 10 pages, 7 figure

How special is the Solar System?

Most mechanisms proposed for the formation of planets are modified versions of the mechanism proposed for the solar system. Here we argue that, in terms of those planetary systems which have been observed, the case for the solar system being a typical planetary system has yet to be established. We consider the possibility that most observed planetary systems have been formed in some quite different way. If so, it may be that none of the observed planetary systems is likely to harbour an earth-like planet.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS accepte

A Comparative Cyberconflict Analysis of Digital Activism Across Post-Soviet Countries

This article analyses digital activism comparatively in relation to three Post-Soviet regions: Russian/anti-Russian in Crimea and online political deliberation in Belarus, in juxtaposition to Estonia’s digital governance approach. The authors show that in civil societies in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, cultural forms of digital activism, such as internet memes, thrive and produce and reproduce effective forms of political deliberation. In contrast to Estonia, in authoritarian regimes actual massive mobilization and protest is forbidden, or is severely punished with activists imprisoned, persecuted or murdered by the state. This is consistent with use of cultural forms of digital activism in countries where protest is illegal and political deliberation is restricted in government-controlled or oligarchic media. Humorous political commentary might be tolerated online to avoid mobilization and decompress dissent and resistance, yet remaining strictly within censorship and surveillance apparatuses. The authors’ research affirms the potential of internet memes in addressing apolitical crowds, infiltrating casual conversations and providing symbolic manifestation to resistant debates. Yet, the virtuality of the protest undermines its consistency and impact on offline political deliberation. Without knowing each other beyond social media, the participants are unlikely to form robust organisational structures and mobilise for activism offline

Building a new research framework for social evolution: intralocus caste antagonism

The breeding and non‐breeding ‘castes’ of eusocial insects provide a striking example of role‐specific selection, where each caste maximises fitness through different morphological, behavioural and physiological trait values. Typically, queens are long‐lived egg‐layers, while workers are short‐lived, largely sterile foragers. Remarkably, the two castes are nevertheless produced by the same genome. The existence of inter‐caste genetic correlations is a neglected consequence of this shared genome, potentially hindering the evolution of caste dimorphism: alleles that increase the productivity of queens may decrease the productivity of workers and vice versa, such that each caste is prevented from reaching optimal trait values. A likely consequence of this ‘intralocus caste antagonism’ should be the maintenance of genetic variation for fitness and maladaptation within castes (termed ‘caste load’), analogous to the result of intralocus sexual antagonism. The aim of this review is to create a research framework for understanding caste antagonism, drawing in part upon conceptual similarities with sexual antagonism. By reviewing both the social insect and sexual antagonism literature, we highlight the current empirical evidence for caste antagonism, discuss social systems of interest, how antagonism might be resolved, and challenges for future research. We also introduce the idea that sexual and caste antagonism could interact, creating a three‐way antagonism over gene expression. This includes unpacking the implications of haplodiploidy for the outcome of this complex interaction

Essentially biased: why people are fatalistic about genes

We propose that people are genetic essentialists—that is, they tend to think of genetic attributions as being immutable, of a specific etiology, natural, and dividing people into homogenous and discrete groups. Although there are rare conditions where genes operate in these kinds of deterministic ways, people overgeneralize from these to the far more common conditions where genes are not at all deterministic. These essentialist biases are associated with some harmful outcomes such as racism, sexism, pessimism in the face of illnesses, political polarization, and support for eugenics, while at the same time they are linked with increased tolerance and sympathy for gay rights, mental illness, and less severe judgments of responsibility for crime. We will also discuss how these essentialist biases connect with the burgeoning direct-to-consumer genomics industry and various kinds of genetic engineering. Overall, these biases appear rather resistant to efforts to reduce them, although genetics literacy predicts weaker essentialist tendencies