Beyond Homoiousios and Homoousios: Exploring North American Indigenous Concepts of the Shalom Community of God (Chapter 2 of The Trinity Among the Nations)

The fourth-century battle over the interpretation of a single developed trinitarian theology laid the groundwork for numerous binary trajectories, with some resulting in Christian imperialism. Western Christianity\u27s early preoccupation with divine ontology, coupled with the military might of the Christian empire and the West\u27s inability to hold the mystery of God in tension, has beleaguered Christians and other monotheists for centuries. An Indigenous understanding of the divine shalom community may offer different choices that are perhaps closer to the constructed understandings of Trinity held by early followers of the Christ. In their various perceptions, early Jewish Christians recognized and acknowledged a place in their worldview for a trinitarian construct without the trappings of extrinsic categorization or the burden of ontological fixation. If we must talk of God in ontological terms, which again is beyond any of our comprehension, then perhaps the image of the community of the Creator, existing eternally in shalom relationality, can lead us beyond much of the former dialogue that has centered itself on ontological substance, and toward a better understanding of our own communal ontology

The Centaurus Group and the Outer Halo of NGC 5128: Are they Dynamically Connected?

NGC 5128, a giant elliptical galaxy only $\sim 4$ Mpc away, is the dominant member of a galaxy group of over 80 probable members. The Centaurus group provides an excellent sample for a kinematic comparison between the halo of NGC 5128 and its surrounding satellite galaxies. A new study, presented here, shows no kinematic difference in rotation amplitude, rotation axis, and velocity dispersion between the halo of NGC 5128, determined from over $\sim340$ of its globular clusters, and those of the Centaurus group as a whole. These results suggest NGC 5128 could be behaving in part as the inner component to the galaxy group, and could have begun as a large initial seed galaxy, gradually built up by minor mergers and satellite accretions, consistent with simple cold dark matter models. The mass and mass-to-light ratios in the B-band, corrected for projection effects, are determined to be $(1.3\pm0.5) \times 10^{12}$ M_{\sun} and $52\pm22$ M_{\sun}/L_{\sun} for NGC 5128 out to a galactocentric radius of 45 kpc, and $(9.2\pm3.0) \times 10^{12}$ M_{\sun} and $153\pm50$ M_{\sun}/L_{\sun} for the Centaurus group, consistent with previous studies.Comment: 14 pages, 3 tables, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in A

Did Jesus or Custer Die for Our Sins? Exploring the Mission of Covenant among Non-Western Indigenous Cultures (Chapter Five of Covenant-Making: The Fabric of Relationship)

Excerpt: Dr. Larry Shelton has become a good friend, close confidant and colleague. His interest in and promotion of North American Native theology has been clearly demonstrated over the past decade. Larry has attended most of our NAIITS (North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies) Symposia; created several important opportunities for dialogue; and somehow found a way to wrangle me into full-time academic work. I owe Larry a lot. I appreciate his keen theological mind, his irreverence for orthodoxy simply for orthodoxy’s sake, and his Southern mountain humor. Larry always brings out the good ol’ boy in me even when this ol’ boy ain’t so good. For Larry’s friendship and the honor he has shown me, and our Indigenous work, I will always be grateful. A scholar, friend, and humorist—but above all—Larry is a real human being

The Effects of Cervus nippon on Two Key Ecological Drivers Controlling Populations of Plebejus argus on Heaths: Larval Food Sources and Mutualistic Ants

This study investigated the effects of grazing by invasive sika deer, Cervus nippon on the abundance of the silver-studded blue butterfly Plebejus argus on a lowland heath system in the UK. Plebejus argus is a rare species whose UK stronghold is lowland heath, where it is dependent on a mutalistic relationship with species of Lasius niger ants. Cervus nippon is an invasive species but genetically and ecologically closely related to native red deer C. elaphus and so may have positive as well as negative ecological effects. This study examines the relationship between the incidence of C. nippon and the abundance of P. argus and tests the effect of deer i) directly via their impact on vegetation structure and composition, ii) indirectly their impact on the abundance of L. niger ants. Data were collected from 37 plots of heathland in Dorset, measuring 50 m by 50 Original Research Article Woodley and Diaz; ACRI, 12(1): 1-11, 2018; Article no.ACRI.39140 2 m which were differentially grazed by deer. The abundance of P. argus was found to be significantly higher in areas with high incidence of C. nippon and the best predictor of butterfly abundance was the abundance of L. niger ants rather than the abundance of butterfly larval food plants. We conclude that this result provides evidence for an important indirect impact of grazing via manipulating habitat suitability for a key mutualistic species

Autonomous Control of a Scale Model of a Trailer-Truck using an Obstacle-Avoidance Path-Planning Hierarchy

A scale model of a tractor-trailer truck was developed as a testbed for control algorithms. The truck operates in autonomous or semi-autonomous modes. An on-board Pentium computer with a PC104 bus performs the computations and data collection. Various sensors and a wireless transceiver are on-board the truck. Our research focus has been in the autonomous control of vehicles using intelligent systems. For this document we have employed a multi-resolutional hierarchy to plan a path for the tractor-trailer truck. The hierarchy starts with a simple path then warps it around obstacles. The modular construction of the hierarchy allows more intelligent agents to perform some of tasks. The current system has some limitations as to the placement of obstacles, however, it is an extremely fast algorithm and is able to handle some motion of the obstacles

Beam-Based Alignment, Tuning and Beam Dynamics Studies for the ATF2 Extraction Line and Final Focus System

MOPP039International audienceUsing a new extraction line currently under construction, the ATF2 experiment plans to test the novel compact final focus optics design with local chromaticity correction intended for use in future linear colliders. With a 1.3 GeV design beam of 30nm normalised vertical emittance extracted from the ATF damping ring, the primary goal is to achieve a vertical spot-size at the IP waist of 37nm. We discuss our planned strategy for tuning the ATF2 beam to meet the primary goal. Simulation studies have been performed to asses the effectiveness of the strategy, including “static” (installation) errors and dynamical effects (ground-motion, mechanical vibration, ring extraction jitter etc.). We have simulated all steps in the tuning procedure, from initial orbit establishment to final IP spot-size tuning. Through a Monte Carlo study of 100's of simulation seeds we find we can achieve a spot-size within ~10% of the design optics value in at least 75% of cases. We also ran a simulation to study the long-term performance with the use of beam-based feedbacks

The 105-kDa Basement Membrane Autoantigen p105 Is N-Terminally Homologous to a Tumor-Associated Antigen

Certain constitutive skin basement membrane components, such as bullous pemphigoid antigens and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita antigen, were discovered because they were targeted by an autoimmune reaction. We aimed to purify and characterize a 105-kDa skin basement membrane protein termed p105 recognized by autoantibodies (anti-p105) from patients with a unique immune-mediated subepidermal blistering skin disease. A simian virus 40-transformed human fibroblast cell line that synthesizes and secretes p105 was utilized as the protein source. p105 was partially purified by salt-gradient fractionation of serum-free conditioned medium through a Mono Q anion-exchange column and by examining each fraction with protein staining and immunoblotting against anti-p105. p105 was isolated from polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis gels, blotted onto polyvinylidene difluoride membrane, and subjected to protein microsequencing. The 20 microsequenced N-terminal amino acids exhibited no homology to known basement membrane proteins but exhibited a 70% homology to a 90-kDa tumor-associated antigen. Antibodies raised against a peptide generated from these amino acid sequences reacted to a 105-kDa western-blotted keratinocyte and fibroblast protein and a basement membrane component. p105 resisted digestion by glycosidases chondroitinase ABC, neuraminidase, and N-glycosidase F but was cleaved by protease V8 to antigenic fragments of 22kDa and 14kDa. The synthesis of p105 was inhibited by cycloheximide. We conclude that p105 is a unique basement membrane component produced by both keratinocytes and fibroblasts