The real crisis of the church

What is the real crisis of the church? Very often, clergy, churches and congregations experience a ‘crisis’ only when membership is in decline, resulting in financial hardship. Crisis is limited to stress which the church as institution experiences when structures, finance and traditions are under pressure. In this contribution, the point is argued that the real crisis of the church is not to be found in institutional challenges, but in the inability of the church to be what it already is. With reference to Karl Barth’s ecclesiology, this contribution departs from the assumption that the real crisis of the church is not only to be found in external circumstances and influences, but is primarily a question of the church not being able to ‘be church’. Continued reformation of the church is of utmost importance

On selection criteria for problems with moving inhomogeneities

We study mechanical problems with multiple solutions and introduce a thermodynamic framework to formulate two different selection criteria in terms of macroscopic energy productions and fluxes. Studying simple examples for lattice motion we then compare the implications for both resting and moving inhomogeneities.Comment: revised version contains new introduction, numerical simulations of Riemann problems, and a more detailed discussion of the causality principle; 18 pages, several figure

Automated mass spectrometer/analysis system: A concept

System performs rapid multiple analyses of entire compound classes or individual compounds on small amounts of sample and reagent. Method will allow screening of large populations for metabolic disorders and establishment of effective-but-safe levels of therapeutic drugs in body fluids and tissues

Die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika as volkskerk: Oorsig en herbesinning

The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika as “volkskerk”: Overview and evaluationThe Church Order of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika (NHKA) states in Ordinance 4 that the NHKA is a “volkskerk”, meaning a Church that is ethnically based and focused on the ministry to Afrikaans speaking people. This article examines the history of the relationship between NHKA and Afrikaners that prevailed since the early 19th century. It argues that the establishment of separate and ethnically based churches in South Africa was, initially, the result of a specific understanding of Afrikaner nationalism and liberty. Only after the Second World War, due to criticism levelled at separate development and separate churches by the ecumenical movement, it was based on theological reflection. This article concludes that the term “volkskerk” has become theologically obsolete as well as practically unusable

On the emergence of Lorentzian signature and scalar gravity

In recent years, a growing momentum has been gained by the emergent gravity framework. Within the latter, the very concepts of geometry and gravitational interaction are not seen as elementary aspects of Nature but rather as collective phenomena associated to the dynamics of more fundamental objects. In this paper we want to further explore this possibility by proposing a model of emergent Lorentzian signature and scalar gravity. Assuming that the dynamics of the fundamental objects can give rise in first place to a Riemannian manifold and a set of scalar fields we show how time (in the sense of hyperbolic equations) can emerge as a property of perturbations dynamics around some specific class of solutions of the field equations. Moreover, we show that these perturbations can give rise to a spin-0 gravity via a suitable redefinition of the fields that identifies the relevant degrees of freedom. In particular, we find that our model gives rise to Nordstrom gravity. Since this theory is invariant under general coordinate transformations, this also shows how diffeomorphism invariance (albeit of a weaker form than the one of general relativity) can emerge from much simpler systems.Comment: 10 pages, revtex4. Replaced with the published versio

A gas-liquid solid phase peptide and protein sequenator

A new miniaturized protein and peptide sequenator has been constructed which uses gas phase reagents at the coupling and cleavage steps of the Edman degradation. The sample is embedded in a matrix of Polybrene dried onto a porous glass fiber disc located in a small cartridge-style reaction cell. The protein or peptide, though not covalently attached to the support, is essentially immobile throughout the degradative cycle, since only relatively apolar, liquid phase solvents pass through the cell. This instrument can give useful sequence data on as little as 5 pmol or protein, can perform extended sequence runs (greater than 30 residues) on subnanomole quantities of proteins purified by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and can sequence hydrophobic peptides to completion. The sequenator is characterized by a high repetitive yield during the degradation, low reagent consumption, low maintenance requirements, and a degradative cycle time of only 50 min using a complete double cleavage program

A Computational Investigation of the Catalytic Properties of Graphene Oxide: Exploring Mechanisms Using DFT Methods

Here we describe a computational study undertaken in an effort to elucidate the reaction mechanisms behind the experimentally observed oxidations and hydrations catalyzed by graphene oxide (GO). Using the oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde as a model reaction, density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that this reactivity stemmed from the transfer of hydrogen atoms from the organic molecule to the GO surface. In particular, neighbouring epoxide groups decorating GO's basal plane were ring-opened, resulting in the formation of diols, followed by dehydration. Consistent with the experimentally-observed dependence of this chemistry on molecular oxygen, our calculations revealed that the partially reduced catalyst was able to be recharged by molecular oxygen, allowing for catalyst turnover. Functional group-free carbon materials, such as graphite, were calculated to have substantially higher reaction barriers, indicating that the high chemical potential and rich functionality of GO are necessary for the observed reactivity.Comment: 5 two column pages, 4 figures, stability of reduced graphene oxide also discussed, accepted to ChemCatChe

Quasinormal Modes, the Area Spectrum, and Black Hole Entropy

The results of canonical quantum gravity concerning geometric operators and black hole entropy are beset by an ambiguity labelled by the Immirzi parameter. We use a result from classical gravity concerning the quasinormal mode spectrum of a black hole to fix this parameter in a new way. As a result we arrive at the Bekenstein - Hawking expression of $A/4 l_P^2$ for the entropy of a black hole and in addition see an indication that the appropriate gauge group of quantum gravity is SO(3) and not its covering group SU(2).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Die kerkregtelike posisie van die kind in die Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, met besondere verwysing na lidmaatskap, dpop, nagmaal en tug

The position of the child in the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afirika with specific reference to membership, baptism, eucharist and discipline The position of the child in the church has been taken for granted for many years. This article gives a historical perspective on the church orders of Calvin, Bucer, the Netherlands and the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk van Afrika, and analizes those articles that shed any light on the position of the child in the church. Matters such as children’s membership of the church, infant baptism, children’s communion and discipline are discussed from the viewpoint of church order

Synthesis of novel monomers containing the trifluorovinylidene group and the cyanato group and polymers thereof

Novel hybrid monomers containing both the aryltrifluorovyinyloxyether-group (TFVE-group) and the cyanato-group, their synthesis, and the synthesis of polymers made from these new hybrid monomers are disclosed