Towards a Biblical Spirituality: Dwelling with God through the Exodus Sanctuary-Covenant Structure

Problem Biblical spirituality was challenged from the very start of the Christian church by competing spiritual ideologies of philosophical origins. Because the interpretation of spirituality has focused on exegetical and doctrinal approaches (micro and mesohermeneutical levels), the grounding biblical macro-hermeneutical level of its basic presuppositions has been ignored. Yet this is the level that gives ultimate meaning to the meso and micro levels. This oversight constitutes a giant roadblock to understanding and experiencing true biblical spirituality, the consequences of which are devastating both for the individual believer (Matt 7:23), as well as for the mission, unity, and growth of the church at large. Method This thesis will first deconstruct the macro-hermeneutical foundations of three primary models of Christian spirituality-classical, Protestant and modern-through their selected representatives: Augustine, Martin Luther, and Teilhard de Chardin, respectively. Then the biblical model of spirituality will be outlined through a phenomenological study of the OT Exodus sanctuary-covenant structure, focusing on seven mountain meetings between God and Israel. Finally, a summary and comparison of the four models-classical, Protestant, modern, and biblical-will be presented. Results. The final comparison of the four models of Christian spirituality reveals that the three dominant models—classical, Protestant, and modern—are nearly identical in all their macro presuppositions. The biblical model, on the other hand, stands in unique contrast to them all in upholding 1) an analogically temporal, relational and missional theology and ontology; 2) a wholistic anthropology; 3) a cognitive epistemology based on faith in God’s historical words/acts; 4) a unified historical cosmology; and 5) a Christological metaphysical center where Christ operates historically through the sanctuary covenant, granting freedom to all rational beings with the present aim of spiritual restoration/union and the final aim of a physical restoration/reunion. Conclusion This study concludes that the Exodus sanctuary-covenant structure offers a spiritually compelling and biblically grounded alternative to other models of Christian spirituality. For those seeking to be faithful to the sola and tota Scriptura principles at the most meaningful meta-hermeneutical level, it is an option that must be seriously considered

Biblical Hermeneutics: An Adventist Approach [review]/Hasel, Frank M., ed.

This is a book review by Silvia Canale Bacchiocchi

High-resolution SAR images for fire susceptibility estimation in urban forestry

We present an adaptive system for the automatic assessment of both physical and anthropic fire impact factors on periurban forestries. The aim is to provide an integrated methodology exploiting a complex data structure built upon a multi resolution grid gathering historical land exploitation and meteorological data, records of human habits together with suitably segmented and interpreted high resolution X-SAR images, and several other information sources. The contribution of the model and its novelty rely mainly on the definition of a learning schema lifting different factors and aspects of fire causes, including physical, social and behavioural ones, to the design of a fire susceptibility map, of a specific urban forestry. The outcome is an integrated geospatial database providing an infrastructure that merges cartography, heterogeneous data and complex analysis, in so establishing a digital environment where users and tools are interactively connected in an efficient and flexible way

Approaches for Future Internet architecture design and Quality of Experience (QoE) Control

Researching a Future Internet capable of overcoming the current Internet limitations is a strategic investment. In this respect, this paper presents some concepts that can contribute to provide some guidelines to overcome the above-mentioned limitations. In the authors' vision, a key Future Internet target is to allow applications to transparently, efficiently and flexibly exploit the available network resources with the aim to match the users' expectations. Such expectations could be expressed in terms of a properly defined Quality of Experience (QoE). In this respect, this paper provides some approaches for coping with the QoE provision problem

Autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome in pregnancy: a case of favorable mother - fetal outcome in a well-controlled disease

The autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome(ALPS)is a disorder of abnormal lymphocyte survival caused by the dysregulation of theFasapoptotic pathway. The Fas geneis expressed at the maternal–fetal interface and is involved in the regulation of immune response and implantation. Altered Fas expression may result in altered apoptosis and, ultimately, affect both the immune response and implantation; it is in fact associated with recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm premature rupture of membranes and pre-eclampsia. Currently, there are over 500 cases of ALPS reported worldwide from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Up to date, the published work contains no specific reports on pregnancy outcome in women affected by ALPS. We present a case of full-term uneventful pregnancy in a patient affected by ALPS. A specific clinical follow-up in a pregnant woman with primary immunologic disease is suggested

El ABANDONO Y EL REZAGO EN LOS ESTUDIOS SUPERIORES DESDE UNA MIRADA MULTIFOCAL: METODOLOGÍAS, RESULTADOS Y RECOMENDACIONES

En Argentina como en la región, el rezago y el abandono en las carreras de grado son dos problemáticas de agenda de investigación y de políticas públicas al interior del sistema universitario. En el presente trabajo se procura socializar el proceso de investigación sobre ambos fenómenos en las carreras de grado de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas de la Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Uno de los objetivos de este escrito es desplegar las perspectivas teóricas y las estrategias cuantitativas y cualitativas desde las que se abordan el rezago y el abandono. Otro objetivo, es la socialización de los resultados obtenidos, atendiendo a la complejidad del entramado de factores que operan en el rezago y el abandono en las carreras de grado de la Unidad Académica mencionada. Por último, se ofrecerán algunas de las recomendaciones construidas colectivamente entre los distintos estamentos universitarios que posibilitaron acciones políticas a nivel del gobierno de la Facultad de Ciencias Económicas

Smart Vehicle to Grid Interface Project: Electromobility Management System Architecture and Field Test Results

This paper presents and discusses the electromobility management system developed in the context of the SMARTV2G project, enabling the automatic control of plug-in electric vehicles' (PEVs') charging processes. The paper describes the architecture and the software/hardware components of the electromobility management system. The focus is put in particular on the implementation of a centralized demand side management control algorithm, which allows remote real time control of the charging stations in the field, according to preferences and constraints expressed by all the actors involved (in particular the distribution system operator and the PEV users). The results of the field tests are reported and discussed, highlighting critical issues raised from the field experience.Comment: To appear in IEEE International Electric Vehicle Conference (IEEE IEVC 2014

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS, FOOD HABITS AND PHOSPHORUS LEVELS IN PATIENTS ON HEMODIALYSIS

Background: Hyperphosphoremia is one of the most important risk factors for morbidity and mortality for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, and also, for the general population. Excessive dietary intake of phosphate (P) is one of the key factors. In particular, P in its inorganic form, which is contained in food additives, is more readily absorbed. Unfortunately, these food additives are mostly present in convenience so called "fast foods" (pre-cooked), soft drinks, which represent the typical food consumed by our hemodialysis (HD) population, composed by elderly people, mostly low-socio economic class, who often live alone. Objectives: We performed an observational retrospective multicenter study to find any association between social, cultural and economic situation, as well as food habits, and P levels in a cohort of patients on HD. Secondarily; we also examined the association between the fast food consumption and increased P levels, as well as patient compliance for P binding products. Patients and Methods: To explore the association between socio-economic factors and serum P levels, we enrolled 100 patients on periodic HD treatment from three different units. Information on social, cultural, economic, diet habits, therapy for hyperphosphoremia and hematological and clinical parameters had been collected through specific questionnaires, administered by a physician. Results: Results showed serum P level was reduced in patients who live alone compared to patients in family (P = 0.04), in self-sufficient (P = 0.05) and in patients belonging to middle-upper class, versus low-class (P = 0.003). Fast foods intake correlates with increase in P serum levels (P = 0.002), whilst the same correlation was not found for cheese intake. Our data show that socio-economic status and food habits are useful predictors of P serum levels. Conclusions: In conclusion, dietary counseling of patients on HD is mandatory. Interventions that consider the socio-economic situation allow delivering important messages on foods with the least amount of P and adequate protein content, and they may be a successful strategy in targeting patients at a higher risk of hyperphosphoremia

MoS2/PANI composite as suitable functional interlayer for lithium polysulfides trapping in Li-S batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery technology promises much higher energy storage capacity compared to common Li-ion commercial batteries. Li-S batteries have high theoretical capacity of 1672 mAh g-1, thanks to conversion reaction from solid sulfur (S8) to lithium polysulfides (LiPS) [1]. At the same time, sulfur allows for a wide range of operation temperature, being non-toxic abundant and low-cost element. Instead of mentioned advantages, few issues are still hindering the commercialization of Li-S battery. The main problem afflicting lithium sulfur batteries is the shuttle phenomenon, due to soluble long chain lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) generated at the cathode, which are soluble and able to migrate to the anode were they directly react with lithium, by a parasitic passivation reactions [2]. In the last years most interlayer separators are based on materials showing a great physical blocking of PS, like graphene. Unfortunately, many of these materials are still not effective enough in preserving long life performance. Recently was demonstrated that metal sulfides and conductive polymers can directly interact with lithium polysulfides through electrostatic or chemical bonds, inhibiting the dissolution of LiPSs. In particular, MoS2 and PANI separately showed strong adsorption capability, preventing polysulfides dissolution and accelerating the redox reaction kinetics of polysulfides conversion [3][4]. In the present work we rationally designed some binary materials based on PANI and MoS2 at different ratio, with the aim to evaluate the different role of the two components and their synergy as PS blocking agent. By the implementation of a second layer containing the MoS2/PANI composite directly on the top of the standard S/KjB electrode. The systematic study confirms that double-layer containing the composite remarkably improves the performance of the sulfur cathode, showing a final specific capacity close to 600 mAh g-1, 25% higher than the standard sulfur cathode, after 500 cycles [5]. [1] A. N. Mistry and P. P. Mukherjee, J. Phys. Chem. C, 122-42, (2018) 23845–23851. [2] L. Tan, X. Li, Z. Wang, H. Guo, and J. Wang, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 10-4, (2018) 3707–3713. [3] Y. Liu, C. Cui, Y. Liu, W. Liu, and J. Wei, RSC Adv, 10-13, (2020) 7384–7395. [4] Y. Yao, H. Zhang, and X. Wang, J. Solid State Electrochem, 23-8, (2019) 2559–2567. [5] D. Versaci, I. Canale, S. Goswami, J. Amici, C. Francia, E. Fortunato, R. Martins, L. Pereira, S. Bodoardo, Journal of Power Sources 521 (2022) 230945