Assessing Spiritual Formation: Perceptions of Challenges and Successes

P-12 Christian schools are faced with the challenge of assessing spiritual formation. This research aims to understand the perceptions of spiritual formation assessment, describe the difficulties related to this form of evaluation, and make practical suggestions for next steps. Through survey and interview, we gained the perspective of individuals working in P-12 schools. Findings show that there are currently gaps and needs between: (1) mission and vision statements regarding spiritual formation and what is being practiced, (2) biblical integration both in content and in pedagogy, (3) godly relationships with students as an indispensable key in the formation of students spiritually, (4) some individuals educators not knowing how or reluctant to measure the heart, and (5) the desire for better assessment methods for this task. Practical steps towards a qualitative assessment of spiritual formation within individuals schools are offered

Defining and Assessing Spiritual Formation: A Necessity for Christian Schooling

Assessing Spiritual Formation Abstract Virtually every Christian school promises a “Christian” this, a “God-centered” that, or a “biblical” something else in its mission and philosophy statements. These commitments are used in marketing, and are regarded as educational outcomes for each school. Christian schools are fairly skilled with their assessments of academic outcomes, but many are not even trying to assess the spiritual formation of their students. With the development of qualitative research methods over the past few decades, Christian educators now have reliable, robust, and usable methods to complete this important evaluation of their programs and practices. This article explores this important topic and provides practical guidance for each school to get busy with this neglected work while also describing ongoing research in assessing spiritual formati

К актуальности разработки информационных систем для поддержки социальных исследований

This article is devoted to the problem of social researches information support and designed for the purpose of weaknesses identification in the current methods of organizing large-scale sociological studies (within the region) and also for assessment of related costs

Las primeras obras públicas en el Nuevo Mundo y su financiación: Santo Domingo 1494-1572

55 pagesPeer reviewe

Potential novel pharmacological therapies for myocardial remodelling

Left ventricular (LV) remodelling remains an important treatment target in patients after myocardial infarction (MI) and chronic heart failure (CHF). Accumulating evidence has supported the concept that beneficial effects of current pharmacological treatment strategies to improve the prognosis in these patients, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition, angiotensin type 1 receptor blocker therapy, and beta-blocker therapy, are related, at least in part, to their effects on LV remodelling and dysfunction. However, despite modern reperfusion therapy after MI and optimized treatment of patients with CHF, LV remodelling is observed in a substantial proportion of patients and is associated with an adverse clinical outcome. These observations call for novel therapeutic strategies to prevent or even reverse cardiac remodelling. Recent insights from experimental studies have provided new targets for interventions to prevent or reverse LV remodelling, i.e. reduced endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase-derived NO availability, activation of cardiac and leukocyte-dependent oxidant stress pathways, inflammatory pathway activation, matrix-metalloproteinase activation, or stem cell transfer and delivery of novel paracrine factors. An important challenge in translating these observations from preclinical studies into clinical treatment strategies relates to the fact that clinical studies are designed on top of established pharmacological therapy, whereas most experimental studies have tested novel interventions without concomitant drug regimens such as ACE inhibitors or beta-blockers. Therefore, animal studies may overestimate the effect of potential novel treatment strategies on LV remodelling and dysfunction, since established pharmacological therapies may act, in part, via identical or similar signalling pathways. Nevertheless, preclinical studies provide essential information for identifying potential novel targets, and their potential drawbacks, and are required for developing novel clinical treatment strategies to prevent or reverse LV remodelling and dysfunctio

(+)-{1,2-Bis[(2R,5R)-2,5-dimethyl-phospho-lan-1-yl]ethane- κ2 P,P′}(η4-cyclo-octa-1,5-diene) rhodium(I) tetra-fluorido-borate

The title compound, [Rh(C8H12)(C14H 28P2)]BF4, exhibits a rhodium(I) complex cation with a bidentate bis-phosphine ligand and a bidentate η2, η2-coordinated cyclo-octa-1,5-diene. Together the ligands create a slightly distorted square-planar cordination environment for the Rh(I) atom. There are three mol-ecules in the asymmetric unit and intra-molecular P - Rh - P bite angles of 82.78 (5), 82.97 (6) and 83.09 (5)° are observed. The dihedral angles between the P - Rh - P and the X - Rh - X planes (X is the centroid of a double bond) are 14.7 (1), 14.8 (1) and 15.3 (1)°. The structure exhibits disorder of one cyclo-octa-diene ligand as well as one BF4 anion

Crystal structure of (2,3-bis((2R,5R)-2,5-dimethylphosphonalyl)maleic anhydride)-(η4-norbornadiene)-rhodium(I) tetrafluoroborate, [Rh(C7H8)(C16H24O3P 2)] [BF4]

C23H32BF4O3P2Rh, orthorhombic, P212121 (no. 19), a = 10.147(2) Å, b = 13.246(3) Å, c = 18.827(4) Å, V = 2530.5 Å3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.025, wRref(F 2) = 0.067, T = 200 K. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag,

Crystal structure of (η4-cycloocta-1,5-dien)-N-(2- (diphenylphosphinooxy)-3-(naphthalen-1-yloxy)propyl)-N-(pentan-3-yl)-1, 1-diphenylphosphinamine-rhodium(I) tetrafluoroborate, [Rh(C8H 12)(C42H43NO2P2)][BF 4]

C50H55BF4NO2P2Rh, monoclinic, P1211 (no. 4), a = 12.722(3) Å, b = 15.248(3) Å, c = 12.818(3) Å, β = 115.80(3)°, V = 2238.7 Å3, Z = 2, Rgt(F) = 0.036, wRref(F 2) = 0.079, T = 200 K. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag