Becoming Christians: Prayers and subject formation in an urban church in China

Prayers in Christianity are often considered to be a theological or pastoral topic; while social scientific studies generally tend to reduce them, like prayers in other religious contexts, to the status of psychological responses bringing comfort to the practitioner, or a collective construction connected with social and cultural institutions. However, what prayer actually is, and what it means to Christians who practise it remains an open issue for further, more intensive and thorough study. Based on fieldwork in an urban church in China, this article provides some perspectives on contemporary Chinese Christians and their prayer life, attempting to elaborate its possible significance, especially in terms of subject-formation processes within these Christians. Meanwhile, this article argues that, in working towards a better understanding of Christians, it is more efficacious to take ‘Christians’ as those who are, rather than a given or acquired identity, or a status of being, engaged in a process of becoming through a practice, or set of practices, which in this case is prayer,. Moreover, in the case of this Chinese Christian church, the practise of prayer also indicates some reflections on the cultural and religious diversity of contemporary Chinese society

Is there life? Is there spirit? Debating belief and being a good Christian in Watchman Nee’s ‘Little Flock’ : Religions

Funding: This research was funded by the Shanghai Social Science Innovation Research Base, for ‘Research on Transitional Sociology with Chinese Characteristics’.Christian, especially Protestant, identity is often framed through the lens of belief, particularly belief understood as an interior orientation. Through an examination of the non-denominational Protestant group, the ‘Little Flock’, founded by Watchman Nee in the early 20th century, we trace enduring aspects of Little Flock theology in contemporary Chinese Protestant practice. In particular, we attend to conceptions of and debates surrounding belief and how to determine the quality of one’s faith—whether or not one might be considered not just a Christian, but a ‘good’ one.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Double layer of Platinum Electrodes: Non-Monotonic Surface Charging Phenomena and Negative Double Layer Capacitance

In this study, the refined double layer model of platinum electrodes accounts for chemisorbed oxygen species, oriented interfacial water molecules and ion size effects in solution. It results in a non-monotonic surface charging relation and a peculiar capacitance vs. potential curve with a maximum and maybe negative-defined values in the potential regime of oxide-formation. &nbsp

Linking supply chain quality integration with mass customization and product modularity

Supply chain quality management has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners in recent years. However, the knowledge about the effects of a manufacturer's design and production capabilities on supply chain quality management is limited. In this study, we propose a model to investigate the effects of mass customization and product modularity on supply chain quality integration (i.e. internal, supplier, and customer quality integration) and the impact of supply chain quality integration on competitive performance. We use data collected from 317 global manufacturers to empirically test the conceptual model. The results show that mass customization and product modularity directly improve internal quality integration, and product modularity also improves internal quality integration indirectly through mass customization. Product modularity improves supplier quality integration directly, and both mass customization and product modularity improve supplier quality integration indirectly through internal quality integration. Mass customization improves customer quality integration both directly and indirectly through internal quality integration, and product modularity improves customer quality integration indirectly through mass customization and internal quality integration. We also find that supplier quality integration directly enhances competitive performance, and internal quality integration enhances competitive performance both directly and indirectly through supplier quality integration. Our findings contribute to production and quality management literature and practices

Efficacy of 1% fipronil dust of activated carbon against subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki in laboratory conditions

Toxicity and horizontal transmission of 1% fipronil dust of activated carbon were measured using the subterranean termite Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki in laboratory conditions. 1% fipronil dust of activated carbon has delayed toxicity towards C. formosanus compared with 0.5% fipronil dust of French chalk; knockdown times KT50 and KT90 were delayed by >9 and >15 h respectively. Furthermore, 1% fipronil dust of activated carbon showed excellent primary and secondary horizontal transfer levels. In primary horizontal transfer, recipient mortalities reached 100% by 24, 48 and 72 h at donor-recipient ratios of 1:1, 1:5 and 1:10, respectively. High transfer efficacies were also found if donor-recipient ratios were greatly increased: mortality reached 100% at 9 d at ratio 1:25 and >90% at 12 d at 1:50. In secondary horizontal transfer, the toxicant transmitting ability of C. formosanus was greater when the primary horizontal transfer ratio was lower, and the highest transfer efficacy was found with a donor-recipient ratio of 1:1 - recipient mortalities reached 100% at 5 d and 11 d, respectively. Application of 1% fipronil dust of activated carbon overcomes the problem that that too high a concentration kills termites before they can contaminate their nestmates, while a lower concentration may not supply a sufficient dose for effective transfer from treated to untreated termites; this preparation has delayed toxicity, dose-dependent toxicity in horizontal transfer and high efficacy to control C. formosanus

Time variable cosmological constant of holographic origin with interaction in Brans-Dicke theory

Time variable cosmological constant (TVCC) of holographic origin with interaction in Brans-Dicke theory is discussed in this paper. We investigate some characters for this model, and show the evolutions of deceleration parameter and equation of state (EOS) for dark energy. It is shown that in this scenario an accelerating universe can be obtained and the evolution of EOS for dark energy can cross over the boundary of phantom divide. In addition, a geometrical diagnostic method, jerk parameter is applied to this model to distinguish it with cosmological constant.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure