71446 research outputs found
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The Caring Shapes We Make: Preparing the Body of the Spiritual Care Practitioner
No full textAuthor's Origina
The Theology of Witness: Martyrs, Modernity and Mock-Ups
No full textThis project is my attempt to produce devotional material that communicates to a young adult, non-denominational Christian audience, who are desiring to understand how to live out their faith authentically and passionately. Devotional material is important for Christians, especially millennials, who are seeking to pursue guided time with God daily. Many young Christians today are pursuing their relationship with God without much guidance or often on their own; therefore, devotional material is vital for this demographic more than ever.
In addition to using this material as a means of daily spiritual guidance, I will also use personal narrative to connect with the reader. Doing this will show that I am no different than the ordinary young adult who, too, has had challenges within my faith both from theological and practical standpoints. One thing the Church can do better at is being more relational. I believe that through using personal narrative, the reader will be able to resonate with the narrative that is provided. This is important because I believe that many people feel like outsiders when they go into churches or engage with Christians. By reading this work, the reader can see themselves in the text and hopefully grasp a better understanding of Christian communities and their place within them. This deeper understanding will point to the fact that the Church is made up of imperfect people in need of a perfect God, and through this understanding will help them to give grace to Christian communities, and themselves, more freely.
From personal narratives I will transition to martyrdom accounts that will help the reader to understand the throughline from Christians in the early Church and Christians in the Church today. This specific type of writing I am choosing is akin to works by Priscilla Shirer, Sarita Lyons, and Jackie Hill Perry; works that people would use in their discipleship life. In addition to these authors, this work also resonates with historic Christian writing such as Augustine's Confessions.
The intended goal of this devotional book is action. Like the verb to noun process where to inform becomes information and to relate becomes relationship all based on signifying the act of doing something or the result of that action. This is the process this book is seeking to have the reader embark upon. To put action behind the information one has received that causes one to live, think, and ultimately witness differently.
From my own experiences from childhood to adulthood and through analyzing the life and circumstances of martyrs, the reader is provided a lens that shows that the standard of witness remains despite the change in time and circumstances. Although today we do not have coliseums where animals will rip you apart for not renouncing your faith in Christ, we have opportunities where we can proclaim our allegiance to Christ and we often fail to because of our infatuation with human approval, our own desires, or simply because we do not understand the weight of our witness. This book seeks to bring the expectation and standard of witness back to the forefront of our daily lives and within our churches.Author's Origina
Relocating Christianity in China: A Decolonial Reading of DaTong and Heaven/Paradise
No full textAs an ancient utopian pursuit, the Confucian idea of Da Tong (大同) deeply shapes and influences Chinese spirituality and society; similarly, the idea of heaven/paradise and the longing evoked by this idea nurtures the Christian spirituality and practices in daily life. Can the Chinese pursuit of a DaTong world walk along with Christian longing for heaven as companions? In the post-colonial world, the passive impacts of colonialism and the precarious international political environment intensify the conflicts between Chinese culture and Christianity, which generate a necessary theological and pastoral need for the answers to this question. As a response to the need, this paper attempts to relocate Christianity through a decolonial comparative reading of the Confucian idea of Da Tong (大同) world and the Christian idea of heaven/paradise. Instead of stressing the differences, this paper focuses on the similarities between those ideas. In addition, Inspired by decolonial theories, the reading of the texts incorporates an analysis of the current reality of the Chinese Christian world and a rereading of history, especially the history of ongoing communication between Christianity and Chinese culture. By carefully reexamining the meaning of Tian (天), Dao/Tao (道), and Li (礼), in “Liyun 礼运,” Liji (Book of Rites, 礼记) the literal context of the DaTong society is unpacked. Reading “Liyun” along with Isaiah 65:17-25, Revelation 21, Matthew 13:24-30, John, Hebrews 11:1-3, and James 2, the idea of DaTong, Dao/Tao, and Li are put in conversation with the idea of Heaven, the Garden of Eden, the Kingdom of God, Logos, and Faith. The reading reveals the role of Da Tong and heaven as gifts of the past and companions to sustain peace and social order in times of crisis. I hope the finding of this paper constructs a common ground for cross-cultural and interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Confucianism in a way that benefits future research on the study of Christianity in China, especially the studies of the sinocization of Christianity.Author's Origina
The Recalcitrants: Fantasy Worldbuilding and Storytelling as a Site of Religious Scholarship
No full textFantasy, as a genre, creates a space where suspension of belief and removal from the familiar allow for unique forms of exploration. Having seldom encountered fantasy that takes advantage of this space to contemplate questions of religion, I began working on a semi-autobiographical New Adult fantasy novel about religious deconstruction and reconstruction. This project has been a process of worldbuilding, character creation, and deep personal reckoning, as I consider what makes a world, what makes a religion, and how fiction makes (and re-makes) us.Author's Origina
Everyone Steps Back? The Widespread Retraction of Crowd-Funding Support for Minority Creators When Migration Fear Is High
No full textWe study funding gaps on Kickstarter across multiple ethnic groups from 2009 to 2021. Scaling the concept of racially salient events, we quantify the close co-movement of minority funding gaps in crowd-funding to inflamed political rhetoric surrounding migration. The funding gap for minorities more than doubles in the most inflamed periods compared to baseline. Results are especially acute for Hispanic creators. Distant, mostly white backers are typically important for projects reaching a critical threshold of funding support. Retractions in support for minority creators during tense periods are even spatially, as present in liberal cities as in conservative ones.Author's Origina
Towards Principled AI Alignment: An Evaluation and Augmentation of Inverse Constitutional AI
No full textThe accelerated pace of development for advanced AI systems motivates an examination of whether such systems are actually aligned to human designer and user intent. The notion of human intent, however, remains highly ambiguous, with ongoing debate regarding whether large language models (LLMs) should be aligned to demonstrated behavior communicated through the expression of human preferences or abstract normative principles defined by collective deliberation. Methods such as reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) and direct preference optimization (DPO) demonstrate approaches to AI alignment that depend on the communication of human preferences. The formalization of Constitutional AI (CAI), which leverages reinforcement learning from AI feedback (RLAIF) and involves the communication of a set of normative principles for directing the behavior of an LLM, motivates the development of scalable approaches to bridge the gap between standard alignment methods that employ human preference data and interpretable, principled AI alignment. Inverse Constitutional AI (ICAI) is a new framework that aims to learn a constitution from human preference data that may serve as both an interpretable compression of human preference and an instructive set of principles for aligning LLM behavior.
In this thesis, we present an expanded implementation of the ICAI framework that addresses the desideratum of representation for varied human preferences by electing a principle committee using algorithms drawn from the theory of approval voting in social choice. We describe relevant metrics for evaluating the efficacy of a constitution constructed through the implementation of the framework and provide a method of systematic evaluation for all components of the pipeline. We hope that the improved formalization of this approach to principled model alignment will contribute to the development and deployment of more interpretable and better aligned AI systems.Computer Scienc
Polydopamine-ECM Coated Titanium to Promote Cementogenesis on Dental Implants
No full textTitanium dental implants integrate directly with surrounding bone, a phenomenon known as osseointegration. Unlike natural teeth supported by periodontal ligaments (PDL), osseointegrated implants have weaker mechanical barriers against bacterial infiltration, heightened inflammation, reduced blood flow, and limited proprioception. Current methods to regenerate peri-implant ligaments involve costly, invasive, and time-intensive procedures.
Polydopamine (PDA) is a biocompatible polymer known for its excellent adhesive properties. Periodontal ligament fibroblasts (PDLFs) play a pivotal role in periodontal tissue maintenance. Recent evidence suggests fibroblasts can induce a cementogenic phenotype by altering titanium surface topography and depositing cementum-like tissue.
This study investigates PDA's efficacy in immobilizing ECM produced by PDLFs on titanium, hypothesizing enhanced cementogenesis on PDA-coated titanium surfaces. We assessed ECM immobilization efficiency, optimized decellularization protocols to retain ECM, and evaluated PDLF differentiation into a cementogenic phenotype. PDLFs cultured on PDA-coated titanium underwent decellularization after 10 days, followed by recellularization for 14 days. Cell interactions and gene expression were assessed using immunofluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and RT-qPCR.
Results demonstrated increased cell numbers on PDA-coated surfaces without affecting attachment or proliferation. Decellularization effectively removed cellular material, preserving key ECM proteins like Collagen I and CEMP-1. Gene expression analysis revealed significant upregulation of cementogenic markers (CP23, CAP, CEMP1, BSP) and downregulation of osteogenic markers (ALP, SOST), especially prominent on PDA-ECM surfaces.
Our findings support that PDA-ECM-coated titanium surfaces promote cementogenic differentiation of PDLFs, potentially enabling peri-implant cementum-like tissue formation and periodontal ligament regeneration.Prosthodontic
Evaluating the Association of Widefield Swept-Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography with Visual Function in Common Retinal Diseases
No full textBackground: The clinical evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of ophthalmic diseases relies on both a structural evaluation and a visual function assessment. Wide-field swept source optical coherence tomography (WF SS-OCTA) is a novel imaging technique that acquires fast, non-invasive, high-resolution images of the retinal microvasculature. Visual acuity (VA) is the most common measure of visual function. Contrast sensitivity (CS) is an adjunct functional metric that studies suggest is better associated with vision related quality of life and affected earlier in retinal disease. Yet few studies have evaluated WF SS-OCTA and CS associations. We aim to evaluate the association of WF SS-OCTA with visual function, including CS, for a variety of common retinal diseases.
Methods: Patients were prospectively-recruited from retina clinics at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The cohorts included diabetic retinopathy (DR, n = 140), diabetic macular edema (DME, n = 61), retinal vein occlusion (RVO, n = 63), retinal detachment (RD, n = 57), age-related macular degeneration (AMD, n = 72), and healthy eyes (n = 57). WF SS-OCTA (PLEX® Elite 9000, Carl Zeiss Meditec) 3x3, 6x6, and 12x12 mm images were acquired, from which vessel density (VD) and vessel skeletonized density (VSD) in the superficial (SCP) and deep (DCP) capillary plexus, and whole retina (WR), foveal avascular zone (FAZ) parameters, and non-perfusion area were calculated. VA was measured on Snellen charts. CS was measured using the quantitative contrast sensitivity function (qCSF) device (Adaptive Sensory Technology), resulting in the following qCSF metrics: Area under the Log CSF (AULCSF), contrast acuity (CA), and contrast sensitivity (CS) thresholds at 1 to 18 cycles per degree (cpd). Mixed effects multivariable linear regression models were used to evaluate for associations between WF SS-OCTA vascular metrics and visual function.
Results: Across all the diseases evaluated OCTA vascular metrics demonstrated significant associations with both VA and CS. Further, the effect size of OCTA vascular metrics was consistently larger on CS compared to VA on nearly all associations. For example, in DME the standardized beta coefficients for VSD and CS at 3 cpd (βSCP = 0.76, βDCP = 0.71, βWR = 0.72, p 0.001) were larger than those for VA (βSCP = -0.55, p 0.001; βDCP = -0.43, p = 0.004; βWR = -0.50, p 0.001). Across each disease there were instances where VA failed to demonstrate significant associations with the vascular metrics, unlike CS. For example among the RD cohort, CS had multiple significant associations with VD and VSD on all three image sizes, unlike VA. In AMD, nearly every single CS metric showed significant associations with VD and VSD on 3x3 mm images, even though VA did not. Each disease cohort revealed unique structure-function associations, for example, in RVO and RD the vascular metrics appeared to have the largest effect size on AULCSF, in DR and healthy eyes the largest effect size was on CS at 12-18 cpd, while in DME and AMD it was on CS at 3-6 cpd.
Conclusion: Multiple structure-function studies across various retinal diseases demonstrated that WF SS-OCTA vascular metrics were significantly associated with both CS and VA. However, the effect size of OCTA was larger on CS, compared to VA, suggesting that CS likely better reflects the microvascular changes found in WF SS-OCTA. Integrating WF SS-OCTA and CS into the clinical workflow of retina clinics and utilizing these measures in clinical trials may positively impact the management and outcomes among various ophthalmic diseases.Honors Progra
Area-level Socioeconomic Status, Preoperative Comorbidities, Mortality And Malperfusion In Acute Type A Aortic Dissection
No full textDespite advances in surgical and postoperative care, in-hospital mortality from Acute Type A Aortic Dissection (ATAAD) remains as high as 22%. If left untreated, the mortality rate is 1% per hour from the emergence of symptoms with 24% mortality within 24 hours. The risk of death is increased further in patients who develop end-organ malperfusion, particularly cerebral and mesenteric, with mesenteric malperfusion being the second most common cause of death after aortic rupture.
End-organ malperfusion is an independent risk factor for early mortality that occurs in up to 34% of patients with ATAAD, with in-hospital mortality rates reaching 86% if more than two organ systems are involved. Despite the time-sensitive nature of ATAAD, interfacility transfer for stable patients to high-volume centers is a class IIa recommendation in major guidelines because of improved survival.
Identifying the social determinants of health, particularly socioeconomic status (SES), and examining its relationship with interfacility transfer and access to care at high-volume centers may offer insights into the challenges faced by ATAAD patients from lower SES backgrounds – particularly in relation to timely transfers and its relationship to their short- and long-term outcomes. Furthermore, exploring whether the characteristics of patients with ATAAD and end-organ malperfusion differ from patients without end-organ malperfusion could offer valuable insights into the pathophysiology of the complication and its established impact on postoperative outcomes.
To answer these questions, we studied the relationship between area-level SES and in-hospital mortality in patients with ATAAD, as well as the relationship between several demographic and preoperative conditions and the occurrence of end-organ malperfusion. We hypothesized that 1) patients with ATAAD from lower area-level socioeconomic background have worse short-term outcomes compared to patients from higher area-level socioeconomic backgrounds at high-volume centers, and 2) ATAAD patients with end-organ malperfusion differ in demographic and preoperative characteristics from patients without end-organ malperfusion.MMSC
Developing a Strong and Durable Universal Self-Etching Adhesive Resin Agent.
No full textConventional methacrylate-based dental adhesives are prone to hydrolytic and enzymatic degradation, limiting their durability and long-term clinical success. This study introduces two novel self-etching universal adhesive formulations that replace hydrolytically unstable monomers with ether-based alternatives—TEGDVBE combined with either UDMA or PMGDM—alongside the functional monomer 10-MDP, known for its strong chemical affinity to dentin. These formulations were evaluated against an experimental Bis-GMA/HEMA/10MDP control and a commercial benchmark, Scotchbond Universal.
Adhesive performance was assessed across key parameters: water contact angle, resin spreading kinetics, degree of conversion, flexural properties, and both shear and micro-tensile bond strengths. The TEGDVBE-based adhesives demonstrated greater hydrophobicity and enhanced resistance to moisture-induced degradation, while maintaining efficient polymerization. Both experimental formulations achieved bond strengths on par with or superior to the controls, and exhibited mechanical properties within clinically acceptable ranges.
These results support ether-based monomers as a viable, biocompatible alternative to traditional methacrylate systems. By improving hydrolytic stability without compromising adhesion or mechanical performance, these formulations represent a promising direction for next-generation dental adhesives. Further, in vivo studies are warranted to validate their long-term clinical performance.Prosthodontic