Search Results (65)

Through this article, I endeavor to foreground the topic of colonial education by focusing on how missionaries manifested a colonial mindset in the realm of theological education in Indonesia. This article begins by tracing the colonial discourses of the early missionaries through missionaries’ reports, newsletters, and other historical sources. It continues by delineating the colonial discourses in the development of the Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) system of education. This survey shows how colonial discourses such as the discourse of othering, anti-conquest ideology, binary hierarchies, hegemonic mindsets, cultural imperialism, reproduction of workers, and a strict disciplinary system are present in the development of SDA theological education in Indonesia. Full article

Ongoing discussions on creation care and agapeic ethic have paid less attention to the interplay between love, creation, waste management challenges, and mission. This paper, therefore, discusses a missional perspective of agapeic ethic as a ground norm for eco-theology and motivation for eco-care (especially proper waste management). An attempt is made to discuss the concept and dimensions of love and the nexus between love, creation, and missional purpose. This paper adopts a non-participant observation of refuse collection as carried out by refuse collectors, the waste disposal practices of people, and the waste handling and disposal practices of selected churches. This research was conducted across Port Harcourt City, Obio Akpor, Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni, Oyibo, and Eleme municipal areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. The churches observed include Protestant Churches (Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Church of Nigeria that is Anglican Communion, and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints); the Roman Catholic Church; Pentecostal Churches (such as Salvation Ministries Worldwide, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and Deeper Life Bible Church); and African Indigenous Churches (namely, the Christ Apostolic Church, Cherubim and Seraphim, and Celestial Church of Christ). The information gathered was critically analysed and used in measuring stakeholders’ disposition to and understanding of the research focus. Ecological liberation hermeneutics was adopted as an interpretative framework, while the eco-justice principles of interconnectedness and purpose were engaged to foreground the underlying issues in this study. This paper argued that Christians’ involvement in proper waste management, keeping both private and public spaces clean, is a morally and divinely imposed duty and a practical testimonial of their love for God, their fellow human beings, and non-human others. This is a fulfilment of the mission where Christian love (agape) serves as an ethical principle of inflicting ‘no harm’ to humans or non-human others. Full article

This study evaluated the effectiveness of the NASA Earth Exchange Global Daily Downscaled models from CMIP6 experiments (hereafter; NEX-GDDP-CMIP6) in reproducing observed precipitation and temperature across East Africa (EA) from 1981 to 2014. Additionally, climate changes were estimated under various emission scenarios, namely low (SSP1-2.6), medium (SSP2-4.5), and high (SSP5-8.5) scenarios. Multiple robust statistics metrics, the Taylor diagram, and interannual variability skill (IVS) were employed to identify the best-performing models. Significant trends in future precipitation and temperature are evaluated using the Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope estimator tests. The results highlighted IPSL-CM6A-LR, EC-Earth3, CanESM5, and INM-CM4-8 as the best-performing models for annual and March to May (MAM) precipitation and temperature respectively. By the end of this century, MAM precipitation and temperature are projected to increase by 40% and 4.5 °C, respectively, under SSP5-8.5. Conversely, a decrease in MAM precipitation and temperature of 5% and 0.8 °C was projected under SSP2-4.5 and SSP1-2.6, respectively. Long-term mean precipitation increased in all climate scenarios (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5), with near-term MAM precipitation showing a 5% decrease in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and some parts of Tanzania. Under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, temperature rise exceeded 2–6 °C in most regions across the area, with the fastest warming trend of over 6 °C observed in diverse areas. Thus, high greenhouse gas (GHG) emission scenarios can be very harmful to EA and further GHG control is needed. Full article

The Nyabarongo river catchment in Rwanda has experienced significant changes in its land use and land cover (LULC) in recent decades, with profound implications for non-point source pollution. However, there are limited studies on non-point pollution caused by nutrient loss associated with land use and land cover changes in the catchment. This study investigates the spatiotemporal impacts of these changes on water quality considering nitrogen and phosphorus within the catchment from 2000 to 2020 and 2030 as a projection. The SWAT model was used in analysis of hydrological simulations, while the CA–Markov model was used for the future projection of LULC in 2030. The results revealed (1) the important changes in LULC in the study area, where a decrease in forestland was observed with a considerable increase in built-up land, grassland, and cropland; (2) that the R² and NSE of the TN and TP in the runoff simulation in the catchment were all above 0.70, showing good applicability during calibration and validation periods; (3) that from 2000 to 2020 and looking to the projection in 2030, the simulated monthly average TN and TP levels have progressively increased from 15.36 to 145.71 kg/ha, 2.46 to 15.47 kg/ha, 67.2 to 158.8 kg/ha, and 9.3 to 17.43 kg/ha, respectively; and (4) that the most polluted land use types are agriculture and urban areas, due to increases in human activities as a consequence of population growth in the catchment. Understanding the patterns and drivers of these changes is critical for developing effective policies and practices for sustainable land management and protection of water resources. Full article

This article describes the presence of a subliminal thesis—with conspiratorial and apocalyptic content—in the discourse of the Seventh-day Adventist tradition based on a documentary analysis of Adventist publications from the 1900s to the 1990s. The history of the development of this thesis is classified into three periods: (1) Proto-Adventist Subliminal Thesis, from 1900s to 1940s, with a discourse of anti-spiritualist emphasis; (2) Adventist Subliminal Thesis’ First Wave, from 1950s to 1960s, with a discourse of anti-media emphasis in the context of James Vicary’s experiments in the 1950s; and (3) Adventist Subliminal Thesis’ Second Wave, from 1970s to 1990s, with a discourse of conspiratorial emphasis in the context of the satanic panic of the 1980s and 1990s. The Adventist subliminal thesis is configured in a way of thinking that considers (1) the human being as a “mass-man” and culture as “mass culture”; (2) the media as having the power of manipulation and mental control; (3) adherence to moral panic phenomena as reactions to media threats to traditional values; and (4) the cosmic narrative of the Great Controversy as a worldview for understanding media messages and products as part of a satanic conspiracy. Full article

Background: Hands are critical vectors for microorganisms that cause healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Hand hygiene, being done the right way, at the right time, and being given the right priority in a healthcare setting is an effective strategy to reduce HAIs and associated costs. Different strategies have been put in place to help improve hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers; amongst them, continuous training is advised at all levels of care. Aim: This study, focusing on nursing students, aimed to describe their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions towards hand hygiene, highlighting their crucial role in maintaining health and preventing infections. Methods: This study was a quantitative cross-sectional study. One hundred and fourteen questionnaires were distributed; 103 were filled out and returned by willing students at Maluti Adventist College, thus a 90% response rate. Results: 62% (64) demonstrated moderate knowledge, all had positive attitudes, and 61% (63) had a positive perception towards hand hygiene. There was a significant (p-value = 0.012) association between knowledge and training. Conclusions and recommendations: These provide valuable input for enhancing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) hand hygiene multimodal strategy, the SAFE LIFE Clean YOUR HAND campaign, and healthcare workers’ teaching curriculum. All stakeholders should implement strategies that prioritize knowledge dissemination to promote effective hand hygiene practices among healthcare workers worldwide. Full article

Background: Despite evidence suggesting a relationship between religiosity and health habits, there is a paucity of studies specifically examining this association in the context of Peruvian university students. This study compared body mass index (BMI), adherence to a healthy lifestyle, and breakfast consumption in Peruvian university students of four religious denominations: Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), Catholics, Baptists, and Evangelicals. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted online among 4557 students from a Peruvian university. The BMI and the frequency of breakfast consumption were evaluated, and the Diet and Healthy Lifestyle Scale (DEVS) was applied. The variables studied were associated using simple and multiple linear regression and Poisson models with robust variance. Results: Baptist (B = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.10–0.78; p = 0.011), Catholic (B = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.12–0.47; p = 0.001), and Evangelical (B = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.09 to 0.64; p = 0.014) students had a significantly higher BMI compared to SDA. Baptist (B = −0.2, 95% CI: −0.37–−0.05; p = 0.017) and Evangelical (B = −0.13, 95% CI: −0.28–−0.03; p = 0.012) students exhibited a lower mean score on the measure of healthy lifestyles compared to SDA students. Additionally, Baptist (PR = −0.32, 95% CI: −0.92–−0.12; p = 0.035) and Catholic (PR = −0.3, 95% CI: −0.99–−0.19; p = 0.016) students exhibited a lower probability of eating breakfast regularly compared to SDA students. Conclusions: Health professionals should consider these findings when designing and implementing health promotion programs that are culturally sensitive and respectful of the beliefs and practices of all religious groups in university settings. Full article

Rugby athletes consume large amounts of animal protein in accordance with conventional dietary guidance to increase muscle mass and strength. This misaligns with national dietary guidelines, which suggest limiting meat consumption for chronic disease prevention. The ability of completely plant-based diets to satisfy the nutritional needs of rugby players has not been explored. This study scaled nutrient data from a large population consuming completely plant-based diets with limited supplemental protein to meet the calorie requirements of adult male rugby athletes to assess whether protein and leucine recommendations for muscular development and athletic performance would be achieved. Calorie requirements were estimated from research that employed the doubly labeled water method, and dietary data from the Adventist Health Study-2 were scaled to this level. The modeled protein level was 1.68 g/kg/day, which meets recommendations for maximal gains in muscle mass, strength, and athletic performance. The modeled leucine level was 2.9 g/meal for four daily meals, which exceeds the threshold proposed to maximally stimulate muscle protein synthesis in young men. These results indicate that consuming large portions of completely plant-based meals can satisfy protein and leucine requirements for maximal muscular development and athletic performance in adult male rugby athletes while aligning with public health recommendations. Full article

This paper proposes an innovative approach capitalized on the distinctive characteristics of command and control (C&C) beacons, namely, time intervals and frequency between consecutive unique connections, to compress the network flow dataset. While previous studies on the same matter used single technique, we propose a multi-technique approach for efficient detection of DoH tunnels. We use a baseline public dataset, CIRA-CIC-DoHBrw-2020, containing over a million network flow properties and statistical features of DoH, tunnels, benign DoH and normal browsing (HTTPS) traffic. Each sample is represented by 33 features with a timestamp. Our methodology combines star graph and bar plot visualizations with supervised and unsupervised learning techniques. The approach underscores the importance of C&C beacon characteristic features in compressing a dataset and reducing a flow dimension while enabling efficient detection of DoH tunnels. Through compression, the original dataset size and dimensions are reduced by approximately $95\%$ and $94\%$ respectively. For supervised learning, RF emerges as the top-performing algorithm, attaining precision and recall scores of 100% each, with speed increase of $\approx 6796$ times faster in training and $\approx 55$ in testing. For anomaly detection models, OCSVM emerges as the most suitable choice for this purpose, with precision (88.89) and recall (100). Star graph and bar graph models also show a clear difference between normal traffic and DoH tunnels. The reduction in flow sample size and dimension, while maintaining accuracy, holds promise for edge networks with constrained resources and aids security analysts in interpreting complex ML models to identify Indicators of Compromise (IoC). Full article

American football players consume large quantities of animal-sourced protein in adherence with traditional recommendations to maximize muscle development and athletic performance. This contrasts with dietary guidelines, which recommend reducing meat intake and increasing consumption of plant-based foods to promote health and reduce the risk of chronic disease. The capacity of completely plant-based diets to meet the nutritional needs of American football players has not been studied. This modeling study scaled dietary data from a large cohort following completely plant-based diets to meet the energy requirements of professional American football players to determine whether protein, leucine, and micronutrient needs for physical performance and health were met. The Cunningham equation was used to estimate calorie requirements. Nutrient intakes from the Adventist Health Study 2 were then scaled to this calorie level. Protein values ranged from 1.6–2.2 g/kg/day and leucine values ranged from 3.8–4.1 g/meal at each of four daily meals, therefore meeting and exceeding levels theorized to maximize muscle mass, muscle strength, and muscle protein synthesis, respectively. Plant-based diets scaled to meet the energy needs of professional American football players satisfied protein, leucine, and micronutrient requirements for muscle development and athletic performance. These findings suggest that completely plant-based diets could bridge the gap between dietary recommendations for chronic disease prevention and athletic performance in American football players. Full article

Our study wants to clarify the structure of spirituality by applying existing multidimensional theories of religiosity and spirituality to in-depth interviews conducted among a sample of students. The current research analyzes 15 qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted among a sample of students at the Adventist Theological Institute in the Czech Republic and was conducted in May 2022. Since religiosity is a multidimensional phenomenon and we wished to investigate development in each dimension, we based our analyses on Glock and Stark’s model with four of their dimensions of religiosity: “belief”, “practice”, “experience”, and “knowledge”. Our study reflects on existing multidimensional religiosity/spirituality; six dimensions by Huber overlap with the religiosity/spirituality model we chose as the applied multidimensional model. As a result, based on the interviewees’ statements, we distinguished these dimensions in the context of specific conditions in the respondents’ individual personal experiences in the absence of personal group interaction. In our research, we ask the question: “What impact has the move of the entire formal and informal environment of an educational institution to an online environment had on the spirituality of each student?” An important finding is that the COVID-19 pandemic period brought about an exciting stimulus for spiritual support in theological education. The emergence of individual and independent religiosity/spirituality is a significant religious change. Full article

This article explores the becoming-church of fake news against the background of the rise of the mediatization of faith and religious beliefs through classic media supports, such as newspapers, magazines, and journals, between 1840 and 1863 in the United States. The analysis focuses on the expression of Seventh-day Adventist Church beliefs in the Adventist press before 1863. The observation of this corpus follows the construction of the “narrative” of fake news from the story propagated by William Miller. The aim is to understand how the Seventh-day Adventist Church was created in the media from the fake news of William Miller. The article shows that the mediatization of William Miller’s fake news made the Seventh-day Adventist Church appear as the embodiment of an agnostic movement, as the material trace of a cultural expression of romanticism, but also as a spiritual organization, with a social and auxiliary political vocation. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed entire social levels. Organized religion is one of those levels, having suffered a lot due to the closing of churches and the automatic physical cessation of religious services. Both the weekly practitioners and those attending church minimally (say at Easter and Christmas) felt the shock of the closing of the churches. As such, the online environment was the saving option during the pandemic. However, not all churches embraced the move of liturgical services to online from the start, and at the same time, not all churches had a rich history of using digital technologies or the Internet for religious purposes. In this context, I investigate how religious communities succeeded in dealing with the imposed governmental regulations on social distance. I follow the specific religious rituals that have suffered the most by moving liturgy online, rituals such as baptism, Eucharist, burial, etc. Because different Christian churches understand rituals and liturgical practices in different ways, I focus specifically on a succinct comparison between the Romanian Orthodox Church and the neo-Protestant environment, especially the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In addition, I briefly extend the comparison to Adventist communities from the diaspora—especially those from London, the United Kingdom. Full article

The continuous biomonitoring of a population directly or indirectly exposed to pesticides could be an additional tool for decision makers to improve their health conditions. In this work, we performed biomonitoring on two groups of people from the Mexicali Valley who were continuously exposed to pesticides using the cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome assay (L-CBMN) to evaluate cytotoxic and genotoxic damage in human peripheral blood lymphocytes. The study groups comprised 14 indigenous Cucapah with non-vegetarian habits (NV group) from Ejido el Mayor (32.12594°, −115.27265°) and 21 lacto-ovo vegetarian (LOV) persons from the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Ejido Vicente Guerrero (32.3961°, −115.14023°). The L-CBMN assay determines the nuclear division index (NDI), apoptosis, necrosis, micronuclei (MNs), nuclear buds (NBUDs), and nucleoplasmic bridges (NPBs). Our results show that, regardless of diet or daily habits, both the studied groups presented with cytogenotoxic damage compared with non-exposed pesticide individuals, without modifications to the nuclear division index. In the rest of the evaluated biomarkers, the NV group exhibited greater cytotoxic and genotoxic damage than the LOV group. Nevertheless, individuals practicing a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet (LOV) showed lower damage than those with non-vegetarian habits (NV), suggesting a better antioxidant response that helps decrease the genotoxic damage due to the enhanced intake of folates and antioxidants from a plant-based diet. Full article

The elderly population is growing at increased rates and is expected to double in size by 2050 in the United States and worldwide. The consumption of healthy foods and enriched diets have been associated with improved cognition and brain health. The key nutrients common to many healthy foods and diets are the omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (omega-3 FAs), such as eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). We explored whether omega-3 FA levels are associated with brain volume and cognition. Forty healthy, cognitively normal, Seventh-day Adventist older adults (mean age 76.3 years at MRI scan, 22 females) completed neurocognitive testing, a blood draw, and structural neuroimaging from 2016 to 2018. EPA and an overall omega-3 index were associated with individual measures of delayed recall (RAVLT-DR) and processing speed (Stroop Color) as well as entorhinal cortex thickness. EPA, DHA, and the omega-3 index were significantly correlated with the total white matter volume. The entorhinal cortex, frontal pole, and total white matter were associated with higher scores on delayed memory recall. This exploratory study found that among healthy, cognitively older adults, increased levels of omega-3 FAs are associated with better memory, processing speed, and structural brain measures. Full article