Search Results (87)

Time-series forecasting is widely recognized as essential for integrating renewable energy, managing emissions, and optimizing demand across energy and environmental applications. Initially, traditional forecasting methods are hindered by limitations including poor interpretability, limited generalization to diverse scenarios, and substantial computational demands. Consequently, a novel minimum-variance self-tuning (MVST) method is proposed, grounded in adaptive control theory, to overcome these challenges. The method utilizes recursive least squares with self-tuning parameter updates, delivering high prediction accuracy, rapid computation, and robust multi-step forecasting without pre-training requirements. Testing is performed on CO₂ emissions (annual), transformer load (15 min), and building electric load (hourly) datasets, comparing MVST against LSTM, ARDL, fixed-PID, XGBoost, and Prophet across varied scales and contexts. Significant improvements are observed, with prediction errors reduced by 3–8 times and computational time decreased by up to 2000 times compared to these methods. Finally, these advancements facilitate real-time power system dispatch, enhance energy planning, and support carbon emission management, demonstrating substantial research and practical value. Full article

Regionally, nationally, and globally, new churches are formed. This continues to divide the church due to traditions, theological, doctrinal matters, and denominational practices. In Africa—and Zimbabwe in particular—the formation of neo-Pentecostal denominations and prophetic movements exacerbates antagonism and division among Christians, posing a threat to the unity of the Body of Christ. Consequently, it is necessary to explore ways in which churches can find one another to promote unity among Christians, and this raises the need for local ecumenism. Christianity and the church are always found in specific cultural settings. Church life is guided by both its understanding of mission and the cultural context it operates. As churches need to be united, there is a need to explore ways in which the church can navigate its mission and cultural dynamics to promote unity. This article investigates the challenges and the missio-cultural factors that facilitate ecumenism among the Karanga people in Mberengwa, Zimbabwe. Mberengwa, a rural district in Zimbabwe, predominantly Karanga, presents a unique context where diverse Christian traditions coexist, often with varying degrees of tension and cooperation. This article examines the extent to which the complexity of ecumenism affects church cooperation in Mberengwa, Zimbabwe, and beyond, thereby exploring the cultural and missional factors that can promote church cooperation. Full article

The image of the vasa domus Dei, repeated on two occasions in the book of the prophet Daniel (Dan 1:2 and 5:4), enables Jerome to formulate an explicit judgement on pagan culture. Drawing extensively on a well-established repertoire, he highlights in one case its positive aspects and in the other its negative ones, and so in CDan 1,1,2b, he underlines the presence, at least in philosophy, of some truths drawn from the doctrine of God; in CDan 2,5,4, he discusses the wicked use the heretics make of the saeculares litterae. Full article

In Jer 15:19, Yhwh calls the prophet Jeremiah “my mouth”. This unique designation highlights his importance and finds support in several other features: Jeremiah is portrayed as the promised successor to Moses (Jer 1:7, 9), opposes all other contemporary prophets (e.g., Jer 20; 23; 26–29), and has many additional roles and activities. Furthermore, he shares traits with Yhwh’s servant from Isa 49 and 53. His ‘biography’ is extraordinary and is shown at length, unusual for the Latter Prophets, ranging from before his birth (Jer 1:5) to his disappearance in Egypt (Jer 43–44). His ‘confessions’ in Jer 11–20 testify to immense suffering and have become models for personal prayer. Like the prophet, his scroll is unique, too. No other biblical writing deals so extensively with trauma, exemplified at the downfall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, its roots, and its impact. This even leads to an uncommon structure of the scroll, ending with disaster in Jer 52, whereas all other scrolls of prophets contain hope as conclusions. Jer stands out with the analysis of guilt as cause for the catastrophe, yet it conveys also consolation, especially in Jer 29–33. In these chapters, elements for a renewed society emerge, corresponding to the name of the prophet, which signifies “Yhwh will raise up”. The real source for this change lies in the way Jer conceives the biblical God. No other writing in the Bible tells about his weeping, as a sign of helplessness vis-à-vis the continuing resistance of his people. Many prayers in the scroll, including the confessions, focus on the importance of an intimate, personal relationship with him, going beyond traditional piety in several aspects; Moshe Weinfeld has called them “spiritual metamorphosis”. The singularity of Jer applies also to its literary features. Its mixtures of poetry and prose, of divine and human speaking, of narratives about the prophet in first and third person are a challenge for every reader, as well as the ‘unordered’ chronology and retarded information. Jer excels in the use of other scrolls; the degree of intertextuality and the way of combining motifs from ‘foreign’ sources in a synthetic way are outstanding. To grasp fully its message requires familiarity with more than half of what later became the Hebrew Bible. Full article

The site of Nabi Yaqin preserves an ancient tradition of Abraham’s prayer over Sodom. The landscape that stretches from the ridge of Nabi Yaqin facing east to the Dead Sea and the Jordan River serves as the backdrop for the formation of this tradition. In this paper, we will show that the tradition regarding Abraham’s prayer apparently began during the Byzantine period as indicated by the writings of Egeria and St. Jerome. Although the exact location they identify cannot be determined from the sources, it seems that the region of Bani Na’im and Nabi Yaqin should be regarded as one space connected to the story of the destruction of Sodom. During the Middle Ages under Muslim rule Nabi Yaqin area became associated with Abraham’s prayer and a hollow in the ground at that location was marked as the place of his prayer. At a later stage, towards the end of the 17th century, two footprints were added to that socket. During the 18th and 19th centuries, an additional pair of footprints was added, which marked Lot’s prayer outside the compound. In Bani Na’im the neighboring village the burial place of the prophet Lot was identified. In fact, both sites are extensions of the story of the destruction of Sodom, with the former associated with its beginning and the latter with its end. We proposed that the process leading to these identifications was influenced by a site overlooking Lot’s Sea and Lot’s Cave, and the site itself became the burial place of Lot and the prayer site of Abraham. Full article

This study addresses the challenge of predicting the airtightness of stratospheric airship envelopes, a critical factor influencing flight performance. Traditional ground-based airtightness tests often rely on limited resources and empirical formulas. To overcome these limitations, this paper explores the use of predictive models to integrate multi-source test data, enhancing the accuracy of airtightness assessments. A performance comparison of various prediction models was conducted using ground-based test data from a specific stratospheric airship. Among the models evaluated, the NeuralProphet model demonstrated superior accuracy in long-term airtightness predictions, effectively capturing time-series dependencies and spatial interactions with environmental conditions. This work introduces an innovative approach to modeling airtightness, providing both experimental and theoretical contributions to the field of stratospheric airship performance prediction. Full article

Accurate and adaptive bus dispatching is vital for medium-sized urban centers, where static schedules often fail to accommodate fluctuating passenger demand. In this work, we propose a dynamic heuristic that integrates machine learning-based demand forecasts into a discrete-time planning horizon, thereby enabling real-time adjustments to dispatch decisions. Additionally, we introduce a tailored mathematical model—grounded in mixed-integer linear programming and space-time flows—that serves as a benchmark to evaluate our heuristic’s performance under the operational constraints typical of traditional public transportation systems in Colombian mid-sized cities. A key contribution of this research lies in combining predictive modeling (using Prophet for passenger demand) with operational optimization, ensuring that dispatch frequencies adapt promptly to varying ridership levels. We validated our approach using a real-world case study in Montería (Colombia), covering eight representative routes over a full day (5:00–21:00). Numerical experiments show that: 1. Our heuristic matches or surpasses 95% of the optimal solution’s operational utility on most routes, with an average gap of 4.7%, relative to the benchmark mathematical model. 2. It maintains high service levels—above 90% demand coverage on demanding corridors—and robust bus utilization, without incurring excessive operating costs. 3. It reduces computation times by up to 98% compared to the optimization model, making it practically viable for daily scheduling where solving large-scale models exactly can be prohibitively time-consuming. Overall, these results underscore the heuristic’s practical effectiveness in boosting profitability, optimizing resource use, and rapidly adapting to demand fluctuations. The proposed framework thus serves as a scalable and implementable tool for transportation operators seeking data-driven dispatch solutions that balance operational efficiency and service quality. Full article

Tourism is a core sector of Singapore’s economy, contributing significantly to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment. Accurate tourism demand forecasting is essential for strategic planning, resource allocation, and economic stability, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. This study develops a SARIMAX-based forecasting model to predict monthly visitor arrivals to Singapore, integrating web search data from Google Trends and external factors. To enhance model accuracy, a systematic selection process was applied to identify the effective subset of external variables. Results of the empirical experiments demonstrate that the proposed SARIMAX model outperforms traditional univariate models, including SARIMA, Holt–Winters, and Prophet, as well as machine learning-based approaches such as Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs). When forecasting the 24-month period of 2023 and 2024, the proposed model achieves the lowest Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 7.32%. Full article

The transnational turn in migrant studies emphasizes complexities in migration, partly related to the agency that migrants may exercise. Chapter 44 in the biblical Book of Jeremiah holds a story of migration that is peculiarly insensitive to such aspects: religious practices performed by a local community are condemned, and so are they. Through a series of analytical steps—reflection on historical conditions of migration at the time, on the historical value of the biblical sources, on a cognitive theory of mimesis in narrative, and on praxeological analysis—this study tries to regain a view of migratory complexity and migrants’ agency in that story. The reading uncovers how migrants were “doing community” through their religious practices and through their dispute with the prophet. The story reflects an enduring pattern of struggle between local communities and trans-local forces. It also reflects change in traditional communal patterns due to social changes brought about by migration. Full article

A major plank in the Evangelical apologetics platform (especially for the Jewish witness) has always been the predictive prophecy about Jesus in the Hebrew Bible. The number of these prophecies or “predictions” varies widely among Conservative–Evangelical sources. A brief survey of claims about the number of Christ-related Old Testament (OT) prophecies ranges from 50–400+. Regardless, the assertion of direct, intentional Old Testament prophetic pronouncement about Jesus has been a non-negotiable mainstay of Evangelical thought and theology since its beginning. However, today, those who align with the Evangelical movement in general, would disagree on technical grounds with the traditional way that Messianic prophecy has been explained hermeneutically or exegetically. Progressive Evangelicals, however, generally are concerned with the interpretation or exegesis of biblical passages in their grammatical–historical–cultural contexts. The focus is on texts rather than traditions. An irony is that traditional and untraditional Evangelicals who favor contextual exegesis in principle are still very divided when it comes to explaining how the NT used the OT, especially in relation to Messianic prophetic texts. This article describes the problem and illustrates it with examples of how some older and newer Evangelicals disagree when commenting on OT Messianic prophetic passages. Full article

This study explores the transformative potential of the traditional Korean concept of uri (we) and the Confucian principle of ren (compassion and resistance), integrated with the biblical tradition of lament, as a theological framework for addressing the marginalization of contemporary Korean American Protestant churches and their members. Critiquing the limitations of current theological models focused on marginality, the article reimagines the Korean American self through the lens of uri and ren. This perspective enables compassion and resistance to deconstruct the notion of the marginalized self and reconstruct an authentic identity. The article proposes a pastoral–prophetic homiletical praxis that fosters solidarity among Korean American churches and empowers these churches to claim their prophetic voice within the multicultural American context. This approach has the potential to transform Korean American churches into a space for hope, communal restoration, and resistance amid socioecclesial challenges. Full article

This research developed a predictive model using NeuralProphet to estimate energy consumption in the ventilation system of a dairy cattle farm. The necessity for energy management in livestock farming has increased due to the growing energy demands associated with climate control systems. Approximately two years of historical energy consumption data, collected through a smart monitoring system deployed on the farm, were utilized as the primary input for the NeuralProphet model to predict long-term trends and seasonal variations. The computational results demonstrated satisfactory performance, achieving a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.85 and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 27.47 kWh. The model effectively captured general trends and seasonal patterns, providing valuable insights into energy usage under existing operational conditions. However, short-term fluctuations were less accurately predicted due to the exclusion of exogenous climatic variables, such as temperature and humidity. The proposed model demonstrated superiority over traditional approaches in its capacity to forecast long-term energy demand, providing critical support for energy management and strategic decision-making in dairy farm operations. Full article

This article aims to formulate a philosophical problem that is grounded upon the Pan-Abrahamic nature of early Islam, focusing on the implications that this has for understanding the identity of the contemporary Islamic community. This philosophical problem—termed the Pan-Abrahamic Problem—is structured around the examination of Prophet Muhammad’s leadership and the inclusivity of the early Islamic community, as proposed by Fred Donner in the form of the Pan-Abrahamic Thesis. The formulation of this philosophical problem is presented through the lens of the philosophical criteria of continuity and connectedness of aims (doctrine) and organisation, as proposed by Richard Swinburne. This philosophical problem will, thus, offer a challenge against traditional exclusivist narratives within Islam, ultimately aiming to emphasise the inclusive and pluralistic foundation of the religion and the significance of this for the contemporary Islamic identity. Full article

The article examines Paul’s critique of Jews in Romans, focusing on Romans 1–3. It adopts an approach of reading Paul within Judaism while differing from some interpreters representative of this approach by arguing that Paul is critiquing his fellow Jews and that his critique is relevant to his gentile audience. It argues against the traditional Protestant problematization of “works righteousness”, Sanders’ claim that Paul reasons from solution to plight, and the New Perspective’s problematization of ethnic distinctiveness. Paul’s critique is grounded in Jewish intramural prophetic critique and restoration eschatology, over against Torah-wisdom traditions. Consistent with this perspective, Paul’s fundamental criticism of Jews and Israel is their failure to keep the divine Torah. Central to Paul’s argument is the interplay between Jewish particularity and the universal scope of Paul’s gospel. Israel’s failure is an intermediate but not an ultimate divine purpose. Jewish distinctiveness and Torah reveal the seriousness of sin and affirm the justice of God’s wrath. Thus, Paul’s prophetic critique also implies a prophetic hope for Israel, intertwined with his critique of and hope for all humanity, whom he views as sinners standing under God’s judgment and needing salvation through faith in the Davidic messiah, Jesus. Full article

This study examines the historiography of early Islam by assessing the reliability of Qurʾānic exegeses as sources documenting the early history of Islam and the biography of the Prophet Muḥammad in Mecca. Focusing on Qurʾānic exegetical practices from late antiquity to the medieval period, this article argues that there is a significant discontinuity in how Qurʾānic exegeses align with the historical context of the Qur’an, especially in relation to Meccan sūras such as Q 107. Significantly, this challenges the continuity of tradition, the fundamental concept upon which the “Islamic sciences” are based. This discontinuity is herein revealed through a historical–critical analysis of the exegesis of Q 107:4 that demonstrates how Qurʾānic exegetical practices have reinterpreted and reshaped early Islamic history in response to the pressures of new identity formation and made Qurʾānic exegeses more reflective of the social and political contexts of the exegetes than of the historical milieu of the Qurʾān itself. This analysis contributes to the ongoing discussion of the role exegesis played in reshaping the history of Islam. Indeed, it emphasises the importance of critically evaluating these sources in order to uncover a more nuanced historical narrative of early Islam. Full article