Attendance or Tradition:Who Is Interested in Church Music Today

Religious practices in general,but primarily Christian ones,are undergoing major changes in the modern world,which is rapidly changing day by day.One of the most revealing manifestations of these changes is liturgical music,which has always been considered“traditional”,whereas the boundaries of the tradition have been subject to sharp disputes between those responsible for the church ritual and its accessories.The palette of the musical environment of modern church in terms of attendance and congregational acceptability in its sustainable development is addressed in the article based on recent research,in particular,several related studies by A.Rosenblatt,who over the past two decades has explored different aspects of church music heard in the field and presented in various hymnal books.Summary of this review allows us to consider a tangle of reasons to the preference for this or that musical style,which often completely excludes purely musical tastes and preferences.

An Improved Steganographic Scheme Using the Contour Principle to Ensure the Privacy of Medical Data on Digital Images

With the improvement of current online communication schemes,it is now possible to successfully distribute and transport secured digital Content via the communication channel at a faster transmission rate.Traditional steganography and cryptography concepts are used to achieve the goal of concealing secret Content on a media and encrypting it before transmission.Both of the techniques mentioned above aid in the confidentiality of feature content.The proposed approach concerns secret content embodiment in selected pixels on digital image layers such as Red,Green,and Blue.The private Content originated from a medical client and was forwarded to a medical practitioner on the server end through the internet.The K-Means clustering principle uses the contouring approach to frame the pixel clusters on the image layers.The content embodiment procedure is performed on the selected pixel groups of all layers of the image using the Least Significant Bit(LSB)substitution technique to build the secret Content embedded image known as the stego image,which is subsequently transmitted across the internet medium to the server end.The experimental results are computed using the inputs from“Open-Access Medical Image Repositories(aylward.org)”and demonstrate the scheme’s impudence as the Content concealing procedure progresses.

Power system stabilizer design using hybrid multi-objective particle swarm optimization with chaos

A novel technique for the optimal tuning of power system stabilizer (PSS) was proposed,by integrating the modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) with the chaos (MPSOC).Firstly,a modification in the particle swarm optimization (PSO) was made by introducing passive congregation (PC).It helps each swarm member in receiving a multitude of information from other members and thus decreases the possibility of a failed attempt at detection or a meaningless search.Secondly,the MPSO and chaos were hybridized (MPSOC) to improve the global searching capability and prevent the premature convergence due to local minima.The robustness of the proposed PSS tuning technique was verified on a multi-machine power system under different operating conditions.The performance of the proposed MPSOC was compared to the MPSO,PSO and GA through eigenvalue analysis,nonlinear time-domain simulation and statistical tests.Eigenvalue analysis shows acceptable damping of the low-frequency modes and time domain simulations also show that the oscillations of synchronous machines can be rapidly damped for power systems with the proposed PSSs.The results show that the presented algorithm has a faster convergence rate with higher degree of accuracy than the GA,PSO and MPSO.

Parameter identification of the fractional-order systems based on a modified PSO algorithm

In order to better identify the parameters of the fractional-order system,a modified particle swarm optimization(MPSO)algorithm based on an improved Tent mapping is proposed.The MPSO algorithm is validated with eight classical test functions,and compared with the POS algorithm with adaptive time varying accelerators(ACPSO),the genetic algorithm(GA),a d the improved PSO algorithm with passive congregation(IPSO).Based on the systems with known model structures a d unknown model structures,the proposed algorithm is adopted to identify two typical fractional-order models.The results of parameter identification show that the application of average value of position information is beneficial to making f 11 use of the information exchange among individuals and speeds up the global searching speed.By introducing the uniformity and ergodicity of Tent mapping,the MPSO avoids the extreme v^ue of position information,so as not to fall into the local optimal value.In brief the MPSOalgorithm is an effective a d useful method with a fast convergence rate and high accuracy.

Regional Distribution of Soil Phosphorus Across Congregation-Grazing Zones of Forage-Based Pastures with Cow-Calf Operations in Florida

The arrangement of supplemental feed, water, shelter, and their concurrent interactions with topographic features may influence the distribution of animals and their simultaneous use of pasture’s resources. The effects of grazing and/or congregation management that control phosphorus cycling and distribution have not been sufficiently evaluated. The objectives of this study were: 1) to determine whether cattle congregation sites typical on most Florida ranches, repre-sented by water troughs and shaded areas, are more phosphorus-rich and may contribute more soluble phosphorus to surface water run-off and groundwater than other pasture locations;and 2) to assess the regional distribution of Mehlich-1 extractable soil phosphorus (MP) across congregation-grazing zones of forage-based pastures with cow-calf operations in Florida. Soil samples were collected at increasing distance from congregations structures (water troughs and shades) in established (>10 yr), grazed beef cattle pastures located in three Florida regions. Samples were col-lected in the fall and spring of 2005, 2006, and 2007, respectively;following a radial (every 90 degrees) sampling pat-terns away from the center of the congregation structures. Averaged across years, MP and soil phosphorus saturation in the congregation zones were comparable (p ≤ 0.05) with MP values and soil phosphorus saturation in the grazing zones at all three Florida regions. Average MP at all three pasture locations did not exceed the crop requirement threshold of 50 mg P kg–1 and the water quality protection threshold of 150 mg P kg–1, suggesting that congregation zones in beef cattle pastures at all three regions of Florida are not phosphorus-rich.

Organizational Health Among Catholic Religious Congregations

Diversity among organizations may promote a better organizational performance, and diversity management can be used as a competent strategic management conceptual framework in the governance of religious congregations, just as for other organizational forms. Catholic religious congregations are currently undergoing profound changes： They are more and more multicultural; The younger generations have a different understanding of their consecrated in comparison with the previous generations; In addition, they deal with a growing role of lay people in the Church. The study investigated the specific challenges faced by governance of religious congregations, as particular organizational form, in terms of organizational health. A semi-structured interview was administered to a sample of catholic consecrated people （n = 40）. Differences emerged among participants coming from different cultures as well as between younger and older members on their representation and perception of normative organizational control, and differences emerged also on the role and the tasks expected from leaders and followers.

Utilization of Hot Spotting to Identify Community Needs and Coordinate Care for High-Cost Patients in Memphis, TN

In 2006, Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MLH) created the Congregational Health Network (CHN, TM pending) which works closely with clergy in the most under-served zip codes of the city to improve access to care and overall health status of the population. To best coordinate CHN resources around high-utilization and address the largest health needs in the community, MLH applied hot spotting and geographic information system (GIS) spatial analysis techniques. These techniques were coupled with the community health needs assessment process at MLH and qualitative, participatory research findings captured in collaboration with church and other community partners. The methodology, which we call “participatory hot spotting,” is based upon the Camden Model, which leverages hot spotting to assess and prioritize community need in the provision of charity care, but adds a participatory, qualitative layer. In this study, spatial analysis was employed to evaluate hospital-based inpatient and outpatient utilization and define costs of charity care for the health system by area of residence. Ten zip codes accounted for 56% of total system charity care costs. Among these, the largest zip code, as defined by a percentage of total charity costs, contributed 18% of the inpatient utilization and 17% of the cost. Further, this zip code (38109) contributed 69% of the inpatient and 76% of the outpatient charity care volume and accounted for 75% of inpatient and 76% of outpatient charity care costs for the system. These findings were combined with grassroots intelligence that enabled a partnership with clergy and community members and Cigna Healthcare to better coordinate care in a place-based population health management strategy. Presentations of the analytics have subsequently been made to HHS and the CDC, referred to by some as the “Memphis Model”.

从若翰到耀汉——中国本土男修会耀汉小兄弟会的成立及其修会精神(1928-1934)

在近代中国,耶稣会、多明我会、圣母圣心会、遣使会、圣言会这些著名的修会在中国或传播西学,或深入乡间,或远至边疆,或经营图书,或办理大学,各自在中国基督教史上留下了深刻的印迹。然而,这些皆是来华的欧美修会。以中国人为主体的本土修会甚少进入学者的研究视野。其实中国本土修会早已存在,且为数不少。之所以寂寂无闻,大概是因为其中多数是隶属于教区的修女会,她们的事业和影响多局限在本教区。

A Hierarchy of Geographies： A Skinnerian Model of Indochina＇s Overseas Chinese Congregations and Their Influence on French Colonialism

In Indochina, overseas Chinese were organized by dialect group into associations called congregations, which shared many of the functions of huiguan in China. The spread of overseas Chinese economic and social networks followed a Skinnerian model in which large urban congrggations wielded more political and economic authority than did smaller, rural congr@ations. By examining the impacts of French colonialism upon overseas Chinese networks within Indochina and upon overseas connections with their Chinese native places, this paper proposes that the Skinnerian model of local-system hierarchy fits quite comfortably when applied to the world of French colonial Indochina and its overseas Chinese. Furthermore, it argues that French colonialism actually reinforced the Skinnerian hierarchy of politics and markets in ways that endured long after the collapse of Imperial China.

Honorary Degree Congregation in Cambridge

One day in mid-June 2006 when I was on a visit to the Countryside Restoration Trust at Barton near Cambridge, Mr. Christopher Stevenson, the director of Program of Events for Newcomers & Academic Visitors, gave me a letter enclosing a notice and a ticket I booked nearly two months earlier. He told me that I was very lucky because a strictly limited number of tickets had been allocated to academic visitors. It was a ticket to admit me to the Honorary Degree Congregation and to the reception afterwards on Tuesday 27 June.