The Belhar Confession is a modern confession that addresses issues of race, culture and socioeconomics. It originated from the Dutch Reformed Mission Church’s rejection of apartheid theology and has been adopted by other Reformed denominations, in and beyond Africa, alongside the historical Reformed confessions of the Three Forms of Unity and the Westminster Standards. This article examines whether the Belhar Confession can be subscribed without conflict alongside these historical Reformed confessions. Three common positions taken on confessional subscription are outlined: non-, quia and quatenus subscription. Then, the propositional compatibility of Belhar with the historical confessions is analysed, and potential conflicts in ecclesiology, as well as the doctrines of reconciliation and poverty, are identified. These potential conflicts are realised with quia subscription but are avoidable with quatenus subscription.
Opsomming
Die Belydenis van Belhar is ’n moderne belydenisskrif wat kwessies rakende ras, kultuur en sosio-ekonomiese geregtigheid aanroer. Hierdie belydenis het ontstaan uit die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Sendingkerk se verwerping van die apartheidsteologie en is deur verskeie gereformeerde denominasies, binne en buite Afrika, aanvaar, naas die histories gereformeerde belydenisskrifte van die Drie Formuliere van Eenheid en die Westminster Standaarde. Hierdie studie ondersoek of die Belydenis van Belhar sonder konflik saam met die histories gereformeerde belydenisskrifte onderskryf kan word. Drie algemene benaderings tot konfessionele onderskrywing word onderskei: nie-onderskrywing, quia onderskrywing en quatenus onderskrywing. Vervolgens word die proposisionele versoenbaarheid van die Belydenis van Belhar met die historiese belydenisskrifte ontleed, en potensiële konflikpunte rakende ekklesiologie, betreffende die leerstellings oor versoening sowel as armoede, word geïdentifiseer. Hierdie konflikte kom na vore by quia onderskrywing, maar kan vermy word by quatenus onderskrywing.
https://doi.org/10.19108/KOERS.90.1.2614
Kate Keahey, Marc Richardson, Rafael Tolosana Calasanz
et al.
This report synthesizes findings from the November 2024 Community Workshop on Practical Reproducibility in HPC, which convened researchers, artifact authors, reviewers, and chairs of reproducibility initiatives to address the critical challenge of making computational experiments reproducible in a cost-effective manner. The workshop deliberately focused on systems and HPC computer science research due to its unique requirements, including specialized hardware access and deep system reconfigurability. Through structured discussions, lightning talks, and panel sessions, participants identified key barriers to practical reproducibility and formulated actionable recommendations for the community. The report presents a dual framework of challenges and recommendations organized by target audience (authors, reviewers, organizations, and community). It characterizes technical obstacles in experiment packaging and review, including completeness of artifact descriptions, acquisition of specialized hardware, and establishing reproducibility conditions. The recommendations range from immediate practical tools (comprehensive checklists for artifact packaging) to ecosystem-level improvements (refining badge systems, creating artifact digital libraries, and developing AI-assisted environment creation). Rather than advocating for reproducibility regardless of cost, the report emphasizes striking an appropriate balance between reproducibility rigor and practical feasibility, positioning reproducibility as an integral component of scientific exploration rather than a burdensome afterthought. Appendices provide detailed, immediately actionable checklists for authors and reviewers to improve reproducibility practices across the HPC community.
Topology optimization facilitates the automated design of high-performance structures across various engineering fields but, if unconstrained, often produces designs that are complex and difficult to manufacture. A key attribute of the resulting designs is connectivity, which involves controlling the presence of solid and/or void islands of material. This manuscript provides a comprehensive overview of existing connectivity constraints developed for continuous design representations and highlights their advantages and limitations in influencing design outcomes and performance. The review further includes a practical comparison of five different connectivity constraints using a topology optimization framework for sandwich panels that balances acoustic and structural performance. With Pareto-front analyses, the constraints are evaluated based on computational cost, monotonicity, parameter dependency, and their impact on the optimized designs, their performance, and underlying dynamics. From the comparison, practical insights and rule of thumbs have been derived. The findings emphasize the critical role of selecting appropriate connectivity constraints, given their significant effect on the optimization results.
Practical identifiability is a critical concern in data-driven modeling of mathematical systems. In this paper, we propose a novel framework for practical identifiability analysis to evaluate parameter identifiability in mathematical models of biological systems. Starting with a rigorous mathematical definition of practical identifiability, we demonstrate its equivalence to the invertibility of the Fisher Information Matrix. Our framework establishes the relationship between practical identifiability and coordinate identifiability, introducing a novel metric that simplifies and accelerates the evaluation of parameter identifiability compared to the profile likelihood method. Additionally, we introduce new regularization terms to address non-identifiable parameters, enabling uncertainty quantification and improving model reliability. To guide experimental design, we present an optimal data collection algorithm that ensures all model parameters are practically identifiable. Applications to Hill functions, neural networks, and dynamic biological models demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed computational framework in uncovering critical biological processes and identifying key observable variables.
Karol Wojtyla y Edith Stein son dos filósofos que han escrito dramas. Podemos clasificar y comprender su obra dramática con la metáfora del continente y las islas usada por Gabriel Marcel. Marcel ha entendido sus obras de teatro como islas relacionadas con un continente que es su obra filosófica. Si ampliamos la metáfora podemos distinguir entre islas del continente intelectual, islas del continente vital e islas del continente vocacional. Los tres continentes están relacionados. Pero son distintos y permiten ordenar los dramas de Wojtyla y Stein. Aquí clasificamos de esta manera seis obras de teatro de estos autores. En esta ordenación la terminología teatral detecta un paso progresivo del teatro de tesis al teatro de compromiso. El continente vocacional es el que mejor muestra la vocación de servicio a la comunidad mediante la llamada a la mediación entre Dios y los hombres y mediante la crítica política.
We present COALA, a vision-centric Federated Learning (FL) platform, and a suite of benchmarks for practical FL scenarios, which we categorize into three levels: task, data, and model. At the task level, COALA extends support from simple classification to 15 computer vision tasks, including object detection, segmentation, pose estimation, and more. It also facilitates federated multiple-task learning, allowing clients to tackle multiple tasks simultaneously. At the data level, COALA goes beyond supervised FL to benchmark both semi-supervised FL and unsupervised FL. It also benchmarks feature distribution shifts other than commonly considered label distribution shifts. In addition to dealing with static data, it supports federated continual learning for continuously changing data in real-world scenarios. At the model level, COALA benchmarks FL with split models and different models in different clients. COALA platform offers three degrees of customization for these practical FL scenarios, including configuration customization, components customization, and workflow customization. We conduct systematic benchmarking experiments for the practical FL scenarios and highlight potential opportunities for further advancements in FL. Codes are open sourced at https://github.com/SonyResearch/COALA.
A long-standing vision in computer science has been to evolve computing devices into proactive assistants that enhance our productivity, health and wellness, and many other facets of our lives. User digitization is crucial in achieving this vision as it allows computers to intimately understand their users, capturing activity, pose, routine, and behavior. Today's consumer devices - like smartphones and smartwatches provide a glimpse of this potential, offering coarse digital representations of users with metrics such as step count, heart rate, and a handful of human activities like running and biking. Even these very low-dimensional representations are already bringing value to millions of people's lives, but there is significant potential for improvement. On the other end, professional, high-fidelity comprehensive user digitization systems exist. For example, motion capture suits and multi-camera rigs that digitize our full body and appearance, and scanning machines such as MRI capture our detailed anatomy. However, these carry significant user practicality burdens, such as financial, privacy, ergonomic, aesthetic, and instrumentation considerations, that preclude consumer use. In general, the higher the fidelity of capture, the lower the user's practicality. Most conventional approaches strike a balance between user practicality and digitization fidelity. My research aims to break this trend, developing sensing systems that increase user digitization fidelity to create new and powerful computing experiences while retaining or even improving user practicality and accessibility, allowing such technologies to have a societal impact. Armed with such knowledge, our future devices could offer longitudinal health tracking, more productive work environments, full body avatars in extended reality, and embodied telepresence experiences, to name just a few domains.
The environmental crisis is producing an increasing number of both physical and psychological impacts. This article studies the challenge of eco-anxiety for pastoral care, drawing from both interdisciplinary research and ecological theology. The aim is to help both practitioners and researchers to encounter eco-anxiety more constructively. The rapidly growing research about eco-anxiety and therapy is discussed in relation to pastoral care. The various forms of eco-anxiety are briefly analyzed. The role of the caregivers is discussed by using sources that study the challenges of therapists in relation to eco-anxiety. The existential depths of eco-anxiety are probed in the light of recent research and older existentialist theory. It is pointed out that the political character of ecological issues, especially climate change issues, causes many kinds of challenges for pastoral care. As the constructive conclusion of the article, various possibilities and resources for encountering eco-anxiety in pastoral care are discussed, along with the connections with wider pastoral theology. It is argued that pastoral care providers should engage in self-reflection about their own attitudes and emotions related to ecological issues, preferably with the support of trusted peers or mentors. Various organizational developments are also needed to support caregivers. Dialectical thinking is one tool that can help to navigate the complex dynamics related to environmental responsibility, eco-emotions, and questions of hope or hopelessness.
We draw from Miranda Fricker’s theory of epistemic injustice in evaluating the impact of limited cultural diversity within the integration literature. Since culture and social location are frameworks that help us make meaning of the world, failing to actively engage culture in integration is to perpetuate hermeneutical injustice. In this paper, we propose: (1) a theoretical model for actively engaging culture in the integration of psychology and theology, called the Cycle of Cultural Integration (CCI), and (2) practical ways for educators and students to incorporate generational and cultural wisdom that has been embedded among communities of color into interdisciplinary work between psychology and Christian theology.
This article offers a reflection upon The Brothers Karamazov, interpreted as a theological and philosophical contribution to the debate over humanity’s practical relationship to suffering and vulnerability. The relationship is practical insofar as the questions with which Dostoevsky struggles all relate to human agency: How should we live in the continual presence of suffering? The article reconstructs a theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov as a form of anti-theodicy. Further, the theology of suffering in The Brothers Karamazov is counterposed to Leo Tolstoy’s novella Hadji Murat. How does Dostoevsky’s “theology of suffering” fare in a comparison with one of the most perceptive portraits of power and powerlessness in world literature? In the proposed reading of the story, the elderly Tolstoy seeks to challenge the Christian theology that views responsibility for suffering and injustice primarily as an individual struggle with the metaphysical conditions of existence.
Youth ministry as a sub-discipline of practical theology has traditionally always had an ecclesial focus. The focus was often based on the practices of proselytisation and discipleship, a sort of ‘reach and teach’ model whereby Christian believers would do the ‘reaching and teaching’ of the ‘lost’ youth. This is most true in an evangelical context and is further undergirded by a Western concept of personal salvation nearly devoid of any communal responsibilities and context. The traditional model, therefore, in evangelical churches was reaching the ‘lost’ with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the aim of personal salvation for the individual who would eventually become a member of the faith community through a discipleship programme. Thus, the beginning and end of the entire process were the focus on personal salvation devoid of any contextual consideration. Youth ministry as practical theology must move into the area of public theology to engage the practices inherited from the western model by engaging with the public (youths) as public theologians (those who influence the theologies of the youth), and the public faiths and spiritualities (the expression of the youth’s theologies) to be relevant to the majority and developing world.
Contribution: In this study, the author suggests that this ‘reach and teach’ paradigm with an ecclesial focus in the context of the majority and developing world is no longer suitable to meet the needs of youth. In addition, the author recommends a more appropriate framework with youth ministry as public practical theology for consideration.
Advirtiendo la relevancia del concepto de salud psíquica, se propone una definición formal del mismo, fundamentada en la filosofía de santo Tomás de Aquino. Se comprende, así, como una disposición aptitudinal ordenada del apetito sensitivo, como parte en cuanto parte de la operación voluntaria. Tal definición permite comprender la salud psíquica en su especificidad, como perfección de la dimensión sensible superior, distinguiéndola, por un lado, de la salud corpórea y, por otro, de la virtud. A la vez, ella permite establecer un diálogo fecundo con tales realidades en orden a alcanzar la madurez humana.
Biplav Choudhury, Prasenjit Karmakar, Vijay K. Shah
et al.
Internet of Things (IoT) networks have become ubiquitous as autonomous computing, communication and collaboration among devices become popular for accomplishing various tasks. The use of relays in IoT networks further makes it convenient to deploy IoT networks as relays provide a host of benefits, like increasing the communication range and minimizing power consumption. Existing literature on traditional AoI schedulers for such two-hop relayed IoT networks are limited because they are designed assuming constant/non-changing channel conditions and known (usually, generate-at-will) packet generation patterns. Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms have been investigated for AoI scheduling in two-hop IoT networks with relays, however, they are only applicable for small-scale IoT networks due to exponential rise in action space as the networks become large. These limitations discourage the practical utilization of AoI schedulers for IoT network deployments. This paper presents a practical AoI scheduler for two-hop IoT networks with relays that addresses the above limitations. The proposed scheduler utilizes a novel voting mechanism based proximal policy optimization (v-PPO) algorithm that maintains a linear action space, enabling it be scale well with larger IoT networks. The proposed v-PPO based AoI scheduler adapts well to changing network conditions and accounts for unknown traffic generation patterns, making it practical for real-world IoT deployments. Simulation results show that the proposed v-PPO based AoI scheduler outperforms both ML and traditional (non-ML) AoI schedulers, such as, Deep Q Network (DQN)-based AoI Scheduler, Maximal Age First-Maximal Age Difference (MAF-MAD), MAF (Maximal Age First) , and round-robin in all considered practical scenarios.
Recent work has reemphasized the importance of cardinality estimates for query optimization. While new techniques have continuously improved in accuracy over time, they still generally allow for under-estimates which often lead optimizers to make overly optimistic decisions. This can be very costly for expensive queries. An alternative approach to estimation is cardinality bounding, also called pessimistic cardinality estimation, where the cardinality estimator provides guaranteed upper bounds of the true cardinality. By never underestimating, this approach allows the optimizer to avoid potentially inefficient plans. However, existing pessimistic cardinality estimators are not yet practical: they use very limited statistics on the data, and cannot handle predicates. In this paper, we introduce SafeBound, the first practical system for generating cardinality bounds. SafeBound builds on a recent theoretical work that uses degree sequences on join attributes to compute cardinality bounds, extends this framework with predicates, introduces a practical compression method for the degree sequences, and implements an efficient inference algorithm. Across four workloads, SafeBound achieves up to 80% lower end-to-end runtimes than PostgreSQL, and is on par or better than state of the art ML-based estimators and pessimistic cardinality estimators, by improving the runtime of the expensive queries. It also saves up to 500x in query planning time, and uses up to 6.8x less space compared to state of the art cardinality estimation methods.
Ebû Hanîfe’nin itikadî fikirleri Hanefîliğin temsil edildiği her muhitte aynı düzeyde ve canlılıkta temsil edilmemiştir. Irak, her ne kadar temelde Ebû Hanîfe’nin fıkhî görüşlerinin şekillenip sistemleştirildiği bölge olsa da onun itikadî görüşleri büyük ölçüde Mâverâünnehir bölgesinde geliştirilmiştir. Bununla birlikte Ebû Hanîfe’nin farklı bölgelerdeki takipçileri ona yaslanarak Hanefîliğin kendine has ayırıcı görüşlerine benimseyip savunmuşlardır. Ancak bir kısım bölgelerde bu görüşler temel itikadî kabullerle sınırlı kalırken bazı bölgelerde buna yaslanarak bir sistemleştirme ve geliştirmeye gidilmiş böylece kapsamlı bir kelamî yapı oluşturulmuştur. Mâverâünnehir bölgesindeki takipçileri, Ebû Hanîfe’nin görüşleri etrafında geleneksel bir kelamî yapı kuran Hanefîlerin başında gelmektedir. Süreç içerisinde Mâtürîdîlik olarak anılan bu kelamî yapı, uzun sure sadece doğduğu muhitle sınırlı kalmış, 5/11. yy’dan itibaren ise batıya doğru yayılmıştır. Mâtürîdî Hanefîlerin çevreden merkeze taşınması olarak nitelenebilecek bu yayılım süreci, Hanefîlik tarihi açısından önemli bir kısım sonuçları olmuştur. Zengin bir edebiyata sahip olan Mâtürîdî Hanefîler batıya geldiklerinde yeni muhitlerinde bu kelamî geleneğin dışında kalan ve mezhebin itikadî çerçevesini temel kabullerden ibaret gören küçük ve dağınık Hanefî kitlelerle karşılaşmışlardır. İtikadî açıdan görünürdeki bu farklılık iki Hanefî kesimin etkileşime gireceği yeni bir zemin oluşturmuştur. Sahip oldukları kelamî birikimin de gücüyle Mâtürîdî Hanefîler, yürüttükleri tedris faaliyetlerinin yanı sıra kaleme aldıkları metinler vasıtasıyla Irak ve Şam gibi göç muhitindeki Hanefîleri kendi kelamî geleneklerine dahil etmeye çabalamışlardır. Bölgeye göç etmiş doğulu bir Mâtürîdî Hanefî olan Ahmed b. Muhammed el-Gaznevî (ö. 593/1197’den sonra) de bu çabanın içerisinde yer almış isimlerden biri olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Onun Usûlü’d-dîn ve el-Hâvi’l-kudsî eserleri, bu çabanın açık şekilde metinlere yansıdığı ilk örneklerdir. Gaznevî her iki eserinde, Mâtürîdî kelama direnç gösteren Hanefîler tarafından öne çıkarılan el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye metnini esas alarak Mâtürîdî görüşleri sunmaktadır. O, bu eserlerinde büyük ölçüde el-Akīde’nin ibarelerini ya aynen ya da bir kısım takdim ve tehirlerde bulunarak kullanmakta ve aralarına başta tekvîn sıfatının ezeliliği olmak üzere Mâtürîdîlere özgü görüşleri eklemektedir. Bununla Gaznevî, bir yandan Mâtürîdî olmayan Hanefîlerin bir direnç unsuru olarak kullandıkları el-Akīde metninin Mâtürîdî görüşlerle uyumluluğunu göstererek oluşan direnci kırarken öte yandan metne eklediği ifadelerle söz konusu kesimlere Mâtürîdî görüşleri taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmada temelde bir el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye ve Mâtürîdîlik sentezi olarak nitelenebilecek Gaznevî’nin bu faaliyeti, sözü edilen eserler üzerinden ayrıntılı şekilde ortaya konulmaya çalışılacaktır. Onun söz konusu eserlerinde el-Akīdetü’t-Tahâviyye metnini nasıl kullandığı, ibareleri nasıl ve ne şekilde metnine aldığı ve bunlara Mâtürîdî görüşleri nasıl ekleyerek muhataplarına aktardığı gösterilmeye çalışılacaktır.
Christianity in post-colonial Africa is highly influenced and shaped by the prosperity message. The popular and materialistic gospel is sweeping across the continent like a gale-force wind, which is irresistible. Previous studies on prosperity gospel have indeed defined the concept as a global phenomenon and in an African context. This study is an interdisciplinary reflection on prosperity gospel and the culture of greed in post-colonial Africa. The study proposes the African Christian Theology of Ubuntu as an alternative to prosperity gospel. Ubuntu is prescribed here as an antidote to the culture of greed in prosperity gospel because it is a theology of life, care, solidarity, economic justice, hope and accompaniment. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The paper challenges previous missiological perspectives on prosperity gospel and the culture of greed. The study proposes an African theology of Ubuntu as an alternative to prosperity gospel because it is a practical theology of life, care, solidarity, economic justice, hope and accompaniment.
Paul Parsons, Colin M. Gray, Ali Baigelenov
et al.
Data visualization is becoming an increasingly popular field of design practice. Although many studies have highlighted the knowledge required for effective data visualization design, their focus has largely been on formal knowledge and logical decision-making processes that can be abstracted and codified. Less attention has been paid to the more situated and personal ways of knowing that are prevalent in all design activity. In this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews with data visualization practitioners during which they were asked to describe the practical and situated aspects of their design processes. Using a philosophical framework of design judgment from Nelson and Stolterman [23], we analyzed the transcripts to describe the volume and complex layering of design judgments that are used by data visualization practitioners as they describe and interrogate their work. We identify aspects of data visualization practice that require further investigation beyond notions of rational, model- or principle-directed decision-making processes.
Recently, a lot of attention has been given to undesired consequences of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as unfair bias leading to discrimination, or the lack of explanations of the results of AI systems. There are several important questions to answer before AI can be deployed at scale in our businesses and societies. Most of these issues are being discussed by experts and the wider communities, and it seems there is broad consensus on where they come from. There is, however, less consensus on, and experience with how to practically deal with those issues in organizations that develop and use AI, both from a technical and organizational perspective. In this paper, we discuss the practical case of a large organization that is putting in place a company-wide methodology to minimize the risk of undesired consequences of AI. We hope that other organizations can learn from this and that our experience contributes to making the best of AI while minimizing its risks.