The Beautiful Mystery: Examining Jonathan Edwards’ View of Marriage

In contemporary evangelical circles, Jonathan Edwards has gained wide popularity for his theological writings and vital role in the First Great Awakening. However, despite these often romanticized views, Edwards nonetheless stood in the midst of an eighteenth century society that began to develop new norms for sexual practice and new legal guidelines to support them. In order to combat what he saw to be a decaying moral culture, Edwards took a strong stance on marital issues, often to the displeasure of his congregation. What lay behind these convictions was a deep theological understanding of the sanctity of marriage. These views, although not new to the history of Christian thought, were uniquely reinvigorated by Edwards to a Calvinist generation that had recently abandoned them. It is both Edwards’ theology of marriage and reinforcement of its practice that not only make him a unique preacher for his time, but also a worthy study for Evangelicals today in the midst of modern marital controversies

Health Impacts of Power-Exporting Plants in Northern Mexico

In the past two decades, rapid population and economic growth on the U.S.–Mexico border has spurred a dramatic increase in electricity demand. In response, American energy multinationals have built power plants just south of the border that export most of their electricity to the United States. This development has stirred considerable controversy because these plants effectively skirt U.S. environmental air pollution regulations in a severely degraded international airshed. Yet to our knowledge, this concern has not been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. This paper uses a suite of air dispersion, health impacts, and valuation models to assess the human health damages in the United States and Mexico caused by air emissions from two power-exporting plants in Mexicali, Baja California. We find that these emissions have limited but nontrivial health impacts, mostly by exacerbating particulate pollution in the United States, and we value these damages at more than half a million dollars per year. These findings demonstrate that power-exporting plants can have cross-border health effects and bolster the case for systematically evaluating their environmental impacts.electricity, air pollution, Mexico

Experimental demonstration of a surface-electrode multipole ion trap

We report on the design and experimental characterization of a surface-electrode multipole ion trap. Individual microscopic sugar particles are confined in the trap. The trajectories of driven particle motion are compared with a theoretical model, both to verify qualitative predictions of the model, and to measure the charge-to-mass ratio of the confined particle. The generation of harmonics of the driving frequency is observed as a key signature of the nonlinear nature of the trap. We remark on possible applications of our traps, including to mass spectrometry.Comment: Preprint format, 15 pages, 9 figures. Accepted into Journal of Applied Physic

Biological Vestiges in American Psycho

In proposing that the use of violence as allegory in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho is warranted, this essay challenges a popular reading of the text, one found in many critical articles, that proposes otherwise. Specifically, this essay will break the novel’s cast into three factions, with each faction having a biologically definable origin: representations of the past, representations of the present, and representation of an ambiguous territory in between. Jean serves to depict a time when people communicated on a level beyond that which is comprehensible to most Generation Xrs. She has been transplanted into the novel’s present from the past, to serve as a scientific control. Patrick’s colleagues and Wall Street competitors depict the novel’s present. They are fully evolved, fully invested in their contemporary capitalistic endeavors. Patrick exists as a mutant, stuck between generations. He retains vestiges of the past, alongside his otherwise insatiable desire for capitalistic success. It is his uncomfortable position that causes Patrick’s angst, and his murderous tendencies

Health Impacts of Power-Exporting Plants in Northern Mexico

In the past two decades, rapid population and economic growth on the U.S.–Mexico border has spurred a dramatic increase in electricity demand. In response, American energy multinationals have built power plants just south of the border that export most of their electricity to the United States. This development has stirred considerable controversy because these plants effectively skirt U.S. environmental air pollution regulations in a severely degraded international airshed. Yet to our knowledge, this concern has not been subjected to rigorous scrutiny. This paper uses a suite of air dispersion, health impacts, and valuation models to assess the human health damages in the United States and Mexico caused by air emissions from two power-exporting plants in Mexicali, Baja California. We find that these emissions have limited but nontrivial health impacts, mostly by exacerbating particulate pollution in the United States, and we value these damages at more than half a million dollars per year. These findings demonstrate that power-exporting plants can have cross-border health effects and bolster the case for systematically evaluating their environmental impacts.electricity, air pollution, Mexico

IVA the robot: Design guidelines and lessons learned from the first space station laboratory manipulation system

The first interactive Space Station Freedom (SSF) lab robot exhibit was installed at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, and has been running daily since. IntraVehicular Activity (IVA) the robot is mounted in a full scale U.S. Lab (USL) mockup to educate the public on possible automation and robotic applications aboard the SSF. Responding to audio and video instructions at the Command Console, exhibit patrons may prompt IVA to perform a housekeeping task or give a speaking tour of the module. Other exemplary space station tasks are simulated and the public can even challenge IVA to a game of tic tac toe. In anticipation of such a system being built for the Space Station, a discussion is provided of the approach taken, along with suggestions for applicability to the Space Station Environment

An Investigation of the Relationships Between the Teaching Climate, Students’ Perceived Life Skills Development and Well-Being Within Physical Education

Background: Both education policies and curriculum documents identify the personal development of students as a key objective of modern education. Physical education in particular has been cited as a subject that can promote students’ life skills development and psychological well-being. However, little research has investigated the processes by which physical education may be related to students’ development of life skills and their psychological well-being.  Purpose: Using Benson and Saito’s (2001) framework for youth development theory and research, this study explored the relationships between the teaching climate, students’ perceived life skills development within physical education, and their psychological well-being.  Participants and setting: Participants were 294 British physical education students (Mage = 13.70, range = 11–18 years) attending six secondary schools in Scotland and England. On average, these male (n = 204) and female (n = 90) students took part in physical education classes for 2.35 hours per week.  Data collection: The data were collected via a survey which assessed perceived teacher autonomy support, participants’ perceived life skills development within physical education (teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, interpersonal communication, social skills, leadership, and problem solving and decision making), and their psychological well-being (self-esteem, positive affect, and satisfaction with life).  Data analyses: The preliminary analysis used descriptive statistics to assess how participants scored on each of the study variables and correlations to assess the relationships between all variables. The main analysis sought to test Benson and Saito’s (2001) framework using a series of mediation models which were tested via non-parametric bootstrapping analysis.  Findings: This study demonstrated that students perceived they were developing the following life skills through physical education: teamwork, goal setting, time management, emotional skills, interpersonal communication, social skills, leadership, and problem solving and decision making. Overall, the results supported Benson and Saito’s (2001) framework for youth development theory and research. In all analyses, perceived teacher autonomy support was positively related to participants’ perceived life skills development within physical education and their psychological well-being. Participants’ total life skills development was related to all three psychological well-being indicators – providing support for the ‘pile-up’ effect (Benson 2006). Total life skills development also mediated the relationships between perceived teacher autonomy support and participants’ psychological well-being.  Conclusion: The findings suggest that perceived teacher autonomy support, along with total life skills development, are related to participants’ psychological well-being. Interpretation of the results suggest that physical education teachers should integrate autonomy supportive behaviors into their teaching (e.g., provide choice in activities and encourage students to ask questions) as they are associated with young people’s development of multiple life skills and their psychological well-being

Three Supernova Remnants observed by BeppoSAX

We present the results of three observations of shell-type supernova remnants observed by BeppoSAX. Two of the remnants (N132D and Cas A) are oxygen rich supernova remnants. They were observed during the PV phase. SN1006 was observed during A01. For SN1006 we present preliminary results on the abundance measurements based on the emission from the center of the remnant.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, LateX. To appear in The Active X-ray Sky, Rome, Italy, 21-24 October, 1997. Eds.: L. Scarsi, H. Bradt, P. Giommi and F. Fior