Persuasive Language in Cicero

This innovative approach to Cicero's persuasive language analyses the style and structure of one of his important speeches in more detail than has ever been done before. It applies ideas from modern linguistics (sentential topic, lexical patterning, interactional discourse), and explores the possibilities and limitations of quantitative analysis, made easier by modern computing power, in the areas of syntax and vocabulary. The result is a reading of the Pro Milone as a unified text, whether aimed at persuading the jury to acquit Milo or at persuading a wider audience that Milo should have been acquitted. This reading not only contributes to our understanding of late republican discourse, but also suggests a new methodology for using the study of language and style to illuminate literary/historical aspects of texts

The theme of transformation in contemporary American evangelical theological perceptions of enterprise: a postsecular critique in practical theology

Contemporary American evangelical theology's quest to integrate Christian faith and capitalistic enterprise through the theme of transformation is being challenged by postsecularism. Consumer capitalism's rapid growth has, first, weakened the influence of evangelicalism in American public life as institutionalized forms of Protestant Christianity have declined. Second, it has intensified individualist-materialist conceptions of spirituality that ground human relationships in self-interested market exchange. This contrasts with a prominent ethical thread in the Christian Scriptures that grounds human relationality in the triangulating force of God's intrinsic love, which checks the human tendency to instrumentalize for individual and material gain. To articulate a vision of capitalistic enterprise as a vehicle for moral and spiritual transformation, the theme of transformation needs a postsecular revision. The research question is: How can contemporary American evangelical theology reconstruct the theme of transformation for a postsecular context that counters the individualistmaterialist excesses of consumerist spirituality? Working from the field of practical theology, I will argue that a postsecular renewal demands a reflexive spirituality that regularly interrogates its own practice. My two-part proposition is: Contemporary American evangelical theology can strengthen its reflexivity against the excesses of postsecular consumerist spirituality by critically: {la) Engaging stakeholder theory to establish the limits of capitalistic enterprise's contributions to human flourishing; and (1 b) Appropriating the Anabaptist tradition of gelassenheit to reconstruct the theme of transformation around a relational ethic of triangular love

Persuasive Language in Cicero’s Pro Milone: A Close Reading and Commentary

This innovative approach to Cicero’s persuasive language analyses the style and structure of one of his important speeches in more details than has ever been done before. It applies ideas from modern linguistics (sentential topic, lexical patterning, interactional discourse), and explores the possibilities and limitations of quantitative analysis, made easier by modern computing power, in the areas of syntax and vocabulary. The result is a reading of the Pro Milone as a unified text, whether aimed at persuading the jury to acquit Milo or at persuading a wider audience that Milo should have been acquitted. This reading not only contributes to our understanding of late republican discourse, but also suggests a new methodology for using the study of language and style to illuminate literary/historical aspects of texts

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volume

LIPIcs, Volume 261, ICALP 2023, Complete Volum

Ahlfors circle maps and total reality: from Riemann to Rohlin

This is a prejudiced survey on the Ahlfors (extremal) function and the weaker {\it circle maps} (Garabedian-Schiffer's translation of "Kreisabbildung"), i.e. those (branched) maps effecting the conformal representation upon the disc of a {\it compact bordered Riemann surface}. The theory in question has some well-known intersection with real algebraic geometry, especially Klein's ortho-symmetric curves via the paradigm of {\it total reality}. This leads to a gallery of pictures quite pleasant to visit of which we have attempted to trace the simplest representatives. This drifted us toward some electrodynamic motions along real circuits of dividing curves perhaps reminiscent of Kepler's planetary motions along ellipses. The ultimate origin of circle maps is of course to be traced back to Riemann's Thesis 1851 as well as his 1857 Nachlass. Apart from an abrupt claim by Teichm\"uller 1941 that everything is to be found in Klein (what we failed to assess on printed evidence), the pivotal contribution belongs to Ahlfors 1950 supplying an existence-proof of circle maps, as well as an analysis of an allied function-theoretic extremal problem. Works by Yamada 1978--2001, Gouma 1998 and Coppens 2011 suggest sharper degree controls than available in Ahlfors' era. Accordingly, our partisan belief is that much remains to be clarified regarding the foundation and optimal control of Ahlfors circle maps. The game of sharp estimation may look narrow-minded "Absch\"atzungsmathematik" alike, yet the philosophical outcome is as usual to contemplate how conformal and algebraic geometry are fighting together for the soul of Riemann surfaces. A second part explores the connection with Hilbert's 16th as envisioned by Rohlin 1978.Comment: 675 pages, 199 figures; extended version of the former text (v.1) by including now Rohlin's theory (v.2

Modeling Photoinduced Events and Non-linear Spectroscopy in Complex Multichromophoric Systems

What are the processes activated by light when it impinges on a sample of light- sensitive molecules in mutual interaction? How can this information be accessed from both the experimental and theoretical sides? This work is aimed at answering at these specific questions. In order to accomplish this goal, we use state-of-the-art computational methods and develop novel theoretical approaches for investigating static and dynamical properties of networks of interacting molecular organic chromophores, and compute their spectroscopy. We focus in particular on the simulation of non-linear time-resolved techniques, such as the pump-probe and the two dimensional electronic spectroscopy. These approaches have been proven to be fundamental tools to track the system photoinduced dynamics with extremely high time and spectral resolution and disentangle contributions from different system components. We conclude that the synergic combination of “independent” results from accurate quantum chemical calculations and detailed spectroscopic experiments is the way to reach a reliable map of the activated energy transfer processes and to gain new physical insights into the system properties