English Homilies and English Miracle Plays

A priest who is also a student of English literature is naturally interested in the manifestations of the religious spirit as it has appeared in our literature. Acquaintance with a few finely poetic passages in the homilies of Aelfric led me to suspect that perhaps our ancient homiletic literature was worthy of more attention than it seemed to have received at the hands of scholars. Consequently, when the opportunity for producing an original study presented itself, the field was waiting for me; that of the early English homilies

The poisonous wine from Catalonia: rebellion in Spanish Louisiana during the Ulloa, O\u27Reilly, and Carondelet administrations

Spanish rule in Louisiana was bracketed by periods of unrest. Using the criteria for rebellion developed by political scientist Claude E. Welch Jr., in Anatomy of Rebellion to compare the 1768 rebellion under Governor Antonio de Ulloa, and demonstrations of discontent in the 1790’s under Baron Francisco Luis Carondelet, one is able to draw out similarities, contrasts, and continuities in factors causal to political unrest. The most powerful of these causal factors were the economic troubles, geographic marginality, ethnic tensions, weak authority, and unsuccessful attempts to reform the colony’s commercial system. Methods employed by the Spanish administrations to contain or mitigate the discontent largely failed, leading to episodes of violent popular political contention. The roots of Louisiana’s problems ran deep. By the arrival of the Spaniards, the colony had been largely neglected by the French crown. Suffering shortages of food, and economic strife, the colonial elite formed their own alternate, and often illegal, structures of power and support. The 1766 imposition of Spanish rule threatened those structures. In 1768, discontented members of the Louisiana Superior Council staged a coup, driving Spanish governor Antonio de Ulloa out of the colony. Lieutenant General Alejandro O’Reilly restored order to the colony in 1769. O’Reilly demonstrated effective means of control over a discontented populace, which stood in stark relief to the weaknesses, neglect and disorder of the previous Spanish administration. In the early 1790’s a number of factors sparked new fears of rebellion in Louisiana. Disruptions of trade caused by war with France, attempts to integrate Louisiana into the Spanish mercantile system, shifts in agriculture and a shortage of specie backed currency once again agitated the colonial elite. At the same time an influx of revolutionary propaganda from the French Republic threatened to spark old ethnic tensions while tales of the Haitian revolution brought fears of slave revolt in the colony. Baron Carondelet utilized an increased military presence, information control, incorporation of colonial leaders into his administrative structure, and the fear of slave revolt to contain demonstrations of popular discontent. While his administration saw an increase in political violence, Carondelet prevented widespread rebellion

Analyzing scanpath variables with MMPI-2-RF measures of thought disorder

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Director Tom Insel has created a newmethod of researching and conceptualizing mental health dysfunction. Instead of usingheterogeneous symptom classifications, Dr. Insel believes a biological approach tounderstanding dysfunction will lead to more targeted and useful findings. The notion thatidentifying corroborating biological evidence will benefit the disciplines understanding ofmental health disorders is accurate, however, the model of research proposed by Dr. Inselis heavily reliant on biology and ignores important findings in other areas of mental healthresearch. The MMPI-2-RF (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008/2011) is a well-researched andcomprehensive self-report measure of psychopathology. In lieu of the research constructslisted by the NIMH, we believe the MMPI-2-RF provides a more valid representation ofmental health dysfunction that should be corroborated with biological measures. In thisstudy we evaluated the correlation between measures of thought disorder as described bythe MMPI-2-RF and eye-tracking metrics. Participants were 300 undergraduate studentsfrom a southeastern, rural university. Participants completed the MMPI-2-RF and their eyemovementswere recorded in response to static and full motion video stimuli to investigatethe relationship between visual scanning styles or scanpaths and measures of thoughtdisorder. Bivariate correlations and a series of repeated measures analyses of varianceswere conducted to parse out the relationship between affectively charged video stimuli,thought dysfunction, and scanpath length. Results indicated there was no significantrelationship between elevations on measures of thought dysfunction and scanpath lengthin response to video stimuli. Implications of these results and future directions arediscussed

FORM: The FORTRAN Object Recovery Model. A Methodology to Extract Object-Oriented Designs From Imperative Code.

A majority of legacy systems in use in the scientific and engineering application domains are coded in imperative languages, specifically, COBOL or FORTRAN-77. These systems have an average age of 15 years or more and have undergone years of extensive maintenance. They suffer from either poor documentation or no documentation, and antiquated coding practices and paradigms (Chik94) (Osbo90). The purpose of this research is to develop a reverse-engineering methodology to extract an object-oriented design from legacy systems written in imperative languages. This research defines a three-phase methodology that inputs source code and outputs an object-oriented design. The three phases of the methodology include: Object Extraction, Class Abstraction, and Formation of the Inheritance Hierarchy. Additionally, there is a pre-processing phase that involves code structuring, alias resolution, and resolution of the COMMON block. Object Extraction is divided into two stages: Attribute Identification and Method Identification. The output of phase one is a set of candidate objects that will serve as input for phase two, Class Abstraction. The Class Abstraction phase uses clustering techniques to form classes and define the concept of identical objects. The output of phase two is a set of classes that will serve as input to the third phase, Formation of the Inheritance Hierarchy. The Formation of the Inheritance Hierarchy phase defines a similarity measure which determines class similarity and further refines the clustering performed in phase two, Class Abstraction. The result of the methodology is an object-oriented design including hierarchy diagrams and interaction diagrams. Additionally, the results of applying the methodology in two case studies are presented. The research has resulted in the development of a unique methodology to extract object-oriented designs from imperative legacy systems. The benefits of using the methodology include: the ability to capture system functionality which may not be apparent due to poor system structure, and the reduction of future maintenance costs of the system as a direct effect of accurate system documentation and updated programming technologies

Exploiting discrete event simulation to improve a chicken supply chain

This article focuses on improving supply chain management (SCM) at a poultry processing plant. The strategies applied in SCM are dependent on understanding customers’ demand, the ability to forecast accurately, and maintaining smart inventory management to achieve the full advantages of SCM. This study exploits the integration of SCM concepts with business simulation, along with exploring strategies to improve the whole operation of a chicken supply chain. Witness Horizon software is utilized to model the supply chain of Company X, and information gathered on the demand and sales of poultry (chicken) is applied and computed in the simulation. The study investigates several ordering strategies, which are based on the previous week’s demand (PWD), weighted (forward) 3-point average demand (WAFD), weighted (backward) 3-point average demand (WABD), and moving average demand (MAD). Each simulation result obtained from different ordering strategies indicates the effectiveness and potential of the proposed methodology. These strategies are successfully developed and simulated, in which the results obtained demonstrate a desirable level of inventory, and profitability can be achieved by implementing these strategies in real time. The study concludes with MAD as being a suitable forecasting method for the given scenario

Tools and Strategies for Malaria Control and Elimination: What Do We Need to Achieve a Grand Convergence in Malaria?

Progress made in malaria control during the past decade has prompted increasing global dialogue on malaria elimination and eradication. The product development pipeline for malaria has never been stronger, with promising new tools to detect, treat, and prevent malaria, including innovative diagnostics, medicines, vaccines, vector control products, and improved mechanisms for surveillance and response. There are at least 25 projects in the global malaria vaccine pipeline, as well as 47 medicines and 13 vector control products. In addition, there are several next-generation diagnostic tools and reference methods currently in development, with many expected to be introduced in the next decade. The development and adoption of these tools, bolstered by strategies that ensure rapid uptake in target populations, intensified mechanisms for information management, surveillance, and response, and continued financial and political commitment are all essential to achieving global eradication