Calling all Collegiates: A Study of Liturgical Engagement on College Campuses

Sometimes it takes the radical intrusion of silence to truly listen. This genuine kind of listening is not simply an engagement in the repetitive transfer of sound waves. Instead, this listening demands an immersion into a deeper act of presence, one that requires both the giving and accepting of self. This sort of listening is rarely easy because it forces us to rescind some control. When we listen with our hearts, we are no longer the sole authors of our thoughts. For in the heart, it is the Spirit who penetrates our musings. The impending insights can be uncomfortable. They can be jarring. They can be challenging and enlightening and so incredibly beautiful. This is an essay about what I heard in my heart. It is an essay about forming the future leaders of the Church, a challenge that is certainly uncomfortable and jarring and so incredibly beautiful. How do we invite college students to be excited about the liturgy, the life-giving celebration of all that is good, in today’s demanding world? Though difficult, I believe it can be done. It needs to be done. Despite a stimulus-driven college culture that makes community-building challenging, college campus ministries can strengthen their local liturgical communities by consistently promoting Masses, offering regular liturgical formation opportunities, and emphasizing hospitality

The Grand Challenge for Psychoanalysis and Neuropsychoanalysis: A Science of the Subject

In 2011 we proposed that the modern advances in neurosciences would eventually push the field of psychology to an hour of truth as concerns its identity: indeed, what is psychology, if psychological functions and instances can be tied to characterized brain patterns (Bazan, 2011)? As Axel Cleeremans opens this Grand Challenge with a comparable question1, and as there is growing disagreement with the “I am my brain” paradigm, we think that the topic is indeed, 5 years later, crucially at stake. We had, in 2011, contextualized this question, as one driven by the advances in biology—anatomy in the sixteenth century, (neuro-)physiology in the nineteenth century and neurosciences today. Indeed, with each major advance, decisive moments came for psychology: in the sixteenth century, the name psychologia was launched, in the nineteenth century, psychology became a full-blown scientific field, and today, its specific identity is being questioned (Bazan, 2015). It now appears indeed that it is neuroscientists themselves, who formulate the possibility of a science of representational life, which is autonomous as regards to its biological substrates. For example, the neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin in a conference in Paris on February 2nd, 2016, gave as an alternative definition for neuroscience “the mechanisms and computational operations which govern the mental representations independently from their material substrate and its content2”. We will further propose that this autonomy is to be regarded as an organizational autonomy

The Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr. forests in the Mediterranean area

This paper examines the forest communities dominated by Olea europaea L. var. sylvestris (Mill.) Lehr. that have been described up until now in the Mediterranean Region (including other isolated extrazonal areas in the northwestern Iberian Peninsula and in Northern Turkey) as more or less evolved aspects of woods, microwoods and high maquis that principally tend to make up climacic and edapho-climacic “series heads”. These forma- tions maintain a significant large-scale distributive potential within the infra- and thermomediterranean bioclimate belts (with a few penetrations into the mesomediterranean) with a dry-subhumid (and sometimes humid) ombrotype; however, they are currently quite rare and fragmented in the wake of large-scale deforestation and the impoverishment of old-growth communities dominated by a species known to live for millennia. The study was conducted through the analysis of phytosociological data taken from the scientific literature and other unpublished data regarding North-Africa (Morocco, Algeria), the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands as well as other islands from the Tyrrhenian area (Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily and its minor islands), the Italian Peninsula, the Balkan Peninsula, the Aegean region, Turkey and the southern Anatolian coast. A comparison between the different communities has shown a high floristic and physiognomic-structural homogeneity that justifies their categorization in the Quercetea ilicis class. The biogeographic and ecologic vicariance shown by the same formations within the large Mediterranean distribution range makes it pos- sible to subdivide them into the following orders and alliances: 1) Pistacio-Rhamnetalia alaterni [A) all. Tetraclini articulatae-Pistacion atlanticae (suball. Pistacienion atlanticae); B) all. Asparago albi-Rhamnion oleoidis; C) all. Oleo sylvestris-Ceratonion siliquae]; 2) Quercetalia calliprini [D) all. Ceratonio-Pistacion lentisci]; 3) Quercetalia ilicis [E) all. Querco rotundifoliae-Oleion sylvestris; F) all. Fraxino orni-Quercion ilicis; G) all. Erico arboreae-Quercion ilicis; H) all. Arbuto unedonis-Laurion nobilis (suball. Arbuto-Laurenion nobilis)]. Regarding the syntaxonomical aspect: (i) two new associations are described [Hippocrepido emeroidis-Oleetum sylvestris and Junipero foetidissimae-Oleetum sylvestris]; (ii) two new associations [Phillyreo latifoliae-Oleetum sylvestris Barbero, Quézel & Rivas-Martínez ex Gianguzzi & Bazan ass. nova and Calicotomo intermediae-Oleetum sylvestris Quézel, Barbero, Benabid, Loisel & Rivas-Martínez 1988 ex Gianguzzi & Bazan ass. nova] and a new subassocia- tion [Aro neglecti-Oleetum sylvestris Rivas-Martínez & Cantò 2002 corr. Rivas-Martínez & Cantò fraxinetosum angustifoliae Pérez Latorre, Galán de Mera, Deil & Cabezudo ex Gianguzzi & Bazan subass. nova] are leptotypified; (iii) a nomen novum of the association is redefined [Rhamno laderoi-Oleastretum sylvestris (Cantò, Ladero, Perez-Chiscano & Rivas-Martínez 2011) Gianguzzi & Bazan nom. nov.]

On the construction of some Buchsbaum varieties and the Hilbert scheme of elliptic scrolls in P^5

We study the degeneracy loci of general bundle morphisms from the direct sum of m copies of the structural sheaf on $P^n$ to $\Omega(2)$, also from the point of view of the classical geometrical interpretation of the sections of $\Omega(2)$ as linear line complexes. We consider in particular the case of $P^5$ with m=2, 3. For n=5 and m=3 we give an explicit description of the Hilbert scheme H of elliptic normal scrolls in $P^5$, by defining a natural rational map from the Grassmannian G(2,14) to H, which results to be dominant with general fibre of degree four.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure, to be published in Geometriae Dedicat

Measuring beginner reading skills: An empirical evaluation of alternative instruments and their potential use for policymaking and accountability in Peru

Based on analysis of reading performance data from 475 third-graders in Peru, this study makes recommendations on improving reading tests, choice of reading standards, and how to present the results at the school and individual levels. The paper reviews the literature on using reading skills measurement in the early grades to guide policymaking, strengthen accountability, and improve education quality. It uses data generated from the same students using two common approaches to measuring reading skills: an individually-administered oral fluency test, and a group-administered written comprehension test designed by the Ministry of Education for the 2006 universal standard test of second grade reading comprehension. These two approaches have sometimes been presented as competing alternatives, but the paper shows that it is better if they are used together, as complements. Based on psychometric analysis, the paper shows that both the oral and written tests adequately measured studentsâÃÂàreading abilities. The results show that reading fluency and comprehension are correlated: fluent readers are more likely to understand what they read than non-fluent readers. The strength of the fluency-comprehension relationship depends on the level of fluency, the difficulty of the questions, and social characteristics of the school. The paper recommends using improved versions of both tests to evaluate early grade reading skills, as a central element of a system of accountability for results. It proposes a model for reporting test results desgned to highlight the importance of reading standards, mobilize the education community to reach them, track progress, and identify students in need of extra support.academic performance; access to education; access to preschool; access to preschool education; Achievement; achievements; addition; adults; Assessment of Literacy; average score; Basic Skills;

Performance analysis of a 2-D time-wavelength OCDMA wavelength-aware receiver with beat noise

The effect of beat noise on two-dimensional time-wavelength optical code-division multiple-access systems utilising wavelength-aware receivers is examined. A derivation of a general formula for the bit error probability taking into consideration multiple access interference (MAI) and other noise sources is given. In addition, a comparison between the system performance of such a receiver and the traditional configuration is presented. Studies to date that have focused only on the MAI limited case showed that the wavelength-aware configuration yields a better performance when compared to the traditional receiver. When beat noise is considered, the numerical results reveal that the performance of wavelength-aware receiver is very sensitive to beat noise and is not superior over the traditional receiver

Multi-Time Systems of Conservation Laws

Motivated by the work of P.L. Lions and J-C. Rochet [12], concerning multi-time Hamilton-Jacobi equations, we introduce the theory of multi-time systems of conservation laws. We show the existence and uniqueness of solution to the Cauchy problem for a system of multi-time conservation laws with two independent time variables in one space dimension. Our proof relies on a suitable generalization of the Lax-Oleinik formula.Comment: 2