The Impact of Transiting Planet Science on the Next Generation of Direct-Imaging Planet Searches

Within the next five years, a number of direct-imaging planet search instruments, like the VLT SPHERE instrument, will be coming online. To successfully carry out their programs, these instruments will rely heavily on a-priori information on planet composition, atmosphere, and evolution. Transiting planet surveys, while covering a different semi-major axis regime, have the potential to provide critical foundations for these next-generation surveys. For example, improved information on planetary evolutionary tracks may significantly impact the insights that can be drawn from direct-imaging statistical data. Other high-impact results from transiting planet science include information on mass-to-radius relationships as well as atmospheric absorption bands. The marriage of transiting planet and direct-imaging results may eventually give us the first complete picture of planet migration, multiplicity, and general evolution.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, IAU Transiting Planets Proceedings, in pres

Augustine\u27s Diverse Epistemology: Love, Reason, and Presupposition

In Saint Augustine’s works, especially in The City of God, The Confessions, and On Free Choice of the Will, he offers three features integral to his epistemology: love, reason, and presupposition. By love, Augustine argues that virtuous lovers of God will know the Truth more than those with disordered loves. By reason, Augustine held that reason must guide the journey to Truth. By presupposition, Augustine claimed that the search for Truth only starts from Christian doctrine. While modern philosophers might see a tension when simultaneously holding these three principles in his epistemology, Augustine claimed they were mutually supportive. This article offers an overview of love, reason, and presupposition in Augustine’s theory of knowledge. Furthermore, this bold epistemology can be an encouragement and model for contemporary epistemologists who might try to avoid tension in their theories of knowledge altogether

A Theodical Invitation

While analytic philosophy has led the charge in answering the problem of evil (i.e., POE), postmodern theology and movements like radical orthodoxy incite a response to POE from a postmodern perspective. With skepticism toward purely metaphysical answers to evil, this essay relies on the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and James K.A. Smith in order to offer a social, ecclesial, and non-rational response to the POE; furthermore, continental philosophy, postmodern theology, and social theory play a significant role in this paper. Supporting the conclusion that the Church is a heuristic, embodied answer to the POE, three contentions form the backbone of this argument: (1) the earthly body of Christ (i.e., the Church) lives in cruciform, (2) embodied theories (possibly) explain God’s relation to evil, and (3) Church liturgies act against evil. This approach seeks to develop a balanced fusion of social action, non-rational knowledge, and theoretical arguments in response to the POE

The Liturgical Action of Christ\u27s Body: A Theo-Philosophical Extension of Bonhoeffer\u27s Ecclesiology

Bonhoeffer’s theological contributions may provide significant relevance and theoretical illumination on contemporary issues in ecclesiology. Not only did Bonhoeffer offer creative theological insights, but he also incorporated philosophy into his theological positions in a way that maintains the supremacy of theology. Specifically, Bonhoeffer develops an ecclesial theology, starting in Sanctorum Communio and extending throughout his writings, that relies on social theory and philosophy (especially Hegel) while simultaneously making theology the theoretical authority over these other disciplines. In his ecclesiology, Bonhoeffer argues for an ontological unity between the Church and Christ, which he calls the Christ-reality and Christ existing as Church-community. In his earliest work, Sanctorum Communio, Bonhoeffer develops his Christological ecclesiology that he later refines in his other writings. Within his theology of the Church, Bonhoeffer significantly uses liturgy in order to illuminate how Christ exists as the Church. This thesis will theologically and philosophically analyze Bonhoeffer’s theology of the Church’s ontological unity with Christ in order to explicate the theological realities involved with the Church acting as and being Christ’s body on earth

Economic value and structure of the Tennessee turfgrass industry in 1991

The purpose of this study was to define the structure and estimate the value of the Tennessee turfgrass industry in 1991. The turfgrass industry in Tennessee encompassed the development, production, and management of specialized grasses for utility, beautification, and recreation. By using this definition, the structure of the industry was determined. There were fifteen components identified as relevant to this study and each of these were sampled by either list frame sampling procedures or random list frame sampling procedures. The fifteen components that made up the Tennessee turfgrass industry were: (1) airports, (2) cemeteries, (3) churches, (4) commercial establishments (industrial and motels/hotels), (5) counties, (6) golf courses, (7) home owners, (8) institutions (health agencies, hospitals, mental health agencies, and nursing homes), (9) lawn care companies, (10) multiple dwellings, (11) municipalities, (12) parks, (13) roadsides, (14) schools, (15) sod producers. Mail questionnaires were used to gather the information needed for this study. Most of the questionnaires were designed to collect information on the total area of turf maintained and the annual expenditures to maintain this turf. There were also questions dealing with new equipment expenditures in 1991 and current and replacement cost of the existing equipment. Information was also collected about turf care problems, source of answers to turf management problems, and number of persons employed with turfgrass responsibilities. After the data were collected, a sample mean was determined for each question on the questionnaire. This mean was then multiplied by the estimated proportion of the population that maintained a lawn. This product provided an estimate of the total amount of acres maintained or the dollar values expended in 1991. The total estimated turf acres maintained in Tennessee in 1991 was 889,382 acres. To maintain this turf, an estimated $360 million was expended by the fifteen components of the industry. Detailed information regarding sample means and confidence intervals are presented by expense categories for all fifteen components of the turf industry

Quantifying the Impact of Remapping Floodplains on Residential Property Values in Snohomish County, Washington: A Hedonic Approach

Flood events are the most common and costly natural disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) quantifies flood risks in the form of Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMS). These FIRMS delineate flood risks and are used to set flood insurance premiums. Changes in land use, the augmentation of the natural environment, is threatening the validity of the Nation’s FIRMS. Therefore, Congress has approved remapping programs to update these FIRMs ensuring that current flood risks are known. This remapping presents another issue, specifically for properties that are remapped into a flood zone. Current literature suggests that properties within flood zones are discounted 5-13% compared to homes outside a flood zone. Therefore, the switching of flood zone status should negatively impact property values. To explore how the switching of flood zone status, as indicated by the remapping of FIRMs, impacts property values, a fixed effects hedonic pricing model will be estimated. We look to add to the limited literature related to revealing the impact of switching flood zone status through time and expand upon it by investigating consumer behavior towards the release of updated preliminary flood zones. Results suggest that properties who are remapped into a flood zone are initially valued higher during the release year, but one year after the remapping their prices converge with properties who have always been within a flood zone

The Historical and Theological Backdrop of Jesus\u27s Names in John Chapter One: A Baseline for Christology

At the beginning of John’s gospel, a rich theology of Christ’s person unfolds through multiple professions of newly called disciples. In order to understand the person of Christ, the various titles associated with his name should be analyzed in their historical and theological contexts. Full of Jesus’ titles, John 1 is an intersection of history, title-giving, and theology, rich with the meanings of Jesus’ titles; furthermore, John 1 is written with historical accuracy and with impactful theology for the Church. It orients the trajectory for the following chapters and gives a foundation for Christology. Cumulatively, the names of Jesus in John 1 build a base for Christology by historically pointing back to Old Testament prophecies and by theologically declaring the pivotal role of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, this essay outlines each of Jesus’ titles in John 1 and argues that, as a whole, these declarations of who Jesus is provide a foundation for Christology

High-contrast Imaging with Spitzer: Deep Observations of Vega, Fomalhaut, and epsilon Eridani

Stars with debris disks are intriguing targets for direct imaging exoplanet searches, both due to previous detections of wide planets in debris disk systems, as well as commonly existing morphological features in the disks themselves that may be indicative of a planetary influence. Here we present observations of three of the most nearby young stars, that are also known to host massive debris disks: Vega, Fomalhaut, and eps Eri. The Spitzer Space Telescope is used at a range of orientation angles for each star, in order to supply a deep contrast through angular differential imaging combined with high-contrast algorithms. The observations provide the opportunity to probe substantially colder bound planets (120--330 K) than is possible with any other technique or instrument. For Vega, some apparently very red candidate point sources detected in the 4.5 micron image remain to be tested for common proper motion. The images are sensitive to ~2 Mjup companions at 150 AU in this system. The observations presented here represent the first search for planets around Vega using Spitzer. The upper 4.5 micron flux limit on Fomalhaut b could be further constrained relative to previous data. In the case of eps Eri, planets below both the effective temperature and the mass of Jupiter could be probed from 80 AU and outwards, although no such planets were found. The data sensitively probe the regions around the edges of the debris rings in the systems where planets can be expected to reside. These observations validate previous results showing that more than an order of magnitude improvement in performance in the contrast-limited regime can be acquired with respect to conventional methods by applying sophisticated high-contrast techniques to space-based telescopes, thanks to the high degree of PSF stability provided in this environment.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&