Many Voices in the Temple: Liberal Californian Religious Leaders\u27 Responses to Proposition 8

On November 4, 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, 52% to 48%, a ballot measure that amended the California Constitution to read that marriage is between one man and woman. Voters simultaneously concluded a four year pursuit of same-sex marriage rights in California and started a new, more passionate debate over same-sex marriage. While religion emerged as a point of contention and unification in news headlines, often these headlines ignored the complexity of religious beliefs surrounding same-sex marriage. Using in-depth interviews and content analysis of newspaper articles, I study how liberal California religious leaders, as potential political actors within the gay rights movement, talk about and act on their beliefs regarding same-sex marriage in their congregations and communities

The Aviator\u27s Serenade

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4157/thumbnail.jp

Wentzell Boundary Conditions with General Weights and Asymptotic Parabolicity for Strongly Damped Waves.

In using dynamic or Wentzell boundary conditions in parabolic and hyperbolic problems in partial differential equations, a positive function beta on the boundary of the underlying domain arises naturally. The relevant space of functions on the boundary is L2(on the boundary with weight). In all previous studies, beta was positive, continuous, and both beta and 1/beta were bounded. In this thesis, beta is merely positive and Lebesgue measurable. In particular, both beta and 1/beta can be essentially unbounded. The construction of the appropriate selfadjoint operator on the L2 space involving both omega and its boundary is based on quadratic form methods. The allows for more general coefficients in the basic elliptic operators. This leads to new wellposedness results which are applied to give significant extentions of recent asymptotic parabolicity results for strongly damped wave equations

Real-Time 3-Dimensional Ultrasound-Assisted Infraclavicular Brachial Plexus Catheter Placement: Implications of a New Technology

Background. There are a variety of techniques for targeting placement of an infraclavicular blockade; these include eliciting paresthesias, nerve stimulation, and 2-dimensional (2D) ultrasound (US) guidance. Current 2D US allows direct visualization of a “flat” image of the advancing needle and neurovascular structures but without the ability to extensively analyze multidimensional data and allow for real-time manipulation. Three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography has gained popularity and usefulness in many clinical specialties such as obstetrics and cardiology. We describe some of the potential clinical applications of 3D US in regional anesthesia. Methods. This case represents an infraclavicular catheter placement facilitated by 3D US, which demonstrates 360-degree spatial relationships of the entire anatomic region. Results. The block needle, peripheral nerve catheter, and local anesthetic diffusion were observed in multiple planes of view without manipulation of the US probe. Conclusion. Advantages of 3D US may include the ability to confirm correct needle and catheter placement prior to the injection of local anesthetic. The spread of local anesthetic along the length of the nerve can be easily observed while manipulating the 3D images in real-time by simply rotating the trackball on the US machine to provide additional information that cannot be identified with 2D US alone

The Hydroclimatic Characteristics of Nacogdoches, Texas with Implications for Water Resources Management

Sayok\u27s (1986) study and statistical analysis of the climate at Nacogdoches, Texas covering 1901 to 1980 is updated to include the most recent twelve years (1981-92) of records. Missing data are estimated, all analyses are repeated, and the new 1961-90 normal climate is compared to the 1951-80 and other normals. Results showed that the climate at Nacogdoches during the last decade was about the same as that in other recent decades. Thomthwaite\u27s (1957) climate classification defines Nacogdoches as moist subhumid, third mesothermal, with moderate summer water deficiency, and a temperature effIciency regime equal to a fourth mesothermal climate. There are certain non-random processes contained in the 90-year record of annual precipitation, total number of raindays, maximum and minimum air temperature, hot days, and frost-free days. Further investigation into the non-randomness is warranted. About 71 percent of the variation in the monthly municipal water demand could be explained by three simple variables; viz., the monthly number of days which equaled or exceeded 35 °C (95 oF), the average monthly maximum temperature, and the reciprocal of monthly total precipitation (1/P). The extreme daily streamflow data for La Nana Creek best fit the LogPearson type III distribution while the annual total flow and annual peakflows best fit the Lognormal distribution. The addition of three recent years of record did not significantly affect the streamflow regimes described by Sayok (1986). Observed solar radiation data in 1989 were, on the average, 62.4 percent less than theoretical values calculated for a horizontal surface at the top of the atmosphere. Tornadoes in Nacogdoches County most frequently occurred in May and around 5 o\u27clock in the afternoon. Based on the Poisson distribution there is a 48 percent chance that no tornadoes will occur in any given year and a 35 percent chance that one tornado will occur in any given year in Nacogdoches