Commitment And Utopia: A Liberation Theology Approach To John Dos Passos, Flannery O\u27connor, And Thomas Pynchon

My intent in this work is to see what consequences can be derived from looking from the perspective of Christianity (especially, liberation theology) at three very different writers: John Dos Passos, Flannery O\u27Connor, and Thomas Pynchon. Having taken this stance, I will be viewing one major work of each of these three writers as work which deals with the nature of human commitment and its relationship to a stated or implied utopia. My intention is to perform a religious and ideological reading of the three authors, and to see what the implications are of liberation theology for literature in an age where the intelligentsia frequently assume Christianity to be nostalgic, inherently reactionary, and theoretically obtuse.;I have chosen these three particular writers for various reasons, but mostly because they are very different from each other in the implications they make for commitment and utopia. Therefore, they offer liberation theology the widest scope in which to exercise itself as an approach to literature.;In the course of the thesis, I show how together, these works cast doubt both on the possibility of a non-religious socialism, and the possibility of a non-socialistic religion. A utopian commitment both artistically and politically, which focuses on this world and the next as a continuum, becomes necessary.;Within liberation theology, utopianism and commitment are vital. Utopia is such that this world is infused with the kingdom of God, however imperfectly. Liberation theologians are as aware as anyone that human effort alone is not enough to create utopia; divine participation in history is as essential as it is unstoppable. Liberation theology also explodes the cynic\u27s false dichotomy of idealism versus realism ; the most realistic people are idealistic: they are utopians. They eschew both worldliness and quietism.;Aside from the various conclusions I make about the ideologies of each of the three texts, I also come to advocate readings which stress the reader\u27s participation as the bearer of Christian faith. This type of reading does not eschew non-Christian texts, nor does it attempt to discover hidden Christianity in such texts

From litter decomposition to soil organic matter formation: using stable isotopes to determine the fate of carbon and nitrogen

2014 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.Litter decomposition releases the energy and nutrients fixed during photosynthesis into the atmosphere and soil. In the soil, carbon and nitrogen from the litter can be stabilized in soil organic matter pools, which globally represent large pools of both carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). Soil organic matter pools are heterogeneous, the product of different stabilization processes and will stabilize C and N for periods of time ranging from years to millennia. A thorough mechanistic understanding of the fate of above-ground litter C and N is essential to understand how climate change could affect both carbon sequestration and soil health. This research studied the fate of litter derived organic matter. Isotopically labeled litter was used in a field incubation to trace litter derived C and N into different SOM pools and soil depths over the course of 3 years. Additionally, naphthalene was used to suppress microarthropods to determine the impact of mesofauna on the fate of litter derived N. In the laboratory, soil from the field experiment was incubated for 150 to determine how different SOM pools contributed to respiration and leaching. Microarthropods do not increase overall N mineralization rates, but do influence the fate of litter derived N. When present, microarthropods increased the amount of litter derived N in the light fractions, suggesting that microarthropods increase litter fragmentation. Surprisingly, litter derived organic matter does not contribute to respiration and leaching equally, suggesting that leaching and respiration are not directly related. Litter derived OM behaves differently than older OM present in the soil, with the newer litter derived C and N being more readily lost from SOM pools. This result supports the onion layering model suggested by Sollins (Sollins et al. 2006). In order to create more accurate models, microarthropods and the onion layering model should be included in future C and N dynamic studies

A survey of the activities and duties of union superintendents in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

A Descriptive Study of School Climate and School Culture in Selected Public Secondary Schools in New Jersey and New York

The purpose of this study was to describe the school climate and school culture in selected public secondary Priority Schools, Focus Schools, and Reward Schools in New Jersey and New York. This study used the United States Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Flexibility Waiver definition to identify Priority Schools, Focus Schools, and Reward Schools. The grades ranged from ninth to twelfth grade. The lists of schools were identified from the 2016 New Jersey Department of Education and the New York State Education Department lists of Priority Schools, Focus Schools, and Reward Schools (NJDOE, 2016; NYSED, 2016). The Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire – Rutgers Secondary (OCDQ-RS) and the School Culture Survey (SCS) were the instruments used to gather data on school climate and school culture. A total of 627 teachers participated in the study. Due to the low number of teachers participating in the study, the information gleaned from this study may not be as accurate as a study with substantially more teachers participating. The findings in this study suggested that Reward Schools had an open school climate and a collaborative school culture. Teachers from Reward Schools had mean scores above the normative mean of 500 in Supportive Principal Behavior, Engaged Teacher Behavior, and Intimate Teacher Behavior. The ANOVA post hoc test Tukey HSD revealed that Reward Schools had two climate dimensions, Supportive Principal Behavior and Engaged Teacher Behavior, which were statistically different than the mean scores from Priority and Focus Schools at the .001 significance level. Reward Schools had mean scores in four culture dimensions, Collaborative Leadership, Teacher Collaboration, Professional Development, and Learning Partnership, above the normative mean of 500. The ANOVA post hoc test Tukey HSD revealed there were two school culture dimensions, Collective Leadership and Learning Partnership, which were statistically different between Reward Schools and Focus Schools at the .05 significance level. Priority and Focus Schools had engaged school climates. Teachers from Priority and Focus Schools had mean scores above the normative mean in Directive Principal Behavior and Intimate Teacher Behavior. The ANOVA post hoc test Tukey HSD revealed that there was one school climate dimension, Frustrated Teacher Behavior, which was statistically different between Priority Schools and Focus Schools at the .05 significance level. Priority Schools and Focus Schools had mean scores above the normative mean score of 500 in Teacher Collaboration and Collegial Support. Teachers from both schools had a mean score that was slightly below the normative mean in Collaborative Leadership. Both Priority Schools and Focus Schools had mean scores below the normative mean in Professional Development and Unity of Purpose. ANOVA post hoc test Tukey HSD revealed that there was one school culture dimension, Collegial Support, which was statistically different between Priority Schools and Focus Schools. The results of this study may assist school leaders develop an open school climate that can lead to a collaborative school culture. School culture can assist schools build and maintain high student achievement for many years (Gruenert & Whitaker, 2015)

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy

This issue of eMedRef provides information to clinicians on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and therapeutics of takotsubo cardiomyopathy