Old Testament Election: God’s Exclusive Means of Bringing About Global Redemption

This thesis will seek to explore the doctrine of election as it appears in the Old Testament. It will attempt to provide a robust, biblical conception of the doctrine, shedding light on its nature and purpose, viewing the Bible as a singular story of God’s redemptive work. It will consider and assess election as God’s act of divine prerogative—being at times individual but primarily corporate. While inherently partial, effort will be taken to defend the doctrine against common objections this partiality draws. Rather, it will be shown that as the means by which He initiated His gracious plan of salvation, God’s elective acts were the means by which His character and ultimate plan of salvation was revealed to mankind

Tension over Terms: Root, Stem, and Affix in Greek and Hebrew

Undergraduat

Scrutiny of the Venire, Scrutiny from the Bench: \u3ci\u3eSmithkline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories\u3c/i\u3e and the Application of Heightened Scrutiny to Sexual Orientation Classifications

In SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals applied heightened scrutiny to a sexual orientation classification. Through SmithKline, the Ninth Circuit became one of the first federal circuit courts to do so explicitly; and by unequivocally applying a more exacting standard than rational basis, it furthered the framework developed in cases such as Romer v. Evans, Lawrence v. Texas, and United States v. Windsor. This Note asserts that SmithKline is a significant victory for the advancement of LGBT rights, as evidenced by its use to strike down several same-sex marriage bans and in court filings urging that discriminatory laws be ruled unconstitutional. First, this Note summarizes the different levels of judicial scrutiny that federal courts have applied in recent years. It then analyzes the origins of peremptory strikes and the “Batson Challenge.” Next, this Note draws on these foundations to analyze the Ninth Circuit’s decision in SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories. This Note concludes by arguing that the Ninth Circuit’s analysis was appropriate and that SmithKline should be used as a framework for other courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to apply heightened scrutiny explicitly to sexual orientation classifications. This Note further argues that sexual orientation should be designated as a quasi-suspect or suspect classification. At its core, this Note endorses the message in SmithKline that sexual orientation does not, and should not, factor into determinations regarding the ability of gay persons to contribute to civic life

Scrutiny of the Venire, Scrutiny from the Bench: \u3ci\u3eSmithkline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories\u3c/i\u3e and the Application of Heightened Scrutiny to Sexual Orientation Classifications

In SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals applied heightened scrutiny to a sexual orientation classification. Through SmithKline, the Ninth Circuit became one of the first federal circuit courts to do so explicitly; and by unequivocally applying a more exacting standard than rational basis, it furthered the framework developed in cases such as Romer v. Evans, Lawrence v. Texas, and United States v. Windsor. This Note asserts that SmithKline is a significant victory for the advancement of LGBT rights, as evidenced by its use to strike down several same-sex marriage bans and in court filings urging that discriminatory laws be ruled unconstitutional. First, this Note summarizes the different levels of judicial scrutiny that federal courts have applied in recent years. It then analyzes the origins of peremptory strikes and the “Batson Challenge.” Next, this Note draws on these foundations to analyze the Ninth Circuit’s decision in SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories. This Note concludes by arguing that the Ninth Circuit’s analysis was appropriate and that SmithKline should be used as a framework for other courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, to apply heightened scrutiny explicitly to sexual orientation classifications. This Note further argues that sexual orientation should be designated as a quasi-suspect or suspect classification. At its core, this Note endorses the message in SmithKline that sexual orientation does not, and should not, factor into determinations regarding the ability of gay persons to contribute to civic life

A Comparison of Tung Oil Resin Reinforcements Using Fibrous Proteins and Peptides for Biological and Materials Applications

In this study a tung oil based thermoset was reinforced with collagen and fibroin, and the resulting composites were analyzed for their physical properties. Tung tree seed oil is a great candidate for biobased polymer production because its triglycerides are primarily made of alpha eleostearic acid, a fatty acid with three conjugated carbon-carbon double bonds. These double bonds allow for mechanically strong crosslinking in the polymer. It has been observed that polymerized tung oil forms a gel. This issue has been addressed using divinylbenzene (DVB) and n-butyl methacrylate (BMA) as co-monomers. Similar bio-based polymers have been studied and tend to have overall weaker mechanical properties than their crude oil counterparts. Collagen and fibroin are two fibrous proteins that have strong mechanical properties that can reinforce the polymer. Collagen is a protein that forms a strong triple helix. However, after purification, collagen’s triple helix structure has been observed to not be fully maintained due to the incorporation of sodium ions into the collagen structure. In this study, the effect of NaCl on collagen’s reinforcing properties for a tung oil polymeric resin is thoroughly evaluated. A tung oil/DVB/BMA resin has been reinforced with collagen containing varying levels of NaCl. As an alternative to collagen, fibroin has been proposed as a potential reinforcement for tung oil/DVB/BMA resins. The thermo-mechanical properties of the resulting composites have been systematically assessed via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). DMA showed at 37 °C collagen reinforcement had increased the storage modulus of the tung oil thermoset from 97.45 MPa to a range of 99.40 MPa - 186.62 MPa. At 37 °C, fibroin reinforcement increased the storage modulus of the tung oil thermoset from 97.45 MPa to a range of 122.23 MPa - 140.98 MPa. TGA showed at T80 there was little change in thermal stability. The highest change being from collagen reinforcement increasing the temperature from 382.30 °C to 424.50 °C. Neither the complete curing of the resin nor the thermal stability were significantly affected by the reinforcement. Collagen and fibroin samples effectively reinforced the resin, by increasing the storage modulus

Start Meeting to Stop Violence

In the session “Start Meeting to Stop Violence”, the educator will be an active participant in understanding the importance classroom meetings. These meetings such as Morning Meeting from The Responsive Classroom have proven to decrease various forms of aggressive, violent, and unmotivated behavior. During the workshop the learner will observe a classroom meeting and then discuss their findings. The educator will paricipate in a simulated morning meeting with a facilitator and then debrief their experience. In this session they will hear from a former kindergarten teacher who is now an administrator on how these meetings transformed his classroom as well as his title I school from a place of bullying into a place of compassion and empathy. We will compare the Morning Meeting with the general classroom meeting and see how each can fit into the day and oppose to take away from instructional time, will actually give the teacher more time on task. This session is geared for all educators K- 12 who are looking for that “Silver Bullet to curb challenging behavior

An exploratory qualitative study of health professional perspectives on clinical outcomes in UK orthotic practice

Background: Despite potential savings to the National Health Service, the collection of data on outcomes of NHS orthotic services is patchy. Indeed, several reports into orthotic services in the UK have reported a lack of data relating to outcomes of care and highlighted the need to routinely measure outcomes to demonstrate efficacy of services. Whilst a previous study provided an overview of the use of outcome measures in orthotic practice and identified some barriers to their use, further questions emerged. Hence, this qualitative study aimed to explore orthotists’ opinions and personal experiences on the influences on outcomes, how appropriate and relevant outcomes can be measured and also how barriers to the use of outcome measures can be overcome. Methods: Following a review of the literature, an initial advisory group informed semi-structured questions. These were used to create dialogue in a focus group of 12 orthotists. Data from the focus group was transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis, creating themes and subthemes for discussion. Results: The setting of realistic and agreed goals through managing expectations, compromise and patient education/information were seen as factors that could inform and improve outcomes. Barriers to the collection of outcome measures were associated with inadequate technology to manage the data, lack of time to complete them, lack of training in them and difficulties selecting appropriate outcome measures for patients with complex problems managed by different health professionals. The participants discussed ways of addressing these barriers, such as the use of ‘snapshots’ and delegation of data collection. Conclusions: This study has revealed that measuring outcomes is considered to be an important activity. In order to achieve good outcomes, it is important to address patient expectations, discuss and establish joint goals for care at the outset and inform and include patients in the decision-making process. The identified barriers to measuring outcomes can be overcome with the solutions revealed by these participants. Hence, this study has contributed to current knowledge which has relevance for clinical practice and may provide the theoretical basis for future research

Would those who need ISA, use it? Investigating the relationship between drivers' speed choice and their use of a voluntary ISA system

Intelligent Speed Adaptation (ISA) is one of the most promising new technologies for reducing the prevalence and severity of speed-related accidents. Such a system could be implemented in a number of ways, representing various "levels of control" over the driver. An ISA system could be purely advisory or could actually control the maximum speed of a vehicle. A compromise would be to introduce a system that allows a driver to choose when to engage ISA, thus creating a “voluntary” system. Whilst these voluntary systems are considered more acceptable by drivers, they will not offer safety benefits if they are not used by the driver. Two studies were carried out that examined the relationship between drivers’ reported and actual speeding behaviour, their propensity to engage a voluntary ISA system and their attitudes towards such a system. These studies were carried out in a driving simulator and in an instrumented vehicle. In both the studies, drivers’ propensity to exceed the speed limit was lowered when ISA was available but this effect was confined to the lower speed limits. In general, drivers engaged ISA for approximately half of their driving time, depending on the speed limit of the road and indeed, on the nature of the road and the surrounding traffic. This was particularly true in the field study where drivers were more inclined to “keep up with” the surrounding traffic. The results from the on-road study indicated that those drivers who considered ISA to be both a useful and pleasant system, were overall more likely to engage it. However, those drivers who confessed to enjoying exceeding the speed limit were less likely to use ISA. This is an important finding when considering the mechanisms for implementing ISA: those drivers who would benefit most would be less likely to use a voluntary system