Paul and the schismata in I corinthians

This thesis sets out to reconstruct the situation at Corinth, with particular emphasis upon the divisions, at the time of Paul’s writing of I Corinthians (Introduction). An essential component of such a reconstruction, which is presupposed to be necessary for the interpretation of the epistle, is the sociological dimension of the community (Chapter I). Difficulties involved in the reconstruction of the divisions are discussed (largely from a review of proposed interpretations), and a methodology is adopted which lays the principal emphasis upon Chapters 1-4 as the source of information (Chapter II).In the second part, statements of a basically factual nature in I Cor. 1-4 are examined, leading to the preliminary conclusion that a plurality of divisions, centred upon rival leaders, existed, but was possibly not taken seriously at Corinth (Chapter III). The overall development of argument (in I-4) relates the divisions to the theme of human .wisdom, opposed to God's power. Paul views divisions as proof of 'fleshly' dependence on human wisdom, expressed in 'puffed up' behaviour, denying dependence upon God (Chapter IV). Corroborative evidence of Paul's strategy of attacking false wisdom at the root of all divisiveness, rather than particular parties, is provided by stylistically prominent indications of purpose (e.g. imperatives, purpose clauses). Paul's claim to unique authority and responsibility is an attempt to transcend divisions (Chapter V).In the third part (Chapter VI), the conclusions from I Cor. 1-4 are tested against relevant sections of I Cor. 5-16. The evidence confirms the overall conclusion of a diversity of tensions within the community, producing, within a vacuum of authority, divisions centred upon leaders. Paul appeals for a voluntary surrender of rights and freedom, in consideration for others, and for the building up of the community (Conclusion)

An integrative chronobiological-cognitive approach to seasonal affective disorder

ABSTRACT Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is characterized by annual recurrence of clinical depression in the fall and winter months. The importance of SAD as a public health problem is underscored by its high prevalence (an estimated 5%) and by the large amount of time individuals with SAD are impaired (on average, 5 months each year). The specific cause of SAD remains unknown; however, researchers have identified possible chronobiological and psychological vulnerabilities to SAD. The study aimed to clarify psychological and chronobiological correlates of SAD in the first test of an integrative model of SAD. The project used a longitudinal design to test the respective contributions of the chronobiological and cognitive vulnerabilities on winter depression severity in 31 SAD patients and 33 never-depressed controls at sites in Burlington, VT and Pittsburgh, PA. The measures selected for the cognitive vulnerability were established measures of vulnerability to nonseasonal depression with empirical support for their relevance to SAD: brooding rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, cognitive reactivity to an induced sad mood, and season-specific cognitions. The chronobiological vulnerability was measured as Phase Angle Difference (PAD) and deviation from PAD of 6 hours. All measures were completed once in the summer, when the SAD patients were remitted, and once in the winter, when patients were clinically depressed. Patients were distinguished from controls on most cognitive vulnerability measures (brooding, as well as rumination, dysfunctional attitudes, and seasonal beliefs). SAD patients exhibited shorter PAD than controls, but did not exhibit greater deviation from PAD-6. Results provide further support for specific cognitive, but not chronobiological, vulnerabilities in prediction of SAD. Limitations of the current sample are discussed. Results hold implications for future SAD research bridging the chronobiological and psychological disciplines with the ultimate aim of improved understanding, assessment, treatment, and prevention of SAD

TAPping into mental models with blocks

Trigger-Action Programming (TAP) has been shown to support end-users' rule-based mental models of context-aware applications. However, when desired behaviours increase in complexity, this can lead to ambiguity that confuses events, states, and how they can be combined in meaningful ways. Blocks programming could provide a solution, through constrained editing of visual triggers, conditions and actions. We observed slips and mistakes by users performing TAP with Jeeves, our domain-specific blocks environment, and propose solutions.Postprin

Exploiting operating system services to efficiently checkpoint parallel applications in GENESIS

Recent research efforts of parallel processing on non-dedicated clusters have focused on high execution performance, parallelism management, transparent access to resources, and making clusters easy to use. However, as a collection of independent computers used by multiple users, clusters are susceptible to failure. This paper shows the development of a coordinated checkpointing facility for the GENESIS cluster operating system. This facility was developed by exploiting existing operating system services. High performance and low overheads are achieved by allowing the processes of a parallel application to continue executing during the creation of checkpoints, while maintaining low demands on cluster resources by using coordinated checkpointing.<br /

End-user development in social psychology research:Factors for adoption

Psychology researchers employ the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to capture thoughts and behaviours of participants within their everyday lives. Smartphone-based ESM apps are increasingly used in such research. However, the diversity of researchers' app requirements, coupled with cost and complexity of their implementation, has prompted end-user development (EUD) approaches. In addition, limited evaluation of such environments beyond lab-based usability studies precludes discovery of factors pertaining to real-world EUD adoption.We first describe the extension of Jeeves, our visual programming environment for ESM app creation, in which we implemented additional functional requirements, derived from a survey and analysis of previous work. We further describe interviews with psychology researchers to understand their practical considerations for employing this extended environment in their work practices. Results of our analysis are presented as factors pertaining to the adoption of EUD activities within and between communities of practice.Postprin

Jeeves - A visual programming environment for mobile experience sampling

The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) captures participants’ thoughts and feelings in their everyday environments. Mobile and wearable technologies afford us opportunities to reach people using ESM in varying contexts. However, a lack of programming knowledge often hinders researchers in creating ESM applications. In practice, they rely on specialised tools for app creation. Our initial review of these tools indicates that most are expensive commercial services, and none utilise the full potential of sensors for creating context-aware applications. We present “Jeeves”, a visual language to facilitate ESM application creation. Inspired by successful visual languages in literature, our block-based notation enables researchers to visually construct ESM study specifications. We demonstrate its applicability by replicating existing ESM studies found in medical and psychology literature. Our preliminary study with 20 participants demonstrates that both non-programmers and programmers are able to successfully utilise Jeeves. We discuss future work in extending Jeeves with alternative mobile technologies.PostprintPeer reviewe