Playing the Judge: Law and Imperial Messaging in Severan Rome

This dissertation analyzes the interplay between imperial messaging or self-representation and legal activity in the Roman Empire under the Severan dynasty. I discuss the unusual historical circumstances of Septimius Severus’ rise to power and the legitimacy crises faced by him and his successors, as well as those same emperors’ control of an increasingly complex legal bureaucracy and legislative apparatus. I describe how each of the four Severan rulers—Septimius Severus, Caracalla, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander—employed different approaches to imperial legislation and adjudication in accordance with their idiosyncratic self-presentation and messaging styles, as well as how other actors within Roman legal culture responded to Severan political dynamics in their own work. In particular, this dissertation is concerned with a particularly—and increasingly—urgent problem in Roman elite political culture; the tension between theories of imperial power that centered upon rulers’ charismatic gifts or personal fitness to rule, and a more institutional, bureaucratized vision that placed the emperor at the center of broader networks of administrative control. While these two ideas of the Principate had always coexisted, the Severan period posed new challenges as innovations in imperial succession (such as more open military selection of emperors) called earlier legitimation strategies into question. I posit that Roman law, with its stated tendency towards regularized, impersonal processes, was a language in which the Severan state could more easily portray itself as a bureaucratic institution that might merit deference without a given leader being personally fit to rule. This dissertation begins by discussing the representational strategy of Septimius Severus, who deployed traditional imperial messaging tropes in strikingly legalistic forms. I then explore how this model of law as a venue for or language of state communication might explain otherwise idiosyncratic features of the constitutio Antoniniana, an edict promulgated by Septimius Severus’ son Caracalla that granted citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire. I next discuss two unusual features of the corpus of rescripts issued by Severus Alexander, the last Severan emperor: specifically, the relabeling of rescripts issued by Elagabalus, Alexander’s cousin and predecessor, as products of Alexander’s reign; and the idiosyncratic frequency with which rescripts issued under Alexander’s authority cite prior imperial (and particularly Severan) precedent. Finally, I discuss how jurists responded to Severan (and particularly late Severan) political and legal culture: late Severan jurists are particularly inclined to justify their legal decisionmaking in terms of the desirable consequences of a given decision’s universal promulgation, and similarly likely to justify their opinions by citing to an impersonal ‘imperial authority’ rather than to named figures. I argue that these changes reflect both state and scholarly attempts to wrestle with increasingly unstable imperial selection processes, and to articulate a vision of Roman governance that might function in the new world of the third century C.E

Quantitative literacy practices in civil engineering study: designs for teaching and learning

Abstract: Higher education needs to produce increasing numbers of good quality graduates. Included herein is the need for graduates that can engage in high level quantitative literacy practices, which requires designs for learning that understand how texts are constructed through language, images and mathematical notation, which together form the meaning-making repertoire of quantitative literacy. This paper applies a framework for quantitative literacy events in the analysis of a particular graphical procedure used during undergraduate civil engineering courses throughout South Africa. The framework draws on the New Literacies Studies’ view of literacy as social practice and examines the specific practices that students need to engage with during individual quantitative literacy events. Application of the framework demonstrates that such graphical procedures constitute quantitative literacy events in which students engage in various quantitative practices, the implications of which inform designs for learning in civil engineering in several key respects

Junior Recital: Josh Inglis, saxophone

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Mr. Inglis studies saxophone with Sam Skelton.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2065/thumbnail.jp

forall x: Calgary. An Introduction to Formal Logic

forall x: Calgary is a full-featured textbook on formal logic. It covers key notions of logic such as consequence and validity of arguments, the syntax of truth-functional propositional logic TFL and truth-table semantics, the syntax of first-order (predicate) logic FOL with identity (first-order interpretations), translating (formalizing) English in TFL and FOL, and Fitch-style natural deduction proof systems for both TFL and FOL. It also deals with some advanced topics such as truth-functional completeness and modal logic. Exercises with solutions are available. It is provided in PDF (for screen reading, printing, and a special version for dyslexics) and in LaTeX source code

Senior Recital: Robert Herrington, jazz guitar

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Performance. Mr. Herrington studies jazz guitar with Trey Wright.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2215/thumbnail.jp

Simulation Model Calibration: An Optimization-Based Approach

Research on performance simulation deployment opportunities in the building operation phase has recently gained on momentum. Specifically, simulation routines have been successfully applied in the conception and implementation of predictive methods for building systems control. Needless to say, the quality of such a predictive control system depends on the reliability of the integrated simulation models. Thus, to ensure that predictions are dependable, the incorporated simulation models must be calibrated. Moreover, given the dynamic nature of building operation and the boundary conditions, some input parameters of the model may have to be subjected to calibration more frequently. Hence, the calibration task cannot be approached as a one-time activity. Rather, it needs to be conducted on a regular and systematic basis. Given this background, this paper examines the potential of recurrent optimization-based simulation model calibration of an office area. The results displayed a noticeable but not fully consistent improvement of the predictive potency of the calibrated model

Active Experiential Learning at a Distance

E-learning became the mode of instruction for students worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instruction was forced onto numerous online platforms quickly, some seamlessly and some not. For those not well versed in online education, the move of all forms of education, including hands-on, laboratory experiential learning, deprived students of new experiences, skills, and knowledge due to a lack of provisions to perform remotely. Uncertain of the pandemic’s duration as well as the future of hands-on education, these authors investigated new technology, equipment, and experiments that would provide a hands-on laboratory experience performed by students at a distance. In response to the laboratory learning dilemma, these authors compiled a distance laboratory kit with physical equipment and components, detailed supplemental instructions, and online communication software to provide a remote live laboratory learning experience for the summer. The new distance learning format was implemented in the summer semester course with students successfully demonstrating a fundamental understanding of electronics while troubleshooting complications with instructor assistance. The instructors determined that the online communication tools provided a timely response between students and instructors to complete work seamlessly and address feedback for course improvements. While the work was completed in a very challenging environment, the techniques and potential change to the learning environment provides the need to share successful implementation that supports the student’s learning experience. This paper documents the successful implementation of college-level hands-on laboratory experiments with electronics performed at a distance by students during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many laboratory classes transitioned to simulation software for experimentation, this course utilized physical equipment and components to conduct experiments and provide valuable experience, skills, and knowledge in the field of electronics off-campus

3D Tracking via Body Radio Reflections

This paper introduces WiTrack, a system that tracks the 3D motion of a user from the radio signals reflected off her body. It works even if the person is occluded from the WiTrack device or in a different room. WiTrack does not require the user to carry any wireless device, yet its accuracy exceeds current RF localization systems, which require the user to hold a transceiver. Empirical measurements with a WiTrack prototype show that, on average, it localizes the center of a human body to within 10 to 13 cm in the x and y dimensions, and 21 cm in the z dimension. It also provides coarse tracking of body parts, identifying the direction of a pointing hand with a median of 11.2 degrees. WiTrack bridges a gap between RF-based localization systems which locate a user through walls and occlusions, and human-computer interaction systems like WiTrack, which can track a user without instrumenting her body, but require the user to stay within the direct line of sight of the device