Jesus-Immanuel: Matthew\u27s Narrative Christology of Divine Presence

Many Christological studies of Matthew’s Gospel, while giving particular attention to titular analyses, fail to account for one of Matthew’s most ingenious and expansive literary devices. In the opening chapter of his narrative, Matthew tells of a messiah who will be called “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” and also be called “Immanuel, which means God with us.” The entire gospel narrative comes to a close with Jesus-Immanuel standing in the presence of his disciples and saying to them “I am with you always.” That Matthew frames his entire narrative with this Immanuel motif of divine presence requires that we look at nothing short of the whole story. It also pushes against traditional approaches to Christological studies and prompts us to seek for a “narrative Christology.” What story does the entire narrative of Matthew’s Gospel tell about Jesus? Matthew’s Immanuel motif uniquely creates a narrative Christology that understands divine presence as a reality in the person of Jesus Christ that is expressed in his community of followers and the activity of the Holy Spirit. This study takes a look at some of the particular issues associated with Matthew’s three explicit uses of the Immanuel motif (1:23; 18:20; 28:20) while also giving attention to the entirety of Matthew’s narrative. Taking this literary approach illuminates the connections between Jesus-Immanuel, community, and the Spirit. Matthew’s narrative is one in which God’s presence is found in the person of Jesus, experienced within his gathered community of followers, and dynamically expressed in the movement of the Spirit

Dyadic Clustering in International Relations

Quantitative empirical inquiry in international relations often relies on dyadic data. Standard analytic techniques do not account for the fact that dyads are not generally independent of one another. That is, when dyads share a constituent member (e.g., a common country), they may be statistically dependent, or "clustered." Recent work has developed dyadic clustering robust standard errors (DCRSEs) that account for this dependence. Using these DCRSEs, we reanalyzed all empirical articles published in International Organization between January 2014 and January 2020 that feature dyadic data. We find that published standard errors for key explanatory variables are, on average, approximately half as large as DCRSEs, suggesting that dyadic clustering is leading researchers to severely underestimate uncertainty. However, most (67% of) statistically significant findings remain statistically significant when using DCRSEs. We conclude that accounting for dyadic clustering is both important and feasible, and offer software in R and Stata to facilitate use of DCRSEs in future research

Continuous Directed Evolution of Enzymes with Novel Substrate Specificity

Methodological advances in directed evolution have already made it possible to discover useful biomolecules within months to years. A further acceleration of this process might make it possible to address outstanding challenges, or needs for which the current timescale is a fundamental barrier. To realize these goals would require transformative methodological advances in directed evolution. In Chapter One, current methods in directed evolution are briefly reviewed. In Chapter Two, a general platform for continuous directed evolution is presented. The method is used to evolve T7 RNA polymerase enzymes with novel promoter activity on the days timescale. In Chapter Three, a method is developed for tuning selection stringency during continuous evolution, thus obviating the requirement for a minimal starting library activity. In Chapter Four, a method is developed for simultaneous positive and negative selection, thus allowing explicit selection for substrate specific enzymes. In Chapter Five, the advances in stringency modulation and negative selection are combined to evolve highly substrate specific enzymes starting from an inactive starting library. In a continuous evolutionary arc of less than three days, we discover T7 RNA polymerase enzymes with a degree of specificity for the T3 promoter exceeding that of the wild type enzyme for its native substrate

Assessing Perceived Usability of the Data Curation Profiles Toolkit Using the Technology Acceptance Model

The Data Curation Profiles Toolkit (DCPT) emerged out of a Purdue University Libraries’ 2004 initiative to engage in multidisciplinary research. It is a tool developed to assist librarians and other information professionals to conduct data interviews and identify needs of researchers in managing, sharing, or curating their data. The DCPT has been widely adopted and applied in various contexts but its usability as a tool has not been formally assessed. To address this need, we have conducted a survey of users of the DCPT. The survey included quantitative measures of potential influencing factors of using the DCPT and its perceived usability (its usefulness as a tool and its ease of use). Open-ended questions about users’ experiences with the DCPT were also included to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the tool as well as areas that could be improved. Factor analysis of the quantitative results and subsequent regression models revealed several underlying factors that affect the perceived usability of the DCPT. Responses to the open-ended questions revealed several themes of users’ concerns: the amount of time required to use the DCPT, the structure and format of the DCPT, alignment of the DCPT with particular contexts, and the use of the DCPT to engage faculty and the library community. By correlating themes identified from the open-ended questions with the analysis of quantitative data, this paper provides the first set of empirical assessment of the DCPT that could help further improve the toolkit’s usability based on user needs and expectations. The methodology used in the study could readily be applied to assess and improve the utility of other tools used by data and information professionals

Laser Beam Profiling and Crystallographic Analysis

Lasers and x-rays are widely used in the modern world for studying biomolecules. For the purposes of the physics department, future research requires certainty that lasers have Gaussian profiles, though the lasers used often deviate from this ideal. In this project, we investigate methods to measure and analyze laser beam profiles. We first reviewed the theory of Gaussian beams and their properties. We then measured our laser’s profile using two techniques: a knife-edge method and a cell phone photography method. The first involved moving a razor edge across the beam to measure transmitted light, while the second involved visualizing the profile through photographs. The second part of the project involved x-ray crystallography, a powerful technique for determining the three-dimensional structure of molecules. Crystallography analysis involves growing crystals of the molecule of interest and exposing them to x-rays. By analyzing the diffraction pattern, it is possible to reconstruct the molecule’s electron density and determine its precise atomic coordinates. However, crystallography analysis can be challenging due to the data processing and modeling required to interpret the diffraction data. We compared open-source crystallography software and practiced data analysis using publicly available sample diffraction patterns. In summary, we investigated methods to measure and analyze laser beam profiles, including hands-on techniques and imaging. We also discussed x-ray crystallography, a key technique in studying molecular structures. Our work provides the foundation for future optics and crystallography projects

Prospectus, October 16, 1996

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1996/1025/thumbnail.jp

Monoclinic superstructure in the orthorhombic Ce10W22O81 from transmission electron microscopy

International audienceA complex rare earth tungstate structure, present in a two-phased powder, was solved by electron diffraction, precession and high resolution electron microscopy. The orthorhombic space group Pbnm and the atomic positions deduced from X-rays diffraction experiments were confirmed for Ce10W22O81. A C2/c monoclinic superstructure, with cell parameters a = 7.8 Å, b = 36.1 Å, c = 22.2 Å and β = 100.2°, was evidenced and attributed to a partial oxidation of Ce3+ leading to interstitial oxygen ions

Mind the Map: How Thinking Maps Affect Student Achievement

This action research project, conducted in an 8th grade classroom by Daniel Long, investigated how Thinking Maps could be utilized by the students to broaden critical thinking skills and enhance their understanding of the content being presented. The research data was gathered through anonymous student surveys, instructor observation notes and a post-intervention assessment. Students were taught the function and proper construction of all eight Thinking Maps and were encouraged to utilize them on multiple occasions every day. The findings by Long indicated that when students constructed Thinking Maps, they were able to achieve greater understanding than those students who used traditional note taking strategies. The purpose of this research was to determine if the use of Thinking Maps would increase student achievement. Because Thinking Maps allow students to express their thoughts and ideas non-linguistically, instructors actually see the graphic representation of a student’s thought process (Holzman, 2004). Thinking Maps differ from graphic organizers because they are used to promote “more strategic thinking” and encourage students to focus on the processes used to produce the “correct” answer (Holzman, 2004). By coaching students to correctly use the Thinking Maps in their daily lessons, students will have a greater sense of control of the way they handle classroom material and provide a strategy for organization that will allow them to form meaningful connections with the content

Negative selection and stringency modulation in phage-assisted constinuous evolution

Phage-assisted continuous evolution (PACE) uses a modified filamentous bacteriophage life cycle to dramatically accelerate laboratory evolution experiments. In this work we expand the scope and capabilities of the PACE method with two key advances that enable the evolution of biomolecules with radically altered or highly specific new activities. First, we implemented small molecule-controlled modulation of selection stringency that enables otherwise inaccessible activities to be evolved directly from inactive starting libraries through a period of evolutionary drift. Second, we developed a general negative selection that enables continuous counter-selection against undesired activities. We integrated these developments to continuously evolve mutant T7 RNA polymerase enzymes with ∼10,000-fold altered, rather than merely broadened, substrate specificities during a single three-day PACE experiment. The evolved enzymes exhibit specificity for their target substrate that exceeds that of wild-type RNA polymerases for their cognate substrates, while maintaining wild-type-like levels of activity