Faith and the Death Penalty: Attitudes of Students at Christian Colleges on Religious Belief and Capital Punishment in the United States

American Christians are not in complete agreement on the legality and morality of capital punishment. Recent surveys show that between 61 and 66 percent of the general population of Christians are in support of the death penalty (Barna, 2017; Jones, 2016). Christians use scripture and religious traditions as the basis for many arguments both in support and opposition of the death penalty. Official positions on capital punishment also vary across denomination. These arguments and statistics are presented in a literature review. Existing surveys have also found that support for the death penalty is lower among younger people and the college-educated (Oliphant, 2018; Barna, 2017). Considering the fact that most Christians agree with capital punishment, but most younger people and college-educated people do not, this study asks where people belonging to all three of these groups stand on the issue. Undergraduate students at two Christian universities answered survey questions concerning their religious beliefs and position on the death penalty. The survey revealed that students attending Christian colleges are much less likely to support the death penalty than Christians of the general population. Additionally, most students noted they were unsure of the Bible’s position on capital punishment, but more students viewed it as unsupportive of the matter than as supportive. Finally, students claimed a variety of factors beyond Christian denomination influenced their position on capital punishment, including their education

Facilitators and Barriers to Mentor-Mentee Relationships in a Mental Health-App Intervention

This study examined students’ perceptions of their experience participating in a study involving supportive accountability to mental health apps (MHapps). Students were paired with an academic advisor or support staff member who connected with students through MentorHub, allowing them to encourage students’ use of other MHapps. Students took surveys and participated in focus groups that included open-ended questions asking their attitudes on various aspects of the project during and after the nine-week trial. A thematic analysis is being conducted on the qualitative data, and initial readings reveal the facilitators and barriers affecting the supportive accountability relationship with their mentors

Motivational interviewing as a technique to reduce non-suicidal self injury in college students

This study presents on the Wellness Advising with Motivational Interviewing (WAMI) intervention, which trained academic advisors to support undergraduates in developing motivation toward seeking mental health services. Across two years, participants (N = 1,177) completed assessments and were assigned or randomized to two treatment conditions (Wellness Advising or Treatment As Usual). Wellness Advising participants with elevated symptom profiles, including those who endorsed non-suicidal self-harm, were eligible for one-on-one appointments. This study analyzes the outcomes for students receiving MI in one-on-one sessions, compared to those in the comparison group with similar symptom profiles, who did not receive one-on-one advising, using repeated-measures ANOVAs

Attribution of chemistry-climate model initiative (CCMI) ozone radiative flux bias from satellites

The top-of-atmosphere (TOA) outgoing longwave flux over the 9.6 µm ozone band is a fundamental quantity for understanding chemistry–climate coupling. However, observed TOA fluxes are hard to estimate as they exhibit considerable variability in space and time that depend on the distributions of clouds, ozone (O3), water vapor (H2O), air temperature (Ta), and surface temperature (Ts). Benchmarking present-day fluxes and quantifying the relative influence of their drivers is the first step for estimating climate feedbacks from ozone radiative forcing and predicting radiative forcing evolution. To that end, we constructed observational instantaneous radiative kernels (IRKs) under clear-sky conditions, representing the sensitivities of the TOA flux in the 9.6 µm ozone band to the vertical distribution of geophysical variables, including O3, H2O, Ta, and Ts based upon the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) measurements. Applying these kernels to present-day simulations from the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative (CCMI) project as compared to a 2006 reanalysis assimilating satellite observations, we show that the models have large differences in TOA flux, attributable to different geophysical variables. In particular, model simulations continue to diverge from observations in the tropics, as reported in previous studies of the Atmospheric Chemistry Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) simulations. The principal culprits are tropical middle and upper tropospheric ozone followed by tropical lower tropospheric H2O. Five models out of the eight studied here have TOA flux biases exceeding 100 mW m−2 attributable to tropospheric ozone bias. Another set of five models have flux biases over 50 mW m−2 due to H2O. On the other hand, Ta radiative bias is negligible in all models (no more than 30 mW m−2). We found that the atmospheric component (AM3) of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) general circulation model and Canadian Middle Atmosphere Model (CMAM) have the lowest TOA flux biases globally but are a result of cancellation of opposite biases due to different processes. Overall, the multi-model ensemble mean bias is −133±98  mW m−2, indicating that they are too atmospherically opaque due to trapping too much radiation in the atmosphere by overestimated tropical tropospheric O3 and H2O. Having too much O3 and H2O in the troposphere would have different impacts on the sensitivity of TOA flux to O3 and these competing effects add more uncertainties on the ozone radiative forcing. We find that the inter-model TOA outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) difference is well anti-correlated with their ozone band flux bias. This suggests that there is significant radiative compensation in the calculation of model outgoing longwave radiation

It’s Like I Have an Advantage in All This: Experiences of Advocacy by Parents of Children with Disabilities from Professional Backgrounds

Supports and services for children with disabilities are not distributed equitably. There are disparities in access to and quality of services for children with disabilities from low-income and ethnic minority groups. There are likely many contributors to these disparities, but one factor may be barriers to access that require parents to advocate to obtain services for their children. This qualitative study explores advocacy experiences of parents of children with disabilities (n=40) who have a high level of education and/or professional achievement. Parents described relying heavily on their professional and educational backgrounds in advocacy, and some commented upon the “advantage” they had in accessing services. In the context of an international shift in developmental services policy towards self-determination and privatization, parents and guardians will play an even larger role in decision-making about services with their dependents with disabilities. The findings of this study suggest that support and training for parents and guardians as they navigate this new policy environment is especially critical given the role of parental knowledge and skills in advocacy activities

Posterior Reconstruction Before Anastomosis Improves the Anastomosis Time During Robot-Assisted Radical Prostatectomy

Posterior reconstruction prior to anastomosis decreased anastomotic time for robotic surgeons in training

The Grizzly, November 1, 2001

Students Join Together to Take Back the Night • World-Renowned Composer, Arranger and Educator will Unite the Ursinus Campus in Song this Weekend • Ursinus Students Celebrate the Haunting Holiday with Local Children • Understanding Biological Terrorism • UC Groups Clean up the Environment • Professor Valerie Martinez Named a Commonwealth Speaker • Opinions: Community Service for all Campus Organizations?; Your Patriotic Duty: Voting Guarantees Your Freedom; Inspirational Take Back the Night • Faustus a Devilishly Good Play • Cost of the Midnight Munchies • RHA Sponsors Spades Tournament • Farewell Game Leaves Bears Women\u27s Soccer Kicked by Mules •XC Digs in at Centennial Conference Meet • Dale Named Centennial Conference Player of the Week • Duncan Becomes All-time Leader in Rush • Volleyball Downed by G-M • Bears Brush Away Colgate • Muhlenberg Strikes Yet Again • Bears Football Kicked by Muhlenberg\u27s Mules, 23-20https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1499/thumbnail.jp

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: measuring the cosmic expansion history using the Alcock-Paczynski test and distant supernovae

Astronomical observations suggest that today's Universe is dominated by a dark energy of unknown physical origin. One of the most notable consequences in many models is that dark energy should cause the expansion of the Universe to accelerate: but the expansion rate as a function of time has proven very difficult to measure directly. We present a new determination of the cosmic expansion history by combining distant supernovae observations with a geometrical analysis of large-scale galaxy clustering within the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey, using the Alcock-Paczynski test to measure the distortion of standard spheres. Our result constitutes a robust and non-parametric measurement of the Hubble expansion rate as a function of time, which we measure with 10-15% precision in four bins within the redshift range 0.1 < z < 0.9. We demonstrate that the cosmic expansion is accelerating, in a manner independent of the parameterization of the cosmological model (although assuming cosmic homogeneity in our data analysis). Furthermore, we find that this expansion history is consistent with a cosmological-constant dark energy.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA

The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: the transition to large-scale cosmic homogeneity

We have made the largest-volume measurement to date of the transition to large-scale homogeneity in the distribution of galaxies. We use the WiggleZ survey, a spectroscopic survey of over 200,000 blue galaxies in a cosmic volume of ~1 (Gpc/h)^3. A new method of defining the 'homogeneity scale' is presented, which is more robust than methods previously used in the literature, and which can be easily compared between different surveys. Due to the large cosmic depth of WiggleZ (up to z=1) we are able to make the first measurement of the transition to homogeneity over a range of cosmic epochs. The mean number of galaxies N(<r) in spheres of comoving radius r is proportional to r^3 within 1%, or equivalently the fractal dimension of the sample is within 1% of D_2=3, at radii larger than 71 \pm 8 Mpc/h at z~0.2, 70 \pm 5 Mpc/h at z~0.4, 81 \pm 5 Mpc/h at z~0.6, and 75 \pm 4 Mpc/h at z~0.8. We demonstrate the robustness of our results against selection function effects, using a LCDM N-body simulation and a suite of inhomogeneous fractal distributions. The results are in excellent agreement with both the LCDM N-body simulation and an analytical LCDM prediction. We can exclude a fractal distribution with fractal dimension below D_2=2.97 on scales from ~80 Mpc/h up to the largest scales probed by our measurement, ~300 Mpc/h, at 99.99% confidence.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA