Julian of Norwich: a theological reappraisal

In recent years there has developed a popular interest in the medieval recluse and visionary, Dame Julian of Norwich. Her single book, Revelations of Divine Love, records sixteen "showings" which she received during the day and night of May 8, 1373. The Revelations is primarily a theological, rather than autobiographical, work, and touches upon virtually every aspect of Christian doctrine. Julian is better known, however, as a source of meditation, than as a theologian. Some aspects of her thought which have been noted in the literature include her concept of the "motherhood of God", her statement that sin "has no manner of substance nor particle of being" (i.e., that it has no positive existence), and her bald assertion that "there is no wrath in God". She has also been quoted, in poetry as well as in critical works, for her optimistic vision of the Last Judgement, that "all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well". Out of context, these elements of the Revelations have been subjected to a variety of interpretations, including the (heretical) ones that God is never displeased with sin, that sin does not exist, or that all souls shall be equally "saved" on the Last Day.At the present time, no comprehensive study of Julian's theology has been published, with the exception of one account which limits itself to the nature of her visions and her description of contemplative prayer. While there is considerable disagreement in the literature regarding her value as a theologian, and the character of her thought as a whole, it has been widely assumed that she borrows Neoplatonic concepts available to her through other English mystics of her time, notably Walter Hilton and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing; or from other sources including the translated works of Pseudo-Dionysius, the Victorine mystics, Meister Eckhardt, or Jan van Ruysbroeck. Published accounts of her work consist largely of comparisons of her thought with that of her more eminent contemporaries; and of attempts either to establish her as a mystic along the lines of Platonic mysticism (seen especially in the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius) or along "traditional" Catholic lines (laid down primarily by the Spanish Carmelite mystics, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, nearly two centuries later)

An Analysis of Distance Education Learner Demographics at Morehead State University

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Science and Technology at Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Vocational Education/Technology by Barry Pelphrey on May 11, 2001

Grasping the Intentions of Others: The Perceived Intentionality of an Action Influences Activity in the Superior Temporal Sulcus during Social Perception

An explication of the neural substrates for social perception is an important component in the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and is relevant to the field of cognitive neuroscience as a whole. Prior studies from our laboratory have demonstrated that passive viewing of biological motion (Pelphrey, Mitchell, et al., 2003; Puce et al., 1998) activates the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS ) region. Furthermore, recent evidence has shown that the perceived context of observed gaze shifts (Pelphrey, Singerman, et al., 2003; Pelphrey et al., 2004) modulates STS activity. Here, using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging at 4 T, we investigated brain activity in response to passive viewing of goal- and nongoal-directed reaching-to-grasp movements. Participants viewed an animated character making reaching-to-grasp movements either toward (correct) or away (incorrect) from a blinking dial. Both conditions evoked significant posterior STS activity that was strongly right lateralized. By examining the time course of the blood oxygenation level-dependent response from areas of activation, we observed a functional dissociation. Incorrect trials evoked significantly greater activity in the STS than did correct trials, while an area posterior and inferior to the STS (likely corresponding to the MT/ V5 complex) responded equally to correct and incorrect movements. Parietal cortical regions, including the superior parietal lobule and the anterior intraparietal sulcus, also responded equally to correct and incorrect movements, but showed evidence for differential responding based on the hand and arm (left or right) of the animated character used to make the reaching-to-grasp movement. The results of this study further suggest that a region of the right posterior STS is involved in analyzing the intentions of other people's actions and that activity in this region is sensitive to the context of observed biological motions

Developmental Continuity and Change in Responses to Social and Nonsocial Categories in Human Extrastriate Visual Cortex

It is well known that adult human extrastriate visual cortex contains areas that respond in a selective fashion to specific categories of visual stimuli. Three regions have been identified with particular regularity: the fusiform face area (FFA), which responds to faces more than to other objects; the parahippocampal place area (PPA), which responds selectively to images of houses, places, and visual scenes; and the extrastriate body area (EBA), which responds specifically to images of bodies and body parts. While the presence of these regions in the mature human brain is well-established, the degree to which children possess these areas and the degree of functional specialization of these areas in children of various ages has thus far remained unclear. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the development of the FFA, EBA, and PPA in healthy, typically developing 7- to 11-year-old children and adults. Our results revealed a right FFA and a bilateral EBA and PPA in the children that were localized in a way consistent with these same regions in adults. In addition, the response profiles of these regions were very similar in adults and children with comparable levels of functional specificity at all of the ages tested. We discuss the implications of this research for understanding abnormal regional specialization for social and nonsocial object categories in individuals with autism spectrum disorders

Developmental neuroscience of time and number: implications for autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities

Estimations of time and number share many similarities in both non-humans and man. The primary focus of this review is on the development of time and number sense across infancy and childhood, and neuropsychological findings as they relate to time and number discrimination in infants and adults. Discussion of these findings is couched within a mode-control model of timing and counting which assumes time and number share a common magnitude representation system. A basic sense of time and number likely serves as the foundation for advanced numerical and temporal competence, and aspects of higher cognition—this will be discussed as it relates to typical childhood, and certain developmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorder. Directions for future research in the developmental neuroscience of time and number (NEUTIN) will also be highlighted

Brain responses to biological motion predict treatment outcome in young children with autism

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are common yet complex neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by social, communication and behavioral deficits. Behavioral interventions have shown favorable results—however, the promise of precision medicine in ASD is hampered by a lack of sensitive, objective neurobiological markers (neurobiomarkers) to identify subgroups of young children likely to respond to specific treatments. Such neurobiomarkers are essential because early childhood provides a sensitive window of opportunity for intervention, while unsuccessful intervention is costly to children, families and society. In young children with ASD, we show that functional magnetic resonance imaging-based stratification neurobiomarkers accurately predict responses to an evidence-based behavioral treatment—pivotal response treatment. Neural predictors were identified in the pretreatment levels of activity in response to biological vs scrambled motion in the neural circuits that support social information processing (superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, amygdala, inferior parietal cortex and superior parietal lobule) and social motivation/reward (orbitofrontal cortex, insula, putamen, pallidum and ventral striatum). The predictive value of our findings for individual children with ASD was supported by a multivariate pattern analysis with cross validation. Predicting who will respond to a particular treatment for ASD, we believe the current findings mark the very first evidence of prediction/stratification biomarkers in young children with ASD. The implications of the findings are far reaching and should greatly accelerate progress toward more precise and effective treatments for core deficits in ASD

An investigation of Oregon weight-in-motion data for bridge rating implementation and evaluation

The LRFR Manual, within commentary Article C6.4.4.2.3, contains provisions for development of site-specific live load factors. In Oregon, truck Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) data were used to develop live load factors for use on state-owned bridges. The factors were calibrated using the same statistical methods that were used in the original development of LRFR. This procedure maintains the nationally accepted structural reliability index for evaluation, even though the resulting state-specific live load factors were smaller than the national standard. The first part of this report describes the jurisdictional and enforcement characteristics in the state, the modifications used to described the alongside truck population based on the unique truck permitting conditions in the state, the WIM data filtering, sorting, and quality control, as well as the calibration process, and the computed live load factors. Large WIM data sets from four sites were used in the calibration and included different truck volumes, seasonal and directional variations, and WIM data collection windows. Finally, policy implementation for actual use of the factors and future provisions for maintenance of the factors are described. For bridge rating and evaluation, notional truck models are commonly used to simulate the load effects produced by the truck population. The recently developed Load Resistance and Factor Rating (LRFR) Bridge Evaluation Manual was calibrated based on the 3S2 truck configuration as the notional model. Using GVW as the parameter for establishing live load factors to reflect load effects may not necessarily provide consistent outcomes across all bridge span lengths, indeterminacies, or specific load effects. This is because the load effects are dependent on the distributions of the axle weights, the axle spacing, and the number of axles, in addition to the span geometry and support conditions. The Oregon Department of Transportation currently uses a suite of 13 rating vehicles for evaluation of their bridge inventory. The load effects for Oregon's bridge rating vehicles have also been calculated for various span lengths and support conditions in the second part of this report. These load effects, both unfactored and factored, were compared with load effects calculated using vehicles from large sets of WIM data. Further, because no established standard of time or quantity of WIM data has previously been recognized, a separate study was conducted in order to determine an acceptable window of WIM data. The objective of this analysis was to determine if the load effects and the live load factors developed for bridge rating produced by the suite of vehicles envelope load effects produced by an acceptable window of collected vehicle data for a variety of bridge span lengths and types. Observations and suggestions are made based on the results of these analyses

A Multiresolution Analysis of Temporal Logic

Is it possible to determine whether a signal violates a formula in Signal Temporal Logic (STL), if the monitor only has access to a low-resolution version of the signal? We answer this question affirmatively by demonstrating that temporal logic has a multiresolution structure, which parallels the multiresolution structure of signals. A formula in discrete-time Signal Temporal Logic (STL) is equivalently defined via the set of signals that satisfy it, known as its language. If a wavelet decomposition x = y + d is performed on each signal x in the language, we end up with two signal sets Y and D, where Y contains the low-resolution approximation signals y, and D contains the detail signals d needed to reconstruct the x’s. This thesis provides a complete computational characterization of both Y and D using a novel constraint set encoding of STL, s.t. x satisfies a formula if and only if its decomposition signals satisfy their respective encoding constraints. We obtain a sequence of lower-resolution formulas φ−1, φ−2, φ−3, ... which thus constitute a multiresolution analysis of φ. This work lays the foundation for multiresolution monitoring in distributed systems. One potential application of these results is a multiresolution monitor that can detect specification violation early by simply observing a low-resolution version of the signal to be monitored. We illustrate these results with experiments on synthetic signals