College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
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Finding the Cosmic Shadows on The NOvA Far Detector and Calculating Neutrino Oscillations with Sterile Neutrinos
No full textThis thesis reports on two separate projects. In chapter 1, an analysis of the Moon and Sun shadows on the NOvA far detector is reported. The Moon shadow and Sun shadow refer to the deficit in primary cosmic rays caused by the Moon and Sun blocking incoming cosmic primary rays that would otherwise bombard the Earth isotropically. The shadow of the Moon and Sun can be used to calibrate the resolution and pointing of the NOvA detector with regard to cosmic rays. The analysis utilized 7.5 hours of live time data collected by NOvA from March 2014 to September 2014. However, no significant Moon shadow or Sun shadow were observed.
Chapter 2 reports on a project to create applications to simulate neutrino oscillations while assuming the existence of sterile neutrinos. It is currently known that three types (``flavors ) of neutrinos exist that interact via the weak force. Neutrino oscillation is the process in which the flavor of a neutrino can change as it propagates through space. At the moment, there is a discrepancy between expected and measured neutrino fluxes at low energies that suggests sterile neutrinos exist, i.e., neutrinos that do not interact via the weak force. The goal of this project was two fold. First: to create Mathematica applications that calculate flavor transition probabilities when 1, 2 or 3 sterile neutrinos are assumed to exist, and second: to investigate current experimental data with the applications. The applications were completed and take the neutrino mass splittings, mixing angles, and the CP symmetry violating constants as parameters. The investigation into current experimental data yielded no insights
The Evolution of the U.S. Catholic Hospital: From Sisters in Habits to Men in Suits
Get PDFIn today’s ever-changing healthcare landscape, Catholic U.S. hospitals have undergone a change in their mission and thus their identity. This paper argues that Catholic hospitals need to rediscover the origins of their ministry. This can be accomplished by refocusing their efforts away from mergers with secular entities that deal strictly with life and death issues to mergers that more fully engage the care for the poor and vulnerable. To provide the context for this paper, Part One will present an overview of Jesus’ ministry, which is the foundation for Catholic health care. Part Two will address the history of the Catholic hospital in the United States in an attempt to show a rich past for attending to the needs of the underserved. Part Three will be a case study of St. Cloud Hospital in Minnesota which will be used to examine this history on a condensed scale. An interlude will highlight present day hospital mergers combined with the use of the principle of caritas and the theory of cooperation. Lastly, Part Four will provide a practical application piece in order to address what Catholic hospitals can do in order to better live out their mission derived from Christ, starting with a new kind of merger
Sex, milk, and cookies: Tackling sexual health promotion on a Catholic college campus
Get PDFA great divide exists among parents, policy makers, educational institutions, and the public at large regarding how to prevent the negative consequences of sexual activity among young adults. Some educators believe that sex education programs should promote abstinence as the best behavioral goal for students; however, a more intense debate surrounds whether this should be the only message that adolescents receive about sex or just one element of a more comprehensive view of sexuality and informed sex choices. Catholic colleges face a particularly difficult challenge in deciding what information to provide to students and more significantly, which topics to avoid due to their conservative values. It is clear that adolescence and young adulthood is a high-risk period for sexual risk-taking behaviors that increase the probability of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009). Yet, religiously affiliated colleges and universities struggle to provide the information students need to stay healthy and have fulfilling sexual relationships. The following literature review explores the ongoing debate concerning abstinence-only versus comprehensive sexual education and suggests with principles of health care ethics and ethical theories that Catholic college campuses take a comprehensive approach to sexual health promotion that not only respects the sexuality of each student but also encourages students to make informed decisions about sex. The culminating pilot study emphasizes the need for sexual health education at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University and recommends specific strategies for producing sexual health promotion programming in the future
\u3ci\u3eThe Community\u3c/i\u3e: A Novella on Homelessness
No full textThe Community is a fictional novella that explores homelessness. The Community is a tent-city on one side of the larger city. The members of the Community do not know that there is another neighborhood on the other side where people live in houses until the main character, Grant, finds this neighborhood. Grant shows other members of the Community this neighborhood and attempts to figure out why the Community exists if there is this other neighborhood in which they could be living. His desire to create change unsettles the members of the other neighborhood and they react to his investigations
Interfaith Youth Core: Theology and Religious Commitment in One of America’s Most Prominent Youth Interfaith Organizations
Get PDFThis thesis project explores the role of faith and theology in the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), one of the most prominent youth interfaith organizations in North America in order to determine whether this organization is aptly titled. Through the lens of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s assertions about the role of faith in interfaith dialogue and relations, and in light of Diana Eck’s definition and explication of religious pluralism, it analyzes IFYC’s methodology and programs in terms of whether they the foster personal religious commitment and engender the deeper theological dialogue that Heschel and Eck believe are necessary in interfaith work. It concludes that in terms of IFYC’s methodology, programs, and mission, it operates not so much as an interfaith organization, but more as a multi-faith service organization. Finally it gives a suggestion for how IFYC can better incorporate faith and theology into its programs by proposing a two-week camp for high school students based on the Youth in Theology and Ministry (YTM) program held at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, which fosters not only service, faith and theological
Jude\u27s Enochian Apocalypse
Get PDFJude’s was an apocalyptic imagination much like that of the writer of Revelation, but he had no need to write his own apocalypse. In his brief epistle, written sometime before 62 CE,1 Jude revealed that the apocalyptic imagery fueling his own mythos was none other than that of Enoch and various other ancient stories of the Hebrew people.
1. Simon J. Joseph, “’Seventh from Adam’ (Jude 1:14-15): Re-examining Enochic Traditions and the Christology of Jude.” The Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Vol. 64, Pt. 2 (2013): 464. Simon J. Joseph is Adjunct Professor of Religion at California Lutheran University in Los Angeles
A Biblical Hermeneutic for Dominion: Domination vs Stewardship
Get PDFIn his encyclical, Laudato Si’, Pope Francis argues that modern anthropocentrism has contributed to the valuing of technical thought over the dignity of the natural world with grave environmental consequences. Over a half-century earlier, Lynn White Jr. offered a similar criticism, stating that the dualism existing between humans and nature allows Christians to exploit nature for their own end. This paper turns to scripture to explore how an intertextual understanding of the original Hebrew may help reframe what it means for humans to have dominion over the natural world
The Floral Charms of Saint John’s: A Survey of Botanical Communities
Get PDFSaint John’s is a “landscape paradise” in central Minnesota. Although no complete checklist of vegetation exists for the campus, various surveys reveal a diverse flora. This floral wealth is the result of several terrestrial biomes converging on campus — prairie, savanna, deciduous forest, and coniferous forest — as well as diverse aquatic habitats including both lakes and wetlands. A 56-acre restored prairie at the entrance of Saint John’s is dominated by big bluestem and little bluestem. A savanna has been restored to the north and east of the Gemini Lakes and is characterized by bur oaks scattered among prairie grasses and forbs. Minnesota’s oldest pine plantation occurs on campus near the Preparatory School. Common campus pines include red pine, Scotch pine, and white pine. More than half of the Arboretum is comprised of deciduous forests dominated by either sugar maple and basswood or oak. Cattails and an assortment of sedges and rushes are common in the large, restored wetland that occurs on the north end of campus. Our campus lakes support pondweeds, milfoil, and even carnivorous plants. European buckthorn, and other invasive species, such as earthworms, threaten the long-term health of Saint John’s plant communities