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Eric Metaxas\u27 Portrait of Dietrich Bonhoeffer: The American Evangelical
No full textThis paper explores the relationship between the contents of Eric Metaxas’ biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy and Metaxas’ political and religious outlook. This 574-page book was published in 2009, and became a New York Times bestseller in 2011. Bonhoeffer utilizes primary and secondary sources from the 20th century to create a narrative about the life of the famous German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Beginning by examining the political life of Eric Metaxas and his role as an active Evangelical in American politics, I delineate Metaxas’ rhetoric and self-awareness as a modern political conservative actor. I then provide historical context of the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Using Metaxas’ conservative outlook in tandem with his outspoken Evangelical religiosity, I point to academic critiques of Metaxas’ analysis of Bonhoeffer’s theology in the biography Bonhoeffer. Through an analysis of The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, I display how Metaxas misconstrues the role of individuality in this theology, and misunderstands the meaning of “costly grace.” I then examine religious perspectives on Evangelical conceptions of identity, individualism, and duty to examine how Eric Metaxas subtly yet effectively changes Bonhoeffer’s theology for his own political purposes. I show that, although many Evangelicals are publicly outspoken and historically make themselves known, similarly to how Eric Metaxas does in his New York Times bestselling biography, the subtleties of his biography can pose as an example of a dangerous way to co-opt protestant theology for modern politics. This paper presents important ideas regarding representation, deception, and the importance of studying martyr narratives honestly and carefully
Searching for Sophistication: Negative Amortization in Adjustable-Rate Mortgages
No full textNegative amortization lets borrowers defer payment commitments into the future at the cost of owing more loan principal. If lenders can discern borrower sophistication, then they can offer this feature to those likely to use it, extracting additional revenue as borrowers pay more than what they initially agreed to. With adjustable-rate mortgages, lenders could measure borrower sophistication through the length of the fixed-rate period, the initial period in which the interest rate does not change. Using HMDA data from 2018-2022, a logistic regression was used to measure the odds of observing negative amortization in an adjustable-rate mortgage given the length of the fixed-rate period. There is a statistically significant, negative relationship between these two variables. A one month increase in the fixed-rate period’s length reveals a decrease in the odds of finding negative amortization in the mortgage, showing that lenders can distinguish and target borrowers by sophistication
Beyond the Average: Exploring the Relationship Between Income Inequality and the Mortality Distribution of US Counties using Quantile Regression
No full textIncome inequality in the United States has increased by nearly 20 percent between 1980 and 2016. Previous literature has explored the relationship between income inequality and mortality rates at the county level, yet evidence points to mixed results. The relationship between income inequality and mortality may vary across the mortality distribution: what is found at the high end of the mortality distribution may be different than at the lower end. Whereas linear regression analysis allows us to analyze the mean mortality rate, quantile regression allows us to explore different quantiles of the mortality distribution, such as the median, or the 25th or 75th percentiles. We investigate the relationship of income inequality to mortality across the mortality distribution for all U.S. counties using quantile regression. We draw on 2016 county-level mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention and socioeconomic information from the 2016 American Community Survey. We find that, for a fixed level of income inequality in the county, higher poverty rates are associated with higher mortality rates across the mortality distribution. Additionally, holding the poverty rate and educational attainment constant, we found a positive association between income inequality and mortality for Black or African American people, and negative associations between income inequality and mortality for the other racial groups
Dreaming Girl, Bouncing Boy: Sex Differences in Executive Functioning in ADHD
No full textAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is underdiagnosed in females, in part due to referral biases of parents, teachers, and clinicians (Biederman et al., 2005; Mowlem et al., 2019; Bruchmüller et al., 2012). On top of underdiagnosis, a significant gap exists in research on ADHD in women and girls: most studies, even if they do include females, have very few female participants. One understudied aspect of ADHD is sex differences in executive dysfunction, a common debilitating symptom of ADHD (Skogli et al., 2013). This paper reviews the existing research on sex differences in executive functioning in people with ADHD. It compares the findings of objective and subjective measures of executive functioning and determines that males have less impulse control and females have worse working memories among objective measures. That said, too much variety of results exists within subjective measures to be entirely conclusive. This paper additionally examines the different findings across time, considering the goals and context of the studies used to draw conclusions and connections. More recent research finds sex differences in executive functioning in ADHD, and possible reasons why this might be true are discussed. This paper recommends more research examining objective and subjective measures of executive functioning, particularly with larger sample sizes and equal sex compositions
α-synuclein and neuroinflammation pathology in Parkinson\u27s Disease and Baicalein as an approach to halting disease progression
No full textA pathogenic mechanism of Parkinson\u27s Disease (PD) is the misfolding and aggregation of α-synuclein, an intrinsically disordered protein (IDP) (Lau, 2006). Non-pathogenic α-synuclein plays a role in the control of neurotransmitter release (Snead, 2014). However, when the protein becomes misfolded and aggregates together, intracellular deposits of α-synuclein are believed to disrupt normal cellular processes and trigger an inflammatory response that leads to neuronal damage and cell death (Danzer, 2009). This cell death occurs in the striatum of the brain, and leads to the motor symptoms of Parkinsons such as tremor and difficulty producing speech (Barbeau, 1973; Reeve, 2014). Disease progression is characterized by a positive feedback loop where the aggregation of α-synuclein causes neuroinflammation, which causes more aggregation of this IDP (Chatterjee, 2020). For many years, targeting α-synuclein’s misfolding and aggregation has been seen as a promising approach to halting the disease progression of Parkinson\u27s (Killinger 2019). However, studies have not targeted α-synuclein aggregation in the context of this inflammatory pathway, a connection that I propose is key to stopping PD in its tracks. Baicalein, an anti-inflammatory flavonoid from the Chinese herb Scutellaria baicalensis, is a promising approach to terminate this positive feedback loop by inhibiting the inflammatory pathway as well as preventing α-synuclein from misfolding and aggregating (Hu, 2023; Rui 2020)
Here Comes the Sun: An Overview of Semiconductor Photovoltaics
No full textGlobal temperatures have risen alarmingly fast in recent decades due to human-based activity. Delivering energy from non-combustion sources is crucial in stopping this trend and preserving the future of Earth’s species. The Sun presents an effectively boundless energy source; however, it must be converted to a form like electricity to be useful for society. This paper describes the mechanism behind rising global temperatures as well as the key processes in converting sunlight to electricity. Since semiconductor devices are the most common (especially those using silicon), they are the focus of this paper. Starting from background concepts, this paper provides an overview of semiconductor photovoltaics—a crucial tool in the fight against climate change
Scout\u27s Pride
No full textScout\u27s Pride is a narrative short film that follows Andrej, an ex-Boy Scout, who physically and mentally explores the locale of his last scout outing in order to confront and rid himself of his past trauma
How Do We Understand Magnetism?
No full textMost people have a vague understanding that magnets attract and repel each other, but few ask why this happens. Beginning from an intuitive understanding of general magnetic properties such as forces and fields, we see how units of magnetism function. Then we dive into the atomic origins of magnetism in materials. We observe material properties such as susceptibility and permeability, as well as the classification of ferromagnetic, diamagnetic, and paramagnetic materials. Finally, we look at how Rowland rings, Gouy balances, Hall effect sensors, vibrating sample magnetometers, and SQUID magnetometers use properties of magnetism to understand materials and fields in the world around us