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A Christian Perspective on Happiness: Positive Psychology and Rahner’s Theology of Grace in the Quest for Meaning
No full textThis research examines happiness from a Christian perspective, integrating theological insights with contemporary scientific understanding. It highlights the foundational role of divine grace in shaping a Christian’s approach to happiness, as articulated by one of the greatest 20th-century theologians, Karl Rahner. Rahner’s notion of uncreated grace offers a lens through which Christians can view happiness, not just as a feeling but as a stable state nurtured by a deep relationship with God and manifested in goals and actions aligned with divine will, giving a sense of belonging and purpose instrumental for lasting happiness. This study also acknowledges the relevance of positive psychology, particularly the work of Sonja Lyubomirsky, in providing actionable strategies to enhance one’s happiness. These strategies include fostering gratitude, cultivating optimism, living in the present, self-care, acts of kindness, and nurturing social connections, aligning well with Christian teachings about love and service. Lyubomirsky\u27s findings underscore that happiness extends beyond life circumstances or material conditions and can be cultivated through intentional personal efforts. Therefore, by exploring both the theological and psychological dimensions of happiness, this study offers a comprehensive framework that caters to the complexities of the dynamics of modern-day living, enhancing individual well-being and promoting a more just and compassionate society
Public Policy and the Future of Ethnic Studies
Get PDFEthnic Studies (ES) was established in 1968 as part of the Third World Liberation Front’s (TWLF) efforts to reform higher education in ways that incorporated non-euro-centric teaching and increased the racial/ethnic diversity of students and faculty. On many college campuses, ES programs have created spaces for cross-cultural learning that promote respect and champion interpersonal interactions. Over the last 50 years, however, efforts to sustain diversity-centric education have remained isolated attempts by individual colleges and universities. In 2020, this changed when California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law Assembly Bill 1460. The bill took effect in the 2021-2022 academic year and mandated each of the 23 California State University (CSU) campuses to offer ES courses to undergraduate students. For students commencing their undergraduate careers in the 2024-2025 year and beyond, at least one 3-unit course from ES will be mandatory for graduation. This is the first time a major university system has taken the initiative to mandate ES for all its students
Table Transformers for imputing textual attributes
No full textMissing data in tabular dataset is a common issue as the performance of downstream tasks usually depends on the completeness of the training dataset. Previous missing data imputation methods focus on numeric and categorical columns, but we propose a novel end-to-end approach called Table Transformers for Imputing Textual Attributes (TTITA) based on the transformer to impute unstructured textual columns using other columns in the table. We conduct extensive experiments on three datasets, and our approach shows competitive performance outperforming baseline models such as recurrent neural networks and Llama2. The performance improvement is more significant when the target sequence has a longer length. Additionally, we incorporate multi-task learning to simultaneously impute for heterogeneous columns, boosting the performance for text imputation. We also qualitatively compare with ChatGPT for realistic applications
Reimagining Public Safety: Defining “Community” in Participatory Research
No full textIn the context of a national movement to defund police departments, many American cities are starting to reimagine public safety, as activists demand new practices that maintain safety while minimizing harm, as well as ensuring accountability when harms occur. Drawing on Everyday Peace Indicators methodologies, we argue that “community-centered” measurement, combined with researcher-practitioner partnerships, can help move both researchers and policymakers toward a more meaningful approach to policy design and evaluation. However, the application of community-centered measurement to the context of American policing raises important theoretical and practical concerns—in particular, the question of how community is defined, and who gets to define it. In this article, we ask: how do we define “community” in participatory research contexts where the concept of community is overlapping and contested? Using the example of a recent study carried out in the City of Oakland, we illustrate the complexities of applying a community-centered measurement process to the case of public safety and, more broadly, to police reform in American cities. We conclude with a discussion of both the benefits and limitations of our own approach, as well as a set of considerations for those engaging in participatory research
Canonising the other: deconstructing empathy in Octavia Butler’s \u3ci\u3e Lilith’s Brood\u3c/i\u3e
No full textIn today’s divisive world empathy, simply understood as caring deeply for others, has come to occupy a pivotal position in discussions of social relationships. Empathy is one of the primary issues at stake in Octavia Butler’s Lilith’s Brood, a narrative of human and alien interaction. Lilith’s Brood presents us with a formidable “other” in the Oankali aliens – hardly a candidate for human empathic bonding. The story revolves around complicated issues of alien takeover and forced interbreeding that can also be interpreted as well-intentioned salvation politics depending on positionality and perspectival reading. Under the circumstances, empathy for the other, whether human or Oankali, becomes a complicated, loaded issue. This article follows the trajectory of Butler’s protagonists as they move from repulsion and loathing to affinity and empathy for the other. The process, I argue, ultimately redefines empathy as a discourse of the body, an embodied empathy, needed to understand the lived experience of others in order to truly empathise with them
Data-Driven Modeling and Vibration Control of Rotary Systems
No full textThis Ph.D. thesis presents an integrated approach to mitigating lateral vibrations in vertical shaft rotary machines during transient responses by combining physics-based and data-driven methodologies. Two primary strategies are explored and validated through experimental studies on a laboratory test rig.
The research introduces a novel method that integrates Sparse Identification of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems (SINDy) with a physics-based approach to accurately reconstruct the governing nonlinear equations of vertical-shaft rotary machines. An extensive mathematical library supports this reconstruction, which underpins the design of a nonlinear controller using terminal sliding mode control (TSMC). This control technique effectively reduces lateral vibrations, ensuring the system’s stability, effectiveness, and robustness under transient conditions.
Additionally, the thesis explores the use of advanced time-series artificial neural networks, specifically Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Time-Delay Neural Network (TDNN) models, to predict and control rotor vibrations in centrifuge systems with asymmetrical and variable-mass characteristics. By employing a data-driven reducedorder modeling (ROM) approach and integrating time-delay coordinates, the study achieves high-fidelity predictions of system dynamics over time. The trained neural networks facilitate the implementation of a nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control (NTSMC) for real-time vibration mitigation under varying operational conditions.
To further enhance model accuracy and adaptability, the thesis also compares these neural network results with those from an Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), providing a comprehensive evaluation of different data-driven techniques.
Moreover, this thesis includes the design of a specialized test rig for the rotary system, along with mechatronic assembly diagrams. The Ph.D. test rig is specifically designed for the real-time implementation of the algorithms detailed in this thesis, providing tangible validation of their practical application in industry.
The integrated findings from these studies demonstrate the potential of combining physics-based models with machine learning and soft computing techniques to enhance the predictive accuracy and control capabilities of complex mechanical systems. This thesis contributes to the field by providing a robust framework adaptable to various types of rotary systems experiencing dynamic challenges in vibration control
The Birth of the Operational Art: The Formalization of thePolitical-Military Relationship in the United States in the CivilWar
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