580 research outputs found
Letter from James C. Purcell to Ernest Besig, Director, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, July 15, 1942
No full textLetter from James C. Purcell to Ernest Besig: "Dear Mr. Besig, Enclosed please find the copy of the petition of writ of habeas corpus in the matter of Mitsuye Endo which you requested of this office. We hope this will supply the information you seek but if it does not do not hesitate to call upon us for further information at any time."The ACLU-Northern California case file records contain legal documents and correspondence pertaining to the case Ex parte Mitsuye Endo (1944), in which the United States Supreme court unanimously ruled that the federal government could not indefinitely detain United States citizens who were loyal to the government. Files include documents related to the Gordon Hirabayashi Supreme Court case Hirabayashi v. United States
A MAP of the STATES of VIRGINIA, NORTH CAROLINA, SOUTH CAROLINA and GEORGIA comprehending the SPANISH PROVINCES of EAST and WEST FLORIDA: Exhibiting the Boundaries as fixed by the late Treaty of Peace between the UNITED STATES and the SPANISH DOMINIONS
No full textIt's interesting that a map purporting to show treaty boundaries shows no boundaries between the states, but it's clearly representative of the time the map was made; the very first instance of this map by John Purcell was drawn circa 1788.London is used as the prime meridian. Scale is measured in units of British miles 69 1/2 = 1 degree
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full text|So, a confession – I am a baby boomer, and thus came of age in the 60s. I cannot read this passage from Ecclesiastes without recalling the Pete Seeger song "Turn, Turn, Turn," which became a top hit when covered by the "Byrds" in 1965. The melody runs through my head as I write this reflection.|"There is an appointed time for everything" – but what is "time?" There are so many phrases related to time and our obsessions with it: |"Timing is everything."|"It's not the right time."|"What time is it?" "I'm going to be late!"|"Time to get up (or to go to bed)."|"Time to settle down."|"All in good time."|"Right on time."|"In God's good time."|"Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care, about time? If so, I can't imagine why, we've all got time enough to cry." (so, "Chicago," another musical group, was a musical influence also!)|Many of these and other phrases and concerns about time relate to ordering our lives, being part of a structured society in which time is a key component. Other societies have different attitudes toward time (think nomadic first peoples wandering the plains of North America in the 18th century, or the Saudi Arabian peninsula, or the Australian outback), less concerned with the time right now and more concerned with the seasons that governed their survival.|We have probably all heard someone referring to an athlete or a performer as "being in the zone" or "letting the game come to her." These athletes will say things "slow down" and they are more aware of all the forces that come to bear on their performance. I suspect most of us have had times in our lives when things seem to being going very well. We feel good because we feel in control, that all components in our lives are coming together in balance.|I think one lesson from Ecclesiastes, though, is that we don't control time, God does. God has made everything "appropriate to its time." The author in Ecclesiastes expressed a spirituality of time that transcends our daily concerns with the mundane. There isn't just a time to plant, or seek, or build, or laugh – there is an appropriate time for all things. God has set in motion the seasons of our lives and "put the timeless into [our] hearts." |It is our task to discern whether the timing of what we face is "appropriate" in God's grand creation. WE may think the time is right - to build, or to embrace, or to be silent, or to love - but what is God suggesting to us when we reflect more fully on what we are about to do? WE may feel this is the right time, but what does the quiet whisper of God tell us? WE may want to do something, and may be able to do so, but is it the appropriate time in God's timeless call to us? And when our life draws to a close, WE may want to hold onto the many gifts of this wonderful creation, when God tells us the time is right to let them go.|Jesus admonishes His disciples at several points that "it is not his time," or that the time was not right. Spiritual people have the great gift of awareness, of being able to challenge whether what they are doing in every moment is connected with God's call to them. Time becomes not a clock measurement, a calendar entry, but an elemental oneness with the Creator. It seems to me that the author of Ecclesiastes was able to put aside our human restlessness and anxiety about the future and received the gift of peace, of knowing the true meaning of time as God intended it to be. I think the author understood what the "timeless" was in our hearts – a yearning to connect with God the Creator, our great lover, the one with whom we belong for all future "time." I suspect the author was able to accept the ebbs and flows of life as gifts from God, with hidden treasures of meaning and importance, that could only be fully understood in the timeless gift of God's love. |And so my prayer today is for the gift to discern, during every moment of every day, whether my response is consistent with God's timing, so I can be guided by the timelessness of God's love and thus "really know what time it is.
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textI don't recall ever reading or hearing of the book of Jude before I saw the readings for today. As a result I spent a bit of time trying to place the epistle in context and to understand as best I could its origins. I'm not sure I know any more than when I started, except perhaps that it is one of the shortest books in the bible and was written in the latter part of the first century of the CE.|Setting aside my feeble attempts at biblical origin studies, what called to me for reflection from the epistle was the second line of the excerpt presented – "Build yourselves up in your most holy faith." A few weeks ago in the Sunday mass readings we encountered Thomas, who doubted the resurrection, whose faith was limited to his sensory perceptions. Now we encounter the author of this epistle, who might have been one of the 12 apostles, but who most certainly was someone who knew someone who traveled with Jesus.|What is faith? This has many times been a more troubling virtue to understand and to mold in my own life than have been the other two, hope and love/charity. I can easily feel hope and love, but faith requires a different response. Perhaps there is more of the doubting Thomas in me than I care to admit (and he was not my patron saint, it was Aquinas!). It is difficult to accept some things "on faith alone." And human perceptions are not reliable (just consider juries in criminal cases) and so someone telling me X is true is not always comforting.|Perhaps if the person who is telling us something has proven to be reliable in the past, our faith in the truth of what she says can be stronger. On the other hand, if he has been unreliable in the past, it might weaken our faith. And certainly if someone has acted consistently (and admirably) with what they say, we can have stronger faith in the veracity of their statements.|If we place ourselves in the period following Jesus' resurrection, we would see people who knew Him, who believed (had faith) that he rose from the dead. They either actually saw Him in resurrected glory or knew someone who had. But the truth of their faith for me is their actions. Not only did they live their lives as He called them to do, but they refused to deny His resurrection even in the face of martyrdom. Their faith led to actions consistent with the truth as it was revealed to them. In each mass we celebrate them when we recite the mysteries of our faith – Christ's death, resurrection, return.|Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." St. Augustine said "Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe." And Jesus told Thomas that we who have not seen and still believe are blessed indeed.|So, whether Jude was written by the disciple who traveled with Jesus, or by a second generation believer who knew someone who had been a companion of Christ while in His ministry, really doesn't matter at this point. The author knew those who manifested their faith in the resurrection by their actions of adhering to their beliefs, even in the face of violent and gruesome death. Their faith was the foundation upon which all else in Christianity has been based. That seems pretty reliable to me. And it helps me in my own faith journey. |And so my prayer today is for the grace to more fully understand the mystery that is faith, and thus to deepen my own faith foundation
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textI like this excerpt from Hebrews for several reasons. When you read it in context, it is clear that the author is encouraging and exhorting the reader to persevere. The author is arguing that the reader has received the gift of salvation, and even though challenges come, endurance in doing the will of God will lead to what God promises - salvation. Jesus, in Mark's gospel, takes a different variation on the faith theme, focusing on the mysterious power that faith can have. Jesus uses parables to underscore the growth of faith and how pervasive it can be.|When I was younger there was a popular phrase "Keep the Faith, baby!" This saying was (as far as I can determine) first popularized by New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., as a means to galvanize his supporters when he was facing political and legal difficulties. But the sentiment of faith in the face of adversity is, I suppose, as old as humanity. It calls us to understand and accept what is important in our lives and to remain steadfast in those beliefs in the face of criticism, and even physical harm, from those who don't respect our faith traditions.|The other theme from Hebrews that resonates with me is the clause "joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property." This is a very Jesuit concept. It speaks to me of being for and with others and being detached from the material gifts of this world. I find myself always struggling to be more aware and involved with the suffering of others, to share their sorrows by offering my support and solace. I also struggle with being emotionally detached from holding too closely, and putting too much value on, the many good things I have received in life.|It can be easy to ignore the suffering of those who are in the various prisons where they might find themselves - prisons that are not just physical detention centers, but the prisons of disease, financial challenges, mental anguish, addictions, abusive relationships, workplace stress, persistent unemployment, violence and repression. And we can be easily seduced to conclude that the bounty of material items, freedom from want, privilege, insulation from conflict and confrontation, and safety from personal harm is a birthright instead of a wonderful gift.|Those of us who live in western society can easily forget that we generally live at the top of the historical pyramid of human privilege, and the benefits we enjoy are because of our good fortune in being born into this world in this place at this particular point in human history. Even people in our societies who struggle for the daily means of existence are still in some ways (due to our governmental and private "safety nets") better off than the poor and downtrodden of 2,000 years ago.|And so when the Hebrews author encourages us to "keep the faith" by not forgetting the ways in which we shared in the sufferings of those in prison, it really reminds us to keep demonstrating our faith by continuing to share in those confinements, however they are created for our sisters and brothers. And when we are told we have joyfully accepted the confiscation of our property, I think it really means to be mindful of the need to detach our true selves from the wondrous bounty that surrounds us, and to realize that the true gift we have received is not physical things that will fade away, but the salvation we receive from trusting in the Lord. We keep our faith by keeping our focus, by committing our way to that of the Lord.|And so my prayer today is twofold - deep gratitude for the many gifts I have received that enable me to live the life I enjoy, and resolve that I may share more fully in the sufferings of my sisters and brothers and detach myself more intentionally from holding my gifts too closely and selfishly
The neural basis of learning to spell again: An fMRI study of spelling training in acquired dysgraphia.
No full textIntroduction: In acquired dysgraphia, the spelling network is disrupted, typically causing difficulty in correctly spelling some words more than others. Various studies have demonstrated that training can be effective for recovery (e.g., Beeson et al., 2002; Rapp, 2005). However, little is known regarding the neural basis of this recovery. Studying the neural changes associated with recovery can improve understanding of how the damaged brain responds to behavioral treatment, and will be relevant to the development of neuro-targeted therapies. In this study we specifically evaluate the possibility that treatment results in greater normalization of activation, such that improvement in the spelling of low accuracy words results in neural responses that resemble those of high accuracy words.
Methods: Participants were 3 individuals with chronic dysgraphia subsequent to stroke (time post-stroke at least two years). We identified individualized sets of 40 TRAINING words (25 - 80% letter accuracy) and 30 KNOWN words (100% letter accuracy). We carried out a CART based treatment (Beeson, 1999) over approximately a 3 month period. Training was completed when at least 90% letter accuracy was achieved for the TRAINING items. To track neural changes associated with spelling training, we performed an fMRI study of spelling (Rapp and Lipka, 2010) at pre- and post-training time points. The fMRI protocol was designed so that each participant processed the spelling of their individualized sets of KNOWN and TRAINING words during scanning.
The data analysis examined the neural response to TRAINING and KNOWN words to identify regions in which the activation differences between neural responses to TRAINING and KNOWN words was significant at pre-training but not significant at post-training – i.e. the training response became more normalized after training. Cluster-size correction for multiple comparisons (p < 0.05) was applied.
Results:
1) For all participants we identified brain areas associated with a normalized response for the TRAINING words at the post-training time point.
2) For all participants we identified an up-regulation of the TRAINING response (i.e., the TRAINING neural response was initially low and then increased post-training); whereas in only one participant did we also observe a down-regulation of the training response (i.e., the TRAINING neural response was initially high, but then decreased post-training).
3) Although the areas associated with the normalized TRAINING response were different in each individual, they all include areas typically associated with the spelling system (Purcell et al. 2011), including the right homologues of typically left hemisphere spelling regions. Across the participants, the following areas of normalization were observed: bilateral superior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and the bilateral inferior temporal/fusiform gyrus.
Discussion: We found that the predominant BOLD response to training involved an up-regulation of the neural response to spelling the TRAINING items. In addition, we found individual differences in the neurotopography of the normalization response patterns although all were with within brain areas that form a part of the spelling network(Purcell et al. 2011). This work provides evidence regarding one aspect of the multiplicity of neural responses associated with recovery of spelling in individuals with acquired dysgraphia
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textThis isn't easy, this reflecting out loud on the readings for the day. You should try it sometime. I mean, many of us Christians, and perhaps especially the Catholic ones, have all our lives been little better than sponges, reading the scripture (sometimes in advance but usually for the first time in church) and then listening to the homilist tell us what it means. We nod our heads sagely, perhaps drowsily, many times tuning out the explication because the gospel stories and scripture reading repeat over the years almost like an extended litany. It is much safer to have someone else tell us what the words mean and why. So to sit down and actually try to understand what the readings are saying to me at this time, to not have a translator who can clear up doubt, and to then share and take the risk is in itself, I think, an act of faith.|"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news!" Paul seems to state the obvious - you won't be saved unless you call on the Lord, but you can't call on Him unless you believe, and you can't believe unless you hear, and you can't hear unless someone preaches, and someone won't preach unless they are sent. He leaves out an obvious fact - to be sent one first must be called. But who is the preacher?? Could it be me? I don't have training, I don't know all the meanings of the scripture, I only have my experiences, my life, my knowledge, from which to speak and share. Is that enough for me to be this preacher? Have I been sent to share the good news?|I love the psalms because I love to sing, and so many of these song poems have been incorporated into our modern liturgical songs. I can feel the exuberance and reverence of the psalm author who avers the heavens and the earth all proclaim the glory of God, and continue that song of praise as day pours into day and night imparts knowledge to night, with a resounding voice throughout the earth. And so the heavens and the earth and day and night constantly tell us, preach to us, the wonder of God, the glory of God's handiwork.|I have tried but failed to fully realize the faith it must have taken for the first disciples to drop everything and follow Jesus. His charisma must have been breathtaking for those disposed to accept Him. His call was simple and their response was immediate. They were called, and eventually sent, because of the good news.|It seems to me that if the heavens and earth resound with the glory of God, and that day flows into day and night into night imparting knowledge of God, then the call of Jesus can certainly reach across the ages to us individually. And if we are each called individually, then we each must make a unique response to His call. We can share what is special about us with others as witnesses (preachers) of the good news that Jesus makes a difference in our lives. We can join the song of the heavens and earth and the day and night proclaiming the greatness and glory of God throughout all the earth. And we don't need special training, we don't need insightful knowledge, we don't need great oratorical skills, we don't need a beautiful voice, we just need to be willing to make that act of faith that says "I believe" and mean it and act upon it in our own way as we feel the call
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textToday's reading from Luke contains one of the great understatements of all time - Mary, by most accounts a young woman of 15 or so years of age, is visited by an angel and, according to the author, is "greatly disturbed." || Well, who wouldn't be?! Place yourself in Mary's position. You are doing normal chores one spring day when this incredulous announcement is made to you. Your regular routine of life is shattered, this being, whose ethereal existence is somehow made known to you, tells you unfathomable truths. A barren relative will give birth. You will be somehow impregnated with and give birth to the Son of God. And the messenger waits, patiently, for some sign of your acceptance. | There are some interesting questions to reflect on from this scene. Did Mary have a choice? The narrative doesn't seem to imply the angel presents an option - "you will" "you shall" doesn't seem to leave room for discussion. How long did Mary have to reflect? The account seems to flow quickly, but if Mary was caught off-guard, and was greatly troubled, and this is such a momentous undertaking, it seems that she would have more than a short period of time to "ponder what sort of greeting this might be." How free was her choice? This messenger, this angel, must have carried some clear sign that this was not a delusion or a hallucination. Can you say no to an angel? What if she had said no? Can you imagine God postponing the birth of the messiah? | It seems to me that Mary was helped by the angel to realize who God had always called her to be. God calls each of us to be who we are. Mary had time to ponder the meaning of the angel's message, to discern who she was called to be. We have time to ponder God's call to us, to discern who we are. The presence of the angel gave clear corroboration to Mary that her calling was true, that it was God's call to her. Most of the time we don't receive such a clear message, a clear calling. We muddle about making choices, and hope we are going in the right direction. Mary accepted her calling by declaring to her messenger that she would do as God had called her to do. We accept God's call by saying "yes" more times than "no" when God sends us messengers. | Who are our messengers? Who brings God's call to us? Are angels flitting about in our lives giving us revelations? Who helps us see who God calls us to be? I believe that Jesus' message is clear - to share God's love with the least among us as we would receive God's love ourselves. So we have messengers because every day of our lives we are called to make choices about sharing God's love with the child who asks for more attention, the student who needs help with understanding a difficult concept, the driver who cuts us off in traffic, the colleague who undercuts our project, the spouse who is unresponsive when we have had a difficult day at work, the elected official who votes against our beliefs, the homeless man who smells of cheap wine yet asks for an alms, the children suffering from AIDS in Africa, the terrorist who kills himself and a soldier from your hometown, the rapist who shatters a woman's life, the doctor who performs abortions, the condemned man on death row. Do we say "yes" more times than "no" as we think Jesus would respond? Do we accept what God calls us to do as Mary expressed her acceptance - "Be it done unto me according to your word?" | My prayer today is to respond as Mary did, to accept God's call, to say "yes" more than "no.
Proceedings of SPIE: Wavelength-resolved Purcell enhancement of PbS/CdS quantum dots measured on a chip-based platform
No full textFuture quantum optical networks will require an integrated solution to multiplex suitable sources and detectors on a low-loss platform. Here we combined superconducting single-photon detectors with colloidal PbS/CdS quantum dots (QDs) and low-loss silicon nitride passive photonic components to show their combined operation at cryogenic temperatures. Using a planar concave grating spectrometer, we performed wavelength-resolved measurements of the photoluminescence decay of QDs, which were deterministically placed in the gap of plasmonic antennas, in order to improve their emission rate. We observed a Purcell enhancement matching the antenna simulations, with a concurrent increase of the count rate on the superconducting detectors.ImPhys/Optic
Daily Reflections (Meditations) on the Scriptures from the Roman Catholic Lectionary.
No full textWe have seemingly disconnected passages today. This chapter of Paul's letter to Timothy contains advice on "how to behave in the household of God," which I think means how to act as part of this faith community, but possibly arising from the cultural norms that people observed at the time when they were guests of the head of the household. The real purpose of the passage is what follows – Paul reminds the believers they are members of the household of the living God, manifested by Jesus, and proclaimed to the world. Verses 1 – 13 contain guidance to Timothy that details the qualifications for ecclesiastical ministers but, while thought provoking reading, are beyond the reflection for today.|For me the focus today is the section from Luke. When I reflect on these passages, in 2015, they mean something much different to me than they might have meant to the author and listeners when they were written almost 2,000 years ago. "Children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another" evokes images of a Starbucks with people on their electronic devices, tapping away, oblivious to all that is going on around them. And the image I take from the statements these children might be making is that they (the people) judge Jesus (and John before him) not based on the truth contained in what Jesus and John actually were doing, but on what the people conveniently (shallowly) judged them to be doing.|These verses are a reminder to me to avoid shallow distractions. I most treasure mornings when I rise early and greet the day in prayer outside. Listening to the birds and insects awaken and become active, seeing the deer browsing in our yard, watching the turkeys fly down from their evening roosts in our tall trees, and feeling the gentle breezes move the branches, is a wonderfully peaceful time. Waiting with anticipation for the sun to pop over the horizon, perhaps coloring puffy clouds with multiple shades of red, orange and crimson, adds to these special moments. I find myself able to clearly and more directly listen to God when I can feel part of, fundamentally at one with, God's awesome creation.|Then I imagined I was out one morning with my iPad as I greeted the day. The dawn was coming but the stars were still out, and I was curious so I used an app to identify the names of Orion's belt. I wondered when the sun would come up, so I checked the solar tables (after adjusting for our longitude and latitude using the GPS function) for the exact time it would rise, knowing that (since we are in a small valley) I would not actually see it rise at that precise time. I felt a chilly breeze, so I found out it was 54 degrees F. The birds were clamoring, and I wondered about a particular call, so I checked a birdcall web site to identify the Baltimore Oriole that I heard. Several different varieties of bees were visiting flowers, and so I checked to see that they were both ground bees and honey bees feasting on the flowers of the Echinacea purpurea and Nepeta racemosa that I had planted a year or two ago. I thought I would enhance the experience so I searched my iTunes library for Ferde Grofe's "Sunrise" from his "Grand Canyon Suite." I finally found it and started the music, and then I realized the sun had come up and I missed it. My curiosity had been satisfied as my mind had wandered, but since I was so busy with the iPad I missed the very reason I went outside in the first place!|I really do enjoy those sunrises, and I would never take my iPad out to "enhance" the experience. But I think we are so tempted today to use our ubiquitous technology for all things to make our lives better that we are like those people 2,000 years ago in the marketplace, calling to one another and judging what happens around us from the perspective of our digital devices, not being fully aware of what in fact is before us. We equate reality with artificial things instead of opening ourselves to the true experience of being alive in this beautiful gift from our loving God. We try to force our understanding of Jesus and His message into our preconceptions, instead of listening quietly and allowing the message He sends to resonate in our innermost being.|And don't misunderstand – I am grateful to Andy and Maureen for using awesome technology to create this wonderful service for all our users and suspect some of you are accessing this reflection on your own iPhone!!|And so my prayer today is for the grace of quietness, of letting go of shallowness so I can more fully embrace the exquisite greatness of the works of God
- …
