In this essay Sarah Coakley’s, Margaret Melin’s and Wilfred Stinissen’s texts on the use of prayer are analyzed with the help of Justin Barret’s theory of theological correctness and DZ Philips’ ideas on prayer. The essay is focused on finding out how useful they are to the study of prayer in practice. Parallels are also drawn between theological correctness and political correctness. The analyses show that Barret’s theories are useful, but not in the way formulated by him. Examination of the theologians’ writings in this essay shows that Barret’s theory is too narrow concerning how theologically correct thought develops. The theologians all had different theories on achieving a paradigmatic prayer, but not correctly from a theological point of view according to Barret. It seems that the social context plays a greater part in how theologians reach prayer in a manner that is correct to them, than the manner in which Barret formulates context in his theory. If cognitive context is interpreted in a wider concept, his theory becomes more easily applicable. DZ Phillip’s ideas about prayer is also useful to relate to the theologians’ texts, as they all assume that prayer is total dedication to God. But the theologians realize the challenges of prayer differently from the way that Philips does. The parallel between theological and political correctness raises discussion, as all the theologians, consciously or unconsciously, indicate norms for prayer that in a religious context can be interpreted as “politically incorrect” and represent norms for correctness that should be regarded critically.

Introdução: A diminuição do tônus basal e da extensão do esfíncter inferior do esôfago são considerados como principais mecanismos responsável pela ocorrência de refluxo gastroesofágico. Um adequado clareamento esofágico depende da presença de peristaltismo primário e secundário efetivos. Ainda há dúvidas se o achado de alterações do peristaltismo esofágico em pacientes com doença do refluxo gastroesofágico é uma anormalidade primária ou surge como consequência da agressão causada pelo refluxo. Objetivo: avaliar as alterações motoras esofágicas do esfíncter inferior do esôfago e do corpo esofágico em diferentes formas da doença do refluxo gastroesofágico. Métodos: foram selecionados 268 prontuários de pacientes encaminhados para avaliação motora do esôfago através de manometria como parte da investigação diagnóstica da doença do refluxo gastroesofágico e foram distribuídos em quatro grupos: SE: 33 pacientes sem esofagite ao estudo endoscópico; EE: 92 pacientes que apresentavam esofagite erosiva (classificação de Los Angeles); BC: 101 pacientes que apresentavam esôfago de Barrett curto (< 3 cm) e BL: 42 pacientes que apresentavam esôfago de Barrett longo (> 3 cm). Resultados: O grupo SE apresentou um tamanho médio do esfíncter inferior do esôfago maior quando comparado aos grupos EE, BC e BL, estes foram semelhantes quando comparados entre si. Considerando esfíncter curto quando seu tamanho total encontrava-se menor do que 2 cm, os grupos EE, BC e BL foram semelhantes quando comparados entre si. Quanto à média de pressão do esfíncter, observamos que o grupo SE apresentou valor médio maior em relação aos grupos EE, BC e BL, estes foram semelhantes quando comparados entre si. Observou-se que os grupos EE e BL foram semelhantes e apresentaram maior percentual de hipotonia acentuada do esfíncter inferior do esôfago quando comparados ao grupo BC. Os grupos EE, BC e BL apresentaram amplitude de contração no segmento distal, significativamente inferiores quando comparados ao grupo SE; os grupos BC e BL foram semelhantes quando comparados entre si. Os grupos EE, BC e BL foram semelhantes em relação ao percentual de hipocontratilidade acentuada do segmento distal do corpo esofágico. Em relação à motilidade esofágica, observou-se que não houve diferença entre os grupos EE, BC e BL, o grupo SE não apresentou esta alteração. Conclusões: Os doentes com sintomas típicos de refluxo gastroesofágico, mas sem esofagite ao estudo endoscópico, não apresentaram comprometimento da função motora esofágica. Aqueles com esofagite de refluxo e esôfago de Barrett curto tiveram comprometimento da função motora esofágica, intermediárias entre os pacientes sem esofagite e com esôfago de Barrett longo. As alterações mais intensas na motilidade esofágica e esfíncter inferior do esôfago foram mais observadas no grupo com esôfago de Barrett longo. Estes fatos indicam que as alterações motoras do esôfago surgem como conseqüência do comprometimento da mucosa esofágica por RGE. / Introduction: A more extensive damage to the system of refluxate contention and to the esophageal clearance are thought to be associated to the increased occurrence of esophageal inflammation. Objective: This study aimed to assess the esophageal motor alterations of the lower esophageal sphincter and esophageal body, in the various forms of gastro-esophageal reflux disease. Methods: two hundred and sixty eigth patients were selected and split into four groups: NE: 33 patients who had presented with typical complaints of gastroesophageal reflux, albeit with no esophagitis on endoscopy; EE: 92 patients who had erosive esophagitis (Los Angeles classification); SBE: 101 patients who had short Barretts esophagus (< 3 cm); and LBE: 42 patients who had long Barretts esophagus (> 3 cm). All the patients underwent esophageal manometry with an 8-channel computerized system and a low compliance pneumo-hydraulic perfusion pump. Results: The manometric evaluation of the esophagus detected that the mean lower esophageal sphincter length in group NE was longer in comparison with the other groups (EE, SBE and LBE), which were all similar among themselves. Taking lower esophageal sphincter to be shortened with a total length equal or shorter than 2 cm, the groups EE, SBE and LBE were similar when compared one to another. This abnormality was not detected in group NE. Lower esophageal sphincter pressure, as assessed by the mean respiratory pressure, showed the group NE the highest mean value, while no difference was found between groups EE, SBE and LBE. Percentages of patients showing marked lower esophageal sphincter hypotonia (<6 mmHg) showed the groups EE and LBE had higher percentages of hypotonia as compared with group SBE. Comparison between groups EE and LBE in this respect yielded no difference. As to the mean amplitude of contraction of the distal segment swallowing complex showed that the groups EE, SBE and LBE had significantly lower amplitudes when compared with group NE; groups SBE and LBE were similar. The percentage of marked hypocontractility of the distal segment of the esophageal body (< 30 mmHg) was similar among groups EE, SBE and LBE. In relation to the esophageal motility, no difference could be detected among groups EE, SBE and LBE. Conclusions: patients who had presented with typical complaints of gastroesophageal reflux disease, albeit with no esophagitis on endoscopy didnt have alterations of esophageal motor function. The groups who had erosive esophagitis and short Barretts esophagus had intermediary alterations of esophageal function; the group long Barretts esophagus showed lower mean value and higher percentage of marked hypotonia of LES and the highest percentage of marked hypocontractility and alteration in esophageal periltalsis. These findings sugest also that esophageal abnormalities are secondary to esophageal mucosa damage.

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This study proposes an approach to a solution for the problem of the perceived ‚separatedness‛ of language from reality which employs the rhetorical concept of ethos, the doctrinal concept of the Chalcedonian definition of the nature of the incarnated Christ, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of ‚answerability.‛ As an alternative to theories of reading and interpretation based on the arbitrariness of linguistic meaning, radical skepticism, and the death of the author, the approach defined in this study emphasizes affirmation of the centrality of the human person and the necessity of close, loving attention as the grounds of both aesthetic vision and ethical action. Developing three exemplary readings of novelized epics including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, David Jones’s In Parenthesis, and Chenjerai Hove’s Bones, the study demonstrates how loving, careful attention to ethos—the definition of which is expanded to include relationships between language and character in literary works, genres, characters, authors, and teachers—is the prerequisite for answerability in literary relationships. Whether one is primarily interested in authors, characters, genres, canon, readers, or critical reception, attention to ethos illuminates the ways in which responses to literary works are conditioned by and analogous to responses to persons. The complex and irreducible relationships between the ‚word‛ and the ‚person‛ require an individual answerability for which there is no alibi. Ultimately, the ‚word‛ and the ‚world‛ are united in the answerable person, whether that person is an author, a character, a reader, a critic or a teacher.

Virginia Woolf once remarked that, “[t]here is no reason to think that the form of the epic ... suit[s] a woman any more than the [masculine] sentence” (Woolf 84). This thesis represents an attempt to explore what the epic genre, as imagined and written by women, might look like in regards to the verse of fellow women poets Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the persistent critical misconception that women’s poetry of the Romantic and Victorian periods is comprised mainly of light, lyric verse and tends to lack that “great effort” – for example, the epic poem – which often appears in the work of their male contemporaries, this thesis will argue conversely that Hemans and Barrett Browning do assume certain aspects of traditional epic poetry – a genre “almost coterminous” with masculinity (Schweizer 1) – in their work, while also managing to transform the genre in order that their work might successfully embody a more feminine perspective. The first chapter of the thesis examines the ways in which these two women poets are able to bridge the private and public spheres by transforming the quintessential role of the female poet as record-keeper into that of the poet as prophet and visionary in their political poetry. The two following chapters will highlight the ways in which both Hemans and Barrett Browning remodel the epic form in order to draw attention to the female voice (chapter two) and to examine new and unconventional prototypes of female heroinism, for example the pioneering female artist and the militant mother (chapter three). With strong ties to a masculine tradition of epic, yet incorporating aspects of femininity hitherto foreign – perhaps even inimical – to the traditional conception of the genre, female epic, while admittedly something of a hybrid, arguably represents a distinctive genre in its own right and one which certainly merits more critical attention in the future.

Virginia Woolf once remarked that, “[t]here is no reason to think that the form of the epic ... suit[s] a woman any more than the [masculine] sentence” (Woolf 84). This thesis represents an attempt to explore what the epic genre, as imagined and written by women, might look like in regards to the verse of fellow women poets Felicia Hemans and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Despite the persistent critical misconception that women’s poetry of the Romantic and Victorian periods is comprised mainly of light, lyric verse and tends to lack that “great effort” – for example, the epic poem – which often appears in the work of their male contemporaries, this thesis will argue conversely that Hemans and Barrett Browning do assume certain aspects of traditional epic poetry – a genre “almost coterminous” with masculinity (Schweizer 1) – in their work, while also managing to transform the genre in order that their work might successfully embody a more feminine perspective. The first chapter of the thesis examines the ways in which these two women poets are able to bridge the private and public spheres by transforming the quintessential role of the female poet as record-keeper into that of the poet as prophet and visionary in their political poetry. The two following chapters will highlight the ways in which both Hemans and Barrett Browning remodel the epic form in order to draw attention to the female voice (chapter two) and to examine new and unconventional prototypes of female heroinism, for example the pioneering female artist and the militant mother (chapter three). With strong ties to a masculine tradition of epic, yet incorporating aspects of femininity hitherto foreign – perhaps even inimical – to the traditional conception of the genre, female epic, while admittedly something of a hybrid, arguably represents a distinctive genre in its own right and one which certainly merits more critical attention in the future.

This study proposes an approach to a solution for the problem of the perceived ‚separatedness‛ of language from reality which employs the rhetorical concept of ethos, the doctrinal concept of the Chalcedonian definition of the nature of the incarnated Christ, and Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of ‚answerability.‛ As an alternative to theories of reading and interpretation based on the arbitrariness of linguistic meaning, radical skepticism, and the death of the author, the approach defined in this study emphasizes affirmation of the centrality of the human person and the necessity of close, loving attention as the grounds of both aesthetic vision and ethical action. Developing three exemplary readings of novelized epics including Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Aurora Leigh, David Jones’s In Parenthesis, and Chenjerai Hove’s Bones, the study demonstrates how loving, careful attention to ethos—the definition of which is expanded to include relationships between language and character in literary works, genres, characters, authors, and teachers—is the prerequisite for answerability in literary relationships. Whether one is primarily interested in authors, characters, genres, canon, readers, or critical reception, attention to ethos illuminates the ways in which responses to literary works are conditioned by and analogous to responses to persons. The complex and irreducible relationships between the ‚word‛ and the ‚person‛ require an individual answerability for which there is no alibi. Ultimately, the ‚word‛ and the ‚world‛ are united in the answerable person, whether that person is an author, a character, a reader, a critic or a teacher.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-144).

This research presents an approach in assisting the control and operation of a rehabilitation robot manipulator to execute simple grasping tasks for persons with severe disabilities. It outlines the development of an end-effector sensory suite that includes the BarrettHand end-effector, laser range finder, and a low cost camera. The approach taken in this research differs greatly from the currently available rehabilitation robot arms in that it requires minimal user instruction, it is easy to operate and more effective for persons severely disabled. A thorough study of the currently available systems; Manus, Raptor and Kares II arm, is also presented. In order to test the end-effector sensory suite, experiments were performed to find the centroid of an object of interest to direct the robot end-effector towards it with minimal error. Analyses of centroid location data to ensure accurate results are also presented. The long term goal of this research is to significantly enhance the ability of severely disabled persons to perform activities of daily living using wheelchair mounted robot arms. The sensory suite developed through this project is expected to be integrated into a seven-degree of freedom wheelchair mounted robot arm currently under development at the Rehabilitation Robots Laboratory at the University of South Florida.

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