Making E.T. Perfectly Queer

In the wake of E.T.'s 1982 debut, film critics Marina Heung and Vivian Sobchack established that the enduring appeal of E.T. inheres in the dissolution of the nuclear heterosexual family over the latter half of the twentieth century and the film's “fairy tale” stand-in for the “mythology of family relations” that Dana Cloud terms “conservative familialism.” As Carl Plantinga puts it, E.T. offers a “virtual solution … to [a] traumatic problem.” Despite this, however, E.T. remains for many an inconsolable tragedy. Approaching E.T. from the perspective of the queer child who grows “more sideways than up,” in the real absence of a fairy tale solution to the traumatic problem of conservative familialism, I here seek to identify and celebrate E.T.'s “complex range of queerness” that has until now remained largely closeted.     

Estimation in High-Dimensional Analysis and Multivariate Linear Models

This article presents a new approach of estimating the parameters describing the mean structure in the Growth Curve model when the number of variables compared with the number of observations is large. An unbiased, consistent, and asymptotic normal estimator is derived as well as its.     

The Diaconate as Dual-Skilled Ministry

Abstract

Since Vatican II, a number of Christian groups have sought to reclaim the diaconate in the service of the gospel. Roman Catholic deacons led the way in the United States but diaconal forms of ministry are now part of the structure in the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and The United Methodist Church. Each ecclesiastical entity is still shaping formation programs appropriate to its form of diaconal ministry. This paper argues that the formation for deaconesses, diaconal ministers, and deacons who will seek to build compassionate communities must include skills in discernment that are learned through theological education and the tools for analysis, intervention and change that come from training in social work. The complexities of understanding systems and other factors that create oppression and the necessity of understanding deeply the call to “do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8) require creative approaches to formation such as dual degree programs in social work and theology (MSW and MDiv). Dual degree programs can break down dualisms such as the “body/spirit” split. In order for this to work, the ecclesiastical bodies that supervise programs of formation and education must support candidates for the diaconate who need the dual degrees with money, time, and encouragement.     

《蝇王》中野兽的定位和诠释

威廉·戈尔丁在其代表作《蝇王》中以现实主义手法探讨了一个严肃而永恒的主题——人性善恶。他试图从人性的缺陷中探寻社会症结的所在，深刻而无情地揭露人性的阴暗面。通过对《蝇王》中频繁出现的野兽的定位和诠释，进一步深化对《蝇王〉主题的理解。     

Reallocation of pronouns through contact: In‐the‐moment identity construction amongst Southern California Salvadorans

This study uses natural, everyday social interaction within Salvadoran families living in Southern California to examine the use of the 2nd‐person singular pronouns tú and vos (and their corresponding morphologies) in this contact variety of Spanish. An in‐depth, qualitative analysis reveals that the employment and significance of these forms of address do not conform entirely to Salvadoran norms, nor to those of the surrounding Mexican‐based Spanish koiné. Accommodation to the pronominal repertoire of the region's majority serves as a communicative resource driven by questions of U.S./Los Angeles identity and solidarity with speakers in‐the‐moment interlocutor(s), a process which has caused the original Salvadoran pronouns to also be reallocated and refunctionalized (Britain and Trudgill 1999 ) as resources for accomplishing Salvadoran identity. Members of this community make active use of their pronominal options in real‐time interaction as they navigate the fluid, multifaceted identities that they and their interlocutors now embody in the U.S. context.     

Parents' Perceptions of Services for Children and Youth with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Increased concern about the pervasive problems children and youth with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) experience has led to the planning and development of alternative approaches to serving these individuals and their families. One alternative approach includes the development of a comprehensive, community- based system of care. This study encouraged parent participation in a county-wide needs assessment designed to facilitate the development of a system of care. Parents were surveyed to gather their views regarding their experiences with various service agencies as well as their input into how comprehensive services could best be developed and implemented. The survey focused on (a) family needs, (b) existing barriers to comprehensive individualized care, and (c) specific service priorities for system development. Suggestions for future research and implications for developing such services are discussed.     

A Combined D.C. Optimization—Ellipsoidal Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for Solving Nonconvex Quadratic Programming Problems

In this paper we propose a new branch-and-bound algorithm by using an ellipsoidal partition for minimizing an indefinite quadratic function over a bounded polyhedral convex set which is not necessarily given explicitly by a system of linear inequalities and/or equalities. It is required that for this set there exists an efficient algorithm to verify whether a point is feasible, and to find a violated constraint if this point is not feasible. The algorithm is based upon the fact that the problem of minimizing an indefinite quadratic form over an ellipsoid can be efficiently solved by some available (polynomial and nonpolynomial time) algorithms. In particular, the d.c. (difference of convex functions) algorithm (DCA) with restarting procedure recently introduced by Pham Dinh Tao and L.T. Hoai An is applied to globally solving this problem. DCA is also used for locally solving the nonconvex quadratic program. It is restarted with current best feasible points in the branch-and-bound scheme, and improved them in its turn. The combined DCA-ellipsoidal branch-and-bound algorithm then enhances the convergence: it reduces considerably the upper bound and thereby a lot of ellipsoids can be eliminated from further consideration. Several numerical experiments are given.     

AgCl团簇结构及性质的研究

用HF/STO-3G方法优化了(AgCl)n(n≤5)团簇结构,并计算了能隙、电离势、电荷布局数、偶极钜、(AgCl)2和(AgCl)3的红外光谱。结果表明:(AgCl)3结构最稳定;平均结合能随着尺寸增大趋于平缓;(AgCl)n团簇具有很强的绝缘性;结构对称性越高,电荷布局数越均匀,偶极钜越小;最强的(AgCl)2和(AgCl)3的红外光谱线分别位于142cm-1和232cm-1处。     

Exclusion of HIV-positive people with disabilities in the media

This current issue piece aims to address the harmful exclusion of people with disabilities in the Iranian media. In a case study, this author collected news related to statistics of HIV-positive people covered by popular news websites written in the Persian language between June 2011 and June 2012. Within the analysed electronic texts, no reference was made to the number of HIV-positive people with disabilities. Under the rubric of critical discourse analysis, one can argue that this lack of representation may also be linked to a more general level of discourse that constitutes the marginalization of people with disabilities. This damaging exclusion both legitimizes and reproduces the ideology that people with disabilities are social minorities who can be excluded to the benefit of powerful people. This current issue piece also discusses the potential negative consequences of excluding HIV-positive people with disabilities from the discourse of HIV/AIDS in the media. Ultimately, the conceivable reasons for the Iranian government failure or refusal to publish the statistics of HIV-positive people with disabilities will be provided. Studies from various countries could shed more light on the exclusion of HIV-positive people with disabilities in the media and the interplay between HIV/AIDS and disability issues.