T H A N K S 

The editors o f Elements w o u l d l ike to t h a n k the f o l l o w i n g indiv idua ls 

for the i r generous support o f and assistance w i t h this issue o f 

Elements: 

KEITH AKE, Assistant Director of Marketing and Design for the Office of Marketing 

Communications 

DAN I EL BAI ROS, Technology Consultant 

BEN B I R N B A U M , Executive Director of the Office of Marketing Communications 

AUSTIN EIG H A N , German Translator 

CUTBERTO GARZA, Provost and Dean of Faculties 

D O N A L D HAFNER, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies 

JOYCE M A N N I X , Business Manager for the College of Arts and Sciences 

DAVI D QU IG LEY, Interim Dean for the College of Arts & Sciences 

BARBARA VI ECH N ICKI , Associate Dean for Finance and Administration 

We w o u l d also l ike to give special thanks to the Dean's Office 

o f the College o f Ar t s & Sciences a n d the Office o f M a r k e t i n g 

C o m m u n i c a t i o n s for p r o v i d i n g budgetary support that made 

this p u b l i c a t i o n possible. 

Q U E S T I O N S & C O N T R I B U T I O N S 

I f y o u have any questions or w o u l d l ike to contr ibute a letter for 

our next issue, feel free to contact the j o u r n a l at e lements@bc.edu. 

Please consider s u b m i t t i n g your o w n research to the next issue o f 

Elements. O u r next deadline is Friday, A p r i l 9, 2010. 

C O V E R 

K o n k o r d a t s u n t e r z e i c h n u n g i n r o m 

© Bundesarchiv 

P E R I O D I C I T Y 

Elements is p u b l i s h e d twice an academic year i n the fa l l a n d s p r i n g 

semesters. 

The information provided by our contributors is not independently verified by Elements. 

The materials presented represent the personal opinions of the individual authors and do 

not necessarily represent the views of Elements or the Boston College community. 

Elements, Undergraduate Research Journal, Volume 6, Issue i, Spring 2010 

Boston College, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Service Building 103, 

Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 

Printing: Dynagraf Advanced Printing Solutions, 5 Dan Road, Canton, MA 02021 

Copyright © 2010 by Trustees of Boston College 

E L E M E N T S S T A F F 

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F 
ERIN E. EIG HAN 

M A N A G I N G E D I T O R 
BRIAN VARIAN 

D E P U T Y E D I T O R 
JAIME CROWLEY 

H U M A N I T I E S 

BRIAN TRACZ, Senior Editor 

ALYSSA DUQUETTE, Editor 

BRENDAN KELLY, Editor 

DAN SOLOGUREN, Editor 

N A T U R A L S C I E N C E S 

A N N E KORNAHRENS, Senior Editor 

ADITYA ASHOK, Editor 

ERIN GRODEN, Editor 

V I N O D H MECHERY, Editor 

S O C I A L S C I E N C E S 

CHRIS SHERIDAN, Senior Editor 

TEJA GANTA, Editor 

DANIEL KENNY, Editor 

GREG MAESTRI, Editor 

ALLISON THERRIEN, Editor 

ANDREIN A YANES, Editor 

LEA YARED, Editor 

L A Y O U T 

ALYSSA DUQUETTE, Senior Editor 

CHRIS SHERIDAN, Editor 

BRIAN TRACZ, Editor 

W E B D E S I G N 

DAN SOLOGUREN, Senior Editor 

V I N O D H MECHERY, Editor 

F A C U L T Y A D V I S O R 

ELIZABETH CHADWICK 

mailto:elements@bc.edu


E D I T O R ' S N O T E 

"I have no greater grace than this, to hear that my children walk in truth." 

—John Hi. 4 

O n M a r c h 21, 1937, these words echoed t h r o u g h o u t Nazi Germany, 

f r o m p u l p i t to pew. Mit brennender Sorge ( " w i t h b u r n i n g concern") , an 

encyclical f r o m the Office o f the H o l y See under Pope Pius X I , was read 

a loud i n G e r m a n Catholic churches w i t h exhortations to the fa i thfu l to 

seek out t r u t h , justice, and unfettered fa i th even i n m o m e n t s o f great-

est distress. W r i t t e n i n response to new policies res t r ic t ing rel igious 

f reedom, the encyclical challenged the seeming i n v i n c i b i l i t y o f the Nazi 

regime. W i t h i n hours o f its first reading, the G e r m a n governmen t or-

dered al l copies o f the encyclical to be ceased and destroyed. 

Compl icat ions o f dual loyalties to one's country and to one's C h u r c h 

sent t remors t h r o u g h o u t Germany. Yet the C h u r c h stood strong i n the 

face o f controversy. 

Mit brennender Sorge remains today a symbol o f the h u m a n struggle to 

confront controversy w i t h resilience. I t opened the gate—a gate forcibly 

locked by propaganda and ins t i tu t iona l i zed e n m i t y — t o wa lk i n t r u t h . 

O u r featured article examines the encyclical i n this l i ght , as a d o c u m e n t 

w h i c h d ip lomat ica l ly yet forcefully challenged any i n s t i t u t i o n b l o c k i n g 

the path to t r u t h . As y o u n g m e n and w o m e n for others, enter ing i n t o a 

w o r l d rife w i t h in just ice , falsehood, and ignorance, our call to act " w i t h 

b u r n i n g concern"—to "walk i n t r u t h " — h a s never sounded w i t h greater 

desperation. We, too, are called to let t r u t h resound t h r o u g h o u t our 

w o r l d . 

As students, we are pr iv i leged to have the f reedom to actively search for 

t r u t h i n any manner . Research is no smal l task, nor a t r i v ia l ass ignment 

to check o f f a l ist . I t is the student's o p p o r t u n i t y to open his or her o w n 

smal l gate o f t r u t h . The students featured i n this issue o f Elements have 

unlocked t ruths about A m e r i c a n diplomacy, global health, logic, and 

moderni ty . " I r a n and the N i x o n D o c t r i n e" suggests, contrary to conven-

t iona l o p i n i o n , that the N i x o n Doctr ine was not independent ly drafted, 

b u t s t e m m e d f r o m Nixon's interactions w i t h M u h a m m a d Reza Pahlavi 

i n 1967. Both "Expanding Waist l ines" and " H o r m o n e - m i m i c k i n g 

Chemicals" offer f indings imperat ive to our heal th i n response to 

China's chang ing attitudes towards c o n s u m p t i o n and our misconcep-

t ions about potential ly h a r m f u l chemicals i n household products 

a r o u n d the w o r l d . A Husser l ian analysis o f Gott lob Frege's conceptual 

n o t a t i o n — a logical analysis o f language—reveals a fatal flaw w i t h i n 

analytic phi losophy, as explicated i n "Frege and W i t t g e n s t e i n . " Two o f 

the articles argue the importance o f r e t u r n i n g to ancient t ru ths and 

ancient t radit ions b o t h aesthetically, as i n " I l l u m i n a t i n g a C u l t u r e , " and 

philosophical ly , as i n "The T r u t h i n T h i n g s ( A n d Love i n the W o r l d ) . " 

We are p r o u d to celebrate the f i f th anniversary o f Elements, Boston 

College's undergraduate research j o u r n a l , w i t h a call to accept the re-

sponsibi l i ty o f researchers to seek out t r u t h and justice. I n five years, 

n i n e issues, and seventy-four articles the undergraduates o f Boston 

College have cont inuous ly shattered the gates o f ignorance and the 

u n k n o w n . May this j o u r n a l cont inue to encourage the undergraduate 

c o m m u n i t i e s o f the future to wa lk i n and give voice to the ir o w n 

discovered t ruths . 

Sincerely, 

ERIN E. E I C H A N 

Editor-in-chief