A model for describing spirituality

A model for describing the spiritual dimension of life is presented. The model consists of six factors or dimensions along which life can be experienced as a spiritual person. These factors are identified as those of the journey, transcendence, community, religion, “the mystery of creation”, and transformation. Evil is described as a lack of progress and/or regression in any of these six dimensions. Recent literature is cited to indicate some of the diversity of understanding of spirituality and in support of various parts of the author's model. Lawrence L. LaPierro, M. Div., is a United Methodist Church minister serving as Director of Chaplains at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in White River Junction, Vermont who has appeared before in this journal. The author gratefully acknowledges the encouragement and editorial suggestions of Gail M. Barton, M.D., Director of Outpatient Psychiatry at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White River Junction, Vermont.     

A framework for the multimodal joint work of turn construction in face-to-face interaction

We propose a framework for understanding the multimodal joint work of turn construction in face-to-face interaction. Using concepts from conversation analysis, nonverbal communication, and gesture studies, in a qualitative analysis of face-to-face interaction, we observe that, collaboratively and in a joint work, participants produce moves, within the current-speaker’s turn, that allow them to deal with possible moves that could compromise the projectable trajectory of the interaction in progress. Working at the micro level of interaction, we propose a framework that will allows a better understanding of how a turn can be collaboratively produced and how other levels of sequence organization can be produced in order to achieve the desired social-agreement outcome.     

Evaluating health care work settings: A holistic conceptual framework

Abstract

After offering a systems perspective that considers a diversity of job-related and personal factors, we discuss the determinants and impacts of health care work climates and how staff morale and performance can influence the treatment milieu and quality of patient care. We also describe the physical features, organizational structure and policies, and suprapersonal and task factors that help to shape health care work climates. We then review research on the connections between work climate and staff morale and performance, the interplay of work climate factors, and the role of personal factors in these relationships. Finally, we orovide some ideas about how to improve health care work settings and focus on some promising new research directions.     

The family-relatedness of work decisions: A framework and agenda for theory and research

Due to global trends such as the increased labor force participation of women, the growing presence of dual-earner couples and single parents in the labor force, and changing values regarding the importance of life balance, individuals' work decisions are being increasingly influenced by family considerations. However, the “family-relatedness” of work decisions, or the extent to which family situations are considered in these decisions, has not been systematically examined. We propose a framework to examine the family-relatedness of work decisions and a broad agenda for future theory and research to test and extend the framework.     

A method for describing preschoolers' activity preferences

We designed a series of analyses to develop a measurement system capable of simultaneously recording the free-play patterns of 20 children in a preschool classroom. Study 1 determined the intermittency with which the location and engagement of each child could be momentarily observed before the accuracy of the measurement was compromised. Results showed that intervals up to 120 s introduced less than 10% measurement error. Study 2 determined the extent of agreement between two observers who simultaneously collected data for 20 children using 30-, 60-, 90-, and 120-s momentary time sampling (MTS) intervals. The three larger intervals resulted in high levels of interobserver agreement (above 90%), whereas the 30-s interval resulted in unacceptably low levels of agreement (less than 80%). By allowing observers to select from among the different MTS intervals via a datasheet array and then collect data with the chosen system, Study 3 determined observers' preferences for the remaining MTS intervals. Both data collectors preferred the 90-s MTS procedure. The sensitivity of the 90-s MTS procedure, which was shown to be accurate, reliable, and preferred, was then demonstrated by its use to describe activity preferences of a classroom of children in Study 4. This system identified high- and low-preference activities for individual children and revealed interesting patterns of response allocation by the group.     

A logic for describing, not verifying, software

An important perquisite for verification of the correctness of software is the ability to write mathematically precise documents that can be read by practitioners and advanced users. Without such documents, we won't know what properties we should verify. Tabular expressions, in which predicate expressions may appear, have been found useful for this purpose. We frequently use partial functions in our tabular documentation. Conventional interpretations of expressions that describe predicates are not appropriate for our application because they do not deal with partial functions. Experience with this documentation has led us to choose a logic in which predicates are total but functions remain partial. We have found that this particular interpretation results in simpler expressions and is easily understood by practitioners.     

A framework for counseling women

“The goal is to develop human beings who are free to act in ways that are appropriate to their interests and their values—not their sex.“     

A methodology for describing and decomposing complex psychosocial and behavioral interventions

This article presents a comprehensive conceptual framework and methodology for characterizing multidimensional psychosocial and behavioral interventions for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. The methodology involved conducting a detailed task analysis of the interventions, and the application of the analytical hierarchy process. The authors were able to achieve high levels of consistency and reliability using this methodology to decompose and describe the interventions according to a complex conceptual framework comprising 3 dimensions: target domain, functional domain, and delivery system characteristics. Application of this methodology will enhance the ability to describe and measure interventions consistently, make comparisons across studies, isolate causal factors that achieve desired outcomes, and more generally elevate the science of psychosocial intervention research.     

A self-regulatory framework for message framing

After several decades of research on message framing, there is still no clear and consistent answer to the question of when emphasizing positive or negative outcomes in a persuasive message will be most effective. Whereas early framing research considered the type of recommended behavior (health-affirming vs. illness-detection) to be the determining factor, more recent research has looked to individual differences to answer this question. In this paper, we incorporate both approaches under a single framework. The framework describes the multiple self-regulatory levels at which a message can be framed and predicts when framing at each level will be most effective. Two central predictions were confirmed across four studies: (1) messages describing the pleasures of adhering to the recommended behavior are most effective for recipients in a promotion focus (who are concerned with meeting growth needs), whereas messages describing the pains of not adhering are most effective for recipients in a prevention focus (who are concerned with meeting safety needs), and (2) the content of an advocacy message is essential, as different topics induce different regulatory orientations. By showing that different message content can induce a promotion or prevention focus, past findings and theories can be accommodated within the proposed framework, and a single set of self-regulatory principles can be used to understand message framing.     

A unified framework for inhibitory control

Inhibiting unwanted thoughts, actions and emotions figures centrally in daily life, and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) is widely viewed as a source of this inhibitory control. We argue that the function of the PFC is best understood in terms of representing and actively maintaining abstract information, such as goals, which produces two types of inhibitory effects on other brain regions. Inhibition of some subcortical regions takes a directed global form, with prefrontal regions providing contextual information relevant to when to inhibit all processing in a region. Inhibition within neocortical (and some subcortical) regions takes an indirect competitive form, with prefrontal regions providing excitation of goal-relevant options. These distinctions are crucial for understanding the mechanisms of inhibition and how they can be impaired or improved.     

自在窝随笔

"道人已学道,山中犹著书;珍重神仙字,休教食砉鱼。"从悟元子刘一明仙家的自题诗中,不难看出一代宗师坚定的神仙信仰和一身的道骨仙风。出于对刘一明仙家的仰慕之情,今夏偶得空闲,前往兰州市榆中县境内的道教名山———兴隆山参访。     

A formal framework for quantum non-individuality

H. Post's conception of quantal particles as non-individuals is set in a formal logico-mathematical framework. By means of this approach certain metaphysical implications of quantum mechanics can be further explored.The authors would like to thank Prof. Newton C. A. da Costa and the anonymous referee for their comments and suggestions. S. French would also to thank his colleagues at Southeast Missouri State University for their support during the preparation of this work.     

A framework for reproductive memory tasks

The present papers present a framework for reproductive memory tasks. It is proposed that the notion of predictability of presentation is of prime importance to performance in reproductive tasks and that this notion may be decomposed into three critical dimensions, viz. the item expectancy, the type-of-recall and recall expectancy dimensions. The first dimension refers to the manipulation of inter-item intervals; the second to backward, forward or free recall and the third to when recall is prompted. Moreover, a study was conducted, wherein these three dimension were combined. The main results demonstrated superior performance for prerecency items (the first four items) with fast inter-item intervals in the beginning of list presentation and also reliable effects for recency items (the last four items). Precueing and postcueing (recall expectancy) interacted with the item expectancy dimension and also with the type of recall expectancy dimension in systematic ways. The data obtained could not be accouted for a traditional encoding, storage, retrieval or rehearsal terms, whereas the predictability notion seemed more viable. Finally, implications for a general interactionistic theory were also discussed, where the interplay between cognitive skills and predictability characteristics of the task constitute the basic factors.