Surgeons and the Spirit: A Study on the Relationship of Religiosity to Clinical Practice

This study aimed to identify the religious practices and beliefs of surgeons and the relationship between surgeons locus of control and religiosity. Thirty-five surgeons completed a survey that included items from the Duke University Religion Index, the Salesian Center Intrinsic Religiosity Scale for Clinicians, and Rotters Locus of Control Scale. Over 68% of sampled surgeons affirmed that their religious beliefs play a part in their practice, 47% attend religious services at least weekly, and 44% pray daily. There was no correlation between locus of control and religiosity. These results challenge the myth of the egocentric, agnostic surgeon.     

The 2007 Birmingham Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education: a new direction for statutory religious education in England and Wales

The aim of this article is to introduce and summarise the main feature of the new Birmingham City Council Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (2007 Birmingham City Council (BCC). 2007. Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education, Birmingham: City Council.  [Google Scholar]), consider the relevance of its commitments and conclusions to ongoing debates within British religious education, and, finally, offer some kind of provisional assessment of its strengths and worth. By way of introduction, attention is given both to the mounting controversy that currently attends British religious education, which has given rise to conflicting opinions and estimates of its achievements and value, and to the historical role and legal status of agreed syllabuses within English and Welsh education.     

Ramifications of a population model forκ as a coefficient of reliability

Coefficient is generally defined in terms of procedures of computation rather than in terms of a population. Here a population definition is proposed. On this basis, the interpretation of as a measure of diagnostic reliability in characterizing an individual, and the effect of reliability, as measured by, on estimation bias, precision, and test power are examined. Factors influencing the magnitude of are identified. Strategies to improve reliability are proposed, including that of combining multiple unreliable diagnoses.This investigation was supported in part by the National Institute of Mental Health Specialized Research Center Grant # MH-30854.     

Religion, Spirituality, and Health Service Use by Older Hospitalized Patients

Background: Religious and spiritual beliefs and practices are common among medical inpatients, and may impact length of hospital stay (LOS) and other health services (HSU) during hospitalization. Methods: 812 consecutively admitted patients age 50 or over to Duke University Medical Center were assessed. Measures of religiousness and spirituality included religious TV/radio (RTV), self-rated religiousness (SRR), observer-rated spirituality (ORS), and daily spiritual experiences (DSE). The primary outcome was LOS. Results: RTV and SRR predicted longer LOS, whereas ORS and DSE predicted shorter LOS (p 0.05). Effects of RTV onLOS were stronger among women, but explained by worse health status. The effects of DSE on LOS were stronger among non-whites. Among those reporting high DSE, diagnostic tests and total procedures also tended to be less common. Conclusions: Religious activities, attitudes, and spiritual experiences are weak predictors of LOS and HSU during hospitalization. Whether the prediction is positive or negative depends on the religious or spiritual characteristic.     

Religious attributions pertaining to the causes and cures of mental illness

In this Australian study, 126 Protestant Christian participants, 52 females and 74 males, were assessed for their beliefs about the importance of 26 causal variables and 25 treatment variables for two mental disorders: Major Depression and Schizophrenia. Factor analysis revealed four causal factors, common to both conditions, labelled as religious factors, physical factors, coping style and social/environmental stressors. Furthermore, four treatment factors emerged: religious means, professional help, help from others (non-professional) and self-initiated means. Explanatory variables for these beliefs were assessed using: a Religious Beliefs Inventory (RBI) to measure religious beliefs; a Values Survey (VS) including a measure of Christian religious values; and a Religion and Mental Health Inventory (RMHI) to measure cognitive dissonance (cf. Festinger, 1957 Festinger L 1957 A Theory of cognitive dissonance Evanston IL Row & Peterson  [Google Scholar]) between religious faith and perceptions of mental-health principles. The results revealed that religious beliefs, religious values and cognitive dissonance function as predictors of the attribution of the causes and treatments, for Major Depression and Schizophrenia, to religious factors. An additional finding of this study was that 38.2% of the participants endorsed a demonic aetiology of Major Depression, and 37.4% of the participants endorsed a demonic aetiology of Schizophrenia.     

Meaningful pastoral intimacy

Closeness, warmth, perhaps touching, and some understanding are characteristic of interpersonal relationships. However, there are dangers of intrusion and insensitivity when persons invite pastors to become intimate. Superficial and false intimacy may substitute for closeness. Pastoral care should transcend the primitive holy man role, which is cold because the holy is desexualized. Intimacy is a closeness between persons in areas we tend to guard as personal.He is the author ofThe Power to Bless andRaise the Dead.     

A consistent theory of attributes in a logic without contraction

This essay demonstrates proof-theoretically the consistency of a type-free theoryC with an unrestricted principle of comprehension and based on a predicate logic in which contraction (A (A B)) (A B), although it cannot holds in general, is provable for a wide range ofA's.C is presented as an axiomatic theoryCH (with a natural-deduction equivalentCS) as a finitary system, without formulas of infinite length. ThenCH is proved simply consistent by passing to a Gentzen-style natural-deduction systemCG that allows countably infinite conjunctions and in which all theorems ofCH are provable.CG is seen to be a consistent by a normalization argument. It also shown that in a senseC is highly non-extensional.     

Least-squares theory based on general distributional assumptions with an application to the incomplete observations problem

The linear regression modely=x+ is reanalyzed. Taking the modest position that x is an approximation of the best predictor ofy we derive the asymptotic distribution ofb andR ², under mild assumptions.The method of derivation yields an easy answer to the estimation of from a data set which contains incomplete observations, where the incompleteness is random.     

New lower and upper bounds for communality in factor analysis

We derive several relationships between communalities and the eigenvalues for ap ×p correlation matrix under the usual factor analysis model. For suitable choices ofj, _j (), where _j () is thej-th largest eigenvalue of , provides either a lower or an upper bound to the communalities for some of the variables. We show that for at least one variable, 1 - _p () improves on the use of squared mulitiple correlation coefficient as a lower bound.This research was done while the second author was at Tokyo Institute of Technology.     

Religious and Psychological Implications of Positive and Negative Religious Coping in Iran

This study examined the religious and psychological implications of religious coping in Iran. University students (N = 224) responded to the Brief Positive and Negative Religious Coping Scales along with measures of Religious Orientation, Integrative Self-Knowledge, Self-Control, Mindfulness, Self-Compassion, Self-Esteem, Guilt, Shame, and Self-Criticism. As in previous research elsewhere, Positive Religious Coping was stronger on average than Negative Religious Coping, and Positive and Negative Religious Coping predicted adjustment and maladjustment, respectively, In addition, this study demonstrated that direct relationships between Positive and Negative Religious Coping appeared to be reliable in Iran; that Positive Religious Copings was broadly compatible with, and Negative Religious Coping was largely irrelevant to, Iranian religious motivations; and that Negative Religious Coping obscured linkages of Positive Religious Coping with religious and psychological adjustment.     

A further note on freeman's measure of association

This note extends and elaborates Hubert's attempt to provide an interpretation of Freeman's measure of association,. The measure is used in a a contingency table when observations are ordered on one variable and unordered on the other. No attempt is made explore the distribution of.     

Seven things to consider when measuring religious identity

Measuring religious identity is complex. The author offers seven suggestions for those who wish to describe and understand religious identity using survey data:

• (1)?Definitions and measures of religious identity shape knowledge about religious groups;

• (2)?Variation in question wording leads to variation in responses;

• (3)?Comparing results across surveys provides valuable perspective;

• (4)?Incentives shape how respondents report their religious identity;

• (5)?Religious identity may be liminal;

• (6)?Salient identity categories are often unmeasured; and

• (7)?Religious identity and religious practice may not seem congruent.

This essay includes many examples to illustrate these measurement suggestions.     

Interpretations of the first-order theory of diagonalizable algebras in peano arithmetic

For every sequence |p _n } _n of formulas of Peano ArithmeticPA with, every formulaA of the first-order theory diagonalizable algebras, we associate a formula ⁰ A, called the value ofA inPA with respect to the interpretation. We show that, ifA is true in every diagonalizable algebra, then, for every, ⁰ A is a theorem ofPA.     

A developmental perspective on religious orientation dimensions

L.B. Brown's model of religious faith posits two bipolar religious orientations (intrinsic-extrinsic and autonomy-observance) that represent a two-dimensional space in which a religious believer can be located. This paper proposes a developmental sequence within Brown's model. The psychometric tradition of religious orientations is combined with a developmental tradition. The developmental process is consistent with models by A. Maslow, L. Kohlberg, J. Fowler, and J. Loevinger. Religious faith typically springs from extrinsic motivations. Most religious adherents achieve the next level, observance, or identification with a religious community and its creeds. Some progress to intrinsic religiousness, and fewer attain religious autonomy.     

On superintuitionistic logics as fragments of proof logic extensions

Coming fromI andCl, i.e. from intuitionistic and classical propositional calculi with the substitution rule postulated, and using the sign to add a new connective there have been considered here: Grzegorozyk's logicGrz, the proof logicG and the proof-intuitionistic logicI set up correspondingly by the calculiFor any calculus we denote by the set of all formulae of the calculus and by the lattice of all logics that are the extensions of the logic of the calculus, i.e. sets of formulae containing the axioms of and closed with respect to its rules of inference. In the logiclG the sign is decoded as follows: A = (A & A). The result of placing in the formulaA before each of its subformula is denoted byTrA. The maps are defined (in the definitions of x and the decoding of is meant), by virtue of which the diagram is constructedIn this diagram the maps, x and are isomorphisms, thereforex ^–1 = ; and the maps and are the semilattice epimorphisms that are not commutative with lattice operation +. Besides, the given diagram is commutative, and the next equalities take place: ^–1 = ^–1 and = ^–1 x. The latter implies in particular that any superintuitionistic logic is a superintuitionistic fragment of some proof logic extension.     

Evidential support and undermining: Revision of Håkan Törnebohm's theory of confirmation

In 1975, An Essay on Knowledge Formation by H. Törnebohm was published in this Journal. Its content in revised form was included in a work in Swedish of 1983 on knowledge development.HT defines his confirmation criterion in terms of a measure oftruth degree T, which is based on a measure ofmatching M, which is also used as a measure of the degree to which propositionp (an hypothesis) is supported or undermined by another propositionq (the evidence forp),M is defined in terms of a measure of thecontent C.     

Abelard,ens and unity

Although Abelard arrived at a view ofens nearer to Aristotle's than his sources would suggest, unlike thirteenth-century thinkers he did not work out a view of transcendentals in terms ofens, its attributes and their convertibility. He did, however, regard unity (though not goodness or truth) as an attribute of every thing. At first, Abelard suggested that unity, being inseparable, could not be an accident according to Porphyry's definition (that which can come and leave a subject without the subject being corrupted): either it is some type of form not classified by Porphyry, or not a form at all. In his later logical work, Abelard argued differently. Unity, he said, is an accidental form, but Porphyry's definition of an accident must be understood negatively, not as asserting something about what could happen in reality (since the form of unity could never leave its subject) but rather something about an absence of connection: were it,per impossible, to occur, the loss by a subject of its form of unity would not lead to the loss of its specific or generic status.     

A modification of kendall's tau for measuring association in contingency tables

A coefficient of association is described for a contingency table containing data classified into two sets of ordered categories. Within each of the two sets the number of categories or the number of cases in each category need not be the same.=+1 for perfect positive association and has an expectation of 0 for chance association. In many cases also has –1 as a lower limit. The limitations of Kendall's _a and _b and Stuart's _c are discussed, as is the identity of these coefficients to' under certain conditions. Computational procedure for is given.     

The Gestalt problem in quantum theory: Generation of molecular shape by the environment

Quantum systems have a holistic structure, which implies that they cannot be divided into parts. In order tocreate (sub)objects like individual substances, molecules, nuclei, etc., in a universal whole, the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations between all the subentities, e.g. all the molecules in a substance, must be suppressed by perceptual and mental processes.Here the particular problems ofGestalt (shape)perception are compared with the attempts toattribute a shape to a quantum mechanical system like a molecule. Gestalt perception and quantum mechanics turn out (on an informal level) to show similar features and problems: holistic aspects, creation of objects, dressing procedures, influence of the observer, classical quantities and structures. The attribute classical of a property or structure means thatholistic correlations to any other quantity do not exist or that these correlations are considered as irrelevant and therefore eliminated (either deliberately and by declaration or in a mental process that is not under rational control). An example of animposed classical structure is the nuclear frame of a molecule. Candidates for classical properties that arenot imposed by the observer could be the charge of a particle or the handedness of a molecule. It is argued here that at least part of a molecule's shape can begenerated automatically by the environment. A molecular shape of this sort arises in addition to Lamb shift-type energy corrections.