A Pilgrim People. Learning through the Church Year – John H. Westerhoff III

Book reviewed:
A Pilgrim People. Learning through the Church Year , John H. Westerhoff III, Seabury Classics (Church Publishing Inc.) 2005 (1-59628-010-7), ix + 114 pp., pb $13.00     

The Lourdes Pilgrimage and the Impact on Pilgrim Quality of Life

Journal of Religion and Health - Lourdes, France, is a major site of pilgrimage, particularly for Roman Catholics with illness. The direct impact of pilgrimage on pilgrim quality of life (QOL) has...     

元明清时期长江下游民众的武当山进香之旅

武当山进香风俗的形成至迟不晚于宋代,到明代达鼎盛,吸收了来自全国各地的香客,清代有衰减,但仍对周边地区产生了影响.长江下游民众自元代开始来武当朝斋,经明清两代,一直持续到民国年间,这期间长江下游人朝武当山的原因除明代武当山地位的尊崇、武当宫观陈设的穷极富丽及武当山自然景观的丰富外,还与长江下游自南宋以来真武信仰的兴盛有关.     

Stability in schizophrenia symptoms over time: findings from the Mount Sinai Pilgrim Psychiatric Center Longitudinal Study

This study examined the stability of symptoms of schizophrenia over time, focusing on the stability of symptom structure. Symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). The sample consisted of 215 chronic patients followed up for as long as 4 years. Exploratory factor analysis identified 6 factors. Several statistical techniques were used to examine the stability of these symptoms, including longitudinal confirmatory factor analysis. Low-to-moderate rank-order stability and high absolute stability of the factors were found, with the structure of the PANSS-assessed symptoms consistent over time. The results demonstrate that despite changes in the severity of symptoms in individual patients with schizophrenia, the factor structure and interrelatedness of symptoms have considerable stability over time.     

Anatomy of a flash. 2. The 'width' of a temporal edge.

In a previous study it has been found by using the Crawford masking paradigm with spatially coextensive stimuli that the end points of even a weak flash have a strong masking effect on the probe pulse, but no threshold elevation was observed when the probe was 100 ms or longer from flash onset and offset. The relationship between the strength of a temporal edge (eg the amplitude of a sudden increase in field luminance) and the duration of masking has not been systematically investigated. In the present experiments the duration of masking produced by a step of luminance as a function of step size was measured. With steps whose amplitude was between ten and five hundred times detection threshold, the duration of masking was about constant, ie 70 and 50 ms for on-responses and off-responses, respectively. This refractory period defined the 'width' of a temporal edge. Unless two suprathreshold unidirectional luminance changes are separated by an interval exceeding the width of a temporal edge, they are perceived as a single change in brightness. A linear systems analysis led to predictions for ramp stimuli that were confirmed by experiment.     

Extinction of a classically conditioned G.S.R. as a function of awareness

Insight, defined as the ability to verbalize the stimulus-response contingency of acquisition has bsen found to be unrelated to the extinction of an operantly conditioned verbal response. In the present study, the authors classically conditioned a GSR response in thirty Ss without insight, divided them into insight and no-insight groups following acquisition, and ran extinction trials which demonstrated a positive relationship (P< 0.001) under these particular conditions. It was concluded that the role of insight in extinction is a complex function of mode of conditioning (classical vs. operant) and/or mode of response (voluntary vs. involuntary), and that further studies utilizing the classical-voluntary and operant-involuntary combinations will be needed to define that function.     

"把陌生文化当作一面镜子"--访德国汉学家卜松山教授

卜松山 (Ｋ .Ｈ .Ｐｏｈｌ)加拿大多伦多大学哲学博士 ,现任德国特利尔大学汉学系主任 ,资深教授。发表有关中国文化的专著有《与中国进行跨文化对话》 ,论文多篇。问 :卜松山先生 ,近年来您在德国、中国众多学术刊物上发表了许多关于中国文化的文章 ,您为什么这么关注中国文化 ?答 :这得从我求学时代谈起。一次偶然机会 ,我读到一本讲中国禅宗的小册子 ,它向我打开了一个心向往之的神秘世界。我本来是学地球物理的 ,为了进一步了解初窥门径的东方世界 ,决定改学汉学。那是 1 970年 ,当时德国大学政治气氛很浓 ,汉学圈子也不例外。但我置身…