Decisions at the end of life: Catholic tradition.

Medical decisions regarding end-of-life care have undergone significant changes in recent decades, driven by changes in both medicine and society. Catholic tradition in medical ethics offers clear guidance in many issues, and a moral framework accessible to those who do not share the same faith as well as to members of its faith community. In some areas, a Catholic perspective can be seen clearly and confidently, such as in teachings on the permissibility of suicide and euthanasia. In others, such as withdrawal of nutrition and hydration, the Church does not yet speak with one voice and has not closed out the discussion. Yet, it is not in the teaching on individual issues that a Catholic moral tradition offers the most help and comfort, but in its account of what it means to lead a life in Christ, and to prepare for a Christian death. As in the problem of pain and suffering, it is the spiritual support more than the ethical guidance that helps both patients and physicians bear the unbearable and fathom the unfathomable.     

How the ventral pathway got lost: and what its recovery might mean

Textbooks dealing with the anatomical representation of language in the human brain display two language-related zones, Broca's area and Wernicke's area, connected by a single dorsal fiber tract, the arcuate fascicle. This classical model is incomplete. Modern imaging techniques have identified a second long association tract between the temporal and prefrontal language zones, taking a ventral course along the extreme capsule. This newly identified ventral tract connects brain regions needed for language comprehension, while the well-known arcuate fascicle is used for "sensorimotor mapping" during speech production. More than 130 years ago, Carl Wernicke already described a ventral connection for language, almost identical to the present results, but during scientific debate in the following decades either its function or its existence were rejected. This article tells the story of how this knowledge was lost and how the ventral connection, and in consequence the dual system, fits into current hypotheses and how language relates to other systems.     

Reaction and movement times in men of different ages: a population study

Tests of psychomotor and motor speed at different levels of complexity were studied in random samples of men aged 31 to 35, 51 to 55, and 71 to 75 yr. The study was performed as a part of a larger research project on health and functional aging. Analyses indicated significantly slower responses among older men at all levels of test complexity (maximal knee extension velocity, tapping rate, simple and choice reaction and movement times). There were marked differences both between the youngest and the middle-aged groups and between the middle-aged and the oldest groups. Within the age groups high psychomotor and motor speed were associated with a favourable functioning of certain senses (vibration sensitivity and postural balance), with a high isometric muscular force, and with a high directly assessed aerobic capacity. The most important covariants of the speed functions within the age groups were, however, cognitive performance, length of education, and perceived health.     

云南洞经与近代云南民间道教发展特点初析

云南洞经是指自明清以来,流传并活动于云南民间的宣唱经文活动。在云南省所属的地州市中,除了迪庆等少数几个地区外,昆明、楚雄、文山、红河、保山、大理、丽江、曲靖、玉溪、昭通等大多数地区都有洞经会。其谈演经籍、供奉神祀、斋醮科仪等宗教器物、宗教仪礼以道教为主,兼容糅合了佛教、儒家及部分少数民族信仰内容,体现了近代以来道教在云南民间吸收多教文化的发展趋势。一般而言,云南洞经音乐总的来说是以道教音乐为主,但同时也融入了大量的江南小调及种类繁多的曲牌,成为一种形式上易于谈诵,内容为群众喜闻乐见的民间活动。云南洞经的…     

大道人为：道教美学与现代人生

道教是中国传统文化的有机组成部分,是承道家哲学思想的基础而发展出的中国土生土长的宗教,其思想集中反映了中国的文化传统和民族特色,鲁迅先生曾指出：“中国根抵全在道教”。其美学思想不仅融汇进中国古典美学的洪流之中,而且其美学特色也在一定程度上代表着中华传统文化美学理想和美学追求的特色,反映了中华古典美学的源远流长,和与西方美学显著不同的民族特色。从道教美学人手以点见面,不仅可使我们更深刻完整把握中国传统的美学思想,而且在今天现代人不断提高物质生活水平、重视生活质量的同时,对真、善、美的呼唤越发强烈,…     

``Speaking to Moyshe': The early socialist Yiddish press and its readers

The founding of Di arbeter tsaytung marked an important turningpoint in the intertwined histories of the American Jewish labormovement and the Yiddish press. Coinciding with a major strike wave in 1890, Di arbeter tsaytung signaled the entrance of social-democracy into the mainstream of Jewish immigrant life.At the same time, the founding of the newspaper and its subsequentsuccess consolidated a process of ``yiddishization.' This processwas twofold: the newspaper attracted a growing number of Russian-speaking intellectuals to Yiddish and gave institutionalform to their position as leaders in the nascent Jewish labormovement, and in the larger public sphere. By the middle of the 1890s,the press had become the core institution of the Jewish labormovement and the focal point of the socialist Yiddish intelligentsia.     

The life and times of PSI

This paper describes the essential features of the personalized system of instruction (PSI). Results from outcome research examining the effectiveness of PSI-based courses relative to traditional methods provide unequivocal support for the superiority of PSI. Parametric studies, or component analyses, show that the mastery requirement, immediate performance feedback, and review units are the key features underlying high quality student performances in PSI courses. The use of student proctors as peer-tutors, optional lectures, and selfpacing do not, in and of themselves, appear to be vital to student success in PSI courses. Despite its superiority, PSI has not supplanted traditional methods as the dominant pedagogical system in higher education. Difficulties inherent in overcoming the inertia of the lecture within our established instructional system, the implications of PSI for that system, and the Zeitgeist that permeates educational reform are the major obstacles to widespread adoption of PSI.     

How Religious tradition Survives in the World of Science: John Polkinghorne and Norbert Samuelson

The Faith of a Physicist: Reflections of a Bottom-Up Thinker John Polkinghorn
Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation Norbert Samuelson     

‘You've got to grow up when you've got a kid’: Marginalized young women's accounts of motherhood

Teenage motherhood has been a source of considerable debate in policy and media circles in recent years. This paper explores the meanings of teenage motherhood for young women who were mothers before the age of 21, who were living in economically deprived areas of England and most of whom had been in residential or foster care. Qualitative interviews were carried out at several sites across England, with a total of 33 young women taking part in group interviews and one‐to‐one interviews. The accounts of the young women suggest that they talk about motherhood in three main ways: as ‘hardship and reward’, ‘growing up and responsibility’ and ‘doing things differently’. It is argued that these ways of talking about motherhood present a different picture of teenage motherhood from that of dominant discourses. Furthermore, the young women are active in negotiating and constructing their own identities as mothers, carers and women. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Personality in its natural habitat: manifestations and implicit folk theories of personality in daily life

To examine the expression of personality in its natural habitat, the authors tracked 96 participants over 2 days using the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR), which samples snippets of ambient sounds in participants' immediate environments. Participants' Big Five scores were correlated with EAR-derived information on their daily social interactions, locations, activities, moods, and language use; these quotidian manifestations were generally consistent with the trait definitions and (except for Openness) often gender specific. To identify implicit folk theories about daily manifestations of personality, the authors correlated the EAR-derived information with impressions of participants based on their EAR sounds; judges' implicit folk theories were generally accurate (especially for Extraversion) and also partially gender specific. The findings point to the importance of naturalistic observation studies on how personality is expressed and perceived in the natural stream of everyday behavior.