Documentary Visions,Theological Insights

In an attempt to engage students' higher‐order thinking skills, we developed a documentary filmmaking project for our introduction to theology course. By documenting certain aspects of the theology of John Wesley and John Henry Newman (God, creation, revelation, Jesus, the church), students were able to delve deeply into these themes, better understanding them and their interrelationships. The project helped the students to actively practice historical theology, rather than passively learn about it through lectures. In addition, the project emphasized research skills, quality of writing and creative production, and a professional presentation at a screening.     

Keeping,caring and claiming: O’odham Indians at Mission San Xavier del Bac

According to scholars, Native American Catholics live two parallel religious lives: ‘institutional’ Catholicism is juxtaposed to ‘popular religion.’ The Tohono O’odham of Southern Arizona seem to be a prominent example of this: the O’odham practice santo himdaq devotion to santos in small chapels. These devotions and indigenous practices contrast with the institutional church. Seemingly, ‘indigenised’ Catholicism is dearer to these Native groups than the central, official Church. However, this paper examines San Xavier Mission Church’s centrality both to Mission clergy and to O’odham Catholics as a place of mutual reverence. The historical examinations of the Mission Church have fixated on its Spanish origins without examining its importance to the O’odham. The church was left in the care of O’odham Indians for decades in the nineteenth century during the years of secularisation (1841–1912). I examine this care, the significance of the Mission Church to establishing the San Xavier Reservation, and the O’odham adoption of the church as their own, as well as comparing ‘institutional’ Catholicism with santo himdaq. The mission sheds light on the fluidity of missional power and social relations, the problems with essentialising Catholicism, and the changing nature of religious exchange, importance and practice over time.     

Cognitive ability in virtual reality: Validity evidence for VR game‐based assessments

Virtual reality (VR) technology may provide unique benefits for assessing individual characteristics, in contrast with traditional assessments. This study examined validity evidence for the use of VR game (VRG) scores to indicate specific cognitive abilities. Participants completed three VRGs, three computer‐based assessments (CBAs), and additional scales. To evaluate convergent validity, VRG scores were compared with CBA scores. For divergent validity, VRG scores were compared with five factors of personality based on the Five Factor Model. For criterion‐related validity, VRG scores were compared with academic achievement (i.e., grade point average). Findings generally provided support that the VRG scores are related to certain spatial reasoning subdimensions of cognitive ability. However, further research is needed to examine the qualities of VRGs as assessment tools.     

Physical activity, sedentary leisure, short sleeping and childhood overweight

In this study, using the path analysis, the relation between physical activity, non-regulated activity, sedentary leisure, hours of sleeping, and the body mass index (BMI) was analyzed. The sample was made up of 103 students, 59 girls and 44 boys, aged between 9 and 10 1/2 years. An individual interview was performed in which the children were asked about the TV programs they watched each day of the week; the time they played with the console and the computer; the time dedicated to sports, games and other activities. The results showed that sedentary leisure (number of hours of TV, computer and console) maintains a significant and inverse relation with the hours of sleeping, non-regulated activity (games and others activities), and physical sport activity. The difference between the results of this study and the previous one is discussed, taking into account the recruitment procedure of the participants.     

assessing the effectiveness of statistical classification techniques in predicting future employment of participants in the temporary assistance for needy families program

Three classification techniques (Chi‐square Automatic Interaction Detection [CHAID], Classification and Regression Tree [CART], and discriminant analysis) were tested to determine their accuracy in predicting Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program recipients' future employment. Technique evaluation was based on proportion of correctly predicted cases and 6 other criteria. Sustained employment was associated with both recipients' subjective work‐related skills assessments and their objective test scores, and with their educational levels and marital status. Correct case classification by model was 74% for CHAID, 75% for CART, and 68% for discriminant analysis. Results suggest these classification tools can be useful supplements in assessments of clients' employment potentials.     

Hope in a Time of Cholera

What are the internal conditions or mental states that may facilitate the moving on with life? How does one explain that some, after undergoing severe trauma, fail to go on with productive and creative lives while others do?In this paper, I shall explore the effect of hope and its central position in mobilizing traumatized individuals so that they can move on with their lives. I shall be focusing on a specific aspect of trauma often neglected in the literature, namely the trauma elicited by the sudden, almost overnight loss of monetary funds accumulated over years of hard work. I will be referring to the psychological impact suffered by Argentineans after severe economic measures taken by the government in late 2001. I shall delve into these solutions and attempt to explore their influence on a contemporary exodus from Argentina.Hope nurtured by despair will be discussed. Is hope a mere palliative, a mental configuration coupling with a furtive affective state? Hope joins the ranks of religion in building a buffer against the silent awareness of inner despair—the most private of madness. I shall try to discuss how hope brings to the fore psyche's devices that are deployed in attempting to deal with our deepest fears.     

Death feigning by grass snakes (Natrix natrix) in response to handling by human "predators."

Death feigning, a variant of tonic immobility, is usually interpreted as a last-resort antipredator measure. The authors describe death feigning in grass snakes (Natrix natrix) and test some of its potential correlates. Death feigning was seen in 66% of wild-caught snakes but was not seen in hatchlings from laboratory-incubated eggs. Minimal indication of death feigning was mouth gaping, often with the tongue hanging free, but more dramatic cases involved voluntary supination and/or lack of muscle tone. Aside from hatchlings, which did not feign death, there was little variation in frequency or intensity of death feigning with body size. There was no effect of body temperature on death feigning nor were snakes that were moving when caught less likely to feign death than those that were not moving. Interpretation of the adaptive value of death feigning in grass snakes or in other animals is hampered by lack of evidence of this behavior in the field in response to natural predators.     

The Evolution of Retribution: Intuitions Undermined

Recent empirical work suggests that emotions are responsible for anti‐consequentialist intuitions. For instance, anger places value on actions of revenge and retribution, value not derived from the consequences of these actions. As a result, it contributes to the development of retributive intuitions. I argue that if anger evolved to produce these retributive intuitions because of their biological consequences, then these intuitions are not a good indicator that punishment has value apart from its consequences. This severs the evidential connection between retributive intuitions and the retributive value of punishment. This argument may generalize to other deontological intuitions and theories.