The Liberating Awareness

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the search for racial justice as a call from God, using biblical readings and documents produced by the World Council of Churches (WCC). It is anchored in the increasingly intense challenges that emerge in this respect in Brazil, a country whose Indigenous peoples were annihilated in its colonization process, and which up until the 19th century received the largest flow of enslaved Africans in the world. The article combines the Latin American methodology “See, Judge, Act” with the theological methodology of the WCC's Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace and its three steps: “Celebrating Gifts,” “Visiting the Wounds,” and “Transforming Injustice.” The first part of the paper reflects the “See” and exposes the expressions of everyday racism in Brazil. The second part presents the “Judge,” seeking references to the challenge of racial justice in the Bible and in ecumenical reflection. The third and final section, “Act,” reflects on the possibility for transforming racial injustices, sharing experiences from Brazil as well as one of the Pilgrim Team Visits organized by the WCC in 2019.     

Maker Cultures and the Prospects for Technological Action

Supported by easier and cheaper access to tools and expanding communities, maker cultures are pointing towards the ideas of (almost) everyone designing, creating, producing and distributing renewed, new and improved products, machines, things or artefacts. A careful analysis of the assumptions and challenges of maker cultures emphasizes the relevance of what may be called technological action, that is, active and critical interventions regarding the purposes and applications of technologies within ordinary lives, thus countering the deterministic trends of current directions of technology. In such transformative potential, we will explore a set of elements what is and could be technological action through snapshots of maker cultures based on the empirical research conducted in three particular contexts: the Fab Lab Network, Maker Media core outputs and initiatives such as Maker Faires, and the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA). Elements such as control and empowerment through material engagement, openness and sharing, and social, cultural, political and ethical values of the common good in topics such as diversity, sustainability and transparency, are critically analysed.     

Personality traits,money attitudes and consumer decision-making styles as predictors of investment products choice in South Africa

This study examines how personality traits and money attitudes influence consumers' decision-making styles when purchasing investment products in South Africa. A sample of 269 South Africans completed the research questionnaire, which assessed their extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, money power/prestige, money retention/time, money quality, info-mising, extending, and tax-free investment purchase decision. Also, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling approaches were used to analyze the survey data. The results suggest that personality traits and money attitudes significantly impact consumer decision-making regarding tax-free investment products. However, the relationships between extraversion and money power/prestige and between info-mising decision styles and tax-tree investment purchase decisions were found to be negative. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct segments based on the characteristics of respondents and their drive for investment: strong conscientiousness investors, status-driven investors, and introverted investors. Marketing professionals and investment firms can use the study findings on consumer traits and money attitudes to improve marketing effectiveness in an organisation. Practically, extensive information processing has a fundamental bearing on investment decision-making in emerging markets. Extraversion and conscientiousness personality traits and money attitudes must be taken into consideration by investment products marketers and practitioners in marketing practice.     

Investigating Correlates of Suicide Among Male Youth: Questioning the Close Affinity Between Suicide Attempts and Deaths

This study was based on a sample of male high school students who completed National Longitudinal Adolescent Health Surveys in 1994, 1995, and 2001. We studied these students prospectively, comparing those who later died by suicide (n = 21) with those who were still living (n = 10,101). We employed chi‐square and analysis of variance tests for statistical significance between suicide decedents and living respondents. Results showed suicide decedents were more likely to have experienced the suicide loss of another family member, to have been expelled from school, to have engaged in more delinquent actions including fighting, and to have greater involvement with the criminal justice system. Although one might have expected suicide casualties to have exhibited a greater amount of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and higher incidences of suicidality among their friends, our analyses did not find that these factors were associated with actual suicides. Should these findings be replicated, this would point to a need to refine youth suicide risk assessments. Collecting life histories, as well as identifying patterns of delinquency and fighting, may serve as more potentially fruitful means for assessing genuine suicide risk than some traditional risk assessment methods.z     

Perception of Candomble Practitioners About Herbal Medicine and Health Promotion in Ceará, Brazil

Candomble, a Brazilian religion of African origin that worships Orishas, promotes “healing” assistance during its worship rituals using therapy with plants and beliefs. From its ancestry tradition, the respect and beware with nature are expressed. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the perception of ethnoecology and health promotion among Candomble practitioners from a Candomble temple in the state of Ceará, Brazil. The ethnography was designed to allow greater immersion into the current mystique. This immersion results in the breaking of existing prejudices and admiration for their worldview. Thus, it can be observed that people seek Candomble to get rid of “bad” health difficulties, such as insomnia, depression, eyesight problems among others, which are commonly treated with herbal preparations, baths, and teas, using plants native to the region; however, their indications are not always in accordance with scientific evidence. In parallel with biomedicine, their hospitable and healthcare practices are considered by most as the equivalent to traditional healthcare actions, but greater recognition of biomedicine is necessary. Based on this perspective, the use of native plants in Candomble is examples of memory, hospitality, and humanization for the community wellness.     

How does frustration make you feel? A motivational analysis in exercise context

Not all exercisers experience the same psychological benefits. The understanding of motivational processes and their relation with emotional consequences of exercise should be considered in the context of the exercisers motivation. This was a cross-sectional study of 153 gym users (M?=?36.21 years, SD?=?8.44; 44.9% men, 55.1% women; M years exercise?=?8). Weekly attendance averaged 4.3 (SD?=?2.6) sessions per week; reported exertion intensity was 5.6 (SD?=?2.1) (scale: 0–11). The basic psychological needs (BPNs) posited by self-determination theory, motivational regulation, and emotional response to physical activity, were measured. Possible mediators of BPN-emotion relationships were analyzed. BPN satisfaction was associated with a positive emotional response to exercise which was partially mediated by the effect of autonomous regulation on positive activation and psychological well-being. Mediation models indicated that the negative effects of BPN frustration were counteracted by autonomous regulation. Exercise professionals should be able to create psychologically supportive contexts and identify behaviors associated with need frustration so as to enhance emotional responses to exercise.     

Terrorist threat,dehumanization, and right‐wing authoritarianism as predictors of discrimination

This study analyzed the relationship between terrorist threat and discrimination, operationalized by support for retributive justice against Islamic groups suspect of terrorist crimes. Two experimental studies were performed. Study 1 (N = 215) showed that the terrorist threat against the ingroup raises the support for the retributive procedures through the dehumanization of the outgroup. Study 2 (N = 304) analyzed how the mediating role of dehumanization in the relationship between terrorist threat and support for retributive justice is moderated by right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA). In addition, the study aimed to verify if the dehumanization of outgroup and RWA could explain the relationship between terrorist threat and discrimination of Muslim immigrants. The results indicated that adherence to RWA favors dehumanization of the outgroup and, consecutively, the discrimination, operationalized as support for the use of retributive justice. The adherence to RWA has been identified as the mechanism that explains the discrimination against Muslim immigrants.     

Ankle Intrinsic Stiffness in Subcortical Poststroke Subjects

The authors' purpose was to evaluate bilateral ankle intrinsic stiffness in subcortical poststroke subjects. Ten subcortical poststroke subjects and 10 healthy controls participated in this study. The ankle passive stiffness at 3 different speeds and the electromyographic activity of the soleus, the gastrocnemius, and the tibialis anterior muscles of poststroke contralesional (CONTRA) and ipsilesional (IPSI) limbs and of one limb of healthy subjects were assessed. Ankle electromyographic activity was collected to ensure that reflexive or voluntary muscle activity was not being elicited during the passive movements. A significant interaction was observed between the effects of the limb (IPSI vs. CONTRA vs. control) and ankle position, F(4, 28) = 3.285, p = .025, and between the effects of the limb and the velocity of stretch, F(2, 14) = 4.209, p = .037. While increased intrinsic stiffness was observed in the CONTRA limb of poststroke subjects at ankle neutral position when the passive stretch was applied with a velocity of 1°/s (p = .021), the IPSI limb of poststroke subjects presented increased stiffness at 20º of plantar flexion when the stretch was applied with a velocity of 5°/s (p = .009) when compared to healthy group. Subcortical poststroke subjects present increased intrinsic stiffness in both the CONTRA and IPSI limbs in specific ankle amplitudes.