Images of Resistance: A Qualitative Enquiry Into the Meanings of Personal Artwork for Women Living With Cancer

This study explored the meanings, inspirations, and subjective significance of personal artwork created as a leisure activity by women living with cancer. A convenience sample of 12 women aged 23–74 years participated in semistructured interviews. Participants were living in various stages of the cancer trajectory, and engaged in several forms of visual art-making. They submitted examples of their artwork by photograph and explored the meanings of this work in semistructured interviews. The study found that body imagery was extremely rare in participants' array of artwork, unlike the images typically created in art therapy. Few pieces expressed fears about cancer in symbolic terms. Participants described their selected artwork as offering sensuous pleasures, and confirming their ongoing capability, personal continuity, and social connectedness. Participants acknowledged ongoing loss and difficulties related to cancer. However, each piece of art offered a tangible record of resistance against the psychologically and socially disruptive effects of cancer, helping to maintain a familiar noncancer identity. The preinterview photography activity was helpful for empowering participants in the interview, and for stimulating detailed memories.     

Multi-Task Study of the Effects of Task Load and Gender on the Development of Visual Field Asymmetries

This study was designed to examine whether the developmental course of visual hemispheric asymmetry is affected by task load and whether gender differences occur with age. Three experiments were performed according to the additive structure of reaction time: “go/no-go” task, “choice-reaction-time” task, and “category-sort” task. Children in three different age groups (7- to 8-years, 10 years, and 13 year olds) were presented lists of words using a visual half-field procedure. Results revealed that in the go/no-go task (Experiment 1), left hemispheric superiority for processing of word stimuli was evident at all three developmental ages, but no gender differences appeared. However, in the choice-reaction-time task (Experiment 2), and the category-sort task (Experiment 3), left hemispheric superiority was displayed by 7- to 8- and 10-year-old males, but not by 13-year-old males. In contrast, girls did not show the left hemispheric advantage at any of the developmental ages. It was concluded that visual hemispheric asymmetry exists in children at an early age, but the magnitude of asymmetry is dependent on age, gender, and task load.     

Secular and Liminal: Discovering Heterogeneity Among Religious Nones

This study examines the stability of religious preference among people who claim no religious preference in national surveys (i.e., religious nones). Using data from the Faith Matters Study, General Social Survey, and American National Election Study, we show that about 30 percent of religious nones in the first wave of the survey claim an affiliation with a religious group a year later. The percentage of religious nones remained stable in the two waves because a similar number of respondents moved in the opposite direction. Using various measures of religiosity, we show that most of these unstable nones report no significant change in religious belief or practice. We call them liminal nones as they stand halfway in and halfway out of a religious identity. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings on the controversies surrounding the rise of religious nones in recent years.     

Changes in Pediatric Health-Related Quality of Life in Cystic Fibrosis After IV Antibiotic Treatment for Pulmonary Exacerbations

Intravenous (IV) antibiotic therapy for pulmonary exacerbations (PE) has been shown to improve pulmonary functioning for patients with cystic fibrosis (CF); however, little is known about its effects on pediatric health-related quality of life (HRQOL). This prospective study assessed the impact of IV treatment of a PE on generic and CF-specific HRQOL for children and adolescents with CF. Participants included 52 children and adolescents with CF experiencing a PE (M _age = 13.6 years; 54% males; M_\textFEV1% M_{{{\text{FEV}}_{1\% } }} predicted = 58.8%). HRQOL, pulmonary functioning, and body mass index were assessed before and after IV antibiotic treatment. Results of this prospective, observational study indicated significant improvements on CFQ-R Respiratory (M _{change score} = 11.7; 95% CI = 6.3–17.1; p < .0001) and Weight (M _{change score} = 15.9; 95% CI = 7.9–23.8; p < .0001) scales. The CF-specific measure was more sensitive to changes in HRQOL than the generic instrument. These data suggest that CF-specific HRQOL improves with treatment for a PE with IV antibiotics. The noted statistically and clinically significant changes in the CFQ-respiratory scale indicate that the measure may be beneficial to pulmonary health care teams.     

Social cognitive model of adjustment to engineering majors: Longitudinal test across gender and race/ethnicity

We conducted a longitudinal test of a social cognitive model of academic adjustment in a sample of 732 engineering students. The model, designed to explain students' satisfaction with and intentions to persist in their majors, integrated features of social cognitive career theory's (SCCT) segmental models of satisfaction, interest, choice, and performance (Lent & Brown, 2006; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Students completed measures of academic support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, satisfaction, positive affect, and intended persistence at three time points (at the end of their second, third, and fourth semesters in engineering). A bidirectional version of the model offered good fit to the data, both in the larger sample and across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Self-efficacy was the most reliable direct predictor of academic satisfaction and intended persistence across the third and fourth semesters, though other social cognitive variables also contributed, either directly or indirectly, to predictions at one time point or the other. We consider implications of the findings for further research and practice on academic adjustment and persistence in STEM fields.     

The Holy Spirit in EG,TTL, and CTC: The Pneumatological Impulse for Christian Mission

This article examines the correspondence in the pneumatological impulse for mission among three documents: Evangelii Gaudium (EG), Together towards Life (TTL), and The Cape Town Commitment (CTC). This consonance in EG, TTL, and CTC is significant given the dissonance on theological and missiological perspectives across the representing ecclesial bodies since the mid‐20th century. Following a review of pneumatology in these three documents, the paper proposes a forward‐looking trajectory to a more expansive view of the Spirit's ever‐mysterious operations in the church, in missions, and in the world.     

Development of a simple MR-compatible vibrotactile stimulator using a planar-coil-type actuator

For this study, we developed a magnetic resonance (MR)-compatible vibrotactile stimulator using a planar-coil-type actuator. The newly developed vibrotactile stimulator consists of three units: control unit, drive unit, and planar-coil-type actuator. The control unit controls frequency, intensity, time, and channel, and transfers the stimulation signals to the drive unit. The drive unit operates the planar-coil-type actuator in response to commands from the control unit. The planar-coil-type actuator, which uses a planar coil instead of conventional electric wire, generates vibrating stimulation through interaction of the current of the planar coil with the static magnetic field of the MR scanner. Even though the developed tactile stimulating system is small, simple, and inexpensive, it has a wide range of stimulation frequencies (20 ~ 400 Hz, at 40 levels) and stimulation intensities (0 ~ 7 V, at 256 levels). The stimulation intensity does not change due to frequency changes. Since the transient response time is a few microseconds, the stimulation time can be controlled on a scale of microseconds. In addition, this actuator has the advantages of providing highly repeatable stimulation, being durable, being able to assume various shapes, and having an adjustable contact area with the skin. The new stimulator operated stably in an MR environment without affecting the MR images. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we observed the brain activation changes resulting from stimulation frequency and intensity changes.     

Object substitution masking: when does mask preview work?

When a target is enclosed by a 4-dot mask that persists after the target disappears, target identification is worse than it is when the mask terminates with the target. This masking effect is attributed to object substitution masking (OSM). Previewing the mask, however, attenuates OSM. This study investigated specific conditions under which mask preview was, or was not, effective in attenuating masking. In Experiment 1, the interstimulus interval (ISI) between previewed mask offset and target presentation was manipulated. The basic preview effect was replicated; neither ISI nor preview duration influenced target identification performance. In Experiment 2, mask configurations were manipulated. When the mask configuration at preview matched that at target presentation, the preview effect was replicated. New evidence of ineffective mask preview was found: When the two configurations did not match, performance declined. Yet, when the ISI between previewed mask offset and target presentation was removed such that the mask underwent apparent motion, preview was effective despite the configuration mismatch. An interpretation based on object representations provides an excellent account of these data.     

Reference point adaptation: Tests in the domain of security trading

According to prospect theory [Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk, Econometrica, 47, 263–292], gains and losses are measured from a reference point. We attempted to ascertain to what extent the reference point shifts following gains or losses. In questionnaire studies, we asked subjects what stock price today will generate the same utility as a previous change in a stock price. From participants’ responses, we calculated the magnitude of reference point adaptation, which was significantly greater following a gain than following a loss of equivalent size. We also found the asymmetric adaptation of gains and losses persisted when a stock was included within a portfolio rather than being considered individually. In studies using financial incentives within the BDM procedure [Becker, G. M., DeGroot, M. H., & Marschak, J. (1964). Measuring utility by a single-response sequential method. Behavioral Science, 9(3), 226–232], we again noted faster adaptation of the reference point to gains than losses. We related our findings to several aspects of asset pricing and investor behavior.     

Maternal depression and parenting in relation to child internalizing symptoms and asthma disease activity.

This study tested a hypothesized model of the relationship between maternal depression and child psychological and physical dysfunction mediated by parenting and medication adherence. A sample of 242 children with asthma, aged 7 to 17, participated with their mothers. Maternal depression was assessed by self-report, and parenting was observed during family interaction tasks. Internalizing symptoms were assessed by self- and clinician reports. Asthma disease activity was assessed according to National Heart Lung and Blood Institute guidelines, and medication adherence was evaluated with a 24-hr recall method. Structural equation modeling indicated that negative parenting partially mediated the relationship between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms. Child internalizing symptoms, in turn, mediated the associations between both maternal depression and negative parenting and asthma disease activity. Medication adherence did not mediate the link from maternal depression to disease activity. Thus, maternal depression was linked to child psychological dysfunction both directly and indirectly via negative parenting but linked to physical dysfunction only indirectly through psychological dysfunction. These findings suggest that diagnosing and treating depression in mothers of children with asthma would enhance child well-being both psychologically and physically.