Quality of Well-Being Scale and Chronic Low Back Pain

Outcome measures that assess quality of life for use in health policy decisions need to be investigated in chronic pain patients. In the present study, the validity of the Quality of Well-Being Scale (QWB) was evaluated on 67 adult chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients who were enrolled in a 12-week multidisciplinary pain treatment program. Participants completed the QWB, a battery of pain measures, a behavioral observation task, and a medical exam. The findings indicated that CLBP patients have a low level of functioning or quality of life (M = .567, SD = .08) compared with persons with life-threatening diseases. The QWB score was significantly correlated with observational measures of pain behavior and pain-related coping strategies. Multivariate analysis indicated that interference in daily activities, distorted ambulation, affective distress, pain duration, and guarding were the most significant predictors of quality of well-being (multiple R = .84, p < .0001). Patients with medically incongruent physical signs had significantly lower QWB scores than patients with congruent signs. Overall, the data supported the validity of the QWB in a sample of CLBP patients.     

散居与编修:《创世记》37-50章之约瑟之谜

《创世记》37-50章记述的是关于约瑟的故事,其形式和内容都不同于之前的先祖亚伯拉罕、以撒和雅各的叙事(创12-36),且成典的位置在《创世记》的最后,连接着《出埃及记》。但是除了《创世记》37-50章,约瑟在五经中只被提及了一次(出1:8),而在五经之外鲜有提及。为了解开此谜题,本文从约瑟故事中"梦"这个主题出发,并通过与《但以理书》1-6章的对比,重新对《创世记》37-50章做了详尽分析,认为约瑟故事实际上形成于散居时期,因此之前形成的文本有可能不知道其叙事内容。     

宽恕与恶的永恒角力——杨克列维奇的遮遣法与宽恕问题

杨克列维奇用"遮遣法"或否定法的哲学来改造柏格森思想,并以其作为分析因二战犹太人所遭受的磨难而引发的"宽恕"问题的基本方法。在宽恕行为的静态模式中,事关宽恕行为的当事人与宽恕资格问题,杨克列维奇提出了"宽恕的不可能性"命题,主张对于纳粹罪行的追溯"不受时效约束"。而在记忆、意识与自由参与其中的动态模式中,作为具有创造与生成能力的行动之人,宽恕将永远存在。借助"遮遣法",杨克列维奇提醒我们,宽恕与恶处于永恒的角力之中。这是一个我们不得不面对的伦理真相。     

Guess Who Buys Cheap? The Effect of Consumers’ Goal Orientation on Product Preference

The current research examines how goal orientation affects consumer preference among products with different prices. We argue that a less expensive product may have not only lower perceived quality but also greater perceived quality variability. This greater perceived variability provides the opportunity for optimistic, promotion‐oriented consumers to overestimate the quality of the less expensive product. This effect is weaker, however, for a more expensive product that consumers perceive to have less quality variability and which thus provides less room for quality overestimation. As a result, we hypothesize that promotion‐oriented consumers, as compared to prevention‐oriented consumers, will demonstrate a stronger preference for a less expensive product. In a field study and two laboratory experiments, we obtain empirical support both for the hypothesized effect of consumers’ goal orientation on their product preference and for its underlying process. We conclude with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our results.     

Young children are more likely to cheat after overhearing that a classmate is smart

Research on moral socialization has largely focused on the role of direct communication and has almost completely ignored a potentially rich source of social influence: evaluative comments that children overhear. We examined for the first time whether overheard comments can shape children's moral behavior. Three‐ and 5‐year‐old children (N = 200) participated in a guessing game in which they were instructed not to cheat by peeking. We randomly assigned children to a condition in which they overheard an experimenter tell another adult that a classmate who was no longer present is smart, or to a control condition in which the overheard conversation consisted of non‐social information. We found that 5‐year‐olds, but not 3‐year‐olds, cheated significantly more often if they overheard the classmate praised for being smart. These findings show that the effects of ability praise can spread far beyond the intended recipient to influence the behavior of children who are mere observers, and they suggest that overheard evaluative comments can be an important force in shaping moral development.     

How does green advertising skepticism on social media affect consumer intention to purchase green products?

Underpinned by the stimulus–organism–response model, this study explores the underlying mechanism through which green advertising skepticism on social media affects consumer green purchase intention. It also investigates the boundary factors that moderate this indirect relationship. Performing structural equation modeling on data collected from an online survey on Sina Weibo, this study finds that green advertising skepticism on social media negatively affects green purchase intention through the mediation of perceived information utility. Moreover, interdependent self‐construal positively moderates, and independent self‐construal negatively moderates this indirect relationship. These findings suggest that truthful and consumer‐tailored green advertising is crucial to green product marketing.     

Foot Motion Character During Forward and Backward Walking With Shoes and Barefoot

Abstract

Backward walking (BW) has been extensively used in athletic training and orthopedic rehabilitation as it may have value for enhancing balance. This study identified the differences in foot intersegment kinematics (forward walking (FW) vs. time-reversed BW) and plantar pressure parameters of 16 healthy habitually shod individuals walking FW and BW using flexible shoes (SH) and under barefoot conditions (BF). BW was found to have shorter stride length (SL) and higher stride frequency (SF) under BF conditions compared with SH, which indicates a better BW gait stability under BF conditions. Decreased HX/FF dorsiflexion at HO in BW induces less plantar aponeurosis tension which may inhibit the windlass mechanism compared to FW walking. Increased forefoot relative to hindfoot (FF/HF) pronation and sequentially hindfoot relative to tibia (HF/TB) eversion combined with medially distributed plantar pressure and a higher plantar contact area in the medial side in BW–BF maybe beneficial in maintaining balance. These results indicate that BW training may be more reliable under BF conditions compared to the SH conditions based on greater sensory information feedback from the plantar area resulting in better biomechanical behavior.     

Harnessing the Power of a Novel Program for Dynamic Balance Perturbation with Supported Body Weight

Abstract

Self-initiated postural adjustments commonly occur in daily life. To accessibly measure this type of dynamic balance, we developed a simple computer program to induce virtual perturbations and combined it with a commercially available balance board and portable EMG system to measure resulting self-initiated postural adjustments. When performing perturbed balance tests, safety harness with body weight support (BWS) is often used. However, influences of these harnesses on postural reactions are not well known. This study investigated the sensitivity of our assessment tool under different BWS conditions and muscle responses during postural adjustments following perturbation at different directions. Fifteen neurologically intact participants performed self-initiated postural adjustments under conditions with: (1) no harness; (2) harness with no BWS; and (3) harness with 10% BWS. Postural adjustment time and muscle activities of the lower leg were measured. We observed significant increases in postural adjustment time in the harness with no BWS condition and differneces in lower leg muscles response to virtual perturbation. Our findings suggest that the combination of our customized program with EMG is a sensitive and convenient tool to measure postural adjustments that approximate real-world scenarios. This method can be used with light body weight support to ensure safety without influencing muscle synergies.     

论全球化境遇中道教的发展——以道教戒律建设为例

今天,我们生活于一个全球化的时代,在这样的全球化的境遇中,有着近二千年历史的中国道教的发展既面临着机遇,也面临着挑战.道教怎样去面对机遇与挑战?如何在新世纪对人类的文明与和平事业发挥更大的作用?这无疑是应该认真研究的问题.     

追求"东方"与"西方"之间的和谐--韩国哲学与文化观感

2004年8月至2005年8月,我有幸得到韩国高等教育财团国际学术交流项目的资助,到成均馆大学任客座教授,主要从事“全球化与东亚价值观”项目的研究。成均馆大学的前身是封建时代的文庙,迄今已经607周年,是韩国东亚研究、特别是儒教文化的大本营。一年来在成均馆大学的耳濡目染,对韩国各地的十多次文化考察,以及因研究项目的需要而做的大量文献调研、与韩国哲学与文化领域教授们的广泛交流,使我对韩国哲学与文化形成了一些基本的印象。在历史文化传统方面,正如许多学者指出的,韩国是世界上与中国最为类似的国家,素有“小中华”之称。在历史上,…