God and the evangelical laboratory: Recent conservative Protestant thinking about theology and science

This review essay surveys 14 recent texts on theology and science published by six different evangelical (conservative Protestant) publishing houses since 1999. The spectrum of evangelical-theological approaches to evolution, natural history, and origins-of-life issues are presented in these texts, as are evangelical-theological perspectives on the Intelligent Design phenomenon, on theological and scientific method, and on the philosophy of science. Summary observations about the status quaestiones of the theology-and-science discussion in the evangelical world at the beginning of the twenty-first century are provided, and future developments anticipated among conservative Protestants in their engagements with the sciences.     

A probabilistic threshold model: Analyzing semantic categorization data with the Rasch model

According to the Threshold Theory (Hampton, 1995, 2007) semantic categorization decisions come about through the placement of a threshold criterion along a dimension that represents items' similarity to the category representation. The adequacy of this theory is assessed by applying a formalization of the theory, known as the Rasch model (Rasch, 1960; Thissen & Steinberg, 1986), to categorization data for eight natural language categories and subjecting it to a formal test. In validating the model special care is given to its ability to account for inter- and intra-individual differences in categorization and their relationship with item typicality. Extensions of the Rasch model that can be used to uncover the nature of category representations and the sources of categorization differences are discussed.     

Assessing driver acceptance of Intelligent Transport Systems in the context of railway level crossings

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) have the potential to substantially reduce the number of crashes caused by human errors at railway levels crossings. Such systems, however, will only exert an influence on driving behaviour if they are accepted by the driver. This study aimed at assessing driver acceptance of different ITS interventions designed to enhance driver behaviour at railway crossings. Fifty-eight participants, divided into three groups, took part in a driving simulator study in which three ITS devices were tested: an in-vehicle visual ITS, an in-vehicle audio ITS, and an on-road valet system. Driver acceptance of each ITS intervention was assessed in a questionnaire guided by the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Overall, results indicated that the strongest intentions to use the ITS devices belonged to participants exposed to the road-based valet system at passive crossings. The utility of both models in explaining drivers’ intention to use the systems is discussed, with results showing greater support for the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Directions for future studies, along with strategies that target attitudes and subjective norms to increase drivers’ behavioural intentions, are also discussed.     

Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment Package for Teaching Grooming Skills to a Man with an Intellectual Disability

A combination of health education, use of picture cues based on task analyses, a system of least prompts and social reinforcement was applied to teach various grooming skills to a man with a moderate intellectual disability. A multiple baseline design across behaviours was employed to show the effects. The results indicated rapid learning of lacking skills such as tooth brushing, shaving, showering and washing of arms and face.     

工作室教学模式的探讨——以视觉传达专业为例

随着时代的发展以理论灌输的传统教学模式得到挑战,新型的工作室教学模式得到广泛应用。这种新型的教学模式具有一定的特点以及结构,正是这种新型的教育模式促进着教育朝着一个新的开端发展。     

TWO BAD WAYS TO ATTACK INTELLIGENT DESIGN AND TWO GOOD ONES

Four arguments are examined in order to assess the state of the Intelligent Design debate. First, critics continually cite the fact that ID proponents have religious motivations. When used as criticism of ID arguments, this is an obvious ad hominem. Nonetheless, philosophers and scientists alike continue to wield such arguments for their rhetorical value. Second, in his expert testimony in the Dover trial, philosopher Robert Pennock used repudiated claims in order to brand ID as a kind of pseudoscience. His arguments hinge on the nature of methodological naturalism as a metatheoretic shaping principle. We examine the use of such principles in science and the history of science. Special attention is given to the demarcation problem. Third, the scientific merits of ID are examined. Critics rightly demand more than promissory notes for ID to move beyond the fringe. Fourth, although methodological naturalism gets a lot of attention, there is another shaping principle to contend with, namely, conservatism. Science, like most disciplines, tends to change in an incremental rather than revolutionary manner. When ID is compared to other non‐ or quasi‐Darwinian proposals, it appears to be a more radical solution than is needed in the face of the anomalies.     

Magical Landscapes and Designed Cities

Based on anthropological fieldwork conducted in Skåde Bakker and Fedet, two well-off neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Århus, Denmark, this article focusses on how landscapes are perceived. Local residents describe and use the landscapes of Skåde Bakker and Fedet as endowed with “something special,” a feel-good, (almost spiritual) healing power (just moments away from the bustling city). In Melanesia, such a spiritual force goes by the name of “mana”. Århus’ mana landscapes are only invested with this huge, floating quality because they are near the city. Furthermore, they are seen from the point of view of the city, where order, design, planning and commerce are important cityscape qualities. The article deals with the way in which these two parts of the city, landscape and brandscape are complementary parts of the city-web. Analytical points made by Mauss, Lévi-Strauss and Greimas are discussed in connection with the empirical setting of the city of Århus.     

Auditory and haptic systems for in-car speed management – A comparative real life study

Field experiments with ISA (intelligent speed adaptation) were carried out in Hungary and Spain in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Twenty private vehicles in each country were equipped with two kinds of systems: (1) support via an active accelerator pedal (AAP) and (2) warning via beep signals and a flashing red light when the speed limit was exceeded (BEEP). The test drivers drove for a month with both systems installed in each car. Speed was continually logged in all the vehicles and the test drivers were interviewed about their acceptance and experiences of the systems. The results show that both systems reduced the mean and 85 percentile speeds, but that the AAP was more effective. There was no long-lasting effect on speeds when the systems were removed. After the trial half of the drivers were willing to keep an ISA system, but more drivers wanted to keep the BEEP-system even though it showed lower satisfaction ratings than the AAP. The results indicate no major differences between the countries despite the workload being perceived to be higher in Hungary than in Spain.     

A proposed universal model of problem solving for design,science and cognate fields

A modestly generic, innovative, problem solving process with roots in the study of design and scientific research problem solving is presented and motivated. It is argued to be the shared core process of all problem solving. At its heart is a recognition of five foci or nodes of change vital to the process (changes in problem and solution formulation, method, constraints, and partial solution proposals) together with a bootstrap marked by the formation of higher order knowledge about problem solving in the domain in tandem with the solving of specific problems, the essential feature of all learned improvement. None of these elements is entirely original, but the way they are made explicit and developed (rather than folded into fewer, more abstract, boxes) is argued to provide fresh understanding of the organisation and power of the process to deal with complex practical problems.     

Modeling ratings of in-vehicle alerts to pedestrian by leveraging field operational tests data in a controlled laboratory study

We show how to leverage expensive field operational tests (FOT) data in a controlled laboratory study when defining an in-vehicle algorithm that alerts drivers to pedestrians. We used an empirical approach that quantifies the relative level with which drivers are likely to accept alerts to pedestrians. The approach was used in two studies to investigate a range of contextual factors known to influence driver ratings of alerts to pedestrians issued by a driver-assistance system. Regression analysis shows that four factors consisting of combinations of pedestrian location and motion relative to the road ahead of the vehicle explain 85% of the variability in drivers’ ratings of alerts. Adding two factors related to the uncertainty of the pedestrians’ future path improves the model slightly. These findings suggest that drivers’ assessment of the danger associated with pedestrians derives largely from the possibility that they might move into the vehicle’s path, even when the vehicle is not on a collision course with the pedestrians. The less probable such an event seems, the less accepted an alert will be. Time to arrival (TTA) improved the regression model only when restricted to pedestrians in clear need of an alert, but was also found to have an effect in alert timing. This finding suggests that four contextual factors largely define the perceptual cues that drivers use to rate alerts to pedestrians.