“Go Near and Join Thyself to This Chariot…”: African Pneumatic Movements and Transformational Discipleship

Christian religious innovation has been ongoing in Africa since the early 20th century. It started with indigenous charismatic prophets calling on people to turn over their old deities and submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. The ministries of these itinerant prophets led to mass conversions culminating in the formation of what became known as the African independent/instituted/initiated churches (AICs). For the best part of the 20th century the AICs defined what counted as Christian in an African indigenous sense. The argument of this article is that the acronym AICs has, since the closing decades of the 20th century, acquired a much broader meaning to include the new Pentecostal/charismatic movements and churches that have burgeoned across the continent. Their trademarks include youthful urban‐centred congregations, media‐driven ministries, and the preaching of a gospel of prosperity. The contributions of both the classical AICs and the contemporary Pentecostals to African Christianity have been phenomenal. As Christian churches, however, we ought to evaluate them not just in terms of numerical or sociological impact, but most especially in terms of transformational discipleship. There is much to celebrate in transformational discipleship as far as the ministries of these African Reformation movements are concerned, but there as yet remain areas of concern that need to be dealt with for the optimization of Christian impact in Africa.     

The Role of Consistent Context in Rapid Movement Planning: Suboptimal Endpoint Adjustment to Changing Rewards

The authors' purpose was to determine if participants adjusted their endpoint during a rapid aiming task in the context of changing rewards and whether participants needed consistent feedback to do so. Participants aimed to a target that was overlapped by a penalty region. Participants gained points for hitting the target but lost points for hitting the penalty region. The reward value associated with target contact either changed trial to trial, reducing consistent feedback (variable condition) or changed between blocks of trials (blocked condition) with the repetition of reward value within a block increasing the consistency of feedback. Participants adjusted their endpoints with changing reward value in the blocked but not variable condition indicating consistent feedback is needed to adjust endpoint to changing rewards.     

Protocols for the Investigation of Information Processing in Human Assessment of Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental movement skill (FMS) assessment remains an important tool in classifying individuals’ level of FMS proficiency. The collection of FMS performances for assessment and monitoring has remained unchanged over the last few decades, but new motion capture technologies offer opportunities to automate this process. To achieve this, a greater understanding of the human process of movement skill assessment is required. The authors present the rationale and protocols of a project in which they aim to investigate the visual search patterns and information extraction employed by human assessors during FMS assessment, as well as the implementation of the Kinect system for FMS capture.     

Muscular Activation Pattern of Bilateral Extensors Response to Asymmetric Hand Lifting During Trunk Flexion–extension Performance

The authors' purpose was to test the effect of asymmetric hand lifting on muscular activation patterns of 3 bilateral extensors. Eighteen male university students without back pain were volunteered. Each performed flexion–extension randomly with conditions of right lifting, left lifting, and nonlifting. Surface electromyography from bilateral thoracic, lumbar erector spinae, and hamstring was recorded. The cross-correlation and relative intensity in paired muscles of bilateral extensors was calculated in flexion as well as extension period. The results showed that the cross-correlation coefficient was decreased and the phase lag as well as the relative intensity of bilateral extensors was increased significantly in thoracic level. The phase lag as well as the relative intensity of bilateral extensors was increased significantly in lumbar level. It was concluded that asymmetric lifting has a significant effect on muscular activation of bilateral extensors in thorax level, which causes the ipsilateral extensor to activate larger and longer. Asymmetric lifting also has some effect on muscular activation of bilateral extensors in lumbar level but with less extent than in thorax level, which causes contralateral extensor to activate larger and longer. Asymmetric lifting seems to have no significant effect on muscular activation of bilateral hamstring.     

A method for detailed movement pattern analysis of tadpole startle response

Prolonged space flight, specifically microgravity, presents a problem for space exploration. Animal models with altered connections of the vestibular ear, and thus altered gravity sensation, would allow the examination of the effects of microgravity and how various countermeasures can establish normal function. We describe an experimental apparatus to monitor the effects of ear manipulations to generate asymmetric gravity input on the tadpole escape response. To perform the movement pattern analysis, an imaging apparatus was developed that uses a high‐speed camera to obtain time‐resolved, high‐resolution images of tadpole movements. Movements were recorded in a temperature‐controlled test chamber following mechanical stimulation with a solenoid actuator, to elicit a C‐start response. Temperature within the test cell was controlled with a recirculating water bath. Xenopus laevis embryos were obtained using a standard fertilization technique. Tadpole response to a controlled perturbation was recorded in unprecedented detail and the approach was validated by describing the distinct differences in response between normal and one‐eared tadpoles. The experimental apparatus and methods form an important element of a rigorous investigation into the response of the tadpole vestibular system to mechanical and biochemical manipulations, and can ultimately contribute to improved understanding of the effects of altered gravity perception on humans.     

Influence of gait mode and body orientation on following a walking avatar

Regulating distance with a moving object or person is a key component of human movement and of skillful interpersonal coordination. The current set of experiments aimed to assess the role of gait mode and body orientation on distance regulation using a cyclical locomotor tracking task in which participants followed a virtual leader. In the first experiment, participants moved in the backward-forward direction while the body orientation of the virtual leader was manipulated (i.e., facing towards, or away from the follower), hence imposing an incongruence in gait mode between leader and follower. Distance regulation was spatially less accurate when followers walked backwards. Additionally, a clear trade-off was found between spatial leader-follower accuracy and temporal synchrony. Any perceptual effects were overshadowed by the effect of one’s gait mode. In the second experiment we examined lateral following. The results suggested that lateral following was also constrained strongly by perceptual information presented by the leader. Together, these findings demonstrated how locomotor tracking depends on gait mode, but also on the body orientation of whoever is being followed.     

阅读水平调节儿童阅读眼动注视模式的发展:基于9～11岁儿童的证据

按照3~5年级小学生的语文阅读水平,在各年级中分别选取年龄相同的高、中、低三组儿童作为被试,要求他们阅读适合本年级阅读水平的5篇短文,探讨同一年龄段内读者阅读水平的高低对阅读眼动注视模式的影响是否存在发展上的差异。通过记录其眼动轨迹,结果发现:9岁儿童的阅读眼动注视模式受读者本身阅读水平的影响最大,10岁次之,到11岁,随着儿童基本眼动行为的成熟,这种影响随之消失。表明读者阅读眼动注视模式的发展动力来源于语言操作技能和眼球运动协调性提高的交互作用。     

Feminist Therapy Pioneer: E. Kitch Childs

ABSTRACT

This article will focus on the life of the late Dr. E. Kitch Childs and her impact on Feminist Therapy. It seeks to celebrate and pay homage to her as one of the pioneers who helped pave the way for women in therapy. Dr. Childs was an African American lesbian woman who stood in the gap for social justice with her intellect, tenacity, and bravery and took the lead as a radical visionary.     

Responding to the embodiment of distress in individuals defined as obese: Implications for research

This article examines the evidence for a relationship between body image distress (BID) and obesity, and between emotional eating and obesity. The need is highlighted for treatment programmes that are responsive to these complex issues and combine this with diet and physical activity. Weight loss programmes so far have had a poor success rate. They have often sought to capitalise on BID as a motivation to lose weight, but there is some evidence that such an emphasis may be self‐defeating, as seriously overweight individuals may eat either to self‐punish or self‐comfort and may also avoid social situations that could support healthy lifestyles. The case is made for new research that addresses the highlighted psychological aspects of obesity. There is a need for both a randomised controlled trial (RCT) that will enable a statistical inference of causality relating to new treatments and qualitative, interview‐based research to elicit information regarding individual responses to treatment. Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) is proposed as one new treatment option for those individuals whose obesity is linked to emotional eating. Theoretical support and empirical research evidence for DMT are explored. However, since this treatment has not so far been applied with obese individuals, a pilot study is proposed prior to a RCT.