Role of optical flow field asymmetry in the perception of heading during linear motion

During linear translation through a stationary environment, the pattern of optical flow generated on each retina is symmetrical when the head is aligned with the heading, but during lateral gaze the optical flow is asymmetric. We assessed whether human subjects could use the magnitude of this asymmetry to determine the direction of heading during passive translation through a 3-D environment. When allowed to move their heads in order to look in the direction of self-motion, subjects indicated their heading precisely and accurately. When the head was locked in alignment with the misaligned body, and gaze adjustments were not allowed, responses were quite precise, but showed a large bias which increased with increasing heading angle.     

Characteristics of START Assessments Completed in Mental Health Jail Diversion Programs

Many different instruments have been developed to assist in the assessment of risk for violence and other criminal behavior. However, there is limited evidence regarding how these instruments work in the 'real world'. Even less is known about how these instruments might work for assessing risk in jail diversion populations, whether in research or practice. To address these knowledge gaps, the present study examined the characteristics of risk assessments completed by program staff (n?=?10) on 96 mental health jail diversion clients (72 men and 24 women) using the Short-Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START). The findings provide preliminary support for the reliability and validity of START assessments completed in jail diversion programs, the first evidence of the transportability of START outside psychiatric settings, and further evidence regarding the reliability and validity of START assessments completed in the field. They additionally support the consideration of an eighth, general offending risk domain in START assessments. Copyright ? 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

PNEUMATOLOGICAL RELATIONS AND CHRISTIAN DISUNITY IN THEOLOGY‐SCIENCE DIALOGUE

Ecclesial divisions shape and distort the developing interdisciplinary dialogue between Christian theology and the natural and social sciences in ways that can be better understood by focusing on pneumatology, specifically on the variety of ways in which by grace we relate to the Holy Spirit—as giver of life, as Lord, as powerful anointing, as God's gift of wisdom, and as wellspring from Jesus Christ. Each denominational camp of Christians has centered its appreciation of the Holy Spirit on one of these relationships, sometimes to the neglect or marginalization of others. This appreciation drives the favoring of some scientific disciplines and suspicion of others. For instance, Pentecostals and charismatics emphasize the Spirit upon us, speaking through the prophets. This tends to privilege personal narrative and testimony. The closest cognate science is cultural anthropology. Issues of social construction of reality, cultural imperialism and relativism, and narrative history dominate consideration of science's theological possibilities and pitfalls in ways distinctive to that pneumatological camp. Engagement and disengagement with other disciplines of learning are driven in part by our theological loyalties and antipathies to unreconciled bodies. Hence a fuller engagement with the sciences becomes an ecumenical task, not just a generically Christian or specifically Pentecostal or Wesleyan one.     

Advent's Answer to the Problem of Evil

Traditional Christian answers to the problem of evil may be identified as either theistic or christological. While theistic theodicies enjoy greater philosophical interest, christological theodicies are more practical, remaining embodied in the semiotics of the worshipping church, and are utimately more successful. The Christian church's liturgical practice of Advent – where Christology, soteriology and eschatology come together – is a common and coherent response to the problem of evil. The practice of Advent comprises an eschatological ethics of justice and mercy which embraces their evil side-effects and the tension of present and future justice. Advent thus presents the problem of evil as a constructive part of Christian theology and ethics.     

Interaction of asthmatics and their spouses: A preliminary study of individual differences

Some asthmatics show evidence of airways reactivity triggered by strong emotions. Six case studies of married patients with severe asthma are reported. The videotaped interactions of the asthmatic and his/her spouse were coded for affect and behavior. Repeated measures of pulmonary function and affective state were recorded before and after two interaction tasks. Over the course of the experimental period, two patients' pulmonary function improved and four patients' deteriorated. In general, decreased pulmonary function was associated with more self-rated hostility and depression. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the intra- and interpersonal factors that are important in asthma management.     

Factors affecting the onset and magnitude of linear vection

The role of central and peripheral vision in the production of linear vection was assessed by using displays in which flow structure and sources of internal and external depth information were manipulated. Radial optical flow was more effective for inducing self-motion in both central and peripheral visual fields than was lamellar flow in displays of the same size. The presence of external occlusion information was necessary to induce linear vection when small displays were composed of lamellar flow, whereas the effectiveness of small radial displays did not depend on the availability of occlusion edges.     

Linear vection in the central visual field facilitated by kinetic depth cues.

Illusory self-motion (vection) is thought to be determined by motion in the peripheral visual field, whereas stimulation of more central retinal areas results in object-motion perception. Recent data suggest that vection can be produced by stimulation of the central visual field provided it is configured as a more distant surface. In this study vection strength (tracking speed, onset latency, and the percentage of trials where vection was experienced) and the direction of self-motion produced by displays moving in the central visual field were investigated. Apparent depth, introduced by using kinetic occlusion information, influenced vection strength. Central displays perceived to be in the background elicited stronger vection than identical displays appearing in the foreground. Further, increasing the eccentricity of these displays from the central retina diminished vection strength. If the central and peripheral displays were moved in opposite directions, vection strength was unaffected, and the direction of vection was determined by motion of the central display on almost half of the trials when the centre was far. Near centres produced fewer centre-consistent responses. A complete understanding of linear vection requires that factors such as display size, retinal locus, and apparent depth plane are considered.