Touch and Distance as Aesthetic of Social Interaction

Socio-spatial interactions of a cluster-house concept apartment in mehr als wohnen project in Zurich, Switzerland

For designing and modeling Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems in the area of human-machine interaction, suitable approaches for user modeling are important in order to both capture user characteristics. Using multimodal data, this can be performed from various perspectives. Specifically, for modeling user interactions in human interaction networks, appropriate approaches for capturing those interactions, as well as to analyze them in order to extract meaningful patterns are important. Specifically, for modeling user behavior for the respective AI systems, we can make use of diverse heterogeneous data sources. This paper investigates face-to-face as well as socio-spatial interaction networks for modeling user interactions from three perspectives: We analyze preferences and perceptions of human social interactions in relation to the interactions observed using wearable sensors, i. e., face-to-face as well as socio-spatial interactions fo the respective actors. For that, we investigate the correspondence of according networks, in order to identify conformance, exceptions, and anomalies. The analysis is performed on a real-world dataset capturing networks of proximity interactions coupled with self-report questionnaires about preferences and perception of those interactions. The different networks, and according perspectives then provide different options for user modeling and integration into AI systems modeling such user behavior.

Development of a valid, reliable instrument to measure spiritual self-care practices of patients with heart failure. African American patients (N = 142) with heart failure participated in the study. Spiritual advisors from several religious groups reviewed the Spiritual Self-Care Practices Scale (SSCPS) for content validity. Construct validity was determined using a principal components factor analysis. Reliability was established using Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Religious advisors provided suggestions to improve content validity. Four factors consistent with spiritual practices (personal spiritual practices, spiritual practices, physical spiritual practices, and interpersonal spiritual practices) emerged from the factor analysis. The alpha coefficient was moderate at 0.64. Results indicated the SSCPS was reliable and valid for measuring spiritual self-care practices among African Americans with heart failure. Additional testing is needed to confirm results in other patient groups with chronic illnesses.

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine holistic spiritual self-care practices, diabetes knowledge, and its association with self-care practices among African Americans diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. The objective was to determine if spiritual self-care practices correlated with diabetes self-care practices among African Americans. Design: A descriptive research design was used for African Americans living in a Midwestern urban area. Participants were at least 18 years of age and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Participants were excluded if they had a diagnosis of type 1 or gestational diabetes, and/or a history of dementia or psychiatric illness. Method: Ninety African American participants between 28 and 88 years of age completed four instruments to measure diabetes knowledge, diabetes self-care practices, and spiritual self-care practices. Findings: Statistically significant correlations were found between general diet and diabetic self-care practices, spiritual self-care practices, physical spiritual self-care practices, and interpersonal spiritual self-care practices. Conclusion: This research project provided evidence that nursing staff caring for African Americans diagnosed with type 2 DM may consider incorporating spiritual self-care practices with other holistic self-care practices when helping African Americans manage their DM. This study found that spiritual self-care practices were important for African Americans who participated with this study.

Japanese aid has long been criticized for its focus on infrastructural projects, but Japanese aid actors have also valued non-infrastructural soft aid, especially through NGOs. Drawing on twenty months of fieldwork conducted with a Japanese NGO and its training program in sustainable agriculture in Myanmar, this article examines how Japanese and Burmese aid actors engaged in what I call an aid ethic of “muddy labor”—an emphasis on shared physical and relational labor that produced a collective form of intimacy. Scholars have tended to formulate humanitarian moral sentiments as responses to a distant suffering stranger. In contrast, I argue that the ideologies and political effects of a collectivist form of aid emerge in physical, relational, and geographic proximity. I demonstrate how the collective intimacy of physical and relational labor generated a meaningful sense of belonging among aid workers, while Japanese official discourses of soft aid indicated that this ethos of solidarity was also based on hierarchical views of Japanese superiority. The article ultimately asks how this ambiguity of the ethics of muddy labor challenges capacities for critique.

Part of a long-term ethnographic case study of Carmen West, a middle-class, heterosexual, American single mother by choice (SMC) and her three children, this essay focuses on the dynamic way the Wests occupy their domestic space. The fact that SMCs start and raise their families without a male partner opens creative opportunities for imagining and doing domestic life differently. Drawing on the philosopher John Schumacher’s work on human posture, and my own ethnographic work with purportedly ‘settled’ Bedouin in Jordan, I show how the Wests make their home through positioning and repositioning themselves and their furniture, vis a vis each other and the material constraints and affordances of their house and their stuff. The unconventional, aleatory moving and mixing of the West family may produce subjects who thrive in an environment that calls for “flexibility…the ability to adjust continuously to change.” Beyond subject-formation, this case illuminates the co-making of collectives whether in a tent or suburban, single-family home.

The etymology of the term “healing” dates back to 900 ce with references pointing to northwestern Europe. Historically, healing is seen to be embedded in religion. The connection between religion and healing, while emphasizing an anthropological approach, considers categories such as (but not limited to): worldviews, religious beliefs, religious and spiritual practices, rituals, deities, and symbols rather than science. Considered holistically, studies on healing depict “healing-as-practice” (framed as praxis: theory and practice integrated) rather than just a phrase, a concept, a cognitive undertaking or even a discipline in and of itself. Positioned in this way, healing is also situated in practices of global institutions, religions, spiritualties, and indigenous communities alike. In doing so, the nuances of healing used as a phrase or concept, as well as the flexibility it has in terms of understanding what matters to humans are illuminated. Healing embraces all dimensions of human life: the physical, psychological, social, and cultural. This helps position the term “healing,” a popular term within biomedicine, health care, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities, as associated with holism. In considering the holistic nature of healing, one process includes the healing of bones, organs, and tissue suggesting an underlying common order for healing that can be influenced by religious or spiritual rituals. At the other end of the spectrum of processes, individuals experience healing without any improvement in bodily function. Rather, they experience a type of subjective transformation as a result of distinct cultural, religious, or spiritual practices. In between the biological mechanisms of healing and the psychosomatic influences on healing, lies healing-as-praxis where something or someone intervenes in a person’s constellation of body, mind, spirit, and environment intent on stimulating healing or reaching a state of healing. This indicates that healing-as-practice has (at least) three domains; process or activity, intervention, and outcome or accomplishment, and relates to tradition, community, and social environment. Furthermore, healing-as-practice implies salutogenesis, an approach that focuses on the processes that support healing and well-being; while a focus on illness has to do with the configuration of one’s social, psychological, and spiritual condition. Thus, a distinction is made between curing and healing. Healing is concerned with meaning in relation to illness and curing is related to disease, albeit the terms illness and disease may be swapped in which case disease is interpreted as dis-ease—to be read as “being not at ease”—where mind and/or spirit are also involved. Therefore, the relation between healing and religion/spirituality is a natural one.

Sometime in 15 18, the Italian astrologer Luca Gaurico cast a chart for his prospective Imperial patron Maximilian I for the day of his sixtieth birthday (Figure 1).! Gaurico's political leanings up to that time had been quite different. After having established a privileged relationship with the Marquis of Mantua Francesco II Gonzaga, to whom he dedicated many of his prognostications, Gaurico seems to have aspired to a chair in the Parisian Studium, and he had written to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este to that effect.2 His aspirations, however, must have remained unfulfilled. Information about Guarico's whereabouts between 1513 and 1523 is scant, but we know that by 1524 he was back in Venice, editing books for the Giunti press and working for Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino and general of the Venetian army, a powerful ally of Emperor Charles V who had inherited the throne in 1519, at Maximilian's death.3 Gaurico was certainly aware of Maximilian's penchant for astrology, and in 1518 he offered his services to him. no doubt in the hope of receiving some form of remuneration.Gaurico's chart is one of many that are preserved in Italian libraries and archives. To political historians, these charts often look obscure and irrelevant, and for this reason many of them are routinely ignored and remain unstudied.4 Such documents, however, are clearly relevant to the historian of science, as every one of these charts represents the position of the planets and the constellations of the zodiac in the sky at a given moment in time. Together with ephemerides and calendars, astrological charts therefore represent ways in which astronomical data were visualized on paper, either by numbers or symbols, or a combination of both.We would generally refer to these charts, somewhat misleadingly, as 'horoscopes', but in the Renaissance their names varied greatly to encompass a number of diverse and distinctive practices. The most common name used in the Renaissance is probably figura, often accompanied by other adjectives or explanatory terms, but thema and schema are not unusual, especially in the sixteenth century. Figura coeli, schema coeli I coelicum or thema coeli i coelicum are once again generic terms used to define a chart, while figura nativitatis, thema /schema natalis or genitura already point to a specific practice, namely the casting of a chart tracing the exact position of the planets at the time of someone's birth.5 This type of chart, arguably the most common, was cast in order to offer an interpretation of a person's life in its entirety, and was often (but not always) accompanied by interpretations of various lengths and level of detail. Other charts, which employed other astrological techniques such as revolutions and profections (on which more shortly), were often referred to by the names revolutio (or, as in Gaurico's example cited above, conversio), andprofectio.6Astrological charts map the position of the celestial bodies in relation to a precise time and place on Earth. Together with indicating the place of the five planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus and Mercury) and the luminaries (the Sun and the Moon) in the zodiac (that portion of the sky six degrees above and below the ecliptic that is traditionally divided into twelve 'signs'), a chart, or figura coeli, is also divided into twelve 'houses'. Astrological houses are divisions of the ecliptic plane that depend on time and location. These houses are numbered counter-clockwise starting from the position of the eastern horizon, called the ascendant (which is taken as the cusp of the first house), moving to the nadir (the cusp of the fourth house), the western horizon (the cusp of the seventh house), the midheaven (the cusp of the tenth house on the meridian), and back to the ascendant. Astrologers traditionally associate each of these houses with an aspect of a person's life: the first house relates to life in general, the second to business and wealth, the third to brothers, the fourth to parents, etc. …

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a worldwide Christian denomination with a rich heritage. Thus, the Adventist Church considers itself to be set apart from the world with a unique mission; members also follow distinctive lifestyle practices. But are Seventh-day Adventists really a unique denomination or are they just a different flavor of mainstream Protestantism? Using data from the FACT 2020 survey and comparing the Adventist sample (N = 313) with the entire interfaith sample (N = 15,278), researchers compared different aspects of church life, including vitality and church growth, local church leadership, engagement in spiritual practices, and engagement in relational spiritual activities. While the data from the FACT 2020 survey present unique strengths of Adventist congregations, weaknesses were also revealed, as compared with the interfaith sample.

This study explored the lived experiences of college leaders at Davao del Norte State College (DNSC) regarding organizational spirituality in the new normal. Using a phenomenological approach, five participants were selected through purposive sampling, and their responses were gathered through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The data, analyzed using the modified Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen method, revealed four key themes: alignment of personal and institutional values, self-care and spiritual practices, fostering a supportive and harmonious environment, and reflection and mindful leadership. The findings showed that these leaders consciously aligned their values with the college’s culture, engaged in spiritual practices to enhance their well-being, and promoted a supportive organizational environment. These practices contributed to a reflective and mindful approach to leadership, which was essential in navigating the challenges of the new normal. The study’s implications suggested that higher education institutions should support leaders in aligning their values with organizational culture, encourage spiritual practices, and foster environments that enhance well-being. The study also contributed to the literature on spiritual leadership by focusing on leaders’ personal experiences, offering new insights into the role of spirituality in leadership. However, the study’s small sample size from a single institution limited its generalizability, and future research should include larger, more diverse samples. This study underscored the significance of spirituality in effective, compassionate, and resilient leadership in higher education.

“I am not considered much of a polygamist”: Sarah Peterson Lund Writes to Her Missionary Husband

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is a significant health concern, ranked as the third most prevalent issue among adolescents after obesity and myopia. Traditional screening methods rely on the use of complex and expensive measuring instruments and expert physicians to interpret X-ray images. These methods can be both time-consuming and inaccessible for widespread screening efforts. To address these challenges, we propose a standardized protocol for the collection of scoliosis gait dataset. This protocol enables the systematic capture of relevant gait characteristics associated with scoliosis, leading to the creation of a comprehensive, annotated dataset tailored for research and diagnostic purposes. Leveraging this dataset, we developed an effective deep learning algorithm based on graph convolutional networks, which outperforms traditional CNN by effectively modeling the complex spatial and temporal dynamics of human gait and posture, leveraging skeletal structure as a graph for more accurate and robust scoliosis screening. We also explored various optimization strategies to enhance the model’s accuracy and efficiency, ensuring robust performance across diverse scenarios. Our innovative approach allows for the rapid and non-invasive recognition of scoliosis. This method is not only scalable but also eliminates the need for specialized equipment or extensive medical expertise, making it ideal for large-scale screening initiatives. By improving the accessibility and efficiency of scoliosis detection, our approach has the potential to facilitate early intervention.

The article analyzes the Beatles’ 183 original recorded lyrics as a body of work, highlighting the lyrics’ thematic diversification and increasing narrative complexity as of 1965–66. Dialogical elements characterizing many Beatles lyrics extended to audiences the sense of collective intimacy that formed the core of the band’s identity and appeal. Group vocal arrangements on Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band permitted “heteroglossic dialog” through which the writers expressed and sought to reconcile the cultural and social tensions they perceived in their own lives and in the wider world. Lyrical innovations enabled the authors to respond to social and cultural currents—particularly how electronic media, drugs, and spiritual practices could bridge social, political, and interpersonal divisions and distances, yet also foster isolation and self-absorption. Lyrics on Pepper articulate this dialectic of connection and atomization.

Research on socio-spatial aspect of cities has never been so vibrant and exciting. The form of urban life is changing and evolving with new advancements in communication and technology. Digital communication and social media has reshaped the way people as the actors of society interact with each other and with the network of city. New social networks and widespread of mobile devises can be used to create and reinforce existing social ties. Mobile devises also change the role of citizens from consumers into producers of data; they are the new reporters, photographers, videographers of everyday life. This production creates large quantities of data known as the “Big Data”. Big data has opened up many doors for researchers to investigate new aspects of cities. This paper aims to explore how people access urban public spaces through social media by taking the parameter of distance and physical proximity into account. We tried to investigate if different levels of accessibility effects the way people interact with space through social media. Through this process the study explored different socio-spatial patterns in the city that are being affected by social media. The research data was collect in two layers of Nicosia in Northern Cyprus: first, the geo-tagged social media data was collected from the target group, and it was located on the map. Twitter as a microblogging medium was selected for data collection due to its public nature, geo-tagged abilities, and manageable short content. Second, degrees of accessibility in local and global scale were calculated using Space Syntax. The data was analyzed using regression analysis, scatter plot, and outlier detention. The result shows various patterns in correlation of interactions between society and space; it illustrates the importance of exploring the outliers when reading big data on the city. The result shows clear importance of local accessibility even when social media is the effective variable.

How should we study the management practices of religious organizations to do justice to their distinctive religious motivations and traditions? In this article, we articulate how a specific research approach – organizational ethnography – may enable a deeper understanding of religious and/or spiritual organizational practice. We approach our methodological research questions by engaging with the literature on the distinctive decision-making practices of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), commonly known as the Quaker business method. Having shown that the Quaker business method destabilizes a simple binary between “insider” and “outsider” and between believers and nonbelievers, we bring the theory and practice of organizational ethnography into conversation with Quaker accounts of decision-making. We conclude with pathways for future research in the space this destabilization creates.