Introductory Work Research Articles

What is the sound of the Earth? First steps into EMusic

We show the possibility of transforming Airborne EM (AEM) data into music, by means of the simple procedure of data normalization and the application of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) routine. For this introductory work, named ‘EMusic’, we exploit the ability of the MIDI protocol to translate numerical values (voltage response) into musical pitches. It is possible to use the large amount of data collected by airborne systems, in order to make easier the comprehension of EM method (for a didactic purpose), to assess quickly the quality of data (for a technical purpose) and, last, but not least, to compose musical pieces (creative purpose). Through preliminary and short samples, we show that it is really possible to achieve a ‘sound’ of a particular geological setting, characterized by a specific musical signature, which could support the data interpretation. It is possible to expand greatly this procedure, also considering other geophysical methods. We point out future steps that could be taken. The idea of transforming scientific data into music (sonification) is not new: as reported by Dell’Aversana (2013), many authors dealt with this topic, mainly by processing seismic data (see further references in the quoted paper). The same author presented music samples extracted from earthquake and volcanic activity, processed through the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) protocol. In a second paper, published in 2014, he applied this idea to seismic prospection for detecting gas-filled channels, faults and geological formations, using rhythmic features that reflect the spectral analysis of data. Finally, he suggested that this approach can be applied to any kind of geophysical data and that sonification can complement, not substitute, standard geophysical processing and interpretation routines.

Sor Juana inÉs De La Cruz: Feminist Reconstruction of Biography and Text By Theresa A.Yugar. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2014. Pp. ix + 107. $16.00.

Could an eco-feminist and protofeminist awareness lie embedded within Sor Juana's seventeenth-century texts La Respuesta (The Answer) and El Sueño (The Dream)? Yugar's introductory work about this Mexican nun who was both a scholar and a poet builds upon E. S. Fiorenza and R. R. Ruether to explore Sor Juana's dream of egalitarian empowerment, suggesting an early example of Latina feminist theology. Following an introduction, Yugar constructs a “her-story,” revealing the clash between the community-centered Nahua and mestizaje reality, with the individualistic colonizers and their Counter-Reformation pressures for conformity. The third chapter reconstructs the lives of the women closest to Sor Juana, such as Doña Isabel Ramírez, her mother. Single and running her own hacienda, we see Ramírez model independence for her precocious daughter. Chapters 4 and 5 provide introductions to La Respuesta and El Sueño. The latter presents an eco-feminist narrative developing an egalitarian vision of the world through the journey of her non-gendered soul. A matricentric work, Yugar argues it reflects the three stages of her life: childhood, court, and convent. In conclusion, Yugar offers a “Latina Liberative Ecclesiology” as Sor Juana's legacy—the sueño of a non-patriarchal world. Although often repetitive and presuming a textual familiarity, Yugar's use of feminist theory creates a window through which we are able to see a reflection of Sor Juana's life within the text itself and a vision for an egalitarian church. The book is a useful secondary source for scholars or students reading Sor Juana's original works.

Anthony J. Cascardi,The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and Philosophy.

FACED with the unenviable task of providing an introduction to both literature and philosophy in two hundred pages, Anthony Cascardi chooses to focus on three sets of ‘questions’ (of value, of form and of truth) that have been tackled by both discursive clusters, select a number of examples from both and highlight their similarities and divergences. Unfortunately, the results leave much to be desired. One set of problems has to do with argumentative pace and structure. Even if allowances are made for the inevitably episodic quality of an introductory work, within each section too many examples are given without a clear thread to anchor them to the main theme, which gives an undercooked taste to the exposition, and often muddles the issues at hand. For example, to place Horace’s ‘si vis me flere’ plea for poets to feel what they want their audience to feel side by side with Sidney’s advocacy of poetry on the basis of its ability to paint images as opposed to laying out concepts (34) obscures the very different points that the two authors are making. Moreover, Cascardi routinely raises questions which he fails to pursue at any length: Thinkers ranging from Rousseau to Fichte to Schopenhauer to Nietzsche share a conception of value that is based on the activity of a consciousness whose center of gravity is located in desire and the will, and whose core project is self-actualization. Relevant literary figures here include Byron, the two Shelleys, Schiller, Goethe, Keats, Conrad, and Lawrence. (62)

Using Young Adult Literature to Enhance Empathy Skills: Preliminary Findings in BSW Education

This article explores the use of young adult literature as a pedagogical tool for enhancing empathy skills for competent practice in BSW education. Students from two sections of an introductory social work course participated in the study. The instructor used the same textbook in both sections. One section incorporated a 4-week curriculum module that included a young adult novel. Results indicated that students who registered for the section that incorporated literature (n=37) reported higher levels of empathy at posttest t(55)=5.47, p=.002, as compared with students (n=20) from the other section. The findings provide preliminary support for use of literature in BSW education. The findings also warrant the need for additional studies that examine the potential effectiveness of literature for teaching other types of practice behaviors in the BSW curriculum.

Research in the Area of Preparing Materials Based on Fuzed Quartz HCBS. Part 3. Study and Improvement of Centrifugal Casting1

Chronology is considered for development of research and introductory work in the field of centrifugal casting, implemented in the production of quartz steel-pouring refractories. Large scale application of centrifugal casting is used for the first time in domestic and overseas practice for ceramic and refractory production. The main requirements are considered for original casting systems and regimes making it possible to obtain high density semifinished product. Prospects are shown in a number of examples of using the method in casting objects based on HCBS of other materials.

A boundary element approach to barrier option pricing in Black–Scholes framework

We treat the way to achieve great computational savings and accuracy in the evaluation of barrier options through boundary element method (BEM). The proposed method applies to quite general pricing models. The only requirement is the knowledge of the characteristic function for the underlying asset distribution, usually available under general asset models. This paper serves as an introductory work to illustrate the implementation of BEM using numerical Fourier inverse transform of the characteristic function and to numerically show its stability and efficiency under simple frameworks such as the Black–Scholes model.

A PackML-based Design Pattern for Modular PLC Code

Software is exponentially growing in modern automatic machines. Consequently, the operations of writing, debug and maintenance are increasing the time necessary to be accomplished. In order to shorten this time, there is the need to define methodologies for software which enhance modularity, along with re-usability and standardization. This work collects the needs of several industries working in packaging domain for PLC code writing, proposing a solution which overcomes the limits of other well known approaches defined in literature: Object-Orientation and Model Driven Engineering. The proposed solution is a design pattern based on the PackML. This can be considered as an introductory work about this topic. We hope that the scientific community will increase the researches, in order to standardize and facilitate the software writing which dimensions are becoming an issue above all for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Implementing the Capitalism/Socialism Cycle Phase II Melting the Excessive Executive Compensation Employee Stock Option Icebergs

The author’s introductory work, i.e., The Capitalism/Socialism Cycle – Phase II (we refer to the work as the “First Article”), heralds the introduction of a more efficient form of capitalism or Thin Capitalism (“TC”) , primed first by the Economic Recovery Tax Act (“ERTA”) of 1981 and the simple indexation of tax brackets, and then triggered with the Great Recession of 2007-2009 (“GR”), which began a de facto untangling of the symbiotic relationship that exists between American business and the Federal Government and the beginning of the end for Fat Capitalism (“FC”). In Implementing The Capitalism/Socialism Cycle – Phase II – Melting the Excessive Executive Compensation Employee Stock Option Icebergs, [we refer to this work as “Iceberg”] the author zeroes in on twelve irregularities of employee stock options or ESOs, the workhorse of FC as suggested in the First Article, the correction of which are a starting point in the conversion of FC to TC. This paper is the second installment in a trilogy that will conclude with a third paper that will offer remedies to our economic system against the backdrop of the social and cultural values of the American Experience. There is a suggestion then in this offering that there is an extraordinary amount of direct and indirect information about ESOs that is unseen and therefore virtually unknown across the multiple disciplines attendant to this critical form of stock-based compensation. It also introduces the question of how so much important information necessary for the efficient and effective functioning of this important financial instrument of capitalism could be so conveniently overlooked. It is overlooked, in large part, because it is in the best interests of those plying their trade to overlook them. Iceberg discusses twelve of its own, i.e., important ESO issues that are there but whose existence currently enjoys some type of artful or elusive status. Briefly, they are: 1. ESO taxation at grant – the U.S. Treasury vs. the Taxpayer; 2. Robinson v. U.S. [2003] – a major retrofit of Internal Revenue Code §83 (“IRC§83”); 3. Insider use of listed, exchange-traded options (“LETOs”); 4. SEC Release No. 34-60126 [June 17, 2009]; 5. The Transferable Stock Option or TSO; 6. Listed Exchange Traded Options and the Charitable Lead Trust; 7. Listed Exchange Traded Options and the Estate of the Corporate Executive; 8. The Incentive Stock Option Planning Dilemma – The Married Put; 9. Senator Levin – The Ending Excessive Corporate Deductions for Stock Options Act; 10. LETO Use in Financial Reporting – ASC 718, Compensation-Stock Compensation; 11. Emperor’s [Employer’s] Clothes-ESOs Don’t Work So Well; 12. An IRS-Approved Grant-Based Taxation Protocol for ESOs. In Iceberg, the author zeroes in on the above irregularities of ESOs as a starting point in the conversion of FC to TC. This conversion will take place in a two-part process, the first of which is a need to make current forms of equity compensation more efficient by proper tax, regulatory and investment planning. The C.A.S.H. TM method planning protocol is introduced to do just that. The second part of this process is to introduce and implement new forms of equity compensation that are, by their very nature, more efficient and effective which will obviate the necessity for such planning greatly.

The Effectiveness of Writing Across the Curriculum in a Baccalaureate Social Work Program: Students’ Perceptions

Effective social work practice requires strong writing and communication skills; however, social work students often experience difficulties performing academically at expected levels. This article presents findings from a student survey that was collected for two years to assess perceptions of the effectiveness of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) strategies on writing skills and social work knowledge acquisition in an introductory social work class that is taught every semester at a school of social work located in southeastern Florida. Students reported that WAC strategies substantially improved their abilities to write in the discipline and learn course content. Based on our findings, it is recommended that schools of social work infuse WAC throughout their curriculum, a process that requires cross curricular collaboration, intra-departmental support, and faculty commitment to course development and implementation.

The direct and indirect costs of both overweight and obesity: a systematic review.

BackgroundThe rising prevalence of overweight and obesity places a financial burden on health services and on the wider economy. Health service and societal costs of overweight and obesity are typically estimated by top-down approaches which derive population attributable fractions for a range of conditions associated with increased body fat or bottom-up methods based on analyses of cross-sectional or longitudinal datasets. The evidence base of cost of obesity studies is continually expanding, however, the scope of these studies varies widely and a lack of standardised methods limits comparisons nationally and internationally. The objective of this review is to contribute to this knowledge pool by examining direct costs and indirect (lost productivity) costs of both overweight and obesity to provide comparable estimates. This review was undertaken as part of the introductory work for the Irish cost of overweight and obesity study and examines inconsistencies in the methodologies of cost of overweight and obesity studies. Studies which evaluated the direct costs and indirect costs of both overweight and obesity were included.MethodsA computerised search of English language studies addressing direct and indirect costs of overweight and obesity in adults between 2001 and 2011 was conducted. Reference lists of reports, articles and earlier reviews were scanned to identify additional studies.ResultsFive published articles were deemed eligible for inclusion. Despite the limited scope of this review there was considerable heterogeneity in methodological approaches and findings. In the four studies which presented separate estimates for direct and indirect costs of overweight and obesity, the indirect costs were higher, accounting for between 54% and 59% of the estimated total costs.ConclusionA gradient exists between increasing BMI and direct healthcare costs and indirect costs due to reduced productivity and early premature mortality. Determining precise estimates for the increases is mired by the large presence of heterogeneity among the available cost estimation literature. To improve the availability of quality evidence an international consensus on standardised methods for cost of obesity studies is warranted. Analyses of nationally representative cross-sectional datasets augmented by data from primary care are likely to provide the best data for international comparisons.

How much tetraradical character is present in the Si6Ge9 cluster?

This study discusses in detail the supposedly tetraradicaloid nature of a spirobis(pentagerma[1.1.1]propellane) derivative recently reported by Ito et al. (J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2013, 135, 6770). The electronic structure properties of the Si6Ge9 cluster are computationally explored by means of the composition of the ground state wavefunction, excitation energies to low-lying singlet, triplet and quintet states, and magnetic couplings between radical centers. Two main conclusions can be extracted from the obtained results regarding the radical character of spriobis(pentagerma[1.1.1]propellane): (i) the ground state of the Si6Ge9 cluster presents a rather small amount of effective unpaired electrons, which might be related to its chemical stability and (ii) there is in fact a perceptible tetraradical character within the small overall radical nature of the molecule. The proposed description do not contradict the conclusions drawn by the introductory work of Ito et al., but it provides a more detailed and precise interpretation of radical character of the molecule.

Histoire du vocabulaire français: origines, emprunts et création lexicale par Olivier Bertrand

quartier, comme en écho reconnaissant, récitent les vers répétés autrefois après lui: “J’entends ta voix dans la voix des enfants” (175). Avec Parabole du failli, Trouillot compose un hymne éloquent au pouvoir des mots, à la survivance des poètes et à la capacité de l’artiste tombé à se relever comme “l’oiseau noir toucouleur [...] au bord de la fenêtre” (176). Pourtant, cette fois-ci, “tu ne tombes pas. Tu planes. [...] Tu n’arrêtes pas de planer” (176). Une belle parabole pour Haïti aussi. Earlham College (IN) Annie Bandy Linguistics edited by Stacey Katz Bourns Bertrand, Olivier. Histoire du vocabulaire français: origines, emprunts et création lexicale. Palaiseau: École Polytechnique, 2011. ISBN 978-2-7302-1581-7. Pp. 227. 17,80 a. This concise volume will delight any Francophile curious about etymology. With lucid, lively, sometimes witty prose, the author introduces the reader to the captivating history of many common (and some less common) words that have entered French via the language’s many and varied contacts with other languages, as well as words created in-house through derivation and other means. Most chapters begin with an overview, historical synopsis, or presentation and illustration of relevant linguistic terms and processes, before discussing representative lexical examples. The organization is roughly chronological, beginning with the Latin heritage to which French owes some 87% of its vocabulary, the few lexical vestiges of Gaulish (for example, chêne, mouton), and early Germanic influences (‘h aspiré’ words, guerre, blanc, bleu). The chapter on the languages of medieval France gives a solid summary of Occitan but, oddly, little discussion of how Occitan lexically influenced its neighbor to the north; here one could mention abeille or the pronunciation of amour. Particularly fascinating is the chapter on early borrowings from Arabic (chiffre, alcool, chimie, sirop, artichaut, even jupe).Chapters on emerging political vocabulary reflect the author’s more specialized interests; as French progressively replaced Latin in the legal sphere, its vocabulary swelled with appropriate terms (often Latinate) needed to fulfill the language’s expanding functions. The seventeenth century witnessed the beginnings of linguistic purism and codification, and the eighteenth saw further advances in science (units of measurement like litre and mètre) and changes in political thought (for example, anarchiste, from the long-attested anarchie). The chapter on modern borrowings centers entirely on English and a host of recent language planning efforts, such as the Loi Toubon of 1994, designed to stem this perceived incursion and bolster the use of French. Bertrand is careful to avoid angst and alarmism, affirming rather that active borrowing is a sign 282 FRENCH REVIEW 88.1 Reviews 283 of a healthy, living language (French) and that it occurs naturally when languages are in contact. Then follows a potpourri of borrowings from languages whose lexical contributions to French are relatively modest,including Spanish (for example,intégrisme, chocolat),Portuguese (mangue), Dutch (démarrer),Russian (bistrot), Polish (meringue), Persian (pyjama),Chinese (soja),and modern German (aspirine,vampire).Unfortunately, subsequent discussion of the regional languages within France is limited to Breton. Bertrand shows how French innovates from within, for example through derivation (prefixation,suffixation),indicating that many productive affixes (aéro-,ciné-,-gramme, -logie) are of Greek origin.A few captivating cases of disputed or mysterious etymologies (including rat and cochon) are the icing on the cake. The author never pretends to exhaustivity, and annotated references appear in each chapter for readers interested in greater detail or more complete accounts. Graduate students and researchers will want to dig deeper,but selections from this book could work well in a range of undergraduate courses: two possibilities include History of the Language and Introduction to French Linguistics. Overall, this introductory work offers a highly enjoyable, accessible survey of the French lexicon that contains considerable expertise and careful scholarship. University of California, Santa Cruz Bryan Donaldson Cerquiglini, Bernard. Petites chroniques du français comme on l’aime! Paris: Larousse, 2013. ISBN 978-2-03-588587-6. Pp. 351. 20,90 a. La couverture annonce déjà qu’il s’agit là d’un vrai régal: l’auteur accueille le lectorat avec un petit sourire malin auquel s’ajoute un...

Resisting Neoliberalism from within the Academy: Subversion through an Activist Pedagogy

Teaching and learning in the neoliberal academy means that educators in non-market-oriented departments, such as social work, face several constraints and challenges when trying to implement an anti-oppressive, social justice focused curriculum. This article considers challenges that can arise with an introductory social work course in the current context of neoliberalism, especially when open to both social work and non-social work students. With a particular focus on larger class sizes, the use of precarious labour and the depoliticization of the classroom, the authors use an inductive, reflective approach to analyse observations made about shifts in the behaviour and engagement of students in the course. The authors surmise possible explanations for these shifts, considering changes made to the substantive content and pedagogical practices of the course. Through this process the authors propose that these changes represent an ‘activist pedagogy’ which may offer potential for anti-oppressive education with students both inside and outside social work. As such, the authors propose ‘activist pedagogy’ as a possible way to resist and subvert the neoliberal educational paradigm and to better integrate the principles and practices of social justice and anti-oppressive social work into the classroom.

Theoretical study of a new thermodynamic power cycle for thermal water pumping application and its prospects when coupled to a solar pond

This is an introductory theoretical work on the new thermodynamic power cycle for thermal water pumping. This paper describes the new thermodynamic power cycle with help of P–v and P–h curves and the operation of a thermal water pump based on this cycle with acetone as working fluid. Further ideal thermal performance of this water pump for different heat source and heat sink temperatures is discussed. The proposed thermal water pump has an ideal overall efficiency equal to about 40% of Carnot cycle efficiency for driving temperature difference of 60 °C with acetone as working fluid. This paper presents the ideal theoretical performance predictions of such thermal water pump coupled with a solar pond located on a salt farm at Pyramid Hill in north Victoria, Australia. Most salt farms around the world use electric pumps to draw saline water from ground or sea. The proposed thermal water pump can provide an alternative to these electric pumps.

A Primer to the Media Prehistory of the Present

A Primer to the Media Prehistory of the Present Matthew Stoddard (bio) What Is Media Archaeology? by Jussi Parikka. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2012. 205 pages. $60.69 hardback. $24.95 paperback. Jussi Parikka’s What Is Media Archaeology? is the second book in as many years to be published in English with “media archaeology” in the title. The other is a collection of essays coedited by Parikka titled Media Archaeology: Approaches, Applications, and Implications (2011).1 As the titles of both books suggest, media archaeology is a young field in the process of consolidating itself. While Parikka proposes that What Is Media Archaeology? can be seen as a companion to the other volume, it might more accurately be described as a primer. What Is Media Archaeology? is very much an introductory work—those well versed in media theory might therefore want to head straight to the other volume in order to see media archaeology in action, as it were—focused on summary and synthesis. Parikka performs both deftly and includes a summary paragraph and a list for further reading at the conclusion to each chapter as well as an ample bibliography at the end of the book. Still, the book is less a straightforward history of the field of media archaeology than a “cartography” of its methods; Parikka is concerned less with tracing a faithful representation of existing scholarship than with mapping a field of problems and possible connections (161). [End Page 278] Combining theoretical and historical research, Parikka’s version of media archaeology seeks above all to think old and new media in “parallel lines” and turns to past media as a way to write a prehistory of the present: “Media archaeology is introduced as a way to investigate the new media cultures through insights from past new media, often with an emphasis on the forgotten, the quirky, the non-obvious apparatuses, practices, and inventions” (2). The “archaeology” in media archaeology is fundamentally indebted to Michel Foucault. According to Parikka, one of the chief concerns of the field is to understand the role of media in shaping the conditions of knowledge. Equally important is Foucault’s use of “genealogy” and the way the vicissitudes of media history are materially inscribed on bodies and in machines. The most famous purveyor of this approach to media is, of course, Friedrich Kittler. Parikka thus devotes nearly an entire chapter to a clear and cogent summary of Kittler’s work. Wolfgang Ernst, perhaps less well known than Kittler to a North American audience, also figures prominently. Parikka levers Ernst to emphasize the archive as one the most significant technological and conceptual arenas for media archaeology.2 The next “logical step” in extending Foucault’s notion of the archive is, Parikka argues, “for us to rethink the machine as the archive: the software, the hardware, the protocols and platforms which form the visibility, the audibility, the statements of what is” (87). Parikka describes the computer as a more literal archive—that is, as an actual storage space—and points to the challenges of preserving and organizing digital content as a potential zone of intersection between media archaeology and the digital humanities. Drawing on Kittler and German media theory more generally, Parikka contrasts media archaeology with media studies and cultural studies as a method grounded in technical knowledge, going “under the hood” of media technology (89). This technical knowledge folds into a pursuit of “theoretical frameworks that go beyond user experience, hermeneutical interpretation and narrative” (125). Screen content, for instance, is secondary to the software and hardware that make it possible. One of Parikka’s interventions in this vein is to redefine imaginary media, which has been central to media archaeology and is typically understood as fabulated devices, “the stuff of dreams as well as nightmares, at times existing only in the minds of inventors or science-fiction writers” (44).3 Against charges that media archaeology may devolve into a fetishism for curios, Parikka forwards a properly materialist take on imaginary media as technologies that escape human perception, such as electromagnetic waves. He thus attempts to move [End Page 279] imaginary media (and, by extension, media archaeology) from the margins to the center of the...

Using Elements of Team-Based Learning in an Introductory Social Work Course

This article describes the application of specific elements of team-based learning in an introductory social work course. The second author “inherited” the course when she arrived on campus as a newly hired assistant professor. Although the course was thoroughly developed and highly regarded by faculty and students, the second author felt a sense of disconnect among students, as well as between students and herself. In an effort to increase student engagement and active learning, facets of team-based learning were implemented in this introductory social work course beginning in the fall of 2011, with the first author using this teaching strategy since the fall of 2012. This article includes a brief literature review specific to team-based learning, a description of components of this teaching strategy employed in the course, instructors’ observations, and student commentary regarding team-based learning in this course. Finally, the article concludes with implications for baccalaureate social work education.

Creating a safe climate for active learning and student engagement: an example from an introductory social work module

This article explores the experiences of students who participated in a series of seminars that employed active learning methodologies. The study on which the article is based involved two parts. First, students completed a questionnaire after each seminar, resulting in 468 questionnaires. Second, nine students participated in a focus group where the questionnaire findings were explored. The research findings suggest that the students were highly engaged and that the mix of ‘doing’, ‘observing’ and ‘reflecting’ contributed to their engagement. However, in addition, the students’ perspectives suggested that the learning environment in which the seminars took place was of particular importance. Overall, the study highlights that while active learning methodologies contribute to student engagement, the atmosphere in which the methodologies are used is also of central importance. Therefore, as well as paying attention to the cognitive aspects of learning, teachers need to consider the affective domains.

A New History of Christianity in China by Daniel H. Bays (review)

BOOK REVIEWS DANIEL H. BAYS, A New History of Christianity in China. Malden (MA), Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. x, 241 pp. £24.99 (pbk). ISBN 978-1-4051-5955-5 This is a highly readable and up-to-date introduction to the history of Christianity in China by a long-term expert in the field, Daniel Bays (Calvin College). While the recent two volumes of the Handbook of Christianity in China have provided a useful reference tool and guide for specialized research,1 the book by Bays will serve usefully as a much shorter, but informative introductory work. Such a readable and up-to-date introduction has been in fact in want for many years, with only a few other similar works published (among them Father Jean-Pierre Charbonnier’s Christians in China A.D. 600 to 2000).2 While the latter work has a focus on Catholic missions, Bays positions his new work as one with a stronger emphasis on Protestant Christianity in China—though in fact his work seems quite balanced between these two main Christian confessions and even includes a short overview of the Orthodox church as an appendix. In his introduction Bays reveals the two central themes that are used throughout the book: first, the ‘‘basic tension between (foreign) mission and (Chinese) church,’’ especially from 1800 to 1950, and second, ‘‘the always-present instinct of the Chinese state, or political regime, to monitor and control religious movements’’ (p. 2). This double perspective from inside and outside the Church is well chosen to convey a broader picture of the changing conditions of the Christian Church history in Chinese context. It reflects present-day concerns in Christianity regarding ‘‘indigenization’’ (as it was called in Protestant missiology until the first half of the 20th century, or what alternatively has been called ‘‘inculturation’’ or ‘‘contextualization’’), but also the continuing problem of state control in Mainland China (the differing examples of Taiwan, Hong Kong, or overseas Chinese Christianity are accordingly not the main focus of the book). The theological concern of indigenization is briefly reflected by Bays in the introduction with reference to Andrew Walls’ preference of using the idea of ‘‘World Christianities’’ in contrast to the Eurocentric model of what Walls calls ‘‘Christendom’’3 (p. 2). It serves as an underlying guideline for the whole historical account, while further theological and methodological reflections on this approach or on indigenous theologies are not the focus of this book. 1 Vol. I: 635–1800, ed. Nicolas Standaert (Leiden: Brill, 2001); vol. II: 1800 to the Present, ed. Gary Tiedemann (Leiden: Brill, 2010). 2 Translated by M. N. L. Couve de Murville (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2007. Original French edition: Paris: Indes savantes, 2002). 3 ‘‘From Christendom to World Christianity,’’ in The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History, ed. Andrew Walls (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2001). Journal of Chinese Religions, 41. 1, 59–90, May 2013 # Society for the Study of Chinese Religions 2013 DOI: 10.1179/0737769X13Z.0000000003 The book basically follows a chronological pattern. It starts with a first shorter chapter on ‘‘Nestorians’’ in China in Tang and Mongol times as well as the shortlived Catholic mission of the Mongol period. The treatment appears up-to-date and reflects most recent research in this field. More space is given to the first enduring endeavor of Catholic mission beginning in the late 16th century, with an emphasis on the Jesuits and the rites controversy that also involved rival mendicant orders. Of special interest is the fact that though Bays treats here the obligatory topic of the Chinese rites controversy, he puts an equally strong emphasis on the consequences after Christianity was forbidden: the self-organization of rural Catholic communities, which helped Catholicism to survive proscription and partial persecution in the ‘‘long 18th century’’ until 1840. While for this Bays draws again on the most recent research, it also reflects his special interest in independent churches. Chapter 3 (‘‘Protestant Beginnings, Catholic Redux, and China’s First Indigenous Christians, 1800–1860’’) continues with the new missionary beginnings in the nineteenth century under the conditions of imperialism, especially since the progressive opening of China after the First Opium War. The chapter treats thoroughly major issues of...

Exploring Baccalaureate Social Work Students' Self-Efficacy: Did it Change over Time?

This study explored baccalaureate social work students' self-efficacy at a rural southern university. Bandura's concept of self-efficacy is used as a theoretical base for the study. Students (N = 43) in introductory social work courses and in the field practicum course completed the Foundation Practice Self Efficacy Scale. Following The Council on Social Work Educations 2008 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards, which recognizes field education as the signature pedagogy of social work education, field students were hypothesized to have higher levels of self-reported self-efficacy than entry-level students. Results suggest that senior level students were more confident in their abilities to practice social work than those students enrolled in an introductory social work course. Implications of this research for social work education are discussed, including the value of using self-efficacy scales in evaluating social work educational program outcomes.

Teaching Standards–Based Group Work Competencies to Social Work Students

Objectives: Accreditation standards and challenges in group work education require competency-based approaches in teaching social work with groups. The Association for the Advancement of Social Work with Groups developed Standards for Social Work Practice with Groups, which serve as foundation competencies for professional practice. However, there has been no empirical publication about using them in teaching. This pilot study tested a microskills teaching approach to improve competency in the Standards. Methods: The mixed-methods study used a preexperimental, pretest–posttest design involving 123 diverse baccalaureate and master’s students in introductory group work courses. Student responses about the experience were also collected. Results: There were significant, substantial increases in students’ perceived importance of and confidence in using the Standards. Confidence gain scores were significantly associated with performance in role-plays. Comments about the assignments were highly favorable and identified role-plays as contributing most to learning. Conclusions: The teaching approach advanced Standards-based group work education.