Belief Questions Research Articles

Prevalence of primary tuberculosis among nomadic Fulani population and their cattle herds in Kano, Nigeria

Background: According to the UNODC report in 2013, thirty million men and women globally are imprisoned each year. Prevalenceof infectiousdiseases suchasHIV, hepatitis B&C, TB andother STI inprisons are2-10 timeshigher amongprisonpopulations compared to the rates of general population. Aimed at reducing risky behaviors and incidence of infectious diseases in prisons as well as targeted new educational method named Fission Method of Peer education (FMP) implemented as a cost effective, rapid progressive and extensive coverage method in Iranian prisons Methods & Materials: This interventional studywas performed on HIV education on male prisoners in two blocks of Tehran main complex prison in 2013. One of these blocks went on a 30 day peer training program (FMP) as a case group and other block received routine programs(such as lecture, pamphlet,leaflet, and. . .) of education in prisons (control group). Baseline data collected with pretest from all imprisons in both blocks. The questions were divided into four groups about HIV/AIDS information. After implementation 30 day peer education program in case group, both groups had the post test. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version21 Results: In the case group, post test scores significantly higher than the pre test scores, but in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (Phi Kramer test). There was a significant proportion of true answer increasing in all 4 question’s groups in the trained inmates: in corrected beliefs questions: p <0.0001, transmission group’s questions: p <0.005, ways of prevention group’s questions: p <0.0001, diagnostic signs questions: p <0.0001). The results obtained strong correlation between levels of education with increasing awareness by this training program method. Thehigher the educational level, the higher change awareness with this method Conclusion: Thisnewpeer educationmethod (FMP) canbe ideal setting to improve HIV/AIDS knowledge of inmates. Considering that this method is cost effective, spontaneous and ongoing with high transmission power to improve the education of prisoners, so it seems to be the way to educate many infectious diseases like H1N1 Influenza especially in their epidemic outbursts in prisons

HIV/AIDS knowledge improvement among Iranian prisons: Innovative Peer Education Method (FMP)

Background: According to the UNODC report in 2013, thirty million men and women globally are imprisoned each year. Prevalence of infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B & C, TB and other STI in prisons are 2-10 times higher among prison populations compared to the rates of general population. Aimed at reducing risky behaviors and incidence of infectious diseases in prisons as well as targeted new educational method named Fission Method of Peer education (FMP) implemented as a cost effective, rapid progressive and extensive coverage method in Iranian prisons Methods & Materials: This interventional study was performed on HIV education on male prisoners in two blocks of Tehran main complex prison in 2013. One of these blocks went on a 30 day peer training program (FMP) as a case group and other block received routine programs(such as lecture, pamphlet,leaflet, and…) of education in prisons (control group). Baseline data collected with pretest from all imprisons in both blocks. The questions were divided into four groups about HIV/AIDS information. After implementation 30 day peer education program in case group, both groups had the post test. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version21 Results: In the case group, post - test scores significantly higher than the pre - test scores, but in the control group, the difference was not statistically significant (Phi Kramer test). There was a significant proportion of true answer increasing in all 4 question's groups in the trained inmates: in corrected beliefs questions: p < 0.0001, transmission group's questions: p < 0.005, ways of prevention group's questions: p < 0.0001, diagnostic signs questions: p < 0.0001). The results obtained strong correlation between levels of education with increasing awareness by this training program method. The higher the educational level, the higher change awareness with this method Conclusion: This new peer education method (FMP) can be ideal setting to improve HIV/AIDS knowledge of inmates. Considering that this method is cost effective, spontaneous and ongoing with high transmission power to improve the education of prisoners, so it seems to be the way to educate many infectious diseases like H1N1 Influenza especially in their epidemic outbursts in prisons

Métapsychologie et fictions

AimsThe purpose of this study is to analyse the limits of representation and the characteristics of fictions in Freudian metapsychology. As such, this paper has an epistemological angle, which looks at the sources and models of fiction in the elaboration of the drive concept. MethodThis article is a theoretical research on fictions and foundations of psychoanalytical concepts, through an epistemological and historical analysis of Freudian metapsychology. The drive theory is located in the process of its construction. ResultsThis study shows that fictions correspond to an heuristic approach to thinking “something unknown”. This article suggests that metapsychological fictions have different modes of existence: “theoretical fictions”, “fundamental concepts”, myths… In this paper, important arguments for mythological fictions are exposed: in the case of death drive, myths may provide a representation of drives and a place for that which escapes the realms of scientific knowledge. DiscussionThe article contains a brief overview of the fictional position in The Interpretation of Dreams. The characterization of “theoretical fictions” is connected with a philosophical field and the principal precursors of Freudian fictionalism: Kant and Hans Vaihinger. An important aspect is to show how metapsychology integrates a philosophical investigation of the possibility for representation. The question of “fundamental concepts” is examined: the focus concerns the notion of “convention” and the significance of “limit-concept”. If the 1915 drive model is clearly scientific and conceptual, Freud's 1920 approach is fundamentally mythological and narrative. This epistemological shift is examined and its significance is discussed. ConclusionThis paper proposes a general conclusion: the Freudian epistemology of fiction is based on an aporia which is present at the core of the possibility of metapsychological representation. From an epistemological point of view, metapsychology formulates and maintains a critical position on the question of “fundamental concepts” and theoretical constructions: this conclusion connects the problem of fictions with the question of belief.

Healthy Eating Opinion Survey for individuals at risk for cardiovascular disease.

To develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of a questionnaire to measure intentions and beliefs about healthy eating in individuals at risk for coronary heart disease. The Healthy Eating Opinion Survey was developed using the theory of planned behavior. An open-ended elicitation questionnaire was administered to 21 participants, and a 46-item questionnaire was developed for further testing. Test-retest reliability of each question on the survey was assessed by calculating the correlation coefficients between the responses over a 2- week period in 17 participants. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, and factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of the questionnaire in a sample of 388 participants. The responses to the elicitation questions were used to develop behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs questions for the final questionnaire. Test-retest reliability ranged from 0.22-0.90, with the majority (89%) of correlations being moderate to strong. Internal consistency was good, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.74-0.92. All intentions questions loaded onto a single factor; attitude questions loaded onto two factors; subjective norm questions loaded onto two factors; perceived behavioral control questions loaded onto one factor; behavioral beliefs questions loaded onto one factor; normative beliefs questions loaded onto one factor; and control beliefs questions loaded onto one factor. The questionnaire was found to be a reliable, valid questionnaire to assess beliefs and intentions toward eating a healthy diet in individuals at risk for coronary heart disease.

Religious practice and belief in the Republic of Buryatia: comparing across faiths and national groups

Using results from a 2010 survey conducted in the Republic of Buryatia, this paper compares the responses of Russians and Buryats on questions of religious practice and belief, as well as the role of religion and religious organizations in the political sphere of contemporary Russia. Buryats more commonly identify with a religion and more frequently attend religious services in comparison to Russians living in the republic. There is greater consonance between the two groups on the public role of religion, with both Russians and Buryats generally supportive of the recent extension of religious education into schools and the creation of national holidays for all traditional religions, among other issues.

Veneration and Wonder—the politics of making art in an Oaxacan village

This article examines a 5-year collaboration between the Stockholm-based video artists Performing Pictures and Talleres Comunitarios, a studio based in the Oaxacan town of Santa Ana Zegache where local artisans employ traditional skills in the restoration of religious artifacts. In images and text, we trace the exchange of skills, knowledge, and aesthetic sensibility that took place as these two groups of artists collaborated in producing a series of video animations of venerative objects, against a backdrop of religious, social, and political tensions that characterize everyday life in Zegache.In the article and the accompanying series of three short films, “Wonder & Veneration 1–3” (http://vimeo.com/album/2682070), we examine how the artists negotiate questions of aesthetics and religious belief as their collaboration unfolds within the context of the Zegache community, where the Talleres contribute skills of carpentry and painting, while Performing Pictures provides skills of film, animation and micro-electronics. The processes and practices involved in creating three works provides the framework for this examination: the first, an animation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as she appears to a simple peasant, and the second, produced 2 years later, an animation of Santa Ana, local patron saint and mother of Maria, as she teaches her daughter to read the scriptures. Whereas both figures are central to the syncretic religious belief of southern Mexico with its challenge to the entrenched authority of the hispanicized clergy, the local figure of Santa Ana carries even more complex meanings for the community of Zegache. These meanings are embodied in the third work we examine, a small solar-powered chapel that the artists built to display the Santa Ana animation. With the mayor's support and located at the entrance to the town, the chapel embodies a shift of power away from the church, standing as an example of indigenous empowerment in civil society.

Southeast Asia. Hard interests, soft illusions: Southeast Asia and American power. By Natasha Hamilton-Hart. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012. Pp. 243. Appendix, Bibliography, Index.

Hard interests, soft illusions: Southeast Asia and American power By NATASHA HAMILTON-HART Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012. Pp. 243. Appendix, Bibliography, Index. doi: 10.1017/S0022463413000386 Natasha Hamilton-Hart explores the relationship between 'interests' and 'illusions' in shaping the foreign policies (towards the United States) of the governments of Southeast Asia. In a book that is both concise and thorough, she focuses on the period from the Cold War to the present and includes Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam in her analysis. She emphasises that in all of these cases 'beliefs about American power' flow from specific 'illusions' and 'interests' that are not necessarily explained by what she describes as 'common understandings of the sources of foreign policy'. In the case of 'interests' that shape different approaches to the United States on the part of politically divergent governments in the region, she emphasises the interests of particular regimes, an established ruling elite or the governing political party of the nation-states concerned. More specifically, she draws attention to the 'interests' of political leaders 'in securing power' and 'rewarding supporters'. She also draws attention to the 'career interests' of those who are involved in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy towards the United States and the fact that professional or personal considerations may become tied up in various ways with the conduct of diplomacy. Hamilton Hart emphasises that, despite their differences, the region's 'non-communist political elites' have by and large regarded America 'as a benign power over the last sixty years' (pp. 9-10). However, if there is a continued relative decline in the 'economic capacity' of the United States (a trend that has been at the centre of the Great Recession that began in December 2007 and may or may not have ended, depending on your point of view) its image as a 'benign hegemon' could 'fade' (p. 191). But, for the moment, despite its changing role since the end of the Cold War until the bombings of September 11 and since, Hamilton-Hart emphasises that there remains a strongly grounded and generally positive view of American power that informs the thinking and actions of the foreign policy elites in Southeast Asia. Following a short Introduction, which maps out her overall approach, the second chapter focuses on how the various 'beliefs' of the political actors and diplomats concerned have interacted with the 'hard interests' and 'soft illusions' to which she refers in the book's title. Chapter 3 examines in more detail the political economy of 'interests', while chapter 4 examines the question of beliefs (assumptions) that feed into the 'soft illusions' via an examination of the writing and rewriting of the various national histories in Southeast Asia and of the history of the United States in the region. She makes clear that in all cases there is a mainstream and widely accepted version of history, which has been debated to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the nation-state concerned. At the same, these 'mainstream national histories' remain selective and uncritical: they all involve a 'sanitisation of history' producing 'one-sided and confident narratives' that celebrate the overall historical trajectory of particular polities in Southeast Asia in a fashion that is to a lesser or greater degree inclusive depending on the contemporary character of the regime concerned. In this regard, as with 'interests', the foreign policy elites in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia articulate a less overtly contested version of their histories, while Thailand and the Philippines have been characterised by greater debate since the end of the Cold War (if not well before). Not surprisingly, the foreign-policymakers and the political elite in Vietnam hold to a celebratory account of the country's long struggle from nationalist-communist insurgency to national unification and Communist Party rule. …

Assessing climate change beliefs: Response effects of question wording and response alternatives

To date, there is no 'gold standard' on how to best measure public climate change beliefs. We report a study (N = 897) testing four measures of climate change causation beliefs, drawn from four sources: the CSIRO, Griffith University, the Gallup poll, and the Newspoll. We found that question wording influences the outcome of beliefs reported. Questions that did not allow respondents to choose the option of believing in an equal mix of natural and anthropogenic climate change obtained different results to those that included the option. Age and belief groups were found to be important predictors of how consistent people were in reporting their beliefs. Response consistency gave some support to past findings suggesting climate change beliefs reflect something deeper in the individual belief system. Each belief question was assessed against five criterion variables commonly used in climate change literature. Implications for future studies are discussed.

Acesso individual e coletivo de moradores de favelas à justiça

Discutimos neste estudo a democratização do acesso de moradores de favelas cariocas ao Judiciário por meio de análise histórico-temporal e espacial de julgados cíveis do TJRJ. As análises foram realizadas sob dois enfoques: (1) do acesso - individual e coletivo ao judiciário; (2) do posicionamento dos magistrados frente às demandas propostas. Os resultados sugerem a relação entre: (1) aumento do acesso de moradores de favelas ao judiciário e melhoria dos índices de desenvolvimento social; (2) baixa incidência de demandas coletivas e tratamento omisso dispensado por magistrados a este tipo de ação; (3) falta de coerência entre as decisões judiciais de magistrados e realidade social da favela e seus ajustes ao longo dos últimos anos; e traz (4) o questionamento de algumas crenças teóricas consolidadas sobre as principais variáveis na promoção do "acesso à justiça".

Theory of Mind Development is Impaired in 4-year-old Children with Prenatal Exposure to Maternal Tobacco Smoking.

Theory of Mind (ToM) is an important component of social cognition. Deficits in ToM are found in various neurodevelopmental disorders and social and environmental factors have been found to influence ToM development. Little previous research has focused on effects of exposure to toxins; this report examines the impact of tobacco. Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine, between April 2006 - August 2012. 101 children, 18 with prenatal exposure to tobacco, underwent ToM testing at 40 (n=89) and 48 (n=77) months of age. Test questions received dichotomous pass/fail scores and percentage of correct responses was utilized as the primary dependent variable. At 40 months of age children were rarely able to correctly answer false belief questions and there were no significant differences according to prenatal tobacco exposure. At 48 months of age, there was a significant effect of prenatal tobacco exposure with non-exposed 48-month-olds correctly answering 45±40.6% of content false belief questions correctly, compared to 13.9±25.3% for 48-month-olds with prenatal tobacco exposure (F=4.79, df= 1,73, p=.032). ToM abilities are rapidly developing between 40 and 48 months of age. Prenatal exposure to tobacco is associated with impairment at 48 but not 40 months of age. This finding supports consideration of nicotinic mechanisms as contributors to early development of social cognition.

Development and Validation of the Cervical Cancer Knowledge and Beliefs of Appalachian Women Questionnaire

Cervical cancer rates in Appalachia are persistently higher in Appalachia when compared to the rest of the United States. No quantitative instrument exists that examines the cervical cancer knowledge, behavior, and beliefs of Appalachian women. The purpose of this research is to develop, test, and use a new instrument that quantifies the cervical cancer knowledge, behavior, and beliefs of Appalachian women. Constructs from the Health Belief Model, Health Promotion Model, findings from the qualitative literature, and the researcher's clinical background were used to construct an initial 58-item instrument. Appalachian residence, intact uterus, age 21-64 year, and English speaking. Content and construct validity techniques decreased the initial 58-item instrument (5 demographic questions, 9 behavior questions, and 44 cervical cancer knowledge and belief questions) to a 27-item instrument consisting of 5 demographic items, 8 behavior items, and 14 knowledge and belief items. Construct validity was supported with items clustering into 4 factors explaining 53% of the variance. Pilot study testing (20 subjects) and main study testing (217 subjects) composes the sample pool. The new instrument demonstrated initial reliability and validity. Revision and retesting in other populations within Appalachia should comprise the next step to confirm reliability and validity.

Catholicism in The X-Files

In discussions of The X-Files it has become almost a cliche to note that while Fox Mulder is known for being the believer and Dana Scully the sceptic, those roles reverse when the question of religious belief arises, in particular Scully's adherence to her Roman Catholic faith. Throughout the course of the series, Scully's acceptance of supernatural belief, as represented by her return to Catholicism, allows her to become more open to the paranormal possibilities advanced by Mulder. Moreover, the relationship between Scully and Mulder, as well as Scully's own character development, represents the alternating tension and harmony between faith and reason that forms the core of Catholic theology, as exemplified in the writings of theologian Thomas Aquinas, his contemporary Bonaventure of Bagnoregio and others. While the series does not dwell on specific theological questions or writers, the representation of Scully's religious journey is portrayed as beneficial to the agents' search for the ‘truth’. The reco...

Cinematic Belief

Given the so-called “crisis” in film theory, the digital mutations of the medium, and the renewed interest in historicism, cinephilia, and film philosophy, André Bazin's thought appears ripe for retrieval and renewal. Indeed, his role in the renaissance of philosophical film theory, I argue, is less epistemological and ontological than moral and aesthetic. It is a quest to explore the revelatory possibilities of cinematic images; not only their power to reveal reality under a multiplicity of aspects but to satisfy our desire for myth – to allow an aesthetic overcoming of the limits of consciousness and memory. The question I wish to explore is whether cinema has the power to restore our belief in reality, in the worlds that film can reveal, in the experience that it can capture and transfigure. My case study for exploring this question, the question of belief in cinema or what we could call a Bazinian cinephilia, will be Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life (2011); a film whose sublime aesthetics and unorthodox religiosity has provoked polarised critical responses, but whose remarkable ambition is to create a mythology – personal, historical, and cosmological – capable of reanimating belief in cinema and in the world.

Five eighteenth-century medical polymaths

Abstract Five eighteenth-century medical men, like many of their contemporaries, achieved renown for their medical skills and research abilities. They lived during an exciting period marked by the questioning of many traditional beliefs. Coeval scientific achievements increased knowledge of the challenging natural world around them. Outside medicine, John Wall (1708–1776) established the fashionable spa of Malvern, known for the purity of its water, and co-founded the prestigious Worcester Porcelain Company. Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) had a remarkably inventive mind ranging over many interests, including canal construction, steering equipment for carriages and a copying machine for documents. Edward Jenner (1749–1823) was interested in bird migration, and researched the brood parasitism of the cuckoo. His vaccination of cowpox to prevent smallpox eventually led to the elimination of the disease in 1980. Caleb Parry (1755–1822) practised medicine in Bath and was admired for his knowledge and integrity. He was interested in sheep and produced high-quality merino wool. Since boyhood he had hunted for fossils with his friend, Edward Jenner. John MacCulloch (1773–1835) produced the first geological map of Scotland, published posthumously in 1836. A prolific writer, his book on the Western Isles (1819) is considered a classic.

A Most Eminent Victorian: Thomas Henry Huxley

Huxley coined the word agnostic to describe his own philosophical framework in part to distinguish himself from materialists, atheists, and positivists. In this paper I will elaborate on exactly what Huxley meant by agnosticism by discussing his views on the distinctions he drew between philosophy and science, science and theology, and between theology and religion. His claim that theology belonged to the realm of the intellect while religion belonged to the realm of feeling served as an important strategy in his defense of evolution. Approaching Darwin’s theory in the spirit of Goethe’s Thatige Skepsis or active skepticism, he showed that most of the “scientific” objections to evolution were at their root religiously based. Huxley maintained that the question of “man’s place in nature” should be approached independently of the question of origins, yet at the same time argued passionately and eloquently that even if humans shared a common a origin with the apes, this did not make humans any less special. Because evolution was so intertwined with the questions of belief, of morals and of ethics, and Huxley was the foremost defender of Darwin’s ideas in the English-speaking world, he was at the center of the discussions as Victorians struggled with trying to reconcile the growing gulf between science and faith.

Web-based self-management support training for health professionals: A pilot study

ObjectiveTo evaluate a web-based self-management training for health professionals. Patients spend 99% of their time outside the healthcare system. Thus self-management support from health professionals is central to optimal care. Our objective was to teach health professionals the skills to provide this support. MethodsPrimary care residents and practicing providers enrolled in six groups. Each group received four web-based interactive training sessions derived from self-efficacy theory. Retrospective-pre/post assessed changes in self-management beliefs and confidence. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with Bonferroni correction compared responses. Focus groups solicited qualitative feedback. ResultsFifty-seven residents and providers across the United States enrolled. Residents demonstrated positive changes on all belief questions (P 0.001–0.012). Practicing providers had a non-significant positive change on one and significant changes on the remainder (P 0.001–0.018). Both types of participants demonstrated significant increases on confidence questions regarding their ability to support self-management (P<0.01 for all). Participants described learned techniques as being useful, reducing burnout, and increasing acceptance of patient involvement in care planning. ConclusionThe web-based self-management support training for health professionals was feasible and changed beliefs and confidence. Practice implicationsThe program may maximize patient self-management by increasing provider self-efficacy and skill for self-management support.

Young Children's Emotion Comprehension and Theory of Mind Understanding

Research Findings: The present study investigated the relation between theory of mind (ToM) and emotion understanding among 78 children 4½ to 6½ years old (35 boys, 43 girls). ToM understanding was assessed using ignorance and false belief questions within an emotion-understanding task that evaluated children's abilities to recognize facial expressions and identify the external causes of emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised), understand the role of beliefs and desires in emotion, and comprehend felt versus expressed emotions. Results indicated that children's understanding of the external causes of emotion, hidden emotions, and a reminder's influence on emotions improved with age and that children's understanding of the external causes of emotion related to ToM understanding. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that programs that seek to promote children's socioemotional awareness could benefit from encouraging the development of children's understanding of the external causes of emotions to improve overall social cognition.

Being Affected by Art: A Gadamerian Perspective

Museums that prioritize dialogue about social justice may be less educative than they purport, Ann Chinnery argues. The curricula of so-called “dialogue” museums typically reinforce and supplement classroom-based learning. Consequently, questions that students bring to museums are “pre-asked,” formulated in contexts outside of museums for the purpose of gaining information. While this type of instrumental education may promote mastery of subject matter, it does not invite students to wonder: “What might I learn from museums that I don’t already know?” Chinnery concludes that “dialogue” museums ultimately do not enable students “to confront their most closely-held assumptions and assume responsibility for change.” Instead these museums foreclose opportunities for personal engagement and mitigate genuine questioning of beliefs.

The Judgment of God and the Immeasurable: Political Theology and Organizations of Power

This article considers how political theologies understand and organize power. It begins with an axiomatic understanding of politics as concerned with the organization of power. This understanding of politics requires a theological inquiry, as it is concerned with questions of piety and belief that underlie and direct power within these conscious organizations. It then provides a survey of three dominant forms of political theology: liberal political theology, exemplified by John D. Caputo; conservative political theology, exemplified by John Milbank; and political anti-theology, exemplified by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. It ends by way of a speculative account of a political non-theology, based on the non-philosophy of François Laruelle, that makes each of these political theologies relative to the immeasurable itself and thus turns them into simple material that may be used to construct relative different organizations of power with greater situational efficacies.

Joseph Smith, Jesus, and Satanic opposition: atonement, evil and the Mormon vision

This book explores Mormon theology in new ways from a scholarly non-Mormon perspective. Bringing Jesus and Satan into relationship with Joseph Smith the founding prophet, Douglas Davies shows how the Mormon 'Plan of Salvation' can be equated with mainstream Christianity's doctrine of the Trinity as a driving force of the faith. Exploring how Jesus has been understood by Mormons, his many Mormon identities are described in this book: he is the Jehovah of the Bible, our Elder Brother and Father, probably also a husband, he visited the dead and is also the antagonist of Satan-Lucifer. This book offers a way into the Mormon 'problem of evil' understood as apostasy, from pre-mortal times to today. Three images reveal the wider problem of evil in Mormonism: Jesus' pre-mortal encounter with Lucifer in a heavenly council deciding on the Plan of Salvation, Jesus Christ's great suffering-engagement with evil in Gethsemane, and Joseph Smith's First Vision of the divine when he was almost destroyed by an evil force. Douglas Davies, well-known for his previous accounts of Mormon life and thought, shows how renewed Mormon interest in theological questions of belief can be understood against the background of Mormon church-organization and its growing presence on the world-stage of Christianity.