Sociobiological Aspects of Resilience

The chapter approaches resilience from an evolutionary psychology perspective. In recent years scientific studies have revealed many of the biological processes associated with resilient behaviour. The authors argue that the internal constitution and mental toughness of the individual will provide a core protection for life's inevitable tests. A nurtured developing brain 'in-utero' and a physically close dyadic relationship in the early years of life, are crucial to the provision of a resilient personality. Many descriptors of the construct of resilience presented in various studies are explored in this chapter.

Searching for salvation: An analysis of US religious searching on the World Wide Web

The goals of this research were to answer three questions. How predominant is religious searching online? How do people interact with Web search engines when searching for religious information? How effective are these interactions in locating relevant information? Specifically, referring to a US demographic, we analyzed five data sets from Web search engine, collected between 1997 and 2005, of over a million queries each in order to investigate religious searching on the Web. Results point to four key findings. First, there is no evidence of a decrease in religious Web-searching behaviors. Religious interest is a persistent topic of Web searching. Second, those seeking religious information on the Web are becoming slightly more interactive in their searching. Third, there is no evidence for a move away from mainstream religions toward non-mainstream religions since the majority of the search terms are associated with established religions. Fourth, our work does not support the hypothesis that traditional religious affiliation is associated with lower adoption of or sophistication with technology. These factors point to the Web as a potentially usefully communication medium for a variety of religious organizations. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sacred cows and crashing boars : ethno-religious minorities and the politics of online representation in Malaysia

Starting with the incident now known as the Cow’s Head Protest, this article traces and unpacks the events, techniques, and conditions surrounding the representation of ethno-religious minorities in Malaysia. The author suggests that the Malaysian Indians’ struggle to correct the dominant reading of their community as an impoverished and humbled underclass is a disruption of the dominant cultural order in Malaysia. It is also among the key events to have has set in motion a set of dynamics—the visual turn—introduced by new media into the politics of ethno-communal representation in Malaysia. Believing that this situation requires urgent examination the author attempts to outline the problematics of the task.

Examining spirituality and intrinsic religious orientation as a means of coping with exam anxiety

Spirituality and religiosity have traditionally had a troubled relationship with psychology. However, a new field of study has emerged that is examining the health benefits of spirituality and religion. The current study examined the relationship between spirituality, religiosity and coping among a group of university students facing exams. Participants completed the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, Age Universal Religious Orientation Scale, Spiritual Transcendence Scale, Brief COPE, Test Anxiety Inventory, and State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Regression analyses found that existential well-being as measured by the Spiritual Well Being Scale was the best predictor of reduced anxiety. Maladaptive coping, however, was found to be inversely related to spirituality and religiosity, but highly predictive of elevated anxiety in this sample. Strengths and limitations of this study along with recommendations for further research are made.

The role of cultural beliefs in contributing to risky road use behaviour in Pakistan

Background Pakistan has the highest population rate of road fatalities in South Asia (25.3 fatalities per 100,000 people: Global Status Report on Road Safety, WHO 2009). Along with road environment and vehicle factors, human factors make a substantial contribution to traffic safety in Pakistan. Beliefs about road crash causation and prevention have been demonstrated to contribute to risky road use behaviour and resistance to preventive measures in a handful of other developing countries, but has not been explored in Pakistan. In particular, fatalism (whether based on religion, other cultural beliefs or experience) has been highlighted as a barrier to achieving changes in attitudes and behaviour. Aims The research reported here aimed (i) to explore perceptions of road crash causation among policy makers, police officers, professional drivers and car drivers in Pakistan; (ii) to identify how cultural and religious beliefs influence road use behaviour in Pakistan; and (iii) to understand how fatalistic beliefs may work as obstacles to road safety interventions. Methods In-depth interviews were conducted by the primary author (mostly in Urdu) in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad with 12 professional drivers (taxi, bus and truck), 4 car drivers, 6 police officers, 4 policy makers and 2 religious orators. All but two were Muslim, two were female, and they were drawn from a wide range of ages (24 to 60) and educational backgrounds. The interviews were taped and transcribed, then translated into English and analysed for themes related to the aims. Results Fatalism emerged as a pervasive belief utilised to justify risky road use behaviour and to resist messages about preventive measures. There was a strong religious underpinning to the statement of fatalistic beliefs (this reflects popular conceptions of Islam rather than scholarly interpretations), but also an overlap with superstitious beliefs which have longer-standing roots in Pakistani culture. These beliefs were not limited to people of poor educational background or position. A particular issue which was explored in more detail was the way in which these beliefs and their interpretation within Pakistani society contributed to poor police reporting of crashes. Discussion and conclusions The pervasive nature of fatalistic beliefs in Pakistan affects road user behaviour by supporting continued risk taking behaviour on the road, and by interfering with public health messages about behaviours which would reduce the risk of traffic crashes. The widespread influence of these beliefs on the ways that people respond to traffic crashes and the death of family members contribute to low crash reporting rates and to a system which is difficult to change. The promotion of an evidence-based approach to road user behaviour is recommended, along with improved professional education for police and policy makers.

Experiencing religious information literacy : informed learning in church communities

This paper reports an exploration of religious information literacy in terms of how people use information to learn in the context of church communities. The research approach of phenomenography was used to explore Uniting Church in Australia members' experience of using information to learn as participants in their church communities. Five ways of experiencing religious information literacy were identified, using information to learn about: growing faith, developing relationships, managing the church, serving church communities and reaching out beyond church communities. It is anticipated that such findings will be of interest to information professionals, including information literacy specialists, as well as leaders and members of church communities.

Operational semantics of aspects in business process management

Aspect orientation is an important approach to address complexity of cross-cutting concerns in Information Systems. This approach encapsulates these concerns separately and compose them to the main module when needed. Although there a different works which shows how this separation should be performed in process models, the composition of them is an open area. In this paper, we demonstrate the semantics of a service which enables this composition. The result can also be used as a blueprint to implement the service to support aspect orientation in Business Process Management area.

Dynamic weaving of aspects for business process management systems

Reducing complexity in Information Systems is a main concern in both research and industry. One strategy for reducing complexity is separation of concerns. This strategy advocates separating various concerns, like security and privacy, from the main concern. It results in less complex, easily maintainable, and more reusable Information Systems. Separation of concerns is addressed through the Aspect Oriented paradigm. This paradigm has been well researched and implemented in programming, where languages such as AspectJ have been developed. However, the rsearch on aspect orientation for Business Process Management is still at its beginning. While some efforts have been made proposing Aspect Oriented Business Process Modelling, it has not yet been investigated how to enact such process models in a Workflow Management System. In this paper, we define a set of requirements that specifies the execution of aspect oriented business process models. We create a Coloured Petri Net specification for the semantics of so-called Aspect Service that fulfils these requirements. Such a service extends the capability of a Workflow Management System with support for execution of aspect oriented business process models. The design specification of the Aspect Service is also inspected through state space analysis.

A hybrid model for studying spatial aspects of infectious diseases

We consider a hybrid model, created by coupling a continuum and an agent-based model of infectious disease. The framework of the hybrid model provides a mechanism to study the spread of infection at both the individual and population levels. This approach captures the stochastic spatial heterogeneity at the individual level, which is directly related to deterministic population level properties. This facilitates the study of spatial aspects of the epidemic process. A spatial analysis, involving counting the number of infectious agents in equally sized bins, reveals when the spatial domain is nonhomogeneous.

Engagement, persistence, progress and success as theoretically distinct aspects of business creation processes

Starting from the vantage point that explaining success at creating a venture should be the unique contribution—or at least one unique contribution—of entrepreneurship research, we argue that this success construct has not yet been adequately defined an operationalized. We thus offer suggestions for more precise conceptualization and measurement of this central construct. Rather than regarding various success proxies used in prior research as poor operationalizations of success we argue that they represent other important aspects of the venture creation process: engagement, persistence and progress. We hold that in order to attain a better understanding of venture creation these constructs also need to be theoretically defined. Further, their respective drivers need to be theorized and tested separately. We suggest theoretical definitions of each. We then develop and test hypotheses concerning how human capital, venture idea novelty and business planning has different impact on the different assessments of the process represented by engagement, persistence, progress and success. The results largely confirm the stated hypotheses, suggesting that the conceptual and empirical approach we are suggesting is a path towards improved understanding of the central entrepreneurship phenomenon of new venture creation.

Pedagogy and paradox : teaching interpretation in a religious community

A qualitative, discourse analytic study of literate practices in a small religious community in a northern Australian city. The chapter documents how this community constructs religious reading and writing, affiliated ideologies and theologies, and how readers/hearers/learners are positions vis a vis the authority of sacred text.

Legal, cultural and practical developments in responding to female genital mutilation : can an absolute human right emerge?

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice involving the deliberate, non-therapeutic physical modification of young girls’ genitalia. FGM can take several forms, ranging from smaller incisions, to removal of the clitoris and labia, and narrowing or even closing of the vagina. FGM predates and has no basis in the Koran, or any other religious text. Rather, it is a cultural tradition, particularly common in Islamic societies in regions of Africa, motivated by a patriarchal society’s desire to control female bodies and lives. The primary reason for this desire for control is to ensure virginity at marriage, thereby preserving family honour, within a patriarchal social structure where females’ value as persons is intrinsically connected to, and limited to, their worth as virgin brides. Recent efforts at legal prohibition and practical eradication in a growing number of African nations mark a significant turning point in how societies treat females. This shift in cultural power has been catalysed by a concern for female health, but it has also been motivated by an impulse to promote the human rights of girls and women. Although FGM remains widely practiced and there is much progress yet to be made before its eradication, the rights-based approach which has grown in strength embodies a marked shift in cultural power which reflects progress in women’s and children’s rights in the Western world, but which is now being applied in a different cultural context. This chapter reviews the nature of FGM, its prevalence, and health consequences. It discusses recent legal, cultural and practical developments, especially in African nations. Finally, this chapter raises the possibility that an absolute human right against FGM may emerge.

Using scenarios to explore the social aspects of design led innovations

Emerging technologies have redefined the way people go about everyday life. An increasing array of online and on-the-go solutions supporting remote work, entertainment on demand, information sharing, social communication, telehealth and beyond, are now available at the touch of a screen. This paper discusses concept of scenarios as a design tool that can be successfully employed by organisations as an innovative design led approach to: (i) understand people’s everyday practices in current social contexts in order to identify opportunities and emerging markets, and (ii) reveal stakeholder relationships existing in the provision of services within current everyday practices. To illustrate this approach, two case studies will be presented: the first focusing on a real industry project exploring opportunities for the development of future health care services, the second focusing on people’s access to services as part of a transport journey experience. This paper aims to demonstrate the use of scenarios as part of a design led innovation approach to understand the social aspects and their complexities of new designs in an increasing everyday technological driven context.

Achieving safe road use in a rapidly motorising country : The influence of longstanding beliefs on risky driver behaviour in Pakistan

Road crashes are one of the most significant public health problems in Pakistan; however the factors that contribute to road crashes in Pakistan are not well-researched. Traditional beliefs and values can act as a barrier to health-promoting and injury prevention behaviours, in general and especially in relation to road safety, and may also contribute to risk-taking behaviours. Such beliefs can present significant challenges for health advocates who aim to change behaviour in order to avert road crashes and diminish their consequences. Qualitative research was undertaken in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore with a range of drivers, religious orators, police and policy makers to explore cultural and religious beliefs and their association with risky road use, and to understand how they might affect development of road safety interventions. The findings highlight a range of issues, including the identification of aspects of beliefs that have complex social implications when designing safety intervention strategies. The pervasive nature of religious and superstitious beliefs in Pakistan can affect road user behaviour by reinforcing the presumption that the individual has no part to play in safety, thereby supporting continued risk taking behaviour. It is anticipated that the findings could be used to inform the design of interventions aimed at influencing broad-spectrum health attitudes and practices among the communities where such beliefs are prevalent.