The bad habit of individualistic religion

Because of an interpersonal world view, Ubuntu provides a much-needed reference point for navigating contentious issues for both political and spiritual discourse. The intent, in this instance, is not so much a polemic against political individualism as it is a reckoning with how Christian spirituality per se matters in the academy and public spheres. The concept of “Ubuntu” complements Christian spirituality in that the conceptualisation of Ubuntu moves us beyond notions of soteriology based in individualism and vapid understandings of personal salvation. In turn, Ubuntu expands the understanding of communal spirituality, by providing the reader better insight into the deepening paradox in which, by focusing upon community, one gains a deeper significance of self

Compassion Fatigue, Compassion Satisfaction, and Burnout Among Police Officers Who Have Experienced a Previous Perceived Trauma

Abstract The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a difference between levels of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout among police officers in regard to years of experience adn whether or not they had experienced a previous perceived trauma. Commissioned police officers from a large urban police department in the Mid-South (N = 1,390) participated in the survey, which included a demographic survey, a trauma indicator, and the ProQol inventory which is comprised of three sub-scales: compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout. Each of the three sub-scales have a range from 0 (low compassion fatigue, high compassion satisfaction, and low burnout) to 50 (high compassion fatigue, low compassion satisfaction, and high burnout). This study posed six questions related to levels of compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout among police officers who had experienced a previous perceived trauma compared to those who had not and also their years of experience. The results were analyzed usign a 3X2 MANOVA. The first three questions compared compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout scores to officers who had experienced a previous perceived trauma compared to those who had not. There was a significant difference in question one in regardsto compassion fatigue scores [F(1,1389) = 53.00, p \u3c .0005, partial η2 = .040]. There was a significant difference in question 2 in regards to compassion satisfaction scores F(1,1389) = 8.00, p \u3c .0005, partial η2 = .060]. There was a significant difference in question 3 in regards to burnout scores F(1,1389) = 35.00, p \u3c .0005, partial η2 = .030]. Questions 4 through 6 compared officers\u27 compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and burnout scores to those who had experienced a previous perceived trauma or not and the years of experience of the officers (0-3 years, 3-10 years, and more than 10 years of experience). There was a significant difference in question 4 in regards to the compasion fatigue scores F(2,1384) = 3.83, p \u3c .05, partial η2 = .006]. There was not a significant difference in question 5 in regards to compassion satisfaction scores F(2,1384) = 2.75, p\u3e .05, partial η2 = .004]. There was not a significant difference in question 6 in regards to burnout scores F(2,1384) = 1.46, p\u3e .05, partial η2 = .002]. Results indicate that officers who have had a previous perceived trauma have higher rates of compassion fatigue, lower rates of compassion satisfaction, and higher rates of burnout than officers who have not had a previous perceived trauma. The results also indicate that years of experience may affect compassion fatigue in police officers

Comparative analysis of outreach work with street children in Latvia, Czech Republic and India

publishersversionPeer reviewe

African Americans and punishment for crime: A critique of mainstream and neoliberal discourses

Understandings of punishment within the criminological enterprise have failed to capture the nuances associated with experiencing punishment. Moreover, mainstream academic discourses are inherently anachronistic in their conclusions on punishment, thus leaving significant gaps to be filled. One such gap is that of racialized history. This article attempts to make sense of punishment discourses (past and present) by situating them in their proper context. We argue that punishment, in particular for Blacks, is ideological and longstanding. Moreover, we posit that the prolonged punishment of Blacks is hyper manifested in contemporary society via neoliberal logic that has increasingly disabled race as a central focal point in punishment discourses (in both political and academic contexts). We use established literature to bolster arguments and conclude with suggestions for future research

An interactive, generative Punch and Judy show using institutions, ASP and emotional agents

Using Punch and Judy as a story domain, we describe an interactive puppet show, where the flow and content of the story can be influenced by the actions of the audience. As the puppet show is acted out, the audience reacts to events by cheering or booing the characters. This affects the agents’ emotional state, potentially causing them to change their actions, altering the course of the narrative. An institutional normative model is used to constrain the narrative so that it remains consistent with the Punch and Judy canon. Through this vignette of a socio-technical system (STS), comprising human and software actors, an institutional model – derived from narrative theory – and (simplistic) technological interaction artifacts, we begin to be able to explore some of the issues that can arise in STS through the prism of the World-Institution-Technology (WIT) model

Balian-Low Theorems in Several Variables

Recently, Nitzan and Olsen showed that Balian-Low theorems (BLTs) hold for discrete Gabor systems defined on $\mathbb{Z}_d$. Here we extend these results to a multivariable setting. Additionally, we show a variety of applications of the Quantitative BLT, proving in particular nonsymmetric BLTs in both the discrete and continuous setting for functions with more than one argument. Finally, in direct analogy of the continuous setting, we show the Quantitative Finite BLT implies the Finite BLT.Comment: To appear in Approximation Theory 16 conference proceedings volum

Epitaxial Growth of La1/3_{1/3}Sr2/3_{2/3}FeO3_3 thin films by laser ablation

We report on the synthesis of high quality La$_{1/3}$Sr$_{2/3}$FeO$_3$ (LSFO) thin films using the pulsed laser deposition technique on both SrTiO$_3$ (STO) and LaAlO$_3$ (LAO) substrates (100)-oriented. From X-Ray diffraction (XRD) studies, we find that the films have an out-of-plane lattice parameter around 0.3865nm, almost independent of the substrate (i.e. the nature of the strains). The transport properties reveal that, while LSFO films deposited on STO exhibit an anomaly in the resistivity vs temperature at 180K (corresponding to the charge-ordered transition and associated with a transition from a paramagnetic to an antiferromagnetic state), the films grown on LAO display a very small magnetoresistance behavior and present an hysteresis around 270K under the application of a 4T magnetic field. The changes in transport properties between both substrates are discussed and compared with the corresponding single crystals.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Irreducible Hamiltonian approach to the Freedman-Townsend model

The irreducible BRST symmetry for the Freedman-Townsend model is derived. The comparison with the standard reducible approach is also addressed.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX 2.0