EXAMINING THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY: A FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE

The questions concerning the origin of human religions and their function within culture are a very complex issue, encompassing both individualistic and societal motivations. Using the functionalist paradigm to study religion allows one to examine the sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural factors that influence the origin of religious revitalization and renewal in society. Analyzing the specific social factors that exist in a given society enables one to better understand the social environment and how it acts as a catalyst in the formation of belief systems. Although the human factor facilitates the creation and practice of religion, the individual and group only respond to the social reality of cultural change set before them. This demonstrated in such movements as cargo cults and millenarism. With the format of sociological functionalism in mind, I will analyze the various social elements that not only influenced, but also fostered the creation of Islam and Christianity. In applying a ociological functionalist approach to two of the world\u27s mo t widely held belief system , I will present evidence to convey that they are inherently similar religion , formed for similar reasons in response to harsh short term and long term social change. Therefore, both religions were acting as movements of cultural revitalization

MR fingerprinting with simultaneous B1 estimation.

PURPOSE: MR fingerprinting (MRF) can be used for quantitative estimation of physical parameters in MRI. Here, we extend the method to incorporate B1 estimation. METHODS: The acquisition is based on steady state free precession MR fingerprinting with a Cartesian trajectory. To increase the sensitivity to the B1 profile, abrupt changes in flip angle were introduced in the sequence. Slice profile and B1 effects were included in the dictionary and the results from two- and three-dimensional (3D) acquisitions were compared. Acceleration was demonstrated using retrospective undersampling in the phase encode directions of 3D data exploiting redundancy between MRF frames at the edges of k-space. RESULTS: Without B1 estimation, T2 and B1 were inaccurate by more than 20%. Abrupt changes in flip angle improved B1 maps. T1 and T2 values obtained with the new MRF methods agree with classical spin echo measurements and are independent of the B1 field profile. When using view sharing reconstruction, results remained accurate (error <10%) when sampling under 10% of k-space from the 3D data. CONCLUSION: The methods demonstrated here can successfully measure T1, T2, and B1. Errors due to slice profile can be substantially reduced by including its effect in the dictionary or acquiring data in 3D. Magn Reson Med 76:1127-1135, 2016. © 2015 The Authors Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.G.B. was funded by INFN CNS 5.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mrm.2600

Managing the experience co-creation in tourism

2012 - 2013Studies until now revealed the common acceptation about the arising importance of co-creation for the satisfaction of the market and the consequent success of the company. Despite that, there is the general recognition that theory and practice about co-creation are still at an initial phase, and not all the potentials of this process have been explored. This is true especially in the tourism industry. Starting from these considerations, this research aims to elaborate and to test a model useful to contribute to the relevant issue of designing and managing the role of tourists as experiences co-creators in Tourism Industry. In particular, the study analyzes the link between the role of the tourists as experience co-creators and their satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness. According to the post-positivist paradigm here adopted, the study drew from a deep literature analysis the block of theoretical knowledge useful to define the hypotheses tested through a survey conducted on tourists of Napoli. The direct interaction of tourists with tourist operators, the active participation of tourists during the trip experience, the sharing of tourist experience with others, the degree of experience co-creation, the tourists satisfaction for the experience lived, the tourists level of expenditure during the trip, and the tourists happiness were measured using different scales adapted from previous researches which are discussed in the literature review. The empirical analysis starts with the identification of the respondents’ profile, with socio-demographical and behavioural aspects. After that, statistical analysis with exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and path analysis is conducted in order to understand the relationships among the constructs identified. Findings show significant and positive relationships between direct interaction and degree of co-creation, active participation and degree of co-creation, sharing of experience and degree of co-creation, and between degree of co-creation and tourists’ satisfaction, level of expenditure and happiness. Furthermore, the results revealed not hypothesized relationships between direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience. This study aims at contributing to the growing body of knowledge about the concept of co-creation, focusing on the experience co-creation in tourism industry, highlighting the importance of experience co-creation in influencing the tourist satisfaction, level of expenditure, and happiness, and posing the attention on the direct interaction, active participation, and sharing of experience as main influencers of the experience co-creation degree. [edited by author]XII n.s

How Effective are Virtual Reality Experiences as Destination Marketing Tools?

How did you decide where to go on your last holiday? Did you see a picture-perfect paradise promoted on your social media feed? Once upon a time, planning your perfect holiday was organized with a trip to the local travel agency. In recent years you are more likely to pick your destination based on the most attractive advertisements at the top of an online travel agency website. Dr. Mathilda van Niekerk, Dr. Marissa Orlowski and Dr. Fevzi Okumus from Rosen College of Hospitality Management, along with Allessandra Marasco and Dr. Piera Buonincontri from the National Research Council\u27s Institute for research on Innovation and Services for Development (CNR-IRISS) have been researching an even more immersive and compelling destination marketing tool though; can virtual reality experiences persuade us to visit a destination

Multiproxy archaeological investigation and Garden Archaeology in the Charterhouse of Calci (Tuscany, central Italy) and its territory: results and research data

A wide-ranging archaeological research programme at the Charterhouse and in the broader area of the Municipality of Calci has been performed since 2018. The archaeological research included the collection of legacy and aerial archaeology data, invasive and non-invasive investigations, as well as natural scientific analysis in the monastic complex. Special attention was paid to the archaeological investigations of three different monks’ cells gardens (the Prior’s, the Apothecary’s, and the Master’s), and stratigraphic excavations were combined with archeozoological and archaeobotanical analyses to define the horticultural practices implemented over the centuries of occupation of the Charterhouse. Among the three case studies, the most representative is the Prior’s meditation garden, where the excavation explored the phases prior to the construction of the building (14th century), the 18th-century renovation in the current form, and its abandonment at the end of the 20th century. Pollen analysis has allowed to reconstruct the richness of herbal species characterising an ever-blooming garden, with flowers and ornamental plants, such as roses, lilac, and water lilies, and also vegetables. According to charcoal and fruit-remain analyses, the Charterhouse exploited local hilly woods, satisfying the requirements of fuel by maquis and thermophilous deciduous forest. The agricultural practices included the cultivation of fruit trees, such as chestnut, olive, almond, and vine. Finally, archaeozoological analysis attests the domestic cat as the most frequent taxon in all contexts, probably common in the monastery as a pet and cell companion. This paper presents an overview and a discussion of the results of the investigations conducted and the complete archaeological dataset

Modeling brain connectivity dynamics in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging via Particle Filtering

Interest in the studying of functional connections in the brain has grown considerably in the last decades, as many studies have pointed out that alterations in the interaction among brain areas can play a role as markers of neurological diseases. Most studies in this field treat the brain network as a system of connections stationary in time, but dynamic features of brain connectivity can provide useful information, both on physiology and pathological conditions of the brain. In this paper, we propose the application of a computational methodology, named Particle Filter (PF), to study non-stationarities in brain connectivity in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). The PF algorithm estimates time-varying hidden parameters of a first-order linear time-varying Vector Autoregressive model (VAR) through a Sequential Monte Carlo strategy. On simulated time series, the PF approach effectively detected and enabled to follow time-varying hidden parameters and it captured causal relationships among signals. The method was also applied to real fMRI data, acquired in presence of periodic tactile or visual stimulations, in different sessions. On these data, the PF estimates were consistent with current knowledge on brain functioning. Most importantly, the approach enabled to detect statistically significant modulations in the cause-effect relationship between brain areas, which correlated with the underlying visual stimulation pattern presented during the acquisition