Religion as culture and community in the civic life of Filipino-Americans

At nearly 2.5 million people and growing via native birth and immigration, Asian American Catholics are an important part of the demographic transformation of American Catholicism. Among the Asian groups making the greatest impact are Filipino- Americans who are the second largest Asian American population and represent the second largest source of Catholic immigration to the United States, second only to Mexico. Woefully understudied, little is known about Filipino-Americans and the ways in which Catholicism impacts their community. Drawing on ethnographic data collected in Houston, Texas as well as survey analysis of the Social Capital Community Benchmark survey, this study explores the dynamic relationship between religion and civic life among first-generation Filipino-Americans. Contrary to what may be anticipated from the social scientific literature on Asian American Catholics in general, Filipino-American Catholics participate in civic life to the same degree as Protestants, if not more. Although the Filipino-American community may currently face internal concerns that can detract from civic participation, religion plays an important role in overcoming these obstacles and mobilizing active civic lives. Focusing on four sets of extensive religious resources: 1) religious institutions, specifically the Catholic Church, 2) involvement in church through active weekly attendance, 3) involvement in church through other activities not associated with regular attendance such as Bible studies, and 4) involvement in religious groups such Couples for Christ and Palitaw that are not affiliated with a church, the findings of this study point to Catholicism as a dynamic and vibrant faith that bridges the spaces between culture, home, and civil society. It also highlights the more intimate and intensive resources found in these home devotional and prayer groups that inform and shape not only how Filipino-Americans define community but build it and engage it in the United States and the Philippines simultaneously.Sociolog

Size Matters (in Output-Sharing Groups): Voting to End the Tragedy of the Commons

Individuals extracting common-pool resources in the field sometimes form output-sharing groups to avoid costs of crowding. In theory, if the right number of groups forms, Nash equilibrium aggregate effort should fall to the socially optimal level. Whether individuals manage to form the efficient number of groups and to invest within the chosen groups as theory predicts, however, has not been previously determined. We investigate these questions experimentally. We find that subjects do vote in most cases to divide themselves into the optimal number of output-sharing groups, and in addition do decrease the inefficiency significantly (by 50% to 71%). We did observe systematic departures from the theory when the group sizes are not predicted to induce socially optimal investment. Without exception these are in the direction of the socially optimal investment, confirming the tendency noted elsewhere in public goods experiments for subjects to be more “other-regarding” than purely selfish.catch-sharing, common-pool resources, efficient private provision, free-riding, laboratory experiment, partnership solution

Latina/o Conversion and Miracle-Seeking at a Buddhist Temple

The growing diversification of the US Latino religious’ experiences calls for scholarly attention beyond Protestant or Catholic categories. This study begins to answer this call. Using interview data with 26 Latinos collected over 2 years of observation at the True Lama Meditation Center (TLMC) in Houston, Texas, we describe how Latinos who convert to Buddhism or actively attend the temple while also continuing to attend Christian services (both Catholic and Protestant) see themselves and understand their religious identities and practices. We then explore the reasons for their conversion or changes in religious identities and practices through various theoretical lens. Although the majority of respondents now claim to be Buddhist, many did not switch religions but augmented or extended their religious identities and practices. Reasons for conversion to Buddhism or concurrent involvement at the temple and Buddhist faith practices include seeking material support and miracles and those seeking spiritual fulfillment they felt they were not getting in Christian faith practices

Guilt, shame and expressed emotion in carers of people with long-term mental health difficulties:a systematic review

Expressed emotion (EE) is a global index of familial emotional climate, whose primary components are emotional over-involvement (EOI) and critical comments (CC)/hostility. There is a strong theoretical rationale for hypothesising that carers’ guilt and shame may be differentially associated with their EOI and CC/hostility respectively. This systematic review investigates the magnitude of these theorised associations in carers of people with long-term mental health difficulties. Electronic searches (conducted in May 2016 across Medline, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO and ProQuest) were supplemented with iterative hand searches. Ten papers, reporting data from eight studies, were included. Risk of bias was assessed using a standardised checklist. Relevant data were extracted and synthesised narratively. EOI was positively associated with both guilt and shame, whereas CC/hostility was positively associated with shame. The strength of associations varied depending on whether or not guilt and shame were assessed within the context of the caring relationship. Based on these data, an argument can be made for the refinement, development and evaluation of systemic and individual interventions designed to target carers’ guilt and shame. However, more research is needed to clarify the strength of these associations and their direction of effect before firm conclusions can be drawn

Women in the profession: an update on the gendered composition of the discipline and political science departments in the UK

This article updates and broadens research undertaken eight years ago on the status of women in UK political sciencei. As Bates et al. then argued (2012: 139-40), research on women in the discipline is important, not only because of issues of equality, justice and self-reflection within the discipline, but also because of the privileged role political scientists play in the creation and flow of knowledge about gender inequality and women’s underrepresentation in positions of power, as well as other important political issues more generally

Direct Push Groundwater Circulation Wells for Remediation of BTEX and Volatile Organics

Direct push groundwater circulation wells (DP-GCW) are a promising technology for remediation of groundwater contaminated with dissolved hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents. In these wells, groundwater is withdrawn from the formation at the bottom of the well, aerated and vapor stripped and injected back into the formation at or above the water table. Previous field studies have shown that: (a) GCWs can circulate significant volumes of groundwater; and (b) GCWs can effectively remove volatile compounds and add oxygen. In this work, we describe the development and field-testing of a system of DP-GCWs for remediation of volatile organics such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and toluene (BTEX). The GCWs were constructed with No. 20 slotted well screen (2.4 cm ID) and natural sand pack extending from 1.5 to 8.2 m below grade. Air is introduced ~7.5 m below grade via 0.6 cm tubing. Approximately 15% of the vertical length of the air supply tubing is wrapped in tangled mesh polypropylene geonet drainage fabric to provide surface area for biological growth and precipitation of oxidized iron. These materials were selected to allow rapid installation of the GCWs using 3.8 cm direct push Geoprobe® rods, greatly reducing well installation costs. Laboratory testing of these sparged wells and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling showed that these wells, although they used only about 1 L/min of air, could circulate about 1 L/min of water through the surrounding aquifer. This flow was sufficient to capture all of a flowing contaminant if the wells are sufficiently closely together, about 1 meter on center depending on the air flow rate supplied, in a line across the plume. The CFD work showed the details of this ability to capture, and also showed that unforeseen heterogeneities in the aquifer such as a gradient of permeability or a thin impermeable layer (such as a clay layer) did not prevent the system from working largely as intended. The system was tested in a petroleum contaminated aquifer near Rocky Point, NC. The contaminant plume there is approximately 10 m deep, 50 m wide and contains up to 4 µg/L total BTEX and 75 µg/L dissolved iron. An extensive pilot test was first performed to estimate the zone of influence for a single well. At this site an air injection rate of 1.2 L/min resulted in a water flow rate of 1 to 2 L/min based on bromide dilution tests in the GCW. The GCW increased the dissolved oxygen concentration in the discharge water to between 6 and 8 µg/L and reduced contaminant concentrations to less than 20 µg/L total BTEX. Monitoring results from a 73 day pilot test were then used to define the zone of influence for a single DP-GCW and to design a full scale barrier system

Thermal studies of L, D and β-alanine

α-Amino acids are generally studied by spectroscopic techniques, to determine their structure and distinguish between L and D forms (Caroline et al., 2009). Their study via thermal analysis is usually combined with other analytical techniques such as FT-IR, MS, HPLC, GC or NMR to identify the products of thermal decomposition (Kumar et al., 2006, Rodante and Marrosu, 1990). It is intriguing to ascertain whether thermal analytical techniques alone can provide useful information about amino acids, in terms of their physicochemical properties, and their techniques ability to distinguish between L and D forms

Seven-Year Distress Trajectories in Uveal Melanoma Survivors

ObjectiveSevere or persistent distress is associated with poorer quality of life in cancer survivors. Distress follows distinct trajectories within different population subgroups. Identifying characteristics and causes of trajectories can assist intervention development and targeting. In a 7-year study of uveal melanoma survivors, we aimed to characterize anxiety, depression, and fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) trajectories, and identify whether concerns about symptoms and functional problems over the first 3 years of survivorship predict memberships of high distress trajectories.MethodIn a closed cohort study, we used growth mixture modeling (GMM) to identify statistically optimal trajectories over 6-, 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, 60-, 72-, and 84-month time point posttreatment in 475 patients. We then regressed trajectory memberships onto a 3-year series of measures of concerns about symptoms and functional problems, controlling demographic, clinical, and 6-month anxiety, depression, or FCR indicators.ResultsAnxiety, depression, and FCR were represented by two-class linear GMMs. The majority scored consistently low, but 17.5% showed consistently elevated anxiety, 10.9% consistently elevated depression, and 19.4% consistently elevated FCR. Higher anxiety trajectory membership was predicted by greater concerns about symptoms at 6 and 24 months, higher depression trajectory membership by symptoms at 24 months, and higher FCR trajectory membership by symptoms at 6 and 24 months and functional problems at 12 months.ConclusionsMuch of the burden of persistent distress in cancer patients falls on a small proportion of survivors. Concerns about symptoms and functional problems are potential risk factors for distress. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The appropriation of endogenously provided common-pool resources

Abstract Because game theory suggests that the origin of a common-pool resource should not affect appropriation behavior, experimental studies of appropriation from common-pool resources generally presume resources are exogenously provided. However, behavioral economic research indicates that the origin of a resource may affect the use of that resource. We investigate the potential role of resource origin by considering the appropriation of a common-pool resource after users have determined its productive capacity through contributions. Results indicate that resource origin does not significantly influence aggregate appropriation levels but that endogenous resource provision leads to individual strategic behavior