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Gierycz argues provocatively in his paper that the identity of the European Union as reflected in its motto, "United in Diversity," has been "derived" from the model offered by the Roman Catholic Church. His argument, however, is flawed in a number of key respects. Among other things, he ignores entirely the fact that the Catholic Church did not invent the wheel in this respect but modeled itself in turn on the earlier example of the Roman Empire. The impression he leaves of the ways in which the Church went about imposing its version of "unity in diversity" on the local cultures over which it came to exercise dominion, moreover, is highly misleading. A third problem is that he treats the terms "Catholic Church" and "Christian thought" as if they were interchangeable when their references are obviously not necessarily identical. There are also deep problems with Gierycz's attempt to establish that Church-based moral norms are superior to those reflected in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights because, as he seeks to convince us, the former are grounded on the "rock" of "absolute" values while the latter are built upon the "sand" of shifting sociological opinion. These flaws diminish the value of what could have been an important contribution to our understanding of the extent to which the European Union should look to the experience of the Church in seeking to establish its own identity as a supranational institution "united in diversity." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the second on life in a northern Icelandic valley in the later 1970s, early 1980s, and subsequently. While the first concerned women's work, food and clothing, this paper focuses on the farming cycle, the men's work on farms and on the central uplands; and on the social life and seasonal customs that reflected the farming year. Further papers will concern folk beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article comments on the concept of H. C. Triandis about race as determinant of social distance. This asserts that Triandis perception concerning race as a more important determinant of social distance rather than belief, is quite contrary on the findings of the study undertaken. Triandis evaluation which is undertaken on different races is questioned due to the different philosophy employed into each subject. The author further contends that on the basis of his study which is published in his book "The Open and Closed Mind," belief outweighs race to be the basis of social discrimination and not the other way around.

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To compare the different motivation, intention and behaviour between Chinese and Japanese consumers in naturally dyed fashion consumption we collected 301 Chinese samples and 302 Japanese samples and used a structural equation model (SEM) to analyse the consumption behaviour of naturally dyed apparel based on the planned behaviour theory (TPB) and cross-cultural sustainable consumption framework (CCSC). The results indicate that attitude, social norms and perceived behaviour control (PBC) impact naturally dyed fashion consumption intention and behaviour. Among these relations, intention has a controlling influence on the relationship between subjective factors and actual consumption behaviour. PBC directly affects consumer behaviour. Moreover, the belief system and material source have a significant influence on all TPB constructs, wherein material source has more influence. Comparing China and Japan, attitude has a stronger impact on intention for Chinese than Japanese, but PBC influences Japanese intention more. Theoretically, this paper analyses the factors forming the difference in the strength of the TPB model from a cross-cultural perspective. The differences in Chinese and Japanese consumption behaviours also offer practical insights for the industrial development of natural dyeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In life, decisions are not only taken by considering logical reasoning, but they are influenced by images, symbols, and myths. Moreover, in our multicultural and multiracial societies, we must express ourselves with attention, to use careful comparisons and especially neutral expressions. Symbols multiply the effect of words, and consequently, the risk of saying something wrong is increased. Also, if each person one discusses with will know how to decode your words is a wrong assumption. The symbols mentioned are also influenced by other factors, and they are part of a more comprehensive concept, namely the imaginary. This study is a conceptual review of the imaginary concept. There are many disciplines that study the imaginary, and many definitions for it, given by researchers coming from all fields, but there are few papers that explain how the imaginary is formed and how it influences our lives. By reviewing the literature, we have identified major limitations of the theories and models that treat the imaginary. Studying all those studies was useful for us because from the beginning we wanted to understand how the imaginary is formed and how it can be decoded, so we developed our own framework. The key conclusion of this paper is that symbols are a useful concept for understanding imaginary, since they can be seen both as forms of communication of the intangible culture, but also as productions of the imaginary. By settling symbols in the middle of our conceptual model, imaginary can be easier understood and further used in other scientific investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Turkish Culture & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly is the property of Turkish Cultur & Haci Bektas Veli Research Quarterly and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

I aim to talk about the folk shamanistic practices of the Đạo Mẫu, the oldest form of spiritual practice in northern Vietnam. The paper also aims to discuss the religion in relation with the archetype of the Great Mother as understood by Erich Neumann. The ancient beliefs associated with the goddess Mẫu have served multiple historical purposes: from worshipping female warrior heroines that led armies against Chinese invaders in the 1st Century AD, considered to be incarnations of the Mother Goddess in difficult times, to allowing an avenue of empowerment for the women mediums that practiced shamanism and spiritism in the face of different actors trying to implement their belief systems and ideologies in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, 1 developed on the meeting point of ethnozoology and critical animal studies, is an overview of the role of cockroaches (of which there are around 3500 species) in customs and beliefs of certain ethno-traditions, with a special emphasis on Russian and Croatian, i.e. South Slavic, ethno-traditions in terms of context. In the first part of the paper, I have chosen to present the two aforementioned Slavic examples, considering that they are contradictory in the ethics of their relationship towards cockroaches: while cockroaches, particularly the black ones, were respected in Russian ethno-tradition, almost as pets that bring happiness and prosperity to a household (we could call them pet amulets of sorts) (cf. Gura 2005), they were treated merely as pests in Croatian ethnotradition, as is the case today. In the second part of the paper, I supplement the aforementioned folklor- ist and ethnologic perspective (zoofolkloristics and ethnozoology) with animal studies. This includes the question of animal rights from a contemporary perspective, whereby I concentrate on aggressive insecticides and exterminators of cockroaches today, as well as on the research of the advertising strategies that contain militant killing performatives (e.g. Raid commercials). I conclude with the discussion on the ethic and aesthetic in the visual art of Catherine Chalmers, who kills cockroaches in the name of art, for the purposes of some of her works, albeit simultaneously demonstrating that even the "lowly" cockroach can be a subject of so-called high art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the images, communication modes, and belief narratives connected with spirit-animals in Estonian folklore. Firstly, the older (pre-twentieth-century) concept of the spirit-animal is described. Secondly, contemporary beliefs and experiences related to spirit-animals are highlighted. The paper describes to what extent the old local soul concepts have intermingled with the imported ideas of the spirit-animal and how narratives describing the verbal or non-verbal communication with a spirit-animal sometimes become part of life history narrating, supporting psychological coping with life stress. The author describes repeated elements in the manifestation forms (e.g. bears, wolves) and the behaviour of spirit-animals, contexts where they occur (in the course of rural sweat-lodge rituals as well as in urban settings, experienced and narrated by esoteric practicioners as well as schoolchildren), and tries to find out about their sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appreciation of learners as active, decision-making agents in the process of L2-development has challenged and expanded the contexts in which research in this area is conducted. An example of this is the body of work exploring language learners' perceptions. Beliefs, or cognition studies in Applied Linguistics argue that researching participants' understanding of their L2-related activity in context can help make better sense of the disparity between what is observed and what is experienced. Language learner cognition, defined in this paper as the intersection of L2-related beliefs, assumptions, knowledge (BAK) and emotions, is an important construct in helping interpret individuals' thought processes, behaviour, and development as it relates to additional language learning. A socially constructed phenomenon, rooted in prior experience and guiding day-to-day interaction, learner cognition, however, remains largely unobservable. Thus, capturing this cognition in action poses significant challenges to the study of L2-learning. A layer of complexity is added when research steps beyond the language learning classroom (Nunan & Richards, 2015; Benson & Reinders, 2011). This paper, recognising the multifaceted and unpredictable nature of L2-development, investigates how an adult language learner in an ESL context navigates L2 use in naturalistic interactions. The findings suggest a model, rooted in complexity theory, which can help researchers better understand the ways in which L2-related cognition and behaviour mutually impact language learning development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People respond to moral criticism of their speech by claiming that they were joking. In this paper, I develop a speech act analysis of the humor excuse consisting of a negative stage, in which the speaker denies he or she was making an assertion, and a positive stage, in which the speaker claims she or he was engaged in non-serious/humorous speech instead. This analysis, however, runs afoul of the group identity objection, according to which there is a moral distinction between jokes targeting members of vulnerable groups made by members of those groups and similar jokes made by non-members. In order to avoid this objection, I offer a revision to the speech act analysis that draws upon Perry's distinction between beliefs and belief-states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Filosofia UNISINOS is the property of Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Marlowe' s Doctor Faustus has a lot to offer when interpreted in the context of belief and disbelief. From the beginning, Faustus repeatedly reminds himself that he should be resolute, but at the end of the play, he wishes above all to be like beasts whose souls are soon dissolved in elements -- he, however, is convinced that his soul "must live still to be plagued in hell." This certainty of the existence of hell is the end-point, something we have not only expected but known from the beginning, when Faustus casually and mockingly calls hell a fable. In this paper, I discuss various aspects of the play' s belief-disbelief spectrum, as well as that of fixity and change. I focus on Faustus' s changes of belief-states arguing that he only dismisses old beliefs so that he can find a final saving belief and he only changes to reach a final state where he will need to change no more. The paper suggests that, in a way, he accomplishes both goals, but it is not exactly the way he imagined or hoped for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that Marlowe presents a sceptical worldview on religious and social conduct in his plays. However, his scepticism does not affect his views of the natural world, which is represented by the planetary influences. The ability to exert one' s will over the world is called into question and substituted by the deterministic power of the planets. The paper is concerned with the idea of promises in terms of human interaction from various perspectives, such as religious and political points of view. Both religious and secular promises are either void or turn on themselves. In my reading of Marlowe' s plays (The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine Parts I and II), notions of promises and scepticism are strongly intertwined, which might help us understand why Marlowe' s works are seen as the products of a cynical mind with atheistic traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of stored beliefs is that of explaining how non-occurrent, seemingly justified beliefs are indeed justified. Internalism about epistemic justification, the view that one's mental life alone determines what one is justified in believing, allegedly cannot solve this problem. This paper provides a solution. It asks: Does having a belief that p require having a special relation to a mental representation that p? If the answer is yes, then there are no stored beliefs, and so there is no problem. Drawing on extensive research in cognitive psychology, this paper argues that memory doesn't store the representations required for stored belief, and we don't bear the special relation to anything memory does store. On the leading "no" answer, a belief is roughly a set of dispositions. This paper argues that a justified belief is then best understood as a set of dispositions. Since these dispositions are mental, internalism can count the right stored beliefs as justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many critics of Esiaba Irobi’sNwokedihave contended that the play portrays an atmosphere of terror and irrationality, which reflects Irobi’s fascination with an ‘invitation to orgy’ (Eagleton) as the panacea to the oppressive political leadership in his postcolonial Nigeria. Beyond this observation, however, the position that in his obsession with power, Nwokedi, the protagonist snowballs into an object of terror himself has not been fully examined. Seeking to further this point of reflection,this paper engages the Hegelian theory of freedom in relation to the Dionysian myth of irrationality as a paradigm for examining the ironical attitude of power inNwokedi. It interrogates the lure of power and the attempt to reinvent primordial human blood ritual in the play. Nwokedi’s positive riot of perversity, set against a politician’s economics of exploitation results in the death-drive that commands its beholder to relish human annihilation at that point where the opposition between law and personal desire is ‘most dramatically dismantled’ (Eagleton). The paper concludes that if the enchanted ritual revolutionist becomes at once deity and rebel, judge and outlaw, autocrat and anarchist, he equally plunges headlong into that solitude which is both self-willed and tragic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In diesem Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse einer Literaturrecherche sowie einer Befragung von Fachkräften der Suchtprävention zur präventiven Nützlichkeit des Cannabisverbots vorgestellt. Stellungnahmen, welche die Verbotsvorteile bezweifeln, überwiegen. Modellversuche zur regulierten Cannabisabgabe und verschiedene staatliche Legalisierungsregelungen weltweit sollten für die Gewinnung weiterer empirischer Erkenntnisse über die Wirkungen auf die konkrete suchtpräventive Arbeit genutzt werden. The findings of a literature research and a survey among prevention professionals concerning the utility of cannabis prohibition for prevention are presented in this paper. Statements, which doubt the advantages of this prohibition for prevention, prevail. Pilot projects for regulated supply of cannabis and legalizing regulations of states worldwide should be evaluated in order to gain more empirical knowledge about effects on prevention work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore whether there is a need for a multiplicity of norms governing belief due to differences in the objects of those beliefs, particularly the difference between persons and nonpersons. I call the view according to which there is a single epistemic norm governing belief monism, and the view that there is more than one such norm pluralism. I consider three different kinds of objections to monism that stem specifically from considerations unique to assessing the credibility of persons, along with corresponding pluralist proposals. I argue not only that all of the criticisms of monism fail, but also that the proposed pluralist norms face significant problems of their own. In so doing, the aim of the paper is to clear the path for there being a single epistemic norm governing belief, despite there being important epistemic differences between how we ought to treat persons and nonpersons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Belief in the Evil Eye is strong in the Mediterranean region and equivalent practices based on ancient beliefs continue to exist across Anatolia today. In this context, the evil eye belief of Turkic peoples dates to early times within a pre-Islamic religious framework. Even with the Turks' acceptance of Islam, evil eye belief continued side by side with the new faith. Over time, humans have developed practices to avoid evil and minimize fear and have likewise conferred power on prophylactic objects, combined with ritual practice, to ensure good fortune. Amulets based on such beliefs have an important place as protective items and are still found in popular use across Anatolia to prevent the negative outcomes of the envious gaze. In various forms and materials, they constitute a ubiquitous, if seldom studied, element of Turkish material culture. This paper presents and describes some common examples providing contextual information about their usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In "Psychopower and Ordinary Madness" my ambition, as it relates to Bernard Stiegler's recent literature, was twofold: 1) critiquing Stiegler's work on exosomatization and artefactual posthumanism-or, more specifically, nonhumanism-to problematize approaches to media archaeology that rely upon technical exteriorization; 2) challenging how Stiegler engages with Giuseppe Longo and Francis Bailly's conception of negative entropy. These efforts were directed by a prevalent techno-cultural qualifier: the rise of Synthetic Intelligence (including neural nets, deep learning, predictive processing and Bayesian models of cognition). This paper continues this project but first directs a critical analytic lens at the Derridean practice of the ontologization of grammatization from which Stiegler emerges while also distinguishing how metalanguages operate in relation to object-oriented environmental interaction by way of inferentialism. Stalking continental (Kapp, Simondon, Leroi-Gourhan, etc.) and analytic traditions (e.g., Carnap, Chalmers, Clark, Sutton, Novaes, etc.), we move from artefacts to AI and Predictive Processing so as to link theories related to technicity with philosophy of mind. Simultaneously drawing forth Robert Brandom's conceptualization of the roles that commitments play in retrospectively reconstructing the social experiences that lead to our endorsement(s) of norms, we compliment this account with Reza Negarestani's deprivatized account of intelligence while analyzing the equipollent role between language and media (both digital and analog). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cinta de Moebio is the property of Universidad de Chile, Facultad de Ciencas Sociales and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Calidoscópio is the property of Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper develops a "Cliffordian" argument for a common epistemic norm governing belief, action, and assertion. The idea is that beliefs are the sorts of things that lead to actions and assertions. What each of us believes influences what we act on and assert, and in turn influences what those around us believe, act on, and assert. Belief, action, and assertion should be held to a common epistemic norm because, otherwise, this system will become contaminated. The paper finishes by drawing out the relativistic implications of the Cliffordian argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tudomanyos es Muszaki Tajekoztatas is the property of BME OMIKK and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Tales regarding transformations of animals, expressing social beliefs related to the relationship between humans, animals, and supernatural beings, are spread all over the world. This paper deals with the intertwining of ritual discourse, animal tales, and other folk narrative genres, all of which express the differential identities of local groups. The aim is to discuss the relevance of belief narratives in an Argentinean catalogue of tale types, whose first volume includes animal tales. Following the models of Monika Kropej Telban (2015) and Camiño Noia Campos (2010), who include in their indexes of Slovenian and Galician folktales textual examples of each tale type, my purpose is to show the local transformation of universal tale types in the catalogue of Argentinean folktales. I analyze textual examples of this blend between tale types and belief narratives with the aim of proposing a classification of Argentinean folktales not only into tale types but also into narrative matrices, which share thematic, structural, and stylistic features. The goal of this folk narrative catalogue is to show how local beliefs transform universal narrative patterns into expressions of vernacular identities. To contextualize this approach concentrating on the interweaving of animal tales and belief narratives, I also present a diachronic overview of Argentinean folk narrative collections focused on animal tales, from 1921 up to the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iberica is the property of Asociacion Europea de Lenguas para Fines Especificos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The possibility of using the belief function theory for developing of trading strategies is considered in this paper. An analysis of this approach is given on the data of the Russian stock market. The belief and plausibility functions (and their corresponding bodies of evidence) to the system's recommendations (buy, sell or hold) are calculated using fuzzy inference methods for technical indicators. Further, these bodies of evidence are aggregated using the combining rules (Dempster's rule, Yager's rule and others). The discount coefficients of the bodies of evidence are calculated at the stage of the learning under the condition of maximizing the profitability of the trading strategy. The intervals for the buying or selling of assets are determined on the results of such combination. The decision about the corresponding action is taken after comparing these intervals. The study showed that the proposed approach provides an interesting result. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formed through the influence of historical experiences, common beliefs, religions, languages and cultures, as in many other conflicts, identity perceptions are a root cause behind the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This study undertakes a careful investigation of these historical experiences in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with a focus on the state of national institutions in both nations in a comparative manner. These institutions play a strong role in nation-building process and identity perceptions, as such their examination reveals the current status regarding the incorporation of these institutions into the goal of nation-building. The paper observes that the identity perception-induced conflicts are still the top agendas enough to throw the Middle East into disorder, with a constant potential for war. While the state of warfare between Israel and Palestine plays a crucial role in the formation of national identities, the identity perceptions increase the persistence of the conflict. Consolidation of identity perceptions is one of the most influential factors that shape the nation-building process. These identity perceptions are built on, consolidated and propagated via a variety of sources, such as societal beliefs about oneself and the "other", ideological and religious roots, educational or military institutions. Thus, these historical, social and cultural sources are the determining factor of this process. The extent to which these components are effectively employed during the nation-building process greatly impacts these nations' success in the identitybased securitization. The investigation concludes that Israel has been more effective in this process than Palestine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Veritas is the property of EDIPUCRS - Editora Universitaria da PUCRS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Araucaria is the property of Araucaria-Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofia, Politica y Humanidades and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Drawing on the information processing perspective, this paper investigates how young adults' attitude toward entrepreneurship is shaped by their beliefs about the role and activities of entrepreneurs. Our first study (N = 129) reveals that young adults hold a biased set of beliefs. They believe that entrepreneurship affords agentic aspects (e.g., achievement, power, excitement), but significantly less believe in communal aspects which are, however, equally integral to entrepreneurship (e.g., interaction, pro-social behavior). In a subsequent experimental vignette study (N = 389), we show, that communicating the communal nature of entrepreneurship, specifically the pro-social aspects, improves both men's and women's attitude toward entrepreneurship. Overall, our research suggests that portrayals of occupations shape young adults' beliefs about career options and thereby influence their attitude toward respective careers. • Young adults' set of beliefs about entrepreneurship is dominated by agentic beliefs. • Young adults significantly less believe that entrepreneurship implies communion. • Presenting the communal pro-social side improves attitudes toward entrepreneurship. • Higher pro-social and agentic beliefs improve men's and women's attitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper establishes a novel reliability assessment method for industrial control system (ICS). Firstly, the qualitative and quantitative information were integrated by evidential reasoning(ER) rule. Then, an ICS reliability assessment model was constructed based on belief rule base (BRB). In this way, both expert experience and historical data were fully utilized in the assessment. The model consists of two parts, a fault assessment model and a security assessment model. In addition, the initial parameters were optimized by covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) algorithm, making the proposed model in line with the actual situation. Finally, the proposed model was compared with two other popular prediction methods through case study. The results show that the proposed method is reliable, efficient and accurate, laying a solid basis for reliability assessment of complex ICSs. Keywords: Belief rule base (BRB), industrial control system (ICS), evidential reasoning (ER), reliability assessment, covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zhongguo Kejishi Zazhi (Chinese Journal for the History of Science & Technology) is the property of Chinese Academy of Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article studies the belief-related context (of use) of Estonian riddles. The study is based on archival records dating back to the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, which are concerned with solving riddles and primarily reflect the way that people in a peasant society thought. In addition to the studies that focus on texts of regular riddles (e.g. dealing with poetics or geographical dispersion), this paper discusses the beliefrelated functions of riddles that have been minimised during cultural changes. The study gives consideration to links between Estonian archival material and archaic mythological riddle forms (neck-riddles, kennings), taboos and restrictions related to solving riddles as well as to combinations of belief-related backgrounds with playful and entertaining aspects. Belief-related backgrounds are confirmed by the syncretic relation of riddle solving to everyday tasks (e.g. solving riddles in the autumn and winter periods as part of calendar traditions, riddles in marriage proposals and wedding traditions), which reveal connections to both sacral and profane changes of time, including economy; on occasion, solving riddles served to ensure personal luck and to promote one's household and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religiosity has long been considered one of the most important and most consistent determining factors in fertility schedules. The general view is that religious women tend to have larger families, are less likely to remain childless and that they are more likely to choose a reproductive strategy with an above-average number of children. The aim of this paper is to analyse the relationship between women's religious beliefs and their fertility in practice based on census results for Slovakia. It aims to show not only how religiosity has influenced and continues to influence the level and character of fertility but also how the relationship has developed over time. It also aims to determine whether the example of Slovakia conforms to the well-known tendency for Catholic women to have higher fertility than Protestant women and, if so, whether the difference has widened or narrowed over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students with learning disabilities and other high-incidence hidden exceptionalities (HIHE) can struggle with secondary difficulties including low confidence in their abilities (e.g., Klassen, 2010) along with primary difficulties related to their exceptionality. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of the perspective of individuals with hidden exceptionalities with regard to maladaptive beliefs they can form. Using learning disabilities as a platform for discussing HIHE, we unpack two types of maladaptive beliefs--related to generalizations and mindset--and suggest adaptive alternative beliefs that can promote adaptive behaviour. The focus on maladaptive beliefs draws attention to the identification process, and specifically the types of variables that can influence how well aligned parts of the process are for particular students. We present a framework that contextualizes individual beliefs within the identification process, and what other variables determine alignment of parts within the process. The framework can be used to support educators through the identification process, as well as researchers in providing direction for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the increased rate of hate crimes and racist behavior around the world, a growing school of thought draws a connection between social media use and the rise in racist and hateful behavior. A number of psychologists and theorists have attempted to explain this connection. They argue that the deliberate design of social media websites, which uses algorithms to conform to users' currently held thoughts and beliefs, creates polarization and bias among users, pushing them towards preexisting views. While racist behavior is primarily motivated by bias, social media has the potential to foster such bias. However, although under the theory of confirmation bias this assertion appears theoretically sound and justifiable; few studies have attempted to validate it empirically. In this study, we developed a conceptual framework to examine the effect of social media on bias among its users, with a specific focus on religious beliefs. We then examined the influence of religious bias on racist behavior. We tested the proposed model using data from secondary sources. In conclusion, the findings of our regression analysis did not support the proposed hypothesis. In this paper, we present and discuss our findings, along with their implications for research and policy. Highlights • A growing school of thought draws a connection between social media use and the rise in racist and hateful behavior. • Few studies have attempted to validate this assertion empirically. • We developed a conceptual framework to examine the effect of social media on religious beliefs bias. • The findings of our regression analysis did not support the proposed hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The purpose of this paper is to consider some reasons why philosophy, in its current highly pluralist state, can be a valuable means of creating, with the help of divine grace, an opening for faith. My paper begins with (1) the challenging conceptual diversity that besets the very idea of Catholic higher education, i.e., the theme of this issue of JCHE. After reviewing Professor Prusak's account of this diversity in his introduction, I turn to (2) the challenge presented by another sort of diversity, that of philosophy itself. I then argue (3) that, given philosophy's distinctive response to the human condition and the ubiquity of belief, it is, in its diversity, an invaluable element of undergraduate education in general. In order to show that philosophy is an essential part of a Catholic college curriculum, I first (4) identify three ideologies or worldviews that threaten to close off the prospects of faith and then (5) argue that a philosophical habitus has resources to thwart this closure and provide an opening for faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper advances a new understanding of racial differences in student attitudes. Since the 1980s, scholarship on student attitudes has focused on an assessment of oppositional culture theory, which proposes that Black students fare poorly in academics because they reject schooling as a means of status attainment. Despite the lack of empirical support for oppositional culture theory, few new theoretical approaches to understanding student attitudes have been advanced and the oppositional culture model continues to frame scholarship and debates around student attitudes. This paper argues that a view of student beliefs and attitudes based in the concept of Black habitus has the potential to move scholarship beyond the oppositional culture perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to show how logically acceptable (or rational) belief in Traditional Akan religion is. The attempt is necessitated by the tendency by some scholars to (mis) treat all religions in a generic sense; and the potential which Akan religion has to influence philosophical debates on the nature of God and the rationality of belief in God - generally, on the practice of religion. It executes this task by expounding some rational features of the religion and culture of the Akan people of Ghana. It examines, in particular, the concept of God in Akan religion. This paper is therefore a philosophical argument on the sacred and institutional representation of what humans have come to refer to as "religious". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at showing the complexity of the Romanians' implications in the witch hunts of Transylvania, during the 16th-18th centuries, particularly as victims, but also as accusers or experts. Their laws against witchcraft were not very severe, but they had to interact, in a multicultural environment, with several others legal systems and religious beliefs, more inclined to condemn magical practices and heresies. This paper discusses briefly the Transylvanian cultural context of the witch craze, presents then some trials in which the Romanians were involved, trying eventually to find some explanations for the mechanisms of xenophobic projections. Feared as strangers, source of fascination and repulsion, the Romanians, principally the women, offered a perfect scheme on which to build social representations meant to comfort the dominant ethnic groups from Transylvania (Germans, Hungarians) in their positions of power and authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terms like "fake news" and "alternative facts" are a part of everyday life now, but what do these terms mean to folklorists? In this paper, I consider types of fake news, where fake news occurs, and what motivates people to create fake news. I also address fake news by looking at alternative health belief sites, including anti-vaccination sites, as precursors to other types of fake news and as a way to understand the intersection of fake news and belief. Additionally, I ask that we, as folklorists and folk, consider our own belief systems and how they affect our research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]