Blending the Subjective and Objective Realms of Sacred Architecture at the Pantheon: Creating a Comparative Framework for Evaluating Transformative Experiences in Ritual Contexts

This paper seeks to create a comparative framework for evaluating transformative experiences for different types of ritual contexts found in sacred architecture by bridging the gap between the phenomenology of human experience and architecture’s built conditions. The methodology creates a framework for statistical analysis, whereby evidence of people’s actual (i.e., real, lived) “subjective” experiences can be evaluated against the “objective” architectural conditions. The comparative framework is put to the test by comparing the experiential and environmental conditions found at the Pantheon in Rome. Experiential data for the Pantheon is extracted from Julio Bermudez’s large survey database (N = 2872) of “extraordinary architectural experiences” for this study. This data is compared against “objective” graphical architecture analysis using Lindsay Jones’ “morphology of ritual-architectural priorities” with a specific focus on ritual contexts. The quantitative and qualitative data reveals that the Pantheon produces transformative experiences for visitors that are related to the expected outcomes of specific design features. The percentages from the “objective” and “subjective” analysis both rank the priorities of theatre, contemplation, and sanctuary in the same order. This study concludes that built environments possessing a higher presence and quality of “ritual-architectural priorities” are more likely to be perceived as sacred and produce transformative experiences.

People’s Perception of Experimental Installations for Sustainable Energy: The Case of IFMIF-DONES

Nuclear facilities are a main milestone in the long way to sustainable energy. Beyond the well-known fission centrals, the necessity of cleaner, more efficient and almost unlimited energy reducing waste to almost zero is a major challenge in the next decades. This is the case with nuclear fusion. Different experimental installations to definitively control this nuclear power are proliferating in different countries. However, citizens in the surroundings of cities and villages where these installations are going to be settled are frequently reluctant because of doubts about the expected benefits and the potential hazards. In this framework, knowing the opinion of people and their perception of experimental fusion facilities is essential for researchers, administrations and rulemaking bodies planning future fusion plants. This is the case for IFMIF-DONES, a neutron irradiation facility to determine the most suitable materials for the future fusion reactors. The construction of this installation is starting in Escúzar (Granada, Spain), and this work presents a large survey among 311 people living or working in the village. Their perception, fears, hopes and other variables are analyzed, and the conclusions for future installations and their impact on the energy policy are presented.

Phylogenetic Diversity and Mycotoxin Potential of Emergent Phytopathogens within the Fusarium tricinctum Species Complex

Recent studies on multiple continents indicate members of the Fusarium tricinctum species complex (FTSC) are emerging as prevalent pathogens of small-grain cereals, pulses, and other economically important crops. These understudied fusaria produce structurally diverse mycotoxins, among which enniatins (ENNs) and moniliformin (MON) are the most frequent and of greatest concern to food and feed safety. Herein a large survey of fusaria in the Fusarium Research Center and Agricultural Research Service culture collections was undertaken to assess species diversity and mycotoxin potential within the FTSC. A 151-strain collection originating from diverse hosts and substrates from different agroclimatic regions throughout the world was selected from 460 FTSC strains to represent the breadth of FTSC phylogenetic diversity. Evolutionary relationships inferred from a 5-locus dataset, using maximum likelihood and parsimony, resolved the 151 strains as 24 phylogenetically distinct species, including nine that are new to science. Of the five genes analyzed, nearly full-length phosphate permease sequences contained the most phylogenetically informative characters, establishing its suitability for species-level phylogenetics within the FTSC. Fifteen of the species produced ENNs, MON, the sphingosine analog 2-amino-14,16- dimethyloctadecan-3-ol (AOD), and the toxic pigment aurofusarin (AUR) on a cracked corn kernel substrate. Interestingly, the five earliest diverging species in the FTSC phylogeny (i.e., F. iranicum, F. flocciferum, F. torulosum, Fusarium spp. FTSC 8 and 24) failed to produce AOD and MON, but synthesized ENNs and/or AUR. Moreover, our reassessment of nine published phylogenetic studies on the FTSC identified 11 additional novel taxa, suggesting this complex comprises at least 36 species.

Varying importance of the work-life balance dimension of career success for Korean accountants: The effects of gender and generation

In this study, we examine the effects of gender, generation, and the interaction between gender and generation on Korean accountants’ perception of career success. With the large survey data collected from 1,000 accountants working in South Korea, we found that Korean female accountants have higher perceived importance of work-life balance dimension of career success than male accountants; and younger generations (Millennials or younger) have higher perceived importance for this dimension than older generations (Generation X or older). No interaction effects between gender and generation were found in relation to the perceived importance of work-life balance dimension of career success. Specifically, female accountants had higher perceived importance of work-life balance than their male counterparts regardless of generation; and while the mean was higher for younger generations the gap between the female accountants’ means and the male accountants’ means of work-life balance dimension has not been reduced. The insignificant interaction effects between gender and generation regarding the perceived level of the work-life balance dimension of career success suggest that, despite the national and organizational efforts in changing the gender discriminating practices, Korean accounting field may still be making a very slow progress in breaking its glass ceiling.

Digital literacy is associated with more discerning accuracy judgments but not sharing intentions

It has been widely argued that social media users with low digital literacy—who lack fluency with basic technological concepts related to the internet—are more likely to fall for online misinformation, but surprisingly little research has examined this association empirically. In a large survey experiment involving true and false news posts about politics and COVID-19, we found that digital literacy is indeed an important predictor of the ability to tell truth from falsehood when judging headline accuracy. However, digital literacy is not a robust predictor of users’ intentions to share true versus false headlines. This observation resonates with recent observations of a substantial disconnect between accuracy judgments and sharing intentions. Furthermore, our results suggest that lack of digital literacy may be useful for helping to identify people with inaccurate beliefs, but not for identifying those who are more likely to spread misinformation online.

Care Aides’ Perceptions of Caring for Nursing Home Residents With Past Psychological Trauma

The dynamic interplay between dementia and psychological trauma can exert powerful effects on nursing home residents’ behavioral symptoms and quality of life. Our objectives in this exploratory study were to assess care aides’ perceptions of how often they worked with residents with past psychological trauma, the types of trauma encountered, and reasons for these beliefs. We conducted semi-structured cognitive interviews (n = 10) with care aides in June 2019 to inform the development of a trauma needs assessment (4 questions) that we included in a large survey of nursing staff (2019 - 2020). Care aides (n = 3761) were sampled from 91 randomly selected urban nursing homes stratified by health region, owner operator model, and size. We completed basic statistics and content analyses. Care aides identified residents they believed to have psychological trauma histories and provided reasons for their beliefs. Approximately 12% of the reported traumatic events were disclosed to staff. The most common, broad categories of trauma to emerge during analysis were abuse (40%) and war exposure (30%). Each had sub-categories. The most common categories of signs of trauma were re-experiencing symptoms such as flashbacks and nightmares (28%), and avoidance of specific triggers, such as water or intimate care (24%). The majority of the reported signs of trauma were persistent and distressing for staff and residents. Some behaviours assumed to be responsive behaviours of dementia may relate to traumatic stress symptomatology. Implementing trauma-informed supports for residents and care aides is essential to person-centred care and optimal quality of life.

Recreational Psychedelic Users Frequently Encounter Complete Mystical Experiences: Trip Content and Implications for Wellbeing

A growing proportion of the population is engaging in recreational psychedelic use. Psychedelics are uniquely capable of reliably occasioning mystical experiences in ordinary humans without contemplative or religious backgrounds. While clinical research has made efforts to characterize psychedelic experiences, comparably little is understood about how humans naturalistically engage with psychedelics. The present study employs a mixed-methods approach to examine the content and implications of psychedelic and mystical experiences, occurring outside of laboratory settings. We use text mining analyses to arrive at a qualitative description of psychedelic experiential content by abstracting from over two-thousand written reports of first-person psychedelic experiences. Following up, we conducted quantitative analyses on psychometric data from a large survey (N = 1424) to reveal associations between psychedelic use practices, complete mystical experiences, and psychological wellbeing. Topic-modelling and sentiment analyses present a bottom-up description of human interactions with psychedelic compounds and the content of such experiences. Psychometric results suggest psychedelic users encounter complete mystical experiences in high proportions, dependent on factors such as drug type and dose-response effects. Furthermore, a salient association was established between diverse metrics of wellbeing and those with complete mystical experiences. Our results paint a new picture of the growing relationships between humans and psychedelic experiences in the real-world use context. Ordinary humans appear to encounter complete mystical experiences via recreational psychedelic use, and such experiences are strongly associated with improved psychological wellbeing.

EVALUATION OF SATISFACTION LEVEL AMONG EMPLOYEES OF HAYDOM INSTITUTE OF HEALTH SCIENCES (HIHS)

This mini survey is aiming at collecting communal idea and feeling of employees towards their institute and operational modes of different modalities. Through the result from this survey, the management may make conform of the issues suggested by participants basing on the institute existing situation. The survey contemplated on the evaluating level of employees’ job satisfaction. All professional employees were invited to participate in the survey and the data was conveniently collected from 22 participants through structured questionnaire (Likert scale). The main areas addressed in the survey were employee job recognition, employee work environment, salary and wages, employee supervision at work. The results from the survey indicate that majority(86%) of the employees are satisfied with the manner they are recognized by the institute management. Most of the employees were satisfied with working environment. However, majority (82%) were dissatisfied with amount of salary and wages paid for their work. The survey team recommends the institute management to maintain admirable those areas with high level of satisfaction and take action for those areas with low satisfaction. However, large survey may be needed to observe other areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. KEY WORDS: Employees Job Satisfaction Level

Air Passenger Preferences: An International Comparison Affects Boarding Theory

When boarding an aircraft, it is often assumed that minimizing the total boarding time meets economic objectives and passenger satisfaction. However, there are indications that not only the total boarding time should be considered in order to satisfy passengers. In “Air passenger preferences: an international comparison affects boarding theory,” a large survey among airplane passengers, which was conducted in Germany, Israel, and the United States, confirms that a significant share of passengers prefers short individual boarding times. Interestingly, if boarding is restricted to two boarding groups that differ by the passengers’ speed of taking their assigned seat (e.g., passengers with and without hand luggage), “slow-first” is best for minimizing the total boarding time, but “fast-first” is best for minimizing average individual boarding time. Thus, the paper presents a new boarding strategy called “slow-back-first,” where the resulting total boarding time and the resulting average individual boarding time are both close to their respective optimum.