Search Results (161)

Every new phrasal preposition results from a process of grammaticalization, through which elements originally considered lexical acquire grammatical functions. At the same time, their complex status also entails a process of lexicalization, given that these constructions lose their syntactic analyzability. To address this apparent contradiction, the aim of this article is to provide a theoretical account within the theories of grammaticalization and lexicalization. Based on new empirical evidence taken from the historical analysis of the Spanish complex preposition por vía de ‘by way of’, as documented in the Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), this research demonstrates the relationship between grammaticalization and lexicalization. The diachronic data show that the locative noun vía undergoes grammaticalization. This process involves semantic bleaching (locative-perlative, perlative-figurative intermediation, perlative-figurative mediation, cause, purpose; e.g., por vía de Francia ‘by way of France’, por vía de intérprete ‘through an interpreter’, por vía de matrimonio ‘by means of marriage’, por vía de padre ‘on my father’s side’), recategorization, loss of morphological properties, external fixation, and condensation. However, this development is conditioned by lexicalization, as the noun is grammaticalized only when it becomes fixed in combination with the two prepositions (por and de). Nonetheless, the diachronic evidence also shows that the degree of syntactic analyzability varies according to meaning, indicating that analyzability does not necessarily entail semantic compositionality. Full article

Thomas Jefferson, the Author of the Declaration of Independence and the Father of the University of Virginia, considered it a self-evident truth that our rights must be secured through government and that the people themselves are the only safe guardians of their liberty in a republican form of government. The civic education of the people is, therefore, imperative, in his view, if they are to be informed citizens. This article examines the ways that the first States sought to institute public universities, through both constitutional and legislative means, and highlights Jefferson’s vision for civic education against the activity of the States in establishing education. Surveying early State constitutions and university charters reveals, for those States instituting public education, a wide range of approaches, particularly with respect to three aspects: authorizing mode (constitutional or legislative mandates); civic rhetoric; and scope (tiered system or single institution). While several of the States recognize education as important to republican government, their commitments to public civic education vary. Against this backdrop, Jefferson’s views on education appear both comprehensive and constant, from his reform Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge and Notes on the State of Virginia, which envision a three-tiered public system, to his efforts in retirement to pass education reform and establish a new university, with his purpose being explicitly civic. While his State never adopted his full system, Jefferson continued to advocate for ward republics and public instruction throughout his life. The founding of the University of Virginia in 1819 partially fulfilled this pursuit, embodying the keystone in his educational architecture. Yet Jefferson’s broader system—grounded in local participation and universal civic instruction—remained unrealized. This survey further reveals that statesmen in early America did not always agree with Jefferson that States must have an enduring institutional commitment to public civic education, as the best means to inform the people and to secure republican self-government. Full article

Background/Objectives: It is often reported in the literature that the prevalence of obesity is high in individuals with Down Syndrome (DS). This study aims to assess how lifestyle factors—diet quality, nutrient intake or physical activity—contribute to weight gain. Methods: 230 males/females with DS, aged 12–45 years, were recruited across three geographically independent sites. A total of 185 participants were considered for this analysis and classified into normal-weight, overweight, and obese categories. Diet quality and nutrient intake were calculated using country-specific FFQs. Physical activity was assessed with the Minnesota Leisure Time Activity Questionnaire. Body composition measures were obtained with a bioimpedance scale. Results: The study corroborates a higher prevalence (%) of overweight/obesity in our DS cohort compared to the general population. Higher BMIs were significantly correlated with older age (p < 0.001), lower physical activity (p < 0.05), higher parental BMIs (p < 0.001, mother’s BMI; p < 0.05, father’s BMI), and increased adiposity indicators. Excess body weight showed an inverse association only with protein intake (p < 0.001). No significant differences emerged in total caloric or other macronutrients intake across BMI categories. However, notable differences in dietary patterns were observed among the three countries, reflecting cultural influences. A smaller exploratory sub-study suggested a potential relationship between higher IQ scores and better diet quality (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These findings provide new insights into contributors to overweight/obesity in DS people, indicating an influence of age, physical activity, familial factors, and body composition. Higher protein intake and culturally adapted lifestyle interventions may contribute to improving weight-related outcomes. Full article

This paper examines the cinematic portrayals of ascetic women within contemporary film. Historically, the early desert fathers and mothers are venerated figures who embody a life of ascesis—spiritual discipline amidst the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria. Renowned as spiritual mentors and referred to as Abba (father) for men and Amma (mother) for women, they exemplify a way of Christian life rooted in ascetic practice. Their teachings, preserved in texts such as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, offer profound insights into Christian spiritual praxis. This spiritual praxis has been vividly depicted through iconography and asceticism continues to hold reverence, particularly within Eastern Orthodox Christianity, where it serves as the basis of spiritual–liturgical life. While the core goal and meanings of asceticism have been conveyed through ascetic iconography and aesthetics, cinematic portrayals of ascetic life and ethos remain a relatively under-researched area. The focus of this study is on the film A Cross in the Desert, adapted from a literary source, which dramatises the hagiography of St. Paraksevi the New, also known as Sveta Petka and St. Paraskevi of the Balkans (Epivates 944–1012). Through the analysis of film language, this paper aims to shed new light on the ways in which iconographic language has been translated into cinematic language, assessing the ways in which women ascetics have been depicted from a contemporary perspective. The film’s representation of a woman ascetic offers valuable insights into the conceptualisations of the notion of gender as a virtue—embodying sanctity—and potential site of desecration—representing iniquity—as these are experienced as both embodied and spiritual realities. The study offers an analysis of how cinematic language operates, focusing on the visual techniques used to depict the intersection of gender, holiness, and spiritual discipline, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of how film functions as a medium for engaging with complex religious and gendered identities. The analysis of film will provide novel understandings of how cinema depicts and challenges gender within the context of asceticism, exploring how these representations influence contemporary perceptions of women’s spirituality. Full article

This article explores Katherine Sonderegger’s thesis that in Christian prayer, not only does the person pray, but God prays. Though such an idea runs contrary to the settled conviction in Christian spirituality that the human person prays to God, this paper enquires into the idea that God also prays in the person with a study of Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Diary. That record of his spiritual experiences suggests that not only did he listen to God’s prayer in him, but that this listening comprised a spiritual itinerary in which he was led into a deeper experience of God’s prayerful laboring in him. Following this itinerary, this article proceeds in three parts. First, a study of Ignatius’s prayer to the mediators reveals that in his petitions, he sought to hear the intercessory prayer of Mary and Jesus. Second, he found himself discovering a new way to name God as he celebrated the mass; that newness resided not in a new vocabulary but in his participation in the prayer of the Son to the Father. Finally, Ignatius experienced the grace of loqüela in which he heard a kind of celestial music whose tone and language moved him to a simple, contemplative admiration of God. More than the story of a mystic with an uncommon ability to listen to God, Ignatius’s journey into greater attention to God’s language within him is the story of grace, God’s life, which is always present, active, and audible in the believer’s prayer. Full article

In the context of the BiblIndex project, which is an online index of biblical textual reuses by the Church Fathers, intrabiblical intertextuality must be considered to better understand the underlying basis of the Church Fathers’ thought. This paper examines the reuse of Psalmic texts in the New Testament as a test case for experimenting with a detection tool that uses traditional natural language processing (NLP) methods exclusively. Biblical verses are compared using similarity measures based on various NLP operations, such as tokenization, lemmatization, part-of-speech tagging, stop word filtering and synset assignment. Textometric measures provide a framework for the numerical assessment of grammatical, lexical and semantic similarities between textual units. We demonstrate the efficiency of this reproducible method, which does not involve a ‘black box’ effect, for detecting and characterizing literal quotations and a significant range of echoes. Full article

(1) Background: A child’s new diagnosis of autism can represent a highly stressful event for parents. Subthreshold autistic traits (ATs) have been linked to higher vulnerability to psychopathology when exposed to stressful situations, and high rates of ATs have been reported among parents of autistic children. This study aimed to evaluate post-traumatic stress spectrum symptoms (PTSS) in parents of preschool children newly diagnosed with autism and to explore differences between mothers and fathers, besides the correlations with ATs. (2) Methods: A total of 134 parents of children newly diagnosed with autism were assessed by trained psychiatrists from the University of Pisa using the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), the Adult Autism Subthreshold Spectrum-Self Report (AdAS-SR), the Trauma and Loss Spectrum-Self Report (TALS-SR), and the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS). (3) Results: Approximately 10% of parents met DSM-5-TR criteria for symptomatologic PTSD, with nearly 40% experiencing partial PTSD symptoms related to their child’s diagnosis. Mothers showed higher PTSD rates than fathers. The ATs significantly correlated with elevated TALS-SR scores, and logistic regression revealed a positive association between ATs and PTSD (p < 0.001). Linear regression analysis indicated that higher TALS-SR scores predicted lower SOFAS scores (p = 0.004). (4) Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential traumatic impact of a child’s new autism diagnosis on parents, particularly mothers and individuals with ATs. The results underscore the importance of targeted support strategies for parents, considering their key role in early interventions. Further research is needed to better understand parental psychological responses and to enhance support systems, ultimately improving family wellbeing and child outcomes. Full article

Deep learning ability is critical for children’s development, yet little research has been conducted on preschool children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This study investigated the deep learning ability of children with ASD in inclusive play, which involved 8 children with ASD and 13 children with typical development (TD) (5–7 years of age) from four public kindergartens in China. An assessment scale for children’s deep learning ability was developed, and children were observed during inclusive play (IP) and solitary play (SP) in natural settings. A total of 40 play cases (10 were IP and 30 were SP) were collected. Key findings indicated that (1) children with ASD had a moderate level of deep learning ability during play, the emotional experience scored the highest while the interpersonal interaction scored the lowest. (2) The score of deep learning ability in children with ASD in SP was higher than that in IP. (3) Monthly per capita household income, father’s occupation, siblings, and primary playmates significantly influenced the deep learning ability of children with ASD. This study provided new insights into deep learning during play for children with ASD and offered an empirical basis for future inclusive education. Full article

Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) is a rare genetic disorder caused by mutations in the VHL gene on chromosome 3. The disease is associated with increased incidence of neoplasia. The most common manifestations of the disease are hemangioblastomas of the CNS and spinal cord, followed by renal cell carcinomas (RCC), pancreatic tumors, pheocromocytomas, endolymphatic sac tumors, and broad ligament or epididymal cystadenomas. Due to low incidence of the disease, information about its manifestation and genetic makeup has been slow to be gathered. Herein, we present three patients suffering from VHL, all part of the same family: patient one is the father; patient two is the daughter; and patient three is the nephew of the father, cousin to the daughter. Patients and their samples were investigated by magnetic resonance imaging, immunohistochemistry and genetic testing. Results show a tumor process in the left cerebellar hemisphere of the first patient which was successfully removed. The second patient presents with cervical medullary hemangioblastoma which was also successfully removed. The third patient had a tumor formation located at the craniospinal junction, at the level of the posterior bulb which was also treated. Genetic analysis showed patients one and two presented mutations in the VHL gene, confirming the VHL diagnosis. While the cases presented here follow the general lines for VHL disease, patients are related to each other, present tumors of the nervous system and mutations in the VHL gene, their particularities of presentation and manifestation bring new insights into this rare genetic disease. Full article

Challenges caused by secularization, ideological pluralism and the transformation of religious institutions in the modern world have raised the question of what role the Christian priesthood plays in a changing society. The focus of this study is the Orthodox priesthood in Russia in the context of its historical development and theological conception. The article analyzes the position of the parish clergy, which, despite its theoretically exalted and sacred status in the Russian Empire, remained socially vulnerable and dependent on both the state and the community of believers. Particular attention is paid to St. John of Kronstadt, whose ministry became a model for a new type of pastoral care. This combined ascetic strictness, Eucharistic revival, and deep involvement in the lives of the laity. An analysis of Fr. John’s diaries reveals the following: in contrast to the Western tradition, where the crisis of the priesthood is often associated with its excessive sacralization and separation from the laity, in Russian Orthodoxy the response to the challenges of modernity was the sacralization of both the clergy and the entire parish community. This author suggests that, under the circumstances of revolution and persecution, the ideal of the ascetic priest and spiritual father contributed to the formation of stable church communities, which remains relevant in the context of contemporary discussions on the place of religion in the secular world. Full article

This study investigated the validity of a new observational procedure for assessing mother–father–adolescent conflict interactions. Addressing key gaps in the field, this procedure moves beyond mother–adolescent dyads and self-report questionnaires by offering a standardized, observational family-level approach. The procedure combines the Lausanne Trilogue Play—Conflict Discussion Task (LTP–CDT) with a coding system, the Family Conflict and Alliance Assessment Scales with Adolescents (FCAAS). In a sample of 82 two-parent families with adolescents aged 10 to 13, the FCAAS demonstrated excellent inter-rater reliability and good validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a theoretically grounded two-factor structure. Criterion and construct validity were confirmed via self-reports of marital satisfaction and coparenting, respectively. Ecological validity was supported by family members’ self-reports. This tool offers promising research and clinical applications and may be extended to diverse populations to assess known-group validity. Full article

Allotment—the division of Native American reservations into individually-owned plots of land—has been extensively studied; yet there exists a paucity of reservation-level studies at granular geospatial scales, i.e., at the level of examining the impacts of allotment on individuals, families, and clan or tribal groups. In previous research, we described a new semi-automated method for creating detailed GIS allotment databases and discussed the policies and processes that that lay behind allotment at the Standing Rock Reservation. In this study, we employed our Standing Rock database to map and explore allotment patterns in detail. We primarily focused on patterns of clustering versus dispersion of allotment parcels for individuals, families, and tribal groups by calculating median distance (and other descriptive statistics) and standard distance in GIS. Throughout, we used mapped representations of allotment patterns as visualization tools, both for confirming hypotheses and raising new questions. As anticipated, we discovered patterns of both gain and loss. On the one hand, as we had found earlier, the people at Standing Rock gained land through their insistence on allotments for married women and for children born after the beginning date of allotment (“later-born children”), land they otherwise would not have received. We also confirmed that married women only received half the land that their husbands received and that the early sale of “surplus” reservation lands deprived a future generation of children of the opportunity to receive their own land. Perhaps most importantly, however, we discovered that the belated timing of allotments to married women and later-born children caused their allotments to be located at some distance from those of their husbands or fathers, creating disjunct and dispersed patterns of family land holdings that would have significantly hampered the creation of viable farming and ranching operations. Full article

Economic challenges place lower-income, economically marginalized families at heightened risk for experiencing financial stress, which is associated with a host of adverse family outcomes. Among lower-income families raising young children, existing economic challenges are often exacerbated by the added needs of children, including child-specific expenses (e.g., childcare) and decreased parental earning capacity. In these families, financial stress may strain the coparenting alliance; however, scant research has explored the association, particularly in families with young infants. Informed by family systems theory and the family stress model, the present study utilized an actor–partner interdependence model to explore the relationship between financial stress and the quality of the coparenting alliance within a sample of 214 lower-income opposite-sex couples with or expecting a new baby. This study further examined potential differences between (a) mothers and fathers, (b) cohabiting and married parents, and (c) those in different parenting contexts (i.e., new vs. established parents, recent vs. anticipated births). Results indicated that mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of financial stress were negatively associated with their own report of coparenting alliance but not their partner’s coparenting alliance. This association was consistent across couple relationship structures and parenting contexts. Implications for policy and practices are provided. Full article

This paper discusses dye recipes written after 1697 by Christian Barclay [Jaffray], a Scottish woman from a prominent Quaker family. The more than sixty dye recipes were written by Barclay in a receipt book that also contains medical and culinary recipes. They introduce a wealth of new information about the production and use of color among early Quaker women, demonstrating that many more hues were used than previously thought. They also specify previously unknown methods by which many hues were obtained by domestic dyers in the early modern British Isles. The authors, working at the Research Center for Virtual/Material Studies (CV/MS) at Pennsylvania State University, have recreated several recipes, with particular focus on “wine coloūr” and “trūe and dūrable copper coloūr,” to elaborate on the recipes’ rhetorical, material, and chromatic features. The authors interpret recipes according to religious, socio-economic, and political contexts that surrounded Barclay’s family, given that her father, Robert Barclay, was a prominent theologian among the Friends, and her mother, Christian Mollison Barclay, was a well-known healer proficient with materials and equipment also used in dye recipes. Full article

Background/Objectives: Although several studies have examined the importance of social capital to individual health, the relationship between social capital and family well-being remains unclear. This study examines the relationships among social capital, parental depressive symptoms, and family well-being, and evaluates whether parental depressive symptoms mediate the association between social capital and family well-being in immigrant Chinese and native Japanese families. Methods: A cross-sectional study using Google questionnaires was conducted between January and April 2024 among parents of local Japanese and immigrant Chinese families with children. The survey assessed demographics and social capital using the PSCS-16 and K6 Scale, family well-being using the General Functioning Index of the Family Assessment Device, and family life satisfaction using the New Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Multiple-group structural equation modeling clarified the association between bonding and bridging social capital and family well-being. Results: The survey data was collected from 133 parents (75 Japanese and 58 Chinese) of preschool children aged six years and under. About 81.2% of respondents were mothers and 18.8% were fathers, with the majority aged between 30 to 39 years (63.9%). Bonding social capital was positively associated with family well-being among Japanese families. In Chinese families, bonding social capital was indirectly associated with family well-being by reducing parental depressive symptoms. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of enhancing bonding social capital to benefit both native and immigrant families. Besides, policymakers should consider tailored strategies that reflect the differing needs of both groups. Full article