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14 - Religiousness and Spirituality
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- By Michele Dillon, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Paul Wink, Department of Psychology Wellesley College
- Edited by Michele Dillon, University of New Hampshire
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- Book:
- Handbook of the Sociology of Religion
- Published online:
- 05 June 2012
- Print publication:
- 18 August 2003, pp 179-189
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- Chapter
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Summary
Americans today are living longer and healthier lives than earlier generations. Currently 13 percent of the U.S. population is aged sixty-five or over (Kramarow, Lentzer, Rooks, Weeks, and Saydah 1999; 22) and this expanding sector is experiencing lower rates of functional disability than was the case even a few decades ago. These trends and the aging of the populous baby boom generation understandably focus attention on the factors that are conducive to purposeful and socially engaged aging. The focus of current research is thus beginning to move beyond questions of physical health and mortality to give greater attention to the quality or character of older persons' everyday lives.
In the pursuit of “successful aging” some social scientists have begun to investigate characteristics that become particularly salient in the second half of adulthood such as wisdom (e.g., Wink and Helson 1997) and spirituality (e.g., Tornstam 1999). Other researchers have explored characteristics that are not necessarily specific to older adulthood but that nonetheless play a vital role in the negotiation of the aging process. Religiousness is one such factor because although it is positively associated with social functioning throughout adulthood, it takes on increased significance in the second half of the adult life cycle (e.g., Hout and Greeley 1987).
This chapter explores adulthood patterns of religiousness and spirituality and their association with social functioning in older adulthood drawing on our research with a longitudinal study of men and women that spans adolescence and late adulthood.
Advances in three-dimensional diagnostic radiology
- BART M. TER HAAR ROMENY, KAREL J. ZUIDERVELD, PAUL F. G. M. VAN WAES, THEO VAN WALSUM, REMKO VAN DER WEIJDEN, JOACHIM WEICKERT, RIK STOKKING, ONNO WINK, STILIYAN KALITZIN, TWAN MAINTZ, FRANS ZONNEVELD, MAX A. VIERGEVER
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- Journal:
- The Journal of Anatomy / Volume 193 / Issue 3 / October 1998
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 October 1998, pp. 363-371
- Print publication:
- October 1998
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- Article
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The maturity of current 3D rendering software in combination with recent developments in computer vision techniques enable an exciting range of applications for the visualisation, measurement and interactive manipulation of volumetric data, relevant both for diagnostic imaging and for anatomy. This paper reviews recent work in this area from the Image Sciences Institute at Utrecht University. The processes that yield a useful visual presentation are sequential. After acquisition and before any visualisation, an essential step is to prepare the data properly: this field is known as ‘image processing’ or ‘computer vision’ in analogy with the processing in human vision. Examples will be discussed of modern image enhancement and denoising techniques, and the complex process of automatically finding the objects or regions of interest, i.e. segmentation. One of the newer and promising methodologies for image analysis is based on a mathematical analysis of the human (cortical) visual processing: multiscale image analysis. After preprocessing the 3D rendering can be acquired by simulating the ‘ray casting’ in the computer. New possibilities are presented, such as the integrated visualisation in one image of (accurately registered) datasets of the same patient acquired in different modality scanners. Other examples include colour coding of functional data such as SPECT brain perfusion or functional magnetic resonance (MR) data and even metric data such as skull thickness on the rendered 3D anatomy from MR or computed tomography (CT). Optimal use and perception of 3D visualisation in radiology requires fast display and truly interactive manipulation facilities. Modern and increasingly cheaper workstations (<$10000) allow this to be a reality. It is now possible to manipulate 3D images of 2563 at 15 frames per second interactively, placing virtual reality within reach. The possibilities of modern workstations become increasingly more sophisticated and versatile. Examples presented include the automatic detection of the optimal viewing angle of the neck of aneurysms and the simulation of the design and placement procedure of intra-abdominal aortic stents. Such developments, together with the availability of high-resolution datasets of modern scanners and data such as from the NIH Visible Human project, have a dramatic impact on interactive 3D anatomical atlases.