Artin Groups Research Articles

Effectiveness of an integrative model of vocational life design for young rehabilitated drug abusers

ABSTRACT Background The effectiveness of an integrative life design model in preventing drug relapses among rehabilitated youth was evaluated. This model combined Savickas’ narrative life design in vocational counseling, expressive arts groups, and motivational interviewing. Its objective was to enhance life satisfaction and foster long-term resilience against relapse among young individuals recovering from drug abuse. Methods The study involved 70 rehabilitated drug abusers, equally divided into intervention and control groups. After four waves of data collection, 62 participants completed various assessments to monitor drug use behaviors and psychosocial changes. Results The intervention group showed continuous improvement in their self-efficacy to refuse drug use, whereas the control group’s self-efficacy to refuse drugs decreased by T4. The intervention group also had a lower relapse rate than the control group. Participants in both groups demonstrated improvements on various psychometric scales. However, those in the intervention group exhibited more substantial progress over time. Conclusions The study demonstrates the effectiveness of the integrative vocational life design model in preventing relapse among rehabilitated drug abusers. It emphasizes the importance of establishing future expectations and promoting life satisfaction for rehabilitated drug abusers. The study concludes with recommendations for future research and practice.

The effect of listening to music and drawing on coping with dysmenorrhea complaints in nursing students: randomized controlled trial

AimTo examine the effect of listening to music and drawing on coping with dysmenorrhea complaints of nursing students.MethodsThe study was a double-blind, three parallel-group randomized controlled trial conducted between August 2023 and May 2024 at Bartın University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing. Ninety-six dysmenorrheic nursing students with regular menstrual cycles were included in the study and randomly assigned to three groups as drawing, music and control groups. Visual Analog Scale (100mmVAS of pain), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Menstrual Symptoms Scale (MSS) were applied to the students at baseline, 1st and 2nd months. The interventions were as follows: the music group listened to a 29-minute and 32-second song three days before menstruation and on the first day of menstruation in the third month composed by Juan Sebastian Martin-Saavedra, while the drawing group created art for the same duration. The pain scores, perceived stress, and menstrual symptoms were measured in all groups after the interventions.ResultsPretest, 1st and 2nd months 100mmVAS of pain score averages were 7.16 ± 1.99, 7.16 ± 1.99 and 7.50 ± 1.98 for the control group, 7.22 ± 1.64, 4.84 ± 1.80 and 2.13 ± 1.45 for the music group and 6.69 ± 1.80, 5.09 ± 1.55 and 2.91 ± 1.33 for the drawing group, respectively. Pretest, 1st and 2nd months PSS score averages were 28.75 ± 3.71, 29.09 ± 3.87 and 30.03 ± 4.16 for the control group, 29.91 ± 3.98, 14.06 ± 4.06 and 3.59 ± 3.82 for the music group and 27.38 ± 3.63, 18.13 ± 5.60 and 8.34 ± 5.46 for the drawing group, respectively. Pretest, 1st and 2nd months MSS score averages were 79.25 ± 15.41, 88.00 ± 20.08 and 90.66 ± 19.13 for the control group, 85.41 ± 10.77, 62.41 ± 15.23 and 34.00 ± 12.62 for the music group and 80.69 ± 11.07, 65.53 ± 15.37 and 47.31 ± 15.11 for the drawing group, respectively. Mean menstrual pain intensity, mean perceived stress level, and mean menstrual symptoms level in the art and music group decreased significantly at 1st and 2nd months post-intervention (p < .001). A significant increase in score levels was observed in the control group.ConclusionsBoth art and music practices are effective in significantly reducing menstrual pain, perceived stress, and menstrual symptoms in nursing students with dysmenorrhea. It is important to include listening to music and drawing on women’s health and disease nursing practices to control menstrual pain, perceived stress, and menstrual symptoms in dysmenorrhea.Clinical trials registration numberhttps://clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT06027489; registered August 30, 2023.

Comparison of active release technique and post-isometric relaxation in treatment of plantar fasciitis among traffic police wardens: a quasi-experimental study

BackgroundPlantar fasciitis (PF) is a common cause of chronic foot pain that leads to functional limitations in individuals. There has been recent research on plantar fasciitis, but no studies have compared the effects of the active release technique and post-isometric relaxation in patients to determine which manual therapy technique improves foot pain and function.ObjectiveThis study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the active release technique and post-isometric relaxation on proximal foot pain and functional status and to assess muscular tightness among patients with traffic police wards and plantar fasciitis.MethodsA quasi-experimental study (pre-test, post-test) was conducted in the Physiotherapy Department of Police Hospital, Gujranwala, Pakistan, between October 2022 and April 2023. We included 30 consecutively aged 25- to 60-year-old symptomatic police wardens diagnosed with planter fasciitis, who complained of pain on walking and standing for more than 3 months and met the inclusion criteria. They were equally assorted into two groups (n = 15 in each group) using convenient sampling. Group A received an active release exercise technique, group B received a post-isometric relaxation technique, and the participants in both groups received a similar baseline treatment protocol that consisted of calf stretching and stretching of the plantar fascia (5 repetitions and holding for 15 s). In the outcome measures, we included the Foot Function Index to assess the function of the foot and the Visual Analog Scale to examine the pain intensity measured during rest. The participants in both groups performed the selective protocol 3 days per week for 3 weeks, and we calculated the results at baseline and on the third day of the third week. We analyzed the data using SPSS software version 24 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). We compared within-group differences in the VAS score and FFI using paired t tests and analyzed between-group differences in the VAS score and FFI before and after performing the ART and PIR using independent t tests.ResultsThe 8-week intervention therapy revealed a demographic age mean and standard deviation of 36.60 ± 6.11 for group A and 35.60 ± 4.85 for group B. Within-group analysis demonstrated a significant decrease in VAS (pain) score following ART intervention (1.80 ± 0.862, p < 0.01) compared to PIR (6.07 ± 0.884). Between-group analysis indicated a significant reduction in FFI (disability) scores for group A (30.33 ± 3.200, p < 0.03) compared to group B (56.93 ± 4.773). Moreover, ART intervention exhibited significant improvement in VAS scores (p < 0.05), with 95% CI [1.49, 2.11]. The mean difference in FFI scores was substantially greater in the ART group (86.00 to 30.33) compared to the PIR group (p > 0.05), suggesting non-significant differences.ConclusionThe active release exercise intervention is more effective than post-isometric relaxation in improving pain and foot function disability in patients with plantar fasciitis. The present study aimed to help physical therapists choose the most efficient manual therapy exercise intervention to improve functional limitations.

Labeled four cycles and the $K(\pi ,1)$-conjecture for Artin groups

AbstractWe show that for a large class of Artin groups with Dynkin diagrams being a tree, the $K(\pi ,1)$ K ( π , 1 ) -conjecture holds. We also establish the $K(\pi ,1)$ K ( π , 1 ) -conjecture for another class of Artin groups whose Dynkin diagrams contain a cycle, which applies to some Artin groups whose Dynkin diagrams are of hyperbolic type. This is based on a new approach to the $K(\pi ,1)$ K ( π , 1 ) -conjecture for Artin groups.

Drag Artists in Shanghai: Balancing Local and Global Influences in Queer Cultural Production

This article discusses a case study of a group of local and expat drag artists based in Shanghai, China. Theoretical perspectives of “global gay” discourse, queer temporality and Chinese-centric queer theories were employed to question how Shanghai’s drag artists navigate drag’s growing popularity, Chinese state restrictions and Western dominance. Through analysing semi-structured interviews and performance video samples of seven drag artists and one LGBTQ+ venue owner, queer cultural productions in China were explored to ask how they offer new possibilities for queer knowledge production, and propose futurities that are simultaneously transnational and rooted in China. While the influence of Euro-American LGBTQ+ discourse was documented and acknowledged, other perspectives revealed more nuanced conceptualisations of the binary between copy/original, the frictions inherent in cultural exchange, and diverse forms of resistance. Shanghai’s drag scene is evolving in distinct ways, incorporating both global and local influences and cultural traditions. With queer knowledge still largely attributed to the West, and non-Western experiences vastly underrepresented, it is important to recognise what underground cultural productions such as those in Shanghai offer global queer cultural exchange.

Translation lengths in crossing and contact graphs of quasi-median graphs

Given a quasi-median graph X , the crossing graph \Delta X and the contact graph \Gamma X are natural hyperbolic models of X . In this article, we show that the asymptotic translation length in \Delta X or \Gamma X of an isometry of X is always rational. Moreover, if X is hyperbolic, these rational numbers can be written with denominators bounded above uniformly; this is not true in full generality. Finally, we show that, if the quasi-median graph X is constructible in some sense, then there exists an algorithm computing the translation length of every computable isometry. Our results encompass contact graphs in CAT(0) cube complexes and extension graphs of right-angled Artin groups.

I am not a Sportsman: the characteristics of identity construction in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts groups

I am not a Sportsman: the characteristics of identity construction in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts groups

Infertility treatment and offspring blood pressure-a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Studies have inconsistently observed that children conceived by IVF or ICSI have higher blood pressure compared to children not conceived by these ARTs. The aim was to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of blood pressure measures of offspring conceived by ART and those conceived naturally. Resolving the suspicion of ART as a risk factor of higher blood pressure, and therefore of heart disease, has public health and clinical implications. A biomedical librarian searched the Embase, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. Searches were limited to records published in English since 1978. Grey literature was searched. Inclusion criteria were humans born via infertility treatment (vs no treatment) who underwent a blood pressure assessment. Exclusion criteria were non-human participants, non-quantitative studies, absence of a control group, and specialty populations (e.g. cancer patients only). Two reviewers independently screened each record's title and abstract and full text using Covidence, extracted data using Excel, and assessed bias using the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Quality Assessment Tool for cohort studies. Of 5082 records identified, 79 were included in the systematic review and 36 were included in the meta-analysis of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in ART and non-ART groups. Overall, 34 reports including 40 effect sizes from 25 unique cohorts, compared blood pressure between ART (N = 5229) and non-ART (N = 8509, reference) groups with no covariate adjustment. No standardized mean differences (SMD) in SBP (0.06 per SD of mmHg, 95% CI = -0.05, 0.18) or DBP (0.11, 95% CI = -0.04, 0.25) by treatment were found, but the heterogeneity was considerable (I2=76% for SBP and 87% for DBP). Adjusted analyses were presented in 12 reports, representing 28 effect sizes from 21 unique cohorts (N = 2242 treatment vs N = 37590 non-treatment). Studies adjusted for varied covariates including maternal (e.g. age, education, body mass index, smoking, pregnancy complications), child (e.g. sex, age, physical activity, BMI, height), and birth characteristics (e.g. birth weight and gestational age). Adjusted results similarly showed no SMD for SBP (-0.03, 95% CI = -0.13, 0.08) or DBP (0.02, 95% CI = -0.12, 0.16), though heterogeneity remained high (I2 = 64% and 86%). Funnel plots indicated a slight publication bias, but the trim and fill approach suggested no missing studies. Removal of five studies which adjusted for birth outcomes (potentially over-adjusting for mediators) made no material difference. Type of treatment (e.g. IVF vs ICSI), period effects by birth year (≤2000 vs >2000), offspring age group (<8, 8-14, 15+), or study location (e.g. Europe) did not modify the results. In conclusion, conception by ART was not associated with offspring blood pressure in a meta-analysis, although considerable heterogeneity was observed. Given the increasing number of children born using ART, perpetuating a difference in blood pressure would mean unnecessary risk screening for many children/adults on a population level. At a clinical level, couples considering these reproductive technologies have some reassurance that there is no evidence of strong vascular 'programming' due to the techniques used. PROSPERO No. CRD42022374232.

A Single-Session Wellness Initiative for Black College Women: Integrating Expressive Arts, Spirituality, and Political Resistance

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how four Black women undergraduate students experienced a single-session wellness initiative that integrated expressive arts, spirituality, and political resistance. After participating in the group wellness session, the researchers conducted individual interviews with each participant to understand their interpretation of their paintings and their perceptions of the expressive arts group. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, and data were analyzed using a structured coding process. Three themes emerged from the cross-case analysis of the semi-structured interviews: (1) Black Women Connecting, (2) Appreciation for the Session Topic, and (3) Systemic Efforts to Promote Black Women’s Wellness. Conducting this study with undergraduate Black women from a predominantly white institution (PWI) yields recommendations for providing culturally responsive wellness programming at university counseling centers.

Pro-[formula omitted] RAAGs

Let C be a class of finite groups closed under taking subgroups, quotients, and extensions with abelian kernel. The right-angled Artin pro-C group GΓ (pro-C RAAG for short) is the pro-C completion of the right-angled Artin group G(Γ) associated with the finite simplicial graph Γ.In the first part, we describe structural properties of pro-C RAAGs. Among others, we describe the centraliser of an element and show that pro-C RAAGs satisfy the Tits' alternative, that standard subgroups are isolated, and that 2-generated pro-p subgroups of pro-C RAAGs are either free pro-p or free abelian pro-p.In the second part, we characterise splittings of pro-C RAAGs in terms of the defining graph. More precisely, we prove that a pro-C RAAG GΓ splits as a non-trivial direct product if and only if Γ is a join and it splits over an abelian pro-C group if and only if a connected component of Γ is a complete graph or it has a complete disconnecting subgraph. We then use this characterisation to describe an abelian JSJ decomposition of a pro-C RAAG, in the sense of Guirardel and Levitt [GL17].

Mini-Worskhop: Artin Groups meet Triangulated Categories

Artin and Coxeter groups are naturally occurring generalisations of the braid and symmetric groups respectively. However, unlike for Coxeter groups, many basic group theoretic questions remain unanswered for general Artin groups – most notably the K(\pi,1) -conjecture for Artin groups remains open except for certain special families of Artin groups. Recently, Artin groups have also appeared as groups acting on triangulated categories, where the associated spaces of Bridgeland’s stability conditions provide new realisations of the corresponding K(\pi,1) spaces. The aim of the workshop is to bring together experts and early career researchers from two seemingly different areas of research: (i) geometric and combinatorial group theory and topology, and (ii) triangulated categories and stability conditions, to explore their intersection via the K(\pi,1) -conjecture.

Arts Community Resilience in Malaysia during the Time of COVID-19: Five Arts Centre’s Open House Initiative

The intrusion of COVID-19 in Malaysia had resulted in the disruption of many art projects for the whole year of 2020. Due to the country’s countermeasures to combat the disease’s ongoing spread, several art groups and art projects were facing mass postponements, cancellations, and uncertainty—arts communities were vulnerable to economic losses, social and environmental limitations during the volatile period. However, there were few art groups that managed to adapt their practices and work around the pandemic constraints they’ve encountered. Five Arts Centre arts collective was sampled and interviewed for this year-long study which looks at the preliminary impacts and responses of COVID-19 on the arts communities in Kuala Lumpur. The results indicate Malaysian arts communities were able to remain resilient against the pandemic mostly due to their social connectedness across the arts practitioners and institutions within the arts ecosystem. Added with their intuitive instrumentalisation of existing resources to meet the environmental limitations that the COVID-19 presented. The research findings are analysed through the utilisation of an adapted resilience framework to help explain the sampled art groups’ experiences through the pandemic period.

Structure of achievement motive in art students

Introduction. Research into achievement motives and its structure is significant in many areas, such as: selection and development of personnel, university and school education, advisory and pedagogical work with children and students, sports psychology, etc. In addition to theoretical significance, these studies also have practical significance in improving the motivation and efficiency of individuals and groups. Despite the numerous researches on achievement motives, there are few that deal with the artistic population. In our research we will investigate the expressiveness of four standard components of the achievement motive among art students. The intention is to determine whether there are differences in the components of achievement motives among students of different artistic fields. Materials and methods. 100 students from art academies (painting, sculpture, design and acting) participated in the research. The MOP2002 scale was used to examine the achievement motive, which, in addition to the intensity of the achievement motive, also measures the following components: competition with others, perseverance in achieving goals, achieving goals as a source of satisfaction and orientation towards planning. Results. The results show that artistic groups differ both in terms of expression and influence of achievement components. The achievement motive is the most pronounced among acting students, and the least among sculpture students. Also, the groups differ most on the components of achieving goals as a source of satisfaction and persistence in achieving goals. The influence of the competitiveness component proved to be weakly expressed in the decision to engage in art.

Loose ear decompositions and their applications to right-angled Artin groups

We characterize planar graphs and graph minors among other graph theoretic notions in terms of right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs). For this, we determine all sets of elements in RAAGs with ears as underlying graphs that are exactly the sets of vertex generators. Generalizing ear decompositions of graphs to loose ear decompositions, we characterize both decompositions in terms of RAAGs. The desired results follow as applications of loose ear decompositions of RAAGs.

Automorphisms of Graph Products of Groups and Acylindrical Hyperbolicity

This article is dedicated to the study of the acylindrical hyperbolicity of automorphism groups of graph products of groups. Our main result is that, if Γ \Gamma is a finite graph which contains at least two vertices and is not a join and if G \mathcal {G} is a collection of finitely generated irreducible groups, then either Γ G \Gamma \mathcal {G} is infinite dihedral or A u t ( Γ G ) \mathrm {Aut}(\Gamma \mathcal {G}) is acylindrically hyperbolic. This theorem is new even for right-angled Artin groups and right-angled Coxeter groups. Various consequences are deduced from this statement and from the techniques used to prove it. For instance, we show that the automorphism groups of most graph products verify vastness properties such as being SQ-universal; we show that many automorphism groups of graph products do not satisfy Kazhdan’s property (T); we solve the isomorphism problem between graph products in some cases; and we show that a graph product of coarse median groups, as defined by Bowditch, is coarse median itself.

The Relay of Radicalism

The former Yugoslavia was the site of fierce partisan resistance to occupying Nazi forces during WWII and of a vigorous alternative arts scene in the 1960s and 1970s. Recent books on partisan art and New Art Practices make it possible to trace connections between these two seemingly unrelated instances of radical art practices.

A career construction expressive arts group: an exploration of self-concept and adaptability of preadolescent girls

A career construction expressive arts group: an exploration of self-concept and adaptability of preadolescent girls

From Rome to Rabat: Carla Accardi’s Encounters with Moroccan Modernism

Abstract In December 1972, the Sicilian, Rome-based artist Carla Accardi landed in Rabat for an exhibition at the Galerie de l’Atelier. The exhibition included her Tent (1965–1966), a nomadic dwelling built with see-through plastic sheets and adorned with arabesque signs and luminous waves, as well as a series of paintings on canvas made of similar colourful signs. This essay contextualises Accardi’s journey from Rome to Rabat, the first of her frequent travels to Morocco, within a series of encounters with an art group known as the School of Casablanca. The group included Moroccan artists Farid Belkahia, Mohammed Chabâa and Mohamed Melehi, the gallerist Pauline De Mazières, founder of l’Atelier, and the Sicilian anthropologist and art critic Toni Maraini. It ultimately seeks to contribute to a wider disciplinary call to reorient modern Italian studies away from Euro-American paradigms, and towards the politics and poetics of the South, here used in its more fluid definition to denote the wider Mediterranean region.

Bridging science and art: Auralization and visualization of the ocean soundscape

As a group of researchers and artists, we have collaborated on a science-art project that converts seismic and hydroacoustic data into immersive digital artworks, revealing the hidden realm of ocean soundscape. We integrated artistic methodologies to produce soundtracks and videos from seismic waveforms recorded in the ocean, which enables the general public to gain a multisensory experience of the scientific data studied by specialists. Through exhibitions in multiple venues, our interdisciplinary approach was well received by diverse audiences, showcasing the potential for creative representations of scientific information.

Right-angled Artin groups and representation liftings

Right-angled Artin groups and representation liftings