Conscious Engagement Research Articles

Citizens’ conscious engagement in digital platforms: advancing public service delivery within the public service logic framework

ABSTRACT Public service logic (PSL) acknowledges the pivotal role of citizen participation in value creation, yet the effect of citizens’ conscious engagement on public service delivery and co-creation of value with public service organizations (PSOs) remains underexplored. This study addresses this issue through empirical research on the interactional text data between users and PSOs on an online responsive service platform in Beijing, China. The study contributes by unveiling evidence of users’ conscious engagement and input and examines its influence on PSOs’ responsiveness and service outcomes. Furthermore, it extends the research on value co-creation within digital platforms.

Vision, body and interpretation in medical imaging diagnostics.

This article explores the profound impact of visualism and visual perception in the context of medical imaging diagnostics. It emphasizes the intricate interplay among vision, embodiment, subjectivity, language, and historicity within the realm of medical science and technology, with a specific focus on image consciousness. The study delves into the role of subjectivity in perception, facilitating the communication of opacity and historicity to the perceiving individual. Additionally, it scrutinizes the image interpretation process, drawing parallels to text interpretation and highlighting the influence of personal biases and individuality in medical practice. By revisiting Husserl's conceptualization of "image consciousness" and introducing the notion of "image theme", the paper seeks to establish a theoretical framework for making sense of images within the context of technological interpretation. A key objective is to enhance the phenomenology of technology through a systematic analysis of medical imaging diagnosis, contributing to an expanded epistemological foundation for medical practice. The article recognizes that the construction of medical knowledge incorporates subjective elements, especially within a historical context. The interpretation of images involves both instrumental and expert interpretation, with human subjectivity playing a crucial role. The article asserts that human creativity and conscious engagement are indispensable in interpreting all medical images.

Heraldic Handbooks and the Discourse of Chivalric Allegory: The Case of the Eltham Challenge Letters of 1400

This article examines a curious set of thirteen allegorical challenge letters associated with King Henry IV’s Christmastime festivities at Eltham Palace in 1400 and the five heraldic handbooks in which these letters survive. The Eltham challenge letters attest to late-medieval English heralds’ conscious engagement with myth, allegory, and chivalric literature and offer new insights on their cultural and literary ambitions. The article begins with a general account of heralds’ duties in the late Middle Ages and argues that their development of a specialized sphere of knowledge and bookishness—in other words, their written systematization of blazonry, detailed record keeping, and establishment of an institutional library—were concomitant with their growing professionalization and authority. Heralds’ bookishness also included the production of relatively consistent heraldic manuals, such as the five in which the Eltham letters survive. In each of these five witnesses, the Eltham letters are copied as part of a semi-standardized cluster of eight heraldic texts. By studying the family of manuscripts containing this cluster, it is possible to gain a sense of which texts were widely known and deemed practically or ideologically important by heralds. The article then turns to a detailed discussion of the Eltham letters themselves. An edition of the letters collating all known witnesses is offered as an Appendix . The style of the Eltham letters is overtly one of chivalric allegorical romance, a genre of medieval allegory which has rarely been studied and which reveals a great deal about heralds’ literary ambitions. This article demonstrates that heralds and their texts played an important role in the socio-literary chivalric discourse of the later Middle Ages in England.

The Romanian and Soviet Military Potential – As a Means of Security in relation to the Draft Convention on the Reduction and Limitation of Armaments Debated at the League of Nations, within the Disarmament Conference of Geneva, from the period 1920-1934 –

During the period analysed in this research, in order to try to remedy the deficit situation in the Armed Forces, the country’s authorities took some legislative measures, including the “Law on the Organization of the Nation and the Territory for Time of War”, promulgated on 23 April 1933, in which it was specified that “the organization of the nation and the territory has as its purpose the capitalization on all the country’s forces and resources to ensure national defence”. The act basically stipulated obligations for the conscious engagement of the entire people in the effort to strengthen the national defence, the development of own defence industry, agriculture and communications. In the same context, the importance of the Convention on the Definition of Aggression played a major role for Romania in the subsequent negotiations for the normalization of diplomatic relations with the USSR, which was accomplished on 9 June 1934.

Potenţialul militar românesc şi sovietic – ca mijloc de securitate, în raport cu Proiectul de Convenţie de reducere şi limitarea armamentelor, dezbătut la Societatea Națiunilor, în cadrul Conferinţei Dezarmării de la Geneva, în perioada 1920-1934 –

During the period analysed in this research, in order to try to remedy the deficit situation in the Armed Forces, the country’s authorities took some legislative measures, including the “Law on the Organization of the Nation and the Territory for Time of War”, promulgated on 23 April 1933, in which it was specified that “the organization of the nation and the territory has as its purpose the capitalization on all the country’s forces and resources to ensure national defence”. The act basically stipulated obligations for the conscious engagement of the entire people in the effort to strengthen the national defence, the development of own defence industry, agriculture and communications. In the same context, the importance of the Convention on the Definition of Aggression played a major role for Romania in the subsequent negotiations for the normalization of diplomatic relations with the USSR, which was accomplished on 9 June 1934.

Improving user's sense of participation in robot-driven dialogue

ABSTRACT In this study, we aimed to enhance the sense of dialogue participation (SDP), which reflects an individual's conscious engagement in dialogues, and investigated the multimodal dialogue elements that contribute to its improvement. To achieve this, we developed a dialogue system utilizing an android robot specifically for tour spot recommendations at a travel agency. The system was designed with various components aimed at enhancing SDP and was evaluated by 29 participants during the Dialogue Robot Competition 2022. After conceptually defining SDP, we employed the author's subjective evaluation to visualize the time-series changes in SDP at approximately 20-second intervals, using video recordings of the dialogues. Initially, we expected an overall decrease in SDP, as the robot had a speaking duration of around two minutes during the middle of the dialogue session when presenting the tour plan. However, the analysis of five participants' data revealed an increase in SDP during segments that involved ‘Dealing with content that increases the user's interest’ and ‘Multimodal response requests.’ Consequently, we can conclude that these elements have a discernible impact on enhancing SDP.

Entanglements

This editorial of the Journal of Awareness-based Systems Change delves into the complex entanglements of our inner and outer worlds. We delve into the nuances of feeling overwhelmed, and fatigued due to our deep, visceral connections with global events. Central to our narrative is the recognition of the intricate web of relationships that underpin all systemic change efforts. Through a lens of decolonialization and Awareness-Based Systems Change, we explore the necessity of reevaluating and transforming these connections. The editorial underscores the urgency of mending and honoring these relationships, emphasizing their role in reshaping our systems. We advocate for a holistic approach that includes affective, relational, and intellectual work, aiming to transcend traditional boundaries and foster a more interconnected and empathetic world. This editorial is a call to action for conscious engagement, inviting readers to participate in collective purpose-shaping and world-making, transforming vulnerabilities into a collective strength for systemic renewal

Fiction Beyond Words: Music in J. M. Coetzee’s Jesus Novels

AbstractJ. M. Coetzee’s late work exhibits a productive dialogue between fiction and other arts as part of his interest in the possibilities of thinking in mediums other than ordinary language. Focusing particularly on the Jesus novels, this article examines the critical role of music and how Coetzee uses musical forms as literary strategies that open up alternative possibilities of communication and thinking. Revisiting the famous “What is a Classic?” essay and the biographical moment that leads Coetzee to the music of J. S. Bach, I look at how Coetzee writes musically by considering questions of content, form, and technique, and then turn to the representation of music in relation to mathematics. I propose that the interest in music in the Jesus novels is part of his conscious engagement with ordinary language and his inherent desire to transcend it that characterizes the late work.

Ethical Concerns for the Globaltechnological Societies: Some Observations

Some ethical concerns are addressed that seem to have been omitted as the
 technologically advanced global world goes about its regular business. The following
 issues have been touched on: ‘Bypassing the conscious behavior choices and the
 dangers of compulsive use of digital technology,’ ‘the morally insensitive world of
 technology-backed marketing and advertisement,’ ‘some ethical matters for the
 digitally connected global village and globalization-influenced atmosphere,” and
 ‘the moral concerns of the economic growth of emerging economies in a technologyloaded
 world.’ It occurs that the addressed topics have a pattern. For instance,
 compulsive indulgence and proclivity for addiction to technology get pronounced as
 mindful or conscious engagement with digital gadgets and the internet are
 progressively trivialized. Additionally, technology-savvy globalized societies have
 the tendency to subscribe to hedonistic leanings, giving significant importance to
 personal space and the freedom to decide one’s lifestyle and time utilization. The
 danger dawns when technology becomes detrimental for behavior, interaction,
 relationships, and business, and the user starts experiencing the adverse impact of
 imprudent use of technology on his or her physical and psychological wellbeing and
 social world. Similarly, the matter becomes of concern when the commercial world
 decides to disregard the righteous goal of income generation (i.e., purusharth),
 conceptualized as inseparable from the concepts of dharma, or duty, and social
 responsibility. Lastly, when the values and normative standards of the technologically
 advanced affluent countries are adopted senselessly by the emerging economies rich
 in cultural wisdom and indigenous traditions, it is time for contemplation.

Reinvestment in one versus one in-field and shoot-out field hockey performance

The theory of reinvestment suggests that inappropriate use of attention to consciously engage in movements or decisions (movement specific reinvestment or decision specific reinvestment) can result in disrupted performance. We used moderation analysis to investigate the association between these forms of reinvestment and performance during one versus one in-field and shoot-out scenarios during field hockey. We expected that the propensity for reinvestment would be negatively associated with shoot-out performance but not in-field performance, because monitoring many other players during in-field play diverts attention away from conscious engagement in movements or decisions. No association was evident between decision specific reinvestment and in-field or shoot-out performance. However, a higher propensity for movement specific reinvestment (specifically, conscious motor processing) was negatively associated with shoot-out performance, but not in-field performance. We speculate that the necessity to shift between many non-static attentional demands during in-field situations may reduce capacity for movement specific reinvestment during performance.

Assessing awareness in severe Alzheimer’s disease

AbstractBackgroundThere is an urgent need to understand the nature of awareness in severe AD to ensure effective person‐centred care. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) combined with Electroencephalography (EEG), Event Related Potentials (ERPs) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) are robust techniques for assessing awareness in clinical populations who are unable to communicate. We present novel feasibility and preliminary data on using these methods to assess capacity for consciousness and contents of awareness in severe AD.Method a) TMS‐EEG was performed in 6 healthy older controls and 3 people with severe AD. The perturbational complexity index (PCIST) was calculated as a measure of capacity for conscious awareness. b) ERPs were recorded during a masked visual perception paradigm and analysed for the presence of visual awareness negativity and P400 components, previously identified as associated with conscious visual perception. c) An fMRI movie‐viewing task, validated in previous studies to demonstrate activation in a fronto‐parietal network during conscious engagement with the film was also conducted.Result a) Participants with severe AD demonstrated a PCIST around the previously identified threshold for consciousness, suggesting reduced capacity for consciousness. b) In response to viewing faces, two patients with severe AD provisionally demonstrated similar visual awareness negativity to healthy controls. c) Healthy controls and one person with severe AD revealed spatially, but not temporally similar activation in a fronto‐parietal network, suggesting differences in conscious engagement with the movie.ConclusionThese biomarkers provide experimental approaches to assess awareness and improve understanding and care for people with severe AD.

A meta-analysis of the association between movement specific reinvestment and motor performance

ABSTRACT The Movement Specific Reinvestment Scale (MSRS) is used to quantify differences in the propensity that individuals have to consciously engage in movement. Although the MSRS is widely used in movement science, evidence for its theoretically negative association with motor performance remains inconsistent. The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarize research findings between scores on the MSRS and motor performance, and to disentangle theoretical and sampling factors that may moderate the relationship. Following PRISMA guidelines, Web of Science, ProQuest, Google Scholar, PsychInfo and PubMed were searched. Out of the eligible texts, 410 effect sizes from 29 studies were extracted. Multi-level meta-analysis indicated that neither the MSRS total score, nor the MSRS subscales score (Movement Self-Consciousness and Conscious Motor Processing), were significantly associated with motor performance. However, the MSRS total score was significantly and negatively associated with motor performance when either (1) psychological pressure was present, (2) motor performance involved object manipulation, or (3) speed was the outcome unit of motor performance. In conclusion, the MSRS total score was linked to movement failure in certain motor conditions, providing partial support for the central tenet of the Theory of Reinvestment that a propensity for conscious engagement in movement can impair motor performance.

Humanitarianism and affect-based education: Emotional experiences at the Jean-Pictet Competition

AbstractFor international lawyers seeking to promote compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL), some level of affective awareness is essential – but just where one might cultivate an understanding of emotions, and at which juncture of one's career, remains a mystery. This article proposes that what the IHL lawyers and advocates of the future need is an affect-based education. More than a simple mastery of a technical set of emotional intelligence skills, what we are interested in here is the refinement of a disposition or sensibility – a way of engaging with the world, with IHL, and with humanitarianism. In this article, we consider the potential for the Jean-Pictet Competition to provide this education. Drawing on our observations of the competition and a survey with 231 former participants, the discussion examines the legal and affective dimensions of the competition, identifies the precise moments of the competition in which emotional processes take place, and probes the role of emotions in role-plays and simulations. Presenting the Jean-Pictet Competition as a form of interaction ritual, we propose that high “emotional energy” promotes a humanitarian sensibility; indeed, participant interactions have the potential to re-constitute the very concept of humanitarianism. We ultimately argue that a more conscious engagement with emotions at competitions like Pictet has the potential to strengthen IHL training, to further IHL compliance and the development of IHL rules, and to enhance legal education more generally.

The Electroencephalographic Brainwave Spectrum, Mindful Meditation, and Awareness: Hypothesis.

It is hypothesized that being mindfully aware is a spontaneous state of being. It is imbued with joy, peace and happiness. Such a state is periodically revealed during restful attentiveness or presence. It is also associated with spontaneous brain alpha activity of 8-13 Hz. In deep nonrapid eye movement sleep, there is synchronous delta activity at a coherent frequency of 0.1 Hz. Both of these brainwave ground states are spontaneous, calm and effortless. When any physical or mental effort is made, the alpha rhythm is desynchronized, and it is superposed by faster brain waves of beta (13-30 Hz) and gamma frequencies (30-150 Hz). This is associated with a stream of dualistic conscious experiences with contents. During deep sleep, delta activity is superposed by beta and gamma activity with microarousals resulting in dream experiences. During effortless, meditative awareness, the whole family of alpha rhythm is synchronized including (a) Occipital-parietal alpha with visual clarity, formless color, and the absence of visual imagery (b) Frontal eye-field alpha with relatively motionless eyes, and the absence of voluntary actions or plans to move the eyes in some direction, along with nonactive working memory, (c) Somatosensory alpha or Mu rhythm from the somatic motor-sensory cortex with the resultant stillness of the body including head, face, larynx, spine, hands and legs, (d) Mid-temporal auditory alpha with vocal quietness and internal verbal silence (Maunam) with a feeling of spontaneous silence and serenity, (e) Cingulate and precuneus alpha resulting in freedom from autobiographical memories and the sense of agency or ego. The insular cortex serves as a gatekeeper, a hierarchical controller to switch between conscious engagement or disengagement from the internal or the external world. It switches between the default mode network and the executive frontoparietal networks, between the sequential and the parallel modes of functioning. Mindful consciousness is local and dualistic, whereas mindful awareness is nonlocal and nondual.

Identity Formation and Career Prospects of Bilingual Professionals: Blending Language Skills to Create Novel Applications to Career Pursuits

Summary The most widely believed misconception about bilingualism purports that exposure to a second language within the community will automatically yield bilingual children, who can apply their balanced language skills in every domain of their future employment. However, this misconception does not represent the real-life experiences of most bilinguals. Through a pivotal focus on individual cases, this study was designed to manifest (1) bilingual identity formation and (2) career prospects of early and sequential bilinguals. The study analyzed collected data from individual surveys and in-person interviews with bilingual professional adults. Findings revealed that conscious engagement with the languages they were exposed to as children plays an active role in a bilingual speaker’s identity formation process and influences their career pursuits, instead of the common notion that being exposed to a second language is adequate to embrace bilingualism. Hence, this article brings implications to consider on career pursuits of bilingual speakers as the results indicate bilingual career pursuits transcend language-related occupations.

Conscious engagement within patients’ and simulated participants’ personal space: medical students' perspective

Background#MeToo prompted a shift in acceptable societal norms, sparking global recognition of the complexities of entering another’s personal space. Physical examinations are an integral part of medicine yet have the capacity to encroach upon patient’s personal space, whether in simulated or clinical environments. Examinations may be misconstrued as inappropriate advances, with negative effects for both patient and doctor. Medical educators must consider how they teach students to approach this complex task. This study aimed to gain insight into the lived experiences of medical students when working within patient’s personal space. This builds on previous research from the perspective of simulated participants.MethodA hermeneutic phenomenology approach was used to explore lived experiences of working within patient’s personal space. Data was collected from seven medical students through semi-structured interviews and thematically analysed using template analysis.ResultsThe analysis yielded four main themes: (1) transitioning into a privileged position; (2) negative role modelling: emphasising the physical; (3) consent: a dynamic and fragile state; and (4) a simple act or a complex performance?DiscussionThis study provides a unique insight into the lived experiences of medical students when working within a patient’s personal space. The physical examination is a complex process; the experiences of medical students can shape learning on crossing boundaries. Medical educators need to reflect this complexity in teaching, mirroring societal interest around the boundaries of consent. Students need a pedagogical space to develop these interpersonal skills, to prevent early adoption of the clinical gaze, and to create more consciously engaged doctors for the future.

Addictive social media use during Covid-19 outbreak: Validation of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and investigation of protective factors in nine countries

Since the Covid-19 outbreak, addictive social media use increased in many countries. To better understand this development, a universal instrument for the assessment of addictive social media use is required. Against this background, we examined the psychometric properties of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) in representative population samples in nine countries (N = 9418, age range: “18 to 24 years” (youngest group), “55 years and older” (oldest group): China, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S.). Furthermore, we investigated potential factors and mechanisms that could be associated with addictive social media use. Our cross-national findings show that the BSMAS is a unidimensional reliable and valid instrument. Moreover, they reveal that the negative association between positive mental health and addictive social media use is mediated by sense of control in seven of the nine countries (exception: China, Russia). Thus, it can be hypothesized that activities which increase positive mental health could indirectly contribute to the decrease of addictive social media use. We identified conscious engagement in physical activity and a regular sleep rhythm during the pandemic as such potential activities. The fostering of both by governmental programs could enhance positive mental health and reduce addictive social media use.

An ‘Islamist’ intellectual in the late Ottoman Empire: Ali Suavi

Contrary to the general tendency in intellectual history, where a past intellectual is usually portrayed as having a coherent thought system with minor deviations, there are various and even contradictory depictions of Ali Suavi. He was a Turkist intellectual and revolutionary, sacrificing himself to stop Abdulhamid II before the latter turned into a ‘despot’, but also an Islamist with political views akin to those of the Muslim modernists, responsible for the later regional instability in the Middle East. This article argues that, instead of a selective reading of his work to fit into one of these portrayals, a better understanding of Ali Suavi’s thought should benefit from intellectual context. It aims at reading his history of the ‘Turks’ intellectual work’ and discussion of sovereignty and ideal government as part of an ongoing conversation with the European intellectual context. This way, his praising of Turkish history and language does not merely point out a nascent Turkism, nor does his utilization of Islamic terminology and history in his formulation of ideal government only signal his Islamism, but rather they prove his conscious engagement with the European intellectual context and attempt at appropriating and translating European ideas for the late Ottoman context.

Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms

Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms

A short-term musical training affects implicit emotion regulation only in behaviour but not in brain activity

BackgroundIn everyday life, negative emotions can be implicitly regulated by positive stimuli, without any conscious cognitive engagement; however, the effects of such implicit regulation on mood and related neuro-mechanisms, remain poorly investigated in literature. Yet, improving implicit emotional regulation could reduce psychological burden and therefore be clinically relevant for treating psychiatric disorders with strong affective symptomatology.ResultsMusic training reduced the negative emotional state elicited by negative odours. However, such change was not reflected at the brain level.ConclusionsIn a context of affective rivalry a musical training enhances implicit regulatory processes. Our findings offer a first base for future studies on implicit emotion regulation in clinical populations.