Perception Of Events Research Articles

Стремление к трудности как тип восприятия жизненных ситуаций

Background. Studying the types of perception of difficult life situations is a demanded task, since knowledge about the subject’s perception of ongoing events allows us to predict the characteristics of his interaction with the situation. The article presents a classification of the perception of difficult life tasks — situations that involve achieving a significant difficult goal. The basis for identifying types is the subject’s focus on approaching a difficult situation or avoiding it. Objectives. Objective is an analysis of the desire for difficulty associated with the experience of drive, as a type of perception of difficult life task. Study Participants. The study involved 611 respondents (Mage = 25; SD = 5.8; 427 women), students and specialists of various professions. The type describing the desire for difficulty was identified in 11 % of cases. Methods. To collect data, we used the Structured Description of the Situation Technique (allowing us to obtain qualitative data) in combination with the “Types of Orientations in Difficult Situations” questionnaire. Based on the profile of the respondent on the questionnaire and the characteristics significant for the type, each description of the difficult life task was assigned to one of five types. The data processing procedure included content analysis and mathematical processing (Mann — Whitney U test, frequency analysis). Results. The features of striving for difficulty as a type of perception of difficult life tasks are highlighted based on the analysis of categories characterizing the content of the situation, emotions, energy, appraisals of life tasks, coping, goals, possibilities and restrictions, worst-case scenario and best-case scenario. It is shown that this type involves the experience of positive emotions, fullness of energy and possibilities, the desire to achieve the best results, and goals of self-development. This is associated with a positive appraisal and reappraisal, approach coping, a sense of control over the situation. At the same time, a characteristic feature of the desire for difficulty is an ambivalent attitude towards a difficult task. Conclusions. The study demonstrated a number of signs that reliably distinguish the desire for difficulty from other types of perception of difficult life tasks, which gives grounds to consider it a separate type.

«И младотуркам не воскресить своего отечества»: русские правые и Младотурецкая революция

The article examines the views of early 20th-century Russian conservatives (Black Hundreds and nationalists) on the causes of the Young Turk Revolution of 1908, their attitudes towards the development of the revolutionary situation, and the judgments of the Russian right-wing about the consequences of the power shift in the Ottoman Empire. These questions have not previously been the subject of independent research in the scientific literature. Based on materials from right-wing periodicals (newspapers “Zemshchina,” “Russkoe Znamya,” “Moskovskie Vedomosti,” “Kolokol,” “Kievlyanin,” “Novoe Vremya”) and journalistic works by conservative authors, three significant aspects through which the opinion of the Russian right on the Young Turk Revolution was formed are identified: the ideological positions of conservatives rejecting revolutionary social changes; Turkey’s place in the system of international relations and the forecasting of geopolitical changes in light of the Young Turks’ rise to power; and the perception of revolutionary events in Turkey as a negative example of potential further developments in Russia’s domestic political situation. The range of issues related to the Turkish revolution raised by conservatives allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the foreign policy views of the early 20th-century Russian right-wing.

The empathy and stress mindset of healthcare workers: the chain mediating roles of self-disclosure and social support.

The hospital is a workplace full of stressful events for healthcare workers (HCWs) due to unpredictable changes in their daily routines. Perceptions of stressful events (stress mindset) have a significant impact on an individual's health and well-being. However, few studies have reported the factors and potential counter mechanisms influencing these perceptions. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between empathy, self-disclosure, social support, and stress mindset of HCWs, and to explore the mechanism of empathy on stress mindset. Five hundred and eight HCWs (35.2% men and 64.8% women) completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), the Distress Disclosure Index (DDI), the Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), the Stress Mindset Measure (SMM), and demographic questionnaires online in China. The results showed that empathy was positively linked with stress mindset and positively correlated with self-disclosure and social support. In the multiple mediating model, self-disclosure and social support mediated the association between empathy and stress mindset sequentially. The results imply that empathy, self-disclosure, and social support play a significant role in the formation of HCWs' stress mindset. These findings have substantial ramifications for reducing stress and creating successful government interventions to fortify stress mindset in healthcare.

Parody of the “Sensitive Traveller” Type in the Russian Travelogues of the First Third of the 19th Century

This article analyses Russian travelogues of the first third of the nineteenth century, which are variations of parodies of the “Karamzin canon”. The study focuses on the “sensitive traveller” as a type of the subject of narrative characteristic of the sentimental travel of the early nineteenth century. The author refers to both popular parody texts of travelogues (for example, My Journey, or the Adventures of One Day by N. P. Brusilov and A Sensitive Journey along Nevsky Prospekt by P. L. Yakovlev) and those unknown to the wider audience. The article presents an analysis of the anonymous text A Sensitive Journey to St Petersburg of a Village Nobleman, published in two issues of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski for 1826 which has not been carried out before. The research aims to systematise the main approaches to the study of Russian parody travelogues of the first third of the nineteenth century, determine the functions of parody on the type of “sensitive traveller”, and identify the influence of parody texts on the evolution of the travelogue genre in the historical and literary process. As a result of the analysis, the author concludes that the appearance of parody travelogues was associated with the crisis of sentimentalism as a mode in the Russian historical and literary process of the nineteenth century; the main objects of parodies were the key elements of the “Karamzin canon”, “common places”, which demonstrated the inconsistency of the principles of sentimental poetics of travel. Parodies of the “sensitive traveller” type demonstrated the authors’ excessive fascination with the description of sensitivity and subjectivity of perception of the travel event, which led to a distortion of the main parameters of the narrative structure of the travelogue, a lack of fabula, and leveling of the status of the travel event. In this connection, parody travelogues began to depict “a journey without a journey”, “a journey before a journey”, “an imaginary journey”, etc. Thus, parodies of the travelogue genre and the type of “sensitive traveller” turned out to be a popular phenomenon in the Russian historical and literary process in the first third of the nineteenth century and demonstrated the need to transform the narrative structure of the travel text.

Spatiotemporal congruency modulates weighting of visuotactile information in displacement judgments.

Combining or integrating information from multiple senses often provides richer and more reliable estimates for the perception of objects and events. In daily life, sensory information from the same source often is in close spatiotemporal proximity. This can be an important determinant of whether and how multisensory signals are combined. The introduction of advanced technical display systems allows to present multisensory information in virtual environments. However, technical displays can lack the spatiotemporal fidelity of the real world due the rendering delays. Thus, any spatiotemporal incongruency could alter how information is combined. In the current study we tested this by investigating if and how spatially and temporally discrepant tactile displacement cues can supplement imprecise visual displacement cues. Participants performed a visual displacement task with visual and tactile displacement cues under spatial and temporal incongruency conditions. We modelled how participants combined visual and tactile information in visuotactile condition using their performance in visual only condition. We found that temporal incongruency lead to an increase in tactile weights although they were correlated with the congruency condition. In contrast, the spatial incongruency led to individual differences altering cue combination strategies. Our results illustrate the importance of spatiotemporal congruency for combining tactile and visual cues when making visual displacement judgments. Given the altered cue combination strategies and individual differences, we recommend developers to adopt individual spatiotemporal calibration procedures to improve the efficiency of the sensory augmentation.

МАНИПУЛЯТИВНЫЕ ТЕХНИКИ, ИСПОЛЬЗУЕМЫЕ СМИ ПРИ ОПИСАНИИ СНОСА ЗДАНИЙ И СООРУЖЕНИЙ

The article discusses manipulative techniques used by journalists in publica-tions in the media devoted to the demolition of urban facilities. Public opinion and perception of events related to the liquidation of buildings are formed through the media, so the message about the demolition of a “ramshackle” and the demolition of “another historical building” may refer to the same object, but this information will be perceived by citizens in different ways due to the use of media manipulations at the mi-cro, meso and macro levels in the text. Public organizations, involving the media in covering the fact of demolition, often broadcast their opinion about what is happening and strive to prove the value of the demolished object in the first messages, but once on the pages of the media, a separate story grows to a full-fledged plot, where there are always right and wrong. Using the opinion of urban defenders, developers, representa-tives of the administration, local historians, eyewitnesses and ordinary citizens, the me-dia can direct the development of history in the right direction and interest their au-dience in a dynamically developing plot. The demolition of buildings of value to citi-zens reflects the imperfection of the modern system of protection of cultural heritage sites, the lack of a protected status for historical buildings, the lack of sufficient fund-ing to preserve all objects and the lack of a unified approach

Український канал іномовлення (UATV English) як інструмент просування державних наративів

The functional characteristics of international broadcasting are determined by the goals and tasks for which it was created. The specificity of international broadcasting activity forms the following tasks: creation and promotion of a positive image of the state in the international arena; protection of a country’s own political and cultural interests; promotion of tourism (in peacetime); fight against negative information influence that affects the perception of events in the country, both by the domestic and international audience; communication of the diaspora with the homeland, learning the language and traditions; promotion of national values norms and guidelines, etc. Based on these tasks, it is appropriate to distinguish five main functions of international broadcasting: protection of national interests, propaganda, counter-propaganda, education and pedagogy, and communication functions. Basis on data on the activity of the State Enterprise “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine”, the main functions of international broadcasting are highlighted. The results obtained during the research expand and supplement the already known facts about the specifics of the functioning of international broadcasting corporations. This study analysed the content of the UATV English State International Broadcasting channel in terms of delivering information about the events in Ukraine, protecting its national interests, countering hostile propaganda, and spreading pro-Ukrainian messages among international audiences. The purpose of this study is to explore, systematise and generalise the basic functions of UATV English Channel in order to improve and evaluate the effectiveness of the “International Broadcasting Multimedia Platform of Ukraine” during the challenging times of information aggression combined with the conventional warfare. Emphasis was placed on researching the peculiarities and effectiveness of the UATV English Channel with the aim of protecting national interests, countering hostile propaganda and spreading pro-Ukrainian messages in the international media space. The article presents statistics on audience reach and viewship of UATV English content on YouTube and Facebook platforms. As well as monitoring the effectiveness of different approaches to content and SEO-optimization of the materials. In addition, a content analysis of UATV English content on these platforms was conducted. All the video materials have been processed, and their classification according to four functional areas of content was presented. The analysed content was published over a period of six months, starting from February 24 (the date of the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine) to August 24, 2022 (The Independence Day of Ukraine). On average, the UATV English-speaking channel receives 8-12 million views per month on YouTube from all materials produced by the media (except YouTube Shorts and Publications). The audience growth compared to the pre-war period amounted to 3,670% in February and added 367% in March 2022, when the total audience reached almost 60 million. The growth of the audience reach indicator on the UATV English-language Facebook page from February 24, 2022, reached 9,200% and amounted to 14.3 million users. Analysis of the content for the first 6 months of the war showed that the content of the Ukrainian broadcasting was rearranged/redesigned in accordance with the realities of wartime, with several strategic changes in the approach to the content. According to the classification of four functional directions of the content defined earlier, the dominant content is the one related to the protection and promotion of national interests (36.3%), followed by information about the course of the war and events in the country (32.5%), opinion and worldview-based content (22.4%), and counter-information to Russian propaganda (8.8%). The UATV English-speaking channel performs its functions as an international broadcasting service: spreading pro-Ukrainian narratives in the world and delivering truthful information about the war in Ukraine. UATV English content effectively counters Russian war propaganda.

Domestic and foreign Marxist tradition of the Northern Ireland conflict origins definition (1969–1998)

The article examines the perspectives of Soviet and foreign Marxist researchers in relation to the underlying causes of the beginning and escalation of Northern Irish conflict (The Troubles). The significance of this research lies in comprehending the lesser-explored Marxist heritage within the contemporary study of historical events in Great Britain and Ireland. The scientific novelty lies in addressing the scarcity of historiographical works dedicated to this issue, the depth of analysis they provide, and the absence of comprehensive comparative experiences. The research aims to investigate specific processes in the intellectual history of the USSR and other countries during the latter half of the XX century, focusing on instances of interaction or lack thereof between various Marxist schools of thought and trends. This is achieved by utilizing the Marxist historiography of the Northern Ireland conflict as an illustrative case. To fulfill this objective, the study undertakes a comparison of extensive sets of historiographical sources and internal subgroups of approaches present within Eastern and Western scholarly traditions that explore aspects of the Northern Ireland conflict within the context of Marxism. The primary theoretical framework draws upon the works of foreign and Russian Marxist scholars devoted to the issue of intercommunal conflict in Northern Ireland. The key finding of the research highlights the existence of evident similarities, encompassing logical, substantive, and linguistic-rhetorical aspects, between the works of Western and Eastern Marxists, despite the lack of direct citations between them. The research postulates several hypotheses concerning the origins of this phenomenon, including the potential impact of distinct methodologies on researchers’ perceptions of social processes and historical events, irrespective of the array of available source material. Furthermore, the research does not negate the possibility of implicit interactions between proponents of the English-language and the Russian-language Marxist academic traditions.

Karsgaard, Carrie. 2023. Instagram as Public Pedagogy: Online Activism and the Trans Mountain Pipeline. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. XVII, 277 pp. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26182-4

This book provides a comparative analysis of the public pedagogy of Instagram in the social networking system, which today is not only one of the leading channels whose content is actively consumed by young people, but also a platform where content from various information and communication environments is posted and distributed. In this context, modern research into Instagram public pedagogy is aimed primarily at studying the phenomena of civic and social activity, communication barriers and ways to overcome them. The book provides examples of various social and humanities studies that occupy the study of public pedagogy, as well as the influence of social networks and virtual reality on behavior and perception of various events. In this book, the political science research problem lies in the formation of digital political pedagogy and the pedagogical contradiction of applying traditional theoretical approaches to the formation of public attitudes in the new environment of virtual social networks. Knowledge of the peculiarities of the formation of civil and political attitudes on Instagram and other social networks will allow us to develop effective methods for diagnosing and leveling the influence of social networks.

Xenophobia and Anti-Islamism: Framing the News Covering the Shootings Four Years After the Christchurch Mosque Shooting

The concept of xenophobia, defined as fear and hostility towards the strange and different in a simple and general sense, is quite comprehensive and can be addressed in conjunction with Islamophobia. The terrorist attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019 represent extreme examples of both xenophobia and anti-Islamism. In this study, news articles addressing the Christchurch mosque attacks from January 1, 2023, to October 22, 2023, were collected using keywords and analyzed in a total of 81 articles across nine different frameworks. A comparison was made with previous studies that conducted analyses and framed the topic, allowing an examination of how the content of news articles changed over time since the incident. Furthermore, it has been observed that the Western press did not categorize the attack as anti-Islamism, despite the clear statement in the terrorist's manifesto that he targeted Muslims. Given the influence of media content on shaping individuals' attitudes and perceptions of events, this discrepancy could impede efforts to combat xenophobia and anti-Islamism.

Metaphorical models «Sleep» and «Conscience» in the poetic work «To Sleep» by J. Keats

The article discusses the results of the research of conceptual metaphorical models representing a fragment of the author’s worldview. The fact that conceptual metaphorical models are an integral component of human consciousness and are a tool of cognition, categorization and conceptualization of knowledge about the surrounding reality, substantiates the importance of the performed research of conceptual metaphorical models in a poetic work, since they accumulate the intellectual and emotional experience of the author. Poetic works are sources of author’s metaphors, which act as a means of forming unique, vivid images expressing the author’s language and poetic worldview. In the process of analyzing the poem «To Sleep» by J. Keats the combination of descriptive and conceptual methods is applied within the identified conceptual metaphorical model «sleep» to determine the semantic parameters of the concept «sleep». The metaphorical model «conscience» was differentiated and its features were described; the semantic potential of the concepts «sleep» and «conscience» was investigated. The use of methods of conceptual and semantic analysis allowed us to establish the presence of the opposite semantic features of the metaphorical models «sleep» and «conscience». The creation of contradictory images is a signal of internal contradictions experienced by the poet, a reflection of his worldview, a way of personal perception, comprehension and interpretation of events. In the process of linguistic and stylistic analysis there are metaphors verbalizing the concepts of «sleep» and «conscience», reflecting the author’s worldview; poetic archaic words that give the work solemnity, create the flavor of the era. Phonostylistic means give expressiveness to the work, and the language of symbols creates additional hidden meanings. The identified linguistic means organize the artistic and semantic space of the poetic work, reflect the author’s unique way of conceptualization of reality. It is proved that the ground of the basic mental model is the conceptual metaphorical model «sleep», incorporating a conceptual matrix characterized by certain semantic features. The research results enhance understanding of the metaphorical modeling mechanism in poetic texts at the microsystem level, the role of conceptual metaphor in the representation of individual knowledge about the world.

The influence of risk perception on disaster recovery: A case study of new Jersey families impacted by hurricane sandy

IntroductionRisk perceptions of extreme weather events have been explored extensively through the lens of emergency preparation, but the influence of pre-storm risk perceptions on resilience and recovery trajectories are understudied. The objective of this qualitative analysis is to explore 1) the factors which shaped residents' perception of risk prior to the event, and 2) how these factors contributed to ‘sensemaking,’ after the storm to influence experiences of recovery. MethodsEight focus groups and ten in-depth interviews (N = 38) from the Hurricane Sandy Child Impact Study were analyzed using grounded theory. The sample comprised of New Jersey residents who experienced housing damage or displacement during Hurricane Sandy. Verbatim transcripts were coded using iterative phases of open, axial, and selective coding. ResultsGrounded theory analysis identified three major themes: 1) Local ecological knowledge and place-based intergenerational memory shaped respondents’ initial risk perceptions, their framing of the event, and its consequences; 2) Unclear institutional decision-making complicated recovery planning and actions; 3) Inaccurate pre-storm risk perceptions led to traumatic memories and decreased self-efficacy in managing recovery. This mismatch in perception and outcome led participants to feel that they had been ill-informed before and during the storm and created skepticism of government recommendations and services during the recovery phase. ConclusionsLocal ecological knowledge and intergenerational memory are critical factors that shape pre-storm risk perception and can subsequently influence trust in officials, service utilization, and perceptions of recovery. Themes identified in this analysis suggest the need for future longitudinal research to investigate the extent to which pre-storm risk perception is predictive of post-disaster recovery and resilience.

Emotional event perception is related to lexical complexity and emotion knowledge

Inferring emotion is a critical skill that supports social functioning. Emotion inferences are typically studied in simplistic paradigms by asking people to categorize isolated and static cues like frowning faces. Yet emotions are complex events that unfold over time. Here, across three samples (Study 1 N = 222; Study 2 N = 261; Study 3 N = 101), we present the Emotion Segmentation Paradigm to examine inferences about complex emotional events by extending cognitive paradigms examining event perception. Participants were asked to indicate when there were changes in the emotions of target individuals within continuous streams of activity in narrative film (Study 1) and documentary clips (Study 2, preregistered, and Study 3 test-retest sample). This Emotion Segmentation Paradigm revealed robust and reliable individual differences across multiple metrics. We also tested the constructionist prediction that emotion labels constrain emotion inference, which is traditionally studied by introducing emotion labels. We demonstrate that individual differences in active emotion vocabulary (i.e., readily accessible emotion words) correlate with emotion segmentation performance.

Close passes caught on camera – How knowledge and behavioural norms relate to perceptions of liability when cars overtake cyclists

Replacing motor vehicle journeys with travel by foot and bicycle is recognised as a means to help achieve a range of health, environmental and economic objectives. Close passes - where a motor vehicle overtakes a cyclist with a minimal lateral clearance - have been identified as both a prominent safety concern and a barrier to increased uptake of cycling. Close passes are the most common type of on-road incident experienced by cyclists where a motor vehicle is involved and are also associated with collisions resulting in deaths and serious injuries. The current study builds on existing research investigating the underlying causes of close passes by examining responses from a sample of drivers to videos of close passes that were submitted by cyclists as driving complaints to an English county Police force. An online survey recorded the opinions of UK drivers (n = 293) on the behaviour of the cyclist and driver featured in each of 8 video clips. The survey recorded participants’ road use habits including the range of driving purposes engaged in (“driverXP”), their self-defined identity on a driver-cyclist spectrum, and their knowledge of recommended practice for bicycle road positioning. It also included the ‘Driving Anger eXpression’ (DAX) scale, which scores tendencies towards different forms of anger expression while driving, including use of vehicle manoeuvres to express anger (“vehicleDAX”). Multiple regressions were used to determine the relationship between these independent variables, and participants’ assessment of how risky the overtake was, and the extent to which the driver or cyclist were seen as liable for what happened.The level of liability apportioned to the cyclists featured in the clips was higher from drivers who were not cyclists themselves, compared with those who did cycle, and from drivers who scored higher on the vehicleDAX and driverXP measures (Identifies as cyclist τ = -0.377, p <.01), (driverXP τ = 0.209, p <.01), (vehicleDAX τ = 0.113, p <.05). Drivers with higher vehicleDAX scores showed lower levels of agreement with the statement “the incident was dangerous” in relation to the close pass clips. The liability apportioned to the cyclists featured was mediated by the drivers’ cycling positional knowledge score (ΔR2 = 0.139, p <.001).This is the first time that naturalistic footage reported by cyclists to Police has been used to examine differing perceptions of the same close pass event. Findings show a need to share knowledge about cycling practice in order to help drivers navigate cycle traffic safely and considerately. This can inform road safety interventions that can contribute to safer cycling and driver behaviours that are more welcoming to existing and potential cyclists.

The Effect of STW5 (Iberogast) on Reflux Symptoms in Patients With Concurrent Dyspeptic Symptoms: A Double-blind Randomized Placebo-controlled Crossover Trial.

It has been suggested that STW5 (Iberogast) reduces heartburn symptoms in patients with functional dyspepsia, but underlying mechanisms of action are unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate whether STW5 affects esophageal sensitivity or esophageal motility, thereby reducing occurrence and perception of reflux events. We performed a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial in patients with functional dyspepsia (Rome IV) and reflux symptoms. After 4 weeks of treatment with either placebo or STW5, patients were studied with an esophageal acid perfusion test and ambulatory 24-hour pH-impedance monitoring. A total of 18 patients (7 men, median age 54, range [19-76]), were included in the study. Although we found no statistical difference in our primary outcome the total Reflux Disease Questionnaire score 2.33 (0.25-4.33) vs 2.67 (1.17-4.00), P = 0.347, "gastroesophageal reflux disease" and "regurgitation" subscale scores were lower after STW5 treatment compared to placebo (P = 0.049 and P = 0.007). There was no statistical difference in number of reflux events, acid exposure time and acid sensitivity scores between STW5 and placebo. In a subgroup analysis of patients with pH-metry confirmed gastroesophageal reflux disease, treatment with STW5 significantly reduced the total number of acidic reflux events (P = 0.028). Moreover, in patients with reflux esophagitis, the median lag time to acid perception increased after STW5 treatment (P = 0.042). We found some indications pointing towards a beneficial effect of STW5 on reflux symptoms in dyspeptic patients, with reduction of esophageal hypersensitivity as a potential underlying mechanism. Our findings will have to be confirmed in larger studies.

War memes: language transformations after the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The study of media viruses and memes that have emerged as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine represents a relevant interdisciplinary approach that brings together philology, cultural studies, history, psychology, social communications and social sciences. Memes ("bavovna", "zeleni cholovichky") have become not only symbols-viruses, but also effective means of mass communication and expression of national identity. The study of memes includes the following aspects: a selection of headline titles with a meme component, analysis of their semantics; disclosure of the social and cultural context and history of events that led to their emergence; study of perceptions and reactions to memes, their impact; determination of the role of memes in order to form public consciousness. The study of the "bavovna" and "zeleni cholovichky" memes was carried out on the basis of online media headlines in Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian and English, which provides a wide range of analysis and clarification of the impact of these memes on different cultures and societies, interpretation of events and realities related to the war in Ukraine. The use of memes as components of media headlines demonstrates the importance of the information space and its impact on the perception of geopolitical events and threats. The media use these symbols to emphasise the seriousness of issues, shape positions, and provoke discussion. This approach helps to understand better the important factors of society, the relationship with historical events and political realities, the specifics of the emergence of new memes, algorithms for their transformation into viruses, and the peculiarities of development, spread and transformation in social media.

새만금 세계잼버리스카우트대회 기간 중 국제이벤트에 대한 대중의 인식: 의미연결망분석 활용

새만금 세계잼버리스카우트대회 기간 중 국제이벤트에 대한 대중의 인식: 의미연결망분석 활용

Persepolis: The Depiction of Childhood and Maturity Journeys Through Visual and Verbal Analysis

Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical series Persepolis is a set of comics written originally in the French language; and it recounts her life journey from childhood to early adulthood in Iran and Austria during and after the Islamic Revolution. The narrative is written in the form of graphic novel which is a sort of comics that combines both words and images. The Islamic Revolution was a critical moment in the history of Iran, overwhelmed every Iranian citizen, and ended up transforming the country from monarchal to Islamic governance. In the light of this upheaval, Marjane Satrapi visualizes her childhood and maturity through her graphic novel Persepolis. She utilizes the story to be her platform to open up about her challenges to break constraints that are imposed upon her as a woman in this newly shaped society and to call for reform and mercy for war victims. The current study aims at studying the figure of Marjane, the heroine of the story, her perceptions of certain events, her reactions in various moments and how she manages to save herself from all the obstacles that surround her . It will analyze the hidden lessons delivered by this narrative in the light of visual and verbal frames. The researcher attempts to answer how one may act in such hostile environment? what are the significance of writing autobiographical novel in the light of historical context? And how the form of graphic novel helps the author to deliver her message?

Contextual event-based sound quality metrics

Sound quality metrics are often used to analyze complex sound scenarios, such as soundscape applications. Sound quality can also affect the health and well-being of people in a given environment. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that the definition of good sound quality in a particular context is as precise as possible. In this aspect, psychoacoustic indicators such as maximum, average, or percentile values of psychoacoustic parameters are usually used in a linear combination to create a metric based on listening experiment results. However, this linear approach may disregard many complex nonlinear parameter dependencies that could be helpful for a better description of human perception. Instead of using summary statistics, the importance to perception of individual events in terms of their duration, magnitude, and frequency should be considered. For example, individual tonal events of a certain duration may have a strong influence on the perceived quality, even with low average tonality and percentile values. And the low-frequency tonal content of music may be perceived as an important aspect of a high-quality sound event, whereas the same amount of low-frequency tonality would be not accepted for a technical sound. Interview evidence from people immersed in various soundscapes appears to indicate significant "contextual weightings" involving both time and frequency, which might be applied to or evolved from current psychoacoustic metrics according to contextual classes. In this paper we provide an overview and some practical guidance for developing contextual event-based sound quality metrics.

Treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms in men in primary care using a conservative intervention: cluster randomised controlled trial

ObjectiveTo determine whether a standardised and manualised care intervention in men in primary care could achieve superior improvement of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) compared with usual care.DesignCluster randomised controlled...