Personal Action Research Articles

VISION TRAINING TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM ENDURANCE POST-TBI: A CASE STUDY WITH A 26-YEAR-OLD FEMALE

Background: Concussions, also referred to as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), can present a multitude of symptoms due to the complex pathophysiology incurred by the brain. It is known that these mTBI-induced symptoms, when left unresolved, can lead to post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Commonly, these patients complain of vision-related dysfunctions. These dysfunctions interrupt patients’ everyday lives, including students when participating in the classroom due to the heavy visual involvement. Numerous vision therapies and management strategies have been successful for the treatment of mTBI-induced visual-related symptoms such as exotropia, suppression, and oculomotor dysfunction. Vision training has been found to be successful in improving oculomotor endurance, giving patients the ability to maintain focus for long periods of time and to mitigate against suppression. Background: Concussions, also referred to as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), can present a multitude of symptoms due to the complex pathophysiology incurred by the brain. It is known that these mTBI-induced symptoms, when left unresolved, can lead to post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Commonly, these patients complain of vision-related dysfunctions. These dysfunctions interrupt patients’ everyday lives, including those of students, when participating in the classroom due to the heavy visual involvement. Numerous vision therapies and management strategies have been successful for the treatment of mTBI-induced visual-related symptoms such as exotropia, suppression, and oculomotor dysfunction. Vision training successfully improves oculomotor endurance, allowing patients to maintain focus for long periods andmitigate against suppression. Case Report: This report describes a 26-year-old female presenting with activity-induced sensory overload, specifically in the setting of her college classroom lectures. The patient described symptoms appearing as headache, fatigue, and blurred vision. Upon initial examination, she was determined to have a left eye exophoria with fatigue-induced left eye suppression and left eye lateral abduction deficiencies. A personalized action plan was designed to improve left-right oculomotor symmetry and endurance and mitigate against suppression through a weekly structured vision training program. In this 7-week program, individual and dual eye saccadic exercises improved, with both eye horizontal saccades improving from 26 characters read aloud per minute to 36 characters read out loud per minute. With these regular vision training sessions, the patient displayed improved oculomotor endurance, decreased suppression with prolonged activity, and better dual-eye coordination. After the post-vision training program, the patient could attend her college lectures without invoking symptoms.

Ethical work climate and whistleblowing intention

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of an ethical work environment on the intention to report wrongdoing, with job satisfaction and self-efficacy as mediating factors, drawing from the Theory of Planned Behavior. The research was conducted at a state-owned bank, employing purposive sampling to gather data from 210 banking employees in Jakarta, Indonesia. Hypothesis testing utilized Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the Lisrel 8.80 program. The findings indicate that an ethical work climate has a positive influence on job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and whistleblowing intention. However, job satisfaction exerts a negative impact on whistleblowing intention, and therefore does not mediate the relationship between the ethical work environment and whistleblowing intention. Meanwhile, self-efficacy positively affects whistleblowing intention, but similarly does not mediate the relationship with ethical work climate. This study demonstrates that the intention to behave is the primary determinant of a person's actions and is not significantly influenced by the two tested mediating variables, following the Theory of Planned Behavior.

Cartoon copyright recognition method based on character personality action

Aiming at the problem of cartoon piracy and plagiarism, this paper proposes a method of cartoon copyright recognition based on character personality actions. This method can be used to compare the original cartoon actions with the action characteristics of pirated or copied cartoons to identify whether there is piracy or plagiarism. Firstly, an image preprocessing scheme for character extraction is designed. GrabCut interactive image segmentation algorithm was used to obtain cartoon characters, and then binarization and morphological processing were performed on the results. Secondly, a feature extraction scheme based on character profile, moving character and character pose is designed. By extracting the perimeter and area of the character contour, the length-to-width ratio of the smallest rectangle and the inclination angle of the contour, the character contour features are obtained. The three-dimensional coordinates are established by the central point position of the cartoon character in the two-dimensional image and the change of the character's zoom in and out, and the character's motion angle characteristics are calculated. By skeletonizing a character to obtain the pose characteristics, and using deburring operation to remove redundant branches, then extract the skeleton joint angle information. Finally, feature fusion is performed on the extracted features. The experimental results show that the proposed method breaks the limitation of the conventional single feature based recognition, and can better extract the character features including contour feature, motion feature and pose feature through multi-feature based extraction, so as to protect the cartoon copyright.

Evaluation of the barriers to organizational learning in a port sector company

Competitive advantage is an essential factor for the development and longevity of businesses. It is associated with companies' ability to learn, manage their knowledge, and recognize and accurately interpret opportunities and barriers to learning processes. This work aimed to identify the barriers to organizational learning in a company in the port sector. For this, an instrument was used, such as an interview script composed of 27 questions, grouped by model learning process: Intuition, interpretation, integration and institutionalization (4I) and subgrouped by influencing factors, with semi-structured questions aimed at identifying the barriers to organizational learning present in the company. The results were analyzed based on the recordings of the interviewees' speeches. The main results showed 28 of the 80 barriers listed in the adopted model, highlighting those related to the intuition process, especially those with a personal action factor, revealing opportunities for improvement in actions and mechanisms to promote the creation of knowledge and the generation of innovative ideas.

Gait-Based Human Activity Recognition Using Efficient Sensor Fusion and Deep Learning Approach

Human activity recognition is an important area of computer vision research. Its applications include surveillance systems, patient monitoring systems, and a variety of systems that involve interactions between persons and electronic devices such as human-computer interfaces. Most of these applications require an automated recognition of high-level activities, composed of multiple simple (or atomic) actions of persons. A novel feature selection approach is then proposed in order to select a subset of discriminant features, construct an online activity recognizer with better generalization ability, and reduce the smartphone power consumption. Experimental results on a publicly available data set show that the fusion of both accelerometer and gyroscope data contributes to obtain better recognition performance than that of using single source data, and that the proposed feature selector outperforms three other comparative approaches in terms of four performance measures. Such activity profiling systems are dependent on classification algorithms which can effectively interpret body-worn sensor data and identify different activities. the key research challenges that human activity recognition shares with general pattern recognition and identify those challenges that are specific to human activity recognition. The aim of paper is to explore real life applications like contactless employee recognition system using gait analysis which uses sensor data as base to identify employees based on their gait movement. This requires understanding the dimensions of sensor data and its application exploring other potential real-life applications and optimizing the methodology are also one of the core objectives.

International property law

Property law is a set of legal norms regulating such property relations, where authorized persons can exercise their rights to property (things) without the need for positive actions of other persons. For a long time, the possibility of buying and selling property rights was called into question. Yes, the purchase and sale of property rights loses its distinguishing features, merging in part with the assignment of rights under obligations. and from a legal point of view, such a replacement of a precise concept, associated with known consequences, with a broad and indefinite concept gives few advantages. but the wide spread of transactions in paid concession of property rights led to the necessity of their regulation.

PERAN GURU DALAM PEMBENTUKAN KARAKTER RELIGIUS ANAK USIA DINI

Religious character is an aspect of personality that is instilled in children from an early age in the task of moral and religious development. The aim of the research is to determine the role of teachers in forming the religious character of early childhood children aged 4 - 6 years at PAUD Taruna Elim Kuanino, Kupang City. Religious character is a character value in relation to God and is shown in a person's thoughts, words and actions based on divine values ​​and religious teachings. The research method used is a qualitative research method. Data collection techniques through observation, interviews and documentation. The results of the research show that the formation of religious character values ​​in the aspect of worship values ​​is carried out by habituation such as praying before carrying out activities and singing and carrying out activities related to religious character, the formation of religious character in the aspect of disciplinary values ​​related to obedience, obedience and order, the formation of religious character In the aspect of exemplary values, it is applied by being polite in front of children, saying sorry when you make a mistake, saying please when asking for help, saying thank you when you receive something. Habituation methods such as praying before carrying out activities and memorizing prayers and greeting others. Method of telling children about religious and moral values ​​to improve religious character. The field trip method is carried out by visiting places of worship such as mosques and churches.

Analysis of The Influence of The Family Support System on Adolescent Behavior

This identity. There are at least three ways in which the family support system affects teenagers, first is financial, second is moral support, third is social control. If the social role of the family is home phenomena. This is in line with Emile Durkheim's idea of social facts, where a research is research that discusses how the family support system influences behavior in adolescents. Adolescents are the age group where individuals experience the transition from children to adultsnot carried out well, it will have a bad impact on teenagers, this can be seen from the broken. This age group tends to be unstable and emotional because they are at the stage of searching for their person's actions are based on the social facts that occur, namely anomic, egoistic and altruisticKeywords: Suppot Sistem, Keluarga, Perilaku Remaja

Kalam science and its urgency in the context of religious moderation (Islam Wasathiyah)

The varying perspectives held by Indonesian society often lead to conflicts between religious groups, particularly when one group believes that safety and truth are exclusive to its membership. It is possible to address this issue by deeply studying Islam and adopting a moderation and tolerance mindset. The Islamic concept of moderation is known as rahmatan lil alamin. Islam's spiritual underpinnings ensure global peace, harmony, and fraternity among all peoples. A shallow understanding of religion causes people to act towards extremes, believing that they are right and others are wrong. The results of this research show that kalam science can be a means of contributing to a person's actions and behaviour in understanding and realising the sense of diversity that is khilafiah, and give birth to a moderate attitude so that Kalam Science can present a context and paradigm for religious moderation, and not be quick to place blame on others. This is because a person with a deeper understanding of religion (theology) is more knowledgeable of societal inequalities in both the religious and social domains.

It’s getting dark, but we will see: Gaining collective momentum in face of existential environmental threat

Collective action to protect the environment is increasingly moving into the focus of environmental psychology. Also policy makers are well-advised to consider the dynamics of collective environmental action as a vehicle to swift ecological transformations of societies. A sense of collective environmental agency (vs. treating citizens as reluctant consumers) is proposed to drive people supporting collective ecological transformations and engaging in personal and political action against large-scale environmental crises, such as climate change. The Global Environmental Psychology special section, “Responding to the Socio-Ecological Crisis: Collective Action and Activism”, presents nine empirical research articles that help to assess the antecedences and consequences of collective environmental agency. The present commentary discusses what the specific contributions of these papers are to better understand the emergence of collective environmental agency and what their implications are for future research in the field of social environmental psychology.

DEVELOPMENT OF «SCIENCE OF SELF-IMPROVEMENT» AT THE INTERNET THROUGH THE PRISM OF ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL

The WEB.2.0 era, which opened up almost universal access to the Internet for every person, entailed the formation of a gigantic set of self-proclaimed experts in various branches of knowledge. During the epidemic, the amount of time spent using the Internet and Internet applications significantly increased, which was a kind of klondike, and served as an incentive for the development of the «science of self-improvement», the promotion of methods based on human emotions of fears, the desire for speedy enrichment, healing, improvement. The article presents the positive and negative aspects of social media. Based on his own observations, the author compiled a brief description of persons who actively manifest themselves in the Internet space (bloggers, coaches, coaches), in the context of ensuring the economic security of the individual, and also presents a typical algorithm of actions of persons who implement trainings, marathons and courses in the Internet space, regardless of the field of educational activities

Collision Avoiding Max-Sum for Mobile Sensor Teams

Recent advances in technology have large teams of robots with limited computation skills work together in order to achieve a common goal. Their personal actions need to contribute to the joint effort, however, they also must assure that they do not harm the efforts of the other members of the team, e.g., as a result of collisions. We focus on the distributed target coverage problem, in which the team must cooperate in order to maximize utility from sensed targets, while avoiding collisions with other agents. State of the art solutions focus on the distributed optimization of the coverage task in the team level, while neglecting to consider collision avoidance, which could have far reaching consequences on the overall performance. Therefore, we propose CAMS: a collision-avoiding version of the Max-sum algorithm, for solving problems including mobile sensors. In CAMS, a factor-graph that includes two types of constraints (represented by function-nodes) is being iteratively generated and solved. The first type represents the task-related requirements, and the second represents collision avoidance constraints. We prove that consistent beliefs are sent by target representing function-nodes during the run of the algorithm, and identify factor-graph structures on which CAMS is guaranteed to converge to an optimal (collision-free) solution. We present an experimental evaluation in extensive simulations, showing that CAMS produces high quality collision-free coverage also in large and complex scenarios. We further present evidence from experiments in a real multi-robot system that CAMS outperforms the state of the art in terms of convergence time.

Building stewardship capacity through fishers’ knowledge and advocacy in fisheries management: a case study from Southeast Alaska

Local environmental stewardship supports resilience of social-ecological systems through a wide range of actions that benefit both environmental and human wellbeing. Stewardship actions of harvesters have been recognized as an important component in building adaptive capacity of coastal fisheries undergoing change. In Southeast Alaska, where commercial fishing plays a key role in cultures and economies, concerns for local fisheries have arisen from declines in salmon returns, high price variability, and barriers to participation, among other issues. Here, we aimed to understand existing and potential pathways for stewardship actions of small-boat commercial fishers in Juneau, Alaska. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 22 commercial fishers, agency staff, and leaders of seafood associations to document fisher-led stewardship actions and ways that small-boat commercial fishers engage formally and informally with local management, explore the role of fishery management agencies in facilitating collaboration and communication with fishers in the Juneau area, and understand local perspectives on how the stewardship capacities of the fishery system can be better supported. We found that multiple pathways for stewardship exist in commercial salmon and shellfish fisheries, including formal and informal interactions with state fishery management staff and decision-makers, participation in fishing associations and advocacy organizations, knowledge sharing among fishers, and taking personal conservation actions to care for fisheries. We identified areas of relatively low social, financial, and institutional capital that may limit the effectiveness of these stewardship actions. Our findings highlight diverse perspectives of fishery participants on how these stewardship actions might be better supported through policy, advocacy, and collaboration.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

It is common for people to experience brief episodes of sadness or feeling unlike themselves. Such mood swings may persist with changing seasons, become more severe, and impact a person's feelings, thoughts, and actions. Although the leading cause of it is unclear, Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a common mood disorder that people face in winter months due to the brain chemistry reactions to reduced sunlight and shorter days (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2021). As students of Boston University’s (BU) Graphic Medicine Club (GMC), we wanted to find ways to improve health literacy amongst BU students and provide the necessary health resources to help students. Two content creators of GMC worked together to create this comic and split the task of typography and illustration. This comic utilizes visuals and text to explain the common symptoms and treatment methods for SAD. Through our work at the intersection of art and medicine, we hope to offer a creative avenue for conversations about health topics such as SAD and provide informative narratives to others.

Created stepping-stone configurations depend on task constraints.

Previous studies have shown that choices about how to configure stepping-stones to be used as playground or exercise equipment reflect a person's action capabilities. In two experiments, we investigated whether choices about how to configure stepping-stones to be used as a path for locomotion additionally reflect the goals for which or the constraints under which the path is to be used. In Experiment 1, participants created stepping-stone configurations (with rubber mats) that would allow them to cross a given space quickly, comfortably, or carefully. Configurations in the "Quickly" condition consisted of fewer mats, and longer mean (linear) distances between mats, and greater "challenge" (relative to maximum stepping distance) than in the other two conditions. In Experiment 2, participants created stepping-stone configurations that would be fun to use or that would be easy to use to cross a given space. Configurations in the "Fun" condition consisted of more mats, longer linear distances between mats, and greater "challenge" than those in the "Easy" condition. Moreover, paths in the "Fun" condition were also wider, longer, and exhibited larger changes in distances and angles between consecutive mats than in the "Easy" condition. The results are discussed both in terms of implications for understanding affordances and for the design of stepping-stone paths.

(Doing) belonging as technology of power: how the principle of ‘gender equality’ governs membership in Swiss society

ABSTRACT This paper analyses how the principle of gender equality informs politics of belonging in Switzerland. We propose to conceptualize ‘doing belonging’ as a technology of power and we examine how actors in (non-)institutional settings employ it as part of professional and personal action. The paper draws on two case studies: an ethnography of institutions in charge of Swiss naturalization procedures and a series of qualitative interviews with migrant descendants. It unpacks how individuals negotiate belonging in different social contexts that are marked by specific power relations. First, we reveal how ideas of gender equality shape the implementation of state policies in naturalization procedures by selectively assessing the candidates according to their national and assumed cultural background. Second, we show how naturalized individuals are doing belonging when confronting external ascriptions as being ‘gender unequal’. The analysis contributes to a better understanding of the role the principle of gender equality plays in politics of belonging enacted at a micro-sociological and individual level, thus illuminating the gendered underpinnings of migration politics.

Raising awareness of prostate cancer amongst black communities in the south of England

ABSTRACT Background: Black men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than white men and may present with prostate cancer at a much later stage during the cancer journey. This could be due to a lower awareness of the signs and symptoms of prostate cancer, an unwillingness to report symptoms or a lack of trust in the healthcare system or a combination of these. Aim: The aims of this study were to raise awareness of prostate cancer in black communities in South of England and to evaluate the engagement and raising awareness campaigns. Method: This project involved two phases. The first phase focused on raising awareness of prostate cancer in black men and their families. The awareness was delivered using public facing activities such as stands and talks with participants. Additionally, online awareness activities were undertaken with either black men alone or black men and their families. The second phase of the project involved an evaluation of the raising awareness campaigns through interviews. A total of 320 black men and their families were involved in the awareness sessions and of these, 12 black men were interviewed. The interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Analysis of the data generated three main themes including: increased knowledge and mindset change regarding prostate cancer, empowered to take community and personal action, as well as strategies and tools to raise awareness of prostate cancer among black communities. Conclusion: The raising awareness campaigns had a positive effect in terms of increasing black men's awareness of the risk factors associated with prostate cancer. Moreover, the campaigns enabled them to make lifestyle adjustments that could help them to reduce their likelihood of developing prostate cancer. Additionally, the participant's knowledge had improved, and they were empowered and motivated to make a difference to their lives and that of their communities.

Clinical decision making within occupational therapy: a critical reflection of providing palliative care for a patient in the community

Clinical decision-making within occupational therapy is a complex and dynamic process shaped by numerous scientific, narrative, professional, ethical, legal and personal factors. By reflecting on these factors and by developing metacognition of one's own reasoning pathways, biases, and heuristics, patient-centred and balanced clinical decisions can be made. This reflective case study examines the factors underpinning an occupational therapist's clinical decision making for a man with terminal cancer. A critical reflective model is used in this article to provide structure and to ensure critical consideration of the case. Implications for practice aim to serve as inspiration for others to reflect on their own journey, and personal action points are detailed to develop the author's own clinical decision-making.

Inhibition of personal protective action against heat by gender stereotypes: A Japanese survey conducted in the summer of 2023

Exposure to extreme heat significantly affects human health and often causes death. Public health agencies encourage people to take preventive action against heat illness. Research on risk reduction behavior reveals that perceived effectiveness, self-efficacy, and risk perception motivate people to implement measures against various risks. This study empirically examines how gender stereotyping affects the use of umbrellas. Accordingly, Tokyo residents (N = 658) were surveyed on September 27 and 28, 2023, regarding their frequency of use of protective materials against heat during the summer of 2023. Results revealed that the survey participants associated the use of umbrellas more with women than with men. Hence, gender stereotype reduced the participants' use of umbrellas regardless of their gender. Self-efficacy had a stronger effect on umbrella use than any other explanatory variable. This study did not find evidence that perceived effectiveness, cost, and effort determine umbrella use. The findings imply that while creating messages to promote the adoption of preventive measures against extreme heat, they should consider how stereotypes affect people's willingness to adopt certain measures.

THE ARTISTIC IMAGE OF AUEZOV IN THE NOVEL ZEYNOLLA KABDOLOV «MY AUEZOV»

The article examines the image of M. Auezov depicted in the epic novel by the writer Z. Kabdolov «My Auezov». Here are the actions of persons, relationships with other people that relate to the life, everyday life of the main character of the work of Mukhtar Auezov. The variety of topics and socio-social problems rose in it; large-scale literary and theoretical possibilities in the image of the main character are clearly demonstrated by the writer, rationally and productively used by him. Z. Kabdolov tells the future generation of the Kazakh people the biography of the writer M. Auezov, who was able to rise to the top of the mind of human society, to know the history of the peoples of the world. The author of the work thereby shows the great education of M. Auezov, the special depth of his literacy. Literature itself plays an important role in the life of society, as well as in preserving values for posterity. In Z. Kabdolov's novel «My Auezov», special attention is paid to Mukhtar Auezov's approach to life and creativity. The scientist made a great contribution to the development of the life and literary heritage of the great writer by publishing serious works based on a deep analysis of his work, using literary and historical data that many had not talked about before.