Search results for: narrative texts

Authors: Emni Omar Daw Hussin, Pathmawathi Subramanian, Wong Li Ping

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Background: To provide quality care at the end of life, nurses should possess knowledge and skills to provide effective end-of-life care, as well as develop the attitudes and interpersonal competence to provide compassionate care. Aim: This study aimed to assess nurses’ knowledge and attitude towards end of life care and caring for terminal ill patients and to examine relationships among demographic variables and nurse’s knowledge and attitudes toward end of life care and caring for terminal ill patients. Method: a cross-sectional study was conducted at 1 tertiary hospital located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Self-administrative questionnaire was used to collect data from 553 nurses from over all departments except emergency department, operation theater and outpatient clinic. Two tools were used in this study, the Frommelt’s Attitude Toward Care of the Dying (FATCOD) Scale to assess the nurses’ attitude and End of Life Knowledge Assessment to assess the nurses’ knowledge. Result: the result of this study yielded that, the majority of participants (54.8%) and (54.4%) have less positive attitude and knowledge towards end of life care and caring for terminal ill patients respectively. As well as there is no significant relationship were found between nurses’ ethnicity, religion, and the total score of FATCOD scale; End of Life Knowledge Assessment score. On other hand there is significant relationship among nurses’ age, working experience, level of education, attending any post basic courses and the total score of both FATCOD scale and End of Life Knowledge Assessment. Conclusion: A lack of education and experience and post basic course about end of life care and palliative care may contribute to the negative attitudes and poor knowledge regarding end of life care. Providing sufficient courses about end of life care could enhance the nurses’ knowledge towards end of life care, as well as providing a reflective narrative environment in which nurses can express their personal feelings about death and dying could be a potentially effective approach. Implication for Practice: This study elaborates the need for further research to develop an effective educational programs to enhance nurses’ knowledge and to promote positive attitude towards death and dying, as well as enhance communication skills, and coping strategies.

Keywords: knowledge, attitude, nurse, end of life care

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Authors: Jessica BrodeFrank, Beka Bryer, Lacey Wilson, Sierra Van Ryck deGroot

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Museums are enjoying quite the moment in pop culture. From discussions of labor in Bob’s Burger to introducing cultural repatriation in The Black Panther, discussions of various museum issues are making their way to popular media. “Talking Back to Hollywood” analyzes the impact museums have on movies and television. The paper will highlight a series of cultural cameos and discuss what each reveals about critical themes in museums: repatriation, labor, obfuscated histories, institutional legacies, artificial intelligence, and holograms. Using a mixed methods approach to include surveys, descriptive research, thematic analysis, and context analysis, the authors of this paper will explore how we, as the museum staff, might begin to cite museums and movies together as texts. Drawing from their experience working in museums and public history, this contingent of mid-career professionals will highlight the impact museums have had on movies and television and the didactic lessons these portrayals can provide back to cultural heritage professionals. From tackling critical themes in museums such as repatriation, labor conditions/inequities, obfuscated histories, curatorial choice and control, institutional legacies, and more, this paper is grounded in the cultural zeitgeist of the 2000s and the message these media portrayals send to the public and the cultural heritage sector. In particular, the paper will examine how portrayals of AI, holograms, and more technology can be used as entry points for necessary discussions with the public on mistrust, misinformation, and emerging technologies. This paper will not only expose the legacy and cultural understanding of the museum field within popular culture but also will discuss actionable ways that public historians can use these portrayals as an entry point for discussions with the public, citing literature reviews and quantitative and qualitative analysis of survey results. As Hollywood is talking about museums, museums can use that to better connect to the audiences who feel comfortable at the cinema but are excluded from the museum.

Keywords: museums, public memory, representation, popular culture

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Authors: Luiz Nolasco Jr. Rezende, Antonio Villar M. Sá, Claudia Marcia L. Pato

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The increasing urban violence in Brazil involves more and more infractions committed by children and youths. The challenges faced by the institutional environments responsible for the education and resocialization of adolescents in conflict with the law are enormous, especially of those deprived of their liberty. These institutions have an inadequate educational structure. They are characterized by a dirty and unhealthy environment without the minimum basic conditions for their activities, by frequent practices of degradation, humiliation, and the physical and psychological punishment of inmates. This mixed-method study investigated the personal values of adolescents with restriction of freedom in a socio-educational institutional environment aiming to contribute to the development of their morality through an educational process. For that, we used a survey and transdisciplinary play workshops involving thirty-two boys aged between 15 and 19 years old and at least two years out of school. To evaluate the survey the reduced version of the Portrait Questionnaire—PQ21—was used. The workshops happened once a week, lasting 80 minutes each, totaling twelve meetings. By using the game of chess and its metaphors, participants produced texts and engaged in critical brainstorming about their lives. The survey results pointed out that these young people showed a predominance of values of openness to change and self-transcendence, dissatisfaction with one's own reality and surroundings, not considering the consequences of their actions on themselves and others, difficulties in speaking and writing, and desire for changes in their lives. After the pedagogical interventions, these adolescents demonstrated an understanding of the implications of their actions for themselves, for their families, especially for the mothers, with whom they demonstrated stronger bonds. It was possible to observe evidence of improvement in the capacity of linguistic expression, more autonomy and critical vision, including about themselves and their respective contexts. These results demonstrated the educational potential of lively, symbolic, dynamic and playful activities that favor the mediation and identification of these adolescents with their lives, and contribute to the projection of dreams.

Keywords: adolescents arrested, human values, moral development, playful workshops

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Authors: Baljit Soroya

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Transnational communities are as a consequence of greater mobility of people, globalization and digitization have had a major impact on international relations and diasporas in the context of external conflicts. To a significant extent conflicts are becoming deterritorialised and informed by both internal (state politics) and external (foreign policy) players such as in Iraq and Syria leading to forced migration of unprecedented levels within the last two decades. The situation of forced migrants has, it is suggested, worsened as a consequence of the neo-liberal policies and requirements of organizations such as the European Bank. A case example of this being that of Greece, and the exacerbation of insecurity for Greek nationals and the demonization of refugees seeking sanctuary. This has been as a consequence, in part, of the neoliberal dogma of the European Bank. The article analyses the complex intersection of the real and perceived threats of international terrorism and the manner in which UK migration policy and Practice is unfolding. The policy and practice developments are explored in the context of the shift in politics in both the UK and wider Europe to the far right and the drift of main stream political parties to the right. In many cases, the mainstream political groupings, have co-opted the fears as presented by far right organization for political their own political gains, such as in the UK and France In its analysis it will be argued that, whilst international terrorism is an issue of concern, however in the context of the UK it is not of the same scale as the effects of climate change or indeed domestic violence. Given that, the question has to be asked why the threat of international terrorism is having such an impact on UK migration policy and practice and, specifically refugees. Furthermore, it is argued that this policy and practice are being formulated within a narrative that portrays migrants as the problem both in relation to terrorism and the disenfranchisement of ‘ordinary white communities’. The intersectionality of social, economic inequalities, fear of international terrorism, increase in conflicts and the political climate have contributed to a lack of trust of political establishments that have in turn sought to impress the public with their anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy agendas. The article ends by suggesting that whilst politics and political affiliations have become fractured there are nevertheless spaces for collective action, particularly in relation to issues of refugees.

Keywords: international terrorism, migration policy, conflict, media, community, politics

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Authors: Natsuko D'Aprile

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The construction of Nation-States is a historical process that produces a type of national identity and culture that States nowadays mobilise for global outreach. National culture, as a set of norms and values influencing individuals’ actions and decisions, produces a type of policy making of various strategies that impact how a Nation is promoted overseas. The 1990s were marked by a resurgence of the debates on national identity. This period is believed to have paved the way for nationalism and witnessed increased attention to analytical approaches to identity. Public diplomacy is a concrete example of how national culture is mobilised to project a favourable image of a Nation abroad, especially in the narratives on national identity mobilised by diplomatic actors. Public diplomacy is understood as providing tools for States to build and project strategic narratives that represent events and identities in an attempt to influence domestic and foreign audiences, be they domestic or foreign. France and Japan received little attention on the matter. This research hence aims to investigate how France and Japan have mobilised narratives on national identity since the 1990s in the context of their public diplomacy. To understand how identities are framed, qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis has been performed on a corpus of various speeches held by French and Japanese political actors in which they present their diplomacy goals, as well as official documents provided by both Ministries of Foreign Affairs. This analysis showed that the French discourse integrates a narrative on France’s universal vocation, relying on the expression of a Nation whose model is worldly applicable and has the legitimacy to influence international decisions. The Japanese discourse does not concretely emphasise Japanese or Asian values, except for some narratives integrating Confucian and Shintō values. It rather revolves around the need for Japan to ensure its citizens’ security and prosperity, hence the need for the Government to contribute to peace in the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Keywords: comparative politics, culture, discourse analysis, narratives, public diplomacy

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Authors: Rita Phillips, Mark Burgess, Maga Berlinski

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Although the positive impact of religiosity on well-being, health, and life-coping abilities is well known, up to date research has failed to provide scientific evidence for the relationship reasons. Therefore the present study took a qualitative approach by examining how religiosity interacts in coping with emotionally distressful situations, for which wedding preparations are an example. Wedding preparations, related to the experience of ambiguous emotions, can be the reason for phases of high distress. Although being per-se religious ceremonies, they are also socially-scripted and characterized by people’s striving for personally meaningful celebrations. The negotiation of these many influences can evoke conflicts. To reveal components of religiosity which contribute to stress-resolution, eight biographic-narrative interviews with recently married spouses were conducted. Participants were from different nationalities and Catholic deep-belief communities in order to determine factors independent from national-culture and social-subgroup. The audio-tape recorded, transcribed and translated interviews were analyzed by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Opposing previous research on wedding-related conflicts but in-line with the quantitative account on the relation between stress-resilience and religiosity, the present study found participants reporting very low levels of distress and ambiguity. Although similar areas of potential conflicts were revealed, deep-belief Christians seemed to handle them in a different way. Participants freed themselves from own and others’ rigor mundane expectations by their spiritual preparation and the focus on a divine instance. This evoked a feeling of perceived closeness to God and of unconditional love, resulting in acceptance of oneself and others. Through relativizing mundane goods, participants perceived absolute freedom. Thus belief did not supplement coping strategies, previously defined in the literature, but substituted them. The paper implies that in explaining the connection between stress-resilience and religiosity, one’s perception and experience of unconditional love might outweigh other social or personal factors. However, further qualitative investigations are needed to fully explain the phenomenon.

Keywords: deep-belief, religiosity, resilience, wedding

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Authors: Stijn Horck

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Background: The value of lessons learned from failure increases when these insights can be put to use by those who did not experience the failure. While learning from others has mostly been researched between individuals or teams within the same environment, transferring knowledge from the person who experienced the failure to an outsider comes with extra challenges. As sense-making of failure is an individual process leading to different learning experiences, the potential of lessons learned from failure is highly variable depending on who is transferring the lessons learned. Using an integrated framework of linguistic aspects related to attributional egotism, this study aims to offer a complete explanation of the challenges in transferring lessons learned from failures that are experienced by others. Method: A case study of a failed foundation established to address the information needs for GPs in times of COVID-19 has been used. An overview of failure causes and lessons learned were made through a preliminary analysis of data collected in two phases with metaphoric examples of failure types. This was followed up by individual narrative interviews with the board members who have all experienced the same events to analyse the individual variance of lessons learned through discourse analysis. This research design uses the researcher-as-instrument approach since the recipient of these lessons learned is the author himself. Results: Thirteen causes were given why the foundation has failed, and nine lessons were formulated. Based on the individually emphasized events, the explanation of the failure events mentioned by all or three respondents consisted of more linguistic aspects related to attributional egotism than failure events mentioned by only one or two. Moreover, the learning events mentioned by all or three respondents involved lessons learned that are based on changed insight, while the lessons expressed by only one or two are more based on direct value. Retrospectively, the lessons expressed as a group in the first data collection phase seem to have captured some but not all of the direct value lessons. Conclusion: Individual variance in expressing lessons learned to outsiders can be reduced using metaphoric or analogical explanations from a third party. In line with the attributional egotism theory, individuals separated from a group that has experienced the same failure are more likely to refer to failure causes of which the chances to be contradicted are the smallest. Lastly, this study contributes to the academic literature by demonstrating that the use of linguistic analysis is suitable for investigating the knowledge transfer from lessons learned after failure.

Keywords: failure, discourse analysis, knowledge transfer, attributional egotism

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Authors: Renu Pattanshetty

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The aim of this narrative review is to highlight the impact of menopause on osteoporosis and weight gain. The review also aims to summarize physiotherapeutic strategies to combat the same.A thorough literature search was conducted using electronic databases like MEDline, PUBmed, Highwire Press, PUBmed Central for English language studies that included search terms like menopause, osteoporosis, obesity, weight gain, exercises, physical activity, physiotherapy strategies from the year 2000 till date. Out of 157 studies that included metanalyses, critical reviews and randomized clinical trials, a total of 84 were selected that met the inclusion criteria. Prevalence of obesity is increasing world - wide and is reaching epidemic proportions even in the menopausal women. Prevalence of abdominal obesity is almost double than that general obesity with rates in the US with 65.5% in women ages 40-59 years and 73.8 in women aged 60 years or more. Physical activities and exercises play a vital role in prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and weight gain related to menopause that aim to boost the general well-being and any symptoms brought about by natural body changes. Endurance exercises lasting about 30 minutes /day for 5 days/ week has shown to decrease weight and prevent weight gain. In addition, strength training with at least 8 exercises of 8-12 repetitions working for whole body and for large muscle groups has shown to result positive outcomes. Hot flashes can be combatted through yogic breathing and relaxation exercises. Prevention of fall strategies and resistance training are key to treat diagnosed cases of osteoporosis related to menopause. One to three sets with five to eight repetitions of four to six weight bearing exercises have shown positive results. Menopause marks an important time for women to evaluate their risk of obesity and osteoporosis. It is known fact that bone benefit from exercises are lost when training is stopped, hence, practicing bone smart habits and strict adherence to recommended physical activity programs are recommended which are enjoyable, safe and effective.

Keywords: menopause, osteoporosis, obesity, weight gain, exercises, physical activity, physiotherapy strategies

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Authors: Gonca Z. Tuncbilek

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Architectural research tends to define architecture in terms of its permanence. In this study, the term ‘temporality’ and its use in architectural discourse is re-visited. The definition, proposition, and efficacy of the temporality occur both in architecture and in its related knowledge. The temporary architecture not only fulfills the requirement of the architectural programs, but also plays a significant role in generating an environment of architectural discourse. In recent decades, there is a great interest on the temporary architectural practices regarding to the installations, exhibition spaces, pavilions, and expositions; inviting the architects to experience and think about architecture. The temporary architecture has a significant role among the architecture, the architect, and the architectural discourse. Experiencing the contemporary materials, methods and technique; they have proposed the possibilities of the future architecture. These structures give opportunities to the architects to a wide-ranging variety of freedoms to experience the ‘new’ in architecture. In addition to this experimentation, they can be considered as an agent to redefine and reform the boundaries of the architectural discipline itself. Although the definition of architecture is re-analyzed in terms of its temporality rather than its permanence; architecture, in reality, still relies on historically codified types and principles of the formation. The concept of type can be considered for several different sciences, and there is a tendency to organize and understand the world in terms of classification in many different cultures and places. ‘Type’ is used as a classification tool with/without the scope of the critical invention. This study considers theories of type, putting forward epistemological and discursive arguments related to the form of architecture, being related to historical and formal disciplinary knowledge in architecture. This study has been to emphasize the importance of the temporality in architecture as a creative tool to reveal the position within the architectural discourse. The temporary architecture offers ‘new’ opportunities in the architectural field to be analyzed. In brief, temporary structures allow the architect freedoms to the experimentation in architecture. While redefining the architecture in terms of temporality, architecture still relies on historically codified types (pavilions, exhibitions, expositions, and installations). The notion of architectural types and its varying interpretations are analyzed based on the texts of architectural theorists since the Age of Enlightenment. Investigating the classification of type in architecture particularly temporary architecture, it is necessary to return to the discussion of the origin of the knowledge and its classification.

Keywords: classification of architecture, exhibition design, pavilion design, temporary architecture

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Authors: Samantha Burns, Melissa Brown, Judith Rankin

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Background: As a specialised intervention, NEWPIP provides a service which supports both parents and their babies from conception to two years, who are experiencing issues which may affect the quality of their relationship and development of the infant. This evaluation of the NEWPIP approach was undertaken in response to the need for rich, in-depth data to understand the lived experiences of the parents who experienced the service to improve the service. NEWPIP is currently one of 34 specialised parent–infant relationship teams across England. This evaluation contributes to increasing understanding of the impact and effectiveness of this specialised service to inform future practice. Aim: The aim of this evaluation was to explore the perspectives and experiences of parents or caregivers (service users), to assess the impact of the NEWPIP service on the parents themselves and the relationship with their baby. Methods: The exploratory nature of the aim and focus on service users’ experience and perspectives provided scope for a qualitative approach for this evaluation. This consisted of 10 semi-structured interviews with parents who had received the service within the last two years. Recruitment involved both purposive and convenience sampling. The interviews took place between February 2021 – March 2021, lasting between 30-90 minutes and were guided by open-ended questions from a topic guide. The interviews adopted a narrative approach to enable the parents to share their lived experiences. The researchers transcribed the interviews and analysed the data thematically by using a coding method which is grounded in the data. Results: The analysis and findings from the data gathered illuminated an approach which supports parents to build a better bond with their baby and provides a safe space for parents to heal through their relationships. While the parents shared their experiences, the interviews were intended to receive feedback, so questions were asked about what could be improved and what recommendations could be offered to Children North East. Guided by the voice of the parents, this evaluation provides recommendations to support the future of the NEWPIP approach. Conclusions: The NEWPIP approach appears to successfully provide early and flexible support for new parents, increasing a parent’s confidence in their ability to not only cope but thrive as a new parent.

Keywords: maternal health, mental health, parent infant relationship, therapy

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Authors: Yuqiao Zhou

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The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (SWH) emphasizes the effect produced by language on people’s minds. According to linguistic relativity, language has evolved over the course of human life on earth, and, in turn, the acquisition of language shapes learners’ thoughts. Despite much attention drawn by SWH, few scholars have attempted to analyse people’s thoughts via their literary works. And yet, the linguistic choices that create a narrative can enable us to examine its writer’s thoughts. Still, less work has been done on the impact of language on the minds of bilingual people. Internationalization has resulted in an increasing number of bilingual and multilingual individuals. In China, where more than one hundred languages are used for communication, most people are bilingual in Mandarin Chinese (the official language of China) and their own dialect. Taking as its corpus the ethnic minority myth of Ge Sa-er Wang by Alai and its English translation by Goldblatt and Lin, this paper aims to analyse the effects of culture on bilingual people’s minds. It will first analyse Alai’s thoughts on using the original version of Ge Sa-er Wang; next, it will examine the thoughts of the two translators by looking at translation choices made in the English version; finally, it will compare the cultural influences evident in the thoughts of Alai, and Goldblatt and Lin. Whereas Alai can speak two Sino-Tibetan languages – Mandarin Chinese and Tibetan – Goldblatt and Lin can speak two languages from different families – Mandarin Chinese (a Sino-Tibetan language) and English (an Indo-European language). The results reveal two systems of thought existing in the translators’ minds; Alai’s text, on the other hand, does not reveal a significant influence from North China, where Mandarin Chinese originated. The findings reveal the inconsistency of a second language’s influence on people’s minds. Notably, they suggest that the more different the two languages are, the greater the influence produced by the second language culture on people’s thoughts. It is hoped that this research will expand the scope of SWH as well as shed light on future translation studies on ethnic minority literature.

Keywords: Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, cultural translation, cultural-specific items, Ge Sa-er Wang, ethnic minority literature, Tibet

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Authors: Shreya Poddar

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Legal drafting and revising are recognized as highly demanding tasks for legal professionals. This paper introduces an approach to automate and refine these processes through the use of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI). The method employs Large Language Models (LLMs), with a specific focus on 'Chain of Thoughts' (CoT) and knowledge injection via prompt engineering. This approach differs from conventional methods that depend on comprehensive training or fine-tuning of models with extensive legal knowledge bases, which are often expensive and time-consuming. The proposed method incorporates knowledge injection directly into prompts, thereby enabling the AI to generate more accurate and contextually appropriate legal texts. This approach substantially decreases the necessity for thorough model training while preserving high accuracy and relevance in drafting. Additionally, the concept of guardrails is introduced. These are predefined parameters or rules established within the AI system to ensure that the generated content adheres to legal standards and ethical guidelines. The practical implications of this method for legal work are considerable. It has the potential to markedly lessen the time lawyers allocate to document drafting and revision, freeing them to concentrate on more intricate and strategic facets of legal work. Furthermore, this method makes high-quality legal drafting more accessible, possibly reducing costs and expanding the availability of legal services. This paper will elucidate the methodology, providing specific examples and case studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of 'Chain of Thoughts' and knowledge injection in legal drafting. The potential challenges and limitations of this approach will also be discussed, along with future prospects and enhancements that could further advance legal work. The impact of this research on the legal industry is substantial. The adoption of AI-driven methods by legal professionals can lead to enhanced efficiency, precision, and consistency in legal drafting, thereby altering the landscape of legal work. This research adds to the expanding field of AI in law, introducing a method that could significantly alter the nature of legal drafting and practice.

Keywords: AI-driven legal drafting, legal automation, futureoflegalwork, largelanguagemodels

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Authors: Leijun Zhang

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Reading literacy has become a powerful tool for academic success and an essential goal of education. The ability to read is not only fundamental for pupils’ academic success but also a prerequisite for successful participation in today’s vastly expanding multi-literate textual environment. It is also important to recognize that, in many educational settings, students are expected to learn a foreign/second language for successful participation in the increasingly globalized world. Therefore, it is crucial to help learners become skilled foreign-language readers. Research indicates that students’ reading comprehension can be significantly improved through explicit instruction of multiple reading strategies. Despite the wealth of research on how to enhance learners’ reading comprehension achievement by identifying an enormous range of reading strategies and techniques for assisting students in comprehending specific texts, relatively scattered studies have centered on whether these reading comprehension strategies and techniques are used in classrooms, especially in Chinese academic settings. Given the central role of ‘the teacher’ in reading instruction, the study investigates the degree of importance that EFL teachers attach to reading comprehension strategies and their classroom employment of those strategies in secondary schools in China. It also explores the efficiency of reading strategy instruction on pupils’ reading comprehension performance. As a mix-method study, the analysis drew on data from a quantitative survey and interviews with seven teachers. The study revealed that the EFL teachers had positive attitudes toward the use of cognitive strategies despite their insufficient knowledge about and limited attention to the metacognitive strategies and supporting strategies. Regarding the selection of reading strategies for instruction, the mandated curriculum and high-stakes examinations, text features and demands, teaching preparation programs and their own EFL reading experiences were the major criteria in their responses, while few teachers took into account the learner needs in their choice of reading strategies. Although many teachers agreed upon the efficiency of reading strategy instruction in developing students’ reading comprehension competence, three challenges were identified in their implementation of the strategy instruction. The study provides some insights into reading strategy instruction in EFL contexts and proposes implications for curriculum innovation, teacher professional development, and reading instruction research.

Keywords: reading comprehension strategies, EFL reading instruction, language teacher cognition, teacher education

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Authors: Deeksha Karunakar

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The gaming industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. Video games are interactive works of authorship that require the execution of a computer programme on specialized hardware but which also incorporate a wide variety of other artistic mediums, such as music, scripts, stories, video, paintings, and characters, into which the player takes an active role. Therefore, video games are not made as singular, simple works but rather as a collection of elements that, if they reach a certain level of originality and creativity, can each be copyrighted on their own. A video game is made up of a wide variety of parts, all of which combine to form the overall sensation that we, the players, have while playing. The entirety of the components is implemented in the form of software code, which is then translated into the game's user interface. Even while copyright protection is already in place for the coding of software, the work that is produced because of that coding can also be protected by copyright. This includes the game's storyline or narrative, its characters, and even elements of the code on their own. In each sector, there is a potential legal framework required, and the gaming industry also requires legal frameworks. This represents the importance of intellectual property laws in each sector. This paper will explore the beginnings of video games, the various aspects of game copyrights, and the approach of the courts, including examples of a few different instances. Although the creative arts have always been known to draw inspiration from and build upon the works of others, it has not always been simple to evaluate whether a game has been cloned. The video game business is experiencing growth as it has never seen before today. The majority of today's video games are both pieces of software and works of audio-visual art. Even though the existing legal framework does not have a clause specifically addressing video games, it is clear that there is a great many alternative means by which this protection can be granted. This paper will represent the importance of copyright and trademark laws in the gaming industry and its regulations with the help of relevant case laws via utilizing doctrinal methodology to support its findings. The aim of the paper is to make aware of the applicability of intellectual property laws in the gaming industry and how the justice system is evolving to adapt to such new industries. Furthermore, it will provide in-depth knowledge of their relationship with each other.

Keywords: copyright, DMCA, gaming industry, trademark, WIPO

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Authors: Kristin Prentice, Carri Hand

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As the Canadian population ages and chronic health conditions continue to escalate, older adults will require various types of housing, such as long term care or retirement homes. Moving to a new home may require a change in leisure activities and social networks, which could be challenging to maintain identity and create a sense of home. Leisure has been known to help older adults maintain or increase their quality of life and life satisfaction and may help older adults in moving to new homes. Sense of home and identity within older adults' transitions to new homes are concepts that may also relate to leisure engagement. Literature is scant regarding the role of leisure in older adults moving to new homes and how the sense of home and identity inter-relate. This study aims to explore how leisure may play a role in older adults' transitioning to new homes, including how sense of home and identity inter-relate. An ethnographic approach will be used to understand the culture of older adults transitioning to new homes. This study will involve older adults who have recently relocated to a mid-sized city in Ontario, Canada. The study will focus on the older adult’s interactions with and connections to their home environment through leisure. Data collection will take place via video-conferencing and will include a narrative interview and two other interviews to discuss an activity diary of leisure engagement pre and post move and mental maps to capture spaces where participants engaged in leisure. Participants will be encouraged to share photographs of leisure engagement taken inside and outside their home to help understand the social spaces the participants refer to in their activity diaries and mental maps. Older adults attempt to adjust to their new homes by maintaining their identity, developing a sense of home through creating attachment to place, and maintaining social networks, all of which have been linked to engaging in leisure. This research will provide insight into the role of leisure in this transition process and the extent that the home and community can contribute to aiding their transition to the new home. This research will contribute to existing literature on the inter-relationships of leisure, sense of home, and identity and how they relate to older adults moving to new homes. This research also has potential for influencing policy and practice for meeting the housing needs of older adults.

Keywords: leisure, older adults, transition, identity

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Authors: V. Argyropoulos, M. Nikolaraizi, K. Tanou

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There is little available information concerning the cognitive and communicative abilities of the people who are deaf-blind. This mainly stems from the general inadequacy of existing assessment instruments employed with deafblind individuals. Although considerable variability exists with regard to cognitive capacities of the deaf-blind, careful examination of the literature reveals that the majority of these persons suffer from significant deficits in cognitive and adaptive functioning. The few reports available primarily are case studies, narrative program descriptions, or position papers by workers in the field. Without the objective verification afforded by controlled research, specialists in psychology, education, and other rehabilitation services must rely on personal speculations or biases to guide their decisions in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of services to deaf-blind children and adults. This paper highlights the framework and discusses the results of an action research network. The aim of this study was twofold: a) to describe and analyse the different ways in which a student with deafblindness approached a number of developmental issues such as novel tasks, exploration and manipulation of objects, reactions to social stimuli, motor coordination, and quality of play and b) to map the appropriate functional approach for the specific student that could be used to develop strategies for classroom participation and socialization. The persons involved in this collaborative action research scheme were general teachers, a school counsellor, academic staff and student teachers. Rating scales and checklists were used to gather information in natural activities and settings, and additional data were also obtained through interviews with the educators of the student. The findings of this case study indicated that there is a great need to focus on the development of effective intervention strategies. The results showed that the identification of positive reinforcers for this population might represent an important and challenging aspect of behaviour programmes. Finally, the findings suggest that additional empirical work is needed to increase attention to methodological and social validity issues.

Keywords: action research, cognitive and communicative abilities, deafblindness, effective strategies

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Authors: Wogu Ikedinachi Ayodele Power, Agbude Godwyns, Eniayekon Eugenia, Nchekwube Excellence-Oluye, Abasilim Ugochukwu David

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Contemporary ethicists and writers on leadership, in their quest to address the problem of leadership crisis in Nigeria, have identified the absence of practical prudence -which manifests in variables such as corruption, ethnicity and greed- as one of the major factors which breeds leadership crises. These variables are further fuelled by the lack of a consistent theory of leadership among scholars that could guide the pertinent actions of political leaders, hence the rising cases of leadership crises in the country. The theoretical framework that guides this study emanates from Aristotle’s notion of prudence as contained in the Nicomachean Ethics, which states that prudence is a central moral resource for political leaders. The method of conceptual analysis shall be used to clarify the concepts of virtue, prudence and leadership. The traditional method of critical analysis and the reconstructive method of ideas in philosophy are used to conceptually and contextually analyze all relevant texts and archival materials in the subject areas of this study. The study identifies a high degree of ideological bias and logical inconsistencies inherent in the theories of leadership proposed by the realist and the moralist schools of thought. The conflicting ideologies regarding what political leadership should be among scholars of leadership is identified as one of the major factors militating against ascertaining a practicable theory of leadership, which has the capacity to guide the pertinent actions of political leaders all over the world. This paper therefore identifies the absence of practical prudence, ‘wisdom’, as the major factor associated with leadership crises in Nigeria. We therefore argue that only prudent leaders will have the capacity to identify salient aspects of political situations which leaders have obligations to consider before making political decisions. Seven frameworks were prescribed from Aristotle’s Notion of prudence to strengthen this position, they include: Disciplined reason and openness to experience; Foresight and attention to the long term, among others. We submit that leadership devoid of crisis can be attained through the application of the virtue of prudence. Where this theory is adopted, it should eliminate further leadership crises in Nigeria.

Keywords: Aristotle, leadership crisis, political leadership, prudence

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Authors: Bernice Boafoaa Gyapong, Anne Jones, Sam Bassett, Janet Anderson

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Background: Maternal mortality and morbidity are global concerns, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Most maternal mortalities occur at the time of birth. Quality intrapartum care is essential for improving maternal and newborn health outcomes. This scoping review aimed to assess and describe the quality of care during childbirth in SSA to provide an overview of the regional trend of the quality of intrapartum care, the challenges to quality care provision, and identify research gaps. Methods: A scoping review based on Arksey and O’Malley’s scoping review framework was conducted. Medline, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and maternal-infant databases were searched to identify the relevant studies for this review. A narrative summary was presented using themes based on the Donabedian structure, process, and outcome quality of care model. Results: A total of five hundred and forty-seven (547) publications were identified. Fifty-six (56) studies conducted in twenty (20) countries were included in the review. Thirty-four (34) were quantitative, sixteen (16) were qualitative, and six (6) were mixed methods. Most of the studies were related to the process component of quality of care. The provision of emergency obstetric care services, infrastructure, and availability of essential staff and equipment for perinatal care was inadequate in many facilities, particularly rural and peripheral health facilities. Many women experienced disrespectful care during childbirth. Routine care during labour and delivery was observed to be sub-optimal, yet some women reported high satisfaction with care. The use of health facilities for delivery was lower in health centres compared to hospitals. Conclusion: There are variations in the quality of maternity care provided in SSA. Intrapartum care quality is generally deficient in SSA, particularly in peripheral health facilities, health centres, and community clinics. Many of the quality-of-care issues identified are related to the structure component. Stakeholders must develop interventions that comprehensively address these interrelated issues to improve maternal healthcare quality, especially in primary healthcare facilities.

Keywords: quality of care, maternity health, Sub-Saharan Africa, intrapartum

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Authors: Tasneem Chopra

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The 1968 Summer Olympics will forever be remembered for the silent protest against racism exhibited by American athletes Tommy Smith and John Carlos. Also standing on the medal podium was Australian Peter Norman, whose silent solidarity as a white sportsman completes the powerful, evocative image of that night in Mexico City. In the 50 years since Norman’s stance of solidarity with his American counterparts, Australian sports has traveled a wide arc of racism narratives, with athletes still experiencing episodes of bigotry, both on the pitch and elsewhere. Aboriginal athletes, like tennis champion Yvonne Goolagong, have endured the plaudits of appreciation for their achievements on both the national and international stage, while simultaneously being subject to both prejudice and even questions as to their right to represent their country as full, acceptable citizens. Racism in Australia is directed toward Australian athletes of colour as well as foreign sportspeople who visit the country. The complex, mutating nature of racism in Australia is also informed by the culture of silence, where fellow athletes stand mute in light of their colleagues’ experience with bigotry. This paper analyses the phenomenon of sports racism in Australia over the past fifty years, culminating in the most recent showdown between Heretier Lumumba, former Collingwood football player, and his public allegations of racism experienced by team mates over his 10 year career. It shall examine the treatment and mistreatment of athletes because of their race and will further assess how such public perceptions both shape Australian culture or are themselves a manifestation of preexisting pathologies of bigotry. Further, it will examine the efficacy of anti-racism initiatives in responding to this hate. This paper will analyse the growing influence of corporate and media entities in crafting the economics of Australian sports and assess the role of such factors in creating the narrative of racism in the nation, both as a sociological reality as well as a marker of national identity. Finally, this paper will examine the political, social and economic forces that contribute to the culture of silence in Australian society in defying racism.

Keywords: aboriginal, Australia, corporations, silence

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Authors: Kayode A. Olaniyi, Tola. M. Osifeko, Adeola A. Ogunleye

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Text line segmentation is an important step in document image processing. It represents a labeling process that assigns the same label using distance metric probability to spatially aligned units. Text line detection techniques have successfully been implemented mainly in printed documents. However, processing of the handwritten texts especially unconstrained documents has remained a key problem. This is because the unconstrained hand-written text lines are often not uniformly skewed. The spaces between text lines may not be obvious, complicated by the nature of handwriting and, overlapping ascenders and/or descenders of some characters. Hence, text lines detection and segmentation represents a leading challenge in handwritten document image processing. Text line detection methods that rely on the traditional global projection profile of the text document cannot efficiently confront with the problem of variable skew angles between different text lines. Hence, the formulation of a horizontal line as a separator is often not efficient. This paper presents a technique to segment a handwritten document into distinct lines of text. The proposed algorithm starts, by partitioning the initial text image into columns, across its width into chunks of about 5% each. At each vertical strip of 5%, the histogram of horizontal runs is projected. We have worked with the assumption that text appearing in a single strip is almost parallel to each other. The algorithm developed provides a sliding window through the first vertical strip on the left side of the page. It runs through to identify the new minimum corresponding to a valley in the projection profile. Each valley would represent the starting point of the orientation line and the ending point is the minimum point on the projection profile of the next vertical strip. The derived text-lines traverse around any obstructing handwritten vertical strips of connected component by associating it to either the line above or below. A decision of associating such connected component is made by the probability obtained from a distance metric decision. The technique outperforms the global projection profile for text line segmentation and it is robust to handle skewed documents and those with lines running into each other.

Keywords: connected-component, projection-profile, segmentation, text-line

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Authors: Concetta Papapicco

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The spreading of new Coronavirus (COVID-19) in addition to becoming a global phenomenon, following the declaration of a pandemic state, has generated excessive access to information, sometimes not thoroughly screened, which makes it difficult to navigate a given topic because of the difficulty of finding reliable sources. As a result, there is a high level of contagion, understood as the spread of the virus, but also as the spread of information in a viral and harmful way, which prompted the World Health Organization to coin the term Infodemia to give 'a name' the phenomenon of excessive information. With neologism 'Infodemia', the World Health Organization (OMS) wanted, in these days when fear of the coronavirus is raging, point out that perhaps the greatest danger of global society in the age of social media. This phenomenon is the distortion of reality in the rumble of echoes and comments of the global community on real or often invented facts. The general purpose of the exploratory study is to investigate how the coronavirus situation is described from journalistic communication. Starting from La Repubblica online, as a reference journalistic magazine, as a specific objective, the research aims to understand the way in which journalistic communication describes the phenomenon of the COVID-19 virus spread, the spread of contagion and restrictive measures of social distancing in the Italian context. The study starts from the hypothesis that if the circulation of information helps to create a social representation of the phenomenon, the excessive accessibility to sources of information (Infodemia) can be modulated by the 'how' the phenomenon is described by the journalists. The methodology proposed, in fact, in the exploratory study is a quanti-qualitative (mixed) method. A Content Analysis with the SketchEngine software is carried out first. In support of the Content Analysis, a Diatextual Analysis was carried out. The Diatextual Analysis is a qualitative analysis useful to detect in the analyzed texts, that is the online articles of La Repubblica on the topic of coronavirus, Subjectivity, Argomentativity, and Mode. The research focuses mainly on 'Mode' or 'How' are the events related to coronavirus in the online articles of La Repubblica about COVID-19 phenomenon. The results show the presence of the contrast vision about COVID-19 situation in Italy.

Keywords: coronavirus, Italian infodemia, La Republica online, mix method

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Authors: Tanja Ecken, Laura Fricke, Anika Wehling, Maren M. Michaelsen, Tobias Esch

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Studies and applied experiences evidence severe and traumatic accidents not only require physical rehabilitation and recovery but also necessitate a psychological adaption and reorganization to the changed living conditions. Neurobiological models underpinning the experience of happiness and satisfaction postulate life shocks to potentially enhance the experience of happiness and life satisfaction, i.e., posttraumatic growth (PTG). This present study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying psychological processes of PTG and to outline its consequences on subjective happiness and life satisfaction. To explore the aforementioned, Esch’s ABC Model was used as guidance for the development of a questionnaire assessing changes in happiness and life satisfaction and for a schematic model postulating the development of PTG in the context of paraplegia. Two-stage qualitative interview procedures explored participants’ experiences of paraplegia. Specifically, narrative, semi-structured interviews (N=28) focused on the time before and after the accident, the availability of supportive resources, and potential changes in the perception of happiness and life satisfaction. Qualitative analysis (Grounded Theory) indicated an initial phase of reorganization was followed by a gradual psychological adaption to novel, albeit reduced, opportunities in life. Participants reportedly experienced a ‘compelled’ slowing down and elements of mindfulness, subsequently instilling a sense of gratitude and joy in relation to life’s presumed trivialities. Despite physical limitations and difficulties, participants reported an enhanced ability to relate to oneself and others and a reduction of perceived everyday nuisances. Concluding, PTG can be experienced in response to severe, traumatic life events and has the potential to enrich the lives of affected persons in numerous, unexpected and yet challenging ways. PTG appears to be a spectrum comprised of an interplay of internal and external resources underpinned by neurobiological processes. Participants experienced PTG irrelevant of age, gender, marital status, income or level of education.

Keywords: post traumatic growth, happiness, life satisfaction, traumatic life events, paraplegia, ABC model, trauma

Procedia PDF Downloads 42

Authors: Sreekanth Reddy Ballarapu

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The perception of the whole process of teaching and learning is undergoing a drastic and radical change. More and more student-centered, pragmatic, and flexible approaches are gradually replacing teacher-centered lecturing and structural-syllabus instruction. The issue of teaching English as a Foreign language is no exception in this regard. The traditional Present-Practice-Produce (P-P-P) method of teaching English is overtaken by Task-Based Teaching which is a subsidiary branch of Communicative Language Teaching. At this juncture this article strongly tries to convey that - Task-based learning, has an advantage over other traditional methods of teaching. All teachers of English must try to customize their texts into productive tasks, apply them, and evaluate the students as well as themselves. Task Based Learning is a double edged tool which can enhance the performance of both the teacher and the taught. The sample for this case study is a class of 35 students from Semester III - Network branch at TVTC College of Technology, Adhum - Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The students are high school passed out and aged between 19-21years.For the present study the prescribed textbook Technical English 1 by David Bonamy was used and a number of language tasks were chalked out during the pre- task stage and the learners were made to participate voluntarily and actively. The Action Research methodology was adopted within the dual framework of Communicative Language Teaching and Task-Based Learning. The different tools such as questionnaires, feedback and interviews were used to collect data. This study provides information about various techniques of Communicative Language Teaching and Task Based Learning and focuses primarily on the advantages of using a Task Based Learning approach. This article presents in detail the objectives of the study, the planning and implementation of the action research, the challenges encountered during the execution of the plan, and the pedagogical outcome of this project. These research findings serve two purposes: first, it evaluates the effectiveness of Task Based Learning and, second, it empowers the teacher's professionalism in designing and implementing the tasks. In the end, the possibility of scope for further research is presented in brief.

Keywords: action research, communicative language teaching, task based learning, perception

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Authors: Thalita Carvalho Martins de Castro, Núbia Bernardi

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Currently, studies evidence that our cities are portraits of social relations. In the midst of so many segregations, cultural buildings emerge as a place to assemble collective activities and expressions. Through theater, exhibitions, educational workshops, libraries, the architecture approaches human relations and seeks to propose meeting places. The purpose of this research is to deepen the discussions about the contributions of cultural buildings in the use of the spaces of the contemporary city, based on the data and measure collected in the master's research in progress. The graphic analysis of the insertion of contemporary cultural buildings seeks to highlight the social use of space. The urban insertions of contemporary cultural buildings in the city of São Paulo (Brazil) will be analyzed to understand the relations between the architectural form and its audience. The collected data describe a dynamic of flows and the permanence in the use of these spaces, indicating the contribution of the cultural buildings, associated with artistic production, in the dynamics of urban spaces and the social modifications of their milieu. Among the case studies, the research in development is based on the registration and graphic analysis of the Praça das Artes (2012) building located in the historical central region of the city, which after a long period of great degradation undergoes a current redevelopment. The choice of this building was based on four parameters, both on the architectural scale and on the urban scale: urban insertion, local impact, cultural production and a mix of uses. For the analysis will be applied two methodologies of graphic analysis, one with diagrams accompanied by texts and another with the active analysis for open space projects using complementary graphic methodologies, with maps, plants, info-graphics, perspectives, time-lapse videos and analytical tables. This research aims to reinforce the debates between the methodologies of form-use spaces and visual synthesis applied in cultural buildings, in order that new projects can structure public spaces as catalysts for social use, generating improvements in the daily life of its users and in the cities where they are inserted.

Keywords: cultural buildings, design methodologies, graphic analysis, public spaces

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Theresa Veach, Erin Crisp

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It has been shown that traditional students flourish as a function of several factors including level of academic challenge, student/faculty interactions, active/collaborative learning, enriching educational experiences, and supportive campus environment. With the increase in demand for remote or online courses, factors that result in academic flourishing in the virtual classroom have become more crucial to understand than ever before. This study seeks to give insight into those factors that impact student learning, overall student wellbeing, and flourishing among college students enrolled in an online program. 4160 unique students participated in the completion of End of Course Survey (EOC) before final grades were released. Quantitative results from the survey are used by program directors as a measure of student satisfaction with both the curriculum and the faculty. In addition, students also submitted narrative comments in an open comment field. No prompts were given for the comment field on the survey. The purpose of this analysis was to report on the qualitative data available with the goal of gaining insight into what matters to students. Survey results from July 1st, 2016 to December 1st, 2016 were compiled into spreadsheet data sets. The analysis approach used involved both key word and phrase searches and reading results to identify patterns in responses and to tally the frequency of those patterns. In total, just over 25,000 comments were included in the analysis. Preliminary results indicate that it is the professor-student relationship, frequency of feedback and overall engagement of both instructors and students that are indicators of flourishing in college programs offered in an online format. This qualitative study supports the notion that college students flourish with regard to 1) education, 2) overall student well-being and 3) program satisfaction when overall engagement of both the instructor and the student is high. Ways to increase engagement in the online college environment were also explored. These include 1) increasing student participation by providing more project-based assignments, 2) interacting with students in meaningful ways that are both high in frequency and in personal content, and 3) allowing students to apply newly acquired knowledge in ways that are meaningful to current life circumstances and future goals.

Keywords: college, engagement, flourishing, online

Procedia PDF Downloads 238

Authors: Anketa Kumar, Rajantheran Al Muniandy, Rishabh Kumar

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For centuries, Indian costumes are admired for their great aesthetics, functional and narrative qualities. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of costumes as visual narratives in Hindi Cinema as Filmmaking is simply one of the most recent manifestations of the human desire to tell stories in which costume acts as a tool to be read as an Intertext by the viewers watching the films. The problem that promoted this study arose when clothes become an interesting topic when examined within the social structures in which they are worn. It is this visual image of dress worn by the character that is investigated in this research through Hindi Cinema of the 1960s, which was a reflection of the society in the realistic form. This research intends to integrate the application of Roland Barthes Semiotic theory in analyzing main movie characters in the National Award-Winning Hindi movie Mughal e Azam (1960). The research helps in filling the gap between the singular level of interpretation and another level that offers a solution towards bridging the gap in viewers' manifold interpretation of a particular movie product. This study focuses on how visual appearance communicates for building up of perception and can relate to notions of realism, defining cultural identity and status in the society. The research methodology is subjected analytical technique that employs in this research is qualitative and descriptive in nature with the use of the Freeze frame technique. The portrayal of costumes is explained with Barthes' principles of Semiotics. The freeze-frame technique stops the motion of the film on a single frame and allows the chosen image to be read as a still photograph. The finding during this research into costume portrayal in the movie was that freezing the frame in midst of running the films attracted attention towards intricate costume details, leading to record the nuanced observations of this minutiae during the movie. Given that during the application of interpretation while watching K Asif’s Mughal e Azam focused on certain aspects of costumes of the king. On the same idea, further research can be employed to strengthen the relation between costumes and visual narration.

Keywords: character portrayal, costumes, Indian cinema, semiotics, visual significance

Procedia PDF Downloads 157

Authors: Cheeno Marlo Sayuno

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Room to Read is an international nonprofit organization aimed at empowering young readers through literature and literacy education. In particular, the organization is focused on girls’ education in schools and bettering their social status through crafting stories and making sure that these stories are accessible to them. In 2019, Room to Read visited the Philippines and partnered with Philippine children’s literature publishers Adarna House, Lampara Books, Anvil Publishing, and OMF-Hiyas with the goal of producing contextualized stories that Filipino children can read. The result is a set of 20 storybooks developed by Filipino writers and illustrators, the author of this paper included. The project led to narratives of experiences in storybook production from conceptualization to publication, towards translations and reimagining in online repository, storytelling, and audiobook formats. During the production process, we were particularly reminded of gender representations, child’s rights, and telling stories that can empower the children in vulnerable communities, who are the beneficiaries of the project. The storybooks, along with many others produced in Asia and the world, are available online through the literacycloud.org website of Room to Read. In this study, the goal is to survey the stories produced in Asia and look at how gender is represented in the storybooks. By analyzing both the texts and the illustrations of the storybooks produced across Asian countries, themes of portrayals of young boys and girls, their characteristics and narratives, and how they are empowered in the stories are identified, with the goal of mapping how Room to Read is able to address the problem of access to literacy among young girls and ensuring them that they can do anything, the way they are portrayed in the stories. The paper hopes to determine how gender is represented in Asian storybooks produced by the international nonprofit organization Room to Read. Thematic textual analysis was used as methodology, where the storybooks are analyzed qualitatively to identify arising themes of gender representation. This study will shed light on the importance of responsible portrayal of gender in storybooks and how it can impact and empower children. The results of the study can also aid writers and illustrators in developing gender-sensitive storybooks.

Keywords: room to read, asian storybooks, young girls, thematic analysis, child empowerment, literacy, education

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Authors: Rajendra Chetty

Abstract:

Decolonial aesthetics departs and delinks from colonial ideas about ‘the arts’ and the modernist/colonial work of aesthetics. Education is trapped in the western epistemic and hermeneutical vocabulary, hence it is necessary to introduce new concepts and work the entanglement between co-existing concepts. This paper will discuss the contribution of Ronnie Govender, a South African writer, to build decolonial sensibilities and delink from the grand narrative of the colonial and apartheid literary landscape in Govender’s text, At the Edge and other Cato Manor Stories. Govender uses the world of art to make a decolonial statement. Decolonial artists have to work in the entanglement of power and engage with a border epistemology. Govender’s writings depart from an embodied consciousness of the colonial wound and moves toward healing. Border thinking and doing (artistic creativity) is precisely the decolonial methodology posited by Linda T. Smith, where theory comes in the form of storytelling. Govender’s stories engage with the wounds infringed by racism and patriarchy, two pillars of eurocentric knowing, sensing, and believing that sustain a structure of knowledge. This structure is embedded in characters, institutions, languages that regulate and mange the world of the excluded. Healing is the process of delinking, or regaining pride, dignity, and humanity, not through the psychoanalytic cure, but the popular healer. The legacies of the community of Cato Manor that was pushed out of their land are built in his stories. Decoloniality then is a concept that carries the experience of liberation struggles and recognizes the strenuous conditions of marginalized people together with their strength, wisdom, and endurance. Govender’s unique performative prose reconstructs and resurrects the lives of the people of Cato Manor, their vitality and humor, pain and humiliation: a vibrant and racially integrated community destroyed by the regime’s notorious racial laws. The paper notes that Govender’s objective with his plays and stories was to open windows to both the pain and joy of life; a mission that is not didactic but to shine a torch on both mankind’s waywardness as well as its inspiring and often moving achievements against huge odds.

Keywords: Govender, decoloniality, delinking, exclusion, racism, Cato Manor

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Tanja Ecken, Laura Fricke, Anika Steger, Maren M. Michaelsen, Tobias Esch

Abstract:

Studies and applied experiences evidence severe and traumatic accidents to not only require physical rehabilitation and recovery but also to necessitate a psychological adaption and reorganization to the changed living conditions. Neurobiological models underpinning the experience of happiness and satisfaction postulate life shocks to potentially enhance the experience of happiness and life satisfaction, i.e., posttraumatic growth (PTG). This present study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the underlying psychological processes of PTG and to outline its consequences on subjective happiness and life satisfaction. To explore the aforementioned, Esch’s (2022) ABC Model was used as guidance for the development of a questionnaire assessing changes in happiness and life satisfaction and for a schematic model postulating the development of PTG in the context of paraplegia. Two-stage qualitative interview procedures explored participants’ experiences of paraplegia. Specifically, narrative, semi-structured interviews (N=28) focused on the time before and after the accident, the availability of supportive resources, and potential changes in the perception of happiness and life satisfaction. Qualitative analysis (Grounded Theory) indicated an initial phase of reorganization was followed by a gradual psychological adaption to novel, albeit reduced, opportunities in life. Participants reportedly experienced a ‘compelled’ slowing down and elements of mindfulness, subsequently instilling a sense of gratitude and joy in relation to life’s presumed trivialities. Despite physical limitations and difficulties, participants reported an enhanced ability to relate to oneself and others and a reduction of perceived every day nuisances. Concluding, PTG can be experienced in response to severe, traumatic life events and has the potential to enrich the lives of affected persons in numerous, unexpected and yet challenging ways. PTG appears to be spectrum comprised of an interplay of internal and external resources underpinned by neurobiological processes. Participants experienced PTG irrelevant of age, gender, marital status, income or level of education.

Keywords: inhibition theory, posttraumatic growth, trauma, stress, life satisfaction, subjective happiness, traumatic life events, paraplegia

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Jemma Porrett

Abstract:

Background: We present a literature review examining the research surrounding tick paralysis resulting in facial nerve palsy. A case of an intra-aural paralysis tick bite resulting in unilateral facial nerve palsy is also discussed. Methods: A novel case of otoacariasis with associated ipsilateral facial nerve involvement is presented. Additionally, we conducted a review of the literature, and we searched the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for relevant literature published between 1915 and 2020. Utilising the following keywords; 'Ixodes', 'Facial paralysis', 'Tick bite', and 'Australia', 18 articles were deemed relevant to this study. Results: Eighteen articles included in the review comprised a total of 48 patients. Patients' ages ranged from one year to 84 years of age. Ten studies estimated the possible duration between a tick bite and facial nerve palsy, averaging 8.9 days. Forty-one patients presented with a single tick within the external auditory canal, three had a single tick located on the temple or forehead region, three had post-auricular ticks, and one patient had a remarkable 44 ticks removed from the face, scalp, neck, back, and limbs. A complete ipsilateral facial nerve palsy was present in 45 patients, notably, in 16 patients, this occurred following tick removal. House-Brackmann classification was utilised in 7 patients; four patients with grade 4, one patient with grade three, and two patients with grade 2 facial nerve palsy. Thirty-eight patients had complete recovery of facial palsy. Thirteen studies were analysed for time to recovery, with an average time of 19 days. Six patients had partial recovery at the time of follow-up. One article reported improvement in facial nerve palsy at 24 hours, but no further follow-up was reported. One patient was lost to follow up, and one article failed to mention any resolution of facial nerve palsy. One patient died from respiratory arrest following generalized paralysis. Conclusions: Tick paralysis is a severe but preventable disease. Careful examination of the face, scalp, and external auditory canal should be conducted in patients presenting with otalgia and facial nerve palsy, particularly in tropical areas, to exclude the possibility of tick infestation.

Keywords: facial nerve palsy, tick bite, intra-aural, Australia

Procedia PDF Downloads 81