105 research outputs found

    Fear of crime and victimization among the elderly participating in the self-defence course

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    Purpose. Self-defence training could enhance seniors´ defensive skills and fitness. There is lack of evidence about fear and concerns of seniors participating in the self-defence course. Methods. 18 elderly persons (16 female, 1 male; age 66.2, SD=5.86) participated in the self-defence course lasting 8 training units (each unit 60 minutes). Standardized tool for fear of crime and victimization analysis previously used in Euro-Justis project in the Czech Republic (2011) was used in pretest and posttest. Results. We explored the highest fear of crime by participants in their residence area after dark (mean=2,77; median=3; SD=0,80), lower fear at the night in their homes (mean=2,29; median=2; SD=0,75) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,77) at the beginning of the course. We noticed certain decrease of fear of crime after the intervention. Participant were less afraid of crime in their residence area after dark (mean=2,38; median=2; SD=0,77), they felt lower fear of crime at the night in their homes (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,48) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=1,82; median=2; SD=0,63). Conclusions. The approach to self-defence teaching for elderly should be focused not just on the motor development, but also on their emotional state, fear of crime, perception of dangerousness of diverse situations and total wellbeing. Fear of crime analysis can contribute to create tailor made structure of the self-defence course for specific groups of citizens

    The frequency of falls in children judo training

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    Purpose: Falling techniques are inseparable part of youth judo training. Falling techniques are related to avoiding injuries exercises (Nauta et al., 2013). There is not good evidence about the ratio of falling during the training in children. Methods: 26 children (age 8.88±1.88) were video recorded on ten training sessions for further indirect observation and performance analysis. Results: Research protocol consisted from recording falls and falling techniques (Reguli et al., 2015) in warming up, combat games, falling techniques, throwing techniques and free fighting (randori) part of the training session. While children were taught almost exclusively forward slapping roll, backward slapping roll and sideward direct slapping fall, in other parts of training also other types of falling, as forward fall on knees, naturally occurred. Conclusions: Judo coaches should stress also on teaching unorthodox falls adding to standard judo curriculum (Koshida et al., 2014). Various falling games to teach children safe falling in different conditions should be incorporated into judo training. Further research to gain more data from groups of different age in various combat and non-combat sports is needed

    Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Kinanthropology

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    The 11th International Conference on Kinantropology was held on the Nov 29 – Dec 1, 2017 in Brno and was organized by the Faculty of Sports Studies, Masaryk University and the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. This year was divided into several themes: sports medicine, sport and social science, sport training, healthy lifestyle and healthy ageing, sports management, analysis of human movement. Part of the conference was also a symposium Atletika and Ortoreha that gathered specialists in physiotherapy

    State of the art of audio- and video based solutions for AAL

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    Working Group 3. Audio- and Video-based AAL ApplicationsIt is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters (e.g., heart rate, respiratory rate). Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals (e.g., speech recordings). Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary 4 debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely (i) lifelogging and self-monitoring, (ii) remote monitoring of vital signs, (iii) emotional state recognition, (iv) food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, (v) activity and personal assistance, (vi) gesture recognition, (vii) fall detection and prevention, (viii) mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and (ix) cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed.publishedVersio

    Blood type examination of Cigentur community as efforts to realize community care for health

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    Counseling and early examination of blood type to the community at Cigentur village has not been done before. Blood transfusion from incompatible types can cause immunological transfusion reactions and clinical aspects such as the incompatibility of the blood type systems ABO. The community engagement method consists of direct information to the community by visiting every communities house (door to door). Besides, the engagement was also carried out quietly, namely, the residents came to the post directly located at the Wiswa Anak Yatim Piatu, At-Taqwa. After conducting a health test, people who provide personal information from the results of their blood tests. In addition to identifying blood types, this activity provides more knowledge about the health of each that is related to the utilization that has been identified by the group. The results of this activity can be in the form of initial information to determine the policies of each community in carrying out social activities such as blood transfusion. The types of rhesus tests from the communityof Cigentur must be done for information about blood type identification are complete

    Reviewing the Impact of the National Strategies Design and Technology Framework for Key Stage Three: A small-­‐scale evaluation of the Design and Technology Framework in England

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    Since the beginning of Design and Technology (D&T) in the English secondary school curriculum, the teaching of design has been identified as less effective than that of making. Research Questions: What are the experiences of pupils between the ages of 12 and 14 of design learning? Purpose of Study: In 2004 as part of the National Strategies, the D&T framework was launched, aiming to support the teaching of design skills. This is a small-­‐scale study, which begins to explore the experiences of pupils and teachers in four schools in the Northwest of England. Research Methods: The study used a mixed methods approach, gathering quantitative and qualitative data in a questionnaire with a convenience sample of school pupils. The questionnaire responses are analysed alongside qualitative interviews with D&T teachers from the schools. Findings: The findings indicate that many pupils had a clear understanding of the role of designing. However, some common assumptions of the nature of design activity centering on the act of sketching or drawing were evident. The majority of pupils were unable to accurately identify the names of many of the design activities introduced as part of the framework. Conclusions: Whilst some progress has been made in the teaching of design, through the use of design activities introduced in the D&T Framework, the support experienced by teachers was limited and were not sustained beyond the initial training. There are implications for initial teacher educators in supporting beginning teachers and balancing the tensions trainees experience whilst on placements in school. Key Words: Design, designing, pedagogy, teacher educatio

    Do informal caregivers of people with dementia mirror the cognitive deficits of their demented patients?:A pilot study

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    Recent research suggests that informal caregivers of people with dementia (ICs) experience more cognitive deficits than noncaregivers. The reason for this is not yet clear. Objective: to test the hypothesis that ICs ‘mirror' the cognitive deficits of the demented people they care for. Participants and methods: 105 adult ICs were asked to complete three neuropsychological tests: letter fluency, category fluency, and the logical memory test from the WMS-III. The ICs were grouped according to the diagnosis of their demented patients. One-sample ttests were conducted to investigate if the standardized mean scores (t-scores) of the ICs were different from normative data. A Bonferroni correction was used to correct for multiple comparisons. Results: 82 ICs cared for people with Alzheimer's dementia and 23 ICs cared for people with vascular dementia. Mean letter fluency score of the ICs of people with Alzheimer's dementia was significantly lower than the normative mean letter fluency score, p = .002. The other tests yielded no significant results. Conclusion: our data shows that ICs of Alzheimer patients have cognitive deficits on the letter fluency test. This test primarily measures executive functioning and it has been found to be sensitive to mild cognitive impairment in recent research. Our data tentatively suggests that ICs who care for Alzheimer patients also show signs of cognitive impairment but that it is too early to tell if this is cause for concern or not

    Easy Language Research

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    This volume presents new approaches in Easy Language research from three different perspectives: text perspective, user perspective and translation perspective. It explores the field of comprehensibility-enhanced varieties at different levels (Easy Language, Plain Language, Easy Language Plus). While all are possible solutions to foster communicative inclusion of people with disabilities, they have varying impacts with regard to their comprehensibility and acceptability. The papers in this volume provide insights into the current scientific activities and results of two research teams at the Universities of Hildesheim and Mainz and present innovative theoretical and empirical perspectives on Easy Language research. The approaches comprise studies on the cognitive processing of Easy Language, on Easy Language in multimodal and multicodal texts and different situational settings as well as translatological considerations on Easy Language translation and interpreting
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