Images of “the other”: “the turks” in Greek Cypriot children’s drawings

The present study investigated how Greek-Cypriot children portray themselves, a Greek-Cypriot child and a Turkish child of the same age in terms of size, details shading and differences. Participants (boys, n = 14, girls, n = 20) aged 6 and 11 from a school in Limassol were asked to draw themselves, a Greek child and a Turkish child. Participants drew themselves significantly taller than a Greek-Cypriot child. The smallest figure drawn was the Turkish child. Furthermore, the Turkish figure drawn had darker shading, mostly a male- looking person and often included items such as a weapon. The results are discussed in line with studies on the analysis of children’s drawings as a reflection of their feelings towards “others” in ethnically divided societies

Effect of sports vision exercise on visual perception and reading performance in 7- to 10-year-old developmental dyslexic children

The presented study was aimed at identifying for the first time the influence of sports vision exercises on fundamental motor skills and cognitive skills of 7- to 10-year-old developmental dyslexic Persian children. A pretest - posttest quasi-experimental study was conducted. The statistical population of this study was 7- to 10-year-old dyslexic children referring to two centres of learning disorder in the city of Isfahan. Twenty two of these children were selected using available and purposive sampling from the statistical population and were randomly assigned into two groups of experimental and control. The former (experimental group) participated in sports vision exercise courses for 12 weeks (3 one hr sessions per week) and the latter (control group) continued their routine daily activities during the exercise. Before the beginning and at the end of the exercise, Gardner’s test of visual perception test - revised and Dehkhoda’s reading skills test was administered to both groups. The results showed that the sports vision exercises increases motor skills, visual perceptual skills and reading skills in developmental dyslexic children. Based on the results of the presented study it was concluded that sports vision exercises can be used for fundamental and cognitive skills of developmental dyslexic children

Rugby as a rehabilitation program in a United Kingdom male young offenders' institution: key findings and implications from mixed methods research

There is a growing body of research on the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes in a Young Offenders’ Institution (YOI). The aim of the present study is to investigate the effectiveness of Rugby training as a rehabilitation intervention in a YOI in the UK. Young adult males (n = 46) currently serving sentences at the YOI were split into two groups, intervention (n = 25, mean age = 19.64, SD = 0.81) and no intervention (n = 21, mean age = 19.76, SD = 0.89). Participants completed the Criminal Attitudes and Associates (MCAA) instrument (Mills et al., 2002) pre and post intervals at three different time cycles across an 8 week period. Additionally, qualitative interviews (one to one and focus groups) were carried out with the intervention and no intervention groups during the same cycles of the study. The results of questionnaire analysis showed no significant difference in MCAA measures taken before and after Rugby intervention. Interestingly, the intervention group showed more pro-criminal attitudes on their responses compared to the no intervention group. Finally, analysis of the 3 cycles of data collected showed that the time of the year the questionnaire was completed has a significant impact on the responses given. In contrast, the qualitative interviews showed a very positive change of attitude towards rehabilitation from the intervention group after Rugby training. The implications of the results in relation to studies aimed at evaluation of the intervention programmes in YOI are discussed

Effects of physical activity on debilitating behaviours in 13- to 20-year-old males with severe autism spectrum disorder

The presented study investigated the extent to which engaging in a therapeutic sporting programme in males with severe Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) improves the debilitating behaviours commonly associated with ASD. Furthermore, the views of parents of the autistic participants were assessed concerning the effectiveness of the programme. Participants were eight 13-20 year old males born in the UK from a school and sports college for pupils with severe learning difficulties. The selection was using volunteer sampling from the “Monday Club” initiative, run by Saracens Sports Foundation in partnership with a local School and specialist Sports College. The Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (GARS-3) was administered to identify and measure the severity of ASD behaviours at four time periods namely: at programme entry as the baseline (T1), a second time after 8 weeks (T2), a third time after sixteen weeks (T3) and a fourth time post programme (T4). The results showed that for the more severe cases of ASD (Autism Index >101) there was no positive change in subscale performance from Time1 to Time2. For milder cases (Autism Index 71-100) there were subtle non-significant improvements on the subscale scores from Time1 to Time2. Of the 6 subscales at Time2, Emotional Responses (ER), Cognitive Style (CS) and Maladaptive Speech (MS) approached significance at the p = 0.05 level. At Time3 and Time4, there was also no statistically significant improvement in ASD behaviours compared to the baseline for either condition. Finally parents’ were “very satisfied” with their child’s participation in the physical activity programme

Supply chain integration in broiler contract farming and business performance: Knowledge based view perspective

This concept paper aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge sharing practices within and between business partners as a framework for integration, and to examine the effect of these practices on business performance. Data will be collected from broiler contract industry in Malaysia.SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) will be used for data analysis. Three knowledge related constructs (internal knowledge integration, knowledge integration with growers, and knowledge integration with integrators) will be examined towards business performance.Further, these three variables collectively will explain relationship towards business performance.The relationships will be identified to support for the effectiveness of knowledge based collaboration. Managers can use this as a tool to conceptualize how their business can develop internal integration and collaborative relationships with their trading partners

Multimedialność jako nowa estetyka we współczesnej kulturze. Na przykładzie nowego polskiego dramatu

Multimediality as a new aesthetics of contemporary culture – the example of new polish drama Today, in the times of the Internet, everyone has the right to create their own virtual reality that they will explain, promote, or actually sell as a useful and simultaneously attractive image of the modern world. In my article, devoted to era of new media in a modern Polish drama, I also promote my vision of the world. Discusing with proposals of Lev Manovich and Henry Jenkins, I make an attempt to describe new reality as a new multimedial aestetics. On a base of analysis of chosen polish dramas, written on the turning point of XX and XXI century by young Polish dramatists, I try to establish the concept of weak discourse which seems to be more adequate than concepts of hybrydic reality, which create a discomfort for modern people. This concept is also more open for critical reflection which I hinted at briefly at the end of this articl

Just valid or even accurate? Determine the measurement accuracy of the pupillographic sleepiness test by applying self and observer ratings

Objective. The purpose of the present study was to provide validation and accuracy data for the pupillographic sleepiness test (PST), on the one hand, by applying self and observer ratings and, on the other hand, by fusioned self and observer ratings as a sleepiness reference value.Methods. A total of 30 healthy women and men participated in a partial sleep deprivation study (20.00–04.00 h) and PST measurements were conducted every 2 h for a total of 113 PST measurements. Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS)-based self-reports and five video-based observer ratings of drowsiness (ORD) were measured immediately before the PST in order to provide reliable reference sleepiness values.Results. PST parameters (pupil unrest index, power of frequency) correlated significantly with the sleepiness validation criteria the KSS and ORD used in this study. Fusioned reference values obtained from one self-report and observer ratings showed a correlation of r = 0.54, a mean absolute percentage error of 1.58 KSS points, and an error of 35%.Conclusion. Our results indicate the moderate validity of the PST. Furthermore, the proposed sleepiness reference value might serve as a feasible intermediate solution to estimate sleepiness in the sense of a reference (“quasi-ground truth”) value. This might be true especially for within-subject designs with a focus on the time course of sleepiness. Moreover, the results might show the necessity to recalculate the thresholds of the current PST categories of sleepiness severity