Educational “visuality” in Guinea-Bissau in the light of comic book theory. A trans/postcolonial review of didactic/pedagogical ideas in the scope of lusophony (written in disagreement with the new spelling agreement)

The main purpose of the article is to present analysis of comic book Nô Pintcha which – as we state – is the exceptional example of visual representation of theory of education from period of early independence of former portuguese colonies in Africa. Nô Pintcha was published in 1978 during the summit of ministers of education and educators from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé. Authors of Nô Pintcha considered comic book as a apendix to the basic literacy campaign in Guinea Bissau. Theory of education which was used during literacy campaign had origins of emancipatory popular education of Paulo Freire. Thus the analysis presented in this paper lies parallely in looking for the Nô Pintcha in perspective of comic book theory as well in looking for traces Freire’s theory.The main purpose of the article is to present analysis of comic book Nô Pintcha which – as we state – is the exceptional example of visual representation of theory of education from period of early independence of former portuguese colonies in Africa. Nô Pintcha was published in 1978 during the summit of ministers of education and educators from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé. Authors of Nô Pintcha considered comic book as a apendix to the basic literacy campaign in Guinea Bissau. Theory of education which was used during literacy campaign had origins of emancipatory popular education of Paulo Freire. Thus the analysis presented in this paper lies parallely in looking for the Nô Pintcha in perspective of comic book theory as well in looking for traces Freire’s theory

The determinants of shopping place selection in Poland – the survey results

Goal – The aim of the empirical research using the electronic survey questionnaire was to identify the determinants of consumers’ behavior on the market on the basis of the type, place and frequency of purchasing goods that satisfy the basic needs. Research methodology – There were presented results of the survey conducted online (n=482) in Poland. The character of the sample was random and representative. Score – The research showed that 97% of respondents do shopping at least once a week, whereas 33% of surveyed individuals go shopping every day. There was observed statistically essential dependence of preferences related to the shopping frequency on the age and the character of the town and region. The selection of the shopping place was, in statistic terms, influenced by the region – voivodeship (except for coffee/tea ) and by the character of the town (except for bakery products and sweet baked goods) or the level of incomes (chiefly with regards to the purchase of cold meats and coffee/tea).Anna Gardocka-Jałowiec: [email protected] Szalonka: [email protected] Stańczyk: [email protected] Gardocka-Jałowiec - Faculty of Economics and Management, University of BialystokKatarzyna Szalonka - Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics, University of WroclawPiotr Stańczyk - Department of Economic Sciences, Wroclaw University of EconomicsAczel A.D., Sounderpandian J., 2017, Statystyka w zarządzaniu, PWN, Warszawa.Angowski M., Domańska K., 2015, Czynniki wpływające na wybór miejsca dokonywania zakupu na rynku serów żółtych na przykładzie serów długodojrzewających, „Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Szczecińskiego. Problemy Zarządzania, Finansów i Marketingu”, nr 41(2), s. 385-397.Anselmsson J., 2006, Sources of customer satisfaction with shopping malls: A comparative study of different customer segments, „The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research”, vol. 16(1), pp. 115-138, DOI: 10.1080/09593960500453641.Bell D. R., Corsten D., Knox G., 2011, From Point of Purchase to Path to Purchase: How Preshopping Factors Drive Unplanned Buying, „Journal of Marketing”, vol. 75(1), pp. 31-45, DOI: 10.1509/jmkg.75.1.31.Carpenter J.M., Moore M., 2006, Consumer Demographics, Store Attributes and Retail Format Choice in the US Grocery Market, „International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management”, vol. 34(6), pp. 434-452, DOI: 10.1108/09590550610667038.Caspi C.E., Lenk K., Pelletier J.E., Barnes T.L., Harnack L., Erickson D.J., Laska M.N., 2017, Association between store food environment and customer purchases in small grocery stores, gas-marts, pharmacies and dollar stores, „International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity”, vol. 14(71), DOI: 10.1186/s12966-017-0531-x.Chmielak A., 2015, Popytowe uwarunkowania konkurencyjności małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw, „Optimum. Studia ekonomiczne”, nr 78(6), s. 72-84, DOI: 10.15290/ose.2015.06.78.06.Gensler S., Verhoef P.C., Böhm M., 2012, Understanding consumers’ multichannel choices across the different stages of the buying process, „Marketing Letters”, 23(4), pp. 987–1003, DOI: 10.1007/s11002-012-9199-9.Hill J.C., 1988, Differences in the consumer decision process for professional vs. Generic services, „Journal of Services Marketing”, vol. 2(1), pp. 17-23, DOI: 10.1108/eb024712.Jaciow M., Wolny R., Stolecka-Makowska A., 2013, E-konsument w Europie. Komapratywna analzia zachowań. HELION, Gliwice.Jacobs S., Van Der Merwe D., Lombard E., Kruger N., 2010, Exploring consumers’ preferences with regard to department and specialist food stores, „International Journal of Consumer Studies”, vol. 34(2), pp. 169-178, DOI: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2009.00844.xKaczmarczyk S., 2003, Badania marketingowe. Metody i techniki, PWE, Warszawa.Kamran-Disfani O., Mantrala M.K., Izquierdo-Yusta A., Pilar Martínez-Ruizd M., 2017, The impact of retail store format on the satisfaction-loyalty link: An empirical investigation, „Journal of Business Research”, vol. 77, pp. 14-22, DOI: org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.04.004.Kim J., Lee H-H., 2008, Consumer product search and purchase behaviour using various retail channels: the role of perceived retail usefulness, „International Journal of Consumer Studies”, vol. 32(6), pp. 619-627, DOI: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2008.00689.x.Kosicka-Górecka M., Tul-Krzyszczuk A., Gębski J., 2011, Handel detaliczny żywności w Polsce, SGGW, Warszawa.Mitchell V-W., 1992, Understanding Consumers’ Behaviour: Can Perceived Risk Theory Help?, „Management Decision”, vol. 30(3), pp. 26-31, DOI: 10.1108/00251749210013050, http://pentor-arch.tnsglobal.pl/60303.xml?doc_id=11280 [date of entry: 03.04.2013].Morganosky M.A., Cude B.J., 2000, Large format retailing in the US: a consumer experience perspective, „Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services”, vol. 7(4), pp. 215-222, DOI: 10.1016/S0969-6989(00)00016-3.Nilsson E., Gärling T., Marell A., 2017, Effects of time pressure, shopping type, and store attributes on consumers’ satisfaction with grocery shopping, „The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research”, vol. 27(4), pp. 334-351, DOI: 10.1080/09593969.2017.1309674.Rajagopal, 2011, Determinants of Shopping Behavior of Urban Consumers, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, vol. 23(2), pp. 83-104, DOI: 10.1080/08961530.2011.543051.Ruff R.R., Akhund A., Adjoian T., 2016, Small Convenience Stores and the Local Food Environment: An Analysis of Resident Shopping Behavior Using Multilevel Modeling, „American Journal of Health Promotion”, vol. 30(3), pp. 172-180, DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.140326-QUAN-121.Sunelle J., xan Der Merwe D., Lombard E., Kruger N., 2010, Exploring consumers’ preferences with regard to department and specialist food stores, „International Journal of Consumer Studies”, vol. 34(2), pp. 169-178, DOI: 10.1111/j.1470-6431.2009.00844.x.Szreder M., 2010, Metody i techniki sondażowych badań opinii, PWE, Warszawa.Szwacka-Salmonowicz J.E., 2003, Zmiany zachowań nabywców jako determinanta kształtowania strategii segmentacyjnych przedsiębiorstw przemysłu spożywczego w Polsce, SDDW, Warszawa.Urban S., Michałowska M., 2013, Determinanty wyboru konsumentów dotyczące miejsca zakupu. Raport z badań, „Nauki o Zarządzaniu Management Sciences”, t. 3(16), s. 133-153.Urban S., Michałowska M., 2013a, Czynniki wpływające na zachowania konsumentów w zakresie wyboru targowisk jako miejsca zakupu produktów konsumpcyjnych na przykładzie województwa lubuskiego, „Roczniki Ekonomiki Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Obszarów Wiejskich”, vol. 100(2), s. 108-118.Wel Ch., Hussin S.R., Omar N.A., Nor S.M., 2012, Important determinant of consumers’ retail selection decision in Malaysia, „World Review of Business Research”, vol. 2(2), pp. 164-175.Zachowania zakupowe Polaków 2010, 2010, Pentor Research International, http://pen-tor-arch.tnsglobal.pl/60303.xml?doc_id=11280 [date of entry: 03.04.2016].4(94)27428

Ocena wybranych wskaźników stanu zdrowia populacji dziecięcej powiatu kutnowskiego pod kątem ryzyka rozwoju chorób układu sercowo-naczyniowego

Introduction. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the adult population. The prevention of cardiovascular diseases depends to a great extent on eliminating risk factors already present in early childhood, thus avoiding secondary cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to evaluate selected indicators of health status as risk factors for the development of CVD in a paediatric population from Kutno district as part of the project: ‘You live for yourself and others — take care of your health’. Material and methods. The study included 101 children aged from one to 11 years. All children underwent a physical examination. Based on a questionnaire conducted among the parents of the children, information was obtained regarding perinatal history, physical activity, time spent in front of a television, computer or tablet, eating habits, exposure to passive smoking and any family history of CVD. Laboratory tests were also performed, including a lipid profile. A 12-lead electrocardiogram and a screening echocardiographic examination were carried out. Results. On physical examination, 9.9% of the children were observed to be overweight and 12.87% to be obese. In 3.96% of this group of children, arterial hypertension was observed. In laboratory tests, significant abnormalities were observed in the lipid profiles. Of the children with an abnormal lipid profile, 11.5% were also found to be overweight or obese or with hypertension. The questionnaire revealed that the average daily time the children spent in physical activity was 4.15 hours. More than half of the children ate fast food occasionally or regularly. Exposure to passive smoking was revealed in 15.84% of the children, and a family history of CVD was identified in 17.82% of the children. Conclusions. The health of Kutno district children is similar to the health of children from other developed countries. Despite better physical activity and normal glucose values, other risk factors did not differ significantly from other paediatric populations.Wstęp. Choroby układu sercowo-naczyniowego (CVD) są główną przyczyną chorobowości i śmiertelności w populacjiosób dorosłych. Ich profilaktyka odgrywa ogromną rolę w wyeliminowaniu niekorzystnego wpływu czynników ryzyka jużw okresie wczesnego dzieciństwa, co pozwala uniknąć wystąpienia wtórnych zdarzeń sercowo-naczyniowych. Celempracy jest ocena wybranych wskaźników stanu zdrowia populacji dziecięcej powiatu kutnowskiego pod kątem ryzykarozwoju CVD w ramach projektu „Żyjesz dla siebie i innych — zadbaj o zdrowie”. Materiał i metody. Badaniem objęto grupę 101 dzieci w wieku 1–11 lat. U wszystkich przeprowadzono badanie przedmiotowe.Ponadto przeprowadzono badanie ankietowe dotyczące: wywiadu okołoporodowego, aktywności fizycznej,czasu spędzanego przed telewizorem, nawyków żywieniowych, narażenia na bierne palenie tytoniu oraz występowaniaCVD w rodzinie. Wykonywano także badania laboratoryjne, w tym lipidogram oraz zapis spoczynkowego 12-odprowadzeniowegoelektrokardiogramu (EKG) i przesiewowe badanie echokardiograficzne. Wyniki. W badaniu przedmiotowym u 9,9% dzieci stwierdzano nadwagę, a u 12,87% dzieci — otyłość. W tej grupie pacjentówu 3,96% dzieci stwierdzano nieprawidłowe wartości ciśnienia tętniczego. W wykonanych badaniach laboratoryjnychistotne odchylenia obserwowano w zakresie lipidogramu. W grupie dzieci z nieprawidłowościami lipidogramu 11,5%towarzyszyły nadwaga, otyłość i nadciśnienie tętnicze. Na podstawie przeprowadzonego badania ankietowego ustalono,że średni czas spędzany przez dziecko na aktywności fizycznej to 4,15 godziny. Więcej niż połowa dzieci spożywałaokazyjnie lub często pokarmy typu fast-food. Na bierne palenie tytoniu było narażonych 15,84% dzieci. Wywiad rodzinnyw kierunku CVD był pozytywny u 17,82% dzieci. W standardowym zapisie EKG oraz w badaniu echokardiograficznymu nie stwierdzano istotnych odchyleń od normy. Wnioski. Stan zdrowia dzieci powiatu kutnowskiego jest zbliżony do stanu zdrowia dzieci z innych krajów rozwiniętych.Mimo lepszych wyników w zakresie aktywności fizycznej oraz prawidłowych wartości glikemii, inne czynniki ryzyka nieodbiegały istotnie od wyników badań dotyczących innych populacji dziecięcych

Determinants of medicines consumption in Poland

The aim of the paper is to present the most important factors of medicines consumption in Poland. The paper is based on primary research conducted on a sample of 428 respondents in March and April 2020 in Poland using an online questionnaire survey. An algorithm of classification trees was applied to identify classes of respondents who consumed prescription medicines and non-prescription medicines (over-the-counter - OTC). In addition, a logistic regression was proposed to assess relationship between medicines consumption and health status, pro-health behaviors, selected preferences in dietary choices, and demographic characteristics. In the paper lifestyle-related factors that determine the level of medicines consumption were identified. The authors argue that women aged 55 and over significantly increase consumption of both prescription and OTC medicines to maintain health and active lifestyle. What’s more they perform regularly preventive laboratory tests and read carefully information on the food labels before buying food products. In this cross-sectional survey we argue that women take more medications, are more critical of their health and take more care about active ageing. Even if they don't indicate health problems, 50% of them still consume medicines. Among men, 68% do not indicate health complaints and in this group more than 30% consume medicines. It seems that men in less extent combine medicines consumption with active ageing. The survey identifies classes of respondents who consume prescription medicines. These are patients who have health problems and use preventive health care, performing regular medical examinations. The more often medical examinations are performed, the more medicines are consumed. A group of people who often consume non-prescription medicines carefully read information on food labels before purchase, and perform systematically preventive laboratory tests. In general, consumption of both prescription medicines and OTC medicines in Poland increases with age of respondents. Health problems determine consumption of prescription medicines while gender is the most significant factor of non-prescription medicines consumption

Google Research Football: A Novel Reinforcement Learning Environment

Recent progress in the field of reinforcement learning has been accelerated by virtual learning environments such as video games, where novel algorithms and ideas can be quickly tested in a safe and reproducible manner. We introduce the Google Research Football Environment, a new reinforcement learning environment where agents are trained to play football in an advanced, physics-based 3D simulator. The resulting environment is challenging, easy to use and customize, and it is available under a permissive open-source license. In addition, it provides support for multiplayer and multi-agent experiments. We propose three full-game scenarios of varying difficulty with the Football Benchmarks and report baseline results for three commonly used reinforcement algorithms (IMPALA, PPO, and Ape-X DQN). We also provide a diverse set of simpler scenarios with the Football Academy and showcase several promising research directions

What Matters In On-Policy Reinforcement Learning? A Large-Scale Empirical Study

In recent years, on-policy reinforcement learning (RL) has been successfully applied to many different continuous control tasks. While RL algorithms are often conceptually simple, their state-of-the-art implementations take numerous low- and high-level design decisions that strongly affect the performance of the resulting agents. Those choices are usually not extensively discussed in the literature, leading to discrepancy between published descriptions of algorithms and their implementations. This makes it hard to attribute progress in RL and slows down overall progress [Engstrom'20]. As a step towards filling that gap, we implement >50 such ``choices'' in a unified on-policy RL framework, allowing us to investigate their impact in a large-scale empirical study. We train over 250'000 agents in five continuous control environments of different complexity and provide insights and practical recommendations for on-policy training of RL agents

Prospective multicentre study of carotid artery stenting using the MER™ Stent : the OCEANUS study : 30-day and one-year follow-up results

Introduction: Constant technological progress in the field of carotid stenting translates into improved short- and long-term results of endovascular treatment. The introduction of a new generation, self-expanding, open-cell stent has provided a new treatment option in endovascular management of carotid stenosis. Aim: To evaluate 30-day and 1-year clinical outcomes of non-consecutive patients with high risk of carotid endarterectomy, who underwent 5F cylinder-tapered MER™ open-cell carotid stent implantation. Material and methods: It was a single-arm, prospective study conducted in four experienced catheterisation centres. The use of embolic protection devices was mandatory. The primary endpoint was stroke in 30-day follow-up. The secondary endpoints were 30- day and 1-year cumulative incidence of death, stroke and myocardial infarction, 1-year target vessel revascularisation, procedural success (residual stenosis ≤ 30%), restenosis rate (%DS ≥ 50%), and Serious Adverse Device Effect (SADE) rate in 1-year follow-up. Results: In total 100 patients were recruited for the study, with the majority being males (n = 61). The mean age was 68.3 ±8.2 years, and most of the patients were asymptomatic (n = 56). In 55 (55%) patients direct stenting was performed, with the use of proximal protection devices in 19 (19%) patients. Mean internal carotid artery/common carotid artery stenosis before and after stent implantation was 81.98 ±9.15% and 12.52 ±8.70%, respectively (p < 0.001). Procedural success was achieved in all cases. One ischaemic stroke was observed at 30 days (1%, primary endpoint). At 1-year follow-up two myocardial infarctions and three deaths occurred with no additional stroke. Conclusions: The OCEANUS study indicated the safety and efficacy of the MER™ stent during 30-day and 1-year follow-up in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The majority of patients were event-free. However, larger cohort studies are needed to evaluate MER™ stents in detail