lupine-publishers-sjpbs - Tumblr blog

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Effect of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation on Heroin Craving

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Addiction is defined as a chronic relapsing neurobiological brain disease. The rate of drug addiction in Egypt is twice the global rate so working on the development of new preventive and treatment modalities is crucial. One of the most prevalent features of opioid addiction is the tendency to relapse on the drug even weeks, months or years after stoppage of opioid use. Exposures to stress or conditioned cues related to heroin abuse are distinct conditions that induce relapse. Craving (the intense desire to take a drug) is a central aspect of drug addiction and a contributing factor in relapse after period of abstinence. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 40 to 60 % of people treated for substance use disorders relapse. For heroin, the numbers tend to be approximately twice that rate, 59% of which occurred within 1 week of discharge [1].

Aim of the Work

The aim of this work was to assess the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) on craving of heroin use disorder.

Subjects and Methods

The design of the current research was randomized controlled clinical trial to assess the effectiveness and outcome of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) on heroin abuse craving. This study was done in Neuropsychiatry Department and Psychiatry and Neurology Center, Tanta University over a period of 27 months started from June 2018 through September 2020 on eighty patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of heroin use disorder according to DSM-5.

Inclusion criteria consisted of heroin abusers aged 18-30 years. Exclusion criteria included patients with current medications which may alter EEG activity as anticonvulsants or patients with history of any neurological disorder that would result in abnormal EEG activity or current substance abuse other than heroin and the presence of implanted devices as cardiac pacemaker. Patients were randomized either to receive active TMS (20 patients) versus sham TMS (20 patients) or to receive active CES (20 patients) versus sham CES (20 patients). All patients were subjected to history taking included personal or drug history, systemic or mental state examination and urine drug screen. Craving was induced by cues of heroin blocks or pictures before applying the questionnaire or performing the EEG. Craving was assessed objectively by EEG or subjectively by BSCS at base line before starting TMS or CES, then at the next day after completion of 10 session of TMS or CES and after one or three months follow up.

For EEG recordings, participants were asked to close their eyes and to avoid mental activities as well as movements or muscular contractions during the recordings. EEG was recorded with Neurofax nihon Kohden QP-110 AK from scalp locations placed according to 10-20 international system. Resting EEG was recorded for 5 min to identify the baseline background activity of each patient. The EEG was digitized, and fast Fourier transformation (FFT) was performed. Fourier analysis converts a signal from its original domain (often space or time) to a representation in the frequency domain and vice versa. To calculate EEG power, the frequency spectrum was divided into 0.2 Hz bands and collapsed into EEG frequency bands of delta (1- 3.9 Hz), theta (4.0-7.9 Hz), alpha (8.0-12.9 Hz) and beta (13.0- 30 Hz). Each power value represented 5 seconds, and we analyzed 30 seconds of recording per case. Then we designated these power values as average percentages of total power. These were usually called delta, theta, alpha, and beta power ratios. Then, we exposed each patient to cue-induced craving pictures or previous heroin use situations according to each patient`s history of intake for recording a baseline EEG. Instructions were to sit relaxed, still and to carefully attend to the cues without employing distracting thoughts. The frequency domain analysis was performed using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm to calculate absolute (μV2/Hz) power density, relative (%) power density and mean frequency (Hz) within each of the sub-bands. The absolute power of a band is the integral of all of the power values within its frequency range. Relative power (RP) indices for each band were derived by expressing absolute power in each frequency band as a percent of the absolute power (AP) summed over the four frequency bands. Absolute power was log transformed (log x) and, relative power variables were transformed by log {x/1-x} in order to normalize the distribution of the data. EEG frequency (Hz) indices were found to be normally distributed and thus did not require transformation [2]. The BSCS is a self-report instrument to assess craving for heroin abuse over a 24-hour period. Patients were asked to complete a scale, rating the intensity, frequency and length of their cravings. Ratings were then scored on a scale of 0 to 12 (0 meaning no cravings; 12 meaning the patient was experiencing severe cravings) [3].

TMS Protocol

Group I patients (40 patients) received TMS sessions after one week of heroin abstinence. Before starting the study, individual TMS motor thresholds were determined for each participant. Individual motor threshold (MT) was determined similar to the method described [4]. TMS intensity was varied using an ascending staircase procedure and the motor evoked potential (MEP) of the abductor pollicis brevis muscle was assessed. High Frequency rTMS (HF rTMS) at 10 Hz (24 trains, 5 s per train, 25 s intertraininterval, i.e. 1200 pulses, 90% MT) was applied via a figure-eight coil with an outer winding of 70 mm connected to a Magstim Rapid-2 stimulator [5] targeting the left DLPFC. The duration of each session (real or sham TMS) will be 20 minutes for 5 days per week for 2 weeks, so each patient received 10 sessions. Sham stimulation was administrated at the same location, strength and frequency with the coil angled 45o away from the skull. This method reproduced sound and some somatic sensation (vibration and contraction of scalp muscles) that resemble active stimulation while generating intracerebral voltage approximately 1/3 that of active TMS stimulation [6].

CES Protocol

Group II patients (40 patients) received CES sessions after one week of heroin abstinence. Twenty-minute (5 days per week for 2 weeks) application of 10 sessions of CES using alphastim technology (Electromedical products international Inc., Mineral wells, Texas; www.alpha-stim.com ). Earclips electrodes were moistened with a conducting solution and attached to the earlobes. Current levels of the CES device (which range from 100 to 500 microamperes) were adjusted following manufacture recommendations to a comfortable level just below where vertigo is experienced. Sham CES was administrated at same location, strength and frequency but with CES device turned on and off. The collected data were organized, tabulated and statistically analyzed using SPSS version 19 (Statistical Package for Social Studies) created by IBM. There were descriptive and comparative types, where quantitative data were summarized as mean and standard deviations while qualitative data were summarized as numbers and percentages. A comparison was made using Paired student test (t - test) in case of two groups quantitative data. The chi-square test(X2) and Fisher exact test (FET) were used for qualitative data. Differences were considered significant if the P value was 0.05 or less. The study’s protocol was approved by The Research Ethics Committee and Quality Assurance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University. Participations were voluntary, informed consents were obtained from all included patients and the possible risks were clarified.

Results

The current study showed that the mean age of patients was (24.8 ± 3.8) without significant difference among different study groups (Table 1). The participants in this study were all male (100%). Five heroin abuser females refused to participate in our study secondary to fear and stigma despite maintained privacy and confidentiality of the data. According to the marital status of the participants, half of them (50%) were single. Technical educational level was the commonest among participants. Most of participants were in the middle and low social class levels. According to the family characters, most families were of extended type. Tobacco abuse was the commonest substance of abuse by families followed by cannabis and heroin. Antisocial personality disorder represented the main personality disorder among participants. Peer influence (62.5%) and curiosity represented the main causes of heroin abuse between study group’s patients. According to addiction severity index, drug abuse was considered the main problem among this study participants followed by employment problems. Intravenous injection (63.7%) of heroin was the commonest form of heroin intake among all participants. There was no significance regarding the daily dose of heroin or the duration of abuse among the study groups. The current study showed no significant difference regarding the BSCS baseline scores between all study groups before performing any TMS or CES sessions. The current study showed significant decrease in BSCS values after (10 sessions of active TMS or active CES) and after one month and three months follow up with least values in active TMS group which indicate the least craving in active TMS group (Tables 2 & 3). After three months follow up there was slight increase in BSCS values which indicate more heroin craving. Despite these observed increase in BSCS values with follow up, the active TMS group subjects showed the least increase among all participants and still had significant difference with baseline craving (Figure 1). Power ratios are an index of EEG power reflecting changes in the balance of EEG power by frequency band. The current study showed no significant difference regarding mean log transformed beta band power at baseline before performing any TMS or CES sessions (Table 3). The current study showed significant decrease in mean log transformed beta band power values (after 10 sessions TMS or CES) and after one month follow up with least values in active TMS group which indicate less craving in this group (Figure 2). This study showed no significant difference between mean baseline beta band frequencies at F3 and F4 among study groups with higher values at F3 than F4 which indicated relative greater activation of left frontal hemisphere than the right one. The mean beta band frequency in active TMS group after performing 10 sessions TMS or after one month follow up at F3 was lower than F4 which correlated with the effectiveness of active TMS in modulation of brain activity in left prefrontal region (Table 4).

Discussion

Craving for heroin can be described as a powerful urge to use heroin again. Patients with craving have an intense desire to use heroin accompanied by vivid day dreaming about using heroin or difficulty in focusing on anything other than getting it. The current study showed that the mean age of patients was (24.8 ± 3.8) without significance among different study groups. The participants in this study were all male (100%). The higher ratio in heroin abuse in males may be attributable to the more freedom that males can obtain in our society and the easier ways to obtain the drugs than females. In Egypt, females still have lower prevalence rates than men due to culture effect. The involvement of 100% male gender in this research may provide an advantage of avoidance the genderassociated differences in craving as a result of hormonal changes throughout the menstrual cycle but it also lacking the advantage of gender difference studying [7]. The current study showed no significance regarding the BSCS baseline measures between all study groups but after 10 sessions TMS or CES these values were decreased with significant difference in active TMS and CES groups which indicate significant reduction of heroin craving but the maximum decrease was noticed in subjects who received active TMS sessions than active CES. So, both active TMS and active CES were significantly effective in reducing heroin craving but TMS was significantly more effective than CES. After three months follow up there was slight increase in BSCS values which indicate more heroin craving. Despite these observed increase in BSCS values with follow up, the active TMS group subjects showed the least increase among all participants and still had significant difference with baseline craving.

This downward shift of BSCS values after 10 sessions TMS or CES confirm the acute efficacy of these maneuvers to decrease craving in heroin use disorder patients especially in active TMS group but the observed slight increase of BSCS scores (which indicate more heroin craving) especially after three months follow up may confirm the need for further booster TMS or CES sessions throughout a longitudinal six month protocol. A prominent factor for the increase of craving within three months follow up is the presence of environmental drug cues. Continuous changes in reward and memory brain circuitry which are related to drug dependence result in high sensitivity to drug-linked cues during abstinence [8]. Furthermore, impairment in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis caused by opioid dependence is correlated to enhanced sensitivity to stressors during abstinence. Such abstinence related impairment of reward and stress response systems may explain the subjective experiences reported by study participants during abstinence and the constant desire for drugs even in case patients are in residence and living far from social, drug use-related, environmental stimuli of craving. Shi et al study corroborated our findings regarding a significant reduction of heroin craving among participants after one month follow up after abstinence [9]. On the contrary, Fathi et al declared a reduction of heroin craving for one month follow up but without statistical significance. Such a difference may arise from the different psychometric test used, small sample size and absence of drug cues [10].

According to Jack et al in a systematic review and meta-analysis regarding effect of rTMS on craving in substance dependence patients, rTMS revealed a significant anti-craving effect of the left DLPFC in patients with substance dependence. Excitatory rTMS targeting left DLPFC shows promise in reducing both craving and substance consumption, which may be a result of dopamine release and/or activation of the dorsal PFC executive functioning system. However, this effect was limited in duration, as indicated by a nonsignificant treatment effect at follow-up [11]. CES may produce its effect on decreasing heroin craving with ear-clip electrodes through achieving parasympathetic nervous system dominance by stimulating the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. Withdrawal symptoms including craving are basically manifestations of sympathetic nervous system over activity. CES also improves anxiety and frequent insomnia which are common symptoms in the early stage of recovery from heroin and these symptoms are the main precursor for relapse. In our current study, these effects appear to be session linked with increased craving or desire to take a heroin again after stoppage of CES sessions especially with continued follow up for three months. The current study showed that the mean log transformed beta band power values at base line had no significant difference between the study groups but after 10 sessions TMS or CES these values were decreased with significant difference in both active TMS or active CES study groups which indicate less craving but the maximum decrease was noticed in subjects who received active TMS sessions. So, both active TMS and active CES were significantly effective in reducing heroin craving but TMS was significantly more effective than CES. Active TMS group showed significant decrease of absolute beta band power values from baseline to 10 sessions application or after one or three months follow up. These results were in agreement with Jurgen et al who showed that absolute beta power significantly decreased with rTMS sessions but this study results were related only to the acute effects of TMS without further follow up. Jurgen reported that absolute beta band power was significantly decreased more with active TMS versus sham TMS. He postulated that active TMS session might mimic craving action on brain reward functions producing an increase of dopamine release with further cognitive inhibitory control mechanism [12].

Our study showed no significant difference between mean baseline beta band frequencies at F3 and F4 among study groups with higher values at F3 than F4 which indicated relative greater activation of left frontal hemisphere than the right one. The mean beta band frequency in active TMS group after performing 10 sessions TMS and after one and three months follow up at F3 was lower than F4 which correlated with the effectiveness of active TMS in modulation of brain activity in left prefrontal region. We reported that the left frontal hemisphere had greater activation than the right hemisphere after cue induction and therefor the choice of left DLPFC for neuromodulation of substance induced craving is an optimum location to manipulate. Our findings were in agreement [3,5].

Conclusion

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and cranial electrotherapy stimulation (CES) are effective non-invasive treatment modalities for the acute reduction of heroin craving with significant reduction of heroin craving through three months after heroin abstinence. So, TMS or CES are considered valuable noninvasive devices to overcome the risky period of heroin craving especially after one month of heroin abstinence. So, TMS or CES represented new effective method for relapse prevention in heroin use disorder. Active TMS shows significant difference for reduction of heroin craving than sham TMS. Active TMS is more effective treatment modality for reduction of heroin craving than active CES. The observed slight increase of BSCS scores or the beta band power readings (which indicate more heroin craving) especially after three months follow up may confirm the need for further booster TMS or CES sessions throughout a longitudinal six-month protocol. Despite this observed slight increase of BSCS scores or the beta band power within three months after abstinence, the BSCS scores or the beta band power still have significant difference than the baseline readings. The left frontal hemisphere has greater activation than the right hemisphere after cue induction. Therefore, the choice of left DLPFC for neuromodulation of substance induced craving is an optimum location to manipulate

Recommendations

We recommend the use of rTMS or CES as non-invasive treatment options for acute reduction of heroin craving which provide improvement in the adherence to the recovery programs and prevention of relapse. We recommend the use of TMS for acute reduction of heroin craving as a superior efficient tool than CES. However, CES provides an easily accessible home treatment option for reduction of heroin craving especially if TMS apparatus is not available or if there are any contraindications of TMS use. We recommend the need to adopt a uniform prolonged treatment protocol and optimize the number of rTMS sessions in relation to treatment of patients with heroin use disorder during the whole abstinence months. We recommend the restrict prevention of heroin abuse patients during the abstinence period from exposure to heroin cues which induce craving that represents an important cause for heroin relapse. Violent craving can erupt suddenly into consciousness after exposure to drug cues, acting as a persistent cause for relapse. We recommend the presence of comprehensive effective rehabilitation program for six months for heroin abusers till complete normalization of brain neurobiological changes associated with heroin abuse.

Limitations

The need for further studies with longer follows up duration (six months) which may offer a more informative data about neurobiological changes for the whole abstinence period in heroin use disorder. The need for further studies to identify the neurobiological changes for heroin craving in females for proper assessment of the gender difference.

Declaration

Ethics approval and consent to participate section

- The manuscript was approved from The Research Ethics Committee and Quality Assurance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University.

- The study’s protocol had permitted by The Research Ethics Committee and Quality Assurance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University. Participations were voluntary, informed consents were approved by all participants’’ guardian and any possible risks were clarified.

Consent of publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: All authors disclose that they have no competing interests related to the study.

Availability of data and materials: The datasets used and/ or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors Contributions:

MSK: participated in the study’s design, patients’ selection, statistical analysis, data analysis, references collection, manuscript writing and revision and final approval, WSB: participated in the study’s design, patients’ selection, EEG interpretation, statistical analysis, data analysis, manuscript writing, revision and final approval, AAH: participated in patients’ assessment and inclusion, data analysis, psychometric scale analysis, statistical analysis, references collection, manuscript writing, revision and final approval, GTS: participated in the study’s design, patients’ selection, and evaluation, data analysis, references collection. EAG: participated in study’s idea and design, patients’ assessment and inclusion, data analysis, references collection, manuscript writing, revision and final approval.

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Journals please click on below link https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/

For more Lupine Publishers Please click on below link https://lupinepublishers.com/

#Lupinepublishers Group #Lupine publishers #cardiology

2 notes · View notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Losses Loom Larger Than Gains: Neural Correlates Of Behavioral Gain-Loss Asymmetry

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) proposed that voluntary behavior is governed by the principle of hedonism, that is, an individual’s sole intrinsic good is the overall pursuit of pleasure. A hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure by minimizing pain. Utility theory, which is a cornerstone of the rational perspective of economics, is rooted in the hedonist principle. However, the psychology of Homo economicus-a rational and self-interested individual with relatively stable preferences-has been challenged by numerous psychologists and behavioral economists. The purpose of our research was to explore the effects of small monetary gains and losses on choice behavior using a computerized game and to determine gain/loss ratio differences using both behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures.

A prominent example of gain-loss asymmetry is that losses loom larger than gains [1-4], meaning that the aversion to a loss of a certain magnitude is greater than the attraction to a gain of the same absolute magnitude. Such asymmetry is an indication that humans are sometimes biased in their decision making. Accordinng to Kahneman and Tversky [9], “The asymmetry of pain and pleasure is the ultimate justification of loss aversion in choice” [p. 157]. Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler [8] reported that “The existing evidence suggests that the ratio of the slopes of the value function in two domains, for small or moderate gains or losses of money, is about 2:1” [p. 199].

Rasmussen and Newland [14] reported a behavior-analytic experiment in which participants played a customized computer game that sometimes-produced reinforcers (gains) and sometimes punishers (losses) in the form of points exchangeable for money or, conversely, the loss of points and money. Their design included two alternating conditions. In one condition, a pair of reinforcement schedules were concurrently available. The ratio of reinforcer frequencies was adjusted systematically. The other condition consisted of the same pairs of reinforcement schedules, but a schedule of punishment was overlaid onto one of the reinforcement schedules. The authors reasoned that, in this way, they could measure the effect of punishers as the difference in the response ratios when punishers were delivered on one of the alternatives versus when punishers were absent from both alternatives. They concluded that the mean asymmetry ratio was approximately 3:1 (loss:gain) on average.

Kahneman [7] asserted that “the brain’s response to variations of probabilities is strikingly similar to the decision weights estimated from choices” [p. 315]. The electroencephalograph (EEG) may be used to record scalp visual-evoked potentials (VEPs), including event-related potentials (ERPs) [3,11]. Sokol-Hessner and Rutledge [15] reported that “Research on the neuroscientific basis of loss aversion has identified several critical neural components, suggesting a model of loss aversion in the human brain and providing links to the neuroscience of affect” [p. 315]. They reviewed several loss-aversion studies of young adults and adults and found that the means of loss aversion (computationally formalized as a multiplicative weight on losses relative to gains) in their model were between 1.3 and 2.5.

Kahneman and Tversky’s research method was cognitive. Rasmussen and Newland’s method was behavioral as was ours. However, we added an electrophysiological measure of the asymmetry of gains and losses. In the electrophysiological component of our study, the amplitudes of P300 waves elicited by gains and losses while playing the video game were measured in real time and converted to a gain/loss ratio. We hypothesized that the amplitudes of P300 waves recorded during a gain/loss behavioral procedure, when expressed as gain:loss ratios, would be directly related to their behavioral counterparts.

Method

Participants

The participants were 16 male undergraduate students enrolled at Brigham Young University (BYU), Provo, UT, USA 84602. They were recruited through an online recruitment platform following approval of our research protocol by the BYU Institutional Review Board.

Materials and procedures

We developed a computer game to produce behavioral data. Participants played the game in an experimental room, 9 ft by 9 ft, containing a table and chair. The table held a Dell® desktop computer (the game computer) equipped with a 17-in monitor and a mouse. The room was windowless and artificially illuminated. The computer had an Ethernet connection to a separate, identical computer that was in an adjacent room and that hosted the Emotive EPOC® Brainwear® software for recording the EEG and to monitor its functioning. The Emotive EPOC® device was placed on the participant’s head and contained 14 scalp electrodes. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the first experimental session. The participant was seated in front of the computer monitor and asked to read the instructions (written in English) for the game that appeared there. He was invited to play the video game in a series of 36-min sessions in which he could earn points on the screen. The net earnings were paid to the participant at the end of each session. In addition, the participants received a $50 bonus at the completion of the study. There were seven sessions. EEG recording was continuous during each session.

The SubSearch Game

Participants played SubSearch using the computer mouse to guide an underwater submarine and to retrieve as many yellow objects as possible before reaching the sea floor. When the cursor rested on the submarine, moving it moved the submarine. If the submarine was placed over a yellow object, clicking the mouse retrieved the object. Underwater barriers complicated the submarine’s movement between objects. Once the submarine descended to the sea floor, it was returned to the surface for a new descent, this time with more frequent barriers. Thus, the game became progressively more difficult as it continued. Only one panel was operative at a time. The other panel was darkened, and motion was paused. The game was played in two different vertical panels separated by a vertical line. Each panel was associated with its own interdependent concurrent variable-interval (inter conc VI VI) schedules of reinforcement. There was also a conjoint VI schedule of punishment during certain conditions on the left side of the screen. Unlike the traditional conc VI VI schedule in which the two schedules are independent of each other, the interdependent version assigned a reinforcer according to a preset probability generator. If, for example, the generator was set to assign twice as many reinforcers to the left panel than to the right panel (pL = 0.67), and the next reinforcer was assigned to the right panel, then it would be necessary for the participant to produce that reinforcer before the next one would be assigned. Thus, the interdependent schedule reduced the likelihood of extreme position (left or right) biases and assured that the scheduled proportion of reinforcers) between the two panels remained close to the proportion of those that were delivered.

After the participant clicked the “Start-OK” message on the screen, a 36-min session commenced. The game allowed the participant to move the cursor from one panel to the other. However, each switch produced a changeover delay of 2 s. During this interval, no reinforcers or punishers were delivered. Gains and losses were signaled by separate on-screen messages, each accompanied by a distinctive sound. For 0.5 s prior to the on-screen signal of a gain or of a loss, a fixation signal (a white + sign) was presented on the screen and followed in the same location by a message indicating either “Collect a coin to continue” for gains or “Insert a coin to continue” for losses. The gain-message appeared for 1 sec. Then the tab located at the bottom of the screen between the two counters began to blink. The game resumed after the participant clicked on the tab. Counters on each side of the tab displayed the net points for the respective side of the screen.

Each click during a session was coded, time stamped, and saved to an external MySQL database. The summary statistics included the total time spent responding in each panel, the total number of clicks that occurred in each panel, the total numbers of reinforcers and punishers that occurred in each panel, and the total number of changeovers. Each session consisted of a fixed sequence of six 6-min conditions (conditions 1-6). Three of them (1, 3, and 5) contained conc VI VI schedules of reinforcement only and three (2, 4, and 6) contained conc VI VI schedules of reinforcement and a conjoint VI schedule of punishment on the left side of the screen. Table 1 summarizes the scheduled frequencies of reinforcers and punishers in each condition. Condition 1 featured a conc VI60-s VI20-s schedule, meaning that 25% of the total reinforcers were allocated to the left panel and 75% to the right panel. There was no schedule of punishment. Condition 2 featured the same conc VI60-s VI-20 schedule of reinforcement plus a VI60-s schedule of punishments. In other words, 100% of the punishers were allocated to the left panel and no punishers to the right panel. The other four conditions featured different reinforcer ratios. Each unpunished condition was followed by a similar condition that included punishers only in the left panel under the same schedule as the reinforcers that were delivered in that panel. Each condition was accompanied by a different background color in each panels, for a total of six different colors. It should be noted that the values of the VI schedules in each concurrent pair of reinforcement schedules were selected to produce the same overall rate of reinforcement despite the difference in their ratios (1:3 in conditions 1 and 2, 1:1 in conditions 3 and 4, and 3:1 in conditions 5 and 6). The ratio of reinforcers to punishers was always 1:1.

Electrocortical activity

The head-mounted instrument was a wireless Bluetooth® Smart device (2.4GHz band) with 14 electrodes that transmitted at a sample rate of 128 Hz. It provided access to raw, densearray, high-quality EEG data with software subscription (EMOTIV Brainware®. The resolution was 14 bits with 1 LSB = 0.51 μV). The bandwidth was 0.2 -43Hz with digital notch filters at 50 Hz and 60 Hz. It included a digital 5th-order Sinc filter and a dynamic range (input referred) of 8400μV. It was AC coupled and powered by a lithium polymer battery (480 mV). The device sent the EEG data via a Bluetooth® connection to the computer to be recorded. In the game computer, certain in-game events, such as displaying a gain or a loss message on the monitor, triggered a signal to the second computer, it also compiled the data, temporally aligning the EEG data with the 8-bit codes received from the game and saved them to the hard disk. Because of the limitations of Bluetooth® range, both computers were in the same room, but the interface and the monitor for the second computer was in an adjacent room. The final output was a large csv file that contained a time-step column, the 14 electrode channels, and markers for each SubSearch on-screen message.

Event related potential analysis

VEPs are electrical potentials initiated by brief visual stimuli and are recorded from the scalp overlying the visual cortex. Amplitude (measured in μV) is defined as the difference between the mean pre-stimulus baseline voltage and specific voltages (positive and negative) measured within a time window. Latency (measured in ms) was defined as the time from stimulus onset to the point at which amplitude was measured within the window [11]. The ERP contains distinct waveforms that may be correlated with specific cognitive activities [2]. The labels N50, P100, N100, P200, N200, and P300 are commonly used, where P and N indicate positive or negative deflections, respectively, and the number indicates an ordinal position in the waveform. It should be noted that the P200, N200, and P300 are specifically ERPs; however, we used the term ERP to refer to all of the VEP components. Gehring and Willoughby [5] recorded brain activity coincident with monetary gains and losses and concluded that the amplitude was greater for losses than for gains. The ERP data were imported using EEGLab® with the ERPLab® add-on. EEGLab® is an interactive Matlab® toolbox for processing continuous and event-related EEG, magnetoencephalographic, and other electrophysiological data to produce independent component analysis, time/frequency analysis, artifact rejection, event-related statistics, and several modes of visualization of the averaged and single-trial data. A 1Hz high-pass filter, followed by a 50 Hz low-pass filter, was applied to the in-session recordings. Epochs were created for each gain or loss in the SubSearch game and ranged from 1,000 ms before the message appeared to 2,000 ms after it disappeared. Any epoch that contained an amplitude exceeding 150 mV was rejected. The epochs were averaged for gains and losses separately, resulting in a pair of summative waves (gain and loss) for each participant in each session. Then grand averages were created. The P300 component of the VEP was the focus of our analysis. The P300 wave was measured as the maximum positive deflection occurring between 250 msec and 500 msec following the presentation of brief visual stimulus. Yeung and Sanfey [17] found that, in studies of choice, the P300 can be influenced by several factors, including the magnitude of the chosen option, the valence and magnitude of the alternative option, and the relative value of the alternative outcome in comparison with the chosen outcome.

The data analysis consisted of signal filtering, amplifying, and averaging the EEG during the 1-s epoch immediately prior to the onset of a message on the monitor screen and during the 2-s epoch following the offset of the message. The analysis of the averaged ERPs focused on the previously indicated components of the average signal, with each component characterized by its amplitude, polarity (positive or negative), and latency. An ERP waveform consists of a series of peaks (here termed positive peaks) and troughs (negative peaks), but these voltage deflections reflect the sum of several relatively independent underlying, or latent, components. Isolating the latent components from the observable peaks and troughs of the waveform was challenging. The SubSearch game was designed to minimize latent components and to make sure that the evoked P300 was, as much as possible, a direct result of the experimental design. An important objective of the design was to separate the processes related to monetary gains and losses from possible confounding factors. The EEG does not only include ERPs but also other, “noisy” signals. The method we used to reduce the latter signals was signal averaging. All of the analyses featured epochs that were time-locked to the onset of the fixation signal that preceded the on-screen messages announcing reinforcers and punishers. Additionally, we examined the modulating effects of valence and magnitude on the ERP.

Figure 1 depicts the sequence of events in the computer game. Each ERP epoch began with a blank screen that appeared simultaneously with scheduled delivery of a reinforcer or punisher. Five- hundred ms later, a fixation mark appeared on the screen. After another 500 ms had passed, it disappeared, and the gain or loss message appeared on the screen. It marked the onset of the P300 waveform. Analysis of the epoch began 500 ms previous to the fixation signal. Immediately following the presentation of the reinforcer (or punisher) message, which remained on the screen until the participant resumed the game, there was a 1000-ms delay until the tab at the bottom of the screen between the two cumulative counters began to blink. During this interval, the game was inoperative and remained so until the participant clicked the tab.

Behavioral data analysis

Thorndike [16] formulated the basic principle of the law of effect, which stated that actions followed by feelings of satisfaction are more likely to be repeated, but actions followed by feelings of annoyance are less likely Herrnstein [6,13] produced systematic work on behavioral choice involving schedules of reinforcement. He found that, over time, the proportion of responses to an alternative matched the proportion of reinforcers received for responding to that alternative. If twice as many reinforcers were provided to one of two alternatives, then, on average, twice as many responses were directed to that alternative once response allocation was stable. Herrnstein summarized this regularity as follows and termed it the matching law of distributed (ongoing) choice between alternatives:

B refers to number of behavioral responses and R to the number of reinforcers that the responses produced. The two alternatives are designated by subscripts. This version of the matching law is actually a special case of the generalized matching law (GML; Baum, 1974):

that is, b = s= 1.0.

The parameters in this power function reflect a bias (b) for one source of reinforcement over the other and sensitivity (s) to changes in the distribution of reinforcers between the two sources, respectively. Under logarithmic transformation, the GML becomes a linear equation:

We used a procedure like that of Rasmussen and Newland and applied both the subtractive model as well as an indirect model to our results. The latter does not directly include punishers but, instead, represents the effect of punishers by variations in the effects of reinforcers. In other words, using this model, it is not necessary to include both reinforcers and punishers in the equation to measure their asymmetrical effect. All analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics 23 [13] and Microsoft Excel®. Measures included in the analyses were the number of responses (clicks) to the left and right alternatives (BL and BR) and the number of reinforcers provided by each (RL an d RR). The results were analyzed using equation 3. Asymmetry ratios were computed using antilogarithms of the bias estimates from the linear regressions for the conditions in which only reinforcers were used and those in which reinforcers and punishers were both used.

Results

Behavioral gain: loss asymmetry

Loss amplitudes were higher than gain amplitudes with an asymmetry ratio of 3.40. Table 2 contains the overall mean values of b for the No-punishers and With-punishers conditions, the 95% confidence intervals, and the asymmetry ratios for each session. Tables 3 and 4 contain the overall mean responses, obtained reinforcers, obtained punishers, and changeovers for the Nopunishers and With-Punishers conditions for the unpunished alternatives, respectively, for each of the participants. Table 5 is a summary of the overall estimated values of s and b in the Nopunishers and With-punishers conditions, and the asymmetry ratio for each participant.

Figure 2 displays the overall mean P300 waveform and other waveforms at electrode sites F3 (Panel B) and O1 (Panel C) for all participants according to the timeline. The approximate locations of the electrodes also appear. The reaction time (RT) was measured as the interval that began with the onset of the on-screen message and continued until the blinking tab was clicked. The mean RT was slightly shorter for the gain message (1512 ms) than for the loss message (1665 ms). In Figure 3, the overall mean amplitudes and standard errors are shown for each session: green bars for gains and red bars for losses. The blue lines represent the overall mean asymmetry ratio in each session. Five component waveforms appear, including the P300. The mean overall symmetry ratio for the P300 waveform was 1.99.

Correlation of the behavioral results with the electrophysiological results

Figure 4 displays the means of the asymmetry ratios derived from the two categories of data (behavioral on the x-axis and EEG on the y-axis) for each participant, together with the regression equation and R^2 (%VAC). Overall, the correlation coefficient was 0.852 and R^2 = 0.738.

Figure 4: Linear Regression of the Asymmetry Ratios for Each Participant Derived From the Behavioral Data (X-Axis) and From the EEG data (Y-Axis).

Discussion

Our results demonstrated a direct, robust correlation between behavioral and EEG measures of gain-loss asymmetry. The overall mean asymmetry ratio from our behavioral results was higher (M = 3.40) than that from the cognitive results previously cited [5,17] and from Rasmussen and Newland’s [14] behavioral study (M ≈ 3.0). For our EEG results, M = 1.99. One possible reason for the larger ratio from our behavioral results may be the use of the EMOTIV EPOC+® and the incumbency on participants to wear it throughout each session and, at the same time, to avoid unnecessary movements (which could have interrupted Bluetooth® interconnectivity or added noise to the EEG record). Notable aspects of the research method and data analysis included the use of the interdependent schedules of reinforcement, the inclusion of six different schedules within the same session, and the achievement of relative stability of participants’ performance within seven sessions [12,16], and that our participants were men, but there were 16 of them in our study and five in theirs. We, too, utilized a computer game as the behavioral task, though the on-screen presentation in our game was more complex than in theirs, as was the concatenation of six conditions within a session as opposed to their presentation of a single condition over consecutive sessions. Our use of interdependent VI VI schedules of reinforcement produced ratios of reinforcement consistently closer to the programmed ratios than in their study, where the disparity between programmed and actual ratios produced by conc VI VI schedules of reinforcement was substantial. Also, when a VI schedule of punishment was conjoined with the reinforcement schedule in their procedure, the scheduled rate of punishment was half that of the scheduled rate of reinforcement as opposed to being the same rate, as in our experiment. As with reinforcers, their results displayed a considerable disparity between the scheduled and actual rates of punishers.

Finally, our study included the measurement of EEG activity concurrent with participants’ distributed choice behavior. The temporal alignment of the EEG record with the record of behavior during the same SubSearch session was critical to demonstrating the correlation between the two sets of data. This requirement was fraught with unanticipated complications and required extensive revision and testing of the communication protocol between both computers (see the earlier description of the procedure) before it was sufficiently reliable for use in the research we reported. Perhaps the most noteworthy outcome of our study was the strength of the positive correlation between the behaviorally derived and EEGderived asymmetry ratios. Though no extant models account for that relationship, its demonstration invites further investigation. For the present, we have concluded that losses affect ongoing behavior in a distributed-choice procedure more intensely than gains do and that this differential effect may be quantified using the record of brain activity that occurs simultaneously with distributed choice behavior. It is as if the brain holds a mirror to externally observable behavior, or vice versa.

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Journals please click on below link https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ For more Lupine Publishers Please click on below link https://lupinepublishers.com/

#Lupinepublishers #Lupine Publishers Indexing Sites #clinical psychology #neuropsychology #brain sciences

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine publishers | Promising Business Opportunities in the Industrial Age 4.0 and the Society Era 5.0 in the New-Normal Period of the Covid-19 Pandemic

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (SJPBS)

Introduction

The world order is now being tested again in drastic and slow changes but has entered the second dramatic phase, including in Indonesia, namely the spread of the Corona Virus-19 wave 2 with the Delta variant which is said to have originated from India. Almost every day, it is reported that transmission with positive symptoms and asymptomatic cases reaches more than thousands, with a significant death rate. The life of the world has also agreed to enter the Industry 4.0 era which is accompanied by the era of Society 5.0 with an uncontrollable acceleration that also facilitates all human needs. The Industrial Era 4.0 marked the changing of society so quickly with the acceleration of the flow of information without any barriers wherever it existed (disruption), and industrial-digitalization technology that is increasingly modern and sophisticated can adapt all types of human actions and behaviour [1-5]. Technology makes one’s work easier, especially from time to time, changes in industrial technology are increasingly modern and sophisticated, almost perfect so that humans are made dependent. Therefore, the Industrial 4.0 era has now become a global trend and any country including Indonesia must accept it, both positive and negative impacts that accompany it. This is because the presence of Industry 4.0 is certain to bring about changes in attitudes and behaviour due to the convenience of the accompanying technology. Coupled with changes in individual attitudes and behaviour at the same time changing the social order with the establishment gradually eroded in the modern style [6]. With this situation and condition, we need and must respond wisely and wisely, especially for business people so that in facing these two eras coupled with global conditions that are experiencing the Covid-19 pandemic through optimism and responsiveness while believing in great opportunities in the world. before the eyes. Rosmida in her research suggests that in dealing with these two eras it is necessary to deal with five strategies, namely

a) the need for digital-based skills,

b) responsive to the development of new and renewable technologies,

c) adaptive to changes in industrial technology, and digitalization-based businesses,

d) improving soft skills-based capabilities, and

e) transforming the world of quality education based on strengthening software and brain device as well as hardware, so that humane, innovative-productive creations are ready to be produced.

This is in line with the findings [7] which emphasizes that in the era of the Industrial revolution 4.0 and the challenges of changing the Society 5.0 era, all activities and actions, including business actors, must be aligned with the use of renewable technology. Business people through conventional manual methods need to be reconsidered if they want to go public. That is, if you use manual work and promotion methods rely on the people who come, it will not be big. The use of technology digitization, the use of free and paid software is a strategic solution in developing business strategies in this era. He adds that the modern era which is now known as the Industrial 4.0 era and the social revolution in the era of society 5.0 cannot be denied being referred to as a consequence of disrupted contemporary life, so it is very necessary to adapt by utilizing and considering aspects of technological humanism. The presence of renewable technologies in artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, machine learning, robotics, and internet of things (IoT) models is an undeniable part of innovative products and technological creations and their engineering to facilitate work, including the business world. And, this article examines whether the industrial era 4.0 and the community era 5.0 during the Covid-19 pandemic, any business opportunities in any form of business are promised by utilizing digitalization technology.

Literature Review

As it is known that Industry 4.0 is a follow-up to the industrial revolution 1.0 in 1800 which was part of a fundamental change in an activity of human life in the process of production, consumption and distribution with the related environment through the integration of physical form, digital technology with humans as human capital [8-10] For the world, the Industrial 4.0 era is a revolution that the industrial revolution appeared in England, the first time as a result of a shift and the ordinary industrial world with human (manual) power switching (transformation) to machine power. According to the [11,12] classification of the characteristics of the industrial era 4.0 can be recognized by the increase in growth, both qualitatively and quantitatively through increasing manufacturing digitization so that it appears that

1) An increase in the volume of data, computing, and connectivity

2) An analysis, capabilities, and business intelligence

3) The emergence of new models of interaction between humans and machines and their environment, and

4) The reorientation of instructions arising from digital transfers to the physical world, such as robotics, 3D printing, and so on.

Likewise, the era of Society 5.0 which is content due to the industrial era that changes the perspective of society, which of course both are interconnected, the Industrial 4.0 era in technological transformation with digital engineering. So the era of Society 5.0 focuses more on changes that occur in humans in their attitudes and understanding. If the Industry 4.0 era in the context of business development requires three literacy, such as data literacy, human literacy, and technological literacy. So in the era of society 5.0, assistance is needed, digitalization technology is a substitute for distributors and promotions to replace the role of sales promotion [13-15] In Puspita’s research, [16,17] explained that indeed the industrial revolution which was marked by a change in the way of life and work processes could essentially be facilitated due to the presence of modern technology that presents all types of information that can be connected and recorded in digital technology. Likewise, the era of society 5.0 is tasked with more critical human behaviour and attitudes, innovation and professionalism so that it is easy to adapt and be responsive to changing times.

According to Heriyawati that the Industrial 4.0 era, known as the era of disruption, is a creation of the digital world that cannot be blocked. As a result, the acceleration of access to information and communication is so intense that it becomes a contemporary custom for human behaviour today. This is natural of law (sunatullah), where the role of the mind that always thinks must produce a dynamic and change. The impact is of course, in addition to emerging innovations along with its destruction, extinction and destruction will certainly appear. Life is a provision, where those who are ready for change will feel this era is both exciting and scary. Likewise, [18-21] in his research, emphasized that the changes that are currently in process and running with the creation of technological advances have radically changed the world order, both the world and the digital world, which are the main characteristics of the Industrial 4.0 era. Anyone who can become an agent of change will certainly experience progress, including a country in general, and business people in particular. This era is marked by the realization of manufacturing technology based on digitalization and artificial intelligence data exchange, such as the internet of things (IoT), cyber-physical systems, cognitive computing, and cloud computing. All of these are of course as artificial technologybased tools that may be the trigger for success in doing business in this era. Not in MSME activities.

According to Nurgroho & Andarini in their research explaining that every business actor including MSMEs in the Industry 4.0 era must be able to prepare various strategies, one of which is utilizing digitalization technology to be competitive by offering innovative, creative, attractive packaging products. , excellent HR. On the other hand, [22] asserts that for anyone, it is certainly an opportunity in the era of disruption (Industry 4.0) and Society 5.0 because today the dependence of human life is based on information. So, whoever can make the new technology and its development can be utilized becomes the winner. In the future, technological engineering through digitalization innovations will also lead to the wonders of the supply-side sector, with long-term efficiency and productivity gains. Transportation and communication costs will decrease, global logistics and supply chains will become more effective, and trading costs will decrease, all of which will open up new market opportunities and encourage economic growth.

According to Suyitno what has predicted regarding the Industrial 4.0 era has the potential to degrade the human role, as technology plays a major role in making Japan give birth to the concept of Society 5.0. This concept emphasizes that artificial intelligence through the transformation of big data collected via the internet from all aspects of life will certainly produce new wisdom, the hope is that it can make human abilities open up opportunities for human benefit. Therefore, it is undeniable that today’s very rapid changes with modern technology plus the flow of globalization without regional and state barriers have led to the development of super-fast information system technology without being dammed, resulting in the global trend of the Industrial Era 4.0 and Society 5.0. For business people, this is a very promising opportunity in the present and the future, especially if business people can embody three important interconnected elements, namely the Industry 4.0 era and the Society 5.0 era with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program launched by the United Nations as a complementary data [23-25].

Method

This article was written using a qualitative approach focused on analyzing promising business opportunities in the era of disruption (Industry 4.0) and the era of Society 5.0 during the new normal period of the Covid 19 pandemic in Indonesia by describing more of a contemporary phenomenon based on data and information [26]. The exploration method is used to explain a phenomenon that is described in data and facts from research results that have been published in national and international journals and other sources. To collect data and research facts, they are taken as a whole from the journal or only in part, then sorted so that data accuracy occurs by referring to the triangulation model to strengthen between one case and the same case and then analysis and interpretation is carried out. Because according to Piaget’s theory that data can be useful knowledge if it is presented with inaccurate information.

Results and Discussion

Industrial era 4.0 and society era 5.50 during the covid-19 pandemic masa

It is understood that the development of science has greatly contributed to changing the world [11]. In their research said that the theory of knowledge creation in the last quarter-century has been able to contribute greatly to management innovation so that it is useful in the era of Society 5.0. Today’s innovation demands socioeconomic integration that transcends the boundaries of today’s companies. By preparing a system (knowledge ecosystem) as a basis, we can build civilization progress [5,7,16]. According to that global issues that impact the joints of life, such as the situation of increasing global problems and dangers of anthropo-technological, medical-epidemiological, economic, environmental, demographic characteristics, the demand to identify transformational changes in relevant global and national labour markets. The industrial revolution 4.0, the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to Society 5.0 or Super Smart Society is a challenge that changes the characteristics of the world of work, the workforce, in each country and humanity as a whole. The transformation in the global and domestic labour markets caused by the complex impacts of the digitalization process and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agree on this. According to them, the impact of the global crisis caused by the transmission of Covid/Post-Covid-19 is not only in the health sector, socio-cultural but also in the education business sector. For the business sector, there has been a major transformation in mapping business opportunities, not only on business but also on the elements that surround it. For example, in a teaching and learning system that initially used an offline model, now it must be online so that it requires the use of IoT on a large scale, the use of AI (artificial intelligence), big data, and machine learning for business forecasting, the use of cloud platforms to manage intelligent education, devices wearables, smart city, smart society, smart healthcare, smart welfare, smart SME, smart retail, smart supply chain, and the future of business based on a digitized culture called ‘’Work-welfare 5.0 on Urban 6.0’’ as the solution. This is what [15] call the contribution of scientific theory to changes in the global order of life, especially in the Industrial 4.0 era and the Society 5.0 period as described [21,15].

In the Industrial 3.0 era along with the Society 4.0 era which relies on computerization, internet, IC, and automation and continues in the Industrial 4.0 era for ten years with very fast changes changing a new order that relies on digitalization-transformation technology engineering, virtual reality, cyber-physical systems (Figure 1), smartness to usher in an economic and business revolution by involving the connectivity of other organizations. In such situations and conditions and have developed an innovative model in which the benefits of transforming social needs into one another can be utilized. Not only relying on technological engineering and artificial intelligence but also rearranging the order of world civilization through a change in mindset that refers to the harmony of attitudes and character in humans themselves. These authors seem to want to refer to the concept of the Japanese community initiative with the Society 5.0 era model which not only focuses on technological developments and the opportunities inherent in responsible innovation through maximizing the role of humans. In the era of Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0, there is a great opportunity for business with virtual media through digitalization. This is at the same time able to play an important role in making financial support effective for recovery from the COVID-19 crisis and opening up business opportunities at this time. The following describes the theory of the fifth wave of revolution.

From the picture above (Figure 2), it is known that the first development of human civilization began as the development of society 1.0 with more than 70,000 years at the same time as the start of the Industrial 0.0 era which was marked by an agrarian society. The Industrial Era 1.0 is based on the industrial revolution with a social structure of 3.0 in the 17th to 18th centuries, and then the current era enters the Industry 4.0 era with a 5.0 society order that will last for 20 years starting in the 21st century. Marked by Super Smart Society and Digital Transformation This era has great opportunities in the business world using digital technology. So, it is not surprising that e-digital, e-wallet, e-commerce and so on have emerged. According to Sołtysik & Zdenek (20210 that in this era business opportunities are very large and depend on digital services, with the most popular being applications, websites, and platforms. These business opportunities are directly related mainly to the public sector, such as transportation, education, culture and sports, economy and finance and health. And this business opportunity is not only limited to the domestic area, but can cross geographical boundaries in various countries, including Asia, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, and Eastern Europe, and others. This is because in the Industry 4.0 era which coincides with the era of Society 5.0 which relies on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, big data, etc., both serving women and men, as well as society in general, all of which are connected between regions, between cities and even between cities. between countries between continents without barriers and boundaries, even supported by physical restrictions due to social distancing, it is very likely to use IoT (internet of things) devices and big data as a macro-scale liaison. However, the community still has to be critical and able to adapt (Figure 3). Given the great opportunities in the business sector in this era, the relationship between the Industry 3.0 era (society 4.0) and the society 5.0 era (industrial revolution 4.0) can be described as follows:

From the picture above, it is clear that there are very prominent differences in the two eras, especially in business development and the opportunities that exist in it. In the 4.0 era (Industrial Revolution 3.0) business and economic opportunities involve 5 (five) main elements, namely

1) Economies of scale

2) Uniformity

3) Concentration

4) Vulnerability

5) Mass consumption resources with high environmental impact. Meanwhile, in the era of Society 5.0 (Era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0) it changed from economies of scale to

6) Problem solving and value creation

7) Uniformity into diversity/difference

8) Concentration into locality (decentralization)

9) Vulnerability into resilience

10) Environmental sustainability and balance. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, a good strategy is needed.

To create a good atmosphere and conditions, as well as an accurate strategy, [5,8,19] suggested that during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is marked by the digital era as a manifestation of the Industrial 4.0 era, it is necessary to utilize Artificial Intelligence. Intelligence (AI) which seems to act as a guardian of this new virus is within reasonable limits. AI also has the potential to transform communities into super smart Society 5.0. So it will be very easy if you can make AI a tool for creators and engineers as well as critical, innovative and creative in opening up business opportunities and developing them. In Islam, the world and everything in it are intended for humans, (Q.S. Al-Baqarah, 2: 29). Therefore, it is very possible if the existing opportunities can be realized of course by utilizing science and technology. So, the Society 5.0 era and the Industrial 4.0 era which means the concept of a human-centred (anthropocentric) and technology-based society as well as a concept of solving social problems through a balance of economic progress and solving social problems by using a system that integrates physical space and virtual space while simultaneously prepare human resources to face the challenges of this era through the implementation of Strategic Human Resource Management. The implementation of the HR Strategy in question is the implementation of strategic values, strategic integration, employees as the most valuable, emphasis on support staff management, strengthening management and employee commitment, effective communication, decentralization for empowerment, flexibility and adaptation, creativity and innovation, and obsession. to quality [25]. Business Opportunities in the Industrial Era 4.0 and Society 5.0 during the New Normal Covid-19 Hysa [18] provide enlightenment related to the use of social media as a potential opportunity for sustainable success in business. According to them, during the global COVID-19 pandemic, intensive marketing efforts and strategies to restore sustainable business opportunities are open. In their research, they argue that social media (SM) can significantly support business promotion by guaranteeing the number and types of competitive products. Although the research in Poland used 397 respondents representing the Baby Boomers (BB) group, as well as Generations X, Y, and Z. So, it is very relevant if the use of SM is also used for business people in Indonesia. Moreover, Indonesia, which has a population of more than 260 million people, is a very large market share for the economy and business.

He noted that internet technology has become an important part and brings major changes in human life, especially in Indonesia. According to the survey results of APJII (Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers) for the 2019-2020 (Q3) period, each year has experienced a significant achievement, which is 73.7% of the total population. Apart from the negative impact, economically this opportunity is very large for business people as well as digitalbased business opportunities. Even according to that [7] when the Covid-19 pandemic hit Indonesia in 2020, internet users increased, even though they had to stay at home because of the PSBB, Work From Home (WFH) was enforced by increasing social media users. In 2021 even the Industry 4.0 era, which coincided with the condition of society at level 5.0 during the Covid-19 outbreak, was getting crazier with the new wave of the Covid Delta version in July resulting in the socio-economic impact experiencing a downward trend. Based on data from the Ministry of Health, the spread of the Delta version of Covid-19 in the Industrial 4.0 era (Society Revolution 5.0) has increased significantly (Figure 4).

From the picture above, it can be seen that a sharp increase in the confirmed positive for Covid-19 Delta occurred this July even though the government has successfully carried out stage 1 (38,909, 433) and stage 2 (15,611,554) vaccinations. According to Ranjbari, Esfandabadi & Zanetti (2021) that the COVID-19 pandemic is not only happening in Indonesia but almost all countries. The negative impact continues on the economic, social and environmental sectors. Therefore, they concluded that Covid-19 will continue to exist but what must be done after this Covid-19, especially in the development of sustainable development by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to him, several steps need to be taken, such as a sustainability action plan considering the implications of COVID-19: refining sustainability goals and targets and developing a measurement framework; take advantage of opportunities for a sustainable transition after COVID-19, with a focus on SDG 12 and SDG 9, innovative solutions for economic resilience towards post-COVID-19 sustainability, which are focused on SDG 1, SDG 8, and SDG 17, in-depth analysis of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on social sustainability focusing on SDG 4, SDG 5, and SDG 10; and expanding quantitative research to align sustainability research on COVID-19. The offer of Ranjbari, et al., is certainly very meaningful in creating recovery optimism and looking at business opportunities in the Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 era in the Covid-19 pandemic. Even Di Vaio, Boccia, Landriani & Palladino (2020) in their findings stated that there is an opportunity in this era through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to provide the agri-food industry, as well as the role of stakeholders in its supply chain. Similarly, regulators can take a proactive role in the creation of business value, according to their environmental awareness. Moreover, in Indonesia as an agricultural country, opportunities are very open, MSMEs in every corner of the village, culinary adornments in residential and rural areas. It’s just a matter of how they are empowered by the adoption of renewable technology by serious study and design through a business model approach.

Conclusion

From the explanation above, business opportunities in the Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 era during the Covid-19 pandemic depend on the ability of business people to take advantage of situations and conditions into open opportunities. The existence of internet access based on digitalization technology and artificial intelligence (AI) with the use of IoT is the main supporting element in its success in realizing business opportunities. Through big data as a means for promotion and market share that can be connected between regions, countries and continents, it can be used as a large and broad market share. Paid and free software as a novice business person can be used for its usefulness while improving their soft skills and competencies. Various social media and networks, such as WashCap, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram need to be used as tools for success. Whatever the type of business, starting from culinary, MSMEs, transportation, and other services, as well as various kinds and variety of businesses, they must be innovative, creative and productive. And, policymakers must support and encourage these business actors by providing legal, political and environmental security that is conducive to the growth and development of businesspeople in the Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 era, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially micro-business players, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

#Lupinepublishers #Lupine Publishers Indexing Sites #Cardiovasucular pharmacology

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving Day

A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues. This thanksgiving may you give thanks for everything you are blesses with this happy occasion and wish you lots of happiness!

#happy thanksgiving #happy thanksgiving day #thanksgiving wishes

1 note · View note

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | An Investigation of Turkish Specialist and Practitioner Doctors’ Empathy and Cognitive Flexibility Levels and Interpersonal Relationship Styles

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

The interlocked relationship between mind and body has increasingly resulted in modern medical practices’ use of biopsycho- social and patient-centered models that emphasize various psychological and environmental factors [1-3]. In particular, patientcentered approaches are characterized by a serious consideration of patients’ views, preferences, values, and economic resources [4]. In addition to positively affecting various medical outcomes and patient satisfaction levels, patient-centered approaches have been shown to reduce the use of healthcare services, diagnostic tests, prescription, referral, and hospitalization, along with total annual healthcare expenses [5,6]. Given that visiting a physician may in itself induce considerable worry and anxiety in patients [7], physicians’ interpersonal communication competencies and styles can directly influence patients’ self-expression by providing them with a sense of being listened to and understood, which in turn acts on several factors such as patients’ anxieties about their illness, hope for a cure, and adherence to the treatment [8]. In the treatment of somatic diseases, talking about disease perception reveals the therapeutic effect of talking [9]. In this regard, empathy refers to a “cognitive quality” that by its interpersonal nature involves a physician’s capacity to understand and communicate about patients’ experiences, anxieties, and viewpoints [10,11]. Empathy has been reported to reduce patients’ anxiety and stress levels and to considerably influence positive health outcomes [12]. More specifically, physicians’ empathy has been shown to be significantly associated with diabetes patients’ clinical outcomes and result in shorter periods of the common cold [13-16].

As these studies point to a concrete and measurable effect in the immune system induced by a positively experienced subjective feeling, they further substantiate the strong relationship between mind and body. Among the factors that have transformed the physician-patient relationship from Emanuel’s paternalistic model to a conciliatory model are the rising socioeconomic level with social development, medical technologies that improve the quality of life, the development of patients’ rights, patients’ greater knowledge of their rights, developments in the concept of seeking rights, physicians and patients putting more value on human rights, the widespread implementation of legal responsibilities and sanctions on physicians and patients, legal obligations, the application and dissemination of the understanding of quality in healthcare, rising health literacy, and the existence of complaint mechanisms through communication centers of public institutions [17]. Studies supporting patients’ empathy expectations in Turkey [18-23] as well as focusing on patient-physician communication show that empathy stands out as a very important element, sometimes alone and sometimes together with other variables [24-26].

There are many studies that evaluate empathy education and empathetic attitudes of students in the basic medical education process in medical schools and investigate how empathy can be developed [27-33]. As another significant variable of this study, cognitive flexibility is regarded as a form of fluid intelligence marked by the skill of providing alternative solutions to different situations [34]. This construct is closely related to the neuro-psychological concepts of role- and perspective-taking, which entail numerous cognitive flexibility dimensions such as understanding others, selecting appropriate behavior, thinking about and generating different ideas, possessing a repertoire for different responses, and exchanging ideas with others in decision-making [35]. Literature on cognitive flexibility related to personnel working in the healthcare field is quite limited. A study on nurses found that coping skills and flexibility were positively correlated with psychological adjustment [36]. A study of medical students and residents showed that incorporating cognitive flexibility and perspective-taking skill instruction has implications for reducing conflict and stress, as well as improving wellness levels [37]. Empirical studies demonstrate that increased cognitive flexibility is linked to reduced levels of experiencing social difficulties, stress, depression, anxiety, and rage [38-42]. Conversely, cognitive flexibility has been found to be related to positive personal outcomes such as critical thinking, selfesteem, social skills, self-competence, and coping with stress [43- 45].

Although limited amount of evidence exists in the literature, there are several empirical studies that substantiate the relationship between empathy and cognitive flexibility. In one major example, neurological patients with various etiologies and cerebral lesions were found to manifest significantly lower empathy than healthy normal adults. The same study found significant correlations, ranging from 0.5 to 0.6, between cognitive flexibility and empathy scores [46]. These data support the idea that cognitive thinking may be closely linked to empathic behavior either via granting a precognitive skill or by being part of another common basic process. The present study is designed to make comparisons between Turkish practitioner and specialist physicians in terms of empathy, cognitive flexibility, and interpersonal relations styles. In so doing, it tests the question of whether practitioners’ long-term interactions with their enrolled patients (i.e. spending more time with them, knowing them better) or specialists’ longer training histories are correlated with increased empathy and cognitive flexibility levels.

Methods

Participants

It is included family physicians, who have completed 6 years of medical training and specialists who have completed an additional 5 years. Family physicians see the patients registered with them and specialists see patients who can make an appointment anytime and anywhere. Inclusion criteria for data collection were determined as for specialists who work as clinician. Branches of specialists: 5 orthopedics, 8 chest diseases, 1 neurology, 4 obstetrics, 3 infectious diseases, 2 internal medicine, 1 physical therapy, 1 pediatric, 3 ENT, 2 urology. General practitioner work as clinician. Thus, the sample of the present study comprises 60 participants, i.e. 30 practitioners and 30 specialists. Demographically, 40% of the practitioners and 47% of the specialists were women. Additionally, 90% of the practitioners and 97% of the specialists were married. The age average for practitioners and specialists was 45.5 and 43.2, respectively. As mentioned above, participants’ working posts involved family health centers and state or training and research hospitals. Paper-and-pencil questionnaires were filled out by volunteer participants themselves in the major cities of Istanbul and Ankara between January and April 2019.

The questions that the study aims to measure in terms of the variables included are as follows:

Do long-term interaction and being familiar affect physicians’ interpersonal relationship styles?

Does residency training affect specialist’ relationship styles?

Assessment Instruments

To address its research questions, this research employed the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventor, the Interpersonal Relationship Scale, and a sociodemographic form.

Jefferson scale of physician empathy

The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) is a 20-item, 7-point Likert-type scale. In a sample of medical doctors, its internal consistency was found to be around .80. In the Turkish context, this scale was adapted by Malkondu in 2006 and its validity-reliability study was done on a sample of dentists [47].

Cognitive flexibility inventory

Developed by Dennis and Vander, the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory involves 20 questions and two subscales entitled “alternatives” and “control” [28]. The alternatives subscale comprises 13 items that tap into the extent to which an individual is able to find alternative solutions to difficult conditions or can form alternative explanations for life situations and people’s behaviors. The control subscale is constituted by items that measure to what extent these predicaments can be controlled [48]. The Cronbach’s alpha values for alternatives and control subscale were reported as .91 and .84, respectively. Higher scores are indicative of increased cognitive flexibility [28]. Validity and reliability research for the scale’s Turkish version was undertaken, who found Cronbach’s alpha values of .90 for the whole scale, .89 for the alternatives subscale, and .85 for the control subscale.

Interpersonal relationship scale

Developed by this 31-item, 3-point Likert-type scale assesses individuals’ interaction styles with others. Two subscales measure nurturing and restraining styles, respectively. Nurturing relations involve skills such as expressing one’s needs in an open manner, treating the other person with a respectful and accepting style, and employing a constructivist discourse. Conversely, restraining communication styles are marked by behaviors such as selfrighteousness, condescension, short temper, verbal abuse, and mockery. The scale has been used in many studies and evidence has been obtained that it is valid and reliable [49-52] Subscales for nurturing styles, in turn, tap into open and respective styles, while the restraining styles subscale further comprises egocentric and condescending styles. The internal consistency coefficient for the whole scale was measured as .79. Cronbach’s alpha values for open, respectful, egocentric, and condescending styles were .73, .70, .56, and .78, respectively.

Results

As reassessed from the data, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the empathy scale turned out to be .847, while the cognitive flexibility subscales of control and alternatives had internal consistency values of .653 and .749, respectively. The interpersonal relationship subscales’ alpha coefficients ranged from 0.653 to 0.749. In terms of between-group comparisons, Mann-Whitney U tests indicated that, although specialists’ empathy level was higher than practitioners, the difference was not statistically significant. With respect to cognitive flexibility comparisons, Mann-Whitney U and t-tests substantiated that only the cognitive flexibilityalternatives subscale was significantly higher in specialists than practitioners. The associated values for these comparisons are shown in Tables 1,2. Interpersonal relationship style comparisons centered on nurturing (open-respectful) and restraining (ego centric-condescending) styles. As scores for open and egocentric styles were normally distributed for both groups, t-tests were employed for comparisons. Conversely, distributions for respectful and condescending styles were not normally distributed. Thus, the Mann-Whitney U test was preferred for comparisons in these domains. Accordingly, results indicated that specialists received significantly higher scores than practitioners in nurturing styles and significantly lower scores in restraining styles [Table 3].

According to Mann-Whitney U and t-tests, significant differences were found in terms of open, respectful, and condescending styles between practitioners and specialists. Specifically, specialists displayed higher open and respectful style scores and lower condescending style scores.

Spearman-Brown correlational analyses revealed a significant positive association between empathy and cognitive flexibility for practitioners. Similarly, for this group, the relationship between empathy and respectful relationship styles was also significantly positive, while the correlation between empathy and condescending styles was significantly negative [Table 4]. Specialists’ correlations between empathy and cognitive flexibility and relationship styles were not significant [Table 5]. Regarding correlations between cognitive flexibility and relationship styles, for practitioners, control and alternatives subscales were moderately associated with respectful styles. For specialists, cognitive and alternatives subscales were significantly related to open styles. For this group, an alternatives subscale was also moderately related to respectful styles. These significant positive associations are shown in Tables 6 and 7, respectively. Gender and marital status were not significantly related to specialists’ or practitioners’ empathy tendencies, relationship styles, cognitive flexibility total, or subscale scores. For practitioners, having longer careers contributed significantly to increased empathy, cognitive flexibility levels, and nurturing styles. For this group, age and cognitive flexibility was also positively related. For specialists, age and working duration were not significantly correlated with empathy levels, relationship styles, or cognitive flexibility levels. These results are shown in Table 8. According to the Spearman-Brown analysis, significant moderate associations were found between cognitive flexibility alternatives and respectful and condescending styles that were positive and negative in nature, respectively. There was also a positive moderate correlation between cognitive flexibility control and respectful style.

Discussion and Conclusion

Discussion

Findings revealed specialists’ empathy and cognitive flexibility scores were generally higher than practitioners’, yet the only statistically significant dimension was cognitive flexibilityalternatives in specialists.

In interpersonal relations, significant differences in terms of open, respectful, and condescending communication styles demonstrated that, compared to practitioners, specialist physicians were again more competent in these areas. These findings do not corroborate our tentative assumption when undertaking the study, namely that due to familiarity and longer interactions with their patients, practitioners should exhibit higher empathy, cognitive flexibility, and communication competence. Our particular pattern may have stemmed from various factors: First, with respect to cognitive flexibility, due to certain preexisting cognitive skills, individuals who become specialists may be predisposed to more competently assess alternatives in particular situations and problems. Indeed, [53] proposed that the predominant characteristic of experts is the ability to manipulate versatile mental representations, which in turn enables them to adapt better to environmental changes and use their knowledge more efficiently among different tasks. Alternatively, one may consider the effect of specialists’ education in terms of both different cognitive skills acquired and being exposed to courses on patient-doctor interactions. It is conceivable that different specialist branches, the cultures of hospitals and medical schools, socioeconomic status, or even cities of residence may play a role in augmenting or hindering cognitive flexibility, empathy, and interpersonal relationship style. In this regard, future studies may include these variables to determine both their unique and interactive effects for various professionals in the medical field.

Although not displaying a statistically significant difference, higher empathy levels and interpersonal relations competence of specialists may be linked to particular predicaments of the medical system in Turkey. In Turkey, practitioners regularly receive a burdensome number of registered patients. In this sense, it is reasonable to suggest that practitioners may have developed certain emotive strategies to mitigate the emotional burden that accompanies personal interactions with their patients. Alternatively, the mundane and repetitive tasks of referrals to specialists and renewing prescriptions may also hamper the tendency to develop a genuinely empathetic understanding of patients’ problems and emotional states. Conversely, specialists in Turkey accept additional patients in return for extra income, which offers them an opportunity to control the overburden they experience. These points highlight the importance of considering the significant role that the nature of healthcare systems may play in determining the quality of interpersonal communication and empathetic interaction. It is particularly telling that both specialist and practitioner empathy scores in Turkey are well below those reported by international studies, which lends support to the idea that predicaments in healthcare systems may greatly compromise cognitive flexibility and empathy. As compared to our scores of 101.30 for specialists and 97.63 for practitioners. Reported international physicians’ empathy levels in human-centered and technology-centered specialty fields as 112.9 and 106.9, respectively. Average physician empathy levels were found to be 120 in the United States [54-60].

In another major finding, in a practitioner sample within group analyses, the present study substantiated empathy’s significant relation to cognitive flexibility and interpersonal relations. These findings resonate with a prior study on Turkish university students [52] in which, as in this study too, empathy was found to be positively associated with open and respectful styles and negatively linked to condescending styles. Since in our study, empathy in specialists was not correlated to cognitive flexibility or communication style, one may consider the idea that, for specialists, the more intermittent and impersonal nature of doctor-patient interactions in the Turkish healthcare system enables the acquisition of satisfactory communication skills mainly via cognitive skills. Conversely, for health professionals such as practitioners and nurses who interact more closely with patients, communication skills may be induced mainly along the path of empathy.

Notwithstanding fields or branches among health professionals, the present study can be considered a noteworthy contribution to international research that investigates questions regarding empathy, cognitive skills, communication, and patient outcomes for healthcare professionals and workers at large. Indeed, a recent upsurge in international studies started to increasingly point to relations of these kinds. To give a few examples, prior research found a positive relationship between empathy and interpersonal relations in nursing students [61,62] and similarly posited positive relationships among empathy, perspective-taking, nurturing care, and friendly-harmonious relationship types in medical students [63]. Recently a strong relationship was suggested between empathic thinking and perspective-taking [64]. Hence, the present study lends support to the idea that the empathic and communicational skills of medical professionals should be one of the major avenues of research for promoting patient outcomes [65- 67].

This study offers ideas as to why training intervention is needed to improve communication and interpersonal relationships, and also includes suggestions about what the training program should cover. Some limitations should also be noted. The rather small sample sizes, including 30 participants for each group, and nonrandom, voluntary sampling procedures in this study should be considered caveats preventing satisfactory representativeness and generalizations around the globe. Additionally, variables such as doctors’ and patients’ personality traits and cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds were excluded from analyses. Lastly, our measuring instruments relied on self-report scales and are thus subject to biases rooted in the conveyance of subjective experience. These points should be taken into account by researchers while drawing cautious inferences for future research studies.

Conclusion

All in all, this study provides support to bio-psycho-social model patient-centered approaches and suggests their adoption positively influences patients’ psychological, mental, and physical health. Hence, the cultivation of an understanding recognizing the importance of interpersonal relations, communication skills, and interaction between the mind and body seems to be a worthwhile endeavor in the medical field. The long-term articulation of costeffective methods in healthcare systems – primarily training in factors promoting interpersonal relationships such as empathy and cognitive flexibility – would positively contribute to more efficient processes of diagnosis and therapy based on fulfilling interactions between physicians and patients.

#Lupine Publishers Group #Lupine publishers #clinical psychology

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Generalisation Abilities of Learned Tasks in Horses (Equus Caballus) are Influenced by the Experimental Context

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

The generalisation of responses to different stimuli depends on the ability to create associations between stimuli. Stimulus generalisation can be performed for different stimuli or for different contexts in which the same stimulus is perceived. This study investigated the stimulus-generalisation abilities of horses in different contexts. Sixteen horses were involved in this study. During the learning activity (LA), horses were given the chance to choose between two geometrical figures (a triangle and a circle) to obtain a food reward; the circle always corresponded to the correct choice. The rule was considered learned if a horse was correct more than 70% of the time and made 4 consecutive correct choices. Then, a generalisation test (GT) with ten devices (5 circles, 5 triangles) was created to test generalisation. Only eleven horses respected the learning criteria and were included in the generalisation test. A significant difference in the number of correct choices between the learning activity and the generalisation test was observed (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, S=-33; p=0.001; LA: median=6, min=3, max=9; GT: median=3, min=0, max=5). There was no significant difference in the number of incorrect choices between the two tests (Student’s t test, t=-0.91; DF=10; p=0.384). A significant difference in the total number of choices between the two tests was observed (Student’s t test, t=2.56; DF=10; p<0.05). This experiment suggested limits in the capacity of horses to generalise a well-known task in different contexts. Because horses are often exposed to different environments or contexts, these results provide interesting and applicable knowledge for equine training and management.

Keywords: Behaviour; Equine Management; Generalisation; Horse; Learning; Welfare

Introduction

Horses are involved in many activities that have evolved over time and have changed the human-horse relationship [1]. Currently, horses perform sports and work activities that require adaptation to different contexts [2,3]. Horses are continuously challenged from physical and psychological perspectives and need to understand information provided by different persons or in different contexts [3,4]. To succeed in equitation, horses must learn different categories of exercises that are demanded by riders [5]. However, rider weight and posture, as well as the intensity applied to cues, are variable, which often results in differences in the information perceived by the horse [6]. Nevertheless, horses have an incredible behavioural flexibility that allows them to adapt their responses to the intensities of the cues given by different riders [7-10]. In addition, horses are athletes that often participate in competitions. Competition has been shown to induce physiological modifications in horses related to stress [5-11]. In competition, riders expect their horses to ignore external stimuli and to perform as usual in response to trained cues, which requires horses to generalise those cues from a training environment to a new context with multiple stimuli, such as the presence of the public [11]. The same situation might happen each time horses experience a change of ownership or a change in their living conditions [12]. To summarise, equine living conditions, training and competitions are full of different stimuli that challenge horses’ coping strategies [13-15]. In this context, it is important to understand that the generalisation of a stimulus implies that animals can form associations between different stimuli (Nicol, 2005). Horses are requested to generalise their responses to different stimuli over training, either through positive or negative reinforcement [7]. Stimulus generalisation could be performed from a group of stimuli with some similarities (e.g.: curved shapes) to a novel stimulus, which share the same similarities (e.g.: a circle) [16]. However, stimulus generalisation may also occur as the generalisation of a defined stimulus to different contexts [17]. Stimulus generalisation to new contexts appears to be difficult for horses [18-20].

Hence, the generalisation of a well-known stimulus to different stimuli is a factor in equine management and welfare [5]. This means that providing more efficient and reliable training methods for riders and owners can increase the welfare of horses [6,11]. Therefore, to efficiently improve horse welfare in equine husbandry and training, riders and owners should learn from scientific knowledge instead of following common beliefs [15]. The present study aimed to investigate the ability of equines to generalise a learned task, based on the same rule, to different contexts. We hypothesised that horses would show the generalisation of a learned stimulus to a novel test in a different setting.

Methods

Subjects

Sixteen horses (11 geldings; 5 females) older than eighteen months (11.5 ± 6.14 years) were involved in this study. All horses participated in equestrian activities on a daily basis. A visual examination was performed by a veterinary doctor to ensure that none of the animals had vision issues that could impair the tests. This study was divided into two learning events. All animals were submitted to a learning activity (LA), which was a reproduction of the test used. The LA intended to show the discriminative rule to the horses, enabling the selection of a population of horses that understood the rule before performing the second test. The discriminative rule was considered learned if a horse was correct more than 70% of the time and made 4 consecutive correct choices. Only horses that respected these criteria were included in the second test, which was a generalisation test (GT).

Material

“Philbox”, the dispositive adapted and he was used for the LA in this experiment (Figure 1). The device consisted of two white panels; removable black shapes (a circle or a triangle) could be placed in front of the panels, and a hidden operator could insert treats on a food tray through a hole under each shape. A second operator led the horses to the panels. Ten “Pesadelo” devices were created to test the equine generalisation abilities (Figure 2). Each of these devices included a tilting mechanism, with one black shape painted on a white panel on the top (5 had a circle, and 5 had a triangle) and an inverted container on the bottom. Treats were placed in the containers, which each had a cover. For all devices marked by a circle, this cover was pierced such that the treats fell on the ground when the animals pushed or pulled the panel. For devices marked by a triangle, the cover was intact, so the treats did not fall when the animal pushed or pulled the panel. Some holes were created on the container to ensure that both devices had the same odour, regardless of cover type. There was a tray under each container. No operators were needed to run this device.

Figure 1: Philbox. The Philbox is a modified device for performing cognitive tests. The Philbox includes two removable geometrical shapes (circle and triangle) and a hidden operator who provides treats when the animals touch the panel with the correct shape.

Figure 2: Pesadelo. A Pesadelo is a device created to perform cognitive tests. The device includes a tilting mechanism with a shape-marked panel on one side and a treat in a container on the other side. To obtain the treat, a horse must push the panel (circle or triangle), such that the shape-marked panel tilts down and forward, the container tilts up and backward, and the treat drops onto the floor.

Procedure

A habituation session to the Philbox device was performed, as described. The setting was presented to the subjects, and spontaneous approaches and interactions with the device were rewarded with a treat. The session consisted of twelve efforts with the shapes removed from the devices. The initial phase of the session included 6 attempts (3 on the right and 3 on the left) using a treat on the panels as a lure; an additional reward was given each time the horses touched the panels. The horses then made 6 more attempts, for which they received a reward only upon touching the panels. A habituation session for the Pesadelo device was also performed to show horses the mechanism of pushing/pulling the panel to obtain treats. For this session, two devices with the shape panel replaced by a whole white panel were used. Horses were given 3 minutes of free contact with the two devices, in which any spontaneous contact with the panel was reinforced with a treat that felt from the container. For this purpose, each time a horse obtained a treat, an operator led the horse to the other device, while a second operator refilled the empty container with treats.

The LA were performed using the Philbox device and lasted five minutes for each horse. Horses had the possibility to choose between the shapes and received a reward (food treat) upon touching the correct shape (always the circle) with their noses (positive reinforcement). The development of a side preference was avoided by following predefined sequences of four figures, with a randomised order of appearance, thus avoiding any recognisable pattern. In addition, a food treat was hidden behind each shape to provide the same olfactory cue for both the circle and triangle. There was no limit to the number of attempts horses could perform during the 5 minutes of the test. Once a choice was made, horses were walked around by the operator and returned to the starting position. Thus, the horses that made choices faster could perform more attempts during the 5 minutes of the test. Each horse was led to a distance of 1.5 metres in front of the panels and then freed to interact with the setting. The operator stopped at 1.5 metres, stayed in a neutral position, and did not interact with the animal until a choice was made. Horses that made 70% or more correct choices, with at least 4 consecutive correct choices, were subsequently included in the GT. There was a time lapse of 48 hours between the two tests for all horses. The GT lasted 5 minutes for each horse. The setting consisted of ten Pesadelo devices (5 circles and 5 triangles) placed in a controlled testing area inside of a riding arena (Figure 3). Each device provided only one treat. The devices were randomly positioned in the setting area to permit the horse to easily access the two options (triangle and circle). Each horse was completely free in the testing area, and the operator left the riding arena and the visual field of the horse. The performance parameters for both tests included correct and incorrect choices and the total number of choices. For the GT, a choice was considered correct both the first and second time a horse pushed/pulled the same panel with a circle, even if the treat reward was only achieved during the first interaction. The same rule was applied for incorrect choices. If the horse returned to the same device a third time, that choice was not considered, neither correct or incorrect. Each horse was considered its own control.

Figure 3: Generalisation test setting. Ten Pesadelo devices were positioned in a controlled area to test equine generalisation capacities.

Statistical Analysis

Statistical analysis was carried out using 9.4 SAS software (2002-2012 by SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA). The significance threshold was classically fixed at 5%. Comparisons among the horses’ performances during the LA and the GT involved paired samples. To use the paired Student’s t test, normality was tested on the difference of the results in the LA and in the GT for the following parameters: “correct choices”, “incorrect choices” and “total number of choices”. For the “correct choices”, assumption of normality was not verified, so the non-parametric signed-rank Wilcoxon test was preferred. Normality was verified for “incorrect choices” and “total number of choices”; hence, the parametric Student t test was used.

Results

From the 16 initial horses, five did not learn the discriminative rule, so they were not included in the GT. The final population of horses comprised 11 subjects (7 geldings; 4 females). Only these horses were considered for the statistical analysis. Figure 4 compares these horses’ performances between the two tests. A significant difference in the number of correct choices between the learning activity and the generalisation test was observed (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, S=-33; p=0.001; LA: median=6, min=3, max=9; GT: median=3, min=0, max=5). Horses made two times fewer correct choices in the GT than in the LA. There was no significant difference in the number of incorrect choices between the two tests (Student’s t test, t=-0.91; DF=10; p=0.384).

Figure 4: Comparison of horses’ performances in the two tests (mean ± SD of choices). The learning activity is represented by light grey, and the generalisation test is represented by dark grey. ***: highly significant p-value, p=0.001; *: significant p-value, p<0.05.

A significant difference was observed in the total number of choices between the two tests, (Student’s t test, t=2.56; DF=10; p<0.05). Horses made a greater number of choices in the LA than in the GT.

Discussion and Conclusion

This experiment showed that horses who learned a specific discrimination task had a lower performance when the task was presented for the first time in a different context and setting. This result was emphasised by the decrease in the total number of choices and the number of correct choices between the learning and the GTs. The absence of a significant difference in the incorrect choices between the tests was probably related to the reduced total number of choices in the GT when compared to the LA. Horses made fewer attempts in the GT and often chose the wrong shape or device. The decrease in the horses’ performance between tests suggests that the generalisation of a learned task between contexts might require training and repetition. Even if the discriminative rule had been the same in both tests, the setting was completely different. The GT involved a three-dimensional setting with multiple devices, with only one positive reinforcement per device. For the LA, horses had panels simultaneously presenting all possible choices in their visual field, while for the GT, it was essential for horses to walk between the devices to reach all of them. The new context of the test can have impacted the performance in the GT. In addition, for the LA, an operator was always present. His presence could have represented a help for the animal. However, in our study, the operators were trained to stay in a neutral position and avoid any interaction with the horses to prevent them from influencing the horses’ choices. One could argue that the time (i.e. 48h) between tests could have a role in memorisation and, consequently, the generalisation of the rule. Nevertheless, memory in horses seems to be reliable and longlasting through life, as described by Hanggi and Ingersoll (2009).

Our results differ from those of Christensen et al. (2008), who conducted a study in which horses were submitted to a GT between stationary objects of the same colour with varying shapes in the same setting conditions. That study changed the rewarded shape between tests, while in the present study, the rewarded shape (the circle) remained the same between tests, but the setting was changed. Therefore, the generalisation of a well-known stimulus might depend on the context and environment [20]. This hypothesis is supported by the results, who created a setting with a lever near two buckets in an area open to horses. Horses learned that once they pressed the lever, they could have a food reward. Then, in a Y-maze test, a lever pointed to the direction of the correct side of the maze, where horses could find a food reward. They found that horses’ performance decreased from the bucket test to the Y-maze test. Even if the rule, i.e. the presence of a lever, was the same to obtain a food reward in both tests, the manner to follow the rule was different. Indeed, horses are accustomed to exploring new objects by touching or licking them; therefore, the exploratory behaviour of horses may have spontaneously provided the manners to use the lever to get a reward. However, in the Y-maze, this natural behaviour does not lead to any reward, so horses probably needed to find new coping strategies, which requires time and experience. Conversely, in our study, horses could obtain the reward by following the same rule with the same manner in the two tests, i.e. by pressing on a circle, which provided the same reliable information that horses could use for both tests. We observed a decrease in horses’ performances between the two tests, indicating that context features other than the manner to follow the rule can influence the generalisation abilities of horses.

Research findings are of great importance and should be considered in equine welfare and management because these findings often contradict commonly held beliefs about equine cognition and learning abilities [10-16]. Horses are part of a worldwide market and are moved across countries, which often implies regrouping with other conspecifics [18].

The ease of habituation to new living conditions is a serious welfare concern in horses that often results in misunderstandings in the human-horse relationship [4,6]. For example, if a horse is moved to novel husbandry conditions, its behavioural response to a well-known stimulus and the resulting coping strategies could be different from the original response and strategies, and these differences could be justified by the context modification, regardless of the horse’s previous habituation to that stimulus. The same problem could occur during competition because horses must perform previously learned exercises in new contexts [5]. In conclusion, this experiment suggested some limits in the capacity of horses to generalise a well-known task to different contexts. This study demonstrated that horses’ perception of different stimuli is context specific. Increasing our knowledge about the generalisation abilities of these animals is of great importance to improve equine management and training. Further research is still needed to fully understand horses’ generalisation abilities, especially focusing on the ability to generalise similar information in the same context, and to measure the influence of this ability on equine management and training.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/generalisation-abilities-of-learned-tasks-in-horses.ID.000214.php

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000214.pdf

For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://lupinepublishersgroup.com/ For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Please Click Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupinepublishers #Lupine Publishers Indexing Sites #Lupine Publishers Group

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Robots Among Us: Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Kazuo Ishiguro won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Literature. The award citation said of him that “in his novels of great emotional force, he has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world” [1]. Four years later, his most recent novel, Klara and the Sun [2] was published. It is not about any kind of abyss. It is about connections among us humans, and also with other kinds of being. Although its protagonist, Klara, is a robot, this novel is far more psychological than some of the papers that are published in psychology journals. As with solar panels, Klara is powered by the Sun, an entity that not only provides her with electrical energy to move and think, but comes to take on, for her, a god-like significance. What, then, is the difference between her and biologically based human beings?

Robots and Artificial Intelligence

As we think about robots, we generally consider them to be artificial, made from silicon. But this isn’t the only kind of robot. In The Robot’s Rebellion [3], Keith Stanovich has pointed out that we humans are also robots. The genes, which we tend to think of as “ours,” are not really ours at all. It is we who are their vehicles. Genes have programmed us to carry them along and nourish them, so that they can reproduce and proliferate. It’s not gods that are immortal, it’s these strands of DNA: the genes. So, as Stanovich proposes, we need to rebel, not just allow ourselves to be programmed by genes but, instead, to make our own human decisions. Ishiguro’s novel is about what kind of decisions we make for ourselves and others, and for what purposes. It prompts us towards thinking: what, or who, is a robot? What does it mean to be a human? What does it mean to understand someone fully, and to love them? Some people have wondered whether robots based in artificial intelligence (AI) will not just learn but will do so better than any other kind of being and, in this way, become more intelligent that humans, and perhaps take over the world. Looking back through history, with its wars and colonialism, thinking about income inequality and climate change, we may wonder how well we humans have done, in charge of the world: not nearly as well as we might have wished. But, with the coming of more effective forms of artificial intelligence, including “Deep Learning,” in which computational artificially intelligent systems do not need to be trained, but construct intuitions by taking in many examples from which they change their systems’ inter-neural connections [4], perhaps we might collaborate with them and learn, ourselves, to think more clearly. The physicist Stephen Hawking has said that “Success in creating AI would be the biggest event in human history. It might also be the last, unless we learn how to avoid the risks” [5].

Perhaps this idea of artificial robots taking over the world is a Western view. Another view is, as Ishiguro suggests, that robots might be our friends. The emergency room physician, Brian Goldman, wrote a book called The Power of Kindness [6]. In one chapter he describes a visit he made to Japan, to investigate the making of robots who look after people who can’t look after themselves. With increased numbers of such people, as many of us become older, when diseases that used to kill us become chronic disabilities, more of us need to be cared for. These robots don’t just do physical tasks. The designers are striving to enable them to hold conversations in the way that people do, as Klara does in Ishiguro’s novel. Goldman said that he went to Japan in search of empathetic androids. What he found were kind people, working to produce kind robots. Might it be, perhaps, that this kind of influence from Japan, where Ishiguro lived until he was five years old, when he and his Japanese parents moved to Britain, became part of his idea of the novel about Klara: an AF: “Artificial Friend.” Here the question is not whether we humans might be annihilated by a form of artificial life, but what it is to be a friend, what it is to love someone. In the novel, the artificial friend, Klara is purchased by the mother of a teenager called Josie. The two of them live together, and after her morning cup of coffee, Mother (capital M in this novel) goes to work each day. And that is why, Josie needs someone to be her companion and friend. This someone is Klara. She looks like a human being. She is intelligent, perceptive of what occurs in the world, and very good at understanding people. A fascinating feature of this novel is its depiction of Klara’s thought patterns and observations. Klara comes to love Josie, as if from the inside, and would do anything for her. We see how the two of them get on extremely well together. We readers also form a close attachment with Klara, and, because of this, the last part of this novel is emotionally moving.

Gene Editing

At one of the novel’s turning points, Josie starts to become sick. Her physical condition deteriorates. The reason for this, perhaps, although readers are not told explicitly, is that she has been “lifted.” The term is first mentioned well into the novel, and it is never explained. What it seems to mean is that some children have, perhaps after their parents have paid a great deal of money, been genetically engineered to make them more intelligent than other children. The ones who have had this operation, are rather pleased with themselves and tend to look down on those who have not. It seems likely, however, that this piece of genetic engineering can make some of them vulnerable: liable to become sick, and even to die. As this starts to occur with Josie, Klara prays fervently to the Sun, and tries to think of ways to save Josie. Artificial intelligence has now been around for several decades. Genetic engineering is more recent. Alongside the issue of whether artificially intelligent robots might come to live on this planet, this newer question has occurred: might human children have their intelligence lifted? Could they have their abilities improved by means of genetic alterations? And would this be for everyone, or just for children of very wealthy parents? A pioneer of genetic engineering, also a winner of a Nobel Prize, in this case in 2020, for Chemistry, is Jennifer Daudna. Along with her collaborator, Emmanuelle Charpentier, she discovered “the CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors. Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision” [7]. Animals include human beings. A biography of Daudna has been published this year, by Walter Isaacson: The Code Breaker: Jennifer Daudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race [8]. In Ishiguro’s novel, what is Josie’s Mother to do, as her daughter becomes more and more ill? She begins to have a physical model built of Josie. It looks exactly like her with working limbs and other parts. At the same time, Klara is tested to see whether, with her keen observational skills, she really knows Josie from the inside. She does. The idea, then, is that if Josie were to die, then the computational parts of Klara, which have come to know Josie, would be extracted and inserted into the working physical model of Josie’s body. What, or who, might emerge would be a completely new Josie, without illness, who would have her forebear’s style of movement and facial expressions, her thoughts, her words. In this way perhaps many people might not be able to tell the difference between the artificial Josie and the one who is likely to die. Many people? Including her Mother? Or would something necessarily be left out? If so, what might that be?

Acknowledgement

thank Alison Fleming for reading this review and making a thoughtful suggestion.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000211.pdf

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/robots-among-us-kazuo-ishiguro%E2%80%99s-klara-and-the-sun.ID.000211.php

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine Publishers Group #Lupine publishers #Lupinepublishers

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | History, Historians and Anthropocene

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself- Rachel Carson. The Anthropocene is a generally accepted framework for describing the planet we now live in. The Anthropocene is a crucial paradigm for addressing environmental challenges in scientific, political, and ethical arguments. Its major contribution is a scientific, and hence non-normative, the hypothesis of man-made global warming. The assumed connection of man and environment provides a systemic perspective.

Holocene or Anthropocene?

The Holocene epoch relates to the fast proliferation, expansion, and global effect of humans, encompassing all its recorded history, technological revolutions, the emergence of major civilizations, and the overall considerable change to urban existence in the present. Sir Charles Lyell seems to have proposed the word Holocene in 1833, and it was adopted by the International Geology Congress in Bologna in 1885, referring to the post-glacial geological age of the past 10 to 12 thousand years of history. The Anthropocene has surpassed the Holocene as the most recent geological period. Since the year 2000, the notion of the Anthropocene has dominated discussion in practically every academic subject [1-4], including the humanities and social sciences, and has evolved into an inter-and transdisciplinary study area. It has also dissolved long-standing humanities divisions that have affected this discipline, such as those between ‘nature’ and ‘history,’ and ‘geological’ and ‘human.’ Furthermore, when previous ideas of human purpose, temporality, and collective memory- all of which are vital to historical inquirydeteriorate, historians must create new and crucial frameworks connecting the past and present to make sense of our future. At the very least, the term ‘Anthropocene’ sounded academic, combining Anthropos, the Greek word for ‘human,’ with ‘cene,’ the suffix used in geological period names [5]. The Anthropocene is a term from the Holocene Era that refers to the current evolutionary stage in which humans have become a significant factor in world activities.

Histories of the Anthropocene

The study of history is based on the concept that human history has a particular consistency that connects our past, present, and future. In our usual creative universe, we typically envisage the future using the same conceptual framework that allows us to comprehend the past. History of climate is the study of historical variations in climate and their impact on civilization from the advent of hominins to the present. This contrasts with palaeoclimatology, which studies climate change throughout Earth’s history. These historical effects of climate change may either improve human existence and lead society to thrive, or they can play a role in civilization’s eventual demise. Scholars have been hesitant to formally identify the Anthropocene as a new epoch, despite a huge increase in research over the last two decades. The difficulty in determining the beginning point is likely the most powerful argument, but issues about the human being, anthropocentrism and the validity of metaphors have also prompted many scientists to question the classification’s efficiency [6]. The Anthropocene’s projected ages, on the other hand, range from 50 to 10,000 years. The word “Anthropocene” was invented by Eugene Stoermer in the early 1980s, but it only acquired general acceptance in the scientific world until Dutch atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen supported it in 2000. It occurs throughout the Holocene, a roughly 12,000-year period of growing natural stability during which varied human communities evolved.

The shift from the Holocene to the Anthropocene, unlike any previous geological shift, is driven by the purposeful behaviour of sentient creatures: ‘This is not merely an environmental disaster; it is a volcanic change induced by people.’ As a result, the notion of the Anthropocene implies that the history of human civilizations is inextricably linked to the history of the climate. History and geology are inextricably linked, posing a significant intellectual problem for the humanities. The Anthropocene hypothesis has become a solid, discussed phrase in the humanities and social sciences, bringing up new ways of thinking about humans, environmental communities, energy production, interactions with non-human life, confrontation, the social, and the presence of the past [7-9]. When academicians and other social scientists started studying globalization in the late 1980s and early 1990s, climate change became widely accepted in the public realm. While the Marxist critique of capital, subaltern studies, Indigenous science, and post-colonial criticism have all been enormously helpful in analysing globalization during the past twenty-five years, they have not fully equipped us to make sense of the ecological crisis in which humanity now finds itself. Joseph Needham, a physicist, and historian who had studied extensively in China, explored methods to break down boundaries and proposed a venture that highlighted all cultures’ reciprocal reliance.

The Anthropocene Controversy

We may make the case for the Anthropocene by stating that humans have depleted 40% of the world’s petroleum reserves during the previous few hundred years. This work has taken ages, if not millennia, to complete. Human activity has significantly altered approximately half of the Earth’s terrestrial area, generating biodiversity shifts [10,11], nutrient cycle, and soil, climatic, and environmental changes. Synthetic nitrogen fixation is currently fixing more nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems than all-natural processes combined. People use half of all freshwaters, which is quickly dwindling in many areas. Some scientists think that the Anthropocene began in the late eighteenth century, when analyses of air trapped in polar ice indicated the beginning of increased global carbon dioxide and methane emissions. This day also happens to coincide with the creation of the steam engine. According to the WGA (Working Group on the Anthropocene), the Anthropocene Period began in 1950, because of nuclear testing, the discovery of plastics, and the exponential demographic rise of the human population. The Post-Anthropocene epoch is also known as the Plutocene epoch. Despite significant advances in the study over the previous century [5], we are still a long way from understanding nature. The Anthropocene debate is the peak of Nature/Society duality. And, though the Anthropocene is inadequate as a historical rather than geological assertion, it is always an argument worth considering. A sequence of early steps results in the emergence of new concepts. On the way to a new synthesis, there are various philosophical detours. Without a question, the Anthropocene definition is the most impactful of these compromises. No other theory based on historical transition has had such a broad influence throughout the Green Thought continuum; no other socioecological notion has piqued the public’s curiosity.

Anthropocene and Health

Go to

The fast expansion of the human population and human activities is producing a problem: the increasing pressure is disrupting important biophysical Earth systems and producing environmental changes that are detrimental and disastrous to human well-being. The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change report for 2019 shows how planetary health is evolving in the ecological, social, and human health realms.

Conclusion

If you assume that humans are the only species deserving of consideration, you have not comprehended Darwin’s revelation that we are but are no longer aware of our function in the environment. People’s ability to affect change at such a large scale and such a rapid pace were unparalleled. The rate at which these changes occur spans from decades to centuries, as opposed to hundreds to thousands of years for analogous transitions in Earth’s natural dynamics. The Anthropocene must be part of our lexicon if we acknowledge that not all men are equal contributors to our global ailments and that many are victims. We know who we are, what we do, and what our duties are as a community.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000210.pdf

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/history-historians-and-anthropocene.ID.000210.php

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine Publishers Group #Lupine publishers #lupine publishers indexing Journals

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers |Public Health Followership During Covid19: Are followers more dangerous than their leaders?

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

The Covid19 pandemic has been a hybrid of 3 components, a highly contagious virus SARSCov2 [1], a culture of fear leading to risk aversion [2], and an escalating sovereign debt overhang [3] risking austerity and loss of ‘non-viable’ jobs. Currently a ‘second wave’ involving all three components is underway. Followership is a recent notion within the leadership genre [4], with recent literature emphasising the effect followers have on moderating behaviour of leaders, through a combination of stable and dynamic factors, in keeping with the social impact theory [5]. Followers are expected to cultivate aptitudes to function in a subordinate role, whilst assisting ‘the Leader’ in enacting his or her wishes. Historically followers were volunteers to a cause, for example ‘people of the way’ who followed the teachings of Jesus, accepting the task of persuading others towards ‘God’s kingdom on earth’ There was no expectation of monetary or social gain, but a real risk of martyrdom [6]. However, over the last century followership has become professionalised, for example in medicine [7], with followers seeking employment in public services, charities or academia; motivated by monetary and career ambitions including the prospect of civic honours. Despite senior followers often having specialist expertise, which leaders have to depend on, they can suffer reputational damage on being demoted or transferred from their post if found wanting. In return, it is [or at least was], expected for leaders to ‘carry the can’ when actions by followers caused unfortunate outcomes. Consequently, relationships between leaders and their followers can be tense or ambivalent [8].

Known Knowns

Prior to Covid19, western governments had developed elaborate plans to manage pandemics. Early intervention was seen as crucial for avoiding exponential contagion and associated economic losses. Furthermore, ‘event 201’ - a scenario-based exercise was conducted in October 2019 organised by the World Economic Forum, the Gates Foundation and the Johns Hopkins University. This meeting concluded that robust organisational links should be created between public health agencies, universities and private logistics firms [9]. However, despite attendance of senior bureaucrats from all relevant stakeholders, no follow-through occurred; perhaps due to recent pandemics [SARS and EBOLA] petering out with negligible western deaths, probably compounded by public health bodies undergoing ‘restructuring’ with associated job insecurity.

Unknown Knowns [Pre-Covid19]

Leadership training in public services have tended to involve ‘in house’ expertise, rarely utilising insights from the financial sector. One key market risk analyst is Nasim Taleb; who coined the term ‘black swan’; events which are completely unpredictable but highly consequential, bursting bubbles of irrational investment; leading to major restructuring of businesses and public sector organisations. Taleb went on to write a follow up book; ‘Antifragilie; the things that gain from disorder’ [10]; the idea being that unexpected disruption revels fragile teams and organisations; which typically fold at an early stage during a black swan event, whereas other teams and organisations survive and thrive. Public services, charities and academia have largely ignored Taleb’s work, perhaps considering themselves protected from market forces, with posts guaranteed through public funding. Although these organisations have repeatedly discussed the need for ‘transformation’, this has not involved building antifragility. Furthermore, there is limited recognition that talented staff move jobs, to work with antifragilie minded teams and leaders.

On selection of senior followers, Warren Buffet [Berkshire Hathaway Investments] described his strategy in recruiting senior staff being based on 3 values; energy, intelligence and, most of all, integrity [11], suggesting that recruits without integrity could ‘kill’ organisations. Integrity, defined by C.S. Lewis as ‘doing the right thing when no one is watching’, is arguably not necessarily a quality foremost in public sector recruitment, where a talent to cut costs and capacity to remain ‘on message’ perhaps being more sought after. The other book relevant to followership is by Paul Babiac and Robert Hare; ‘Snakes in suits; when psychopaths go to work’ [12]. They describe 2 types of damaging followers, firstly those who use the organisational hierarchy to maximise power, and secondly, ‘enablers’ who enforce instructions of their leaders using bullying [13]. The consequences of these individuals include loss of trust between employees, loss of productivity and litigation when evidence of malfeasance comes to light.

Known Unknowns [Post Covid First Wave]

The main observation within the first 2 months of the pandemic was the failure by western public health bodies to communicate risks and safeguards to the public [14]. Perhaps they were awaiting guidance from the World Health Organisation [WHO], which delayed calling the pandemic, having ignored warnings on human-to-human transmission for a crucial 3 week period in January. These bodies were perhaps also awaiting orders from their political leaders, despite these individuals being conflicted on economic preservation and maintaining public popularity. However, public health bodies in the east, with experience of the original SARS pandemic, reacted promptly warning the public on the emerging problem alongside organising testing, contact tracing and quarantining of the vulnerable [15]. The other finding has been the gap between promises made by western politicians on testing and contact tracing compared to actual delivery of these targets. Despite the pre-pandemic protocols, public health has been unable to rapidly organise testing for the virus, alongside failures of contact tracing [16]. Early involvement of firms with track records on logistics was absent, alongside not involving private labs to increase testing capacity. It appears politicians were not aware of practical problems with delivery either due to subordinates not advising them of facts on the ground or due to followers wanting to please their masters with good news [including cost minimisation]. The decision by NHS England to discharge around 25,000 elderly hospital patients in April to care home beds before routine testing for SARSCOv2 was available [17] probably resulted in 50% of care homes contracting Covid19, with around 15,000 elderly deaths. This decision is awaiting legal review as there was no attempt to separate potentially infective people from the other residents, for example by setting up separate care home floors with dedicated staffing. The rationale for bed clearance was to ‘protect the NHS’ although in reality NHS hospitals did not come close to becoming overwhelmed [18]. Nevertheless, over 90% of care home residents were promptly placed on a combination of ‘Do not resuscitate’ orders and ‘Emergency health care’ plans, both reducing the possibility for active treatment of acute illness episodes. NHS England have denied influencing GP practices to carry this action and the government has ordered the Care Quality Commission to investigate blanket imposition of these orders in England [19].

Unknown Unknowns [Post ‘Second Wave’]

The main unknown pertains to how the virus will exert its effects on the population through continuing mutation, partly caused by attempts to degrade it by the immune system. There is concern that infectivity will increase [20], with long term disability affecting the heart, brain and lungs among Covid19 survivors, including those with ‘sub clinical’ initial symptoms [21]. Furthermore, uncertainty remains on effectiveness of the current crop of 11 vaccines undergoing human trials, especially on preventing community spread of infection, as viral carriage in the upper respiratory tract post vaccination is not guaranteed [22]. It is anticipated that spikes of infection will continue for the next 12 months resulting in local ‘circuit braking’ restrictions, although uncertainty remains as to the efficacy of these measures, partly due to less than full public adherence. Partially tested vaccines can be authorized for emergency use, but continuing concerns about delivery, storage and public uptake remain [23]. An evidence-based case for population wide prophylaxis using Vitamin D and Zinc supplementation has been made to public health bodies [24,25] in the face of commercial interests of vaccine and drug manufacturers.

Conclusion

Covid19 has cast a harsh light on weaknesses of public health bodies in the west and the resulting risk to populations they were meant to protect. It seems unfair to solely blame their political masters, as they are highly dependent on competent civil servant followers, who monitor situations on a week-to-week basis and take operational decisions. Differential roles of elected leaders and their subordinate followers needs redrawing, to avoid loss of public trust due to failures in delivering on promises. Followers must speak ‘truth to power’ on realities on the ground, whilst focusing on building ‘anti-fragility’ within organisational teams, utilising scenario planning and stress testing, thereafter by updating and simplifying practice algorithms. This would free up leaders to communicate with the public with confidence, whilst formulating the future direction of travel [‘the vision’]. This demarcation of roles would produce less conflict and better service delivery going forward, despite recurring ‘black swan’ events. Furthermore, ethical responsibilities of followers need redefining; with an emphasis on duty of care and candour towards the public who ultimately fund them through taxation. This includes admission of mistakes and the courage to ‘whistle blow’ if concerns on public safety are not being acted on by their political masters. Furthermore, capacity for integrity - described as essential by Warren Buffett - will need to be prioritised in recruitment post Covid19

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000209.pdf

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/public-health-followership-during-covid19-are-followers-more-dangerous-than-their-leaders.ID.000209.php

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine publishers #Lupine Publishers Group #lupine publishers indexing Journals

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | The Associations Between Fear of COVID-19 and Preventive Behaviors Among People in Gaza Strip, Palestine

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/the-associations-between-fear-of-covid-19-and-preventive-behaviors-among-people-in-gaza-strip-palestine.ID.000208.php

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000208.pdf

For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://lupinepublishersgroup.com/

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Please Click Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine publishers #Lupine Publishers Group #Lupinepublishers

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers |Subjective Well-Being Among Elementary School Teachers and its Related Factors: Taking Guangdong Province as an Example

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Introduction

Subjective well-being (SWB) can be defined from multiple perspectives. Most researchers agree with the concept put forward by Diener (1984) and believe that subjective well-being is an individual’s overall assessment of their quality of life according to their own standards.

Which includes the following three aspects:

a) Cognition and evaluation of their own quality of life (i.e., life satisfaction); and

b) Positive emotions include happy, meaningful life, full of spirit and other emotional experience.

c) Negative emotions include anxiety, depression, sadness, loneliness, boredom and discomfort and other emotional experience, but not affective disorder and neurosis.

It can be seen that subjective well-being has the following three basic characteristics:

a) Subjectivity: The evaluation of subjective well-being mainly depends on the standards set by oneself rather than the external standards, so subjective reporting method is often used to evaluate.

b) Integrity: subjective well-being reflects the overall subjective quality of life of the individual.

c) Relative stability: subjective well-being does not change significantly with the passing of time or the general change of environment [1].

Primary school teachers have made important contributions to China’s basic education, trained generations of children for millions of families, and provided batch after batch of reserve talents for the society. However, due to various factors, the subjective wellbeing of primary school teachers is relatively low, which affects the work enthusiasm and effectiveness of primary school teachers to a certain extent [2-3]. In recent years, with the implementation of a series of national basic education policies and the improvement of the developmental environment, the subjective well-being of primary school teachers has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life. There is few domestic research on the factors influencing the subjective well-being of primary school teachers. Most of the previous research focus on limited two or three factors, and the factors involved are different [2-3]. It is unable to systematically reveal the influencing factors and the mechanism of the subjective well-being. Based on the above analysis, this study intends to adopt a large sample multi center empirical research to systematically expound the status and various influencing factors such as the demographic factors, teaching related factors and personal factors of primary school teachers’ subjective well-being.

Object and Methods

Object

Sample size estimation

the minimum sample size is calculated by g.power3.0 [4]. This method needs to be based on the incidence, but subjective well-being is a continuous variable, only with high and low points, without whether or not points, so cannot directly use subjective well-being to calculate the sample size. As depression is a common psychological disorder, which plays an important role in predicting subjective well-being, so we use the prevalence rate of primary school teachers’ depression to calculate the sample size. Previous studies showed that the incidence rate of depression among primary school teachers in China was 7.70% to 57.60% [5- 8], and the median test effect was d, which was 0.50 to 0.80 [9]. In this study, the effect value d = 0.70, the statistical test power 1 - β = 0.80, and the class I error probability α = 0.05 are set. The minimum sample size needed for the survey is calculated as 846. The minimum sample size is determined as 1016 due to a potential loss rate of 20%.

Sampling

By stratified random sampling, a total of 1400 primary school teachers were selected from Shenzhen, Jiangmen, Zhuhai, Shanwei and Zhanjiang from April 2020 to May 2020. Inclusive criteria: over 20 years old, normal spirit and intelligence, more than 1 year of teaching in primary school. Exclusion criteria: those who could not complete the scale due to serious physical diseases, mental disorders and other reasons. In fact, 1368 people met, with a visit rate of 97.7%. Among them, 9 (0.6%) were positive by mini mental state examination (MMSE) and 76 (5.4%) were not willing to cooperate with the survey. A total of 1283 people completed the survey, and the effective rate was 91.6%. Among them, there were 361 from Shenzhen, 418 from Jiangmen, 206 from Zhuhai, 102 from Shanwei and 196 from Zhanjiang; the average age was (33.8 ± 10.6) years old; 318 from 20 to 30 years old, 354 from 30 to 40 years old, 327 from 40 to 50 years old and 284 from 50 to 60 years old; 485 unmarried, 257 divorced, 48 widowed and 493 married; 337 from senior high school or technical secondary school, 439 from junior college, 473 undergraduates and 34 with master’s degree; 853 from city or town, 430 from rural; 417 substitute teachers and 866 teachers in the personnel establishment.

Tools

Subjective well-being scale (SWBS)

It includes two parts: Life Satisfaction Scale and Emotion Scale. Subjective well-being level (SWB) is the score of life satisfaction plus emotional balance.

Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS)

It is compiled by Diener (1985) [10] and used to evaluate the satisfaction with oneself’ s life and the closeness to his (or her) ideal life. SLS includes five items. The likert 7-point scoring method is used to score from 1 to 7 points corresponding to “strongly against” to “strongly for”. The higher the total score, the higher the degree of life satisfaction. In this study, the cronbach’a coefficient of the scale is 0.824.

Affect scale: positive affect, negative affect, affect balance (AS)

It is compiled by Bradburn (1969) and revised by fan Xiaodong into Chinese version [11], which is used to assess the emotions and life evaluation of the general population in the past few weeks. There are 10 items, which are divided into three dimensions: positive emotion, negative emotion and emotional balance. If the answer is “yes” to the positive emotion item, 1 point will be scored; if the answer is “no” to the negative emotion item, 1 point will also be scored. The emotional balance is calculated by subtracting the negative emotional score from the positive emotional score and adding a coefficient of 5. In this study, the cronbach’a coefficient of the total table is 0.886, and the cronbach’a coefficient of each dimension is 0.814-0.837.

Test of teaeher competency (TTC)

I it is compiled by Xu Jianping [12] to evaluate the professional competence of primary and secondary school teachers. There are 50 items, which are divided into 10 subscales: personal characteristics (TRI), focus on students (FCN), professionalism (EXP), interpersonal communication (ICO), relationship building (RB), information collection (INFO), professional preference (PP), respect for others (RO), understanding others (UO), lie detection (LIE). The 5-point scoring method is used to score from 1 to 5 points corresponding to “completely inconsistent” to 5 “completely consistent”. The higher the score, the stronger the professional competence. In this study, the cronbach’a coefficient of the total scale is 0.894, and the cronbach’a coefficient of each subscale is 0.815-0.845.

Social support rating scale (SSRS)

it is compiled by Xiao Shui yuan [13] to evaluate the social support and its utilization. There are 10 items, which are divided into three dimensions: objective support (i.e., the actual support received), subjective support (i.e. the support that can be experienced or emotional), and utilization of support (i.e. the active use of various social support, including the way of talking, the way of asking for help, and the situation of participating in activities). The higher the score, the higher the degree of social support. Generally speaking, the total score of less than 20 is to get less social support, 20～30 is to get general social support, and > 30 is to get satisfactory social support. In this study, the cronbach’a coefficient of the total scale is 0.907, and the cronbach’a coefficient of each dimension is 0.830～0.879.

Mini mental state examination (MMSE)

It is also known as simple mental state checklist, compiled by folstein et al (1975) and reviewed by Zhang mingyun[14] into Chinese version, which is the most authoritative cognitive screening scale in the world. MMSE has five items, including time and location orientation, language (retelling, naming, understanding of instructions), mental calculation, immediate and short-term auditory word memory, visual structure imitation, mainly for simple assessment of orientation, memory, language, calculation and attention, etc. the test takes 5-10 minutes. MMSE is simple to operate, and has high reliability, validity, specificity and sensitivity. The total score of the scale was 30, the dividing value was illiteracy group ≤ 17, primary school group ≤ 20, middle school or above group ≤ 24. Cognitive dysfunction existed when the score is below the threshold. In this study, the Cronbach ‘a coefficient of the scale is 0.811.

Self-compiled questionnaire for the related factors of elementary school teachers’ subjective well-being.

The CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP database, Baidu, Pubmed and other search engines are used to search the literatures about subjective well-being among elementary school teachers (206 in Chinese and 13067 in foreign). Based on that, the basic content of the questionnaire is constructed, with a total of 28 items. Combined with the results of 3 collective discussions with 10 representatives of elementary school teachers and 5 experts in the field of elementary education, 4 items were deleted, and 1 items were added. The final questionnaire for related factors of elementary school teachers’ subjective well-being consists of 25 items, including gender, age, teaching age, teaching grade, marital status, how many children do you have, education, professional title, teaching subjects, posts, whether a head teacher, category of personnel arragement, administrative region of school, health, selfstudy, work environment, occupation development prospect, selfevaluation of performance, colleague evaluation of performance, annual income, time to work, rationality of performance evaluation, physical exercise, tourism and so on.

Collection and Arrangement of Data

Before the investigation, the researchers who participated in the survey were trained uniformly, and the investigation process and evaluation standard were unified. The consistency test (kappa = 0.81~ 0.90) met the test requirements. The questionnaires with scores of more than 50% of the items missing were eliminated. The missing values of the valid questionnaires were estimated and filled with the average. Two researchers independently input the same data using Epidata3.0 software and conduct a unified logic check to ensure the accuracy of the data.

Statistical methods

Data was exported from epidata3.0 to SPSS 20.0 for statistical analysis. The main statistical methods include descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analysis.

Ethical licensing

The procedure of this study is in accordance with the ethical standards set by the ethics committee of Department of Education of Guangdong Province and approved by the Committee.

Results

Descriptive statistics

The total average score of SWB was (-0.05 ± 2.19), and the total average score of TTC and SSRS were (3.73 ± 0.61) and (33.71 ± 5.52), respectively. It shows that the subjective well-being of primary school teachers in this group is on the low side, and their competence is on the high side. They get more satisfactory social support, as shown in Table 1.

Regression analysis

Variable assignment

First, values are assigned to the possible situations (alternative answers) of 25 categorical variables (including demographic variables and psychosocial variables) that may affect the total score of SWB, and the results are shown in Table 2.

multiple stepwise linear regression analysis on influencing factors of SWB score

Taking the score of SWB as the dependent variable and 25 categorical variables, the total score of TTC and SSRS as independent variables, the multiple stepwise linear regression analysis is carried out within 95% confidence interval. From Table 3, it can be seen that the score of SWB is positively correlated with education, category of personnel arrangement, professional title, working environment, career developmental prospect, annual income, selfstudy, health status, total score of TTC and SSRS (β =. 219 ~. 780, all P < 0.05) . Gender, head teacher, teaching subjects, marital status and posts are negatively correlated with the total score of SWB (β = - 0.149～-. 413, all P < 0.05).

Discussion

The score of SWB is (- 0.05±2.19), and the total score of TTC and SSRS are (3.731±0.61) and (71 0 ±5.52), respectively. It is consistent with the results of previous literature [15-18], suggesting that the subjective well-being of this group is low, the competency of teachers is generally in the upper middle level, and they get more satisfactory social support. Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis shows that education, personnel arrangement category, professional title, working environment, career development prospect, annual income, self-study, health status, total score of TTC and SSRS are positively correlated with the score of SWB, while gender, head teacher, teaching subjects, marital status and posts were negatively correlated with the score of SWB.

This study finds that there is a significant correlation between gender and subjective well-being of primary school teachers, which is consistent with the results of Wang Wenting [19], Fu Hongmei [20] and Guo Jing [21], suggesting that gender has an important influence on career, which may be due to the different personality characteristics and career expectation of men and women. Education and self-study are positively correlated with the subjective well-being of primary school teachers. The higher the education level and self-study enthusiasm, the stronger the subjective well-being, which is consistent with the results of Wang Wenting [19]. To a certain extent, the level of education reflects the individual’s intelligence level and working foundation. Those with higher education background and efforts have mastered more professional knowledge and more advanced education and teaching skills and are more likely to be competent for teaching work. With the development of economy and education, the requirement of primary school teachers’ education is higher and higher. In recent years, primary school teachers are required to have bachelor’s degree. Teachers with diploma of secondary normal school or junior college can no longer meet the needs of educational development, which urges the majority of primary school teachers to participate in various kinds of training to improve their academic qualification and professional skills. Therefore, the lower the education level, the greater the pressure of further education and the lower their happiness.

This study finds that the subjective well-being of teachers in charge of a class is lower than that of other teachers, the subjective well-being of primary school teachers who teach mathematics, Chinese, English and other quiz required subjects is lower than that of teachers teaching other subjects, the subjective well-being of teachers in administrative positions is lower than that of other teachers, the subjective well-being of married teachers is lower than that of unmarried teachers. It is consistent with the results of previous research [18-21], suggesting that social role and work pressure affect subjective well-being. Compared with unmarried teachers, teachers who are not in charge of a class, teachers in charge of non-quiz required subjects and teachers who are not engaged in administrative work, married teachers, head teachers, teachers teaching quiz required subjects and teachers who are engaged in administrative work have more heavy tasks, greater work pressure, longer working hours and more dispersion, they not only need to work in school, but also often in leisure time. So, they have less rest and leisure, and are more prone to physical and mental fatigue, thus reducing their sense of happiness. The subjective well-being of the substitute teachers is lower than that of the teachers in the personnel establishment. At present, there are still 3% primary school teachers in China who are substitute teachers. Their situation can be summarized as the following sentences: “they are teachers, but they often have no teacher’s treatment, lack of training leads to insufficient development assistance, unable to make ends meet and have no support for the elderly, and the prospect of hard work is not clear”. This dilemma makes substitute teachers face greater survival pressure in the accelerated development of society [22]. TTC total score and professional title are positively correlated with subjective well-being of primary school teachers, consistent with the results of previous research [2,18]. It is suggested that the professional quality not only affects the work effect of teachers, but also affects the teachers’ life feeling. TTC total score is the subjective evaluation of teachers’ work ability, values and other professional qualities, while the professional title is the recognition of the comprehensive quality of the individual (including the professional and technical level) by the school and society. The lower the total score of TTC, the more the teachers think they are not competent for teaching; the lower the professional title, especially the professional title not corresponding to the teaching age, The more seriously their comprehensive quality (not only the professional and technical level) is not recognized by the work unit and society, which is more prone to frustration, and the job burnout is more easily caused by the feeling of “pay - get imbalance [23]”, thus reducing the subjective well-being.

Health status is a positive predictor of primary school teachers’ subjective well-being, which is consistent with Guo Jing’s [3] and Rory’s [21] research results, suggesting that physiological and mental function play important roles in life experience. Poor health condition can easily cause discomfort and loss of sense of the individual (including physiological and social functions). Because of the high work pressure and less activity, primary school teachers become the high incidence group of occupational diseases, which greatly hinders their work efficiency and quality of life, and easily leads to depression, anxiety and other negative emotions [8], thus reducing subjective well-being. Social support level was positively correlated with SWB score, which was consistent with the previous study [24,25]. Social support has a positive predictive effect on the subjective well-being of different groups [26-27], which is confirmed in this study. Social support is based on sufficient interpersonal understanding and harmonious interpersonal relationship, which not only provides material support and emotional comfort for the parties, but also provides feasible coping methods to help them solve problems, successfully overcome difficulties, reduce the level of physical and mental stress, and maintain mental health and subjective well-being. The career development prospect, working environment, annual income are positively correlated with the subjective well-being of primary school teachers, consistent with the results of zhangguyue and Ren zhengpan [19,28], suggesting that occupational value plays an important role in promoting the subjective well-being. Generally speaking, the higher the social value (being paid attention to by the society), the better the prospect of the occupation, the more comfortable the working environment, the higher the level of welfare and income, the stronger the professional acquisition and subjective well-being [29].

Conclusion

There are many influencing factors of primary school teachers’ subjective well-being, which can be summarized into two categories: one is positive, mainly the living resources and working condition, including material resources, such as income, and spiritual resources, such as social support, education level, etc; the other is negative, mainly the subjective life difficulties, such as staffing constraints, unclear career prospect, poor health, etc.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000207.pdf

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/subjective-well-being-among-elementary-school-teachersand-its-related-factors.ID.000207.php

For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://lupinepublishersgroup.com/

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Please Click Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine publishers #Lupine Publishers Group

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Tourism and Accessibility: An Integrative Review on Accessibility in Tourism Between the Years 2015 – 2020

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Tourism activity in recent years has undergone countless transformations, these being of a social, cultural and economic nature, making more and more people able to practice tourism. This factor contributed for the tourist trade to expand, causing several segments to appear within the same sector to meet the varied demands of society. This society is also composed of people with disabilities, whether physical, intellectual or sensory, as defined by social and legal parameters. In this north, the tourist activity started to understand these people as individuals deserving to practice and enjoy the services, products, places, spaces and conditions that correspond to the sector. To this end, discussions on accessibility and social inclusion within tourism have become constant guidelines when thinking about offering a quality service that can meet and be accessible to everyone. In this way, the present work aims to carry out a systematic review, literature review on works already published that contemplate the same theme that they bring from a historical show of the accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities within tourism, up to what has already been aiming to make them feel inserted in this environment, as well as to understand what actually happens in practice when investigating the real practices, adaptations and conditions carried out to assist these people with a disability. Whereby means of a systematization of the chosen works and the theoretical-conceptual framework [1-4]. It is possible to arrive at results that show the reality of the difficulties, barriers that limit the fact that the tourist activity occurs in a way accessible to all who want to enjoy it.

Keywords: Inclusive Tourism; Accessibility; Social inclusion; Disabled people.

Introduction

The tourist activity, over the years has undergone numerous changes and consequently has generated new social, cultural and economic transformations, not only within its sector, but also in the whole of society in order to contribute to its development and growth. Contemporary tourism is understood as a socio-spatial, historical, and cultural phenomenon where the human being is constantly the center of studies that place him as a constant producer of demands in which the tourist activity is sustained when trying to supply them. From this perspective, tourism has gradually moved the economic sector from many spaces in which it is inserted, thus driving changes in different realities. It is worth mentioning that, in addition to this more technical view on the positive aspects of the activity, as it has provided the most diverse audiences, some opportunities to equally enjoy the services, places, spaces that comprise the tourist activity [5]. As a result, the tourist activity started to be divided into several segments so as to be able to meet all the demands that the human being may come to possess. This so-called market segmentation has enabled tourism to develop under the most diverse realities, conditions, particularities, places, spaces, thus, there is Cultural Tourism, Inclusive Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Mass Tourism, Tourism of Business, among others. However, this study is based on the themes of accessibility and social inclusion instilled within the Inclusive Tourism market segment, which in turn seeks to understand and analyze whether within the tourist activity the individual with a disability enjoys these conditions that you are assured. Conditioning also a look at the whole, that is, services, locations, conditions, professionals who seek to develop tourism accessible to all. Since inclusion and accessibility has become an increasingly constant issue within tourism in recent years, due to the countless social, cultural and historical processes that are experienced. Above all, that more and more people with disabilities have sought to enjoy and practice tourism [6]. Thus, studies on this theme perceived an increasing demand to make tourism a practice accessible to all, under the most diverse conditions, thus making it mainly accessible to people who have some physical, sensory or intellectual disability.

Methodology

Thus, to obtain the results, 20 articles can be found as a final sample in the SCIELO and CAPES databases. Having as one of the analysis criteria for the choice of works, keywords related to the research theme, such as “Accessibility”, “Social inclusion”, “People with disabilities”, “Inclusive Tourism” and etc.

Results and Discussion

As it is a table with a large number (20) of author contributions, to better understand and analyze the chosen works, it was decided to bring in a category the “Main Outcome” as a way of understanding what the work brought as contribution within the researched area [7-12]. It was also decided to place a category with the “Type of Study” to better understand the way in which a given research took place within the proposed theme, as an example of this [5], whether it took place in qualitative or quantitative format, which directly affects in its relevance to the research field. Finally, the “Magazine and Year of Publication” category comes to provide support and consistency through the position of importance of each magazine that published a particular research, thus adding it, a significant weight and veracity to the development of this research. This separation allowed a broader vision in the contribution that each research brought in relation to its place of speech, when working with tourism and its market segmentation, being this, the practice of accessible tourism, or even bringing in its core the themes of social inclusion, accessibility and how these are arranged within society and its spaces, thus giving a clearer view on how they are placed in theory (laws, norms, criteria, means of incentive) and in practice ( adaptation of tourist places, training and qualification of people). Another pertinent observation is the importance with which the topic has been dealt with in the last 05 (five) years, as the publication of related articles on accessible tourism has been constant [13-17], not only those that are under analysis here, and these have an existing standard of analysis, which is based on mostly qualitative, descriptive-exploratory research and literature review, thus showing a concern about what is within the studied area between discoveries and achievements, as well as currently the question in practice [1,4,11]. Therefore, in this context it was possible to understand the relevance with which the themes that encompass Accessible and inclusive Tourism in all its dimensions and perspectives have been dealt with through publications that show the practice and theory, the possibilities and obstacles, as well as what if there is infrastructure and resources currently available for this practice, how can we still go on to achieve an excellent service to be offered to people with a disability?

Final Considerations

Addressing the literature review in this research as a methodological and analytical tool made it possible to concatenate what has been idealized, discussed and put into practice with regard to the themes of social inclusion, accessibility within tourism, with regard to people with disabilities. disabilities and their needs to be integrated within the tourist activity in recent years, especially between the years 2015 and 2020. Initially, the study was guided by a presentation of how people with disabilities are seen and supported and by society, by virtue of its norms [18-21], laws, plans and projects, showing a dimension much larger than what was thought about the importance of debating the theme. With this, this review showed that people with disabilities, be it physical, sensory or intellectual, have achieved great achievements in relation to their insertion in the most diverse spaces of society, mainly within the tourist activity, highlighting the effort of elaboration and performance of managing bodies, such as the UN, OMT, EMBRATUR, Invir. Tur among others. With the main objective of enabling the disabled person to enjoy, reach, move autonomously and safely through these diverse spaces. In relation to inclusive tourism, as a demand identified by the activity sector, it was understood that any way or form of doing tourism should be accessible to everyone, thus breaking with conceptions that inclusive or accessible tourism tends to be totally different spaces from those that already exist, when in fact these spaces that already exist or are being created are enough, be adapted for this public to be able to move freely with the others, because they do not want to feel separated from the “nondisabled”, but included in the middle their.

Conclusion

Another pertinent position within this research is built based on the social reality that the world experiences, especially Brazil in relation to the Covid-19 virus, which brought a devastating scenario of deaths and fears to society, impacting several sectors within the most diverse spheres (social, cultural and economic), and mainly the tourist activity that is threatened in face of this pandemic. The research developed to understand how this happened, and how to solve this problem has been very difficult, especially the search for a vaccine that can contribute to the fight against Covid-19. Thus, there are researchers new spaces to research the impacts of the pandemic within the tourism sector and mainly to understand the social impacts that it has caused on people’s lives, especially those with a disability [22-24]. Finally, in view of all the assumptions presented in this work regarding the insertion of people with disabilities in the tourist environment, this leads us to have a critical and assiduous look with regard to the elaboration / development / creation or even adaptation of spaces already existing, whether for the purpose of tourist visitation or not, within the municipality of São Bernardo-MA, have accessible conditions for these individuals to feel inserted. Bringing through other research bases on what is done and ensured by law for the existence of accessible tourism for all and how this trajectory took place, so when considering the implementation of a tourist activity in São Bernardo, these conditions can make part of all stages of this process.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000206.pdf

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/tourism-and-accessibility-an-integrative-review-on-accessibility-in-tourism.ID.000206.php

For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://lupinepublishersgroup.com/

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Please Click Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#Lupine publishers #Lupinepublishers #Lupine Publishers Group #lupine publishers indexing Journals

0 notes

lupine-publishers-sjpbs · 3 years ago

Text

Lupine Publishers | Human, Evaporation, Circle, Climate

Lupine Publishers | Scholarly Journal Of Psychology And Behavioral Sciences

Abstract

Water has been created and accumulated on Earth for millions of years. The quality of water, its structure and its very purpose have evolved along with biota (a community of plants and living organisms). Water is one of the main driving forces of biota, as well as the environment itself. Just like the circulatory system in the body, water brings nutrients to every living cell. The extraction of minerals and fertilizers from the bottom and banks of rivers and underground canals and their delivery to plants and animals is the most important link in the transformation - in a single process of the water cycle. The process of transferring substances is similar to the movement of air through organisms - it delivers oxygen, carbon dioxide and leaves the body with processing waste in a different form. Also, water, as a vehicle, delivers solutes to living cells and exits with other liquids and gases. The quality of exhaled moisture and waste is purely individual, both within species and between species of biota. Organisms and plants emit different waste products throughout the day and through life. This waste is an integral part of the same cycle of water and life on the planet.

Keywords: Artificial evaporation; Water cycle; Biota; Cycle links; Water transformations; Aqueous solution; Transpiration; Respiration; Sedimentation; New substance; Climate change.

Introduction

New qualities of the released moisture are necessary for the existence of the biota. We are convinced of this when we smell flowers, see hunting animals, receive analyzes of our waste from laboratories. Waste moisture evaporates and forms a substance in every area. Mixing and concentrating in large volumes in the atmosphere, this substance provides, for centuries, an algorithm for the formation of precipitation, and their movement, distribution over territories and precipitation in certain volumes at a certain time. It is not just that the tropics and shrouds, forests and deserts, mountain and polar glaciers were formed. All this - the regularity, volume and quality of precipitation on each spot of land were created consistently and purposefully for many millions of years. All the planet’s vapor can be conditionally divided into 2 parts - vapor from natural water surfaces - oceans, seas, lakes, rivers and vapor from biota. Historically, a certain balance of their volumes was formed at a given time and in a given place. It doesn’t matter in what ratio. This balance stabilized itself and created life itself on the planet in a wide variety of natural conditions. A quarter of the entire surface of the planet is land. The widespread notion that the seas and oceans, which cover 3/4 of the entire planet and therefore evaporate most of the water, is a myth. It was found that if we sum up the transpiration surface of all vegetation, then the area of evaporation from land becomes equal to the area of the entire surface of the oceans - https://vuzlit.ru/984043/transpiratsiya#597 : “The area of all leaves is 3-4 times larger than the area of the entire land, that is, in size it is not less than the area of the World Ocean ”. To this should be added also 20 tons of underground living creatures per hectare. There are still animals on the surface of the earth, each unit of which drinks water and releases liquid waste.

According to: http://www.kazreferat.info/read/antropogennoe- vozdeystvie-na-gidrosferu-normirovanie-ioniziruyuschih- izlucheniy-OTc0ODk= it was found, “... that each ton of oil covers a thin film of about 12 km2 of the water surface. According to experts, 1/5 of the water area of the World Ocean is already polluted with oil. The oil film disrupts the processes of photosynthesis and, consequently, gas exchange between the hydrosphere and the atmosphere. « Evaporation, as an element of gas exchange, also stops. These two circumstances should correct our understanding of the ratio of evaporation from the oceans and from land. Even if we assume that the areas of evaporation are equal, then we can conclude that the volumes of evaporation should also be equal. Evaporation from land is quite significant in the total volume of evaporation (Figure 1). It is assumed that evaporation from the surface of oceans and water bodies is less diverse in quality and rate than evaporation from land. Evaporation from the surface of water bodies should have approximately the same structure, uniformity, quality regardless of the geographical location. The quality, quantity and rate of evaporation are the main components of the processes of precipitation formation and the entire water cycle. Regardless of the ratio of the volumes of vapor of these two types, their bouquet formed a certain substance of moisture in the atmosphere, which created life in all areas. With the advent of man, evaporation from land began to change. The first intelligent creature on the planet began to use water not only for drinking, but we also began to exploit water, turning it into a working body - the simplest free remedy from nature as a vehicle, a carrier of heat, energy, feces, driving force of hydraulic turbines, a means of washing, cooling , comfort, dissolution. According to information from http://www. erudition.ru/referat/ref/id.48920_1.html, it is known that every year people are irretrievably taken from rivers and lakes of about 2000 cubic meters. kilometers of fresh water, which is about 5% of the flow of all rivers in the world. It is driven through pipes and canals, watering monocultures, washing and drying everything that surrounds us and ourselves. Everything that evaporates after such use - from plowed fields, surfaces of reservoirs, evaporators and coolers of power plants, from sewerage tanks, from towels, wet plates - evaporates into the atmosphere without natural changes. Such fumes are not foreseen by nature - they are unnatural. This part of the water falling on land has not fulfilled its main purpose. Nutrition was not delivered to living cells, the path of natural transformations when moving on the soil was not passed, the time of its stay on the ground was reduced. As she came from the sky, she went back. There are already few biota left on the earth - only 30 percent of the entire land area. We have destroyed all the living creatures under arable land, dumps, asphalt, reduced it by felling and water reservoirs. In pursuit of comfort, we have reduced natural processes. Rivers, straightened and lined with concrete and stones, lose contact with the soil - the function of extracting minerals. Water loses its purpose, it has become just a liquid, a commodity, a means of production, a carrier of dirt and feces. Based on such facts, we can safely assume that, when water evaporates, which has not fulfilled its natural functions, the quality, volume and rate of evaporation should change. Evaporation new to nature can be called artificial. Each action must have its own counteractions and consequences. A change in the conditions of evaporation led to a change in the evaporation itself and should lead to a change in the subsequent link in the circuit of the circuit. The composition, structure, properties of vapors depend on the quality of the supplied material. It is assumed that the difference in the vapors of these two species should be very different from each other. This assumption can be confirmed by modern medicine. Analysis of human secretions, as one of the subjects of nature, to determine his health shows the difference between sputum, urine, blood, smears, exhalation of a healthy person from an unhealthy person. If the evaporation of waste is different for each subject of the biota, then they are different for each unit of a living being and a plant. From mosquito, blade of grass, microbe to elephant and crocodile. And, of course, the differences should be more striking when compared to fumes from asphalt or wastewater. If this is really the case, then the conclusion suggests itself that different vapors must create different substances in the atmosphere. We have changed the sources of fumes and increased their quality, quantity and volumes, and they become comparable or competitive with the volumes of natural fumes.

Artificial evaporation is a new link in the circuit of the circuit and cannot be included in the categories of evaporation from water bodies and evaporation from land. Such fumes are not created by nature, their volumes are growing every year and every day. In developed countries, a person spends 200 - 300 liters per day. Nature provides for humans - only 2 - 3 liters - only for ingestion. Everything else is the exploitation of water for comfort purposes. Water gives us energy, warmth, means of washing. Without water, we cannot produce a single item. So, the manufacture of each product requires water consumption. For example - https:// ecology.md/ru/page/rashod-vody-na-proizvodstvo-produkto : for the manufacture of products such as: Rice - 3400 liters of water per 1 kg. The cultivation of 1 kg of wild rice requires an average of 2400 liters of water, further industrial processing requires another 1100 liters. Rice fields around the world consume about 1350 billion m3 of water annually - 21% of the total water consumption for growing crops. Beef - 4500 liters of water per 1 steak A cow is raised before slaughter for 3 years, from the carcass about 200 kg of boneless meat is obtained. During her life, she eats 1300 kg of grain and 7200 kg of roughage, drinks 24 m3 of water, another 7 m3 is spent on keeping it clean. Total water costs - 3 million 1500 liters of water. Passenger car - 147,972 liters, car tires - 1960 liters, 1 barrel of beer (121 liters) - 5678 liters, 1 ton of steel - 234696 liters. The tremendous growth of new technologies with the exploitation of water increases the volume and speed of artificial evaporation, and, as a result, the volume and speed of the cycle between the soil and the atmosphere. Look at just one industry of kid’s water toys or sprayers. The impact on individual links of the water cycle in significant volumes destroys the natural process. The type, volume and rate of transformations from liquid to gaseous and solid creates other processes, accumulation of moisture in the atmosphere and precipitation. The volumes of artificial and natural evaporation have never been counted, but it is possible. Historically, the stability of the quality and amount of precipitation has provided comfort conditions for each zone. Now this stability is being destroyed. The speed and frequency of circulation between the atmosphere and the soil are visible from regular reports and chronicles of floods and fires, which are abnormally large and are abnormally small in different zones of the planet. Their destructiveness and frequency are growing. We regularly hear reports of melting glaciers, snowfalls and flooding in deserts. The geography of precipitation distribution, their volumes and frequency is breaking down. But all is not yet lost. On the basis of the shown assumptions about the change in the circulation, it is possible to create a new concept of the impact or, more precisely, the removal of the impact on the water cycle, which is not too late to apply and save life on the planet for our descendants.

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/fulltext/human-evaporation-circle-climate.ID.000205.php

https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/pdf/SJPBS.MS.ID.000205.pdf

For more Lupine Publishers Open Access Journals Please visit our website: https://lupinepublishersgroup.com/

For more Psychology And Behavioral Sciences Please Click Here: https://lupinepublishers.com/psychology-behavioral-science-journal/ To Know more Open Access Publishers Click on Lupine Publishers

Follow on Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/company/lupinepublishers Follow on Twitter : https://twitter.com/lupine_online

#lupine publishers indexing Journals #Lupine publishers #Lupinepublishers

0 notes