1,721,003 research outputs found
An investigation into the development of ACT-based approaches to increase physical activity
Full text linkIt is well documented that regular physical exercise supports physical and mental wellbeing. Despite the promotion of physical activity by world health experts and governments, physical inactivity within the population remains a cause for concern and disorders associated with sedentary lifestyles have continued to increase. Evidence suggests that the uncomfortable private-events people experience during physical exertion can become psychological barriers to participation in physical activity
and thus result in avoidant behaviours. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) has been used to promote increased physical exercise by enhancing psychological flexibility in relation to private-events that are perceived as unpleasant. However,
relationships between the individual ACT processes and the theories which underpin their use in interventions designed to promote physical activity have yet to be fully explored. Understanding the relationship between ACT processes and physical exercise is key for appropriate and robust intervention development. This thesis aimed to explore the theoretical and practical application of ACT processes in relation to exercise and inform further development of effective brief interventions designed to increase activity levels. The programme of work within this thesis had two phases. The first phase included two studies: a systematic review to explore the existing evidence; and a quantitative survey study to determine if associations exist between physical activity levels and the individual core processes of ACT. Results from phase one found that the reviewed literature failed to explore the use of Relational Frame Theory (RFT) critical to ACT, and a survey suggested that ACT processes of defusion, self-as-context and personal values were likely to play a significant part in activity levels. The second phase comprised of three interrelated quantitative intervention studies designed using RFT. Each explored the ACT processes by measuring task duration and the intensity of private-events experienced during exercise. The first intervention study combined defusion and self-as-context with no significant effects on an exercise task. The second combined defusion, self-as-context and value orientated cues to behaviour change. Exercise duration was significantly increased in the ACT intervention, while there was no decrease in the intensity of private-events. The final study tested a values clarification task with cues to behaviour change and reported significantly increased exercise duration. The thesis demonstrates that relational frame theory applied to ACT processes
can influence the duration of exercise although the relationship with private-events remains uncertain. The robust, theory focused approach to this work represents a small but valuable contribution to the development of intervention strategies and has implications for future research. Strategies worked best using a combination of both deictic and hierarchical relations for training cognitive defuison and self-as-context, and especially for the clarification of personal values used as cues to behaviour
change. Further research is needed to establish both the external validity and longevity of observed effects
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
A comparison of visual scan patterns for an elite judge, elite coach and novice judge in dressage
Full text linkVisual search patterns have often been studied in the sport domain with comparisons between expert and novice performers. Less research has been done comparing the visual search patterns of judges and in particular comparing the search patterns between elite judges and coaches. This study examines the visual search patterns of an elite judge, an elite coach and a novice judge over three dressage tests. The participants watched and judged three dressage tests lasting approximately five minutes each whilst wearing the ASL 501eye tracking device which recorded their eye gaze onto a video camera. Frame by frame analysis was completed for each participant on the eye tracking data and the number of fixations, the duration of the fixations and the location of the fixations were recorded. Analysis of the results found the two experts had similarities between their visual search patterns and as expected the novice judge had a greater number of fixations compared to the expert judge during two of the dressage tests. However, the expert judge had a lower duration time fixating than was expected compared to the novice judge and the expert coach. It is possible that the expert judge is able to process the information to make the decision more effectively. Therefore, more research is needed to explore the similarities of varying levels of expertise within sport to help develop and recognise what novice and intermediate judges or coaches need to improve to reach an elite standard and also to see if there are similarities or differences between elite performers, coaches and judges
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
“Looking from the outside in” – Emotional and cognitive reactions of sport, non-sport and ex-sport playing adults to initiation practices
Full text linkResearch examining hazing and the motives behind the events have received significant focus over recent years. While research has enhanced the understanding and provided interesting insight of hazing events, it has been done exclusively with those directly involved in the events. However, to date, research is yet to examine the perceptions from the wider general public and understand their opinions of hazing. The present study was an exploration in order to gain understanding of the general public’s emotional and cognitive response to modern day hazing events in the United Kingdom. Sixty-Seven participants of a mixed general public population completed quantitative and qualitative questions based on their experiences of watching hazing videos. Following each video, participants completed a self-report measure of arousal and I-PANAS-SF. In addition, participants were then required to answer 3 short qualitative questions on their perceptions of the videos viewed. Results of quantitative measures revealed that participant’s self-reported arousal and I-PANAS-SF scores were significantly effect by hazing videos. In addition, results of qualitative questioning revealed that participants provided a mixture of responses regarding hazing. In general, participants were accepting of events that involved no physical harm however, were also quick to highlight their disapproval of events where they perceived issues of hierarchy and power. While participants noted issues of hierarchy, participants generally, neglected any aspect of psychological harm that may occur following involvement in hazing events
The development and effectiveness of perceptual training programme for coaches and judges in gymnastics
Full text linkThis thesis investigated the development and effectiveness of a perceptual training programmes for coaches and judges in gymnastics. Study one examined the variability of visual search for coaches and judges when viewing handspring vaults. The study found that there were no significant differences between the mean number of fixations, fixation duration and number of areas fixated across two time-points four weeks apart. In addtion, the natural range of variation of the number of fixations, fixation duration and number of area fixated was found to be 9/7%, 5.7% and 14.2% (expressed as coefficient of variation). Study two examined differences between expert and novice gymnastics coaches' and judges' visual search. Analysis of gaze behaviour showed that experts make significantly more fixations of significantly longer duration to significantly fewer areas than novies. There was no significant difference between the outcome juddgements made by the expert and novice coaches and judges. These findings suggest that visual search may be a contributing factor to expert performance in judgement formation. Study three explored the visual search pattern and knowledge used by expert coaches and judges when making decisions. Data were gathered through the used of eye-tracking and semi-structered interviews. Analyses established that experts tend to fixate on the torso and shoulders of gymnasts throughout the vault, and that there are three to four specific areas which are explored during each phase of a vault. Study four examined the effectiveness of a perceptual training programme for a perceptual traning and control group. Fixation number, fixation duration, number of areas fixated and outcome judgement were recorded at baseline, immediently after the programme and four weeks after it had been withdrawn. 2 (control vs. perceputal training) x 3 (intervention phase) ANOVA's with repeated measures showed that the perceptual training group produced significantly less error at the retention stage for number of fixations (F (2,6) = 12.57, p = 0.01, effect size n2 = .81), at the post-test for fixation duration (F (2,6) = 7.49, p = 0.02, effect size n2 = .71). However post-hoc analyses could not detect the difference for number of areas fixated. In study five, four participants that took part in the experiental condition watched a perceptual training DVD twice a week for six weeks. The case study data showed that the expert and novices who watched the perceptual training DVD made changes to their visual search variables and judgements and therefore became more analogous to the experts from study three to baseline to the post-test. However, only the novices retained the beneficial effects of the intervention. To conclude, this programme of research examinaed the development and effectiveness of a perceptual training programee for coaches' and judges' in gymnastics. This thesis suggests that a perceptual training programme based on the visual search and declarative knowledge of expert coaches and judges is effective at altering visual search and enhancing decision making for noveice coaches and judges. This research programme therefore promotes the use of perceptual training programmes for novice coaches and judges in sport
What Factors Impact the Mental Health of Transgender People?
Full text linkGender dysphoria is a major cause of distress for transgender people, however the very nature of being transgender brings numerous other factors that cause stress and anxiety which can impact mental health. To identify and further understand these factors, 167 participants took part in an online survey which sought to understand their experiences and feelings surrounding various aspects of their transgenderism. Qualitative analysis of the responses revealed 37 lower order themes or factors that appear to impact the mental health of transgender people. These can be placed into 6 key dimensions; their feelings towards the initial development of their gender dysphoria; the extent in which they are accepted and understood by family, friends, and society; how successful they are at aligning their appearance with their gender identity; the quality of professional services received, including the effects of hormone treatment and surgery; the quality of their personal and sexual relationships before and after transition; their current feelings towards being transgender. Recommendations from the data include the necessity of social support from family and friends, as well as more societal education. Furthermore, more professional support is advocated as well as improvements in clinical and professional settings to speed up treatments for transgender people. Finally, transgender people may benefit from an intervention programme which considers these 6 key areas and seeks to ameliorate any negative psychological effects that are directly caused by the abovementioned factors
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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