Child restraint system use in the United Arab Emirates

ObjectiveDeaths and injuries among infants due to traffic crashes in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are very high when compared to other countries. An efficient way to improve the safety of children in moving vehicles is to use Child Restraint Systems (CRS) to hold the child during any possible collision. The aim of this study is to estimate the rate of CRS use among children under the age of five in UAE, to determine demographic characteristics that affect CRS use, such as parent’s age, and education level, and to assess parents’ perceptions and knowledge of this issue.MethodsA roadside observational study was done in two of the seven emirates that constitute UAE, involving 1000 randomly taken observations. Also, a questionnaire was randomly distributed to a sample of 494 parents of children under the age of five.ResultsResults of the observational study show that 16.7% of parents restrain their children in moving motor vehicles. Questionnaire results show that approximately 9% of respondents reported not or rarely restraining their children in moving motor vehicles. Also, 3.4% of them indicated their disbelief in the importance of CRS in reducing harm in case of a crash. Moreover, questionnaire results indicate that young, less educated and male parents reported lower use rate and have less belief in the importance of CRS use in harm reduction in crashes than other groups of parents.ConclusionsCRS use in UAE is very low and awareness of its importance needs to be improved. Based on the results, practical suggestions are put forward to increase CRS use rate and improve safety conditions for this group of road users.     

“One Nation Under God”: The System‐Justifying Function of Symbolically Aligning God and Government

Do references to God in political discourse increase confidence in the U.S. sociopolitical system? Using a system justification framework (Jost & Banaji, 1994 ), five studies provide evidence that, (1) increasingly governments symbolically associate the nation with God when public confidence in the social system may be threatened and (2) associating the nation with God serves a system‐justifying function by increasing public confidence in the system. In an analysis of U.S. presidential speeches, presidents were more likely to symbolically associate the nation with God during threatening times (Study 1). Among religious individuals, referencing God in political rhetoric increased the perceived trustworthiness of politicians, compared to patriotic secular rhetoric (Study 2) or simply priming the concept of God (Study 3). These effects were also unique to politicians from one's own sociopolitical system (Study 4). Finally, believing God has a plan for the United States attenuates the deleterious effect that perceptions of national decline have on system confidence (Study 5). Implications for the system‐justifying function of religion are discussed.     

Vygotsky and beyond: horizons for the future of psychology / Vygotski y más allá: horizontes para el futuro de la psicología

In this article some usually overlooked aspects of Vygotsky’s work are presented. First, the understanding of the mediation system as a trans-organic, extended branch of the psychological system. Second, the semantic nature of conscience and the systemic neuropsychological organization of higher functions. Third, the leading role played in the psychic system by directive functions. Fourth, the understanding of human evolution as open and permanently provisional. Last, a reference is made to the role of psychology in the process of human auto-evolution, which Vygotsky viewed as a mission.     

Play enhances visual form perception in infancy–an active training study

Motor experiences and active exploration during early childhood may affect individual differences in a wide range of perceptual and cognitive abilities. In the current study, we suggest that active exploration of objects facilitates the ability to process object forms and magnitudes, which in turn impacts the development of numerosity perception. We tested our hypothesis by conducting a preregistered active exploration intervention with 59 8‐month‐old infants. The minimal intervention consisted of actively playing with and exploring blocks once a day for 8 weeks. In order to control for possible training effects on attention, we used book reading as a control condition. Pre‐ and post‐test assessments using eye‐tracking showed that block play improved visual form perception, where infants became better at detecting a deviant shape. Furthermore, using three control tasks, we showed that the intervention specifically improved infants' ability to process visual forms and the effect could not be explained by a domain general improvement in attention or visual perception. We found that the intervention did not improve numerosity perception and suggest that because of the sequential nature of our hypothesis, a longer time frame might be needed to see improvements in this ability. Our findings indicate that if infants are given more opportunities for play and exploration, it will have positive effects on their visual form perception, which in turn could help their understanding of geometrical concepts.     

Comparing perception of signals in different modalities during the cycling task: A field study

Cyclists are considered to be amongst the most vulnerable road users and the number of cyclists involved in crashes is increasing. One possibility to improve bicycle safety is the implementation of assistance systems, for instance by providing the information needed to avoid critical situations. However, it is not known how and what kind of signals can reliably be transmitted to cyclists, in particular as warnings. This study has the objective to investigate which signal type dependent of the modality and the route type can be perceived during the cycling task. Therefore, we conducted a semi-naturalistic cycling study with 56 participants where a 10 km long, pre-defined route was individually cycled while 36 signals (visual, auditory and vibro-tactile) were transmitted. The participants signalled the perception of a signal by pressing a button. Response rates differed significantly between signal modalities. While auditory signals performed best closely followed by vibro-tactile signals, visual signals were frequently missed. The route type had an effect on the perception of the signals. The influence of the route segments with haptic interference was not expected to be this large on the perception of vibro-tactile signals. The obtained results indicate how and in which situations the different modalities are suited to transmit information to cyclists.     

身体活动的双系统理论:一种强化学习的视角

以理性决策为基础的锻炼行为理论被认为是理解身体活动的主导体系, 它提供了与身体活动相关的认知构念作为有价值的信息。基于社会生态模型设计的行为干预措施, 因表现出了更好的效果而备受关注。近期研究表明, 积极的运动认知和当前体育环境都没能很好地促进个人锻炼习惯的养成, 因此有必要探索新的理论体系来阐明个人锻炼习惯的形成机制。解释身体活动的最新体系是双系统理论, 由于其考虑了身体活动的无意识和快乐决定因素, 有望提供一个更广泛的动机视角。一方面, 多个有代表性的身体活动双系统模型, 从简单的自发路径, 到情境线索与锻炼习惯, 再到突出自动情感评价作用的复杂概念模型, 阐明了系统1的构建, 结合锻炼行为理论所关注的系统2, 为模型的构建提供了依据。另一方面, 通过对双系统的竞争、协调和层级控制原则的分析, 为模型的控制提供了建议。经典的强化学习框架解释了双系统模型的构建与控制原则:在模型的构建方面, 无模型与基于模型的强化学习分别表示系统1和系统2。在模型的控制方面, Dyna协作架构与分层强化学习, 为身体活动可能是一种相互协作、分层执行的复杂行动组合提供了合理解释。最后提出强化学习视角下锻炼者-体育环境的互动模式, 试图从一个全新的角度探讨锻炼行为。     

双系统模型视角下的罪犯自我控制

自我控制是个体为了达成具有长远利益的目标而有意识控制自身冲动行为的能力。双系统模型提出自我控制系统包含冲动系统与控制系统, 该理论适用于分析罪犯低自我控制的内部结构。罪犯冲动系统中充满极易激活的犯罪相关行为图式, 而控制系统却不足以生成抑制冲动行为的策略。未来可基于双系统模型, 整合已有研究深入考察罪犯自我控制系统的内部运作机制, 以及该模型在罪犯心理矫治中的实际应用, 而犯罪易感青少年群体则需要特别关注。     

Curiosity-driven recommendation strategy for adaptive learning via deep reinforcement learning

The design of recommendation strategies in the adaptive learning systems focuses on utilizing currently available information to provide learners with individual-specific learning instructions. As a critical motivate for human behaviours, curiosity is essentially the drive to explore knowledge and seek information. In a psychologically inspired view, we propose a curiosity-driven recommendation policy within the reinforcement learning framework, allowing for an efficient and enjoyable personalized learning path. Specifically, a curiosity reward from a well-designed predictive model is generated to model one's familiarity with the knowledge space. Given such curiosity rewards, we apply the actor–critic method to approximate the policy directly through neural networks. Numerical analyses with a large continuous knowledge state space and concrete learning scenarios are provided to further demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.     

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementing Attachment-based Family Therapy into a Child Welfare Setting: A Qualitative Process Evaluation

Child welfare systems (CWSs) worldwide show increased interest in adopting empirically informed clinical strategies to increase treatment effectiveness. Many empirically supported treatments (ESTs) exist, but little is known about EST implementation barriers and facilitators in CWS. This study explored CWS providers’ experiences of implementing attachment-based family therapy (ABFT) in home-based services of the Flemish CWS (in Belgium). Sixteen CWS providers (twelve counselors and four supervisors) involved in three home-based services were interviewed. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to guide collection, coding, and analysis of interview data. Findings revealed that implementation success was related to ABFT's fit with the CWS's mission, philosophy, and existing practices. CWS providers’ belief in the compatibility between ABFT and CWS increased investment in implementation efforts and persistence to overcome challenges and setbacks. Some barriers pertained to the learning of ABFT and some barriers pertained to systems level challenges such as lack of leadership and support, poor coordination with referral sources and other youth care partners, and lack of policy support. For successful expansion of ESTs into CWS settings, various barriers at multiple systemic levels need to be addressed.     

儒家的修身思想体系探微

儒家文化中的“修身”思想作为一种底蕴深厚的文化现象,本身具有完备的理论体系。这个体系以“人性论”为思想基础,以“仁”为核心,以“礼”为判断标准,以“修己”为基本模式,以“博学”、“正己”、“尚义”、“中和”、“多思”、“慎独”、“重节”、“重行”为主要内容,以立“圣人之德”为最高精神境界,形成了既有坚实的思想基础、又有丰富的实际内容的文化体系。