New group memberships formed after an acquired brain injury predicts post-traumatic growth: A prospective study.

Predicting positive psychosocial outcomes following an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) remains a challenge. Considerable research demonstrates that social group memberships can have positive effects on psychological well-being, particularly during life transitions. Social group memberships are argued to help people derive a sense of self. This prospective study examined if social group memberships (number of groups and connectedness with groups) could predict posttraumatic growth (PTG) in those affected by ABI. Thirty-six participants (10 females, Mage = 46.56, SD = 11.46) engaged in community rehabilitation services completed measures at two time-points. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the number of new group memberships (groups formed post-injury) predicted greater PTG at time 2, via stronger connectedness with these new group memberships (controlling for initial PTG). The observed results suggest that a focus on developing and strengthening connections with new group memberships may promote positive adjustment after brain injury.

Behavioural Development of Three Former Pet Chimpanzees a Decade after Arrival at the MONA Sanctuary

Chimpanzees used as pets and in the entertainment industry endure detrimental living conditions from early infancy onwards. The preferred option for ending their existence as pet or circus chimpanzees is their rescue and transfer to a primate sanctuary that will provide them with optimal living and social conditions, so that they can thrive. In this case study, we had the rare opportunity to compare the activity budgets of three chimpanzees from their time as pets in 2004 to their time living at the MONA sanctuary in 2020, after almost a decade in the centre. We found their behaviour patterns changed in accordance with the sanctuaries’ rehabilitation objectives. Resting periods increased considerably while vigilance simultaneously declined sharply. Moreover, the chimpanzees’ social competence increased as allogrooming became the predominant social behaviour, and agonistic interactions diminished even though they were living within a larger social group at the sanctuary. All three chimpanzees expanded their allogrooming and proximity networks at the sanctuary, which included new group members, but they maintained the closest relationships to those conspecifics who they were rescued with. In conclusion, these findings suggest that the sanctuary environment and social group setting made it possible for these three chimpanzees to improve their social competence and increase their well-being over time.

Degemination in Emirati Pidgin Arabic: A Sociolinguistic Perspective

This study examines the production of geminates in Emirati Pidgin Arabic (EPA) spoken by blue-collar workers in the United Arab Emirates. A simple naming test was designed to test the production of geminates to determine whether the EPA speakers would produce a geminated or degeminated phoneme. Following that, a semi-structured interview was conducted with a subset of the study cohort to obtain the participants’ own explanation of where they degeminated the consonants. Our findings suggest that the exercising of this choice functions as a sociolinguistic strategy, akin to the one observed by Labov in his study of Martha’s Vineyard. In particular, our findings show that speakers of EPA are inclined to degeminate consonantal geminates to establish themselves as members of a particular social group. The reasons for wanting to achieve this aim were given as follows: to claim privileges only available to members of this group (such as employment); and to distinguish themselves from the dominant cultural group. The study concludes that degemination in EPA has developed into a sociolinguistic solidarity marker.

Binary social group optimization algorithm for solving 0-1 knapsack problem

In this paper, we propose the binary version of the Social Group Optimization (BSGO) algorithm for solving the 0-1 knapsack problem. The standard Social Group Optimization (SGO) is used for continuous optimization problems. So a transformation function is used to convert the continuous values generated from SGO into binary ones. The experiments are carried out using both low-dimensional and high-dimensional knapsack problems. The results obtained by the BSGO algorithm are compared with other binary optimization algorithms. Experimental results reveal the superiority of the BSGO algorithm in achieving a high quality of solutions over different algorithms and prove that it is one of the best finding algorithms especially in high-dimensional cases.

Conflict Mobilization in Russian Social Media Communities As an Actual Practice of Protest Communication: Collective and Personal Dimension

From the standpoint of communicative approach conflict mobilization is considered in the article as an actual practice of protest communication in modern Russia. The parameters of the collective-personal dimension of conflict mobilization in the most popular social networks among Russian users: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook are presented. Major forms of social group members online participation in protest actions, interaction means of conflict mobilization communities and the formation of Internet solidarity have been characterized with such criteria as publication volume and frequency. Selective factual and emotional-psychological argumentation with elements of defamation of opponents is concluded to prevail in the communicative behavior of the addresser. Frequent implementation of phatic strategy through consolidating appeals to community members with elements of idealization and glorification of protest actors is revealed. The addresser's self-presentation strategy is noted to be applied rather rarely; it is actualized mainly through their identification with the collective position of the group and the mass addressee. It has been established that the addressee is characterized by active self-presentation through the presentation of a subjective position opposed to a mutual opponent, is distinguished by an appeal to ethical and emotional argumentation, a variety of phatic tactics. The article reveals the relevant language means of implementing the identified strategies, shows the features of the text structure of mobilization posts.

Features of adaptation of school graduates to the educational activities of the university

Актуальность статьи обусловлена необходимостью воздействия на адаптационный процесс в период обучения в вузе. Цель статьи заключается в выявлении особенностей адаптации выпускников школ к учебной деятельности вуза. Ведущим методом к исследованию данной проблемы является метод тестирования. В исследовании приняли участие студенты первых курсов в количестве 75 человек. В статье проводится анализ результатов тестирования студентов-первокурсников в начале учебного года и во втором семестре (в конце учебного года). Доказана эффективность психолого-педагогического сопровождения студентов-первокурсников, направленная на решение проблем с адаптацией. Исследование показало, что адаптация к учебной деятельности вуза выпускников школ строится через приспособление индивида к новой социальной группе и формируется благодаря внешним и внутренним индикаторам (отношение к себе, отношение к другим, психическая устойчивость, доминирование). Статья будет полезна работникам системы образования, кураторам академических групп, педагогам-психологам. The relevance of the article is due to the need to influence the adaptation process during the period of study at the university. The purpose of the article is to identify the features of the adaptation of school graduates to the educational activities of the university. The leading method to investigate this problem is the testing method. The study involved first-year students in the number of 75 people. The article analyzes the results of testing of first-year students at the beginning of the academic year and in the second semester (at the end of the academic year). The effectiveness of psychological and pedagogical support of first-year students aimed at solving problems with adaptation is proved. The study showed that the adaptation of school graduates to the educational activities of the university is built through the adaptation of an individual to a new social group and is formed due to external and internal indicators (attitude to oneself, attitude to others, mental stability, dominance). The article will be useful to employees of the education system, curators of academic groups, teachers-psychologists.

Law Abidance / Delinquency through the Lens of Neurobiology

The paper is interdisciplinary in nature: it is written at the intersection of legal theory and neuroscience. In legal science, the study of the causes of illegal behavior is carried out at different levels (psychological, sociological and philosophical). The novelty that this paper introduces is that it is proposed to conduct research on the causes of illegal behavior at the neurobiological level, which is almost more powerful than those mentioned above. The paper is aimed at solving the problem of using a neurobiological portrait of a person or a social group to prevent offenses. According to neurobiological features, people are divided into 4 categories: visual, auditory, kinesthetic and digital, which implies a different characteristic of them in terms of law abidance/delinquency. Knowledge of the neurobiological features of the subjects of law will allow the state to act “ahead of the curve”, and not wait for the commission of illegal actions to begin the fight against them. The question of the gender brain (or the features of the female and male brains) and its influence on the nature of delinquency is being investigated. The features of the adolescent brain are considered, which are able to activate not only prosocial behavior, but also antisocial. The use of neuroscience to explain the antisocial behavior of adolescents allows a deeper understanding of juvenile delinquency. The understanding of the peculiarities of the adolescent brain, it seems possible to develop many different measures in advance to direct their energy in the right way. Finally, neurobiological knowledge is also used to study the legal behavior of older people. The gerontological brain has both advantages and disadvantages. Despite the fact that older people are law-abiding, and the level of delinquency among them is law, it is extremely shortsighted to abandon the behavior of older people in the field of law, especially in the light of demographic problems existing in Russia.