Towards the Equality of People with Disabilities in the Health System: The Preparedness of Health Workers to Work with People with Hearing, Visual, Movement and Mental Disabilities

Even though the recent decades have witnessed extensive attempts around the world to ensure the equality of people with disabilities in the health system, it has not been achieved yet. To some extent, the problem is related to the education of health workers to work with people with disabilities. In order to gain more understanding in this regard, this paper focuses on the preparedness of health workers to work with people with hearing, visual, movement and mental disabilities: Is there a link between the studies of the health care workers in higher schools and their preparedness to deal with the specific problems that arise when working with people with hearing, visual, movement and mental disabilities? How does a specific subject / module on working with people with disabilities relate to the preparedness of health workers to address these specific issues? How is it related to the integrated preparation during the study years to work with people with disabilities? A survey of 664 health workers (doctors, nurses, kinesiotherapists, and social workers) working in Lithuania has been conducted. The research revealed that a number of health workers were not properly prepared in higher schools to work with people with hearing, visual, movement and mental disabilities. The research has also revealed that while studying a specific subject / module about working with people with disabilities or studying it in an integrated way across a variety of study activities, health professionals become better prepared to deal with the specific problems of working with people with hearing, visual, movement and mental disabilities. The results of the study suggest the necessity to pay more attention to the particularity of working with people with disabilities in health workers education, so that they are more prepared to work with people with hearing, visual, movement and mental disabilities and ensure more equality and non-discrimination in the healthcare system.

Human mirror neuron system responsivity to unimodal and multimodal presentations of action

This study aims to clarify unresolved questions from two earlier studies (McGarry et al., 2012; Kaplan & Iacoboni, 2007) on human mirror neuron system (hMNS) responsivity to multimodal presentations of actions. These questions are: (1) whether the two frontal areas originally identified by Kaplan and Iacoboni (ventral premotor cortex [vPMC] and inferior frontal gyrus [IFG]) are both part of the hMNS (i.e., do they respond to execution as well as observation), (2) whether both areas yield effects of biologicalness (biological, control) and modality (audio, visual, audiovisual), and (3) whether the vPMC is preferentially responsive to multimodal input. To resolve these questions about the hMNS, we replicated and extended McGarry et al.’s electroencephalography (EEG) study, while incorporating advanced source localization methods. Participants were asked to execute movements (ripping paper) as well as observe those movements across the same three modalities (audio, visual, and audiovisual), all while 64-channel EEG data was recorded. Two frontal sources consistent with those identified in prior studies showed mu event-related desynchronization (mu-ERD) under execution and observation conditions. These sources also showed a greater response to biological movement than to control stimuli as well as a distinct visual advantage, with greater responsivity to visual and audiovisual compared to audio conditions. Exploratory analyses of mu-ERD in the vPMC under visual and audiovisual observation conditions suggests that the hMNS tracks the magnitude of visual movement over time.

Revealing the Characteristics of Balinese Dance Maestros by Analyzing Silhouette Sequence Patterns Using Bag of Visual Movement with HoG and SIFT Features

The aim of this research was to reveal and explore the characteristics of Balinese dance maestros by analyzing silhouette sequence patterns of Balinese dance movements. A method and complete scheme for the extraction and construction of silhouette features of Balinese dance movements are proposed to enable performing quantitative analysis of Balinese dance movement patterns. Two different feature extraction methods, namely the Histogram of Gradient (HoG) feature and the Scale Invariant Features Transform (SIFT) descriptor, were used to build the final feature, called the Bag of Visual Movement (BoVM) feature. This research also makes a technical contribution with the proposal of quantifying measures to analyze the movement patterns of Balinese dances and to create the profile and characteristics of dance maestros/creators. Eight Balinese dances from three different Balinese dance maestros were analyzed in this work. Based on the experimental results, the proposed method was able to visually detect and extract patterns from silhouette sequences of Balinese dance movements. Quantitatively, the pattern measures for profiling of Balinese dances and maestros revealed a number of significant characteristics of different dances and different maestros.

A Smooth Transition Algorithm for Adjacent Panoramic Viewpoints Using Matched Delaunay Triangular Patches

The unnatural panoramic image transition between two adjacent viewpoints reduces the immersion and interactive experiences of 360° panoramic walkthrough systems. In this paper, a dynamic panoramic image rendering and smooth transition algorithm for adjacent viewpoints is proposed. First, the feature points of adjacent view images are extracted, a robust matching algorithm is used to establish adjacent point pairs, and the matching triangles are formed by using the homonymous points. Then, a dynamic transition model is formed by the simultaneous linear transitions of shape and texture for each control triangle. Finally, the smooth transition between adjacent viewpoints is implemented by overlaying the dynamic transition model with the 360° panoramic walkthrough scene. Experimental results show that this method has obvious advantages in visual representation with distinct visual movement. It can realize the smooth transition between two indoor panoramic stations with arbitrary station spacing, and its execution efficiency is up to 50 frames per second. It effectively enhances the interactivity and immersion of 360° panoramic walkthrough systems.

Auditory Coding of Reaching Space

Reaching movements are usually initiated by visual events and controlled visually and kinesthetically. Lately, studies have focused on the possible benefit of auditory information for localization tasks, and also for movement control. This explorative study aimed to investigate if it is possible to code reaching space purely by auditory information. Therefore, the precision of reaching movements to merely acoustically coded target positions was analyzed. We studied the efficacy of acoustically effect-based and of additional acoustically performance-based instruction and feedback and the role of visual movement control. Twenty-four participants executed reaching movements to merely acoustically presented, invisible target positions in three mutually perpendicular planes in front of them. Effector-endpoint trajectories were tracked using inertial sensors. Kinematic data regarding the three spatial dimensions and the movement velocity were sonified. Thus, acoustic instruction and real-time feedback of the movement trajectories and the target position of the hand were provided. The subjects were able to align their reaching movements to the merely acoustically instructed targets. Reaching space can be coded merely acoustically, additional visual movement control does not enhance reaching performance. On the basis of these results, a remarkable benefit of kinematic movement acoustics for the neuromotor rehabilitation of everyday motor skills can be assumed.

Musicalized Sound Design and the Erotics of Cinema

Chapter 4 explores the sensuous dimension of contemporary soundtracks through examples of soundtrack musicality drawn from diegetic sounds such as physical activities, walking, or environmental sounds. The chapter argues that the overall musical effect produced by the interaction between repetitive sound and rhythmicized visual movement creates musicality of an inherently cinematic nature, a type of audiovisual musique concrète. This approach is theorized through the concept of the erotics of art, contending that the practice of blurring the boundaries between music and the soundtrack’s other elements is intimately connected to the emergence of a trend that emphasizes the sensuousness of film form—its sonic and visual textures, composition, rhythm, movement, and flow—without confusing it with sensory overload.