Effect of swearing on strength: Disinhibition as a potential mediator

Introduction: Swearing fulfils positive functions including benefitting pain relief and physical strength. Here we present three experiments assessing a possible psychological mechanism, increased state disinhibition, for the effect of swearing on physical strength. Method: Three repeated measures experiments were carried out with sample sizes N=56, N=63 and N=118. All three included the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) to measure risky behaviour. Experiments 1 and 3 included measures of physical performance assessing, respectively, grip and arm strength. Experiment 3, which was pre-registered, additionally assessed flow, self-confidence, anxiety, emotion including humour, and distraction including novelty.Results: Experiments 1 and 3 found that repeating a swear word benefitted physical strength and increased risky behaviour, but risky behaviour did not mediate the strength effect. Experiment 2 showed no effect of listening to an audio track of a repeated swear word. Experiment 3 found that repeating a swear word increased flow, self-confidence, positive emotion, humour and distraction. Humour mediated the effect of swearing on physical strength. Discussion: Consistent effects of swearing on physical strength indicate that this is a reliable effect. Swearing affected several constructs related to state disinhibition including increased self-confidence. Humour appeared to mediate the effect of swearing on physical strength, consistent with a hot cognitions explanation of swearing-induced state disinhibition. However, as this mediation effect was part of an exploratory analysis, further pre-registered experimental research including validated measures of humour is required.

Information Communication Technology (ICT) Tools for Preservation of Underwater Environment: A Vision-Based Posidonia Oceanica Monitoring

Underwater monitoring activities are crucial for the preservation of marine ecosystems. Currently, scuba divers are involved in data collection campaigns that are repetitive, dangerous, and expensive. This article describes the application of Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools to underwater visual data for monitoring purposes. The data refer to a Posidonia Oceanica survey mission carried out by a scuba diver using a Smart Dive Scooter equipped with visual acquisition and acoustic localization systems. An acoustic-based strategy for geo-referencing of the optical dataset is reported. It exploits the synchronization between the audio track extracted from a camera and the transponder pings adopted for the acoustic positioning. The positioning measurements are employed within an extended Kalman filter to estimate the diver's path during the mission. A visual odometry algorithm is implemented within the filter to refine the navigation state estimation of the diver with respect to the acoustic positioning only. Moreover, a smoothing step based on the Rauch-Tung-Striebel smoother is applied to further improve the estimated diver's positions. Finally, the article reports the results of two different data processing for monitoring applications. The first one is an image mosaicking obtained by concatenating subsequent frames, whereas the second one refers to a qualitative distribution of the Posidonia Oceanica over the mission area accomplished through an image segmentation process. The two outcomes are plotted over a satellite image of the surveyed area, showing that the proposed process is an effective tool capable of facilitating divers in their monitoring and inspection activities.

Basic principles of TikTok algorithms

Social network TikTok has strong competitive differentiator in comparing with other platforms. ByteDance exploits machine learning algorithms to generate a recommendation feed (for you page). The algorithm bases on two main mechanisms. The first mechanism provides content database clustering depending on the type, audio track, video captions, and hashtags. The second mechanism analyzes the user’s behavioral patterns based on their actions in the application. The next step is the formation of user interaction scenarios. The difference between the predicted behavior and the real one is the object of analysis. If it equals zero, then the recommendations feed is formed correctly. The user is watching more and more interesting videos, just scrolling through video after video.

Hypnotherapy for weight loss smartphone applications; a narrative review (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Despite the current popularity and potential usage of mobile applications in promoting dietary behavior, hypnotherapy for weight loss applications are scarcely available and the credibility of information is of concern. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this review are to 1) provide up-to-date existing hypnotherapy apps focusing on weight reduction and 2) evaluate the features and information provided in the mobile apps. METHODS Google Play and Apple’s iTunes stores were searched for available applications related to the hypnotherapy targeting weight loss from 20 August 2020 to 20 September 2020. Only free, English apps were included. Apps in which the hypnotherapy was not utilized for weight loss or which contain no elements of hypnotherapy were not included. RESULTS Of 291 identified apps, 22 met the requirements for inclusion and were further reviewed. Fourteen of the apps (63.6%) focused on reducing calorie intake and limiting intake of fattening and sugary foods through hypnotic suggestions. Most apps delivered hypnotherapy via audio track (77.3%) and 68% enabled the session to be customized. More than 40% of apps developers claimed to have used a licensed hypnotherapist and 25% of apps contained disclaimers in the descriptions. Additionally, 31.8% of the classified apps earned high ratings from users (between 4 and 5 stars). CONCLUSIONS Overall findings suggest that weight-loss hypnotherapy applications may be useful as an approach to assist conventional weight management strategies. However, several issues regarding the contents and credibility should be highlighted in order to improve the quality and substantiate the effectiveness of weight-loss hypnotherapy apps in future. CLINICALTRIAL MENTOR-MENTEE RESEARCH GRANT (UNISZA/2018/011/R0046-R001)

Interaction of sound and image in modern audiovisual culture

The article analyzes the possible types of combination of sound track components with the visual track, namely diegetic and non-diegetic sound, actual, commentative sound, etc., reveals the main positions and opinions of foreign and Ukrainian authors studying the problem, types of sound in screen projects, and their significance and features in the context of audiovisual culture are indicated. Examples of creative application of audio track in modern Ukrainian and foreign audiovisual culture are considered. The following methods were used during the study: analysis was used for consideration of the components of the sound track and certain types of interaction of sound and image, comparative method was used to study different concepts of scientists to more fully present the issue, systematic approach was used to study a set of types of the combination of sound and image in audiovisual projects. The scientific novelty of the article is to highlight the current state of theoretical approaches to the interaction of sound and image in audiovisual culture. The results of the study are of practical importance to scholars studying film, audiovisual culture, as well as to sound engineers and other creative professionals working on screen projects, in order to be able to master possible techniques to combine sound with the visual component of the project.

Sprachmacht auf engstem Raum : Die Inszenierung der Stadt in den Hörfilmen der Münchner Tatort-Filmserie

Audio films enable blind and visually impaired people to enjoy a feature film. An audio film consists of the original audio track of the film and the audio description. This film description compensates for the video track of the film. It is therefore a purely auditory media text. Translation studies consider the work of audio descriptors as an intercodal translation process and as a part of audiovisual translation. Maher Tyfour examined the concrete implementation of audiodescription on a corpus of image translations for the Munich Tatort series. His focus was on the city's staging. By comparing them with the original video tracks of the feature films, he illustrates the intertextual relationship between original and translation. In the analysis he identifies the strategies of the audio descriptors that are partly unconsciously implemented in the translation process, explains them and discusses them in terms of text and translation studies. Maher Tyfour studied English at the University of Damascus (Syria) before coming to Germany in 2009. After completing his master's degree in Intercultural German Studies at the Georg-August University of Göttingen, he earned his doctorate at the University of Hildesheim. He works as a teacher of English and German as a second language in Saxony.

Indagine sull’ascolto ripetuto

IT Questo articolo analizza diverse attività di ascolto caratterizzate dalla ripetizione del brano audio per un numero di volte che oscilla tra le quattro e le sei. Le attività sono state somministrate in classi di studenti universitari di Lingua e letteratura italiana presso la Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói, Brasile). Lo studio rapporta la percentuale di comprensione, audizione dopo audizione, a tre ordini di variabili: la calibrazione del testo, la presenza di uno scambio con i compagni, il numero di volte in cui il testo viene ascoltato. Pur considerate le specificità del contesto della ricerca (in particolar modo, il fatto che le lingue coinvolte sono tipologicamente vicine: portoghese e italiano) e il numero ridotto di partecipanti, i dati che emergono offrono spunti per l’esercizio della pratica dell’ascolto ripetuto. Parole chiave: COMPRENSIONE ORALE, ASCOLTO RIPETUTO, TESTI AUTENTICI, GRADO DI DIFFICOLTÀ DI UN TESTO, INTERAZIONE EN This paper analyzes various listening activities characterized by repetition of the audio track between four and six times. The activities were implemented in classes of university students of Italian Language and literature at the Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói, Brazil). The study reports the comprehension percentage after successive listening attempts according to three sets of variables: text calibration, the degree of socialization post-exposure among the students, and the number of times the recording was played. Even considering the specificities of the context of the research (in particular, the typologically similar languages involved, Italian and Portuguese) and the small group of participants, the data suggest some guidelines for the use of repeated listening in the classroom. Key words: LISTENING COMPREHENSION, LISTENING REPETITION, AUTHENTIC TEXTS, TEXT DIFFICULTY, INTERACTION ES El siguiente artículo analiza varias actividades de comprensión auditiva caracterizadas por la repetición del texto oral por un número de veces que oscila entre las 4 y las 6 veces. Las actividades han sido suministradas en clases de estudiantes universitarios de Lengua e literatura italiana en la Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói, Brasile). El estudio presenta el porcentaje de comprensión, después de sucesivas audiciones, con tres niveles de variables: la calibración del texto, el grado de socialización de lo comprendido entre los alumnos, el número de veces que el texto es escuchado. Si bien se han considerado los aspectos específicos del contexto en el que ha sido conducida la investigación (en particular, la proximidad tipológica entre las lenguas envolvidas: italiano e portogués) y el pequeño grupo de participantes, los datos que emergen ofrecen algunos indicios para el ejercicio de la práctica de audición repetida. Palabras clave: COMPRENSIÓN ORAL, REPETICIÓN DE LA AUDICIÓN, TEXTOS AUTÉNTICOS, DIFICULTAD DEL TEXTO, INTERACCIÓN

Music videos in the British screen industries and screen heritage: From innovation to curation. Introduction

In December 2019, Rolling Stone magazine ran a piece on the best videos of the year which began by asking, “What even counts as a music video now?” (Shaffer). Vevo, Tiktok and Instagram TV have blurred the lines. Videos can be an hour long. They can be events on YouTube Premiere. They can be virtual reality. The idea that the world of the earliest creators of pop promos was simple in comparison to today subtends this dossier. In 2015, I was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant to investigate the history of music videos in Britain since 1966. At the end of the grant, I curated a collection of the most significant of those videos into a limited-edition box set (Power). Selecting them involved very detailed discussions with our interviewees and industry consultants about just what a “music video”—known as a “promo” until the mid 1980s—is. The term “music video” arose in the 1980s. It was used in record labels to describe visual products mastered on physical videotapes for television broadcast. In fact, almost all of those products were shot on celluloid (16mm or 35mm) until digital technologies allowed HD to become the norm in the 2000s. For the purposes of this dossier, I define music videos and pop promos as a type of musical short film for mass audiences commissioned and released by record labels (usually) at the same time as the release of a synchronised audio “single”; the shorts comprise a copyrighted synchronised picture and audio track in which a percentage of the royalties accrue to the recording artist and/or record label. This dossier is a collection of core materials emerging from the AHRC project.

Automatic Annotation of Instructional Videos

Multimedia has a significant role in communicating the information and a large amount of multimedia repositories make the browsing, retrieval and delivery of video contents. For higher education, using video as a tool for learning and teaching through multimedia application is a considerable promise. To extract the audio information from the visual content is a very challenging because it needs the extraction of high level semantic information from low level visual data. The summarization technique for videos has been proposed to improve the browsing faster for large video collections to produce more efficient content indexing and access. The proposed video summarization system for instructional videos initially separates videos into audio track and then converted into text transcript. The text transcripts are preprocessed and extracted the important relevant keywords which can be used for indexing the video file. The automatic annotation of instructional videos reduced the summary length and also preserved the semantic of the videos. The research indicates that the students found these summarized content is very helpful for preparing and reviewing the lecture material and also for the preparation during their examination.

Game of Thrones -pelin Let's Play -videot ja populaarikulttuurin vastaanotto esityksenä

Suositun Valtaistuinpeli (Game of Thrones) -tv-sarjan myötä George R. R. Martinin Tulen ja jään laulu -kirjasarjaan perustuvasta transmediauniversumista on tullut ilmiö, jolla on faneja huomattavasti laajemmin kuin vain fantasiaharrastajien piirissä. Tässä artikkelissa pyrin selvittämään tapoja, joilla ihmiset kokevat Valtaistuinpelin maailman, hahmot ja tapahtumat, ja sitä, miten he niitä tulkitsevat ja suhteuttavat omaan elämänkokemukseensa. Hypoteesina on, että Let’s Play -videot tarjoavat hedelmällisen aineiston pelien ja yleisemmin populaarikulttuurin synnyttämien kokemusten tarkasteluun.Tutkimusmenetelmänäni on Game of Thrones -videopelistä tehtyjen Let’s Play -videoiden analysointi erityisesti pelaaja-kertojan esiintymiseen keskittyen. Tutkimuksen aineisto on koottu satunnaisotantana kahdelta eri videonjakoalustalta (Twitch, Youtube). Ääniraidalla pelaaja-kertojat ensisijaisesti sanallistavat ruudulla näkyviä tapahtumia ja käyttävät runsaasti aikaa myös pelin edellyttämien moraalisten valintojen pohtimiseen ja selittämiseen. Videoissa on myös tärkeässä roolissa pelaaja-kertojien tunnereaktioiden esittäminen, mikä korostaa Let’s Play -videoiden performatiivista luonnetta. Let’s Play -videot tarjoavat tavan sekä esittää että kasvattaa fanikulttuurista pääomaa. Let’s Play -videoiden kautta pelaaja-kertojat osallistuvat fandomin aineettomaan vaihdantaan, tuoden oman panoksensa Valtaistuinpelin universumiin. Game of Thrones -pelin Let’s Play -videoissa pohdinta keskittyy moraalisiin valintoihin. Videot avaavat näkymän pelaaja-kertojien yksityiseen vastaanottoprosessiin ja sen aikana tapahtuvaan joustavaan erilaisten moraalikoodistojen limittymiseen. Let’s Play -videot näyttävät tarjoavan faniuden esittämiselle uudenlaisen alustan, jossa intiimi vastaanoton hetki voidaan tuottaa yhteisölliseksi kokemukseksi. Game of Thrones Let’s Play Videos and the Reception of Popular Culture as Performance The highly popular TV series Game of Thrones has made the transmedia universe originally based on George R. R. Martin’s novel cycle The Song of Ice and Fire into a phenomenon, which has gained fans from much wider audience than fantasy fandom. In this article, I look at the ways how people experience the world, characters, and events of the Game of Thrones, and how they interpret these and relate them to their own lives. I take it as my hypothesis that Let’s Play videos provide fruitful material for scrutinizing the experiences evoked by video games, and more generally, by popular culture productions. My research method consists of analyzing Let’s Play videos based on the Game of Thrones videogame (Telltale 2014–15), focusing especially on the performance of the player-narrators. The data set of this research was sampled from two online video publication platforms (Twitch, Youtube). On the audio track the player-narrators mainly verbalize things happening on the screen while playing Game of Thrones, and they also extensively dwell in the reflections and explanations regarding moral choices prompted by the game. Showing off emotional responses of the player-narrators plays an important role, too, which emphasizes the performative aspect of Let’s Play videos. Let’s Play videos provide a way to show and increase one’s fancultural capital. Through publishing Let’s Play videos the player-narrators participate in the immaterial exchange economy of fandom, by contributing their share into the Game of Thrones universe. In the Game of Thrones Let’s Play videos the reflection focuses on moral choices. These videos open up views to private reception processes of the player-narrators, and to the flexible shifts and overlaps between various moral codes during these processes. Let’s Play videos seem to offer a new kind of platform to perform one’s fan activities, in which the intimate moment of reception may be opened up to a communal experience.