Pilot Studies

This paper investigate the activity of the neck extensors (NE), sternocleidomastoideus (SCM), trapezius (TRP), deltoid (DT), biceps brachii (BB), triceps brachii (TB), rectus abdominal (RA), and erector spine (ES) muscles in healthy subjects during bowing and prostration using surface electromyography (EMG). A group of student aged between 23 to 28 years voluntarily participated in this study. The subjects were asked to perform two types of flexion positions, namely bowing (90° forward flexion with the hands on the respective knees) and prostration (flexion with the palms of the hands and the forehead flat on the floor). The motion signals of the muscles were recorded. The finding indicated that during the bowing, there was contraction of the NE, DT, TB, and RA muscles while the muscle relaxation was found in the SCM, TRP, BB, and ES. During prostration, there was contraction at the SCM, DT, TB, and RA but muscle relaxation was found at the NE, TRP, BB, and ES. For the muscles that showed electrical activity in both the postures, the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test showed a statistically no significant difference between bowing and prostration only for DT (p = 0.534) and but statistically significant difference for RA and TB (p<0.05). The muscle relaxation that existed at the ES showed no significant difference between bowing and prostrating (Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, p = 0.075). This study indicates the effects of bowing and prostration on the biomechanical response of the human muscles. Muscle contraction and relaxation that occur, show an agonist-antagonist response which is good for exercise and strengthening programmers. These two movements are involved in the Muslim's prayer, called the salat. Hence, the current experiment can be taken as a pilot study on the biomechanical response of the human muscles during one's act of performing the salat. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-21729-6_34

U ovom seminarskom radu opisane su pilot studije kao jedna od tehnika prikupljanja podataka od klijenata koji koriste proizvode ili usluge nekog poduzeća. Upotrebom različitih izvora prvo će se upoznati pojam pilot studije, odnosno objasniti zašto ih koristimo, čemu nam one doista mogu pomoći. Zatim će upoznati gdje se takve studije i upotrebljavaju u praksi. Kako bismo što bolje razumjeli pilot studije, ući će se u samu strukturu pilot studije i objasniti od čega se pilot studije zapravo sastoje te pritom navoditi primjere ili slike kako bi lakše shvatili pojedine dijelove. Pred kraj ovog rada navesti će se koje su prednosti, a koji nedostaci samih pilot studija. Dok na samom kraju rada biti će dani zaključak u kojem ću rezimirati cjelokupan rad sa naglaskom na vlastitom mišljenju.

The field of psychology established itself as a study in the late 1800’s through the contributions of many psychologists, theorists, and concepts pertaining to the human mind, behaviors, and purpose.  During the pre-modernism era, fundamental thoughts and ideas were composed without a specific place to be directed.  However, in Germany, doctors and philosophers such as Wundt contributed to the uprising of a field that was dedicated to the study of thoughts and concepts.  The development of psychology progressed greatly through modernism by taking a scientific approach and establishing groundbreaking theories that would define the field.  Several psychologists such as Freud, Pavlov, Watson, and Skinner implanted their efforts into making the field of psychology logical, practical, and scientific which led to the growth of what is psychology during the post-modernism era.  New psychologists emerged to revise existing theories from the founding fathers and created an updated format of future ideas that reflect society today.  Ideas such as existentialism developed into humanistic psychology while the contribution of women and minorities were added to the history of psychology.  Overall, the study of the thoughts, ideas, and behaviors was a rough draft concept that lacked a foundation until the pre-modernism era.  The development of psychology has taken a course through its roots in Germany and planted itself in American history.  Due to the effort and contribution of researchers, the field of psychology has found a scientific path that legitimizes the purpose and study for the human mind and behavior.

The Late Viking Age cemetery of Ostriv was discovered by an Institute of Archaeology of the Natonal Academy of Science of Ukraine (IA NASU) team in 2017, approximately 100 km from Kyiv in the Porossya region. To date, 67 inhumation graves have been excavated in an area of 1400 m2. Most of the artefacts found at Ostriv are uncommon in Ukraine, but are frequently found in the East Baltic region. The preliminary results describe the Ostriv population as East Baltic immigrants, who served as mercenaries at the Ros’ river frontier during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise, in the first third-half of the 11th century AD.

Effective solid waste management is very crucial nowadays. Increment of solid waste generated year after year has brought a massive challenge to the government. Good governance is a tool to enhance the solid waste management services towards sustainability. This pilot study investigates good governance practices in National Solid Waste Policy implementation among Solid Waste Corporation's staffs. A survey was conducted on 20 staffs of Batu Pahat Solid Waste Corporation. Then, the data were analysed using descriptive analysis such as frequency, percentage and mean. There are four key (4) variables are identified through content analysis namely policy clarity, social competency (government staff, concession company staff and local communities), resource management and management system. Result of analysis show that (i) level of awareness among respondents regarding good governance practices in policy implementation was moderate, and (ii) perception of respondents on good governance practices in policy implementation was positive. However, there are several improvement are required such as participation and awareness among local communities.

There have been various tools and instruments developed previously to assess perception. However, there is limited tool to assess staff perception on solid waste governance. The aim of this study was to measure reliability and validity of a newly developed tool for assessing solid waste corporation staff perception on good governance practices. A total of twenty (N=20) staff from Batu Pahat Solid Waste Corporation were selected by convenience sampling. The initial 200 items were developed based on literature reviewed. After content validity test executed, there are only 38 items were remained for field test. Result of analysis show the instrument has good reliability value (total cronbach's alpha 0.82). Besides that, skewness and kurtosis test show positive result which is normal distribution. This pilot study indicates that, it is possible to construct a valid and reliable instrument to assess staff perception on good governance practices.

This paper looks at the language choice among bilingual individuals in Spanish and English when in the context of prayer and religion. The paper is based on a pilot study conducted among 10 individuals who were asked about their language choice and preferences when praying.

Salat is the practice of formal prayer for Muslims. It involves with both spiritual and physical acts. This paper presents electromyography (EMG) output during the "takbeeratul-ihram (TI)", one of the postures in Salat and stretching exercise. Comparisons on EMG outputs between TI and stretching exercise are discussed. Ten healthy participants (five males and five females) were recruited for the investigation. The EMG signals were recorded from back scapula, upper trapezius, biceps brachii and pectoralis major muscles. The results showed that higher EMG signals in pectoralis major and biceps during performing the stretching posture. However, for TI posture, the EMG activities are higher in back scapula and upper trapezius muscles. © 2012 IEEE.

ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpls/abs_all.jsp?arnumber=6211603

This paper investigate the activity of the neck extensors (NE), sternocleidomastoideus (SCM), trapezius (TRP), deltoid (DT), biceps brachii (BB), triceps brachii (TB), rectus abdominal (RA), and erector spine (ES) muscles in healthy subjects during bowing and prostration using surface electromyography (EMG). A group of student aged between 23 to 28 years voluntarily participated in this study. The subjects were asked to perform two types of flexion positions, namely bowing (90° forward flexion with the hands on the respective knees) and prostration (flexion with the palms of the hands and the forehead flat on the floor). The motion signals of the muscles were recorded. The finding indicated that during the bowing, there was contraction of the NE, DT, TB, and RA muscles while the muscle relaxation was found in the SCM, TRP, BB, and ES. During prostration, there was contraction at the SCM, DT, TB, and RA but muscle relaxation was found at the NE, TRP, BB, and ES. For the muscles that showed electrical activity in both the postures, the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test showed a statistically no significant difference between bowing and prostration only for DT (p = 0.534) and but statistically significant difference for RA and TB (p<0.05). The muscle relaxation that existed at the ES showed no significant difference between bowing and prostrating (Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test, p = 0.075). This study indicates the effects of bowing and prostration on the biomechanical response of the human muscles. Muscle contraction and relaxation that occur, show an agonist-antagonist response which is good for exercise and strengthening programmers. These two movements are involved in the Muslim's prayer, called the salat. Hence, the current experiment can be taken as a pilot study on the biomechanical response of the human muscles during one's act of performing the salat. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.

http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-21729-6_34

This paper introduces the Bridging Design Prototype (BDP) concept. A BDP is the functional prototype of a new product that a user community can incorporate into their activities, while a researcher uses it for observation and testing. Due to limited research resources, the BDP was an outcome of adjusting the principles of several user-centred design methods and a learning theory. These principles where then applied to the development of a suitable product that could be incorporated in real settings.