Context Of Everyday Life Research Articles

Real-time mechanism-based interventions for daily alcohol challenges: Protocol for ecological momentary assessment and intervention.

Advancing evidence-based, tailored interventions for substance use disorders (SUDs) requires understanding temporal directionality while upholding ecological validity. Previous studies identified loneliness and craving as pivotal factors associated with alcohol consumption, yet the precise directionality of these relationships remains ambiguous. This study aims to establish a smartphone-based real-life intervention platform that integrates momentary assessment and intervention into everyday life. The platform will explore the temporal directionality of contextual influences on alcohol use among individuals experiencing loneliness and craving. We will target 180 individuals aged 18 to 70 in Germany who report loneliness, alcohol cravings, and meet risk or binge drinking criteria (over 14 standard drinks per week or five drinks in a single day for males, and over seven drinks per week or four drinks in a single day for females). Using a Within-Person-Encouragement-Design and Just-In-Time-Adaptive-Interventions, we will manipulate the contexts of loneliness and alcohol craving with cognitive reappraisal and physical activity interventions against a control condition (working memory task). Recruitment started in June 2024, with data collection and processing expected by June 2027. Our real-life intervention platform endeavors to serve as a robust tool for discerning the directionality of the effects from time series data in everyday life influences on alcohol use for the future study. Ultimately, it will pave the way for low-threshold prevention, clinical treatment, and therapy to target diverse contexts of everyday life in SUD. German Clinical Trials Register DRKS00033133.

Depression Recognition Using Daily Wearable-Derived Physiological Data.

The objective identification of depression using physiological data has emerged as a significant research focus within the field of psychiatry. The advancement of wearable physiological measurement devices has opened new avenues for the identification of individuals with depression in everyday-life contexts. Compared to other objective measurement methods, wearables offer the potential for continuous, unobtrusive monitoring, which can capture subtle physiological changes indicative of depressive states. The present study leverages multimodal wristband devices to collect data from fifty-eight participants clinically diagnosed with depression during their normal daytime activities over six hours. Data collected include pulse wave, skin conductance, and triaxial acceleration. For comparison, we also utilized data from fifty-eight matched healthy controls from a publicly available dataset, collected using the same devices over equivalent durations. Our aim was to identify depressive individuals through the analysis of multimodal physiological measurements derived from wearable devices in daily life scenarios. We extracted static features such as the mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis of physiological indicators like heart rate, skin conductance, and acceleration, as well as autoregressive coefficients of these signals reflecting the temporal dynamics. Utilizing a Random Forest algorithm, we distinguished depressive and non-depressive individuals with varying classification accuracies on data aggregated over 6 h, 2 h, 30 min, and 5 min segments, as 90.0%, 84.7%, 80.1%, and 76.0%, respectively. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using daily wearable-derived physiological data for depression recognition. The achieved classification accuracies suggest that this approach could be integrated into clinical settings for the early detection and monitoring of depressive symptoms. Future work will explore the potential of these methods for personalized interventions and real-time monitoring, offering a promising avenue for enhancing mental health care through the integration of wearable technology.

Factors predicting the mathematics anxiety of adolescents: a structural equation modeling approach.

Mathematics anxiety (MA) is a distinct negative emotional state or trait that individuals experience when confronted with mathematical problems in everyday life and academic contexts. This study aims to identify the key predictors of MA among secondary-level students in Bangladesh. Utilizing a quantitative cross-sectional research design, data were collected from 486 students across 89 institutions. Later, the data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed that math related negative past experiences (β = 0.241, t = 4.914, p < 0.001) and a perceived lack of teacher support (β = 0.234, t = 5.440, p < 0.001) significantly contribute to students' low self-efficacy in mathematics. This low self-efficacy is further influenced by negative attitudes and test anxiety, ultimately leading to increased MA (β = 0.694, t = 22.695, p < 0.001). Additionally, cognitive challenges, particularly working memory difficulties, directly affect MA (β = 0.110, t = 2.659, p = 0.008). The study also found that negative attitudes (β = 0.347, t = 9.063, p < 0.001) and test anxiety (β = 0.251, t = 5.913, p < 0.001) independently exacerbate MA. Moreover, a lack of motivation in learning mathematics is directly influenced by this elevated level of MA (β = 0.384, t = 9.939, p < 0.001). Taken together, the study proposes several key recommendations and policy implications to inform the development of synchronized policies by educational authorities aimed at combatting, reducing MA among secondary-level students in Bangladesh and similar contexts.

Authentic Assessment Instrument on Redox Reactions to Assess Students’ Cognitive Skills

Authentic assessment is an assessment approach that enable students to demonstrate in-depth understanding and solve complex problem using systematic thinking skills, but teachers find it difficult to develop due to limited knowledge and time. The aim of this research is to produce an authentic assessment instrument for redox reaction materials; determine the characteristics, quality, and feasibility. The instrument development model used was a combination of Oriondo &amp; Dallo-Antonio with Cohen Swerdlik. The development stages were assessment planning, instrument construction, and product testing. The research subjects were 155 of 10th-grade students from three public high schools in Bukittinggi, selected using random sampling technique. Data collection techniques were tests and non-test, the instruments were open ended questions and validation sheets. The authentic assessment instrument developed criteria are: (1) can assess students’ higher order thinking skills; (2) integrate knowledge with skills and various scientific disciplines; (3) develop 21st century competencies; and (4) involve real or everyday life contexts for cognitive aspect. The trial results were analyzed using the PCM 1-PL approach at IRT using Winstep and Parscale program. The characteristics of the item were stated fit because it met the acceptance requirements for MNSQ, ZSTD, and PT-Measure Correlation and the difficulty is in a relatively good level. The reliability of the instrument was classified as good, with test reliability of 0.72 and item reliability of 0.96.

Everyday life information seeking: A systematic review with bibliometric analysis

This study presents the first comprehensive systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the Everyday Life Information Seeking (ELIS) research domain, spanning nearly three decades of academic contributions. Initiated by Savolainen’s groundbreaking study in 1995, ELIS research has significantly progressed; however, to date, no researchers have undertaken a thorough overview of this field. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this study combines systematic review techniques with bibliometric analysis, aiming to bridge this gap. The methodology includes rigorous data filtration from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, amassing a total of 345 articles published between 1995 and 2023. Findings indicate a marked increase in ELIS publications and citations, particularly after 2008, underscoring a growing interest in everyday life information seeking. Analysis identified significant contributions from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Finland, and Australia. Thematic analysis unveiled three main research directions: the influence of digital technology on ELIS, information seeking in health scenarios, and diverse information needs and sources among specific user groups. Furthermore this study also proposes an integrative framework, emphasizing the importance of understanding information-seeking behaviors within the complex and diverse context of everyday life. It recognizes the necessity of incorporating various sociocultural perspectives and adapting to the continuously evolving digital environment. This framework serves as a valuable resource for scholars and practitioners dedicated to improving information services and interventions in daily life. The limitations of this study include language and database restrictions, as well as the exclusion of gray literature. Additionally, given the significant potential of integrating information seeking with technology to improve daily life, future research should focus on the foundational theoretical issue of how artificial intelligence technology is reshaping users’ ELIS behaviors.

Weathering words: a virtual reality study of environmental influence on reading dynamics.

Reading is a fundamental cognitive activity that is influenced by both textual and external environmental factors, although the latter has been less thoroughly explored. This study aims to examine the impact of environmental visual conditions on reading performance using Virtual Reality (VR) technology. We conducted two experiments to assess the effects of visual contrast and simulated weather conditions on reading dynamics. In Experiment 1, we measured single-word recognition speed using a lexical decision task under different visual contrasts and weather conditions. In Experiment 2, we assessed reading dynamics during a sentence reading task, analyzing how visual contrast and simulated sunny versus rainy weather conditions affected reading behavior, particularly focusing on reading speed and eye fixations. In Experiment 1, high visual contrast, particularly under sunny conditions, significantly enhanced single-word recognition speed, indicating a notable influence of environmental visual conditions. In Experiment 2, visual contrast had minimal effect on sentence reading; however, sunny weather facilitated faster reading times, while rainy scenarios increased the number of eye fixations. These findings suggest that environmental factors, such as weather conditions, can significantly affect reading behavior. The study contributes to the understanding of key environmental influences on reading in everyday life contexts and has implications for the ergonomic design of reading materials, especially for outdoor settings and VR environments. Additionally, the integration of controlled stimuli within VR increases the ecological validity of reading research, underscoring the potential of VR as a powerful tool for cognitive research.

An Analysis of the Short Story How to Grow Bananas by Chinese Author Xu Yigua

The purpose of the paper is to offer an example of reader-response analysis based on free associations, as well as on the visual suggestions of various elements to bring about allusive language into the process of interpretation, together with strong emotional associations in the case of short stories from Asian cultures. Indirect communication, which is specific on an everyday life basis in Asian cultures, rely on a similar mechanism, of decoding intent in an everyday life context of communication, in a way reminding of understanding a literary work. The case in point will be the short story How to Grow Bananas by contemporary Chinese author Xu Yigua, and the way in which visual language works together with indirect communication culture to bring about readers’ understanding and interpretation, as well as striking their attention through unusual details.

‘Living in a post-truth era’? Online misinformation in everyday life in rural and urban China

ABSTRACT This paper investigates everyday information seeking and misinformation among Internet users in rural and urban China. The research employs both quantitative and qualitative methods to identify user demographics and categories of misinformation encountered on mobile devices online. The paper makes two contributions: one is to bridge hitherto unconnected research on everyday information practices with the literature on misinformation. The second is to demonstrate that, despite the assumption that China’s tightly controlled online space leads to less of a misinformation problem, this is not the case in everyday life contexts. The findings may have wider implications, especially in the Global South.

Creatividad percibida en problemas insight por alumnado de secundaria: Efectos de algunas variables del problema y del sujeto resolutor

Objective: The study analyzes secondary school students’ perceptions of creativity in insight problems. Methodology. An empirical study was conducted with a total of 127 Spanish students from 8th grade and 11th grade. The students evaluated the creativity involved in the problems before and after attempting to solve them. These evaluations were related to grade, gender, surface, and structural aspects of the problems. Everyday life and science contexts were considered as problem surfaces. The structural aspects of the problems were associated with the specific strategy needed to solve them, such as chunk decomposition and constraint relaxation, the assistance provided by the problem statement to initiate the resolution process, and the possibility of metacognitive control over the quality of the solution. Individual booklets with counterbalanced statements were prepared to assess perceived creativity and to solve the problems. Results. Contrary to expectations, students were able to mentally represent the structural aspects of the problems during reading, and before solving them. The problem surface did not significantly affect the initial perception of creativity. After solving the problems, the average changes in perceived creativity were small. Conclusions. The results encourage teachers to use insight problems to promote creativity in secondary school classrooms.

Exploring music-based attachment to video games through affect expressions in written memories

This paper presents an exploratory research on music-based attachment to video games, studied through personally valued game music memories. It focuses on people’s engagement with game music and game technologies, expanding previous research on the role of game music in people’s lives. We gathered 183 written game music memories and analyzed their contents and language. We focused on expressions of affect and sentiment, which we assumed would indicate affective involvement. However, we also explored the constitution of attachment by investigating how expressions of affect and sentiment were associated with other aspects in the stories that reflect personal valuation, focusing specifically on factors of autobiographical remembrance, conceptualizations of game music, and gaming technology related to memories. These investigations employed a mixed-methods approach that combined qualitative and statistical analyses. A major finding was that especially personal remembrances that involved an awareness of the self or related to the game music experience significantly predicted the use of expressions of affect and sentiment in the stories. In sum, the study outlines a framework for investigating people’s long-term engagement with technology as being intimately related to the context of everyday life and the constitution of self-understanding.

Integrating dynamic psychophysiological indices across time and contexts: Elucidating mechanisms, risk markers, and intervention targets.

Why should researchers measure psychophysiological processes repeatedly over time? The study of psychophysiology inherently involves sampling biological processes as they manifest over time. The most common approach is to use a brief sample to make conclusions about how individuals or groups differ. Although these types of between-subject comparisons have utility for understanding individual and group differences, many of the important conceptual questions in the field involve processes that are dynamic, varying within individuals over time. Using examples from the literature on affect regulation, this conceptual review contrasts three types of study designs: the classic single-observation design and the aggregated and temporally linked repeated observation designs, which have great promise for measuring variables that fluctuate dynamically over time. Importantly, these designs can be integrated to elucidate research questions about risk (when and for whom will the likelihood of an unwanted outcome occurring increase?), mechanisms (how and why does a change in psychophysiology contribute to a change in another process of interest?), and interventions (how and when should interventions take place to modify an outcome?). Researchers are encouraged to implement intensive sampling in their research, which can be conducted in traditional laboratory settings (e.g., fMRI, event-related brain potentials, and heart rate variability) and in ecologically valid contexts in everyday life using ambulatory assessment.

Science in Community: Anatomy, Academy, and Argument in the Eighteenth-Century Holy Roman Empire.

Understanding physicians as actors who implemented the early modern ideal of collective empiricism into their practices within the local contexts of everyday life, the paper explores two cases from imperial cities in southern Germany in the 1720s and 1780s in which anatomical studies were contested. By analyzing the strategies and arguments that the two physicians used to justify and continue their anatomical dissections, it focuses on their references to different kinds of (local) community and relates these references to another type of collective: membership in a scientific academy. To examine references to community, it is proposed, offers an opportunity to better understand the spread and practice of the ideal of the study of nature as a collective project and how it was intertwined with concepts and structures of order and society in the Holy Roman Empire.

ECONOMICS : An Introduction to the Discipline

Economics, as a discipline, provides a comprehensive understanding of how individuals, businesses, and governments allocate scarce resources to fulfil their needs and desires. This Paper attempts to introduce Economics as a discipline. It delves into macroeconomic concepts such as inflation, unemployment, and economic growth, alongside microeconomic issues including consumer behaviour, production costs, and market competition. This introduction underscores the relevance and importance of economics in both everyday life and global contexts.

Pengaruh Pendekatan Kontekstual terhadap Kemampuan Pemecah Masalah Matematika pada Materi Bangun Ruang Sisi Lengkung

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;This research aims to evaluate the effect of a contextual approach on students' mathematical problem solving abilities in curved geometric shapes. The literature review (SLR) study method was used to analyze 6 scientific articles relevant to the research topic. This research identifies themes and patterns that emerge regarding the influence of a contextual approach on students' mathematical problem solving abilities. The results of the analysis show that the application of the contextual approach has a positive influence on students' mathematical problem solving abilities. Comparison table of scores for the experimental group achieved higher achievement than the control group. Data visualization graphs also reinforce these findings. The conclusion of this research confirms that the application of a contextual approach has a positive impact on solving mathematical problems in curved geometric shapes. The implications of these findings can be a guide for educators and researchers to enrich mathematics learning strategies by integrating everyday life contexts into geometry teaching&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

The Wise Mind Balances the Abstract and the Concrete.

We explored how individuals' mental representations of complex and uncertain situations impact their ability to reason wisely. To this end, we introduce situated methods to capture abstract and concrete mental representations and the switching between them when reflecting on social challenges. Using these methods, we evaluated the alignment of abstractness and concreteness with four integral facets of wisdom: intellectual humility, open-mindedness, perspective-taking, and compromise-seeking. Data from North American and UK participants (N = 1,151) revealed that both abstract and concrete construals significantly contribute to wise reasoning, even when controlling for a host of relevant covariates and potential response bias. Natural language processing of unstructured texts among high (top 25%) and low (bottom 25%) wisdom participants corroborated these results: semantic networks of the high wisdom group reveal greater use of both abstract and concrete themes compared to the low wisdom group. Finally, employing a repeated strategy-choice method as an additional measure, our findings demonstrated that individuals who showed a greater balance and switching between these construal types exhibited higher wisdom. Our findings advance understanding of individual differences in mental representations and how construals shape reasoning across contexts in everyday life.

Making sense of ambivalence: audience perceptions and uses of Ben Shapiro as an alternative political commentator

ABSTRACT Alternative Political Commentators (APCs) have gained prominence on digital platforms as new opinion leaders to politically engaged young adults. This study responds to a growing demand for an audience-focused exploration of perceptions and use practices of what has been described as reactionary digital media. We specifically examine the case of Ben Shapiro, a leading conservative voice on YouTube, employing a mixed-methods approach, triangulating computational analyses of YouTube comments (n = 711,909) with in-depth interviews with young (18–33) daily Shapiro viewers based in Belgium (n = 15). Positioning Shapiro as an ambivalent online political figure, our study conceptualizes the two primary roles he fulfills for his audiences: (1) the rational articulate and non-emotional news provider, and (2) the affective witty and sometimes rude entertainer who skillfully ‘destroys’ opponents in so-called YouTube drama. Within their everyday life context, we reveal how audiences, in a likewise ambivalent manner, oscillate between casual use of Shapiro the entertainer and structured use of Shapiro the news provider. Through a reconstruction of Shapiro's dual role, our contribution suggests his style, particularly his voice, as a central quality through which audiences navigate Shapiro's ambivalence in their sense-making practices of him as an Alternative Political Commentator.

Constructing the ‘zero family’: Breaking the intergenerational transmission of maltreatment from the perspective of care-experienced parents

BackgroundSeveral studies have explored the mechanisms of intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment (ITCM), which also involves care-experienced parents; however, what is less explored is their direct experience, especially regarding resilience processes. ObjectiveDeveloping the theoretical framework of ITCM through an exploration of the perspectives of those who appear to have interrupted it. Participants and settingA sample of 27 Italian parents - with experience in foster and/or residential care - who have broken the ITCM, completed an in-depth interview between May 2021 and February 2023. MethodsA Constructivist Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) approach was adopted in carrying out the interviews, which focused on daily experiences of parenting (Morgan, 2011) and on factors perceived as supporting ITCM interruption. Data were analyzed using open, focused and theoretical coding; the analysis itself was discussed with a consultive board of care-experienced parents. ResultsThe study highlighted important aspects that, from parents' perspectives, play a role in breaking ITCM: for instance, how their parenting experience is a challenging process of constructing what they term ‘zero family’. Furthermore, starting a family from scratch requires coming to terms with the past, re-imagining oneself as a parent, and managing the complexity of everyday life despite such tensions. ConclusionsThe results throw light on how the transition to parenthood itself is perceived as a significant developmental opportunity for the interruption of ITCM. However, many problems persist, foregrounding the relevance of discussing possible supports to strengthen parenting agency and skills. Such a discussion should therefore be increasingly informed by ecological approaches and parents' perspectives (also on everyday practices and life contexts), thus avoiding the risk of pathologizing responses.

Measurement of Mathematical Literacy in Everyday Life Contexts: A Case Study of High School Students

Measurement of Mathematical Literacy in Everyday Life Contexts: A Case Study of High School Students

Outside Interior

This paper proposes an idea of the traversed boundaries of inside and outside, by examining various mechanisms of how the inside and the outside could traverse each other within the context of everyday life in an urban neighbourhood in Jakarta, Indonesia. It argues on the (in)significance of interior entities in defining the interiority of an urban context, especially in an urban setting where the cultural and climatic context encourages more outdoor events and activities. An inquiry into everyday life in an urban neighbourhood was performed in order to reveal various possibilities for mechanisms in which the inside and outside could be extended and exchanged. The making of interior is not merely defined by the presence of interior entities contained within the physical boundaries. Various mechanisms of traversing the inside and outside could further define the nature of the urban interior of everyday life, where the interior could become independent from its physical boundaries. These mechanisms suggest the possibility of alternative types of urban interior that might emerge due to the occupation of space (whether inside or outside) by the events that take place alongside the everyday habitual routines. The emergence of outside interior is made possible by the porosity of the boundaries, which allow for the exchange of atmospheric condition, the exchange of programs and actions, and the movement of objects across the boundaries of inside and outside.

Understanding interrelated practices and their climate-related consequences: exploring food, mobility and housing in everyday life

Everyday lives are made of many practices, often more intricately intertwined than recognised. Fundamental practices, like how we eat, move around and live, have profound impacts on the climate and adaptability towards sustainable societies. While the impacts of these practices in isolation may be well understood, the interrelatedness of how these practices foster, constrain or change one another has been scarcely examined. In response, this paper serves a dual purpose. First, to empirically demonstrate a relationship between food-, mobility- and housing-related consumption. It does this by investigating shared practices among young adults living in Denmark. Findings reveal that home location plays a significant role in prefiguring mobility- and food-related practices. Mobility-related practices, like the daily route or mobility mode, adapt to the home’s location, while grocery shopping is conveniently integrated into daily commuting routes. Hence, this study offers empirical evidence of how certain practices not only influence but often prefigure other practices within the context of everyday life. The second purpose of this paper is to reflect on the climate-related consequences of these interdependent practices. The location of the home creates a locked-in situation for various daily practices, such as commuting and grocery shopping, influencing the degree of climate-friendly consumption. For instance, longer commutes resulting from housing relocation may lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, or the availability of climate-friendly food products is contingent on the grocery stores near the home’s location. This empirical knowledge highlights how policies targeting food, mobility or housing can have far-reaching effects in multiple consumption domains.