Everyday Life Research Articles

The Effect of Chemistry Teaching Materials on Scientific Literacy and Critical Reasoning in SMA Negeri Langsa

Scientific literacy is the ability to understand the concepts and processes of science and to use science to solve problems of everyday life. The 21st century demands education to facilitate science literacy in students. However, early observations at SMA Negeri Langsa found that the literacy of students in science was still low, as well as critical. The school has provided complete facilities and has additional textbooks in addition to Chemistry. However, the chemistry materials used are still based on theory. So, this research was carried out to analyze the influence of chemistry teaching materials on science literacy and criticism of students. The method used was design with one-group type pretest-post-test, so there was only one group of samples in this study, the students of the 12th grade MIA-2 consisting of 32 people. The data collection techniques used are tests and observation sheets. Data analysis in this study is descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results show that (1) Chemistry teaching materials significantly influence scientific literacy with a percentage of influence of 89.90% and (2) Chemistry teachings also affect critical reasoning significantly with an influence rate of 87.90%. The chemistry learning materials used in this study are LKPD (Learners' Worksheet) designed using liveworksheet. Thus, the study recommends that teachers and other researchers use chemistries that support scientific literacy and are critical, such as worksheet.

Experiencing beauty in everyday life

Beauty surrounds us in many ways every day. In three experience sampling (ESM) studies we investigated frequency, category of eliciting stimuli (natural vs human-made) and, the potential moderating role of several individual difference measures on such everyday experiences of beauty in an ecologically valid manner. Further, we explored the impact of such experiences on valence & arousal. Study 1 re-analysed data from a previous study, in line with the current aims. In Studies 2 and 3, we asked participants to report daily experiences of beauty using a mixed random and event-contingent sampling schedule. Mobile notifications (random sampling) prompted participants to take a photo and rate the beauty of their surroundings. Further, current valence and arousal were assessed. Notification frequency and total days of participation differed between these two studies. Participants were able to report additional experiences outside of the notification windows (event-contingent sampling). Our results indicate that we frequently encounter beauty in everyday life and that we find it in nature, in particular. Our results further suggest a mood-boosting effect of encounters with beauty. Lastly, our results indicate influences of individual differences however, these were inconclusive and require further attention.

The Concept Of A Competency-based Approach To Teaching A Foreign Language

The actuality of this article is due to the fact that independence is necessary both at school and in everyday life in order to differentiate information, highlight the most significant, so that in the future you do not experience difficulties in generalizing and systematizing knowledge and skills and easily turn to your own experience (as educational and everyday).

Hidden costs of providing care: a pilot study of Japanese migrant care workers’ experiences in Aotearoa New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Recognising the increasingly vital yet precarious role that Asian migrant care workers (MCWs) play within Aotearoa New Zealand (Aotearoa) health system, this paper delves into the qualitative exploration of the experiences encountered by Japanese MCWs amidst everyday challenges and injustices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aotearoa. Gaining in-depth understanding of their lived experiences, encompassing challenges inherent in their care roles and racial/social injustices outside their care roles, holds the potential to establish a sustainable care workforce capable of delivering quality health care while also attracting and retaining MCWs in Aotearoa. Employing the perspective of Critical Migration Studies (CMS), this pilot study explores the hidden costs of care provision, drawing insights from in-depth interviews conducted with 10 Japanese MCWs in late 2022 and early 2023, and presents mixed findings. The data indicates intersecting challenges in their work, including unfair treatment, linguicism, labour market inequality and various forms of social injustices. However, most Japanese MCW participants had developed robust resilience in dealing with these perceived challenges and injustices in Aotearoa, stemming from their previous experiences of gender, cultural and other forms of oppression in their workplace and everyday life in Japan.

Forced to live in the present: older people's temporal experiences of the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract This article explores the temporalities experienced by persons aged 70 years and over during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Although the temporalities of the pandemic have been analysed from multiple perspectives, we contribute to this line of research in two ways. First, we show how deeply the pandemic affected older people's experiences of temporality. Second, we further develop the concept of forced present to highlight the consequences that the restriction measures had on older persons’ situations and perceptions of temporality. More specifically, we asked the following question: How did older people perceive time (past, present and future) during the pandemic? We used thematic analysis to examine a dataset consisting of written letters (N = 77) collected between April and June 2020. The findings showed that social isolation forced older people to live in the present without being able to plan their near future because they had no knowledge of when they would be ‘free’ again, which made some participants feel anxious and depressed. Furthermore, we found that the present became intertwined with the personal past as well as with the collective past, as evidenced by participants’ descriptions of war, previous pandemics and hardships. This article deepens our understanding of older people's everyday lives during the pandemic and highlights the problematic nature of social isolation of older people as a safety measure. Overall, this article reveals the particularity of older people's experiences in unequal pandemic times and the ageism inherent in the restriction measures.

Changes in Undergraduate Students’ Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy in an Introductory Statistics Course

The exploration of psychological variables that potentially impact college student performance in challenging academic courses can be useful for understanding success in introductory statistics. Although previous research has examined specific beliefs that students hold about their abilities and future outcomes, the current study is novel in its examination of changes in both self-efficacy (SE) and outcome expectancy (OE) in relation to performance over the course of an undergraduate introductory psychology statistics course. These psychological variables—relating to one’s belief about one’s ability to accomplish a task and the anticipated outcomes—may impact student motivation and performance. Students’ SE, OE, and other variables related to statistics performance were measured through a survey administered at the beginning and end of the course. Multivariate logistic regression and McNemar tests were conducted to examine factors that affected changes in SE and OE as the semester progressed. Students with lower scores on the final exam demonstrated a decrease in both high SE and positive OE. However, higher scores on exams earlier in the course were associated with increased odds for high SE but not for positive OE, suggesting that SE is less resilient to course performance. Based on these findings, the authors recommend that statistics instructors identify students at risk for decreasing SE. Instructors can help foster high SE in students struggling academically by connecting the course content to their everyday lives and suggesting strategies to enhance their confidence in their content knowledge and increase their comfort in navigating such a challenging course.

Rate dependent neural responses of interaural-time-difference cues in fine-structure and envelope.

Advancements in cochlear implants (CIs) have led to a significant increase in bilateral CI users, especially among children. Yet, most bilateral CI users do not fully achieve the intended binaural benefit due to potential limitations in signal processing and/or surgical implant positioning. One crucial auditory cue that normal hearing (NH) listeners can benefit from is the interaural time difference (ITD), i.e., the time difference between the arrival of a sound at two ears. The ITD sensitivity is thought to be heavily relying on the effective utilization of temporal fine structure (very rapid oscillations in sound). Unfortunately, most current CIs do not transmit such true fine structure. Nevertheless, bilateral CI users have demonstrated sensitivity to ITD cues delivered through envelope or interaural pulse time differences, i.e., the time gap between the pulses delivered to the two implants. However, their ITD sensitivity is significantly poorer compared to NH individuals, and it further degrades at higher CI stimulation rates, especially when the rate exceeds 300 pulse per second. The overall purpose of this research thread is to improve spatial hearing abilities in bilateral CI users. This study aims to develop electroencephalography (EEG) paradigms that can be used with clinical settings to assess and optimize the delivery of ITD cues, which are crucial for spatial hearing in everyday life. The research objective of this article was to determine the effect of CI stimulation pulse rate on the ITD sensitivity, and to characterize the rate-dependent degradation in ITD perception using EEG measures. To develop protocols for bilateral CI studies, EEG responses were obtained from NH listeners using sinusoidal-amplitude-modulated (SAM) tones and filtered clicks with changes in either fine structure ITD (ITDFS) or envelope ITD (ITDENV). Multiple EEG responses were analyzed, which included the subcortical auditory steady-state responses (ASSRs) and cortical auditory evoked potentials (CAEPs) elicited by stimuli onset, offset, and changes. Results indicated that acoustic change complex (ACC) responses elicited by ITDENV changes were significantly smaller or absent compared to those elicited by ITDFS changes. The ACC morphologies evoked by ITDFS changes were similar to onset and offset CAEPs, although the peak latencies were longest for ACC responses and shortest for offset CAEPs. The high-frequency stimuli clearly elicited subcortical ASSRs, but smaller than those evoked by lower carrier frequency SAM tones. The 40-Hz ASSRs decreased with increasing carrier frequencies. Filtered clicks elicited larger ASSRs compared to high-frequency SAM tones, with the order being 40 > 160 > 80> 320 Hz ASSR for both stimulus types. Wavelet analysis revealed a clear interaction between detectable transient CAEPs and 40-Hz ASSRs in the time-frequency domain for SAM tones with a low carrier frequency.

Neurogenic, non-obstructive urinary retention: diagnosis and treatment

Neurogenic, non-obstructive urinary retention has a varied aetiology. The condition can be caused by central-nervous diseases as well as by disorders of the peripheral nervous system. The formation of residual urine may lead to considerable problems that can have a significant impact on a patient's everyday life. A treatment appropriate for the lower urinary tract dysfunction and suited to the patient's situation in life is only possible if a differentiated diagnostic evaluation has been performed. Both conservative and surgical therapeutic strategies are available, while drug treatment approaches are less relevant. Neuromodulative procedures are particularly suitable for causal treatment of the dysfunction. For patients requiring artificial bladder voiding, intermittent self-catheterization is generally preferable to using an indwelling catheter.

Promising directions for human-robot interactions defined by older adults.

Introduction: Older adults are engaging more and more with voice-based agent and social robot technologies, and roboticists are increasingly designing interactions for these systems with older adults in mind. Older adults are often not included in these design processes, yet there are many opportunities for older adults to collaborate with design teams to design future robot interactions and help guide directions for robot development. Methods: Through a year-long co-design project, we collaborated with 28 older adults to understand the key focus areas that older adults see promise in for older adult-robot interaction in their everyday lives and how they would like these interactions to be designed. This paper describes and explores the robot-interaction guidelines and future directions identified by older adults, specifically investigating the change and trajectory of these guidelines through the course of the co-design process from the initial interview to the design guideline generation session to the final interview. Results were analyzed through an adapted ethnographic decision tree modeling approach to understand older adults' decision making surrounding the various focus areas and guidelines for social robots. Results: Overall, over the course of the co-design process between the beginning and end, older adults developed a better understanding of the robot that translated to them being more certain of their attitudes of how they would like a robot to engage with them in their lives. Older adults were more accepting of transactional functions such as reminders and scheduling and less open to functions that would involve sharing sensitive information and tracking and/or monitoring of them, expressing concerns around surveillance. There was some promise in robot interactions for connecting with others, body signal monitoring, and emotional wellness, though older adults brought up concerns around autonomy, privacy, and naturalness of the interaction with a robot that need to be further explored. Discussion: This work provides guidance for future interaction development for robots that are being designed to interact with older adults and highlights areas that need to be further investigated with older adults to understand how best to design for user concerns.

Parental Supervision and Control as a Predictive Factor of Juvenile Delinquency

Parental control and supervision is considered one of the key factors in raising children. There are numerous studies and researches in the literature that have tried to prove the correlation between parental control and juvenile delinquency. The results of these studies have varied, sometimes confirming and sometimes denying a direct link between parental control and certain forms of juvenile delinquent behavior. However, the modern child and family go through a new socialization process that brings challenges for both children and parents. The goal of our paper is to clarify the terminological confusions present in this area and highlight the actuality of the issue of parental control over the behavior of minors. Through a review of existing domestic and foreign scientific literature, using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, comparative analysis and comparative and historical methods, we want to point out the importance of parental control and supervision in shaping the behavior of minors, with special reference to the manifestation of delinquent patterns. The results of our research indicate a significant correlation between different forms of parental control and supervision with the behavior of minors, with noticeable changes compared to traditional methods of control. The obtained results emphasize the need for educating and advising parents about modern achievements in this area, as well as providing support in adapting to new trends and security challenges, including the impact of information technology, social media and other factors that are now part of everyday life and were not present in the past. The practical importance of our research implies that the theoretical conclusions can be used as a basis for further research in the field of parental control and supervision, as well as juvenile delinquency, with the aim of developing measures for its prevention.

Beyond cemeteries – excavation of a settlement of Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca Culture in Ivancea, Republic of Moldova

Summary The Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca-culture (late 3rd to second half of the 1st century BC), which is distributed in the forest steppe between the east Carpathian Mountains and the river Dniestr, is seen as the result of an immigration of groups from the Jastorf area in North-East Germany. This concept is based on cemeteries: both the form of the grave4s and their material culture (ceramics, jewellery, costume) are foreign in the area, but show clear connections to the North and the North-West. Up to now large settlement excavations are missing that would allow for an evaluation of that concept based on settlement and economic structures as well as on the material culture of everyday life. The project that is presented here with first results, aims to that desideratum. With surveys and test excavations as a starting point on different sites in Central part of Republic of Moldova, the authors are excavating the Poieneşti-Lucaşeuca settlement of Ivancea-Sub Pădure on a large scale. The project is funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The paper presents first results like different post buildings and pit dwellings, the spectrum of small finds and a selection of the numerous ceramics including greek imports, and discusses the connectivity that becomes visible. The post buildings have no regional parallels and seem to have the best parallels in the Northwest. In opposite to that the small finds show a broad entanglement especially to the south and West and thus contradict the evidence from the grave. Also, in opposite to the graves the settlement ceramics show clear regional traditions, bus also relations to the North and the Northeast.

Criminal Profiling as a Method of Detecting Lies in Nonverbal Communication

The exponential growth of crime, violence, and wrongdoing is linked to dysfunction in restraining aggressive impulses, leading to neglect and disrespect of others’ feelings, rights, and needs. Two basic forms of communication, verbal and nonverbal, serve individuals to interact and exchange ideas and attitudes with other people in everyday life situations, including within the framework of criminal investigations and criminal justice. The purpose of this study was to draw an analogy between verbal communication (oral speech, written speech) and nonverbal communication (body language, gestures, and silence), with the tendency to explore different components of nonverbal communication and place them in the context of criminal profiling as a method for detecting lies in nonverbal communication. The aim of this study was to emphasize the importance of nonverbal communication as an equal part of the communication process, and often a predominant one in this domain, which helps us demystify suspects, perpetrators, and criminal acts.

Chronic Cannabis Use in Everyday Life: Emotional, Motivational, and Self-Regulatory Effects of Frequently Getting High

Approximately 200 million people consume cannabis annually, with a significant proportion of them using it chronically. Using experience sampling, we describe the effects of chronically getting high on emotions, motivation, effort, and self-regulation in everyday life. We queried chronic users ( N = 260) 5 times per day over 7 days (3,701 observations) to assess immediate effects of getting high and longer term, between-person effects. Getting high was associated with more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions. Contrary to stereotypes, we observed minimal effects on motivation or objective effort willingness. However, getting high was associated with lower scores on facets of conscientiousness. Surprisingly, there was no evidence of a weed hangover. Relative to less frequent users, very frequent users exhibited more negative emotions dispositionally, but they were more motivated. They also reported less self-control and willpower. As attitudes about cannabis are changing, our findings provide a rich description of its chronic use.

Use of wearable technologies in health promotion in Human Medicine students

INTRODUCTION: In the current era marked by rapid technological advances, the integration of wearable devices into everyday life has been a remarkable phenomenon. These devices, ranging from smart watches to physical activity monitors, have gained popularity and have become ubiquitous tools that track various aspects of health and wellness.OBJECTIVE: To characterize the use of wearable technologies in health promotion in Human Medicine students.METHODS: The research is characterized by its cross-sectional and quantitative nature, with a basic and descriptive non-experimental design. The study population consisted of 128 students of Human Medicine at a private university located in Arequipa, Peru. Data collection was carried out through the use of surveys and questionnaires.RESULTS: Regarding the adoption and use of wearable technologies, 35.94% (46) reported a moderate level, 32.81% (42) indicated a high level, while 31.25% (40) indicated a low level. This finding suggests a balanced and non-extreme adoption of wearable technologies among the students examined in the context of health promotion.CONCLUSIONS: We were able to determine a moderate level of adoption and use of wearable technologies among Human Medicine students to promote health and wellness. This result points to the relevance of these technologies in health-related activities, highlighting a particular emphasis on a moderate level of use.

A relational approach to characterizing householder perceptions of disruption in heat transitions

AbstractHeat decarbonization threatens substantial disruptions in temperate countries. However, the concept of disruption carries diverse meanings, potentially relating to cost, material space and everyday heating practices. Here, using interpretive risk theory, this article elucidates a relational understanding of how disruption is experienced and takes on meaning in everyday life. We deploy this framework to examine perceptions of four low-carbon heating technologies—heat pumps, hydrogen, hybrid heating and heat networks—alongside associated upgrades to distribution network infrastructure. Drawing on data from six, 1-day workshops representing a diversity of geographic and housing contexts across the United Kingdom, we address how existing relationships shape hopes, fears and expectations for heat decarbonization. Our findings help clarify the role of affective relationships, feelings of precarity, security and pressure in distinguishing material inconveniences from more fundamental disruptions to valued ways of life, and may be particularly relevant in other gas-dependent countries and regions.

The inertia of anger and sadness among adolescents and adults: The role of self-efficacy in regulating negative emotions

Emotional inertia (i.e., the resistance to change of emotional states) is an index of regulatory deficit linked to psychological maladjustment. Using ecological momentary assessment, we explored the role of Self-efficacy in Regulating Negative Affect (SRN), as a baseline measure, to buffer sadness and anger inertia, measured three times a day over 28 days in two samples from the UK: (1) adults ( n = 166 adults; Mage = 35.71, SD = 12.96; 73% women) and (2) adolescents ( n = 82 adolescents; Mage 14.88, SD = 1.34; 72% girls). Dynamic Structural Equation Modeling showed that both sadness and anger had significant levels of inertia. Importantly, the inertia of sadness was weakened by high levels of SRN among both adults and adolescents ( β = −.211, 95% CI [−.303, −.112]; and β = −.485, 95% CI [−.707, −.162], respectively). No buffering effect of SRN was found for the inertia of anger. These findings suggest the importance of strengthening adults’ and adolescents’ SRN to manage their sadness in everyday life.

The impact of face coverings on audio-visual contributions to communication with conversational speech

The use of face coverings can make communication more difficult by removing access to visual cues as well as affecting the physical transmission of speech sounds. This study aimed to assess the independent and combined contributions of visual and auditory cues to impaired communication when using face coverings. In an online task, 150 participants rated videos of natural conversation along three dimensions: (1) how much they could follow, (2) how much effort was required, and (3) the clarity of the speech. Visual and audio variables were independently manipulated in each video, so that the same video could be presented with or without a superimposed surgical-style mask, accompanied by one of four audio conditions (either unfiltered audio, or audio-filtered to simulate the attenuation associated with a surgical mask, an FFP3 mask, or a visor). Hypotheses and analyses were pre-registered. Both the audio and visual variables had a statistically significant negative impact across all three dimensions. Whether or not talkers’ faces were visible made the largest contribution to participants’ ratings. The study identifies a degree of attenuation whose negative effects can be overcome by the restoration of visual cues. The significant effects observed in this nominally low-demand task (speech in quiet) highlight the importance of the visual and audio cues in everyday life and that their consideration should be included in future face mask designs.

Contingency traps: the role of form in creative processes

AbstractLiterary texts are already written before they get read, and they are therefore not subject to chance in the same way as encounters in everyday life. However, at the same time, these texts often manage to evoke a strong sense in readers that the events they read about could have turned out otherwise. I propose the notion of the “contingency trap” as a conceptual tool to address this theoretical challenge. This article addresses how authors deploy form in the creative process to integrate contingency in their texts and make it available to their readers in reading. Two interviews with Gwenaëlle Aubry about her essay Saint Phalle serve as the first case study, and her account is contrasted and compared with an analysis of Italo Calvino’s reflections on contingency in literary narrative with particular focus on his Il Castello dei destini incrociati (The Castle of Crossed Destinies, 1973). These authors’ insights into the creative process will then be complemented by research on cognitive processes related to literary creativity in order to sketch a more general theoretical understanding of how form works as a contingency trap.

Microcalorimetry Techniques for Studying Interactions at Solid–Liquid Interface: A Review

Solid–liquid interfacial phenomena play an essential role in our everyday lives and are often regarded as the outcome of interactions at the solid–liquid interface. However, the intricately intrinsic mechanism underlying interfacial interactions renders in situ simulations and direct measurements challenging. As an effective analytic method for studying solid–liquid interfacial interactions, microcalorimetry can provide the most basic thermodynamic information (including changes in enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy during solid–liquid binding/separation processes), which is extremely crucial for understanding interaction directionality and limitation. This review is dedicated to highlighting the pivotal role of microcalorimetry in studying solid–liquid immersion and adsorption processes. Specifically, we provide an overview of the commonly employed microcalorimetric methods, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and immersion microcalorimetry (IM), and delve into the influence factors of enthalpy change, and finally discuss the specific applications of microcalorimetry in studying various solid–liquid binding processes. There remains a vast expanse of thermodynamic information regarding solid–liquid interactions that await exploration via calorimetry.

Informal carers’ experiences in everyday life and the use of digital assistive technology for time management in persons with dementia or mild cognitive impairment

BackgroundDigital assistive technology (DAT) may support time management in people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but research on DAT for time management is limited. We aimed to explore how everyday could be supported by DAT for time management in persons with dementia or MCI from informal carers’ perspectives. This study focused on a DAT device for time management called MEMOplanner (MMP).MethodUsing a mixed-methods design, we utilized the Time-Proxy© questionnaire and a study-specific interview guide to investigate the perspectives of informal carers (n = 8) regarding the use of MMP by individuals with dementia or MCI.ResultThe MMP was helpful in keeping track of time and activity. It helped to maintain an active lifestyle and facilitated communication. However, the MMP did not reduce the need for assistance from the informal carers, and it took time to learn the different functions of the device. Further research into employing a more extensive array of DAT for time management or other areas to assist individuals with dementia will yield valuable insights into enhancing and sustaining a higher quality of life despite cognitive decline.