Individual Views Research Articles

Effect of time-delayed interactions on milling: A minimal model

Models of collective motion show a rich variety of patterns. One of these is milling, in which the individuals of a group are circling around a common center. Milling has been generated in a Vicsek-like model of collective motion, i.e., a minimal model where individuals coordinate their headings only via alignment with close neighbors, without being attracted to each other and without avoiding collisions. However, in this Vicsek-like model information propagates instantaneously among neighbors, whereas in nature transfer and processing of information need time. How this delay affects patterns of collective motion, particularly milling, is unknown. Here we investigate the effect of time-delayed interactions on the emergence of milling in a Vicsek-like model. We show that delays may either destroy milling or induce it, depending on the parameters of the system. The range of speeds and fields of view of individuals at which milling occurs is shifted to smaller values if there are time delays in the model. Our findings may help to understand what causes milling in nature.

Faculty performance evaluation system with application of data analytics


 
 
 The current system starts with the student form evaluation, Students receive a printed page of the evaluation questions answered in Likert-scaled form. The human resource department normally is responsible in monitoring the attendance and punctuality of the employees. Classroom observation is normally conducted by the college dean with a minimum of two classes handled by each faculty member. The overall performance based on classroom and administrative evaluations which include the grades submission or records management, committee involvement, attendance and punctuality, etc. are manually computed. Identifying the top or outstanding faculty requires time and effort. There is bulk in evaluation forms being distributed to students during the evaluation period. The current process is also prone to human errors and records confidentiality, integrity and availability could possibly be compromised. In summary, it is a complex and paper heavy system. There are many points of failure. Department coordinators may fail to inform the instructors that require evaluations. Evaluation answer sheets can be miscoded. Evaluations may end up unreturned or undistributed. Classes are interrupted. Computing and producing result documents are time intensive and tedious work. Space also is a concern because of archiving the results for a period of time. The proponents’ reason in conducting the study is to design and develop a performance evaluation system with the application of data analytics capable of catering the needs of colleges and universities in doing faculty evaluation. The researcher has the desire to find a better approach or to innovate the way to evaluate, monitor and identify the strengths, potentials and weaknesses of teachers with regard their performance to help them become more competent in their field with the help of Data Analytics application. The study utilized the descriptive and developmental method of research. Since the present study was concerned with the design and development of performance evaluation system with application of data analytics, these methods were the most appropriate. The respondents of the study were the faculty members and school administrators of the College of Computer Studies Department of the institution that were involved in the survey. The study used the purposive sampling to define the target respondents for the evaluation. There were 31 faculty members and five school administrators, a total of 36 respondents. A questionnaire was used to determine the response of the respondents towards the developed system over the concept being deliberated. To evaluate the feedback of the respondents, Likert scale was used. Data were gathered through the use of normative survey, library and internet research. Observations and informal interviews were also conducted to get the views of related individuals in the study to help in formulating the conceptual framework, designing the proposed system and other areas of the study. The statistical tool used in the interpretation of data was the arithmetic mean. It was used in determining the average responses of the five options in each item of the questionnaires. Ranking the data was also used in the mean results Based on the data gathered, findings revealed that: The respondents’ rate of an average mean of 4.33, the evaluation showed that the majority of the respondents assessed the developed system as “Highly Accepted” in terms of functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability and portability. With the usefulness index as another set of evaluation, the respondents showed that the application of data analytics in the developed faculty performance evaluation system is “Moderately Useful” with an overall mean of 4.41.
 
 

Faculty performance evaluation system with application of data analytics

The current system starts with the student form evaluation, Students receive a printed page of the evaluation questions answered in Likert-scaled form. The human resource department normally is responsible in monitoring the attendance and punctuality of the employees. Classroom observation is normally conducted by the college dean with a minimum of two classes handled by each faculty member. The overall performance based on classroom and administrative evaluations which include the grades submission or records management, committee involvement, attendance and punctuality, etc. are manually computed. Identifying the top or outstanding faculty requires time and effort. There is bulk in evaluation forms being distributed to students during the evaluation period. The current process is also prone to human errors and records confidentiality, integrity and availability could possibly be compromised. In summary, it is a complex and paper heavy system. There are many points of failure. Department coordinators may fail to inform the instructors that require evaluations. Evaluation answer sheets can be miscoded. Evaluations may end up unreturned or undistributed. Classes are interrupted. Computing and producing result documents are time intensive and tedious work. Space also is a concern because of archiving the results for a period of time. The proponents’ reason in conducting the study is to design and develop a performance evaluation system with the application of data analytics capable of catering the needs of colleges and universities in doing faculty evaluation. The researcher has the desire to find a better approach or to innovate the way to evaluate, monitor and identify the strengths, potentials and weaknesses of teachers with regard their performance to help them become more competent in their field with the help of Data Analytics application. The study utilized the descriptive and developmental method of research. Since the present study was concerned with the design and development of performance evaluation system with application of data analytics, these methods were the most appropriate. The respondents of the study were the faculty members and school administrators of the College of Computer Studies Department of the institution that were involved in the survey. The study used the purposive sampling to define the target respondents for the evaluation. There were 31 faculty members and five school administrators, a total of 36 respondents. A questionnaire was used to determine the response of the respondents towards the developed system over the concept being deliberated. To evaluate the feedback of the respondents, Likert scale was used. Data were gathered through the use of normative survey, library and internet research. Observations and informal interviews were also conducted to get the views of related individuals in the study to help in formulating the conceptual framework, designing the proposed system and other areas of the study. The statistical tool used in the interpretation of data was the arithmetic mean. It was used in determining the average responses of the five options in each item of the questionnaires. Ranking the data was also used in the mean results Based on the data gathered, findings revealed that: The respondents’ rate of an average mean of 4.33, the evaluation showed that the majority of the respondents assessed the developed system as “Highly Accepted” in terms of functionality, reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability and portability. With the usefulness index as another set of evaluation, the respondents showed that the application of data analytics in the developed faculty performance evaluation system is “Moderately Useful” with an overall mean of 4.41.

The Value of the Frog Lateral View Radiograph for Detecting Collapse of Femur Head Necrosis: A Retrospective Study of 1001 Cases.

AimsThe collapse in femur head necrosis is generally detected by CT or MRI which are not primary routine examination at every follow-up in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to verify the reliability of the frog lateral view radiograph in detecting the collapse of femoral head.MethodsWe retrospectively included 1001 hips of 620 patients with femur head necrosis. The anteroposterior view and frog lateral view of X-ray standard radiographs, CT and MRI of patients were collected and simultaneously evaluated by three orthopedists to evaluate the condition of collapse according to the unified standard. The inter-observer reliability of each view of X-ray for detecting the collapse were analyzed through the weighted Cohen's kappa index. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of each evaluation method were also calculated.ResultsA moderate or substantial reliability was indicated in the evaluation of frog lateral view radiograph, whereas the anteroposterior view only showed fair or poor reliability. Using the CT or MRI results of collapse as the gold standard, the frog lateral view indicated higher sensitivity and accuracy than the anteroposterior view (sensitivity: 82.8 vs. 64.9%; accuracy: 87.1 vs. 73.9%). The combination of the anteroposterior view and frog lateral view indicated higher reliability than individual views.ConclusionThe frog lateral view radiograph has higher sensitivity and accuracy than anteroposterior view. It is a complementary method to AP view for detecting the collapse in femur head necrosis during the follow-up, which has moderate or substantial inter-observer reliability.

Faculty perceptions, awareness and use of open educational resources for teaching and learning in higher education: a cross-comparative analysis

This paper explores faculty’s perspectives and use of open educational resources (OER) and their repositories across different countries by conducting a multiple case study to find similarities and differences between academics’ awareness, perceptions and use of OER, as well as examining related aspects of institutional policy and quality that may influence individual views. Data were collected through nine expert reports on each country studied (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, Spain and Turkey) and were analyzed through qualitative content analysis using thematic coding. Findings show the impact on individual OER adoption with regard to the individual control of diverse factors by faculty members; of institutional policies and quality measures on the externally determined factors (by the institution); and of institutional professional development and provision of incentives in more internally determined factors (by the faculty members themselves). These findings carry implications for higher education institutions around the world in their attempt to boost OER adoption by faculty members.

Multi-view clustering by virtually passing mutually supervised smooth messages

While the existing multi-view affinity propagation (AP)-based clustering method inevitably works with more than one random initialization and parameter, a novel algorithm called MVCPMM is proposed from a new perspective to achieve more consistent multi-view clustering results with only one random initialization and one parameter. The proposed virtual function nodes added between the variable nodes of the subgraphs of the AP factor graphs (i.e., individual views), enable the core of MVCPMM to pass mutually supervised smooth messages across different views and subsequently exchange the messages within individual views in a mutually supervised manner to encourage the clustering quality of individual views. In addition to maintaining the cluster diversity of individual views, MVCPMM penalizes the changes in the cluster structures of different views by using mutually supervised smooth messages as bidirectional cross-view messages, which can effectively improve the consensus of exemplars across different views. Experimental results on both synthetic and benchmark multi-view datasets demonstrate the superiority of MVCPMM in contrast to several state-of-the-art multi-view clustering methods in terms of both clustering performance and clustering consistency across different views.

Efficient Light Field Image Compression with Enhanced Random Access

In light field image compression, facilitating random access to individual views plays a significant role in decoding views quickly, reducing memory footprint, and decreasing the bandwidth requirement for transmission. Highly efficient light field image compression methods mainly use inter view prediction. Therefore, they typically do not provide random access to individual views. On the other hand, methods that provide full random access usually reduce compression efficiency. To address this trade-off, a light field image encoding method that favors random access is proposed in this paper. Light field image views are grouped into independent (3× 3) views, which are called Macro View Images (MVIs) . To encode MVIs, the central view is used as a reference to compress its adjacent neighboring views using a hierarchical reference structure. To encode the central view of each MVI, the most central view along with the center of a maximum of three MVIs, are used as reference images for the disparity estimation. In addition, the proposed method allows the use of parallel processing to reduce the maximum encoding/decoding time-complexity in multi-core processors. Tile partitioning can also be used to randomly access different regions of the light field images. The simulation results show that the proposed method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods in terms of compression efficiency while providing random access to both views and regions of interest.

Participatory methods in a digital setting: experiences from the co-creation of an eHealth tool for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BackgroundUsing participatory methods to engage end-users in the development and design of eHealth is important to understand and incorporate their needs and context. Within participatory research, recent social distancing practice has forced a transition to digital communication platforms, a setting that warrants deeper understanding. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of, and evaluate a digital co-creation process for developing an eHealth tool for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).MethodsThe co-creation was guided by Participatory appreciative action and reflection, where a convenience sample (n = 17), including persons with COPD, health care professionals, relatives and a patient organization representative participated in six digital workshops. User instructions, technical equipment, and skilled support were provided if necessary. Workshops centred around different topics, with pre-recorded films, digital lectures and home assignments to up-skill participants. Process validity, experiences and ownership in the co-creation process were evaluated by repeated respondent validation, member checking, questionnaires and by assessing attendance. Data was analysed quantitatively or qualitatively as appropriate.ResultsThe co-creators were in general satisfied with the digital format of the workshops. Mean attendance and perceived engagement in workshops was high and the experience described as enjoyable. Engagement was facilitated by up-skilling activities and discussions in small groups. Few had used digital communication previously, and feelings ranging from excitement to concern were expressed initially. Technical issues, mainly audio related, were resolved with support. At completion, skills using equipment and digital platform surpassed expectations. Few disadvantages with the digital format were identified, and advantages included reduced travel, time efficiency and reduced infection risk.ConclusionsExperiences of digital co-creation were overwhelmingly positive, despite initial barriers related to computer naivety and use of digital equipment and platforms. The high level of satisfaction, engagement, attendance rates, and agreement between individual and group views suggests that a digital co-creation process is a feasible method. Several important success factors were identified, such as the provision of information and education on discussion topics in advance of workshops, as well as the smaller group discussions during workshops. The knowledge gained herein will be useful for future digital co-creation processes.

Union acceptable profit maximization in social networks

Online social network has deeply changed our lives, such as the style of communication and business, and hence promotes a lot of researches in social influence. The prior works in social influence mainly consider the influence from the view of individuals. However, in many cases, influencing the most of members of an important group such as the board of directors in a company can bring bigger profit than directly influencing the individuals of the company. We call such high profit group which obeys the vote rule as an union, different from existed targeted influence model, we consider such scenarios to make union acceptable and propose the union acceptable profit problem (UAPM) to choose seeds to maximize the union-acceptable profit, i.e., maximize the probability of the union being acceptable. The objective of profit in UAPM is #P-hard, and not submodularity or supmodularity. To solve the problem, we propose an efficient estimation method for the objective and design a heuristic algorithm and further a data-driven β(1−1ϵ)-approximation algorithm where β is the data-driven parameter which is related to the input data. At last we evaluate the performance of the algorithms we proposed on effectiveness and efficiency by the experiments in real-world social network datasets.

With or without Emoji? Perceptions about Emoji Use in Different Brand-Consumer Communication Contexts

Brands are increasingly using emoji in their computer-mediated communication (CMC). However, research on how consumers perceive such use, and the determinants of those perceptions, is scarce and results may be inconsistent. In a cross-sectional study ( N = 540 ) we examined how appropriate participants considered to be the use of emoji by brands, across five brand-consumer communication contexts. We additionally examined whether these perceptions were determined by demographic and individual variables (e.g., gender and frequency of emoji use), as well as individual views about emoji use in written CMC. Overall, perceptions toward the use of emoji by brands depended on the context, with participants considering more appropriate for brands to use emoji when publicizing on social media and less appropriate when making callbacks of defective products. Results further showed that such perceptions were more favorable among younger participants and those who used emoji more frequently, but also among those who considered emoji use more useful and formal. These findings contribute to the CMC field by highlighting how perceptions of emoji use by brands are shaped, while also informing how brands can enhance CMC with consumers.

The window to the world for individuals with mental disorders: A qualitative study about social media

This study aimed to determine the views of individuals with mental disorders on the experience of social media. This was a qualitative study conducted using the content analysis method. Using purposive sampling, 12 individuals with mental disorders were selected and interviewed. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using the content analysis method. Four main themes and 10 subthemes were identified. The themes included the window opening to the world (source of information, facilitating life), from invisibility to visibility (feeling good, liberation and socialization), negative experiences (feeling lost, envy, and privacy), and the rejection of society (escape and stigmatization). Individuals with mental disorders stated that social media had both positive as well as negative effects on their lives. The results of the study highlight the various aspects of social media use and its effects on individuals with mental disorders. These results can be used in planning and implementing mental health services for individuals with mental disorders. Accessible summaryWhat is known about the subject?•In the current age, social media is a part of daily life.•Social media has many positive and negative effects on the lives of individuals with mental disorders.What does the paper add to existing knowledge?•This study provides information to mental health professionals about how individuals with mental disorders evaluate social media, what it means to them, and the effects of social media.•The study provides ideas regarding the experience of social media as a tool to offer mental health services.What are the implications for the practice?•The results of this study show that the positive aspects of social media can be used to maintain and improve the mental health of individuals with mental disorders.•Mental health professionals should tackle the negative effects caused by social media use, such as stigmatization, jealousy, and waste of time.

“Where does it go?”: Perceptions and problems of riverine and marine litter amongst South Africa and Malawi’s urban poor

With the world’s oceans in crisis, citizen knowledge and awareness around riverine and marine waste has become an increasingly crucial topic of study. For most investigations, spatial analysis has centered on the coastline, or most specifically the beach, i.e., the space where most respondents (urban, Northern, middle class), encounter marine litter. Yet, by focusing onthe beachas the primary space of analysis, most studies have severely limited the scope of citizens they can engage, because in many African cities it is a space of exclusion. Moreover, for individuals further upstream, in spaces distant from the coast, what are their understandings of riverine and marine litter? What is their knowledge of the hydrological systems standing between them and the sea, and how do they see their ability to influence them? Drawing on extensive qualitative fieldwork in low-income, riverine adjacent communities in Durban, South Africa, and Blantyre, Malawi, the purpose of this article is to understand how Africa’s urban poor experience and understand riverine and marine litter. The study utilises Foucault’s notion of problematisations, and more recent adaptations of Foucault’s work toward waste as a lens to conceptualise processes of problem formation: how individual respondents view riverine and marine litter as aproblem. Findings suggest that problematisations around waste, in the community and in the hydrological system, are formed through daily experience and personal hardship; in the case of Blantyre, through the perceived impact waste can have on hydroelectricity generation, and in Johanna Road, by its contribution to flooding within the community. However, understandings of the marine environment and respondents’ impact on the hydrological system, remain limited. Recommendations include rooting education and messaging around riverine and marine litter within low-income individuals’ lived realities. However, any interventions targeted towards the poormustbe accompanied by broader systemic change: improving access to solid waste management services and creating cleaner and more equitable communities.

Scotland and Pedagogy: Moving from the Anglophone Towards the Continental?

Across the Anglophone world, throughout the late 20th and early 21st century, learning and teaching became the go-to descriptions for teacher and learner activity. Notably, this term posited individualistic views that ‘education is an individual right’ realised through technically proficient teacher-action that engenders favourable positioning in a post-industrial, efficient world. More recently, pedagogy seems to have remerged as a flavoursome term. However, its use is still dominated by the doctrines of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) realised through education science assumptions and approaches. In turn, across much of the Anglophone world, pedagogy is mostly described as ‘the methods and practices of teaching’ often associated with delivery-type teaching and learning judged by quantitative uplift on test scores. Pedagogy, it seems, is still subservient to individualism reified by forms of technically legitimate teaching competence. In many respects, Scotland is no different: policy frames and explanations (Adams, 2016) often legitimise through technocratic and positivist Discourses (Gee, 2012). Matters such as the recent incorporation of the UNHRC into Scottish law offer hope though, for they offer ‘rupture’. The OECD might prevail over system-wide evaluation and conversations about ‘curriculum’ dominate, but ever-increasing calls to shift ‘schooling’ from ‘learning and teaching’ to ‘education, more broadly conceived’ seem to have widened discourse (Gee, 2012) and acknowledged the inherently political. While this has not magically moved pedagogy on, it is clear is that pedagogy as ‘being in and acting on the world, with and for others is finding a Scottish voice.

Stakeholder Perspectives on COVID-19 and Household Water Access in Vulnerable Communities in the Mekong Region

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of safe access to sufficient clean water in vulnerable communities, renewing interest in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programs and related targets under Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6). The purpose of this study was to better understand the obstacles to water access in vulnerable communities and identify ways they might be addressed in five countries in the Mekong Region (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam). To this end, qualitative interviews with 50 government officials and development or health experts were complimented with a quantitative survey of the experiences and views of individuals in 15 vulnerable communities. There were several key findings. First, difficulties in accessing sufficient clean water for drinking and hygiene persist in certain vulnerable communities, including informal urban settlements, remote minority villages, and migrant worker camps. Second, limited rights, high prices, and remote locations were common obstacles to household access to improved water sources. Third, seasonal differences in the availability of clean water, alongside other disruptions to supply such as restrictions on movement in COVID-19 responses, drove households towards lower quality sources. Fourth, there are multiple threats to water quality from source to consumption that should be addressed by monitoring, treatment, and watershed protection. Fifth, stakeholder groups differ from each other and residents of vulnerable communities regarding the significance of water access, supply and quality difficulties, and how they should be addressed. The paper ends with a set of program suggestions addressing these water-related difficulties.

IN DEFENSE OF A FEMINIST PSYCHOLOGY: THE CONSTRUCTION OF EMANCIPATORY THEORY AND PRACTICES

This paper aims to discuss a theoretical interconnection between the sexual contract and Feminist Psychology, showing up the most possible interventions on practices of clinics with families. Foremost, the theoretical material about the sexual contract was reviewed, by considering Carole Pateman’s literary compositions. Furthermore, it was investigated and presented contributions of the female guidelines by on psychology, defending the theoretical construction and the method of Feminist Psychology. Finally, it was presented reflections about the objectives, bases, and principles of Feminist Family Therapy. This is a fundamental debate, in face of the review of theoretical bases, epistemological and methodological who was the basis of clinical interventions with families. The point of view intensifies, as is follows the articulations between the struggles and achievements of feminist movements, approaching the family therapy closer to more contextualized, critical and socially committed practices, in favor of emancipation and the protagonism of the agents involved with the intervention. The main considerations point to the rupture of a monistic and individualistic view of family interventions. They also indicate new paradigms of welcoming and clinical listening, anchored in the social construction of gender roles and new possibilities for group, family and social interactions.

A study of a pre-school teacher professionalism in order to improve the quality of educational work

The problem and the aim of the study. High quality early childhood education (ECE) enables children to enjoy the experience and have nurturing environment that promotes holistic development. The teachers quality have been predicted to produce desirable outcomes. However, the challenge is to identify the predictors that can quantify the definition of a quality teacher. This study was formulated to identify the best practice of quality pre-school teachers. Research methods. This study applied a quantitative approach involving survey to answer the research questions. The quantitative approach with a descriptive analysis. This study uses questionnaire to assess individual perceptions and views on quality of early childhood pre-school education. The sample size was 1817 teachers from four types of pre-school or TADIKA (kindergartens). The surveys were conducted in Malaysia starting with random sampling of groups to select representatives of the statewide zones. Each identified zone then underwent a stratified sampling method to ensure that all critical groups of informants were included Results. The study's findings revealed that the gap analysis related to the upgrading of professionalism of pre-school teachers based on in-service course and teaching and learning course attended beyond the standard 7 days a year except MOE pre-school. Second, all pre-school agencies in Malaysia have not reached the best quality benchmarks. However, more than half of MOE pre-school teachers have a bachelor’s degree. The result shown differences between the ratio of teacher from the agencies. The gap ratio of children to teachers between private kindergartens with best practice benchmarks is 2.0 times, while 2.1 times for pre-schools MOE 2.6 times for KEMAS kindergartens, and 3.3 times for JPNIN kindergartens. Conclusion. In conclusion, these findings are important to be given attention and remedial action in order the improvement and quality of teacher achieve the minimum standard especially in participating in adequate professional development programs.

TikTok Vs. Instagram: Algorithm Comparison

TikTok and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms on the market. They do, however, have one important distinguishing factor: TikTok is a video-sharing platform and Instagram is a photo-sharing platform. With fundamentally different functions, the algorithms are bound to be different. This study focuses on which algorithm between the two social media platforms does better at sending out content made to an interested audience. 
 To see which algorithm performs better, two accounts were created on TikTok and Instagram respectively, and there were ten posts made on each account, with each post on one account being focused on the same subject as a corresponding post on the other (ie. A video post of a flower on TikTok will have a corresponding photo post of the same flower on Instagram). A set of posts would be uploaded at the same time and any given set of posts' statistics would be recorded and reviewed after one week of being uploaded.
 Using a comparison of the results garnered from each post on both platforms, including individual views and total views, it is concluded that the algorithm TikTok uses is superior in regards to showing specifically tagged content to potentially interested users. The number of both individual views and total views of the TikTok posts were much higher than the ones for Instagram, with TikTok’s numbers reaching the hundreds and Instagram never breaking into double digits.

"Aging Means to Me… That I Feel Lonely More Often"? An Experimental Study on the Effects of Age Simulation Regarding Views on Aging.

Over the last decades, educational programs involving age simulation suits (ASS) emerged with the ambition to further the understanding of age-related loss experiences, enhance empathy and reduce negative attitudes toward older adults in healthcare settings and in younger age groups at large. However, the impact of such “instant aging” interventions on individuals’ personal views on aging have not been studied yet. The aim of the current study is to address possible effects of ASS interventions on multiple outcomes related to views on aging, i.e., aging-related cognitions (i.e., expectations regarding social losses), awareness of age-related change (AARC) and age stereotypes. Moreover, we explore effects on broader constructs with relevance to aging, i.e., perceived obsolescence, risk perceptions, as well as desired support through technology. In a within-subjects design, N = 40 participants (M = 61.4 years, SD = 6.16) went through a series of established geriatric assessments (i.e., Timed up and Go) with and without an ASS. Views on aging constructs were assessed in standardized questionnaires before and after the ASS intervention. Changes in aging-related cognitions were observed, with more negative expectations regarding social integration and continuous development after wearing the ASS. AARC and age stereotypes did not change from pre- to post-assessment, but participants reported an increased susceptibility to age-associated impairments and stronger feelings of obsolescence. Those participants who exhibited higher difficulties in geriatric assessments while wearing the suit reported higher openness to be supported by intelligent assistive devices or robots afterwards. We conclude that ASS interventions should only be combined with education on losses and gains during the aging process to prevent negative effects on individual views on aging. On the other hand, potentials regarding technology acceptance and formation of intentions to engage in prevention and health behaviors among middle-aged to young-old adults are discussed.

Perceived Noise Pollution and Self-Reported Health Status among Adult Population of Bangladesh.

Despite the public health concern, there is a dearth of research regarding perceived noise pollution and noise-related health status in Bangladesh. This study was carried out to evaluate the noise-related health status among Bangladesh’s adult population. 1386 adult Bangladeshis participated in an online survey. A linear regression model was used to evaluate overall noise-related health status determinants. 91% of the survey population reported noisy environments in their neighborhood, with the majority reporting two types (34%) of noise pollution sources. Road vehicles (38%) and construction activities (24%) were identified as significant source of noise pollution. The Bangladeshis are primarily exposed to noise during school and office hours. Socio-demographic information, perceived noise pollution and individual views towards noise pollution were examined as determinants of noise-related health problems. Females were found to be more impacted than males, and young people also expressed concern about noise pollution’s influence. Residents in mixed-unit buildings exhibited a significant level of noise-related health problems such as deafness, insomnia, heart disease, headache, stress, poor concentration, production loss, fatigue, irritability, heartburn, indigestion, ulcers, and high blood pressure. Noise pollution from road vehicles and industry has been shown to have a negative effect on people’s health. Individuals affected by noise were interested in noise reduction efforts. The findings of this research may aid in the improvement of international, national, and local noise control efforts.

“It has Changed, Quite Clearly.” Exploring Perceptions of German Police Trainers on Police Recruits

The individual views and attitudes of trainers responsible for equipping police officers for operational demands have rarely been subject to international research. Geared toward the German situation, the followingcase studyfocuses on the particular question of how police trainers at a German state police training site perceive police recruits as the target group of their coaching. The data set consisted ofn= 8 interviews with police trainers who were originally conducted with the aim to investigate their expert opinions on pedagogical, training-related issues. Within the process of inductive coding, the perceived recruit condition emerged as a high-order theme, displaying a predominantly deficit-oriented view among police trainers. The findings are discussed through the lens of the concept ofcritically reflective practice, in which the reflection of the views and guiding assumptions of the police trainers is seen as a key ingredient for a further professionalization of the police trainer education and its respective research.