Contact Opportunities Research Articles

Moving Beyond Implicit Bias Training: Policy Insights for Increasing Organizational Diversity

Many organizations are working to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Organizations frequently use implicit bias to explain disparities and marshal implicit bias training as a solution. Implicit bias is difficult to change and trainings do not yield more diversity in organizations, so organizations should move beyond implicit bias trainings in their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Organizations should (a) use trainings to educate members of their organizations about bias and about organizational efforts to address diversity, equity, and inclusion; (b) prepare for, rather than accommodate, defensive responses from dominant group members; and (c) implement structures that foster organizational responsibility for diversity, equity, and inclusion goals; opportunities for high-quality intergroup contact; affinity groups for underrepresented people; welcoming and inclusive messaging; and processes that bypass interpersonal bias. Although no simple, one-size-fits-all solutions address organizational diversity, organizational leaders have many tools they can use to design more effective diversity strategies.

Please call my contact person: mobile devices for a rescue mission during an emergency

Purpose Drivers, travellers/tourists, pedestrians, paramedical officers, road safety officers, police officers and other security agencies in emergency times in developing countries are often challenged. The purpose of this paper is to explore the intervention of a quick mobile contact called “My Contact Person” (MCP) during such emergencies. Design/methodology/approach This study used a quantitative research method to collect data. The research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire with items developed using the five innovation dimensions and domestication. The data was analyzed with SmartPLS 3.0 software. The reliability values were above the postulated demarcation of 0.7, while the average variance extracted conforms to the norm of 0.5. The study participants were mobile phone users who own and use a mobile phone. Owing to the study’s nature, a simple random sampling technique was used to appraise 196 respondents across Nigeria’s demography. Findings The results show that the mobile users in a developing context are willing to observe “MCP’s” efficacy before they try to appropriate it to their daily lifestyle. Further, “MCP’s” compatibility with the telephone user is an antecedent of its relative advantages over the existing telephone lists. The results reveal that the respondents perceived integrating and adapting “MCP” to their daily lives as a complicated process. In this study, most participants did not regard observability and trialability as a means of appropriating MCP to their daily lifestyle. Research limitations/implications This paper’s findings’ generalizability is limited because the present study was conducted using two higher education institutions (HEI) with a relatively small sample in Nigeria. Probing MCP domestication in more institutions and other communities, as significant communities’ aside HEI use mobile phones will increase our research findings’ generalizability. A parallel investigation of a range of developed and developing countries should be explored to ascertain mobile phone users’ perceptions across context. Practical implications This study has several implications for citizens, especially in the developing world. MCP will provide quick contact opportunities to loved ones of the traumatized, saving lives by significantly avoiding worry, fear, anxiety and depression. MCP also has the potential of increasing input needs to be undertaken to accelerate the appropriate use of digital technology by health-care consumers, including enhancing education and technological literacy and providing access to low-cost digital technology. Originality/value “MCP” will be a quick intervention for drivers, travellers/tourists, pedestrians, paramedical officers, road safety officers, police officers and other security agencies in the time of emergency. For the managers, the relative advantage is the preferable factor to create awareness for “MCP”, while observability needs more effort to persuade the mobile phone users to accept and use MCP.

Senior Housing as a Living Environment That Supports Well-Being in Old Age.

Background: In different parts of the world new models of senior housing have rapidly appeared, which indicates that existing housing and care models are not fulfilling the hopes and needs of current and new generations of older people.Material and Methods: This qualitative study focuses on one type of communal senior housing complex located in a mid-sized town in Central Finland. The complex was designed to have accessible low-maintenance apartments and common spaces, and to be near easily accessible green spaces, amenities, services, and public transport. The complex has a part-time community coordinator. The minimum age limit is set at 55 years. The data consists of 36 qualitative interviews with residents (21 women, 15 men) aged 66–93, conducted between November 2018 and February 2019. The semi-structured interviews were recorded and transcribed. The data analysis focused on how different aspects of the manmade, natural, and social environment were portrayed in residents' descriptions of day-to-day life. Theoretical framework adopted for the study draws from the ideas of environmental and geographic gerontology. The data was analyzed using positioning analysis which is one form of discourse analysis.Results: The senior housing in this study fulfilled its promise of providing accessible a physical and social environment which encourages and enables residents to be physically active and independent, yet which also provides social activities and feeling safe. In this respect, the senior housing complex offered an environment which supports well-being and healthy aging. However, the residents' interpretations of what the senior housing complex represented varied. For some of the residents it was first and foremost a social place, which provided opportunities for social contacts and social activities. For some of the residents the most important were maintenance-free apartments and outdoor areas. The question remains as to how social practices, in the form of government policies and market systems can support the development of different kinds of senior housing which are affordable and accessible for all.

When ‘Self-Sufficiency’ Is Not Sufficient: Refugee Integration Discourses of US Resettlement Actors and the Offer of Refuge

Abstract Resettlement in a third country is fundamental in the protection of displaced persons, yet the offer of refuge encompasses more than mere admission into a country. In the US, various resettlement organizations provide arrival services; however, the resettlement programme’s ability to support long-term integration is restricted by an emphasis on economic self-sufficiency. Resettlement practices are shaped by the integration discourses of multiple resettlement actors, a term encompassing expectations, aspirations, and conceptions of ‘ideal’ refugee integration. This article explores the work of resettlement agencies and refugee ‘third sector’ organizations (RTSOs) by examining three organizations in a southeastern US city. Contesting government expectations of rapid ‘self-sufficiency’, RTSOs expand the offer of refuge provided in resettlement. They provide opportunities for social contact between volunteers and refugees and prioritize the formation of community and relationships. However, these organizations also reproduce neoliberal discourses of integration, ultimately constraining possibilities for expanded refugee integration.

The dynamic relationship between contact opportunities, positive and negative intergroup contact, and prejudice: A longitudinal investigation.

We investigated the dynamics of naturally increasing contact opportunities, frequencies of positive and negative intergroup contact experiences, and prejudice toward forced migrants, in 2 three-wave longitudinal studies (Study 1, N = 183, adult community sample; Study 2, N = 758, nation-wide adult probability sample) in Germany using latent growth curve and parallel process analyses. We examined (research question 1) whether prejudice increases or decreases with increased contact opportunities; (research question 2) whether the rate of change in prejudice is related to the rate of change of positive/negative contact; (research question 3) whether the trajectories of change in prejudice shift as a function of the histories of prior positive/negative contact; and (research question 4) whether the rate of change in positive/negative contact frequencies depends on prior prejudice levels. Across both studies, prejudice increased with increased contact opportunities, as did positive and negative contact frequencies (ad research question 1). Whereas changes in negative contact were significantly related to changes in prejudice in both studies, no such relationships emerged as significant for positive contact (ad research question 2). We did not find any supportive evidence for our research questions 3 and 4. Overall, our results demonstrate that increased contact opportunities can contribute to increases in prejudice. Moreover, they indicate that the trajectories of negative contact and prejudice may be more substantially intertwined than the trajectories of positive contact and prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Qualitative exploration of the Medical Examiner role in identifying problems with the quality of patient care

ObjectiveA national system of Medical Examiners (MEs) implemented in England and Wales from April 2019 was intended to ensure that every death receives scrutiny from an independent, senior doctor, resulting...

Preface

We are pleased to introduce the Proceedings of the 21st International School on Condensed Matter Physics “Progress and Perspectives in Functional Materials” (21st ISCMP). This traditional bi-annual School organized by the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (ISSP-BAS) took place from August 31st - September 4th, 2020 at one of the finest resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea “Saints Constantine and Helena”.The aim of the School is to bring together outstanding researchers (experimentalists as well as theoreticians) with the younger generation of scientists in order to discuss current research topics and to exchange new forefront ideas in broad interdisciplinary areas. This year special focus was driven towards discussions on fundamental studies and application of functional materials in addition to traditionally covered areas, such as characterization of nanostructured materials, soft matter physics, graphene-based materials and applications. Participants from 13 countries presented 21 invited lectures, 13 short oral talks and 63 posters. Due to the worldwide pandemic situation during 2020, this year the school (21st ISCMP) offered opportunities for both onsite and remote online attendance. The Local Organising Committee put a lot of effort to overcome all difficulties and to ensure the successful organisation and holding of 21st ISCMP. The organizing committee believes that the 21st ISCMP provided enough opportunities for personal scientific contacts, interesting discussions and interactive exchange of ideas among the participants. The Editors would like to thank all authors for their high-quality contributions and the members of the International Programme Committee for their strong commitment.The papers submitted for publication in the Proceedings were refereed according to the publishing standards of the Journal of Physics: Conference Series. The Editorial Committee members are very grateful to the Journal’s staff for the continuous fruitful collaboration and for providing the opportunity to publish scientific contributions from the 21st ISCMP.Prof. DSc Hassan Chamati, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Julia Genova, Assoc. Prof. Dsc Albena Paskaleva, Assist. Prof. Dr. Albert Varonov

Explaining Ethnic Violence: On the Relevance of Geographic, Social, Economic, and Political Factors in Hate Crimes on Refugees

Abstract Many Western societies experience recurring patterns of violence against ethnic minorities, immigrants, refugees, and other asylum seekers, making it important to better understand which conditions increase (or decrease) the likelihood of hate crimes. In this article, we test the relevance of different geographic, social, economic, and political conditions for attacks on refugees. To this end, we conduct an event-history analysis for Germany between 2014 and 2017, when Germany experienced a sharp rise and subsequent decline in assaults on refugees with up to 142 personal and miscellaneous (such as assaults and insults) and 11 arson attacks on refugee homes and refugees per week. We analyse these incidents at the district level and derive hypotheses from theoretical considerations on geographic proximity, social similarity, political opportunity structures, competition for resources, opportunities of contact with foreigners, and differences between East and West Germany. Irrespective of the type of attack, the results of Cox regression models support our theoretical reasoning on diffusion processes, geographical proximity, and the contact hypothesis. There is no support for the model-adopter similarity and competition-for-resources hypothesis. The type of violence matters with regard to the importance of political opportunity structures and differences between East and West Germany. Our findings show the importance of differentiating between different types of violence and accounting for the context-dependency of ethnic violence for future research.

Testing the adequacy of luminous change descriptors to represent dynamic attributes in outdoor views

Outdoor views are critical for sustaining well-being in urbanized environments, as they increase opportunities for contact with natural and dynamic features. Yet, current view assessment procedures do not investigate the role of dynamic attributes in views. In this study, we evaluated a systematic procedure to test the adequacy of representing dynamic outdoor attributes as a function of lightness changes over time. Using image processing and monitoring techniques, we examined the presence of lightness changes in views in two seasons and as a function of three spatial parameters. In Part 1, we evaluated light variations in 16 distinct view scenes collected in summer (n = 320 intervals). In Part 2, we examined daylight changes in four pairs of identical view scenes collected in summer and fall (n = 80 intervals each). Continuous solar radiation measurements anchored lightness changes values as a function of sky conditions. The results showed the recurrence of lightness changes in views for Part 1 (77%) and Part 2 (75%), suggesting the prevalence of light changes in views across the year. In Part 1, lightness changes in views presented statistical significance in naturalistic conditions and three sky types, yet more data is needed for comparative analysis. In Part 1, the prevalence of Global variation in views was demonstrated. Likewise, two view types (i.e., Roof and Wall) showed a clear frequency of lightness changes under naturalistic conditions (76% and 74%). These outcomes help to sustain the adequacy of lightness change for describing dynamic attributes in views.

Опыт организации психологической помощи в ФГБУ «ФЦМН» ФМБА России в условиях перепрофилирования

Relevance (context) of the subject of the article. Many fi rstline healthcare workers feel high levels of stress due to excessive workload, problems of adapting to new conditions, fear of infection and discrimination and feeling of inadequate support while working with coronavirus infection. Also, an additional burden is placed on the medical staff due to increased anxiety for their health and patients who are afraid to die. On the other hand, the presence of psychologists in the staff of the institution allows them to perform new work tasks, adhering their specialty and workplace. Th e aim of the study is to identify the most effi cient new types of work for a medical psychologists in the FSBI “FCB&N” FMBA of Russia functioning as an infectious diseases hospital. Description of the research progress. Th e study was conducted from April to June 2020 and included informational, methodological, diagnostic and advisory forms of work, the content of which was revised depending on its relevance and the dynamics of interaction with target groups. Research results. Th e most popular and eff ective types of work turned out to be psychological counseling for patients in the “red” zone, work with relatives at the transfer point and remote monitoring of the medical staff condition, the latter being on duty at the exit from the “red” zone and leading a group of patients via WhatsApp. Th e opportunities for emergency contact with a psychologist, the availability of several methods of communication and regular monitoring of the psychological state of medical staff signifi cantly reduced the level of distress and its consequences. Conclusions. Creating conditions for organizing psychological assistance in an institution reorientated to work with a new coronavirus infection is an important task to reduce the stress level of medical staff , overcome the nonadaptive behavior of patients and their relatives, as well as preserve resources of the institution’s psychologists.

El asombro: una emoción para el acceso a la sabiduría

Awe is a classic concept with an important place in the history of philosophy, since it is regarded as the beginning of the development of thought, as we know it today. However, until now it has historically received little attention in the field of education, although in recent years it has been the subject of renewed attention for a variety of reasons. These include a growing discomfort with curriculum designs that reflect a frenetic culture with a clear tendency towards activism and instrumentalism. This work explores the concept of awe, considering some current approaches from the philosophy of education, at the same as providing new perspectives, considering the links between awe and wisdom as well as conditions that make awe possible, such as humility, gratitude, contemplation of the environment, and appreciation of the intrinsic value of what is observed. Moreover, it suggests three areas for fostering awe in schools. These include: creating opportunities for contact with truth, beauty, and goodness; promoting a greater immersion in natural environments; and reducing the pace of educational activity.

Sociocultural aspects of international students’ speech behavior: mixed method in language teaching

In the present research, the authors have studied direct and indirect cross-cultural contact as well as motivated behavior and language attitude in a study-abroad context on the territory of the Russian Federation. For the research purposes, the mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative research methodologies was applied in order to demonstrate contact, behavioral and motivational variables throughout one academic year of the foundation programme. The authors attempted to identify the main factors affecting the language learning motivation of international students studying in Russian international programs, to define the type and frequency of the contact with the maximum impact on students’ perception of the language acquisition. The results of encounter experiences were registered at three discrete points throughout the academic year. The detailed analysis showed that written and media use contacts had become more frequent throughout the year while the direct spoken contacts had exhibited the opposite tendency. The authors attempted to give some recommendations that would encourage contact opportunities and reduce inter-group anxiety among foreign students. The implemented analysis of the research results has demonstrated that self-confidence of international students had suffered immensely as the result of the negative encounter experiences. This type of experiences could be fully eliminated or reduced to a minimum if the hosts were aware of the expectation, attitudes, feelings, and possible forms of the international students’ behavior. The study proved out the necessity of potential students to prepare for the study abroad programs before their arrival to the host country. They are supposed to develop communication skills and strategies as well as their linguistic ability. A necessary precondition for students upon their arrival is the provision of institutional support, which allows them to get used to new cultural and social environment and to bond with native speakers.

The subjective experience of information communication technology use among child welfare workers

This study explores information and communication technology (ICT) use among rural child welfare workers. The experience sampling method (ESM) was used to collect data at five random times a day for one week from ten welfare workers. Workers reported using email, text messaging, or phone almost exclusively in their day-to-day work lives. This study demonstrates the usefulness of ESM in capturing the nuances of technology use in the day-to-day work lives of child welfare workers. Results highlight the need for agencies to explore the use of new types of ICT that may improve efficiency and expand opportunities for client contact.

Mobile Data Traffic Offloading through Opportunistic Vehicular Communications

To cope with an exponentially increasing demand on mobile data traffic in cellular network, proximity-based opportunistic vehicular communications can be exploited as a complementary mean to offload and reduce the load of cellular network. In this paper, we propose a two-phase approach for mobile data traffic offloading, which exploits opportunistic contact and future utility with user mobility. The proposed approach includes one phase of initial source selection and subsequent phase of data forwarding. In phase 1, we build a weighted reachability graph, which is a very useful high-level abstraction for studying vehicular communication over time. Then, we propose an initial source selection algorithm, named VRank, and apply it in the weight reachability graph to identify some influential vehicles to serve as initial sources according to the rank of VRank. In phase 2, we formulate the forwarding schedule problem as a global utility maximization problem, which takes heterogeneous user interest and future utility contribution into consideration. Then, we propose an efficient scheme MGUP to solve the problem by providing a solution that decides which object should be broadcast. The effectiveness of our algorithm is verified through extensive simulation using real vehicular trace.

Blooming alleys for better health: Exploring impacts of small-scale greenspaces on neighborhood wellbeing

Rapid urbanization has decreased opportunities for nature contact while increasing stressors from pollution, strenuous commutes, and sedentary work environments. With an additional 2.5 billion people expected to reside in cities by 2050, novel solutions are required to integrate urban natures. Urban parks and greenways provide opportunities for restorative nature experiences, but the benefits of small-scale greenspace remain relatively unstudied. Subsequently, this study explores perceived wellbeing associated with residing near ‘green alleys.’ Focus groups and interviews revealed most respondents did not identify specific mental health impacts, but factors known to contribute to mental wellbeing emerged. Results indicate that green-alley residents receive health benefits regardless of their explicit recognition. Implications for urban planners include the need for increased intentional greening of small-scale urban spaces with consideration to residents’ aesthetic preferences.

Teenagers, Digital Media, and Language Development: An Exploration of Potential and Challenges in Promoting English Skills

<p>Digital media has a significant role in the development of English for teenagers. The rapid development in digital technologies enables the teacher to be creative and innovative in teaching a second language, it can be used as a tool to enhance language learning, through increasing the opportunities for contact with native speakers and input from the target language. The research design used in this study was a literature study and collected data through navigating some relevant studies relating to social media. The researchers chose and analyzed the information about the potential and challenges of digital media in promoting English language development for teenagers. The challenges of fostering English language development through digital media in teenagers based on literature reviews are teachers’ problems. Digital media is a potential aid of promoting English language development in teenagers depends on the ability of teachers to minimize the challenges.</p>

Vitamin A supplementation and estimated number of averted child deaths in Ethiopia: 15 years in practice (2005-2019).

Vitamin A supplementation (VAS), started as a short‐term strategy pending dietary improvements, has been implemented in Ethiopia for the last 15 years. We aimed to describe the trends in VAS coverage and estimated the associated reductions in child mortality. VAS coverage data obtained from the District Health Information System and the Demographic and Health Surveys were linked to child mortality data from the United Nations Interagency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). The number of child deaths averted was modelled assuming 12% and 24% reductions in all‐cause mortality. From 2006 to 2011, VAS was delivered through campaigns, and coverage was above 85%. However, from 2011 onwards, VAS delivery was integrated to the routine health system, and the coverage declined to <60% with significant disparities by wealth quintile and rural–urban residence. VAS has saved between 167,563 to 376,030 child lives (2005–2019), but additional lives (>42,000) could have been saved with a universal coverage (95%). Inconsistent supply of vitamin A capsules, but more importantly, low access to health care, and the limited contact opportunities for children after 24 months may have contributed to the declining VAS coverage. Any changes in target or scale‐up should thus consider these spatial and socioeconomic variations. Increasing the coverage of VAS and closing the equity gap in access to nutrition services is critical. However, with alternative programmes like vitamin A fortification being set‐up, the benefits and safety of VAS need to be closely monitored, particularly in areas where there will be overlap.

Intersection theorem and mobility in a social network

Sociological theory of Peter M. Blau (Structural Contexts of Opportunities, Chicago 1994) consists of a series of verbal theorems on social structure and opportunities of contacts. Out of this series, we have selected five theorems which infer about dependence of interpersonal links on properties of actors, situated at nodes of a model network. The related assumptions made by Blau are reformulated and a new computational model is proposed of intergroup connections and social mobility. With this construction, simple analytical evaluations and computer simulations confirm the Blau’s theory.

Disease control across urban-rural gradients.

Controlling the regional re-emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after its initial spread in ever-changing personal contact networks and disease landscapes is a challenging task. In a landscape context, contact opportunities within and between populations are changing rapidly as lockdown measures are relaxed and a number of social activities re-activated. Using an individual-based metapopulation model, we explored the efficacy of different control strategies across an urban–rural gradient in Wales, UK. Our model shows that isolation of symptomatic cases or regional lockdowns in response to local outbreaks have limited efficacy unless the overall transmission rate is kept persistently low. Additional isolation of non-symptomatic infected individuals, who may be detected by effective test-and-trace strategies, is pivotal to reducing the overall epidemic size over a wider range of transmission scenarios. We define an ‘urban–rural gradient in epidemic size' as a correlation between regional epidemic size and connectivity within the region, with more highly connected urban populations experiencing relatively larger outbreaks. For interventions focused on regional lockdowns, the strength of such gradients in epidemic size increased with higher travel frequencies, indicating a reduced efficacy of the control measure in the urban regions under these conditions. When both non-symptomatic and symptomatic individuals are isolated or regional lockdown strategies are enforced, we further found the strongest urban–rural epidemic gradients at high transmission rates. This effect was reversed for strategies targeted at symptomatic individuals only. Our results emphasize the importance of test-and-trace strategies and maintaining low transmission rates for efficiently controlling SARS-CoV-2 spread, both at landscape scale and in urban areas.

Transmission networks and ectoparasite mite burdens in Oecomys paricola (Rodentia: Cricetidae).

The host contact network structure results from the movement and behaviour of hosts (e.g. degree of sociability; vagility and greater or lesser fidelity of shelters), which can generate heterogeneity in the transmission of parasites and influence the parasitic burden of individual hosts. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that the burdens of Gigantolaelaps oudemansi mites are related to the characteristics of the transmission networks of individuals of Oecomys paricola, a solitary rodent. The study was carried out in a savannah habitat in north-eastern Brazil. In the dry season, the rodent network presented sub-groups of rodent individuals interacting with each other, whereas in the wet season, no modules were formed in the network. Mite burden was positively related to the number of connections that an individual host had with other host individuals in the dry season. The pairwise absolute difference between the mean mite burdens among individual rodents was negatively correlated with the similarities of node interactions. No relationships were observed during the wet season. There was a higher heterogeneity of mite burden among hosts in the dry season compare to that in the wet season. In solitary species, spatial organization may show seasonal variation, causing a change in the opportunities of host contacts, thereby influencing the transmission and dispersion of their ectoparasite burdens.