People's Everyday Activities Research Articles

Advanced trust classification in social networks using a triple generative adversarial network-assisted capsule network enhanced by gannet optimization

Over the past ten years, social networks (SN) have evolved into the primary infrastructure for people's everyday activities. Trust classification in social networks involves evaluating the trustworthiness of users or the information they share. Traditional trust classification methods often rely on explicit features, such as user ratings, reviews, and social ties. These methods utilize rule-based to assign trust scores for users or entities. However, they face challenges in capturing the exact nature of trust. In this manuscript, Advanced Trust Classification in Social Networks using a Triple Generative Adversarial Network-Assisted Capsule Network Enhanced by Gannet Optimization (Trust-TripleGAN-CapsNet-GOA) is proposed. In this manuscript, the feature vector has computed to every social network users pair after the raw data from the Sentiment140 dataset, is analysed. The membership of trust is then ranked according to five-class classifications by incorporating Tanimoto Trust Similarity coefficient. Then, Triple Generative Adversarial Network-Assisted Capsule Network (TripleGAN-CapsNet) is used to categorise the trust values of users. Finally, the weight parameters of TripleGAN-CapsNet is optimized by the Gannet Optimization Algorithm (GOA) to enhance the accuracy of the trust behaviour in SN. The proposed Trust-TripleGAN-CapsNet-GOA method attains 22.94 %, 32.36 % and 21.96 % higher accuracy, 30.27 %, 19.46 % and 12.39 %, higher precision when analyzed with the existing models, such as a method for trust mirroring assessment under social networks parameters with fuzzy system (Trust-SNP-FS), deep matrix factorization in social networks for trust-aware recommendation (Trust-DMF-SN) and towards time-aware context-aware deep trust prediction on the online social networks (TACADTrust-SN). The simulation outcomes exhibit that the proposed method attains 99 % accuracy.

Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) for mood, anxiety, and adjustment disorders: a pilot study.

Global mental health issues, particularly anxiety and depression, significantly impact people's everyday activities. While psychotherapies are commonly used, there is a growing interest in problem-solving approaches within mental health. These approaches focus on enabling individuals to develop personalized strategies to address emotional and psychological challenges and enhance their engagement in meaningful activities, known as occupational performance. This paper examines the feasibility of the Cognitive Orientation to daily Occupational Performance (CO-OP) in assisting adults with mood, anxiety, or adjustment disorders. The study employed a mixed methods single-subject design with replication, using an inductive/deductive approach for qualitative analysis. Ethical approval was obtained, and participants were recruited from a Singaporean hospital's occupational therapy service. CO-OP sessions were conducted either in-person or via telehealth. The intervention involved setting goals collaboratively, followed by weekly sessions over 10 weeks. Various data sources, including demographics, field notes, recordings of sessions, assessments and interviews were collected. Data analysis involved comparing pre- and post-intervention scores, thematic analysis of interviews, and triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data for validity. The study results are organized according to five feasibility domains: acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, and limited efficacy. A total of 10 participants, mostly female, were recruited, with two dropping out during the baseline phase. All remaining participants completed the intervention and 1 month follow-up data collection. CO-OP was perceived as acceptable and beneficial in enhancing occupational performance, satisfaction and managing mood and anxiety symptoms. Participants expressed increased confidence and self-efficacy but desired continued therapist support for strategy application and reinforcement. Participants generally embraced CO-OP, favoring its personalized nature over therapist-directed approaches, with high retention rates observed. Building a strong therapeutic relationship was essential. Also using complementary approaches like supportive counseling proved beneficial. CO-OP emerges as a viable intervention alongside existing therapy approaches, offering a promising avenue for addressing the complex needs of individuals with mental health conditions.

On the practice of integrated STEM education as "poiesis"

The value of science partly lies on the development of useful products for humanity's needs, but basic sciences cannot be said the "protagonists" of their obtention. Human history shows that these processes occur as a result of interactions between science and technology, mathematics, and engineering, as well as ethics and aesthetics. This network of disciplinary relationships facilitating the impact of scientific knowledge on human lives is at the center of discussions in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, and will be the focus of this article. Since the problems encountered in people's everyday activities cannot be solved with the knowledge and skill of a single discipline, there emerges an aim for general education to attain more holistic understandings required by human needs. Our conceptualization of STEM education, based on classical Greek philosophy, addresses this issue. We acknowledge that the traditional paradigm of monodisciplinary education, formed as a result of the separation of sciences over history, has been challenged in the last two decades with the rise of integrating approaches in science and technology education. STEM is consistently mentioned as a way for gaining the integrated knowledge and skills deemed important for the near future, but theoretical searches towards solving its basic problems are still ongoing and we take this as our general research problem. In this argumentative study, the philosophical approach proposed to shed light on STEM education practices is structured along two conceptual axes: integration of disciplines and inclusion of humanistic goals. Suitable foundations for our proposal are sought in Aristotelian philosophy: We use Aristotle's conception of a particular kind of human activity—poiesis, that aims to create "useful" and "aesthetic" products in order to propose an engineering "center" or "core" in the design of STEM school practices. Our model, labeled as "poietic" STEM, incorporates key elements of the nature of engineering; under the light of such a model, some aspects of what is called the "nature of STEM" are discussed. We conclude that, in an education envisaging more holistic approaches towards citizen literacy, it is necessary to connect the performance of STEM with responsible human interaction. In accordance with this requirement, our approximation to STEM centered on an epistemologically sophisticated conception of engineering makes room for fostering shared awareness in students.

Unobtrusive monitoring of sedentary behaviors with fusion of bluetooth and ballistocardiogram signals.

Intensive and lasting stress may induce severe damage to a human's physical and mental health. Successful stress management depends on the effective monitoring of people's everyday activities, in particular, their sedentary behaviors. Here, we propose an unobtrusive office sedentary behavior monitoring system that combines Bluetooth signals and ballistocardiogram (BCG) signals to classify an individual's sitting modes into four categories: off-seat, sedate, working, and in-motion. The proposed monitoring system simultaneously reads received signal strength indicators (RSSI) from several fixed Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons and BCG data from the piezoelectric sensor placed underneath the chair cushion, with distinct sampling frequencies. The raw signals are first denoised with local subspace projection. Then we extract the local spectral features from the reconstructed signal and the signal differences for a two-stage stacking learning algorithm. The temporally classified results establish a desk-based worker's sedentary profile and make possible the timely intervention of physical inactivity. We tested the prototype system for 15 subjects, and the preliminary results achieved 95% accuracy, demonstrating its potential in a real-world application.

Experiences of participation in everyday activities for people with stroke in Nairobi, Kenya

ABSTRACT Background Stroke is currently one of the greatest causes of disability and death in Kenya. Previous research indicates a lack of knowledge regarding how participation in everyday life is experienced after a stroke in Sub-Sahara Africa. Objectives The aim was to explore and describe experiences of participation in everyday life for people who had had a stroke living in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods A qualitative study design using semi-structured interviews with nine people who have had a stroke, together with their caregivers. The inclusion criteria were: 1) stroke diagnosis 2) no psychiatric diagnosis, and 3) ability to understand and respond to instructions in English, or local language. All participants were living in the community, members of the Stroke Association of Kenya, and participated voluntarily. The transcribed interviews were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Results The participants expressed their experiences of participation in everyday life, along with how resources and barriers affected their participation. Three categories were found:1) A sense of satisfaction at being involved in everyday life, 2) Challenges in doing everyday activities and social participation, and 3) Dependence as enabling or hindering participation. Conclusions After stroke, people’s experiences of participation in everyday life changed. Performing activities that the person found meaningful added a sense of increased participation and satisfaction. The experience of being dependent in everyday activities and finances appeared to reduce perceived participation. Participation in a group connected to a patient association with like-minded people contributed to a new role, and a sense of belonging.

MODERN TRENDS OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS IN VIRTUAL SPACE

Активний розвиток інтернет-технологій привів до того, що міжособистісне спілкування все більше переноситься у віртуальне середовище. Для налагодження контактів із потенційними споживачами маркетологи все більше уваги приділяють новим підходам та технологіям залучення різних цільових груп. Актуальним питанням сьогодення стає розгляд та аналіз основних тенденцій та перспектив розвитку маркетингових комунікацій у інтернет-просторі. В статті проаналізовано темпи та основні тенденції розвитку нового комунікативного простору. Відмічене, що у 2018 році кількість активних інтернет-користувачів у світі сягнула позначки у 4 млрд та за прогнозами зростатиме щорічно у середньому на 9%. 25,6 мільйонів чоловік, що складає 58% населення України, є активними інтернет-користувачами. Це сприяє активному проникненню інформаційних технологій у всі сфери повсякденної діяльності людей та області ведення бізнесу. Це надає принципово нових можливостей для розвитку моделей та форматів комунікації між підприємствами, закладами та приватними особами. Відмічено основні переваги, обов’язкові умови та наслідки організації комунікативного процесу у інтернет-просторі. Розглянуто основні складові комплексу маркетингових комунікацій в аспекті перспектив їх застосування у всесвітній мережі. В результаті аналізу підтверджено, що інтернет-технології є засобом розширення можливостей комунікативного процесу та підвищення його ефективності.

Svakodnevni život i civilizacija slike - mediji i sportski spektakl

As a criticism of certain forms of life, the standpoint of everyday life in the context of a postmodern society points to the relationship of an individual with the mechanisms of the global market, the state and new information-communication technologies. It is the time of the Internet and social networks in which the terms of 'convergence', 'interactivity', 'global connectivity' are encountered. If the connection between the development of the media and communication in sports in the age of civilization is placed at the center of the reconsideration of the influence of media sphere on changes in daily life of people and their creativity as well as changes in the aesthetic being, then one should start from seeing the benefits that the audience receive by watching sports spectacles. Since sport is an integral part of people's everyday activities, it has long become addicted to the media (and vice versa) and should be seen as their product omnipresent in mass media communication. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the revitalization of interest in theoretical thinking and practical research of everyday life in the field of social experience that began in the 1970s; to point out the connection between the world of the media spectacle and the everyday life of mass audience; to indicate, in the case of sports as the most popular and most productive media event, how the audience, in their everyday interaction with mass media, accepts modern lifestyles, uses new technologies and identifies itself with sports idols. From the perspective of technology of sport spectacle broadcasting, the television transmission of 2018 FIFA World Cup was analyzed.

Modelling the relationship between design/performance factors and perceptual features contributing to Quality of Experience for mobile Web browsing

Browsing different types of Web sites on mobile devices has become a part of many people's everyday activities. In the context of Quality of Experience (QoE) research, there is an interest in understanding the impact of various web site design and performance factors, i.e., QoE influence factors (IFs) on different perceivable characteristics of a user’s experience which contribute to its quality, i.e., QoE features. In this paper, we refer to our recently published multidimensional QoE modelling study (Baraković and Skorin-Kapov, 2015), whereby 77 participants took part in a field study and rated sixteen different versions of an information portal and a thematic portal, and eight versions of an e-mail portal by using a smartphone or a tablet. We extend the previously reported data analysis with new findings explicitly exposing the relationships between QoE IFs and QoE features. In this paper, we quantify mutual relations between identified QoE IFs (Web site loading time, Web site aesthetics, number of taps to reach desired Web content, quality of Web site information) and selected QoE features (perceived Web site loading time, perceived Web site usability, perceived Web site aesthetics, perceived quality of Web site information). Results of the analysis show the existence of : (i) negative impact of number of taps to reach the desired Web content on perceived Web site loading time; (ii) negative impact of Web site loading time (in case of smartphones), and positive impacts of Web site aesthetics and quality of Web site information (in case of thematic portal) on perceived Web site usability; (iii) negative impact of number of taps to reach the desired Web content and positive impact of quality of Web site information (in case of thematic portal) on perceived Web site aesthetics; and (iv) positive impact of Web site aesthetics on perceived quality of Web site information. Moreover, obtained multiple linear regression models, which describe the mutual relations between considered QoE IFs and QoE features, extend previously reported multidimensional mobile Web QoE models and thereby enable the identification of the importance of distinct factors in terms of perceived QoE features.

‘Instead of popping pills, perhaps you should add frog breathing’: experiences of glossopharyngeal insufflation/breathing for people with cervical spinal cord injury

Background: People with cervical spinal cord injury have impaired function of the respiratory muscles, which results in reduced ventilation. Glossopharyngeal insufflation/breathing increases total lung capacity and improves cough function, however, knowledge of the experiences regarding learning and practicing glossopharyngeal insufflation in everyday life is missing.Purpose: To describe and explore the experiences of learning and practicing glossopharyngeal insufflation among people with cervical spinal cord injury.Methods: Twenty six individuals with cervical spinal cord injury, who had participated in a previous intervention study on glossopharyngeal insufflation, were interviewed. Semi-structured telephone interviews were analyzed with qualitative content analysis.Results: An overall theme and seven categories emerged. Glossopharyngeal insufflation was perceived as a possibility to make a difference in one’s life by improving respiratory function, both immediately and for time ahead and thereby ease everyday activities, and by increasing participation, independence, and overall health. The participants with cervical spinal cord injury described that they could learn glossopharyngeal insufflation, but it could be perceived as difficult. However, the use of glossopharyngeal insufflation could be experienced by the individual as being different, and there were sometimes doubts about its effectiveness.Conclusions: Use of glossopharyngeal insufflation can enable people with cervical spinal cord injury to increasingly participate in everyday activities. Increased autonomy might lead to improved self-esteem and provide well-being. However, ambivalence about the usefulness of glossopharyngeal insufflation may arise and the technique can be difficult to learn. Therefore, individualized information and instructions from health professionals are required.Implications for RehabilitationPracticing glossopharyngeal insufflation leads to increased participation in everyday activities for people with cervical spinal cord injuries and provides the individual hope to influence future life situation. People with cervical spinal cord injuries therefore need support from health care professionals in order to be motivated to learn and then use the glossopharyngeal insufflation technique also as health promotionGlossopharyngeal insufflation can improve respiratory function and also increase awareness of breathing; health professionals should therefore be able to assess which patients who can benefit from glossopharyngeal insufflation in order to make the technique become an important part of the rehabilitation.The technique can be difficult to perform perfectly and is sometimes perceived as uncomfortable. It may also cause unpleasant side effects and therefore individualized information and instructions regarding glossopharyngeal insufflation are required.

Mobile inquiry-as-play in mathematics teacher education

Purpose – This study aims to describe the feasibility of designing and fostering pre-service teacher inquiry at the intersection of community and disciplinary engagement. Mapping My Math (MMM), a game-based and mobile learning activity, guided pre-service teachers in playfully exploring mathematics featured in the everyday activities of people and places and creatively representing this inquiry with digital media. Design/methodology/approach – This study draws from design-based research that examined the role of place, digital media and mobility in mathematics teacher education. Design narrative methods describe how MMM was created, implemented and refined to support disciplinary inquiry across settings given the evolution of tools, activities and practices. The study and design narrative address the following question: How can game-based and mobile learning be designed to support pre-service teachers’ disciplinary inquiry of everyday mathematics? Findings – Findings shared in this study’s design narrative attend to the quality of pre-service teachers’ inquiry-as-play, or expressive mobility situated amonglearners’ social and material relations, disciplinary concepts and the built environment. Research limitations/implications – Implications from this study concern the role of mobile learning in mathematics teacher education to connect school, community and online settings; the potential of gameful design to impact pre-service teacher learning across settings; and the importance of fostering disciplinary inquiry whereby pre-service teachers can “navigate” their own learning. Originality/value – Game-based and mobile learning designs, like MMM, can create the conditions for cross-setting mobility as generative of inquiry-as-play in mathematics teacher education. MMM encouraged pre-service teachers to playfully leverage disciplinary practices that shaped new relationships with mathematics, their city and the mathematics of place and community.

Interventions in Cyberspace: Status and Trends

Cyberinterventions such as attacks and exploitations could have a severe impact on people's everyday activities. In this context, we must understand the dimensions and scope of attacks in cyberspace and assess measures to enhance the security of cybersystems. A global scenario should be considered given that entities could involve individuals, organizations, and state-sponsored actors.

The rhetoric of patient and family centred care: an institutional ethnography into what actually happens.

This paper uses Dorothy Smith's institutional ethnography to examine technological advances designed to improve nurses' work. The analysis interrogates how nurses' work is coordinated, in disquieting ways, in an apparent commitment to 'patient and family centred care'. The discussion is part of a larger programme of research that focuses ethnographic attention on nurses' activating technological managerial improvement strategies. This discussion paper describes suboptimal hospital experiences to show how they were organized. The institutional ethnographic analysis addresses discrepancies that arise between the different organizational standpoints. Overall the discussion focuses on how institutional ethnographers enquire into people's everyday activities to discover and make understandable, in the material world, what actually happens that shapes them. Data include observations and interviews with nurses, nurse managers, patients and families. It also includes screenshots of computer fields and other documents being used by nurses. Nursing work is methodically being oriented to interests that undermine nurses' capacity to contribute their knowledgeable activity to intervene in people's health and well-being. Nurses' work is overwhelmed with the imperative to discharge patients. This happens with an ideological construction of patient centred care that obscures what is actually happening.

Computer Networks as the Embodiment of Social Networks

The Internet, both as a technological system and a set of social phenomena, has global reach. Its development is comparatively recent but the Internet has already become established as an ordinary feature of the everyday activities of people around the world. However, the very familiarity of this information infrastructure tends to obscure important dynamics of the process by which the current state of affairs was reached. This paper is the result of the confluence of two research efforts into the nature of this process in the United States and Bulgaria that began independently. The commonalities and differences between the two cases seemed to present a very compelling case for a comparative case study approach. The United States case had shown that the practice of science and its institutions played a central role in creating today's global Internet. The world of scientific research, with its institutions, policies and disciplinary distinctions, shaped the network and the way in which it spread to other sectors of society creating the conditions for contemporary activity toward the construction of a national information infrastructure1. At the same time, from interviews with the pioneers of Internet in Bulgaria2 it was found that the Bulgarian scientific community played a key role in establishing the patterns of subsequent development of Internet in the country. In spite of the many obvious differences between the two countries, the two cases reveal a significant common dynamic in the implementation of infrastructural information networks. The first implementation of such a system is a congealed version of certain social networks that deliver the computer network as a by-product of other goals and priorities internal to their existence.

Whose Right toJerusalem?

AbstractJerusalem is a city mired in spatial conflict. Its contested spaces represent deep conflicts among groups that vary by national identity, religion, religiosity and gender. The omnipresent nature of these conflicts provides an opportunity to look at HenriLefebvre's concept of the right to the city (RTC). TheRTChas been adopted and celebrated as a political tool for positive change, enabling communities to take control of space. Based on extensive fieldwork and in‐depth interviews, this article explores the complexity of theRTCprinciples and examines three urban battlefields inJerusalem —Bar‐IlanStreet, theKotel and theOrientHouse. TheRTCis a powerful idea, providing the opportunity to examine people's everyday activities within the context of how space can be used to support their lives. YetJerusalem's myriad divisions produce claims by different groups to different parts of the city. InJerusalem, theRTCis not a clear vision but a kaleidoscope of rights that produces a fragmented landscape within a religious and ethno‐national context governed by the nation state —Israel. The growth of cultural and ethnic diversity in urban areas may limit the possibility for a unifiedRTCto emerge in an urban sea of demands framed by difference. Space‐based cultural conflict exemplifies urban divisions and exacerbates claims to ‘myJerusalem’, not ‘ourJerusalem’. Identity‐based claims to theRTCappear to work against, not for, a universalisticRTC.

Self-Generated Strategic Behavior in an Ecological Shopping Task

OBJECTIVES. The use of cognitive strategies optimizes performance in complex everyday tasks such as shopping. This exploratory study examined the cognitive strategies people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) effectively use in an unstructured, real-world situation. METHOD. A behavioral analysis of the self-generated strategic behaviors of 5 people with severe TBI using videotaped sessions of an ecological shopping task (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living Profile) was performed. RESULTS. All participants used some form of cognitive strategy in an unstructured real-world shopping task, although the number, type, and degree of effectiveness of the strategies in leading to goal attainment varied. The most independent person used the largest number and a broader repertoire of self-generated strategies. CONCLUSION. These results provide initial evidence that occupational therapists should examine the use of self-generated cognitive strategies in real-world contexts as a potential means of guiding therapy aimed at improving independence in everyday activities for people with TBI.

Weather Effects on the Patterns of People's Everyday Activities: A Study Using GPS Traces of Mobile Phone Users

This study explores the effects that the weather has on people's everyday activity patterns. Temperature, rainfall, and wind speed were used as weather parameters. People's daily activity patterns were inferred, such as place visited, the time this took place, the duration of the visit, based on the GPS location traces of their mobile phones overlaid upon Yellow Pages information. Our analysis of 31,855 mobile phone users allowed us to infer that people were more likely to stay longer at eateries or food outlets, and (to a lesser degree) at retail or shopping areas when the weather is very cold or when conditions are calm (non-windy). When compared to people's regular activity patterns, certain weather conditions affected people's movements and activities noticeably at different times of the day. On cold days, people's activities were found to be more diverse especially after 10AM, showing greatest variations between 2PM and 6PM. A similar trend is observed between 10AM and midnight on rainy days, with people's activities found to be most diverse on days with heaviest rainfalls or on days when the wind speed was stronger than 4 km/h, especially between 10AM–1AM. Finally, we observed that different geographical areas of a large metropolis were impacted differently by the weather. Using data of urban infrastructure to characterize areas, we found strong correlations between weather conditions upon people's accessibility to trains. This study sheds new light on the influence of weather conditions on human behavior, in particular the choice of daily activities and how mobile phone data can be used to investigate the influence of environmental factors on urban dynamics.

Social anxiety disorder and stuttering: Current status and future directions

Anxiety is one of the most widely observed and extensively studied psychological concomitants of stuttering. Research conducted prior to the turn of the century produced evidence of heightened anxiety in people who stutter, yet findings were inconsistent and ambiguous. Failure to detect a clear and systematic relationship between anxiety and stuttering was attributed to methodological flaws, including use of small sample sizes and unidimensional measures of anxiety. More recent research, however, has generated far less equivocal findings when using social anxiety questionnaires and psychiatric diagnostic assessments in larger samples of people who stutter. In particular, a growing body of research has demonstrated an alarmingly high rate of social anxiety disorder among adults who stutter. Social anxiety disorder is a prevalent and chronic anxiety disorder characterised by significant fear of humiliation, embarrassment, and negative evaluation in social or performance-based situations. In light of the debilitating nature of social anxiety disorder, and the impact of stuttering on quality of life and personal functioning, collaboration between speech pathologists and psychologists is required to develop and implement comprehensive assessment and treatment programmes for social anxiety among people who stutter. This comprehensive approach has the potential to improve quality of life and engagement in everyday activities for people who stutter. Determining the prevalence of social anxiety disorder among children and adolescents who stutter is a critical line of future research. Further studies are also required to confirm the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in treating social anxiety disorder in stuttering.Educational Objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) describe the nature and course of social anxiety disorder; (b) outline previous research regarding anxiety and stuttering, including features of social anxiety disorder; (c) summarise research findings regarding the diagnostic assessment of social anxiety disorder among people who stutter; (d) describe approaches for the assessment and treatment of social anxiety in stuttering, including the efficacy of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy; and (e) outline clinical implications and future directions associated with heightened social anxiety in stuttering.

Looking twice at the gender equity index for public health impact

BackgroundIt has been shown that gender equity has a positive impact on the everyday activities of people (decision making, income allocation, application and observance of norms/rules) which affect their health. Gender equity is also a crucial determinant of health inequalities at national level; thus, monitoring is important for surveillance of women’s and men’s health as well as for future health policy initiatives. The Gender Equity Index (GEI) was designed to show inequity solely towards women. Given that the value under scrutiny is equity, in this paper a modified version of the GEI is proposed, the MGEI, which highlights the inequities affecting both sexes.MethodsRather than calculating gender gaps by means of a quotient of proportions, gaps in the MGEI are expressed in absolute terms (differences in proportions). The Spearman’s rank coefficient, calculated from country rankings obtained according to both indexes, was used to evaluate the level of concordance between both classifications. To compare the degree of sensitivity and obtain the inequity by the two methods, the variation coefficient of the GEI and MGEI values was calculated.ResultsCountry rankings according to GEI and MGEI values showed a high correlation (rank coef. = 0.95). The MGEI presented greater dispersion (43.8%) than the GEI (19.27%). Inequity towards men was identified in the education gap (rank coef. = 0.36) when using the MGEI. According to this method, many countries shared the same absolute value for education but with opposite signs, for example Azerbaijan (−0.022) and Belgium (0.022), reflecting inequity towards women and men, respectively. This also occurred in the empowerment gap with the technical and professional job component (Brunei:-0.120 vs. Australia, Canada Iceland and the U.S.A.: 0.120).ConclusionThe MGEI identifies and highlights the different areas of inequities between gender groups. It thus overcomes the shortcomings of the GEI related to the aim for which this latter was created, namely measuring gender equity, and is therefore of great use to policy makers who wish to understand and monitor the results of specific equity policies and to determine the length of time for which these policies should be maintained in order to correct long-standing structural discrimination against women.

Using Institutional Ethnography to Explore how Social Policies Infiltrate into Daily Life

The paper demonstrates how institutional ethnography provides a way forward for occupational scientists to understand how social policies shape and infiltrate people's daily lives and work. Institutional ethnography is a method of inquiry that starts in individual's experiences and from there traces how their experiences are coordinated to and become shaped within particular organizational processes and social relations. In this paper, we are specifically interested in how social policies, as higher order texts, shape the organizational processes and service agents' work at Labor Market Offices, and enter into the organization of people's everyday activities. We want to make visible how particular policies enter into the organization of the daily lives of women with rheumatoid arthritis who apply for unemployment benefits and ‘regulate’ what they can or may have to do, even though higher order policy texts are not immediately visible or actively referred to in the setting. We learn from the experiences of two women, who are of employable age, have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and live in a mid-sized city in Austria.

Everyday activities for people with dementia in residential aged care: associations with person‐centredness and quality of life

Providing everyday activities is central to high quality residential aged care, but further research is needed on the association between activity participation, person-centred care and quality of life. To explore the point-prevalence of participation in everyday activities for residents with dementia within a national sample of Swedish residential aged care units and to explore if residents participating in everyday activities lived in more person-centred units and/or had higher quality of life as compared to residents not participating in everyday activities. A cross-sectional design was used to collect valid and reliable questionnaire data on activity participation, unit person-centredness and quality of life in a sample of residents in residential aged care (n = 1266). Only 18% of residents participated in everyday activities such as making coffee, setting or clearing the table, cleaning or watering plants, 62% participated in outdoor walks, 27% participated in parlour games, and 14% and 13% participated in excursions and church visits, respectively. Those residents who had participated in everyday activities lived in more person-centred units, had significantly higher quality of life and higher cognitive scores as compared to those residents who had not participated in everyday activities. Even though the prevalence of resident participation in everyday activities was low, resident participation was significantly associated with unit person-centredness and resident quality of life. It seems that everyday activities that are routine and commonplace to residential aged care can be potent nursing interventions for promoting resident quality of life.