Subjective Evaluation Questionnaire Research Articles

A Study of the Effects of Historical Block Context on Soundscape Perception

This study aims to explore the influence of spatial functional differences on the overall relationship between soundscape and visual landscape in the context of historical blocks and then propose design guidelines for audiovisual elements. Audiovisual stimulus materials were collected from 11 representative locations in typical urban historical blocks along the southeast coast of China and classified into residential, cultural leisure, and commercial spaces based on their primary function, activity, and visual environment characteristics. An evaluation environment was created in the laboratory using virtual reality technology, and a subjective evaluation questionnaire was administered to 71 volunteers regarding the perception of audiovisual elements and the evaluation of the overall environment. Structural equation modeling was used to elucidate the relationships between sound source perception, soundscape perception, visual landscape satisfaction, and overall harmony of the environment and to compare the effects of functional differences at different locations on the overall relationships. The results show significant differences in the types of perceived sound sources at different functional locations, which makes the sound sources affecting soundscape perception and visual landscape satisfaction different. Residential space is mainly affected by artificial sound and mechanical noise; in cultural and leisure spaces, all three types of sound sources have a significant impact, and only natural sound has enhanced subjective perception; the impact of artificial sound in commercial space is crucial. In addition, visual landscape satisfaction should be prioritized over soundscape pleasure to enhance the overall harmony of the environment. In residential and commercial spaces, reducing artificial and mechanical noise can effectively enhance the harmony of the environment; in cultural and leisure areas, reducing artificial sounds and increasing natural sounds or historical landscape elements can enhance the overall harmony of the environment. The results of this paper provide empirical evidence for understanding the overall relationship between soundscape factors in urban contexts and suggest that place function should be considered an important context when designing soundscapes.

Optimization of colored pavement considering driving behavior and psychological characteristics under dynamic low-visibility conditions related to fog—a driving simulator study

Objective Colored pavement is commonly used to reduce the road traffic risk and promote road traffic safety, but its performance in foggy environments has not been fully assessed. The goal of this research is to explore the effectiveness and optimization of colored pavement in a dynamic low-visibility environment. Methods A driving simulation experiment is conducted. Three road risk sections in which collisions are common, including a long straight section, a sharp bend section, and a long downslope section, are considered, and three forms of colored pavement are used in five different visibility environments. The effectiveness of the colored pavement is explored by collecting and analyzing driving behavior and physiological characteristic data for 30 drivers in the established driving environment, and information is obtained through a subjective colored evaluation questionnaire. Eight evaluation indexes are selected from the perspectives of driving behavior and physiological characteristics, and the gray premium evaluation method is applied to evaluate the effectiveness of different forms of colored pavement considering the influence of visibility. Finally, the optimal colored pavement under various visibility and road alignment conditions is proposed. Results The results show that reasonably selecting colored pavement can effectively improve drivers’ behaviors and physiological characteristics under foggy conditions. For different road alignments and visibility conditions, different forms of colored pavement should be used to ensure road traffic safety. Conclusions The findings provide a theoretical reference for the optimization of colored pavement in foggy conditions.

Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire: a preliminary evaluation questionnaire for the lower limb industrial exoskeletons

Exoskeleton robots are a promising solution to reduce musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in different work environments, but a specific usability scale for evaluating them is lacking. This study aimed to develop and verify a preliminary Exoskeleton Usability Questionnaire (EUQ) for the lower limb exoskeletons by creating a draft survey questionnaire from existing questions in prior studies. An experiment was conducted with 20 participants who performed a specific task while wearing three lower limb robots and provided subjective feedback using the developed questionnaire. Data were analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), resulting in a usability evaluation questionnaire for exoskeleton robots clustered into four main factors: mobility, adjustability, handling and safety. This study’s findings are expected to be useful in evaluating the usability of the lower limb exoskeletons in both general production sites and agricultural work, which can aid in reducing the prevalence of lower limb MSDs. Practitioner Summary: This study developed a preliminary subjective usability evaluation questionnaire for exoskeleton robots. The questionnaire is clustered into four main factors: mobility, adjustability, handling and safety. These findings provide a valuable tool for assessing exoskeleton usability, potentially reducing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in various work environments.

Can AI Models Summarize Your Diary Entries? Investigating Utility of Abstractive Summarization for Autobiographical Text

Journaling is a widely adopted technique, known to improve mental health and well-being by enabling reflection on past events. Large amounts of text in digital journaling applications could hinder the reflection process due to information overload. ive summarization can solve this problem by generating short summaries to quickly glance at and reminisce. In this paper, we present an investigation of the utility of large language models in the context of autobiographical text summarization. We study two approaches to adapt a self-supervised learning (SSL) model to the domain of autobiographical text. One model employs transfer learning using our new autobiographical text summary dataset to fine-tune the SSL model. The second model leverages existing news datasets for high-quality text summarization mixed with our autobiographical summary dataset. We conducted mixed methods research to analyze the performance of these two models. Through objective evaluation using ROUGE and BART scores, we find that both these approaches perform significantly better than the SSL model fine-tuned with only high-quality news datasets, showing the importance of domain adaptation and autobiographical text summary dataset for this task. Secondly, through a subjective evaluation on a crowd-sourcing platform, we evaluated the summaries generated from these models on various quality criteria such as grammar, non-redundancy, structure, and coherence. We found that on all criteria, these summaries score >4 out of 5, and the two models show comparable results. We deployed a proof-of-concept web-based journaling application to assess the practical real-world implications of incorporating abstractive summarization in a digital journaling context. We found that the participants showed a high consensus that the summaries generated by the system captured the main idea of their journal entry (80% of the 75 participants gave a Likert scale rating of out of 7.0, with the overall mean rating of 5.56 ± 1.32) while being factually correct, and they found it to be a useful feature of a journaling application. Finally, we conducted human evaluation studies to compare the quality of the summaries generated from a commercial tool ChatGPT and mixed distribution fine-tuned SSL model, and present insights into these systems in the context of autobiographical abstractive text summarization. We have made our model, dataset, and subjective evaluation questionnaire openly available to the research community.

Stress at work on drilling rigs in Poland in a 20-year research perspective: time as a determinant of the stress-at-work dynamics.

Adapting to stress over time is a process involving various cognitive and emotional assessments; it also depends on the objective situation related to working conditions, as well as on individual factors. The aim of this paper is to outline the dynamic nature of stress experienced by workers employed on oil rigs over a period of 20 years. The presented research is part of a larger project and concerns subjective stress. Longitudinal studies included the analysis of data regarding the period of 1993-2014. They concerned 167 Polish oil rig workers, all men; the average age at the beginning of the study was 29 years. Each employee was surveyed at least 4 times over a period of 20 years at intervals of 4-6 years in the workplace. The subjective level of stress at work (based on the Subjective Job Evaluation Questionnaire) and the level of declared stress (based on the Stress Survey) were examined. Oil rig workers show different adaptations to stress over a long term, depending on their subjective perception of stress. Baseline stress levels can vary from person to person over the years. The first group was characterized by high initial stress, but the stress decreased systematically over 20 years ("stress resisting"). Employees from the second group were characterized by low initial stress, but declared a systematic increase in stress in the same period ("stress sensitizing"). Finally, employees from the third group adapted to stress in a flexible way, with subjective stress being most strongly associated with objective stress ("flexible group"). The presented prospective study showed differences between the subjective levels of stress depending on the distinguished groups over 20 years, i.e., between-group and intra-group variability. The method of prospective research shows that the perception of stress at work is a dynamic process and it changes over time. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(4):477-92.

Effects of visual cue state and type on the mobile user interface of shopping apps with 360° panoramas

With the development of modern technology, various shopping apps have emerged, and at the same time, the user interface of shopping apps is constantly being optimized to enhance users’ online shopping experience; in shopping apps, an excellent visual cue design can effectively guide users to quickly complete the process of their visual cognitive processing. The purpose of this study was to explore the usability of visual cue and presentation type in the operation of shopping apps in 360° images and to propose design suggestions for future improvements. A 2 × 3 between-subject design was planned to help explore whether different visual cue states (i.e., dynamic and static cues) and different visual cue presentation types (i.e., dot cue, gesture cue, and cartoon cue) may affect users' task performance and their subjective evaluations. The experiment adopted the purposive sampling method. A total of 60 participants were recruited to take part in the experiment. The experimental data were collected pertinent to task completion time, the system usability scale (SUS), subjective evaluation questionnaires created using a 7-point Likert scale, and semi-structured interviews. The generated results revealed that: (1) Different visual cue states may affect users' performance. (2) Different visual cue presentation types significantly affect users' task performance. Static cues improved users' task performance more than dynamic cues in the visual cue presentation type of dot or cartoon. However, the result was the opposite in the gesture condition. (3) Concerning subjective evaluations of the degree of reasonableness, acceptance, and willingness to use in the condition of the visual cue presentation, the dot or gesture cues are significantly better than the cartoon cue. (4) Among the different visual cue presentation types, participants had a greater preference for the gesture cue. (5) In terms of the degree of reasonableness, acceptance, preference and willingness to use, participants preferred the dynamic cue to the static cue in the condition of the visual cue presentation type of the dot or gesture. However, the opposite result was obtained for the cartoon visual cue presentation type. The findings generated from the research can be a good reference for the development of visual cue design for mobile shopping apps.

Influence of Air Velocity on Thermal Comfort and Performance of Students in Naturally Ventilated Classrooms in Tropical Climate

Air velocity is among the most important factors influencing thermal comfort in naturally ventilated spaces in hot and humid tropical climates. It is important to have air velocity that suits comfort needs and enhances the student's learning performance in the classroom, especially in schools that rely only on natural ventilation assisted by ceiling fans. In this study, the thermal comfort and learning performance of students in a selected naturally ventilated classroom at a secondary school in Segamat, Johor, Malaysia, were experimentally evaluated under different air velocity conditions during the peak temperature period during the school session. Throughout the experiment, physical measurement and a subjective evaluation questionnaire were conducted for thermal comfort analysis and to gather the student’s thermal environment evaluation in the classroom. Students’ learning performance was assessed through simple reaction and digit span tests based on the WHO Neurobehavioral Core Test Battery (NCTB). All the assessment results were statistically analyzed, and the relationships among indoor air velocity, thermal comfort, and learning performance were obtained. The result showed optimal learning performance was significant when students felt “slightly cool” and air velocity was more than 0.95 m/s. Hotter environments and a lack of air movement were found to be causes of declining student performance. In conclusion, it is suggested that the comfort zone in a naturally ventilated classroom for school students should be set within the range of -1 (slightly cool) with an air velocity greater than 0.76 m/s.

Professional Chronic Stress – Clinical, Physiological and Biological Evaluation

Introduction: Since stress is an element increasingly present in our professional lives, there is now a greater interest in understanding the role of stress and the response to stress in human brain aging. Materials and methods: The case of 38 years old woman is reported, who works in the financial field (bank) and has a declarative high level of professional stress. Clinical, functional, and biological evaluations of chronic stress were made, to identify and subjectively evaluate stressors, as well as for objective quantification of their impact on the body and evaluation of the effect of specialized interventions aiming to improve the quality of personal life and increase professional efficiency. Discussion and Conclusions: Subjective evaluation questionnaires as well as objective measurements of biological and physiological parameters can be considered useful tools for evaluating chronic stress, especially when used together. Early identification of occupational stressors, clinical and biological knowledge of stress as well as the development of preventive and personalized measures, may define a future approach in the context of preventing stress-induced pathologies, like depression and anxiety, but also neurocognitive disorders (from mild cognitive impairment to early Alzheimer’s disease).

Effects of Different Emotional Music on Driving Fatigue and Arousal Experiment

With the rapid growth of the number of motor vehicles, road traffic accidents are becoming more and more serious. Fatigue driving has become one of the main causes of traffic accidents. It is particularly critical to find effective solutions to fatigue driving. At present, the academic community believes that the phenomenon of fatigue driving can be controlled by means of prevention and intervention. In terms of intervention countermeasures, using sound stimulation as a wake-up method has the advantages of easy implementation and significant effect, which has become the research focus in the driving fatigue mitigation scheme. Through the establishment of a simulation driving platform, driving fatigue detection system and driving fatigue wake-up system in the laboratory, the experimental research is carried out to study the fatigue generation of drivers in different emotional types of music environment and the effectiveness of wake-up countermeasures. Three sound environments were constructed in the experiment, which were driving noise environment, positive emotional music mixed with driving noise environment and negative emotional music mixed with driving noise environment. The subjects were tested in three sound environments in turn. When entering fatigue, they were given no stimulation, positive emotional music stimulation or negative emotional music stimulation according to the experimental design. The experimental results were obtained after considering the subjective evaluation questionnaire and the experimental data analysis based on pupil diameter variation coefficient, average blink rate and other indicators. The experimental results show that when driving for a long time, the driver will enter the fatigue state regardless of whether the driving background has different emotional music. The driver's fatigue depth in the positive emotional music environment is shallower than that in the negative emotional music environment and the music-free environment; there is no significant difference in the degree of fatigue between the driver 's fatigue in the negative emotional music environment and the fatigue in the absence of music environment. In the comparison of music arousal stimuli with different emotions, the introduction of positive emotional music as arousal stimulus has the best effect.

Life satisfaction and emotional distress in people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus: The mediating effect of cognitive function

To explore the relationships among emotional distress, cognitive function, and life satisfaction in people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and to verify the mediating role of cognitive function. People with T2DM face cognitive decline caused by age and disease complications. Emotional distress will reduce their life satisfaction, and cognitive function will also affect the life satisfaction, but whether cognitive function mediates the effect of emotional distress on life satisfaction has not been verified. A cross-sectional study. A total of 200 people living with T2DM in the community by convenience sampling were enrolled from November - December 2018. Data collection involved a demographic and disease characteristics questionnaire, Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale, Subjective and Objective Cognitive Function Evaluation, and Life Satisfaction Questionnaire. Data analysis included descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. This report followed the STROBE guideline. The emotional distress and subjective memory complaints of cognitive function had a significant positive correlation, while both emotional distress and cognitive function showed significant negative correlations with life satisfaction. In addition, cognitive function completely mediated the relationship between emotional distress and life satisfaction. The cognitive function played a mediating role in life satisfaction and explain how emotional distress affects life satisfaction of people with T2DM. Therefore, it is suggested that diabetes nurses should early identify the decline of cognitive function, and to intervene at early stage. This study provides opinions on the mediating factors of cognitive function. Coping strategies and supporting resources to help the T2DM people to improve their life satisfaction is suggested.

Global assessment of pollicization outcomes: an analysis in 27 patients

Outcomes measurements after pollicization remains difficult due to the lack of a standardized assessment protocol. This study reports our experience of a global assessment of pollicized thumbs that includes a specific questionnaire for subjective evaluation, a detailed clinical assessment focused on functional outcomes incorporating function and usage of the pollicized thumb. Twenty-seven patients completed the questionnaire, and nine hands were clinically evaluated by a multidisciplinary team composed of hand surgeons and occupational therapists. Subjective evaluations revealed that 24 patients would recommend pollicization. Clinical evaluations revealed that only four out of nine patients properly integrated their pollicized thumb during bimanual activities; however, occupational therapy input allowed the children to compensate for the lack of strength and other difficulties. We propose the use of this global assessment package to analyse function and usage at various capacities, which can be useful for the surgeon, child and parents.Level of evidence: IV.

Correlation between muscle strength and the degrees of functionality and kinesiophobia reported by patients with chronic hip pain

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to identify the association between hip muscle strength and the scores from subjective functional and psychological evaluation questionnaires in patients with chronic hip pain. METHODS: Fifty-fivepatients with painful hip injuries (30 males) performed isometric peak strength tests of the abductors, extensors, and internal and external rotators of the hips with a hand-held dynamometer. The degree of functionality was measured by the Hip Outcome Score (HOS) and Lower Extremity Functional Score (LEFS), pain was estimated by the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and kinesiophobia was calculated using the Tampa questionnaire. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used (alfa=5%) to test the associations between the muscle strength and the scores from the questionnaires. RESULTS: There were significant correlations between the strength of all four hip muscles and the HOS (r>0.29). Only the hip external rotators showed a significant correlation with pain (r=-0.30). No significant correlations were found for LEFS (r<0.24) and Tampa questionnaires (r¬0.15). CONCLUSION: The reduction in peak strength of the hip extensors, abductors and external rotators was associated with a reduction in the level of hip functionality but did not correlate with neither the level of overall functionality of the lower limbs nor the degree of kinesiophobia. Also, a reduction of hip external rotators strength was related to an increase in the intensity of pain.

Subjective Evaluation of Towel Quality Perception According to the Experts' and Non-Experts’ Viewpoint

In this study, subjective evaluation of towel samples with distinctive fiber contents was inspected. The subjective evaluation questionnaire was performed both by experts with professional experience in the towel sector and by non-experts in this sector. The evaluation was conducted by 30 experts (18 males and 12 females) and 30 non-experts (17 males and 13 females). The experts and non-experts were asked this question: “Could you state parameters that define towel quality with the exception of color and pattern?”. Each expert and non-expert had to mention at least 3 parameters. During the evaluation phase, they could visually experienced the color of all towel samples and the information were given about the features like fiber content, yarn count, grammage etc. By touching all samples, towel quality perceptions of the parameters specified for each sample were evaluated subjectively by experts’ and non-experts’ viewpoint.

The Effect of Subjective Perception of Work in Relation to Occupational and Demographic Factors on the Mental Health of Polish Nurses.

Introduction: Nursing is considered one of the most stressful professions in the world. The high emotional burden associated with excessive workload in qualitative and quantitative terms, exposure to existing and emerging infectious diseases, daily confrontation with the suffering of individuals and their families and low social support leads to the development of numerous stress reactions among nurses, resulting in the development of anxiety, insomnia, social dysfunction and depression. Indeed, somatic and mental stress-related disease rates are higher among nurses than in the general population.Aim: To determine the impact of subjective work characteristics on the mental health of nurses in relation to demographic and occupational factors.Material and method: The research was carried out among 558 nurses working in hospitals in Podlaskie Voivodeship, and used the Subjective Work Evaluation Questionnaire (SWEQ) and Goldberg's GHQ-28 Questionnaire.Results: As measured by SWEQ, and as self-assessed by means of the GHQ-28 questionnaire, overall stress negatively affects the nurses' health (R2 = 18.7%). Among the partial measures of the SWEQ questionnaire, work overload had strong and the lack of rewards, social relations and lack of support had weak negative effect on the overall mental health assessment of nurses (R2 = 19.2%). The responsibility measure was an exception that had a positive impact on the nurses' well-being. Among occupational and demographic factors, only higher education in relation to secondary education in interactions with the overall stress measure and unpleasant work conditions had a positive effect on the overall mental health self-assessment of nurses (R2 = 20.7%).Conclusions: The results of our study provide a clear message to the hospital management that improving the work organization and atmosphere of nurses by reducing perceived work overload and increasing the responsibility of nurses can have a positive impact on their mental health. Encouraging nurses to improve their education can result not only in an obvious improvement in staff qualifications, but also in better resistance to stressors in the workplace and, consequently, in better staff well-being. Both measures can have a positive impact on the quality of care provided by nurses and on reducing staff turnover.

Assessment of oral health-related quality of life and periodontal state in patients with end-stage renal disease: a comparison study using propensity score-matched analysis.

The purpose of this study was to examine the periodontal state and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and the effect of ESRD on OHRQoL by comparison with age- and sex-matched systemic healthy controls with similar periodontal status levels. Fifty patients with ESRD and 150 healthy individuals without ESRD were recruited. Medical characteristics were recorded for the test group and periodontal examination was performed in both groups. A structured Korean version of the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14K) questionnaire for subjective evaluation of OHRQoL was administered. To evaluate the effect of ESRD on OHRQoL, 50 healthy controls who had been matched for age, sex, and periodontal status were selected and compared with ESRD patients by using propensity score-matched analysis. ESRD patients had significantly higher mean score of Community Periodontal Index and mean numbers of missing teeth compared with the controls (P < 0.05). Mean OHIP-14K total score and mean scores of all subdomains were significantly higher in the test group than in the controls (P < 0.05). Even after matching analysis, mean OHIP-14K total score and mean scores of subdomains were significantly higher in the test group than in the control group (P < 0.05), except in one subdomain (physical pain). Within the limitations of this investigation, the present study showed worse periodontal state and lower level of OHRQoL in ESRD patients compared with those in healthy subjects. Through comparison with matched healthy controls, ESRD was found to have a negative effect on OHRQoL.

Stress at intellectual work and cardiovascular diseases in women at non-mobility working age.

Stress at the work place reduces efficiency, as well as increasing accidents and absences, which may cause various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. The aim of the study is an analysis of the prevalence and causes of stress in intellectual work, and its correlation with the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases in women at non-mobility working age. The study was conducted in 2016-2017 in a group of 300 women aged 45-60 in non-manual employment. A questionnaire for subjective job evaluation was used. Logistic regression models for the occurrence of CVDs versus frequency of occurrence of individual causes of work stress among the respondents were estimated. Women at non-mobility working age with non-manual employment are especially exposed to stress, half of them experience high level of stress at work, most often caused by social contacts and lack of rewards and support. Cardiovascular diseases were found in 26.5% of the women studied who were also significantly higher exposed to the occurrence of health hazards due to exposure to harmful factors, or due to an accident at work, changes in the workplace, the need to compete with others,and the need to perform the task despite the lack of appropriate material resources, compared with women without such diseases. The study revealed a high prevalence of occupational stress in non-manual employment, indicated its main causes that correlated with the alence of cardiovascular diseases. Actions are needed to reduce the level of stress in the work of women at non-mobility working age, to maintain their work ability and quality of life.

Association between Subjective Evaluation of Skin Toxicities and Quality of Life in Patients with Lung Cancer Undergoing Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor-Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Treatment: A Pilot Study for Developing Skin Toxicity Assessment

Purposes: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) exert satisfactory therapeutic effects in lung cancer patients. However, the resultant skin toxicity can deteriorate patients’ quality of life (QoL). Differences exist in skin toxicity evaluation between patients and clinicians. We aimed to clarify the association between the subjective evaluation of skin toxicities and QoL in lung cancer patients and to establish a document of scale development in the subjective evaluation of skin toxicity. Methods: We used self-administered questionnaires to evaluate 12 lung cancer patients receiving EGFR-TKI treatment. Indices of QoL were generated using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Lung and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and a subjective evaluation questionnaire concerning skin toxicity was completed. The data were collected immediately before treatment initiation and at 4 weeks post treatment. Results: In the subjective evaluation of skin toxicity, four patients (33.3%) were classified as ≥Grade 2 (painful group), experiencing painful pruritus at the emergence site of the skin rash or xerosis. In this group, the QoL scores of physical and emotional aspects declined after treatment. Conversely, patients in the painless group (Grade 0 - 1) demonstrated an improved emotional QoL following treatment (p = 0.028). Conclusions: Lung cancer patients suffering from painful skin toxicity tended to show a decline in the physical and emotional aspects of QoL following EGFR-TKI treatment. The skin toxicity questionnaire was useful from the point of view of a subjective evaluation and could be a powerful assessment tool in future clinical settings with further modification.

Septoplasty: is it possible to identify potential "predictors" of surgical success?

SUMMARYSeptoplasty is one of the most frequent surgical procedures performed by otolaryngologists. Despite successful surgical correction, many patients are not satisfied with their outcomes. So far, in clinical practice there is no consensus of opinion about the reliability of objective measurements of nasal patency and the correlation between objective measurements and subjective nasal patency symptoms. This study aims to assess the reasons for patient dissatisfaction after septoplasty and optimise pre-operative diagnostic management to predict surgical outcomes. We analysed 494 patients undergoing septoplasties with turbinoplasty by subjective Nasal Obstruction Symptom Evaluation questionnaire (NOSE) and objective active anterior rhinomanometric measurements before surgery and after 6 months. In our series, 17% had postoperative septal re-displacement; all patients had an anterior deviations at baseline. We found that the type of septal deviation, anterior vs posterior, was a significant predictor of postoperative functional improvement, whereas demographic characteristics as age, gender and smoke habit were not. Our data suggest that the anterior segment of the nasal septum was the most critical area for nasal airway resistance and more difficult to manage because it is likely to re-displace vs the posterior one and for this reason it represents a negative predictor of postoperative satisfaction.

Important factors of self-efficacy and its relationship with life satisfaction and self-esteem – with reference to gen y and gen z individuals

Internet applications, social media and sedentary lifestyle followed by individuals put a lot of stress on Gen Y and Gen Z individuals. This study seeks to find out what these individuals think they are capable of which is an individual’s self-efficacy, with respect to gender, age and educational qualification, using subjective evaluation questionnaire which would enable the respondents to evaluate the questions posed and respond according to their perception. This study was done on students who about to become a part of the workforce in the near future. The study was aimed at finding meaningful relationships between students’ overall quality of life and self-esteem with self-efficacy and it was found to be positive. The other factors-age, gender and educational qualification that were considered in the study failed to show considerable significance with self-efficacy, as self-efficacy was found to have negligible variation with respect to those factors.

Experimental investigation of the effect of indoor air temperature on students' learning performance under the summer conditions in China

The thermal environment of a classroom has a crucial impact on the learning performance and thermal perceptions of students. In this research, a controlled environment was established to study the effect of indoor environment on students' learning performance in summer. The keystone of this research was to study the effect of indoor air temperature on students' thermal perception and learning performance. For this study, students were recruited to participate in the experiments under various air temperature conditions. A subjective evaluation questionnaire that contained thermal sensation votes, thermal satisfaction votes, and other environmental quality satisfaction votes was distributed to ascertain the thermal comfort of the participants and gather their evaluations of the indoor environment quality. In addition, participant learning performance was quantitatively tested via tasks, involving perception, attention, learning–memory, and thinking. At the same time, the body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate of participants were measured before and after the learning performance tests. All of the above test results were analyzed, and the relationships among thermal comfort, learning performance, and thermal environment were obtained. The results showed that within the experimental temperature range, optimal performance was obtained when participants felt “slightly warm.” An environment of cold discomfort was more harmful to learning performance than an environment of warm discomfort. As thermal satisfaction votes increased, learning performance improved. Finally, the conclusions of this experiment provide some data support for the thermal environment design of classrooms used during the summer.