Television Research Articles

A qualitative approach to unravel young children’s advertising literacy for YouTube advertising: in-depth interviews with children and their parents

PurposeThis study aims to examine young children’s (ages 4 to 7) knowledge and skills (i.e. their advertising literacy) for television (TV) commercials, YouTube pre-roll ads and influencer marketing. Furthermore, this study explores how parental perceptions and practices and children’s social abilities influence the development of their advertising literacy.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with parents (N = 35) and their child(ren) (ages 4 to 7, N = 40).FindingsResults revealed preschool children have advertising literacy skills for TV commercials and YouTube pre-roll ads, but not for influencer marketing. These skills are limited to advertising recognition based on perceptual cues and a simple understanding of selling intent. Children’s advertising skills evolved according to age but did not relate to social development. Furthermore, advertising literacy was related to parental media mediation: the more restrictive parents were regarding media use, the less advertising literacy their children appeared to have. No moral reflections regarding advertising were found among the preschool children.Originality/valueThis study fills significant gaps in the literature on young children and advertising. It conducts a qualitative investigation into young children’s knowledge of digital advertising formats (pre-roll ads and influencer marketing) and how they differ from traditional advertising (TV commercials). Furthermore, it takes both parental influences and social developmental variables into account.

HR specialists in the spotlight: aggregating popular culture representations to highlight the underlying occupational image

PurposeThis study adopts the popular culture lens to investigate the collective understanding behind the human resources (HR) occupations.Design/methodology/approachThe empirical study analyzes 129 characters from 87 movies, television (TV) series, books and comics. The measurement model was tested using structural equation modeling and cluster analysis identified five HR representations in the popular culture.FindingsPopular culture reflects five HR representations: The Executor, the Hero, the Buddy, the Bore, and the Good-time person. Results suggest that public opinion pays scarce attention to the so-called HR “strategic position” while underlining the need for a more socially responsible HR approach.Originality/valueThe authors' study serves as a means for integrating past research on HR role and reputation, occupational image, self-identity and popular media. While most scholars have addressed popular culture as a single case and paid almost no attention to the HR domain, this article complements the literature by offering a fruitful way to distil HR summative popular culture representations, thus advocating for both a theoretical and a methodological contribution.

The Relationship between Long Use of Communication Devices that Emit Blue Light with Sleep Quality

Nowadays communication device usage has already reached an unprecedented level. Based on data provided by Central Statistics Agency (BPS), by 2018, at least 62% of Indonesian had a cellphone or a smartphone, and 20% had a computer. Besides smartphones and computers, many Indonesians choose television (TV) as their entertainment device, as proven by 57% of Indonesian households having a TV, although the number has been reduced in the past decade. Based on research conducted by Zickuhr, in 2011, average adults in the United States spent 7-10 hours using their communication device per day, with the most usage in the young adult population (18-35 years) and decreasing as the age increased. The recent development of computer-based communication devices increased our chances of spending much time staring at the blue light emitting screen. Research about the blue light emission effect has become a significant concern, especially in the last five years. It is due to its effect on sleep quality and eyes well-being. This research is an analytic descriptive, non-experiment cross-sectional study. The research uses a prospective and retrospective approach due to the type of data is primary data collected using a questionnaire distributed through social media. Based on Slovin's formula, the sample needed for this study is 133 respondents. This study showed a significant correlation between the usage of blue light-emitting communication devices, sleep quality (P = 0.000), and a moderate relation (r = 0.425) with the positive pattern.
 Keywords: Communication device usage, blue light, sleeps quality

Patterns of alcohol and alcohol-flavoured non-alcoholic beverage advertisements over Japanese free-to-air television networks

BackgroundAlcohol use is a serious public health challenge worldwide. Japan has no government regulations or legal penalties against advertising alcoholic beverages on television (TV). Instead, advertisements depend on the Japanese alcohol industry’s self-regulation on airtime (no advertisements from 5 am to 6 pm) and the content of alcoholic beverages, which must not tempt minors. However, many adolescents (10 to 19 years old) watch TV from 6 pm to 11 pm. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern in the advertising of alcoholic beverages and alcohol-flavoured non-alcoholic beverages (AFNAB) in Japan during the popular TV viewing time for adolescents.MethodsA secondary analysis of advertising airtime data from five free-to-air Japanese TV networks in the Greater Tokyo area that aired between 12 August and 3 November 2019, was performed.ResultsDuring the study period, 5215 advertisements for alcoholic beverages and AFNABs aired (1451.75 min). In total, 2303 advertisements (44.2%) were beer, low-malt beer, or beer-taste beverages, 277 (5.3%) were whisky, 2334 (44.8%) were local alcoholic beverages (shochu and seishu), and 301 (5.8%) were AFNAB. On average, more advertisements aired on weekends (67.6 advertisements) than on weekdays (59.3 advertisements) per day. Approximately 30% of advertisements for AFNABs were aired during the time restricted for alcohol advertising, although AFNABs are considered alcohol according to industry guidelines. During the popular television viewing time for young adolescents, about two to three times more advertisements were aired per hour than during the rest of the day, on both weekdays and weekends (p < 0.001).ConclusionThe number of alcohol advertisements aired at times when adolescents often watch TV is 2 to 3.2 times higher than that at other times of the day. Furthermore, despite the industry’s self-imposed regulations, some alcoholic beverages are still advertised. Therefore, other methods to protect children and adolescents from exposure to advertisements for alcoholic beverages should be investigated and implemented.

Complexity reduction of ordinary kriging algorithm for 3D REM design

This work has investigated the feasibility of using cluster ordinary kriging (OK) interpolation to speed up indoor three-dimensional (3D) radio environment map (REM) generation time than the conventional OK-based REM generation time in two-dimensional (2D) and 3D ways mainly. The REM has been generated on the real-time received signal strength (RSS) dataset of an ultra-high frequency active television (TV) channel to explore TV grey space (TVGS) volume for cognitive access inside a six-storied office building. It can support future home networks for high-speed data-based applications. The optimal number of clusters has been found at K=4 on both 3D and 2D ways through distortion % deviation analysis. The maximum distortion % deviation = 88.74%, has been found at K=4. The exponential semivariogram model has been selected as the best-fit model after a thorough cross-validated comparative analysis of the clustered and non-clustered OK algorithms separately on residual squared error (RSE), root mean square error (RMSE) and the ratio of expected variance (EV) and kriging variance (KV) results. The RSE and RMSE are minimum, and the EV: KV ratio is in between 0.95 to 1.05 for the exponential model. Significant observation of the analysis of the results shows that cluster OK algorithms outperform conventional OK algorithms of corresponding domains on time complexity. A comparative study on RMSE, correlation coefficient (CC), and relative recovery error (RRE) show that cluster OK improves the accuracy. Cluster 2D and 3D OK-based detected TVGS volume is 13450 m3, 5.634% of the whole building volume.

Evaluation of Jordan's citizens' awareness of the emerging Coronavirus (COVID-19) disease: A mixed analysis of the symptoms, transmission, and preventive measures.

This study aimed to evaluate Jordan citizens' awareness, knowledge, and practice concerning Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) symptoms, routes of transmission, and preventive measures. An online self-administered questionnaire was filled out completely by participants (N = 328) from mainly four major cities in Jordan during the period beginning of May-end of September 2020. Participants' main sources of knowledge about COVID-19 were the government websites (87.8%), social media (87.5%), and Television (TV) (81.1%). The majority of participants valued the drizzle of cough from infected individuals (96.3%), direct contact with contaminated surfaces (91.5%), and direct contact with infected individuals (84.5%) as the highest rates of the route of transmission. The highest rates chosen as symptoms of COVID-19 viral infections were high-grade fever (99.1%), troublesome breathing (96.6%), coughing (92.7%), headache (91.2%), and loss of smell and taste (80.8%). The majority of participants (>92%) strongly agreed on the behavioral protective measures such as no face touching, wearing a mask, the use of alcoholic hand disinfectants, and the need for self-isolation. This study showed that the Jordanian citizens were aware of the epidemiology of COVID-19 and related infection preventive measures. This agrees well with the efforts done by the Ministry of health and governmental organizations to spread the necessary information about the virus among citizens.

Liquid crystal research at Tsinghua University in the 1970s and 1980s

Liquid crystal (LC) research in China started during the Cultural Revolution years in the late 1960s. It was motivated partly by the potential application in liquid-crystal display (LCD) digital television (TV) and movies, deemed good for the government’s political propaganda agenda. The large-screen LCD TV/ movie project was initiated and done at the Tsinghua University, Beijing, which became successful in 1976 with prototypes built. Although it never reached the commercial stage, the research achievement was world-leading then. Here, the history of this project and other LC research at the Tsinghua University in the 1970s and 1980s are described for the first time, with appropriate historical backgrounds provided. Tsinghua’s significant contributions in basic LC research and a description of the founding and workings of the Chinese Liquid Crystal Society are also included. Finally, lessons drawn from this piece of science history are presented.

Using television series to teach comparative and European politics

Despite increasing access to high quality television (TV) series in the golden age of television, political scientists (and especially scholars of comparative politics) have not systematically considered the possibilities that television series might offer for instruction. This article aims to fill this gap by illustrating the opportunities for teaching political science using TV series and outlining ways of integrating television series into the classroom using selected clips, screening full episodes, or using an entire series as a text. We then illustrate these methods by discussing ways that television series might be used in a typical introductory course on European politics.

Real-Time 2D-to-3D Conversion for Television Broadcasting Based on Embedded System

In this article, we present an efficient 3-D display technique that employs current 2-D television (TV) channels. First, a gradient background depth is generated for the still region. To create a stereo effect, multiple objects are detected and segmented using the binary format. Object depth is estimated according to the object size and its location. Depth value is assigned as a proportion of the object size using the linear quantitative method. Each object size is calculated and its depth value is proportional to the size parameter. If an object is the largest one and is located in the central region, the maximum depth value is assigned. For real-time implementation, dual advanced RISC machine (ARM) cores perform the task using the algorithm of the proposed stereo conversion. Our results show that a low-cost embedded system can perform the proposed 3-D algorithm, with a processing time of 43 ms per frame. The signal from a TV channel can be sampled and converted to a 3-D format display on a conventional LCD screen.

Influence of loading sequence on wind induced fatigue assessment of bolts in TV-tower connection block

Bolted connections are widely employed in structures like transmission poles, wind turbines, and television (TV) towers. The behaviour of bolted connections is often complex and plays a significant role in the overall dynamic characteristics of the structure. The goal of this work is to conduct a fatigue lifecycle assessment of such a bolted connection block of a 193 m tall TV tower, for which 205 days of real measurement data have been obtained from the installed monitoring devices. Based on the recorded data, the best-fit stochastic wind distribution for 50 years, the decisive wind action, and the locations to carry out the fatigue analysis have been decided. A 3D beam model of the entire tower is developed to extract the nodal forces corresponding to the connection block location under various mean wind speeds, which is later coupled with a detailed complex finite element model of the connection block, with over three million degrees of freedom, for acquiring stress histories on some pre-selected bolts. The random stress histories are analysed using the rainflow counting algorithm (RCA) and the damage is estimated using Palmgren-Miner's damage accumulation law. A modification is proposed to integrate the loading sequence effect into the RCA, which otherwise is ignored, and the differences between the two RCAs are investigated in terms of the accumulated damage.

Leisure-time sedentary behaviors are differentially associated with all-cause dementia regardless of engagement in physical activity

Sedentary behavior (SB) is associated with cardiometabolic disease and mortality, but its association with dementia is currently unclear. This study investigates whether SB is associated with incident dementia regardless of engagement in physical activity (PA). A total of 146,651 participants from the UK Biobank who were 60 years or older and did not have a diagnosis of dementia (mean [SD] age: 64.59 [2.84] years) were included. Self-reported leisure-time SBs were divided into two domains: time spent watching television (TV) or time spent using a computer. A total of 3,507 individuals were diagnosed with all-cause dementia over a mean follow-up of 11.87 (±1.17) years. In models adjusted for a wide range of covariates, including time spent in PA, time spent watching TV was associated with increased risk of incident dementia (HR [95% CI] = 1.24 [1.15 to 1.32]) and time spent using a computer was associated with decreased risk of incident dementia (HR [95% CI] = 0.85 [0.81 to 0.90]). In joint associations with PA, TV time and computer time remained significantly associated with dementia risk at all PA levels. Reducing time spent in cognitively passive SB (i.e., TV time) and increasing time spent in cognitively active SB (i.e., computer time) may be effective behavioral modification targets for reducing risk of dementia regardless of engagement in PA.

Sleep time, tv/video games and snack consumption in preschool children – a cross-sectional study

This study aims to evaluate the sedentary behavior, caloric content of snacks and sleep time of preschool children in two different regions of Portugal (Bragança and Gondomar). Participated in this study 230 healthy preschoolers (103 girls; 127 boys), of which 176 (76.5%) were from Bragança (mean age of 4.5±0.7 years) and 54 (23.5%) were from Gondomar (mean age of 4.3±1.0 years). A questionnaire about sedentary behavior, sleep time and caloric content of snacks (morning and afternoon) were answer by parents of this preschool children. The principal results of our study indicated that the preschool children slept an average of 9.9 ± 0.9 hours, spent time 1.5 ± 0.8 hours in front of television (TV) during the week, and 2.5 ± 1.5 hours during weekend. Regarding the time spent playing video games, they did 0.6 ± 0.6 hours during the week and 0.9 ± 0.9 hours during the weekend. The children morning snack had an average of 232.7 ± 100.8 kcal and the afternoon snack had an average of 350.4 ± 122.4 kcal. According to the WHO guidelines, the results of this study revealed that preschool children spent less hours sleeping, had more caloric content in the morning and afternoon snacks and spent more time in sedentary behaviors, of what is in the recommendations. These results also suggest that the children’s slept time is affected by the time they spent watching TV and playing video games.

Positive and Negative Themes Depicted in Television Shows Targeted Toward Adolescents.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has previously expressed concerns about the thematic content of television (TV) and the amount of time children spend viewing TV. The objective of this study was to determine the positive and negative themes depicted in a select number of TV shows targeted toward adolescents. We analyzed the thematic content depicted in the first season of 26 Netflix TV shows. The mean occurrences/h for positive and negative themes were 39.53 and 47.20, respectively. The most common positive themes were "encouragement from a friend/peer," "demonstrating honesty," and "staying true to oneself" (5.98, 5.38, and 3.72 mean occurrences/h, respectively). The most common negative themes were "dishonesty," "cursing," and "selfishness," (5.30, 4.96, and 4.85 mean occurrences/h, respectively). We suggest that health care providers become aware of TV thematic content and promote media education, and we encourage co-viewing and active mediation by parents/guardians with their children.

Impact of Farmers’ Climate Risk Perception and Socio-Economic Attributes on Their Choice of ICT-Based Agricultural Information Services: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

In Pakistan, research on information and communication technologies-based agricultural information services (ICTbAIS) have gained significant attention owing to the overwhelming population of smallholder farmers (whose information needs are unable to be met by the conventional extension services) and the increasing incidence of climatic risk. This study is, therefore, conducted in the Punjab province of Pakistan (mixed cropping region) to explore farmers’ use of ICTbAIS and understand the relationship between farmers’ socio-economic attributes, risk perception, and choices of ICTbAIS. A sample of 480 farmers was drawn using a multistage sampling approach, and farmers were interviewed face-to-face. To analyze the dataset, a multivariate Probit (MVP) model was employed. The results show that Television (TV) and mobile-based advisory and mobile-based consultations appeared to be the most used ICTbAIS, followed by radio and internet-based advisory. The estimates of the MVP model showed that farmers’ age, education, farmland, tenancy status, off-farm income, and climate risk perception are significant determinants of their choices of ICTbAIS. Based on our results, we suggest policymakers and extension agencies to improve the content of ICTbAIS and make efforts for the awareness and training of farmers regarding the use of contemporary ICTs.

Towards a regulation of food advertising?

For 20 years the UK Government has recognised that food advertising plays a part in food choices and hence diets of the population, particularly for children. In 2007 the UK brought in regulations to stop the advertising of less healthy foods on television (TV) during child-specific programming. Less healthy foods were defined using the 2004/2005 nutrient profiling model (NPM) as products high in saturated fat, salt and sugar (HFSS). Evaluations showed that children were still seeing and being affected by the adverts for less healthy foods. To try to mitigate childhood obesity, in 2018, the UK Government announced its intention to consult on further restrictions on the advertising of HFSS products on TV and online. Two years later, the intention to implement a 9pm advertising ban on TV and a further consultation on restricting online advertising of HFSS products was announced. New legislative controls on the advertising of HFSS foods are expected to be brought into legislation in the UK in January 2024. In the present paper, the history of advertising restrictions in the UK and the evidence informing them is reviewed. There will also be a reflection on where further actions might be needed in due course.

Ten-Year Changes in Television Viewing and Physical Activity Are Associated With Concurrent 10-Year Change in Pericardial Adiposity: The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study.

Longitudinal association of television (TV) viewing and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) with pericardial adipose tissue (PAT) is unclear. We studied Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study participants transitioning from early to middle age at Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) exam years 15 (2000-2001; N = 1975, mean age = 40.4, 55.4% women, 45.3% Black) and 25 (2010-2011). TV viewing (in hours per day) and MVPA (in exercise units) were measured using a self-report questionnaire. PAT volume (in milliliters) was measured using computed tomography. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the associations of tertiles of 10-year change (years 25-15) in TV viewing and MVPA with a concurrent change in PAT with adjustments for covariates. Participants in the highest tertile of 10-year increase in TV viewing had a greater increase in PAT (β = 2.96mL, P < .01). Participants in both middle (β = -3.93mL, P < .01) and highest (β = -6.22mL, P < .01) tertiles of 10-year changes in MVPA had smaller mean increases in PAT over 10years when compared with the lowest tertile in fully adjusted models. Reducing or maintaining early-midlife levels of TV viewing and increasing MVPA may be associated with less PAT accumulation with age.

The extent and nature of television food and non-alcoholic beverage advertising to children during chinese New Year in Beijing, China

BackgroundExposure to food and non-alcoholic beverage advertisements (F&B ads) on television, which can affect children’s nutrition knowledge, food consumption, diet quality, and purchasing preferences, is one aspect of the obesogenic environment. This aspect has been well-studied and assessed in many countries. In China, however, only few studies have been done in earlier years and all of them were focus on regular days. This study aimed to assess the extent and nature of F&B ads on television (TV) during the public holiday directed towards children aged 4–14 years in Beijing.MethodTop 3 channels viewed by children aged 4–14 years in Beijing were selected by TV viewership data, survey, and expert consultation. Each channel was recorded for 7 days (24 h) during the public holiday of the Chinese New Year in 2019. F&B ads were coded and analyzed following the adapted food promotion module of INFORMAS protocol. Three nutrient profile models were used to classify F&B ads as healthy or unhealthy F&B ads.ResultsOf the 10,082 ads in 504-hour recorded programs, 42.9% were F&B ads. The hourly average ads and F&B ads per channel were 19.8 (SD 15.32) and 8.6 (SD 9.84), while that was higher on the national children’s channel (17.15, SD 12.25) than other channels (p < 0.05). Of F&B ads classified with the three nutrient profile models, more than 55% were unhealthy for children. The categories most frequently advertised were savory snacks, milk drinks, nonpermitted milk drinks, cakes/sweet biscuits, and beverages. Unhealthy F&B ads were more likely to use promotional characters, brand benefit claims, and health claims than permitted F&B ads (p < 0.05).ConclusionsChildren in Beijing were exposed to a high proportion of unhealthy F&B ads during the Chinese New Year holiday. Our findings support the need to assess and regulate TV F&B ads marketing for children.

Association between simultaneity of health-risk behaviours and self-rated health in Brazilian adolescents

IntroductionThis study examined the association between simultaneity of four health-risk behaviours, namely, low levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (insufficient MVPA: <420 min/week), tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and excessive television (TV)–(>2 h/d of TV viewing) and self-rated health (SRH) in Brazilian adolescents.MethodsWe used data of 100,551 adolescents from the National School Health Survey, a national cross-sectional study carried out in 2015. Association between simultaneity of health risk behaviours (i.e. the ratio between observed and expected prevalence rates) and SRH was examined using logistic regression models.ResultsThe majority of the participants were female (51.9%) and 14 years of age (50.6%), and 26% of the participants’ SRH ranged from ’average’ to ’extremely poor’. Those who engaged in the following combinations of health-risk behaviours had higher odds of worse SRH than their healthier counterparts: insufficient MVPA and tobacco use (odds ratio—OR: 2.0, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4 to 3.0); insufficient MVPA and alcohol consumption (OR: 1.6, 95%CI: 1.3 to 1.9); insufficient MVPA and >2 h/day of TV viewing (OR: 1.3, 95%CI: 1.1 to 1.6); insufficient MVPA, tobacco use and alcohol consumption (OR: 2.1, 95%CI: 1.7, to 2.7); and insufficient MVPA, alcohol consumption and >2 h/day of TV viewing (OR: 1.6, 95%CI: 1.4 to 2.0).ConclusionsInsufficient MVPA, alcohol consumption, and other health-risk behaviours were associated with worse SRH in Brazilian adolescents.

Contributory Factors for Teen Insomnia Symptoms: A Prospective Cohort Study in Sweden

ObjectivesInsufficient sleep is a public health problem that impacts the mental and physical health of children and adolescents. Complaints of insomnia are particularly pervasive among adolescents. This longitudinal study investigates factors that contribute to teen insomnia symptoms.DesignFive-year prospective follow-up study.SettingSchool-based.ParticipantsA total of 522 children (49.8% girls) aged 9.4 ± 1.3 years at baseline; 14.4 ± 0.7 years at follow-up.MeasurementsThe dependent variable of insomnia symptoms at follow-up was assessed with the Minimal Insomnia Symptom Scale-Revised. The independent variables at baseline were the perceived family financial situation, tiredness at school, problems waking up, short sleep duration, sleeping difficulties, having a bedroom Television (TV), and time spent with a TV/computer. Multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were used to examine whether the independent variables at baseline predicted insomnia symptoms at follow-up.ResultsPerceived quite bad/very bad family financial situation (OR 3.1; CI 1.4–6.7) and short sleep duration (<10 h) (OR 2.3; CI 1.0–5.3) among girls at baseline were associated with insomnia symptoms at follow-up. Having problems waking up among boys at baseline was associated with insomnia symptoms at follow-up (OR 4.9; CI 1.6–14.4).ConclusionShort sleep duration, problems waking up, and perceived bad family financial situation during childhood were linked with adolescent insomnia symptoms. The sex-based differences in these associations warrant further investigation to effectively mitigate adolescent insomnia.

Screen-based sedentary behaviours in Italian school children: the ZOOM8 study

Background: screen-based sedentary behaviours likely have a negative impact on many aspects of youth health and development. The purpose of this study was to describe the screen-based sedentary behaviours and to examine factors associated in a sample of Italian school children.&#x0D; Methods: 2129 children, aged 8-9 years, from the three main geographical areas of Italy were involved. Body weight and height were measured. Screen-based sedentary behaviours were evaluated using a parent-reported questionnaire that included items about the time spent watching television (TV) and using computer/playstation and other electronic games. Pearson’s chi-square test and logistic regression analysis were conducted to study possible associated factors.&#x0D; Results: more time was spent in screen-based sedentary activities during non-school days rather than on school days. More males than females watched television more than the recommended 2 hours a day and spent the same time using computer (PC), playstation and other electronic games. The presence of a TV in the child’s bedroom was significantly associated with geographical area, and inversely associated with mother’s education. Moreover, children with a TV in the bedroom had higher odds of being overweight/obese and watching TV more than 2 hours a day than those without a TV. According to multiple logistic regression gender, mother’s age and mother’s education were predictors of the total screen time.&#x0D; Conclusions: Italian children spent a significant amount of time in screen-based sedentary behaviours, exceeding media recommendations. In addition gender, mother’s age and mother’s education were predictors of the total screen time.