Weighing the Impacts of Airbnb in Iceland: Multivariate Perspectives

This research sought to evaluate if the sharing economy leader, Airbnb, creates impacts that residents of Iceland feel they experience. The study also aimed to discover if rural and urban inhabitants have similar perspectives on Airbnb impacts. Airbnb’s entrepreneurial encroachment into the accommodation sector has caused a multitude of localities to manage an assortment of complex affairs. These matters are difficult to solve due to their changing, contradictory, and incomplete premise. The purpose of this research is to determine if Airbnb activity is prominent in Iceland and therefore causing the country to experience similar issues that officials are struggling to solve in many major cities worldwide. This was established by running descriptive statistics on data obtained through a voluntary survey. This research can aid in creating international legislative platforms to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks related to Airbnb, as matters in Iceland can show similarity to other global cities. Locally, the results discovered in Iceland will be valuable to the Icelandic Tourist Board’s ongoing research on tourism trends within the island. Tourism was pushed as a tool in Iceland after the 2008 financial crisis in response to the country’s failing fishing and aluminum industries. Tourism now accounts for upwards of 10 percent of Iceland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). There is a concern for the economic endeavor’s ability to diminish Iceland’s culture and nature, which are what draws tourists initially, making tourism a multiplex theme in Iceland. This research will contribute to the emerging scholarly work on tourism, Airbnb, and their impacts on sensitive polar regions that dictate the rest of the world’s climate such as Iceland

Acceptability and Preferences for Empirically-Supported Psychological Treatments

Over the past decade, mental health has been moving in the direction of empirically-supported treatments. Currently, there are many empirically-supported treatment modalities that have been shown to be efficacious for various psychological disorders, specifically mood and anxiety disorders. However, the face-to-face treatment literature reflects low levels of treatment access and participation. Approximately half of participants with clinically-significant levels of depression received some treatment, evidence-based or not (Kessler et al., 2007). Even for participants who are able to successfully access services, engagement with treatment is often low, and dropout rates are high. There is some evidence that participants’ preferences for treatment are positively related to participant engagement and subsequent outcomes. It is possible that low levels of engagement reflect a mismatch between participant preferences and the specific treatment that is delivered by mental health providers. The current study evaluated treatment preferences among a diverse sample of mental health outpatients and will contribute to the growing literature on individual preferences for empirically-supported psychological treatments

Evaluating Use of an Online Intervention for Cancer Patients with Distress

Internet-based interventions have been effective in improving cancer survivors\u27 psychosocial functioning. However, low levels of engagement in these interventions have been common. A qualitative interview study was conducted to assess cancer survivors\u27 needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 25 cancer survivors who were minimally engaged (i.e. spent around 1 hour total on website) with the online intervention created by Owen and colleagues. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. Twenty themes were identified from the individual interviews. With an average Kappa in the near perfect range (Kappa= 0.89), the obtained codes were deemed a valid representation of the data. The most common themes included the desire to make connections with other survivors (i.e. sharing, belonging to a group), the structure of the intervention (i.e. ease of use, organization), personal relevance (i.e. perceiving website as a fit, having a need for the website), information provided (i.e. general resources, medical expertise), and the individual\u27s cancer trajectory (i.e. interacting with others with the same cancer type). The data indicate that cancer survivors have diverse needs and preferences. Flexibility should become the gold standard, where interventions could aim to tailor the website based on key variables. For example, a survivor could choose the type of information they would like to receive, the type of survivors they would like to interact with, and the topics of conversation applicable to their experience. The current study serves as a starting point for future research to identify and evaluate individual preferences on engagement. Understanding the needs of cancer survivors and implementing interventions that take into account these needs holds promise for increasing engagement and thus improving outcomes

Weaves as an Interconnection Fabric for ASIM's and Nanosatellites

Many of the micromachines under consideration require computer support, indeed, one of the appeals of this technology is the ability to intermix mechanical, optical, analog, and digital devices on the same substrate. The amount of computer power is rarely an issue, the sticking point is the complexity of the software required to make effective use of these devices. Micromachines are the nano-technologist's equivalent of 'golden screws'. In other words, they will be piece parts in larger assemblages. For example, a nano-satellite may be composed of stacked silicon wafers where each wafer contains hundreds to thousands of micromachines, digital controllers, general purpose computers, memories, and high-speed bus interconnects. Comparatively few of these devices will be custom designed, most will be stock parts selected from libraries and catalogs. The novelty will lie in the interconnections. For example, a digital accelerometer may be a component part in an adaptive suspension, a monitoring element embedded in the wrapper of a package, or a portion of the smart skin of a launch vehicle. In each case, this device must inter-operate with other devices and probes for the purposes of command, control, and communication. We propose a software technology called 'weaves' that will permit large collections of micromachines and their attendant computers to freely intercommunicate while preserving modularity, transparency, and flexibility. Weaves are composed of networks of communicating software components. The network, and the components comprising it, may be changed even while the software, and the devices it controls, are executing. This unusual degree of software plasticity permits micromachines to dynamically adapt the software to changing conditions and allows system engineers to rapidly and inexpensively develop special purpose software by assembling stock software components in custom configurations

Refugee Protection as Human Rights Protection: International Principles and Practice in India

This article focuses on the relationship between international human rights standards and refugee protection. The foundational status of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights treaties are surveyed in light of India's international legal obligations. The authors argue that international human rights law and practice have had a significant impact on the protection activities of the Ofice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) both in countries of asylum, countries of origin and in relation to the United Nations and other human rights actors. In this context, courts and national human rights institutions are important players in safeguarding the rights of refugees. As none of the countries of South Asia is party to the international refugee instruments nor have any of them adopted a national refugee law or procedure, the activities of the Indian National Human Rights Commission stand out as a positive example of national institution expanding the legal protection of refugees in the region.Cet article porte sur la relation entre critères internationaux en matière de droits humains et protection des réfugiés. Les statuts fondateurs de la Déclaration Universelle des droits de l'Homme et d'autres traités sur les droits humains sont analysés à la lumière des obligations juridiques internationales de l'Inde. Les auteurs développent une argumentation selon laquelle les lois et pratiques internationales en matière de droits humains ont un impact significatif sur les activités de protection assurées par l'Office du Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies aux réfugiés, autant dans les pays asiles, que dans les pays d'origine, et ce dans toute interaction entre les Nations Unies et les autres intervenants en matière de droits humains. Dans un tel contexte, les tribunaux et les institutions nationales traitant des droits humains sont des acteurs cruciaux en ce qui concerne la protection des droits des réfugiés. Comme aucun des pays d'Asie du Sud n'est engagé dans les grands mécanismes internationaux en matière de droit des réfugiés, et comme aucun d'entre eux n'a adopté de loi ou procédure nationale en matière de droit des réfugiés, les activités de la Commission Nationale Indienne des droits de l'Homme s'avèrent représenter un exemple positif d'institution nationale assurant le progrès de la protection légale des réfugiés dans cette région du monde

Variability in the reported management of pulmonary metastases in osteosarcoma.

Nearly 20% of patients with newly diagnosed osteosarcoma have detectable metastases at diagnosis; the majority of which occur in the lungs. There are no established recommendations for the timing and modality of metastasectomy. Members of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society (CTOS) were emailed an anonymous 10-min survey assessing their management practices for pulmonary findings at the time of an osteosarcoma diagnosis. The questionnaire presented three scenarios and discussed the choice to perform surgery, the timing of resection, and the choice of surgical procedure. Analyses were stratified by medical profession. One hundred and eighty-three physicians responded to our questionnaire. Respondents were comprised of orthopedic surgeons (37%), medical oncologists (31%), pediatric oncologists (22%), and other medical subspecialties (10%). There was variability among the respondents in the management of the pulmonary nodules. The majority of physicians chose to resect the pulmonary nodules following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (46-63%). Thoracotomy was the preferred technique for surgical resection. When only unilateral findings were present, the majority of physicians did not explore the contralateral lung. The majority of respondents did not recommend resection if the pulmonary nodule disappeared following chemotherapy. The survey demonstrated heterogeneity in the management of pulmonary metastases in osteosarcoma. Prospective trials need to evaluate whether these differences in management have implications for outcomes for patients with metastatic osteosarcoma

Differential interference effects of negative emotional states on subsequent semantic and perceptual processing

Past studies have revealed that encountering negative events interferes with cognitive processing of subsequent stimuli. The present study investigates whether negative events affect semantic and perceptual processing differently. Presentation of negative pictures produced slower reaction times than neutral or positive pictures in tasks that require semantic processing, such as natural or man-made judgments about drawings of objects, commonness judgments about objects, and categorical judgments about pairs of words. In contrast, negative picture presentation did not slow down judgments in subsequent perceptual processing (e.g., color judgments about words, size judgments about objects). The subjective arousal level of negative pictures did not modulate the interference effects on semantic or perceptual processing. These findings indicate that encountering negative emotional events interferes with semantic processing of subsequent stimuli more strongly than perceptual processing, and that not all types of subsequent cognitive processing are impaired by negative events

Acute Stress Increases Sex Differences in Risk Seeking in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task

BACKGROUND:Decisions involving risk often must be made under stressful circumstances. Research on behavioral and brain differences in stress responses suggest that stress might have different effects on risk taking in males and females. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:In this study, participants played a computer game designed to measure risk taking (the Balloon Analogue Risk Task) fifteen minutes after completing a stress challenge or control task. Stress increased risk taking among men but decreased it among women. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE:Acute stress amplifies sex differences in risk seeking; making women more risk avoidant and men more risk seeking. Evolutionary principles may explain these stress-induced sex differences in risk taking behavior