The determinants of life satisfaction in Serbia: Findings from the Gallup World Poll

Research on life satisfaction in non-Western countries has grown somewhat in recent years, but still lags far behind that of developed countries. The present study was aimed at investigating determinants of life satisfaction in Serbia, a developing country that has experienced a number of difficulties over the past three decades. A large, representative Serbian sample (a total of 11,618 participants; 54.6% females, Mage = 47.02) from the Gallup World Poll was used. The results showed substantial gender differences in life satisfaction only among the oldest old (aged 81-99), with elderly women reporting substantially lower life satisfaction than elderly men (Cohen’s d = 0.38). Life satisfaction showed a steady, progressive decline among women, whereas men’s life satisfaction declined until approximately 50 years of age, and then remained relatively stable. The relationship between income and life satisfaction was positive, but much stronger at lower income levels. Robust predictors of life satisfaction in both men and women and across age groups were satisfaction with standard of living and household income, negative affect, and social support

Efekat srećnog i disforiĉnog afekta i vulnerabilnosti za depresiju na proces paţnje: studija oĉnih pokreta

Osnovni cilj ovog istraţivanja je bio ispitivanje uticaja indukovanog srećnog i tuţnog afekta i vulnerabilnosti za depresiju na proces paţnje. U istraţivanju su integrisane i proveravane osnovne pretpostavke Teorije proširenja i izgradnje (Fredrickson, 1998, 2001) koje se tiĉu uticaja pozitivnih i negativnih emocija na opseg paţnje, i pretpostavke Bekove teorije depresije (Beck, 1967) u vezi sa efektima kognitivne vulnerabilnosti za depresiju na proces paţnje. Dva kljuĉna pitanja na koja je ovo istraţivanje pokušalo da pruţi odgovore su: 1) da li opseg paţnje zavisi od emocionalnog stanja koje osoba trenutno doţivljava; 2) da li osobe sa kognitivnom vulnerabilnošću za depresiju ispoljavaju negativne pristrasnosti paţnje. Istraţivanje je sprovedeno u dve faze. U prvoj fazi je uĉestvovalo 731 ispitanika (84% ţenskog pola), studenata Filozofskog fakulteta u Novom Sadu, proseĉne starosti 20.52 godine (SD = 1.80). Cilj ovog dela istraţivanja je bio da se selektuju osobe sa visokim i niskim rizikom za razvoj depresije, na osnovu skorova na dve mere kognitivne vulnerabilnosti za depresiju: 1) testa za procenu pristrasnosti u kognitivnom procesiranju informacija (Scrambled Sentences Test; Wenzlaff, 1988, 1993); 2) skale samoprocene depresivnih kognicija (Dysfunctional Attitude Scale-Form A; Weissman & Beck, 1978). Na osnovu rezultata na testovima vulnerabilnosti za depresiju i subskali depresivnosti PDSQ (The Psychiatric Diagnostic Screening Questionnaire; Zimmerman & Mattia, 2001), iz inicijalnog uzorka su formirane dve grupe ispitanika - vulnerabilni za depresiju (N = 82; 69 ţenskog pola i 13 muškog) i nevulnerabilni (N = 88; 79 ţenskog pola i 9 muškog). Od ukupnog broja ispitanika koji su zadovoljavali kriterijume visoke i niske vulnerabilnosti za depresiju, u eksperimentalnom delu istraţivanja je uĉestvovalo 120 ispitanika (po 60 u svakoj grupi), koji su pristali da doĊu na drugu fazu istraţivanja. Druga faza istraţivanja je sprovedena u Laboratoriji za eksperimentalnu psihologiju, Filozofskog fakulteta, Univerziteta u Novom Sadu, i sastojala se iz sledećih delova: 1) popunjavanja baterije testova za procenu kontrolnih varijabli: pozitivnog i negativnog afekta, anksioznosti, depresivnosti, psihološke fleksibilnosti, optimizma i radoznalosti; 2) indukcije emocija, procedurom kombinovanja muzike i prisećanja i zapisivanja autobiografskog dogaĊaja; 3) eksperimenta praćenja oĉnih pokreta, u kojem je korišćen Eye-tracking sistem EyeLink II; 4) debrifinga. Stimulus u eksperimentu je bio slajd sa tri slike iste valence (tuţne, srećne, neutralne), prikazane na sivoj pozadini. Na slajdu je uvek jedna slika bila centralno, a dve periferno. Polje u kojem su slike prikazivane je bilo podeljeno u devet kvadranata, u koje su slike rasporeĊene sluĉajnim izborom. Korišćeno je ukupno 90 slika (po 30 svake valence) koje su izabrane iz baze IAPS (International Affective Picture System; Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 2008). Pokreti dominantnog oka su monokularno snimani, a zadatak ispitanika je bio da posmatra slike prirodno i da gleda ono što ga zanima, kao da gleda televiziju. Indikatori opsega paţnje su bili: a) procenat gledanja perifernih slika u odnosu na centralne; b) proseĉan broj fiksacija po slajda. Kao mere pristrasnosti paţnje su definisane: a) proseĉno trajanje svih fiksacija na slajdu odreĊene emocionalne valence; b) proseĉno trajanje prve fiksacije na centralnoj slici. Radi provere glavnih efekata vulnerabilnosti, indukovanog afekta i valence stimulusa, kao i njihovih interakcija, na opseg i pristrasnosti paţnje, u analizi podataka je korišćen trofaktorski mešoviti model analize varijanse (ANOVA). Rezultati istraţivanja su pokazali da laboratorijski indukovan afekat nema robustan efekat na opseg paţnje, kao i da negativne pristrasnosti paţnje nisu primetne kod osoba koje ispoljavaju kognitivnu vulnerabilnost za depresiju. Nalazi istraţivanja nisu potvrdili pretpostavke Teorije proširenja i izgradnje o uticaju pozitivnih i negativnih emocija na proces paţnje. Pri tom, nalazi su osporili operacionalizaciju depresivne kognitivne šeme kao opšte kognitivno-organizacio

Učinkovitost škole zdravog mršavljenja u liječenju pretilosti

Obesity is a condition characterized by storage of excessive amounts of fat in the body. According to the World Health Organization, obesity has reached epidemic proportions and has become a leading public health issue. The increase in body weight causes numerous clinical complications and affects the quality of life, ability to work, and longevity of the patient. The treatment costs, direct and indirect, have become a substantial burden of healthcare systems. The etiology of obesity is complex and includes genetic factors, lifestyle, psychological factors, and, of course, high-fat diet. Fats are significant sources of calories, which are stored in the body in the form of fatty tissue. Typical human diet contains over 40% of fat, although the recommended maximum is 30%. Insufficient physical activity fosters the accumulation of adipose tissue. A sensible approach to the treatment should include moderate diets rich in carbohydrates, regular exercise, and pharmacological aid, if necessary. Weight loss programs offer a new multidisciplinary approach with a long-term goal to change the patient’s lifestyle and to treat the illness and its complications. The aim of this pilot study was to assess to what extent intensive healthy diet education, psychotherapist’s counseling, and exercise contribute to successful pharmacological treatment of obesity. Besides the psychotherapeutic and nutritional counseling, the Healthy Weight Loss Program relied on the treatment with orlistat, a representative of the new therapeutic group of lipase inhibitors, which selectively binds to the lipase enzyme in the gastrointestinal tract, thus preventing the fat digestion into simpler forms and reducing their absorption in the body by up to 30%. The analysis of the six-month program, which included 111 subjects, showed the comprehensive approach to therapy of obesity to have a statistically significant effect on weight control. The average weight loss was 12.5% of the baseline weight. Besides the weight reduction, the glucose metabolism improved, and blood pressure levels dropped by 5%. The subjects expressed satisfaction with the program and the results achieved. The analysis of the achievements confirmed the weight loss program based on education, psychotherapeutic counseling, and therapy with orlistat to be an efficient and reliable mode of obesity management.Pretilost je stanje prekomjernog nakupljanja masnog tkiva u organizmu. Prema mišljenju Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije, pretilost je poprimila epidemijske razmjere i postala vodeći problem javnog zdravstva. Zbog povećane tjelesne težine nastaju brojne kliničke komplikacije koje smanjuju kvalitetu života, radnu sposobnost i životni vijek oboljelih. Izravni i neizravni troškovi liječenja pretilosti predstavljaju velik teret za proračune zdravstvenih sustava. Etiologija pretilosti je složena i uključuje genetske čimbenike, životne navike, psihološke čimbenike, ali nedvojbeno je da jednu od ključnih uloga ima masna prehrana. Masti čine značajan izvor kalorija koje se uskladištavaju u organizmu u obliku masnog tkiva, a tipičan sastav ljudske hrane sadrži više od 40% masti, iako se preporuča da udio masti iznosi najviše 30%. Istodobno premala tjelesna aktivnost pomaže gomilanju masnog tkiva. Razborito liječenje pretilosti temelji se stoga na umjerenoj dijeti bogatoj ugljikohidratima, redovitoj tjelesnoj aktivnosti, uz farmakološku potporu kada je to potrebno. Škole zdravog mršavljenja predstavljaju potpuno nov multidisciplinarni pristup koji ima za cilj promjenom životnih navika dugoročno riješiti problem pretilosti i njenih komplikacija. Cilj ovoga probnog istraživanja bio je utvrditi u kojoj mjeri intenzivna izobrazba o prehrani, psihoterapijska potpora i redovita tjelesna aktivnost pojačavaju učinak farmakoterapije. Kao sastavni dio škole se, uz psihoterapijske i nutricionističke savjete, primjenjivao orlistat, predstavnik nove terapijske skupine inhibitora lipaze, koji djeluje u gastrointestinalnom sustavu selektivno se vezujući za enzim lipazu, čime sprječava razgradnju masti do jednostavnih oblika i na taj način smanjuje apsorpciju masti unesenih hranom za 30%. Analiza šestomjesečnih rezultata škole, u koju je bilo uključeno 111 ispitanika, pokazuje da ovakav cjelovit pristup u terapiji pretilosti statistički značajno poboljšava kontrolu tjelesne težine. Prosječni gubitak tjelesne težine iznosio je 12,5% početne tjelesne težine. Uza smanjenje tjelesne težine statistički je značajno učinkovito regulirana lipidemija, poboljšan je metabolizam glukoze, te su snižene vrijednosti krvnog tlaka za 5%. Ispitanici su iskazali veliko zadovoljstvo programom škole, kao i postignutim rezultatima. Navedena analiza i dobiveni rezultati potvrđuju da škola zdravog mršavljenja utemeljena na izobrazbi, psihoterapijskoj potpori, u kombinaciji s orlistatom predstavlja učinkovitu i sigurnu terapiju pretilosti

Empathy, Communication, Deception

Empathy is understood as a mode of understanding operating on a subconscious level of mental processing. The cognitive element can only abstractly be distinguished from its affective expression. When recognizing a fellow creature we involuntarily sympathize with it. Recognition of covert motivations of overt behavior is the first step in formation of a communication channel between two (or more) empathizing agents. Yet, since communication evolved in variably complex social environments it was subject to pressure of conflicting individual interests. Deception thus evolved as an adaptive evolutionary strategy. Empathic understanding does not necessarily entail recognition of agent’s real intentions. Deception may be achieved on both conscious and unconscious processing levels. A sufficient degree of biopsychosocial maturity must be reached for a child to be able to independently recognize verbal and non-verbal communication finesses. Once this level has been attained, the prevailing emotional orientation determines his/her degree of empathizing competence

Excellence with leadership: the crown indicator of SCImago Institutions Rankings Iber report

Although there are many models for ranking higher education institutions, the SCImago Institutions Rankings  methodology stands out for its ability to present quantitative and qualitative indicators of scientific output. Besides Total number of published papers, several indicators are concerned with quality dimensions of published papers, such as International collaboration, Scientific leadership or High quality publications . However, official rankings are provided solely on the basis of one indicator: Output (total number of published papers ). This paper presents a statistical I-distance method that integrates all the indicators into one value, which therefore represent a rank and show which of the input indicators is the most important for the process of ranking. Our results clearly showed that Excellence with Leadership  occupies the most significant spot

FEEDBACK LINEARIZATION FOR DECOUPLED POSITION/STIFFNESS CONTROL OF BIDIRECTIONAL ANTAGONISTIC DRIVES

To ensure safe human-robot interaction impedance robot control has arisen as one of the key challenges in robotics. This paper elaborates control of bidirectional antagonistic drives – qbmove maker pro. Due to its mechanical structure, both position and stiffness of bidirectional antagonistic drives could be controlled independently. To that end, we applied feedback linearization. Feedback linearization based approach initially decouples systems in two linear single-input-single-output subsystems: position subsystem and stiffness subsystem. The paper elaborates preconditions for feedback linearization and its implementation. The paper presents simulation results that prove the concept but points out application issues due to the complex mechanical structure of the bidirectional antagonistic drives

Development of a prototype of an ambient-aware two-arm mobile service robot

This paper describes a prototype of an ambient-intelligent advanced service robot of anthropomorphic characteristics that is intended for operation in indoor environment as well as for safe interaction with people. The robot consists of a wheeled mobile platform with a spinal (segmented) torso, bi-manual manipulation system with hands, and a robot head with capabilities to see, hear and speak. It is equipped with a number of advanced sensors, including indoor laser range finder, several ultrasonic probes as distance sensors and obstacle detectors, 3-axis inertial sensors with gyroscope, stereo vision system, 2 wide-range microphones, and 2 speakerphones. Its operation is autonomous but it may be controlled from a host computer through a wireless link. The robot prototype is expected to express advanced cognitive capabilities including spatial understanding, autonomous motion, affective and social behavior. The development of the robot is a joint effort of four Serbian academic institutions and it is expected to have it fully operational in the second half of 2015

Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: A review

Within education, concepts such as distance learning, and open universities, are now becoming more widely used for teaching and learning. However, due to the nature of the subject domain, the teaching of Science, Technology, and Engineering are still relatively behind when using new technological approaches (particularly for online distance learning). The reason for this discrepancy lies in the fact that these fields often require laboratory exercises to provide effective skill acquisition and hands-on experience. Often it is difficult to make these laboratories accessible for online access. Either the real lab needs to be enabled for remote access or it needs to be replicated as a fully software-based virtual lab. We argue for the latter concept since it offers some advantages over remotely controlled real labs, which will be elaborated further in this paper. We are now seeing new emerging technologies that can overcome some of the potential difficulties in this area. These include: computer graphics, augmented reality, computational dynamics, and virtual worlds. This paper summarizes the state of the art in virtual laboratories and virtual worlds in the fields of science, technology, and engineering. The main research activity in these fields is discussed but special emphasis is put on the field of robotics due to the maturity of this area within the virtual-education community. This is not a coincidence; starting from its widely multidisciplinary character, robotics is a perfect example where all the other fields of engineering and physics can contribute. Thus, the use of virtual labs for other scientific and non-robotic engineering uses can be seen to share many of the same learning processes. This can include supporting the introduction of new concepts as part of learning about science and technology, and introducing more general engineering knowledge, through to supporting more constructive (and collaborative) education and training activities in a more complex engineering topic such as robotics. The objective of this paper is to outline this problem space in more detail and to create a valuable source of information that can help to define the starting position for future research

Empathy, Communication, Deception

Empathy is understood as a mode of understanding operating on a subconscious level of mental processing. The cognitive element can only abstractly be distinguished from its affective expression. When recognizing a fellow creature we involuntarily sympathize with it. Recognition of covert motivations of overt behavior is the first step in formation of a communication channel between two (or more) empathizing agents. Yet, since communication evolved in variably complex social environments it was subject to pressure of conflicting individual interests. Deception thus evolved as an adaptive evolutionary strategy. Empathic understanding does not necessarily entail recognition of agent’s real intentions. Deception may be achieved on both conscious and unconscious processing levels. A sufficient degree of biopsychosocial maturity must be reached for a child to be able to independently recognize verbal and non-verbal communication finesses. Once this level has been attained, the prevailing emotional orientation determines his/her degree of empathizing competence

Starenje, arterijski krvni tlak, indeks tjelesne mase i prehrana

For three decades we followed up for longevity indicators, including diet, arterial blood pressure, and body mass index 379 mobile, long-living persons from Croatia, now aged 70 to 92 years, of whom 167 men aged (78.6±4.0) years and 212 women aged (77.9±4.1) years. One hundred and ninety-five were from the continental and 184 from the coastal Croatia. The participants were examined in 1972, 1982, and again in 2006/7. Changes in body mass index (BMI), arterial blood pressure (ABP), and in answers to our Food Frequency Questionnaire about dietary habits were analysed using log-linear models. Over the last 24 years of aging (age 55 to 78 years) the subjects showed a statistically significant decrease in body mass and height and a significant increase in the systolic blood pressure. Diastolic blood pressure and BMI showed no signifi cant changes over this period. Consumption of preserved and fresh meat, bread, and starch (potato, pastry and rice) dropped signifi cantly with age, while the consumption of fish, fresh and cooked vegetables, fruit, and dairy products significantly increased. These dietary changes were not associated with changes in the systolic and diastolic ABP. About 80 % were overweight (BMI >25 kg m-2) throughout the follow-up, even though their body mass dropped significantly after the age of 55. However, their survival suggests that BMI may not be the best indicator of longevity or healthy aging.U radu se opisuje odnos promjena prehrambenih navika, indeksa tjelesne mase (ITM, engl. body mass index, krat. BMI) i arterijskoga krvnog tlaka tijekom praćenja starenja istih samostalnih, pokretnih ispitanika iz kontinentalne i priobalne regije Hrvatske u tridesetogodišnjem razdoblju. U 2006./2007. godini pregledan je uzorak od 379 osoba dobi 70 do 92 godine: 167 muškaraca dobi (78,6±4,0) godine i 212 žena dobi (77,9±4,1) godina, 195 rezidenata kontinentalne regije i 184 rezidenata iz priobalne regije. Ispitanici su pregledani po treći put u 2006. Bili su prethodno pregledani 1972. te ponovo 1982. godine, a s ciljem praćenja dugovječnosti u odnosu na način života, prehranu i spol. Pomoću log-linearne analize analizirali smo promjene ITM-a, arterijskoga krvnog tlaka i 10 kategorija prehrambenih namirnica. Pri tom smo koristili vlastiti Upitnik o prehrani: FFQIMI. Kroz zadnje 24 godine praćenja starenja (dob 55 do 78 godina) nađeno je statistički značajno sniženje tjelesne mase i visine, te značajan porast sistoličkoga krvnog tlaka. Dijastolički krvni tlak i ITM nisu se značajnije mijenjali kroz ovo razdoblje. Rezultati pokazuju značajno smanjenje konzumiranja konzerviranoga i svježega mesa, kruha i škrobnih namirnica (krumpir, tjestenina, riža) sa starenjem, dok se konzumacija ribe, svježega i kuhanoga povrća, voća i mliječnih proizvoda povećala. Ove prehrambene promjene nisu bile povezane s promjenama arterijskoga krvnog tlaka. Iako je smanjenje tjelesne mase u naših ispitanika u dobi iznad 55 godina bilo značajno, oko 80 % naših ispitanika, koje možemo smatrati reprezentativnim uzorkom pokretne, dugovječne populacije Hrvatske, pripadaju kategoriji osoba s prekomjernom tjelesnom masom (ITM >25 kg m-2). Iz toga se može zaključiti da ITM nije dobar pokazatelj zdravog starenja i dugovječnosti