User interaction for visual lifelog retrieval in a virtual environment

Efficient retrieval of lifelog information is an ongoing area of research due to the multifaceted nature, and ever increasing size of lifelog datasets. Previous studies have examined lifelog exploration on conventional hardware platforms, but in this paper we describe a novel approach to lifelog retrieval using virtual reality. The focus of this research is to identify what aspects of lifelog retrieval can be effectively translated from a conventional to a virtual environment and if it provides any benefit to the user. The most widely available lifelog datasets for research are primarily image-based and focus on continuous capture from a first-person perspective. These large image corpora are often enhanced by image processing techniques and various other metadata. Despite the rapidly maturing nature of virtual reality as a platform, there has been very little investigation into user interaction within the context of lifelogging. The experiment outlined in this work seeks to evaluate four different virtual reality user interaction approaches to lifelog retrieval. The prototype system used in this experiment also competed at the Lifelog Search Challenge at ACM ICMR 2018 where it ranked first place

Internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the Attitude toward Muslim Proximity Index (AMPI): a measure of social distance

The Attitude toward Muslim Proximity Index (AMPI) is a six-item scale that uses tolerance to different degrees of social distance to assess prejudice towards Muslims. It was tested on 1777 teenage school children from northern England who indicated their religion as either 'Christian' or 'no religion', and demonstrated good internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha = .81). The index was higher among pupils who supported the views of the British National Party and among those who believed that British Muslims should adopt Western culture; but lower among those who knew Muslims or had Muslim friends. The AMPI is a useful measure of Islamophobic attitudes that does not rely on responses to specific events or on detailed knowledge of the Muslim religion

Local attitudes toward Apennine brown bears: Insights for conservation issues

Human-carnivore coexistence is a multi-faceted issue that requires an understanding of the diverse attitudes and perspectives of the communities living with large carnivores. To inform initiatives that encourage behaviors in line with conservation goals, we focused on assessing the two components of attitudes (i.e., feelings and beliefs), as well as norms of local communities coexisting with Apennine brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus) for a long time. This bear population is under serious extinction risks due to its persistently small population size, which is currently confined to the long-established protected area of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (PNALM) and its surrounding region in central Italy. We interviewed 1,611 residents in the PNALM to determine attitudes and values toward bears. We found that support for the bear's legal protection was widespread throughout the area, though beliefs about the benefits of conserving bears varied across geographic administrative districts. Our results showed that residents across our study areas liked bears. At the same time, areas that received more benefits from tourism were more strongly associated with positive feelings toward bears. Such findings provide useful information to improve communication efforts of conservation authorities with local communities

Évaluation d'Écosystème Domestique Programmable : Oser « Vivre avec » comme Méthode Expérimentale

International audienceWe present an experience with the development and evaluation of AppsGate, an ecosystem for the home that can be programmed by end-users. We show the benefits from using the homes of the project team members as real-life living-labs. In particular, we discuss the first person perspective experience as an effective way to conduct longitudinal experiments in real world settings. We conclude that a programmable habitat is desirable provided that attention cost is minimized.Cet article présente une expérience avec la mise en œuvre et l’évaluation d’AppsGate, un écosystème domestique programmable par l’habitant. Nous montrons l’apport de l’utilisation des domiciles de membres du projet tout au long du processus de développement, et notamment l’intérêt de « vivre avec » comme technique d’expérimentation longitudinale

Public perceptions of 'negging': lowering women’s self-esteem to increase the male attractiveness and achieve sexual conquest

Purpose: ‘Negging’ can be described as the purposeful lowering of a woman’s self-esteem to increase perceived attractiveness of the man in order to achieve sexual conquest. Negging has evolved over time. Whilst ‘Original’ negging was intended to be a harmless tool for attracting women, more recently dating companies have been teaching men ‘Evolved’ negging in a potentially damaging way, which could escalate into an abusive intimate relationship. Design: An online survey involving vignettes depicting negging between strangers with three conditions; ‘Original’, ‘Evolved’ and ‘Control’ was completed by 308 participants. Participants were asked how harmful, acceptable, and how likely to escalate each scenario was. A fourth vignette described ‘Evolved’ negging between partners. Results: Mixed methods ANOVA indicated that participants perceived all negging as being significantly more harmful than control ‘pick-up’ lines. ‘Evolved’ negging was considered to be more likely to escalate in seriousness than ‘Original’ negging. Conclusions: Despite the public viewing negging as harmful and with the potential to escalate in seriousness, women are still being targeted in this manner and the industry ‘teaching’ negging is growing despite controversy. This study aims to increase general awareness of negging in order to minimise harm caused to women who are ‘picked-up’ through this technique. To this end, directions for future research are highlighted. Originality: This paper is one of the first empirical studies in the area of negging. The perceived, and potential, harm caused can be studied in light of these novel findings with the aim of protecting women from harm

Detecting Scale Recalibration in Survey Research: A Laboratory Investigation

The accurate detection of scale recalibration is an issue that should not be ignored by organizational researchers and practitioners concerned with the accurate assessment of change interventions. In an effort to more effectively operationalize one methodology that is designed to detect scale recalibration (using ideal scales), three research questions were developed and investigated in a laboratory study utilizing videotape technology. It was concluded that ideal scale methodology can be used to accurately detect the presence of scale recalibration in survey research data. The implications of these findings for both researchers and practitioners are discussed.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Measuring the unmeasurable? A method to quantify adoption of integrated pest management practices in temperate arable farming systems

BACKGROUND: The impetus to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) practices has re-emerged in the last decade, mainly as a result of legislative and environmental drivers. However a significant deficit exists in the ability to practically monitor and measure IPM adoption across arable farms; therefore the aim of the project reported here was to establish a universal metric for quantifying adoption of IPM in temperate arable farming. This was achieved by: (a) identifying a set of key activities that contribute to IPM; (b) weighting these in terms of their importance to the achievement of IPM using panels of expert stakeholders in order to create the metric (scoring system from 0-100 indicating level of IPM practiced); (c) surveying arable farmers in the UK and Ireland about their pest management practices; and (d) measuring level of farmer adoption of IPM using the new metric. RESULTS. This new metric was found to be based on a consistent conception of IPM between countries and professional groups. The survey results showed that, while level of adoption of IPM practices varied over the sample, all farmers had adopted IPM to some extent (minimum 27.2 points, mean score of 65.1), but only 13 of 225 farmers (5.8%) had adopted more than 85% of what is theoretically possible, as measured by the new metric. CONCLUSION. We believe that this new metric would be a viable and cost-effective system to use to facilitate the benchmarking and monitoring of national IPM programmes in temperate zone countries with large scale arable farming systems

The teenage religion and values survey in England and Wales : an overview

The Teenage Religion and Values Survey was conducted throughout the 1990s among young people between the ages of 13 and 15 years. A total of 33,982 young people took part in the survey. As the next phase of this research begins for the twenty-first century this paper looks back at the survey conducted in the 1990s and considers two aspects of the research. First, this paper considers the methodology behind designing such a survey. Second, this paper considers some of the insights generated by the survey under five headings: personality, spiritual health, religious affiliation, belonging without believing, and church leaving

Special care dentistry trainee views on the medical and oral medicine elements of the specialist training curriculum

Introduction Specialty training curricula are subject to periodic update, and trainee views are an important element in identifying which areas need particular focus. In this study, we wished to examine specialty trainee opinions on two areas of a curriculum for special care dentistry, in particular oral medicine, and the component elements of related systemic disease and therapies (RSDT), namely pathology, pharmacology and therapeutics, and human systemic disease. Materials and methods Following ethical approval, we identified 35 specialty registrars in special care dentistry in the UK and Ireland who were invited to use an online survey tool to gather demographic data and then to ask their views on the delivery of training in oral medicine and RSDT. Respondents were also asked whether sufficient importance was placed on these topics and whether they could be accessed and delivered appropriately. Results The 23 registrars surveyed comprised a representative group from all parts of the UK and Ireland and were at different stages of specialty training. The majority thought oral medicine and RSDT were key elements of the curriculum and could be given more prominence, especially in the context of an increasingly ageing population with associated oral manifestations of chronic disease, multiple drugs and disabilities. Discussion and conclusion The registrars surveyed felt that oral medicine and RSDT and were integral to training and that emphasis and opportunities for training in these areas could be improved, especially for those trainees based outside of a dental hospital setting