scholarly journals Have City Dwellers Lost Touch with Modern Agriculture? In Quest of Differences between Urban and Rural Population

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Andreas Gabriel ◽  
Markus Gandorfer

Frequently, urbanization and loss of an urban population’s connection to agriculture are given as the main reasons for decreasing societal acceptance of modern-day agriculture. An online survey of the German population in 2018 provided two selective subsamples of rural (n = 337) and urban residents (n = 560). Comparing group differences with regard to (a) the general societal perspective on agriculture and (b) positions on the use of digital farming technologies shows only little evidence of significant contributions of the used predictor items. Thus, no generalized tendency can be found that city dwellers are more opposed to agricultural developments based on different attitudes and perceptions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (12) ◽  
pp. 940-947
Author(s):  
Matthias Albermann ◽  
Maria Lehmann ◽  
Christian Eiche ◽  
Joachim Schmidt ◽  
Johannes Prottengeier

BACKGROUND: In their working life, airline pilots are exposed to particular risk factors that promote nonspecific low back pain (LBP). Because of the varying incidence internationally, we evaluated the point prevalences of acute, subacute, and chronic nonspecific LBP, as well as the current prevalences in German airline pilots. Furthermore, we compared the prevalence to the general German population and to European counterparts.METHODS: An anonymous online survey of 698 participating German airline pilots was evaluated. The impairment between groups was analyzed. Prevalences from our data were compared to existing data.RESULTS: The following point prevalences were found: 8.2% acute, 2.4% subacute, 82.7% chronic LBP; 74.1% of all individuals were suffering from current LBP when answered the questionnaire. A total time spent flying greater than 600 h within the last 12 mo was significantly related to acute nonspecific LBP. Individuals with any type of LBP were significantly impaired compared to those unaffected. It was found that German airline pilots suffer more often from current LBP than the general population and have a higher point prevalence of total LBP than their European counterparts.CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation showed a surprisingly high, previously unidentified, prevalence of nonspecific LBP in German airline pilots. Why German airline pilots suffer more often from LBP remains uncertain. The number of flying hours appears to have a negative effect on developing acute low back pain, but causation cannot be concluded. Other risk factors could not be confirmed.Albermann M, Lehmann M, Eiche C, Schmidt J, Prottengeier J. Low back pain in commercial airline pilots. Aerosp Med Hum Perform. 2020; 91(12):940947.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktoriya Kolarova ◽  
Christine Eisenmann ◽  
Claudia Nobis ◽  
Christian Winkler ◽  
Barbara Lenz

Abstract Introduction The global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is having a great impact on all areas of the everyday life, including travel behaviour. Various measures that focus on restricting social contacts have been implemented in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Understanding how daily activities and travel behaviour change during such global crisis and the reasons behind is crucial for developing suitable strategies for similar future events and analysing potential mid- and long-term impacts. Methods In order to provide empirical insights into changes in travel behaviour during the first Coronavirus-related lockdown in 2020 for Germany, an online survey with a relative representative sample for the German population was conducted a week after the start of the nationwide contact ban. The data was analysed performing descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. Results and Discussion The results suggest in general an increase in car use and decrease in public transport use as well as more negative perception of public transport as a transport alternative during the pandemic. Regarding activity-related travel patterns, the findings show firstly, that the majority of people go less frequent shopping; simultaneously, an increase in online shopping can be seen and characteristics of this group were analysed. Secondly, half of the adult population still left their home for leisure or to run errands; young adults were more active than all other age groups. Thirdly, the majority of the working population still went to work; one out of four people worked in home-office. Lastly, potential implications for travel behaviour and activity patterns as well as policy measures are discussed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Steffen C. Eickemeyer ◽  
Jan Busch ◽  
Chia-Te Liu ◽  
Sonia Lippke

The increasing implementation of digital technologies has various positive impacts on companies. However, many companies often rush into such an implementation of technological trends without sufficient preparation and pay insufficient attention to the human factors involved in digitization. This phenomenon can be exacerbated when these technologies become highly dependent, as during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to better understand challenges and to propose solutions for a successful implementation of digitized technology. A literature review is combined with survey results and specific consulting strategies. Data from the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany were collected by means of an online survey, with a representative sample of the German population. However, we did not reveal any correlation between home office and suffering, mental health, and physical health (indicators of digitization usage to cope with COVID-19 pandemic), but rather that younger workers are more prone to using digitized technology. Based on previous findings that older individuals tend to have negative attitudes toward digital transformation, appropriate countermeasures are needed to help them become more tech-savvy. Accordingly, a software tool is proposed. The tool can help the management team to manage digitization efficiently. Employee well-being can be increased as companies are made aware of necessary measures such as training for individuals and groups at an early stage.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Pötzschke ◽  
Bernd Weiß

Research on international migrants has seen a sharp increase during the last decades, yet sampling them remains a major challenge, especially in a cross-national setting and on a global scale. While various sampling methods are established in the field, most of them cannot easily be implemented globally due to their dependence on specific administrative or infrastructure elements or simply their costs. Since Social Networking Sites (SNS) operate on a global scale, they provide a sampling frame that can be utilized for the targeted recruitment of migrants worldwide. Increasingly used for research purposes and among the largest and most popular SNSs are Facebook and Instagram. In our project GEOOS (German Emigrants Overseas Online Survey), we utilize paid advertisements on these networks to target German emigrants, particularly Germans living outside of Europe. Our research aims to ascertain whether such ads could be used to recruit a nonprobability (migrant) sample on a global scale. More specifically, we are interested in the success of this approach concerning three performance indicators: Cost efficiency, coverage, and sample size. Our advertisement campaign ran for 18 days and resulted in total costs of about 2,223 Euro. This investment led a total of 3,895 individuals to complete the survey; of those, 98 percent belonged to the target population, meaning they were (a) either born in Germany or held German citizenship and (b) did not live in Germany. GEOOS participants lived in a total of 148 countries and territories around the globe. Similar to findings reported in previous studies on this target population, the largest sub-groups resided in predominantly Anglo-phone countries; however, taken together, participants in these countries only constitute 38 percent of our overall sample, with nearly a quarter of GEOOS participants (n = 867) living in Middle and South America, 862 residing in Asian countries, and 476 in Africa. Furthermore, a considerable share of our sample is constituted by individuals who would either not have been included in a sampling frame based on German population registers or who would have been unlikely to be reached through this method due to incomplete or outdated information.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 703-707
Author(s):  
Sylvanna M. Vargas ◽  
Jessica Dere ◽  
Laura Garcia ◽  
Andrew G. Ryder

The Folk Psychiatry (FP) model proposes a process through which people understand mental illness, comprising four dimensions: pathologizing, moralizing, psychologizing, and medicalizing. Cultural group differences have been observed in previous research using part of this model, with one prior study suggesting that adherence to cultural values may partly explain these differences. The current study, therefore, evaluated whether horizontal–vertical and individualism–collectivism values contribute to explaining Chinese-Canadian (CC) versus Euro-Canadian (EC) cultural group differences among the FP dimensions. Undergraduate CC ( n = 252) and EC ( n = 296) students participated in an online survey, in which they read vignettes about a person exhibiting symptomatic behaviors of major depression. They were then asked about their impressions of the person’s behavior, based on FP scales. Our results show that CCs were more likely to pathologize and moralize the behaviors described in our study vignette, whereas ECs were more likely to employ psychologizing explanations. When compared with ECs, CCs were significantly more likely to endorse vertical individualism and vertical collectivism and less likely to endorse horizontal collectivism. There was an indirect effect of cultural group on moralizing through the endorsement of vertical (i.e., hierarchical) values. Our findings suggest that valuing social order and adherence to social norms may partly explain why some people view mental health problems as a personal fault.


2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 644-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Teufel ◽  
Adam Schweda ◽  
Nora Dörrie ◽  
Venja Musche ◽  
Madeleine Hetkamp ◽  
...  

Abstract At a time of growing governmental restrictions and ‘physical distancing’ in order to decelerate the spread of COVID-19, psychological challenges are increasing. Social media plays an important role in maintaining social contact as well as exerting political influence. World leaders use it not only to keep citizens informed but also to boost morale and manage people’s fears. However, some leaders do not follow this approach; an example is the German Chancellor. In a large online survey, we aimed to determine levels of COVID-19 fear, generalized anxiety, depression, safety behaviour, trust in government and risk perception in Germany. A total of 12 244 respondents participated during the period of restraint and the public shutdown in March 2020. Concurrent with the German Chancellor’s speech, a reduction of anxiety and depression was noticeable in the German population. It appears that, in addition to using social media platforms like Twitter, different—and sometimes more conservative—channels for providing information can also be effective.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhifang Wu ◽  
Elizabeth Hemphill ◽  
Jennifer McKay ◽  
Ganesh Keremane

This paper reports on the intentions of urban residents in two South Australian Local Government Areas (LGAs) (council areas) to use stormwater treated through a managed aquifer recharge process for various potential non-potable uses. Data were collected through an online survey of the residents in these LGAs. The key finding is that, in common with recycled sewage water, the intention to use treated stormwater was lower for uses having closer contact with people. A hypothesized model consisting of possible factors influencing the intention to use treated stormwater was developed based on the contemporary literature relating to usage of treated sewage water. Greater trust in the local water authority was shown to be associated directly and closely with a lower perceived health risk. A positive attitude by respondents to the use of treated stormwater (as an aspect of a sustainable future) was found to be more likely to result in an intention to use the treated stormwater for non-potable purposes. Respondents' perceived health risk, emotions and environmental concerns all had significant associations with their attitudes to using stormwater but were not associated with their intention to use it.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Jantzer ◽  
Michael Schlander ◽  
Johann Haffner ◽  
Peter Parzer ◽  
Sarah Trick ◽  
...  

Sports ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Andrew V. Pasternak ◽  
David Fiore ◽  
Arthur Islas ◽  
Sarah Toti ◽  
Martin D. Hoffman

Nausea and vomiting are common for runners during ultramarathons and often contribute to non-finishes. We aimed to determine the efficacy of ondansetron, a commonly used antiemetic, to treat nausea and vomiting in runners during an ultramarathon. Runners who had a previous history of frequent nausea or vomiting during races and entered in 160, 80, and 55 km ultramarathons in 2018 and 2019 were randomized in a double-blind fashion to 4 mg ondansetron or placebo capsules to use if they developed nausea or vomiting during the race with the ability to take three additional doses. Study participants completed a post-race online survey to assess medication use and efficacy. Of 62 study participants, 31 took either ondansetron (20) or placebo (11). In this small study, there were no group differences in those reporting any improvement in nausea and vomiting (p = 0.26) or in the amount of improvement (p = 0.15). We found no evidence that ondansetron capsules improve nausea and vomiting during ultramarathons.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mauro Barisione ◽  
Shanto Iyengar

AbstractPrevious work on nonverbal cues has demonstrated the influence of candidates’ facial displays on voter preferences. However, the idea that visual cues affect political judgment by signaling the relative social solidarity (in-group vs. out-group status) between candidates and voters has received little attention. We fill this gap by experimentally manipulating facial cues associated with the physical features of gender and ethnicity (Afrocentric vs. Eurocentric-looking) and assessing their effects on candidate support in the context of the Italian 2013 general election. The experimental design is based on a CAWI post-election online survey conducted on a representative sample of Italian voters. We find that group differences between candidates and voters matter, but only among right of center voters, who respond more negatively to party candidates expressing “combined” (party x gender x ethnicity) dissimilarity. Gender- and ethnicity-based differences are, on the contrary, “assimilated” and accepted when the target candidate is from the voter's party.


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