Making the Best Out of IT: Design and Development of Exergames for Older Adults With Mild Neurocognitive Disorder – A Methodological Paper

Background: Utilizing information technology (IT) systems, for example in form of computerized cognitive screening or exergame-based (also called active videogames) training, has gained growing interest for supporting healthy aging and to detect, prevent and treat neurocognitive disorders (NCD). To ameliorate the effectiveness of exergaming, the neurobiological mechanisms as well as the most effective components for exergame-based training remain to be established. At the same time, it is important to account for the end-users’ capabilities, preferences, and therapeutic needs during the design and development process to foster the usability and acceptance of the resulting program in clinical practice. This will positively influence adherence to the resulting exergame-based training program, which, in turn, favors more distinct training-related neurobiological effects.Objectives and Methods: This methodological paper describes the design and development process of novel exergame-based training concepts guided by a recently proposed methodological framework: The ‘Multidisciplinary Iterative Design of Exergames (MIDE): A Framework for Supporting the Design, Development, and Evaluation of Exergames for Health’ (Li et al., 2020).Case Study: A step-by-step application of the MIDE-framework as a specific guidance in an ongoing project aiming to design, develop, and evaluate an exergame-based training concept with the aim to halt and/or reduce cognitive decline and improve quality of life in older adults with mild neurocognitive disorder (mNCD) is illustrated.Discussion and Conclusion: The development of novel exergame-based training concepts is greatly facilitated when it is based on a theoretical framework (e.g., the MIDE-framework). Applying this framework resulted in a structured, iterative, and evidence-based approach that led to the identification of multiple key requirements for the exergame design as well as the training components that otherwise may have been overlooked or neglected. This is expected to foster the usability and acceptance of the resulting exergame intervention in “real life” settings. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to implement a theoretical framework (e.g., the MIDE-framework) for future research projects in line with well-known checklists to improve completeness of reporting and replicability when serious games for motor-cognitive rehabilitation purposes are to be developed.

Various aspects of liquid and gas pressure metering in problems of statics of flexible bars

In some practical applications, bars are loaded with the pressure of liquids and gases. Although the work of such objects is well studied and described in a large number of papers, some of the latter have wrongful provisions. For example, the equilibrium equations of a pipeline often include axial force instead of equivalent force, which reduces the accuracy of estimating the bending shape and acting stresses. The problem of accounting for pressure is due to the objectively more complex type of this loading in comparison with the forces of weight and insufficient distribution of the known provisions in engineering. This review and methodological paper focuses on a set of issues related to the loading of a bar by pressure. In the research, first, we obtained vector and linearized equations of equilibrium of the bar taking into account the load from the surface pressure. Then, we substantiated the equivalence of loading the bar with pressure and weight load determined by Archimedes’ law. Finally, we gave provisions for taking into account the pressure in the study of the equilibrium, stability, deformation, and strength of the bar. As an example, the effect of pressure in the problems of laying a pipeline on the seabed and evaluating the longitudinal stability of the bar is shown.

The cruel optimism of co-production

PurposeIn this paper, the author reflects on her researcher experiences of attempting to construct co-productive epistemic relations in her ethnographic doctoral research about a gallery youth collective. The paper engages with debates about the nature of co-productive relations, advocating for a more affective approach which attends to multiple, temporary moments within the research, rather than seeking a grand or unified process of collaboration.Design/methodology/approachThis methodological paper draws on the records and reflections the author generated in the process of undertaking collaborative ethnographic research, considered with a specific theoretical resource (Lauren Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011)) to construct a reflexive narrative from her doctoral research experiences.FindingsThe paper discusses the multiple, shifting ways in which research relationships unfolded in my doctoral research and the impasse this generated in the author’s understanding of desirable co-productive relations. Reflecting with Berlant's Cruel Optimism (2011) allowed the author to understand the Covid-19 crisis as the rupture of the author’s attachment to this relational fantasy. Beyond this rupture, the author was able to more fully attend to fleeting, affective moments as a form of co-production within the research.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the growing anthology of critical and reflexive narratives about co-production; these collectively provide a resource for researcher reflection and for teaching about collaborative practices.

Development of a Novel Intelligent Speed Adaptation System Based on Available Sight Distance

Most existing roads were designed without considering the improved performance of modern vehicles and the new onboard technologies available for assisted driving. In addition, vehicles frequently travel at speeds that exceed the maximum considered in road design. For these reasons, the need for speed- and safety-related countermeasures (e.g., field control, mobile or fixed speed cameras, traffic calming measures) is evident. However, these countermeasures are only partially effective and the proportion of crashes that are speed-related remains significant. This investigation is aimed at the development of a new intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) system based on the available sight distance (ASD). In conditions of poor visibility, the system can (i) inform drivers when they are traveling at inappropriate speeds, or (ii) generate warning sounds to the same effect, or (iii) intervene directly and compel the vehicle to adopt the speed which is most appropriate to the particular ASD. As reported in this methodological paper, the functionality of the new ISA system was tested at the driving simulator of the Politecnico di Torino (Italy) and the resulting estimated ASD value was validated and tested successfully. Future experimental investigations will be devoted to assessing the effectiveness of the system on driver speed behavior and decision making.

Understanding the Contribution of Visual Methods to Early Childhood Research: A Cross-Cultural Investigation

Research in education has previously been dominated by what Law (2007) terms the “hygienic forms” (p. 33). Hygienic forms apply to positivistic quantitative traditions which claim supremacy over other forms of knowing. In this methodological paper we report on a phenomenon auto-driven visual elicitation approach of an on going research which attempts to make sense of how children (3-5 year olds) in cross-cultural settings understand risk and safety situations in their settings. We reflect on the concern for contextual reflexivity, emanating from the notion that research activity in early childhood education is “in danger of succumbing to political ideology and methodological fashion” (Prosser & Loxley, 2007, p. 1). We argue that research into early childhood education needs to acknowledge the implicit tensions between conventional empirical research and the politics of research methodology and that researchers cannot bring to the fore everything that is there to be known about child development and learning through orthodox mechanistic means. There are quotidian aspects of children's experiences, development and learning which can best be captured by visual methods that combine other approaches like interviews and observations. The paper concludes with some reflections on the ethical dilemmas and validity issues that confront the researcher when the visual and digital are used across cultures with children.

Comparative Ethnographic Narrative Analysis Method: Comparing Culture in Narratives

Narrative data analysis aims to understand the stories’ content, structure, or function. However narrative data can also be used to examine how context influences self-concepts, relationship dynamics, and meaning-making. This methodological paper explores the potential of narrative analysis to discover and compare the processes by which culture shapes selfhood and meaning making. We describe the development of the Comparative Ethnographic Narrative Analysis Method as an analytic procedure to systematically compare narrators’ experiences, meaning making, decisions, and actions across cultures. This analytic strategy seeks to discover shared themes, examine culturally distinct themes, and illuminate meta-level cultural beliefs and values that link shared themes. We emphasize the need for a shared research question, comparable samples, shared non-biased instruments, and high-fidelity training if one uses this qualitative method for cross-cultural research. Finally, specific issues, trouble-shooting practices, and implications are discussed.

Comparisons of Adaptations in Grounded Theory and Phenomenology: Selecting the Specific Qualitative Research Methodology

The most widely used qualitative research methodologies are grounded theory and phenomenology. Both methodologies have expanded over time to several adaptations aligning with different paradigms, complex philosophical assumptions, and varying methodological strategies. Novice researchers either mistakenly mix the strategies of both methodologies or blend specific assumptions of methodologies’ different adaptations. Choosing the appropriate methodology and the specific adaptation in line with research inquiry and congruent with the researchers’ worldview is crucial in undertaking rigorous qualitative study. To date, there is limited literature that compared and contrasted the varying philosophical underpinnings of the two methodologies’ different adaptations. The purpose of this methodological paper is to provide a general overview of the two methodologies’ different adaptations to illustrate how they differ in approach. By immersing into the origins, philosophical assumptions, and utility of the two methodologies’ adaptations, novice researchers will develop a general overview of the foundations that support those specific adaptations. Finally, the considerations in choosing a specific adaptation of a methodology are discussed and applied by underpinning a research question on the care experiences of patients in the Accountable Care Unit. Thus, this methodological paper may assist novice researchers in deciding which specific adaptation of the two methodologies is the appropriate qualitative methodology for their research.

Reviving villages – a proposal for a concept and identification. A methodological approach

The methodological paper proposes a new concept of a reviving village and research methods to identify it. “Reviving” entails various symptoms of increasing intensity in socio-economic processes in areas which have long been in decline, and have been classified as problem regions with signs of marginality and peripherality. To identify the reviving villages we used a combination of diverse datasets and sources of information (i.e. statistical databases, cartographic materials, field research). We critically assessed the available data pointing out to its limitations. The new methodology was tested in the borderland of the Kłodzko region in the Sudetes Mountains (Poland). Proposed research procedure can be applied to any other marginal, depopulating rural areas to identify their potential current transformations.

Fat Studies and Arts-Based Approaches: Positioning the Need for “Movement”

Fat studies is a field of study that provides critiques and disrupts western biomedical assumptions about fatness. Various methodologies are taken up within the field of fat studies; however, arts-based methods offer unique and distinct methodological insights to the field. Addressing these important intersections, this methodological paper illuminates three broad arts-based research methods used in fat studies and how these methods highlight important themes of disruption, space, and temporalities. In particular, the importance of temporalities and time captured paper through arts-based methods covered are noteworthy. In the space of fat temporality, we end with a critical invitation for fat studies and arts-based scholars to innovate work using the method of performance art, specifically how performance can facilitate unique insights to create new knowledge at the intersection of fat studies and arts-based research.