Participative development of packages in the food industry--evaluation of ergonomics and productivity by objective measurements

Rationalizations generally have a negative effect on health and known risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders. These effects may be reduced by paying attention to modifiers as worker participation and a resonant management style. In this study a participatory approach was used in the food industry in order to improve ergonomics and productivity. The food industry shows a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders, and repetitive manual work occurs extensively. Prototypes of new packaging solutions were developed in three cases, and compared in a simulated production to the existing production system through direct measurements of working postures and muscle activity, ratings of physical load, and general productivity data. Measured and rated ergonomic exposures showed that workload was significantly lower for the prototypes, in all three cases. In two cases, the number of handling operations included in the packaging operations were greatly reduced with the prototype package, as were production costs. The impact on disorders of the obtained load reductions is difficult to assess, but we believe that in "critical" situations like this, even small improvements may have an effect. This study shows that workloads during manual handling of packages as well as production costs can be reduced by applying participative development of packages.     

Facial Mimicry of Spontaneous and Deliberate Duchenne and Non-Duchenne Smiles

Increasing evidence suggests that Duchenne (D) smiles may not only occur as a sign of spontaneous enjoyment, but can also be deliberately posed. The aim of this paper was to investigate whether people mimic spontaneous and deliberate D and non-D smiles to a similar extent. Facial EMG responses were recorded while participants viewed short video-clips of each smile category which they had to judge with respect to valence, arousal, and genuineness. In line with previous research, valence and arousal ratings varied significantly as a function of smile type and elicitation condition. However, differences in facial reactions occurred only for smile type (i.e., D and non-D smiles). The findings have important implications for questions relating to the role of facial mimicry in expression understanding and suggest that mimicry may be essential in discriminating among various meanings of smiles.     

Experts’ versus laypersons’ perception of urban cultural ecosystem services

Urban cultural ecosystem services are understood differently by experts and laypersons. Yet, unaccounted differences can lead to management problems for urban green spaces, as experts may recommend practices that do not meet the laypersons’ wishes. Qualitative research on the perception of cultural ecosystem services can be one tool to analyze these differences. We use expert and problem-centered interviews to assess differences in cultural ecosystem service perceptions for experts and laypersons in Berlin. Using an innovative approach, we combine inductive qualitative content analysis with a frequency analysis and multidimensional scaling. This explorative study innovatively merges qualitative and quantitative approaches to show new ways of analysis. Our results show that the experts’ perceptions of nature appear to be more practical, management-centered, whereas laypersons appear to prioritize enjoyment of nature. Overall, multidimensional scaling indicates different perceptions and conceptualizations of cultural ecosystem service bundles, emphasizing the diverging understandings. If these different perceptions are not accounted for it could lead to social and political contrast. They should therefore be acknowledged in decision-making and goal formulation for the management of urban green.     

Creative Activism and Art Against Urban Renaissance and Social Exclusion – Space Sensitive Approaches to the Study of Collective Action and Belonging

Creative activism and urban art are increasingly being used as an instrument to collectively re‐appropriate the urban space and thus articulate urban belonging and citizenship from below. In cities worldwide, where different politics of place stimulate capitalist appropriation, individuals and groups use the public space as a laboratory for resistance, creative act, and as a medium for communication. As such, creative activism is a strategy for those who are widely excluded from social, political, cultural, and economic participation. Collectives are built through joint actions and experiences that are translated into the production situated forms of urban belonging. By drawing on space sensitive and situationist approaches and the power of creativity as an important moment in the analysis of action, the paper provides examples of how collective action and belonging is produced under conditions of contentious politics and exclusion that go beyond social norms, the social containment of institutions, ¹ and imposed collective identities.     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A Heart to Learn and Care? Teachers' responses toward special needs children in mainstream schools in Hong Kong

This article examines the problems associated with introducing integrated education into Hong Kong's mainstream schooling system. The research objectives were to examine the experience of teachers in teaching children with special needs in mainstream schools; to examine the attitude of mainstream teachers towards integrated education, and explore whether the differences in perception of difficulties and attitudes are attributable to types of disability and availability of resources. This was achieved through a research strategy utilising a questionnaire survey combined with individual and group interviews. The results demonstrate that there is a clear hierarchy of preference amongst teachers in relation to special needs children. Students with a learning disability and/or behavioural problems pose more challenges to teachers than those with a physical difficulty. Teachers that had both types of special needs children in a class experience more problems in maintaining classroom discipline, have a greater workload and struggle to manage the disparate academic standards amongst students. Teachers in schools with extra funding provisions, teachers trained to teach special needs children, additional counselling resources and specialist support expressed more accepting attitudes towards children with special needs and their admission into mainstream schools. Resource classes did not exert a positive effect on acceptance. More than 70% of questionnaire respondents were supportive of two positive value statements 'realisation of equal opportunities' and 'a good chance for students to interact'. At the same time teachers tended to agree with the statements 'integration was a burden to the schools and teachers' (over 60%) and 'a painful struggle for special students' (48%). Although there is a general normative acceptance of inclusion, the statistical pattern suggests that teachers' attitudes are not static or based solely on ideology.     

He Said,She Said: Gender Differences in Mother – Adolescent Conversations about Sexuality

This study examined gender differences in self‐reported and observed conversations about sexual issues. Fifty mother –adolescent dyads reported on their conversations about sexual issues and participated in videotaped conversations about dating and sexuality in a laboratory setting. Gender differences (more mother – daughter than mother –son) were found in the extent of sexual communication based on adolescents’ reports, but no gender differences were found based on mothers’ reports, or on observations of conversations. Aspects of laboratory interactions, however, did distinguish mother– daughter and mother – son dyads, and related to self‐report measures. Girls’ reported sexuality communication frequency related to behavior in the laboratory setting. During mother – son conversations, one person usually took on the role of questioner, whereas the other did not. In contrast, there was evidence for mutuality of positive emotions for mother – daughter dyads, but not for mother – son dyads.     

Regression analysis and ratio analysis for domains: A randomization-theory approach

In most surveys, inference for domains poses a difficult problem because of data shortage. This paper presents a probability sampling theory approach to some common types of statistical analysis for domains of a surveyed population. Simple and multiple regression analysis, and analysis of ratios are considered. Two new methods are constructed and explored which can improve substantially over the common method based on sample-weighted sums of squares and products. These new methods use auxiliary variables whose importance depends on the extent to which they succeed in explaining certain patterns in the regression residuals. The theoretical conclusions are supported by empirical results from Monte Carlo experiments.