Towards Engaging Intangible Holographic Public Displays

Public displays are some of the most challenging interfaces to design because of two key characteristics. First, the experience should be engaging, to attract and maintain users' attention. Second, the interaction with the display should be natural, meaning that users should be able to receive the desired output with little or no training. Holographic displays are increasingly popular in public spaces such as museums and concert halls but there is little published research on users' experiences with such displays. Previous research has suggested both tangible and intangible inputs as engaging and natural options for holographic displays, but there is no conclusive evidence on their relative merits. Hence, we run a study to investigate the user experience with a holographic display comparing the level of engagement and feeling of natural experience in the interacting process. We used a mix of surveys, interviews, video recordings, and task-based metrics to measure users' performance on a specific task, the perceived usability, and levels of engagement and satisfaction. Our findings suggest that a tangible input was reported as more natural than the intangible one, however, both tangible and intangible inputs were found to be equally engaging. The latter findings contribute to the efforts of designing intangible public holographic displays and other interactive systems that take into consideration health safety issues, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic era in which contamination can be established with tangible and physical interaction between users and public displays, yet without affecting the level of engagement compared to the tangible experience. © 2022 IEEE.

Telepsychiatry and In-Person Care for Pediatric Patients During COVID-19: Patients Perspectives

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected how physicians, including child and adolescent psychiatrists, practice. A major shift came in the form of telehealth, in which patients attend clinic appointments online. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to identify the advantages and disadvantages of the telepsychiatry care delivery system and to devise future strategies to resolve drawbacks to improve patient and caregiver satisfaction. METHODS: A proposal was approved by the University of Missouri-Columbia Internal Review Board to conduct this study. One hundred patients were randomly selected for the study questionnaires. To understand patient satisfaction with telehealth and work toward improvements, this study conducted comparative survey research with 50 patients seen virtually and 50 patients seen in-person. Identical survey questions were filled out by patients and their respective guardians. The survey's first question asked which setting was preferred during the COVID-19 crisis and was followed by free-response questions prompting responses about what they liked and disliked about telehealth and in-person visits. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients seen virtually, 72% indicated a preference for telehealth, 14% preferred in-person, and 14% had no preference. These patients stated they preferred telehealth because it was convenient, required no travel and required fewer absences from school or work. A total of 28% of patients listed safety from exposure to COVID-19 as a reason they liked telehealth. Over half of these patients reported no complaints with telehealth, the most common issue according to patients seen virtually was internet connectivity and technology problems. A total of 64% of in-person patients reported a preference for in-person visits during the COVID-19 crisis. Similar to virtual patients, convenience was the most popular advantage of telehealth and personal connection was the most common disadvantage. The second most common complaint regarding telehealth and the highest reported advantage of in-person visits is the element of personal connection. A total of 16% of patients seen virtually and 24% of patients seen in-person reported more accurate assessment advantage of in-person care. These patients listed concerns about body language, vital signs, and other physical symptoms. CONCLUSION: With telehealth as a seemingly permanent aspect of medicine, the field of psychiatry must adapt. Expansion of broadband and increasing affordability of high-speed internet connection are practical solutions to technological issues with telehealth. For patients preferring to be seen virtually, a recommendation can be made to have at least the first visit in-person to establish a personal relationship. Vital signs can be checked at home with proper training. Telepsychiatry is likely to continue to be a part of our care delivery system. To that end, we must be vigilant and develop better strategies to improve the quality of patient care and patient satisfaction. FUNDING: No funding.

Effects of climate and environmental variance on the performance of a novel peatland-based integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system: Implications and opportunities for advancing research and disruptive innovation post COVID-19 era.

Advancing wet peatland 'paludiculture' innovation present enormous potential to sustain carbon-cycles, reduce greenhouse-gas (GHG) gas emissions and to transition communities to low-carbon economies; however, there is limited scientific-evidence to support and enable direct commercial viability of eco-friendly products and services. This timely study reports on a novel, paludiculture-based, integrated-multi-trophic-aquaculture (IMTA) system for sustainable food production in the Irish midlands. This freshwater IMTA process relies on a naturally occurring ecosystem of microalgae, bacteria and duckweed in ponds for managing waste and water quality that is powered by wind turbines; however, as it is recirculating, it does not rely upon end-of-pipe solutions and does not discharge effluent to receiving waters. This constitutes the first report on the effects of extreme weather events on the performance of this IMTA system that produces European perch (Perca fluviatilis), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiis) during Spring 2020. Sampling coincided with lockdown periods of worker mobility restriction due to COVID-19 pandemic. Observations revealed that the frequency and intensity of storms generated high levels of rainfall that disrupted the algal and bacterial ecosystem in the IMTA leading to the emergence and predominance of toxic cyanobacteria that caused fish mortality. There is a pressing need for international agreement on standardized set of environmental indicators to advance paludiculture innovation that addresses climate-change and sustainability. This study describes important technical parameters for advancing freshwater aquaculture (IMTA), which can be future refined using real-time monitoring-tools at farm level to inform management decision-making based on evaluating environmental indicators and weather data. The relevance of these findings to informing global sustaining and disruptive research and innovation in paludiculture is presented, along with alignment with UN Sustainable Development goals. This study also addresses global challenges and opportunities highlighting a commensurate need for international agreement on resilient indicators encompassing linked ecological, societal, cultural, economic and cultural domains.

Pet ownership and mental health during COVID-19 lockdown.

Owning a pet has often been associated with improved mental health among owners, including enhanced quality of life, and decreased levels of depression and loneliness. The aim of this study was to identify whether owning a cat and/or dog was associated with better psychological wellbeing during a strict lockdown period in Victoria, Australia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were analysed from a large-scale mental health study: the COvid-19 and you: mentaL heaLth in AusTralia now survEy (COLLATE). The impact of pet ownership on levels of resilience, loneliness and quality of life were examined in a sample of 138 pet owners and 125 non-pet owners. Hierarchical linear regression analyses indicated that pet ownership was significantly associated with poorer quality of life, but not significantly associated with resilience or loneliness, after accounting for situational factors (e.g. job loss) and mood states. Contrary to expectations, the findings suggest that during a specific situation such as a pandemic, pets may contribute to increased burden among owners and contribute to poorer quality of life.