16119 research outputs found
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Narcissism in action: Perceptions, team dynamics, and performance in naturalistic escape room settings
Get PDFWe investigated narcissism in a naturalistic social context. Specifically, we examined how individuals high in admirative and rivalrous narcissism are perceived in team dynamics. Participants (n = 101) worked in small teams (k = 23 teams) during escape room-based
tasks. Using a round-robin design, we observed alignment between self- and peer-ratings on interpersonal traits. Those high on admirative narcissism were perceived as confident but overestimated their likeability, whereas those high on rivalrous narcissism were perceived as aggressive and lazy. Teams characterized by high levels of rivalry exhibited reduced team cohesion, which in turn was associated with poorer team performance. There were no team-level effects for narcissistic admiration. The research advances understanding of admirative and rivalrous narcissism by simulating real-time teamwork in escape rooms
Unsupervised salient object detection with pseudo-labels refinement
Get PDFIn Salient Object Detection (SOD), most methods rely on manually annotated labels, which are costly. As a result, unsupervised methods have gained significant attention. Existing methods often generate noisy pseudo-labels using traditional techniques, which can affect model performance. To address this, we propose an unsupervised method for RGB image salient object detection that generates high-quality pseudo-labels without manual annotation and uses them to train the detection model. The method generates initial pseudo-labels and improves their quality by introducing contrastive learning pre-trained weights and a pseudo-label self-updating strategy. Additionally, we design a detection network with a Multi-Feature Aggregation (MFA) module and a Context Feature Interaction (CFI) module to enhance the model’s ability to detect salient objects in complex scenarios. The model we proposed, trained with our pseudo-labels, shows significant improvement on USOD and achieves excellent scores on public benchmarks
Ditching the agenda and prioritising the informal: Creating communities and collegiality in HEIs
Get PDFIn Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), formal divisional structures are dominant, generally characterised by top-down approaches that neglects the voices of staff despite purported commitments to kindness and collegiality, commitments often perceived by staff as a tick-box exercise. This paper explores how, within this context, informal networks that exist separate from formal divisional structures may foster enhanced collegiality and a positive sense of social identification. Through an extended ethnographic study involving observations, and gamified relationship mapping interviews, we examine academics’ lived experience of their formal and informal HEI-based communities. This research highlights how changes in culture may reshape practices and suggests that informal unstructured interactions are critical for cultivating a positive sense of community that existing formal structure fail to nurture. Through this research we seek to better understand how individuals experience their sense of belonging and collegiality within the institution and consider recommendations for a more humanised approach within HEIs
A new methodology in support of critical systems thinking: Critical systems intervention
Get PDFTotal systems intervention (TSI) was designed as a methodology in support of critical systems thinking (CST), which is a philosophy trying to unite systems thinking with radical politics, and initially, it showed great promise. However, it was soon critiqued both on political and scientific grounds, resulting in revisions like local systemic intervention (LSI) and critical systems practice (CSP). We believe that the revisions missed some of the key aspects of the criticism, so we are now presenting a new revision of TSI called critical systems intervention (CSI), which we believe is simpler, sounder and more aligned with CST's commitments to critical awareness, emancipation and multimethodology. We illustrate the usefulness of CSI by revisiting an old TSI case study trying to use the viable system model (VSM) within the context of CST-driven total quality management (TQM), showing how the CSI approach corrects for areas where the TSI intervention would be open for critique. By having worked with ideals and ideas from classic CST literature that were identified at the time but not sufficiently explored and thus abandoned too quickly, we are now able to present a new methodology, CSI, that makes life easier for CST interventionists
Mitigating gambling-related harms in children and young people: a scoping review of interventions
Get PDFGambling among children and young people (CYP) has been associated with a range of adverse outcomes, including financial consequences, psychological distress, social difficulties, and increased risk of experiencing gambling-related harms in adulthood. Given the growing accessibility of gambling activities through digitally- enabled experiences and the expanding regulatory concerns, there is a pressing need for evidence-based interventions to mitigate harm in this vulnerable population. Despite numerous interventions aimed at reducing gambling-related harm among CYP, systematic analysis of their effectiveness remains limited. To address this gap, we conducted a comprehensive scoping review of literature published between 2008 and 2025, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping reviews and the Arksey and O’Malley five-stage protocol. The PAGER Framework was employed to critique the literature. We searched eight electronic databases, supplemented by manual reference checks, for peer-reviewed studies on interventions to prevent or reduce gambling-related harm in CYP up to age 25. Of 11,972 articles identified, 40 met the inclusion criteria. Our analysis revealed four key themes: effective interventions often integrate multiple methods and actively engage participants, are theory-driven and delivered by trained practitioners, are tailored to developmental needs, and incorporate digital technologies. Common issues across studies included the absence of follow-up assessments and the use of adult questionnaires with CYP. We recommend addressing the social context and environment rather than focusing solely on individual behaviour, involving CYP in intervention development, evaluating long-term effects, and considering underserved populations such as CYP with special educational needs. This review underscores the urgent need for rigorously evaluated, evidence-based interventions to reduce gambling-related harm in CYP across educational, healthcare, and youth work settings
Parallels and discrepancies between non-native species introductions and human migration.
Get PDFBiological invasions and human migrations have increased globally due to socio-economic drivers and environmental factors that have enhanced cultural, economic, and geographic connectivity. Both processes involve the movement, establishment, and spread of species, yet unfold within fundamentally different philosophical, social and biological contexts. Hence, studying biological invasions (invasion science) and human migration (migration studies) presents complex parallels that are potentially fruitful to explore. Here, we examined nuanced parallels and differences between these two phenomena, integrating historical, socio-political, and ethical perspectives. Our review underscores the need for context-specific approaches in policymaking and governance to address effectively the challenges and opportunities of human migration and harm from biological invasions. We suggest that approaches to studying the drivers of biological invasions and human migration provide an excellent opportunity for transdisciplinary research; one that acknowledges the complexities and potential insights from both fields of study. Ultimately, integrating natural and social sciences offers a promising avenue for enriching the understanding of invasion biology and migration dynamics while pursuing just, equitable, and sustainable solutions. However, while human migration is a clear driver of biological invasions, drawing on principles from biological invasions to understand past and current human migration risks oversimplification and the potential for harmful generalisations that disregard the intrinsic rights and cultural dynamics of human migrations. By doing so, we provide insights and frameworks to support the development of context-specific policies that respect human dignity, foster cultural diversity, and address migration challenges in ways that promote global cooperation and justice. This interdisciplinary approach highlights the potential for transdisciplinary research that acknowledges complexities in both fields, ultimately enriching our understanding of invasion biology and migration dynamics while pursuing equitable and sustainable solutions
Attitudes Towards AI: The Interplay of Self-Efficacy, Well-Being, and Competency
Get PDFArtificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing society, yet its widespread adoption is accompanied by significant ethical and societal concerns. Through a large survey, this study explores the complex interplay between self-efficacy, AI competency, cultural factors, and attitudes towards AI among UK and Arab participants. We investigate how these factors influence individual’s attitudes toward AI and its impact on well-being. Our findings reveal that self-efficacy plays a crucial role in shaping attitudes towards AI, with higher levels of self-efficacy associated with more positive attitudes and enhanced well-being. Moreover, our results show that AI competency serves as a mediator, with increased competence fostering greater confidence and positivity towards AI. Our results also show gender disparities in AI attitudes within the UK sample, with males exhibiting higher positive attitudes and lower negative attitudes compared to females. Cultural differences were evident, with the Arab sample showing higher AI competency, positive attitudes, and overall well-being compared to the UK sample. Our results emphasize the need for culturally sensitive design and implementation of AI to ensure responsible development and implementation of AI for diverse populations
Attributes influencing peer-to-peer accommodation performance: Classification and the future pathways
Get PDFThis study identifies attributes influencing Peer-to-Peer (P2P) accommodation performance before and after COVID-19. It systematically reviewed the literature on factors determining P2P profitability and competitiveness. The review involved 117 papers published before and 126 papers after the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2009 to 2023. Customer satisfaction was among the most studied themes across the pre- and post-pandemic literature. Specifically, 10 pre-pandemic key attributes from a value co-creation perspective, and 14 post-pandemic key attributes falling within a social systems framework were identified. Hosts’ focus on creating positive, hygienic, memorable experiences and guest trust in the platforms has become paramount since COVID-19. This research is the first to aggregate and compare the performance-related attributes from pre- and post-pandemic research. It contributes to theory by providing guidelines for further studies and offers implications to help practitioners analyze business performance, facilitating the sustainable development of this sector
Integrating Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface and UAV for Enhanced Secure Transmissions in IoT-Enabled RSMA Networks
Get PDFUnmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) exhibits great application potential with its wide coverage, flexible network topology, and diversified services. However, ensuring communication security and efficient spectrum resource utilization in multi-user access scenarios is challenging, given the open nature of UAV channels and the proliferation of communication devices in IoT. To address the above challenges, this paper proposes a novel reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-aided UAV collaborative communication framework, where RIS-equipped UAV flexibly serves multiple users. In this work, a rate splitting multiple access (RSMA)-based secure transmission scheme is proposed, where the split public information serves both as useful signals and noise to disrupt eavesdropping. For the proposed scheme, a sum secrecy rate maximization problem is formulated and solved by optimally deploying the UAV's location, designing the RIS's phase shift, and power allocation. For this non-convex problem with a couple of variables, we decompose it and form three separate sub-issues. Specifically, leveraging the successive convex approximation (SCA) and semidefinite relaxation (SDR) techniques, we first exploit an iterative algorithm for optimizing beamforming vectors and phase-shift matrix of RIS, and the optimal position of the UAV is obtained according to the deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG). Then, we design an alternating optimization (AO) framework for joint solving. Finally, simulation results validate the efficacy of the proposed scheme in enhancing security, e.g., relative to the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme and benchmark scheme, the secrecy rate of the proposed scheme increased by 29.7% and 71.9% respectively
