Search Results (73)

Context: A plethora of actors like individual and professional characteristics, religiosity, personality-related factors, personal experience of death, and empathy form the attitude of health professionals in patient care in clinical settings and euthanasia. Objectives: The aim of the study was to measure the attitudes of health professionals toward euthanasia. In addition, we examined how individual and professional characteristics, religiosity, death perspectives, and empathy may predict health professionals’ attitudes toward euthanasia. Methods: We collected socio-demographic characteristics and attitudes toward euthanasia and the end of life as well as empathy dimensions from 465 health professionals working in health services in Greece. Multiple linear regression was applied to test the association of the attitudes about euthanasia with (1) demographic and professional variables, (2) perceptions about death, and (3) empathy. Results: Findings of the study revealed that health professionals’ attitudes towards euthanasia are significantly associated with their age, the target group of their patients, religious beliefs, and their attitudes about the end of life. Meanwhile, empathy was an insignificant predictor of ATE (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Working in clinical settings with patients, especially at the end of their lives, will always include ethical issues for health professionals. Training and supporting new generations of health professionals in patient care and bioethics are crucial in order to face these ethical issues during their professional careers. Full article

In the face of economic, social, and environmental pressures, the issue of sustainable development has garnered widespread attention in the Logistics Service Supply Chain (LSSC) with risk attitudes under Technical Output Uncertainty. In this regard, this paper first constructs an optimal emission reduction investment game model for an LSSC composed of Logistics Service Integrators (LSIs) and Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) against the backdrop of Technical Output Uncertainty. To this end, it quantifies the participants’ risk attitudes using a mean-variance model to analyze optimal emission reduction investment decisions for centralized and decentralized LSSC under different levels of risk tolerance. Subsequently, it designs a joint contract with altruistic preferences for sharing emission reduction costs in the LSSC. This contract analyzes the parameter constraints for achieving Pareto optimization within the supply chain. Finally, the study employs a case simulation to analyze the changes in expected revenues for centralized LSSC and joint contracts under different risk tolerance levels. The study reveals that (1) in a centralized LSSC, under risk-neutral attitudes, there exists a unique optimal emission reduction investment, which yields the highest expected return from emission reduction. However, under risk-averse attitudes, the expected return is always lower than the optimal expected return under risk neutrality. (2) In a decentralized LSSC, the emission reduction investment decisions of the Logistics Service Providers are similar to those in a centralized LSSC. (3) Under risk-neutral attitudes, the cost-sharing and altruistic preference-based joint contract can also coordinate the risk-averse LSSC under certain constraints, and by adjusting the cost-sharing and altruistic preference parameters, the expected returns can be reasonably allocated. Full article

Due to negative natural changes in the population and intense emigration over the past three decades, from the end of the 20th century, the Republic of Serbia (RS) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have faced a demographic decline of villages. Even villages closer to larger cities struggle with natural population decrease. Agriculture has an increasingly smaller impact on rural sustainability. Rural tourism is one of the activities that can save villages. The aim of this study is to, using a comparative analysis of the attitudes of the citizens of the two aforementioned countries, determine their familiarity with rural tourism and available development support funds, their interest in engaging in rural tourism as an additional or primary activity, and their satisfaction with the involvement of the local community in providing education for rural tourism. To obtain a response, we carried out interviews with 12 respondents from RS and 12 from BiH. The research instrument was the semi-structured in-depth interview. The respondents from BiH are more determined and more engaged in rural tourism than in RS. They are aware of how important rural tourism is for villages, since that is their only option for recovery and sustainability. The respondents from both countries agree that they need the support of the local administration to develop rural tourism. This kind of tourism also requires the demographic improvement of villages, since, without human resources, it is more difficult for the majority of the older population to engage more intensely in rural tourism. Full article

Background: Care plans are a critical tool in nursing education because they enhance clinical competence; however, undergraduate students often face challenges in writing them effectively, which can impact their readiness for clinical practice. While existing research predominantly focuses on care plans within specific clinical contexts, little is known about how students experience the learning process and how these experiences shape their professional development. Objectives: This study aimed to explore the experiences of undergraduate nursing students in writing care plans to understand the impact on their clinical competence and identify strategies for improvement. Design: A qualitative phenomenological study utilizing focus group interviews was conducted. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were conducted with 15 undergraduate nursing students in six focus groups. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s method to identify key themes. Results: Four main themes emerged: (1) enhancement and integration of knowledge and skills, (2) initiative learning and motivation, (3) adequate support and feedback from tutors, and (4) difficulties in transitioning from classroom learning to clinical practice. The findings highlight that care plan writing enhances students’ competence in patient care, with positive learning attitudes and tutor feedback playing crucial roles. However, students encounter difficulties in applying theoretical knowledge to complex clinical scenarios, particularly in prioritizing interventions and managing time effectively. Conclusions: Writing care plans not only fosters personal and professional development but also enhances students’ clinical competence, preparing them for real-world practice. Nurse tutors are encouraged to promote consistent practice in care plan writing, provide timely feedback, and share clinical experiences to support students’ learning. These findings underscore the need to reframe care plans as developmental tools rather than mere tasks for clinical transition, ultimately enhancing the quality of patient care. Full article

Background/Objectives: This study examines the attitudes of German hospice professionals toward physician-assisted suicide (PAS), focusing on ethical conflicts, emotional challenges, and institutional readiness within an unregulated legal context. Methods: A 2023 survey of 558 hospice workers used 13 closed-ended items to assess perspectives on PAS. Results: Latent class analysis identified subgroups based on shared response patterns. Three latent classes were identified, reflecting how hospice professionals might respond to the implementation of PAS in Germany: (1) “Low Conflict, Supportive Attitude”, referring to professionals likely to accept and support PAS with minimal ethical or emotional resistance; (2) “Moderate Conflict, Balanced Perspective”, describing professionals cautiously open to discussion but harboring notable ethical reservations; and (3) “High Conflict, Low Support”, encompassing professionals anticipated to face significant opposition and emotional challenges. Additionally, organizational readiness was reported as low (51.4%), alongside widespread concerns about increased workload and mental strain. Conclusions: Hospice professionals exhibit varied attitudes toward PAS, underscoring the importance of proactive measures should policymakers move toward its implementation. Ethical training, emotional support, and robust institutional frameworks will be essential to equip professionals for the challenges ahead. Full article

During COVID-19 “lockdown” most high school and college students experienced a sudden ending of face-to-face classes and were forced into multiple, rapidly prepared online courses. These experiences produced students more knowledgeable about online education than ever before. With this came a degree of certainty regarding their future educational delivery preferences. This survey (2021–2024) examined the attitudes and barriers associated with online course selection at a university within the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Using an introductory nutrition course, 658 surveys were exclusively collected from the face-to-face sections of a Natural Science course. Only 30.2% of these students reported a preference for online courses. Respondents reported similar percentages on Course Difficulty (48.5% online vs. 51.5% face-to-face) and which course required more Work/Time (43.2% online vs. 56.8% face-to-face). Previous negative online experiences were affirmed by 27.4% of the students. Importantly, only 14.5% self-reported a better academic performance in online courses. Major online avoidance variables were boredom (53.1%), inferior learning (52.9%), and communication limitations (43.0%). Surprisingly, 67.7% stated they would consider taking future online courses. Understanding post-COVID-19 student attitudes and barriers provides useful information and should be part of any comprehensive approach to future online education design and implementation. Full article

Background: In this qualitative study, we aimed to evaluate the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes of Syrian pregnant women living in Türkiye toward tetanus vaccination, vaccine hesitations, and the perceived benefits and harms of the tetanus vaccine. Methods: In face-to-face, in-depth interviews, an open-ended, semi-structured interview guide was used by an interviewer and translator who spoke Arabic, which is the mother tongue of the participants. Codes, themes, and subthemes were created. Results: In the study, face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 16 pregnant women. The median age of the pregnant women was 26.5 years (18.0–41.0). The median time since they arrived in Türkiye as migrants was 8.5 years (3.0–10.0). The themes were “Beliefs about vaccines”, “Information about vaccines”, “Knowledge, beliefs and attitudes about tetanus vaccine”, “Reasons for vaccination desire”, “Reasons for not being vaccinated”, and “Problems experienced while receiving health services”. Pregnant women mostly mentioned that vaccines have benefits. Most of the women stated that tetanus vaccine is needed to protect from diseases. There were no women thinking that vaccines are harmful. Some of them only mentioned the minor side effects observed after vaccination. Participants mentioned that they get information about vaccines from relatives such as family and friends, health professionals, television, and social media. However, some women talked about the fact that they had no knowledge about vaccines. A lack of knowledge and not visiting the health institution were the reasons for not being vaccinated. Conclusions: Although participants mostly believed that vaccination is necessary and has benefits, some women had no idea about the exact purpose of vaccines. This lack of knowledge may cause vaccine hesitancy and refusal. Full article

One of the main challenges facing modern societies is achieving environmental sustainability. In the face of the current energy crisis, some countries regard nuclear energy as a viable solution to meet their population’s energy demands. This article analyzes the local people’s responses to a project to develop and exploit a uranium mine in Retortillo-Santidad, a rural area in northwestern Spain on the border with Portugal. Content analysis, using Atlas.ti software (version 23.0), of the open-ended responses of 55 citizens affected by the uranium mine, revealed through network analysis that the responses can be grouped into interconnected blocks. Concerns about risks to health and the traditional economy of the area are associated with a rejection of both the uranium mine and the project itself. In addition, community attitudes towards environmental sustainability, mistrust, and social conflicts among the affected population explain the opposition to the construction of the mine. Assessments reveal different reasons for this: some individuals place more value on the project benefits and their distrust of the company, while others focus more on perceived risks, community conflicts, and environmental sustainability. These findings have practical implications for the development of future energy policies. They emphasize the importance of ensuring that affected citizens are informed about reciprocal benefits, actively heard to understand their diverse evaluations of the mining project, and meaningfully included in the implementation of energy initiatives. This underscores the necessity of adopting a more inclusive approach. Full article

Today, the world is facing two major issues: unemployment and environmental degradation. To promote employment, universities and higher educational institutions all over the world are boosting entrepreneurial intentions among students to overcome the challenge of unemployment. Moreover, in higher educational institutions in developed and developing countries, sustainability is being promoted. However, Pakistan is far behind in applying these concepts simultaneously. Hence, the objective of the study is to promote sustainable entrepreneurial intentions among the students. For the said purpose, considering the inconsistent findings in the literature where the theory of planned behavior is used to cater to entrepreneurial intentions, entrepreneurial fear and the use of artificial intelligence are added to the theory of planned behavior as a moderator with the support of protection motivation theory and experiential learning theory. The data have been collected from 384 students studying at higher educational institutions in Pakistan. The developed framework has been evaluated using SMART PLS3. The findings confirmed that personal attitude, perceived behavioral control, and perceived feasibility significantly influence sustainable entrepreneurial intentions. Moreover, the synergistic moderation of entrepreneurial fear, as well as the use of artificial intelligence in teaching, is significant. This study ends up with policy guidelines and limitations along with future directions. Full article

In the face of global environmental challenges, Malaysia, like many nations, is seeking to improve its environmental sustainability, and understanding how demographic factors influence individuals’ perceptions, attitudes, and readiness toward End-of-life Vehicle (ELV) management practices is crucial for developing effective policies and interventions. This study, which involved 630 participants of various age groups and employment backgrounds, examines the relationship between demographics and environmental awareness and readiness with a specific focus on the management of ELV. Significant findings reveal that younger individuals, particularly those aged 18 years, are actively engaged in environmental concerns, and the gender distribution is nearly equal, emphasizing a shared interest in ELV practices among men and females. Malays constitute the majority ethnic group, underlining the need for culturally sensitive and inclusive policies, and government employees exhibit greater knowledge about ELVs, while education levels positively correlate with awareness of ELVs. Positive attitudes are predominantly observed among private sector workers and government employees, with semi-government employees demonstrating the highest readiness for ELV initiatives, while the unemployed exhibit the lowest readiness. This research underscores the importance of demographic factors in shaping attitudes, knowledge and readiness concerning ELV management practices in Malaysia, highlighting the need for targeted strategies and interventions tailored to specific demographic groups, which are crucial for policy development and the promotion of sustainable practices, contributing to global environmental conservation efforts. Full article

The high-precision magnetic survey system is crucial for ocean exploration. However, most existing systems face challenges such as high noise levels, low sensitivity, and inadequate magnetic compensation effects. To address these issues, we developed a high-precision magnetic survey system based on the manned submersible “Deep Sea Warrior” for deep-ocean magnetic exploration. This system incorporates a compact optically pumped cesium (Cs) magnetometer sensor to measure the total strength of the external magnetic field. Additionally, a magnetic compensation sensor is included at the front end to measure real-time attitude changes of the platform. The measured data are then transmitted to a magnetic signal processor, where an algorithm compensates for the platform’s magnetic interference. We also designed a deep pressure chamber to allow for a maximum working depth of 4500 m. Experiments conducted in both indoor and field environments verified the performance of the proposed magnetic survey system. The results showed that the system’s sensitivity is ≤0.5 nT, the noise level of the magnetometer sensor is ≤1 pT/√Hz at 1 Hz, and the sampling rate is 10 Hz. The proposed system has potential applications in ocean and geophysical exploration. Full article

On-orbit autonomous relative navigation performance strongly depends on both sensor suite and state reconstruction selection. Whenever that suite relies on image-based sensors working in the visible spectral band, the illumination conditions strongly affect the accuracy and robustness of the state reconstruction outputs. To cope with that limitation, we investigate the effectiveness of exploiting image sensors active in the IR spectral band, not limited by the lighting conditions. To run effective and comprehensive testing and validation campaigns on navigation algorithms, a large dataset of images is required, either available or easy to obtain in the visible band, not trivial and not accessible for the thermal band. The paper presents an open-source tool that exploits accurate finite volume thermal models of celestial objects and artificial satellites to create thermal images based on the camera dynamic. The thermal model relies on open CFD code (OpenFOAM), pushed to catch the finest details of the terrain or of the target geometries, and then the temperature field is processed to compute the view factors between the camera and each face of the mesh; thus, the radiative flux emitted by each face is extracted. Such data feed the rendering engine (Blender) that, together with the camera position and attitude, outputs the thermal image. The complete pipeline, fed by the orbiting target and the imaging sensor kinematic, outputs a proper synthetic thermal image dataset, exploitable either by a relative navigation block or any other scope of research. Furthermore, in the same framework, the article proposes two different thermal sensor models but any sensor model can be applied, providing full customization of the output. The tool performance is critically discussed and applied for two typical proximity scenarios, asteroid and artificial satellite; for both cases, the challenges and capabilities of the implemented tool for synthetic thermal images are highlighted. In the end, the tool is applied in a phase B mission design sponsored by ESA and in related research works; for such cases, the results are reported in the article. Full article

Integrated disaster risk reduction in schools represents a key component of safety strategies within the educational sector of every country. The aim of this study is to comprehensively explore the impact of various demographic and socio-economic factors on the perceptions of students and teachers regarding disaster risk reduction and safety in schools. This study is distinguished by its extensive empirical approach, employing a multistage random sampling method to conduct 850 face-to-face interviews (650 with students and 200 with teachers) throughout 2023 in 10 out of the total 18 municipalities in the Western Morava Basin of the Republic of Serbia. Two structured survey instruments were developed, incorporating a mix of qualitative (closed-ended) multiple-choice questions and five-point Likert scales. The research proposes two central hypotheses regarding school-based disaster risk reduction. Firstly, it suggests that gender, age, parent’s employment, academic achievement, living situation, parental education levels, and engagement with social media collectively influence students’ perspectives on this matter (H1–H8). Secondly, it posits that gender, age, marital status, parenthood, and educational background significantly impact teachers’ viewpoints on school-based disaster risk reduction (H1–H5). Multivariate linear regression was used to explore predictors of students’ and teachers’ insights on school-based disaster risk reduction. Various statistical tests, including Chi-square, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation, were employed to investigate the influence of demographic and socioeconomic factors on these insights. The results of multivariate regression analyses indicate that age, gender, and marital status emerge as the primary predictors across various facets of students’ and teachers’ insights on school-based disaster risk reduction, including awareness of disasters, disaster education activities, attitudes toward disaster risk reduction education, and enhancement of disaster information accessibility. The findings of this study provide comprehensive insights into the key factors influencing students’ and teachers’ perceptions of disaster risk reduction in schools. This research not only contributes to the academic discourse on disaster education but also serves as a foundational basis for improving educational programs, developing policies and strategies, refining normative educational frameworks, guiding teacher training, and informing further research in disaster education. Full article

High-precision positioning and multi-target detection have been proposed as key technologies for robotic path planning and obstacle avoidance. First, the Cartographer algorithm was used to generate high-quality maps. Then, the iterative nearest point (ICP) and the occupation probability algorithms were combined to scan and match the local point cloud, and the positions and attitudes of the robot were obtained. Furthermore, Sparse Matrix Pose Optimization was carried out to improve the positioning accuracy. The positioning accuracy of the robot in x and y directions was kept within 5 cm, the angle error was controlled within 2°, and the positioning time was reduced by 40%. An improved timing elastic band (TEB) algorithm was proposed to guide the robot to move safely and smoothly. A critical factor was introduced to adjust the distance between the waypoints and the obstacle, generating a safer trajectory, and increasing the constraint of acceleration and end speed; thus, smooth navigation of the robot to the target point was achieved. The experimental results showed that, in the case of multiple obstacles being present, the robot could choose the path with fewer obstacles, and the robot moved smoothly when facing turns and approaching the target point by reducing its overshoot. The proposed mapping, positioning, and improved TEB algorithms were effective for high-precision positioning and efficient multi-target detection. Full article

Background: As a result of demographic change, chronic and oncological diseases are gaining importance in the context of public health. Palliative care plays a crucial role in maintaining the quality of life of those affected. International guidelines demand access to palliative care not only for the elderly but also for younger people who face severe illnesses. It can be assumed that palliative care will become increasingly important for them. In order to develop public health strategies which are able to promote palliative care, it is important to assess the knowledge of, and attitude towards, palliative care as found among members of the general public and its specific target groups. In particular, little is known about young adults’ knowledge and perceptions of palliative care. Objectives and design: This work aimed to assess the understanding and viewpoints regarding palliative care among the general population and among young adults aged 18 to 24. We therefore conducted a systematic review, which, for this target population, could be seen as a novel approach. Methods: Exclusion and inclusion criteria were developed using the PICOS process. Literature was researched within MEDLINE (via PubMed), Google Scholar and Web of Science. A search string was developed and refined for all three databases. Grey literature was included. Duplicates were excluded using Mendeley. The literature was independently screened by two researchers. Narrative synthesis was used to answer the main research question. Results: For the general public, palliative care is still associated with death and dying and comforting sick people towards the end of their lives. Multiple social determinants are linked to better knowledge of palliative care: higher education, higher income, female gender, having relatives that received palliative care, and permanent employment. The population’s knowledge of palliative care structures increases, the longer such structures have been established within a country. Young adults are familiar with the term palliative care, yet their understanding lacks nuance. They associate palliative care with death and dying and perceive palliative care to be a medical discipline primarily for the elderly. Nevertheless, young adults demand participation within the planning of interventions to destigmatize palliative care. Conclusions: The general public still lacks a detailed understanding of palliative care. Palliative care faces stigma at multiple levels, which creates barriers for those who set out to implement it. However, addressing young adults as a crucial peer group can help break down barriers and promote access to palliative care. Full article