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Active computer gaming (ACG) is a way for older people to participate in strength and balance exercise. Involving older adults in the development of a bespoke ACG system may optimise its usability and acceptability. The purpose of this paper is to employ user-centred design to develop an ACG system to deliver strength and balance exercises, and to explore its safety, usability and acceptability in older adults.

This paper describes user involvement from an early stage, and its influence on the development of the system to deliver strength and balance exercise suitable for display on a flat screen or using an Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset. It describes user testing of this ACG system in older adults.

Service users were involved at two points in the development process. Their feedback was used to modify the ACG system prior to user testing of a prototype of the ACG system by n=9 older adults. Results indicated the safety, usability and acceptability of the system, with a strong preference for the screen display.

The sample size for user testing was small; however, it is considered to have provided sufficient information to inform the further development of the system.

Findings from user testing were used to modify the ACG system. This paper identified that future research could explore the influence of repeated use on the usability and acceptability of ACG in older adults.

There is limited information on the usability and acceptability VR headsets in this population.

Early interventions focusing on exercise and lifestyle are important for individuals with a diagnosis of psychosis due to increased risk of poor physical health and reduced life expectancy. This study aims to test the feasibility of a multicomponent lifestyle intervention for individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP).

Individuals attending an Irish FEP service were invited to engage in an eight-week programme including individual and group exercise sessions, group educational sessions and one dietician consultation. Physical activity, physical health, mental health, cognition and personal goals measures were completed pre- and post-intervention and analysed using descriptive statistics. Feasibility data was collected via a non-standardised participant questionnaire and informal data on completion of measures and engagement with the programme.

Ten participants with a diagnosis of FEP completed the intervention. Participants were satisfied with the intervention and adherence rates were high for weekly individual gym sessions but lower for group exercise and education sessions. Mean time spent engaging in physical activity increased and sedentary behaviours decreased. Participants indicated increased readiness for change with 90% moving to the action or maintenance stages of change. Participants attained 74% of their personal goals. There were no changes in average body mass index, cognition or mental health. Data relating to blood pressure, blood tests and steps was missing or incomplete.

This study indicates an eight-week exercise and lifestyle programme is feasible and acceptable in a clinical setting. Recommendations relating to satisfaction, clinical markers and resource requirements are made for future studies.

The Leap Motion represents a new generation of depth sensing cameras designed for close range tracking of hands and fingers, operating with minimal latency and high spatial precision (0.01 mm). The purpose of this paper is to develop virtual reality (VR) simulations of three well-known hand-based rehabilitation tasks using a commercial game engine and utilising a Leap camera as the primary mode of interaction. The authors present results from an initial evaluation by professional clinicians of these VR simulations for use in their hand and finger physical therapy practice.

A cross-disciplinary team of researchers collaborated with a local software company to create three dimension interactive simulations of three hand focused rehabilitation tasks: Cotton Balls, Stacking Blocks, and the Nine Hole Peg Test. These simulations were presented to a group of eight physiotherapists and occupational therapists (n=8) based in the Regional Acquired Brain Injury Unit, Belfast Health, and Social Care Trust for evaluation. After induction, the clinicians attempted the tasks presented and provided feedback by filling out a questionnaire.

Results from questionnaires (using a Likert scale 1-7, where 1 was the most favourable response) revealed a positive response to the simulations with an overall mean score across all questions equal to 2.59. Clinicians indicated that the system contained tasks that were easy to understand (mean score 1.88), and though it took several attempts to become competent, they predicted that they would improve with practice (mean score 2.25). In general, clinicians thought the prototypes provided a good illustration of the tasks required in their practice (mean score 2.38) and that patients would likely be motivated to use the system (mean score 2.38), especially young patients (mean score 1.63), and in the home environment (mean score 2.5).

Cameras offer an unobtrusive and low maintenance approach to tracking user motion in VR therapy in comparison to methods based on wearable technologies. This paper presents positive results from an evaluation of the new Leap Motion camera for input control of VR simulations or games. This mode of interaction provides a low cost, easy to use, high-resolution system for tracking fingers and hands, and has great potential for home-based physical therapies, particularly for young people.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the practical realities of using a college seminar to fulfill the carbon audit requirement for signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and presents evidence of this approach's advantages as an educational and practical tool.

The paper reviews the course structure and presents research findings, based on student questionnaires on student learning outcomes.

Structuring a course around a campus carbon audit has unique educational advantages for students and practical advantages for ACUPCC signatory campuses.

This paper enumerates the concrete advantages to using a college class to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory and provides evidence of valuable learning outcomes for students in such a class.

Mindfulness is a well-studied phenomenon in many disciplines. Little is known about its impacts on employees at work. The purpose of this paper is to focus on mindfulness at work, defined as a psychological state in which employees intentionally pay full attention to the present moment while executing job tasks. The research model, grounded in conservation of resources theory, depicts how mindfulness at work may help employees develop resources (work-family balance and job engagement) which may be associated with greater well-being (less psychological distress and more job satisfaction) and organizational attitudes (intent to turnover and affective commitment).

Using a sample of 503 full time employees, the authors test the model with structural equation modeling.

Results supported the full research model, suggesting that mindfulness at work is an important antecedent to resource accrual, well-being, and organizational attitudes. Mindfulness at work exerted direct and indirect effects on turnover intentions and affective commitment.

The inclusion of job engagement as a mediator provides an interesting counterpoint and extension of prior studies suggesting that job engagement negates the effects of mindfulness on turnover intentions (Dane, 2014).

The research suggests that mindfulness at work is highly trainable and may enhance a variety of career outcomes.

This study extends emerging literature on mindfulness at work by offering a new scale grounded in established theory and the practice of mindfulness.

Undergraduate research experiences are associated with higher post‐baccalaureate enrolment rates for first‐generation students, but scholars have yet to develop explanations for why this is the case. This paper aims to examine the experience of first‐generation undergraduate students.

Using case study methodology informed by grounded theory analytic methods, the authors qualitatively examine the experience of undergraduate research for ten first‐generation undergraduate students in the Ronald E. McNair Post‐baccalaureate Achievement Program, a faculty diversity programme funded by the US federal government located on almost 200 colleges and universities.

Students describe a recursive growth process that involved the acquisition of concrete skills, support from a cohort of their peers, mentoring relationships, and positive external recognition. By socialising them to forms of social and cultural capital that are valued in the academy, the programme cultivates the research identities and aspirations of participants. Students themselves develop a secondary habitus as well as a desire to challenge prevailing scholarly norms through their research aims and topics. Findings help refine Bourdieu's theory of reproduction in education and society for the context of American graduate education, for as students come to see themselves differently, they also see their futures differently and enrol in graduate education at higher rates than the national average.

This research is the first to examine how first generation students uniquely benefit from undergraduate research experiences.