Media Design School

FemTech is an emerging industry offering products, software, and services to support women’s health and well-being. Within FemTech, mobile health applications (mHealth apps) are popular for managing menstruation, fertility, pregnancy, and menopause. Yet, these apps expose users to deceptive and misleading practices, which can be characterized as Dark Patterns in user experience (or dark UX). Dark UX in commercial FemTech mHealth apps is underexplored, leaving a critical gap in understanding how deceptive patterns manifest in intimate health contexts, the harms they cause, and how to address them. We crowd-source and thematically analyze user accounts of dark UX through user reviews from sixteen systematically selected FemTech mHealth apps. User-reported accounts of dark UX in FemTech mHealth apps reveal several problematic design patterns, which emphasize risks for minors and the need for more transparent design of FemTech mHealth apps. Based on our results, we outline recommendations for enhancing ethical UX design and furthering regulatory action in FemTech.

Increasing global migration has led to the rapid growth of interactions between organizations, groups, and individuals from various cultures. As such, knowing how to decode communication involving conversational partners from other cultures is essential in avoiding misunderstandings and needless conflicts. We present SentioScape, a Mixed Reality (MR) system for aiding emotional expression and understanding to foster more effective cross-cultural communication. The system allows co-located users to customize their own abstract visual representations of their emotions and perceive those of another person. 20 participants took part in an experiment to evaluate the system, with preliminary results revealing some positive trends that suggest the system has potential as a tool for creating more effective emotional communication between high- and low-context communicators.

ABSTRACT Reflection is a foundational concept and practice across the higher education sector, recognised for its role in supporting student learning and professional development. This comment paper frames our conceptualisation of reflective practice with a definition and declares its underpinning assumptions. Our review of reflective practice through the pages of HERD reveals studies contributing new knowledge about the levels and assessment of reflection, its role as an intervention for student learning and insights through Indigenous perspectives. A critique of the literature identifies implications for future research including a need to address gaps such as large-scale, multi-institutional projects that explore beyond the cognitive dimension and text-based journalling. Guidance is needed for effective reflective practice. We offer a synthesis of research and practice, undertaken over a fifteen-year period, which culminated in eight new principles of reflective practice for learning and teaching. Enacting these principles will support the realisation of the benefits and potential of reflection for learning.

Load balancing is crucial in distributed systems like fog computing, where efficiency is paramount. Offloading with different approaches is the key to balancing the load in distributed environments. Static offloading (SoA) falls short in heterogeneous networks, necessitating dynamic offloading to reduce latency in time-sensitive tasks. However, prevalent dynamic offloading (PoA) solutions often come with hidden costs that impact sensitive applications, including decision time, networks congested and distance offloading. This paper introduces the Hybrid Offloading (HybOff) algorithm, which substantially enhances load balancing and resource utilization in fog networks, addressing issues in both static and dynamic approaches while leveraging clustering theory. Its goal is to create an uncomplicated low-cost offloading approach that enhances IoT application performance by eliminating the consequences of hidden costs regardless of network size. Experimental results using the iFogSim simulation tool show that HybOff significantly reduces offloading messages, distance, and decision-offloading consequences. It improves load balancing by 97%, surpassing SoA (64%) and PoA (88%). Additionally, it increases system utilization by an average of 50% and enhances system performance 1.6 times and 1.4 times more than SoA and PoA, respectively. In summary, this paper tries to introduce a new offloading approach in load balancing research in fog environments.

To enhance the dining experience, prior studies in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and gastrophysics have demonstrated that modifying the static shape of solid foods can amplify taste perception. However, the exploration of dynamic shape-changing mechanisms in liquid foods remains largely untapped. In the present study, we employ cymatics, a scientific discipline focused on utilizing sound frequencies to generate patterns in liquids and particles—to augment the drinking experience. Utilizing speakers, we dynamically reshaped liquids exhibiting five distinct taste profiles and evaluated resultant changes in taste perception and drinking experience. Our research objectives extend beyond merely augmenting taste from visual to tactile sensations; we also prioritize the experiential aspects of drinking. Through a series of experiments and workshops, we revealed a significant impact on taste perception and overall drinking experience when mediated by cymatics effects. Building upon these findings, we designed and developed tableware to integrate cymatics principles into gastronomic experiences.

I received my BE (Bachelor of Engineering) in Electronics and Telecommu-

Background: The flexibility and value of the Nurse Practitioner (NP) role has been recognized as providing significant benefits for patient groups internationally since the 1960s, and nationally since 2000. At the time of this study, approximately 400 NPs were endorsed to deliver care across diverse clinical and geographic Victorian locations. However, little was known about the supportive requirements to meet their networking and mentoring needs. The aim of this study was to determine the NPs’ degree of membership and engagement and perceived provision of mentorship with NP Communities of Practice (CoP). Methods: An exploratory prospective cross-sectional multi-site study using an online survey was used to collect data. A total of 182 participants responded to the survey. Findings: NPs depend on each other to learn what they need to learn to transition to the NP role in clinical and non-clinical aspects of the role. While the benefits of NP CoP membership proved instrumental in facilitating transformational leadership knowledge, the Victorian NP CoP reinforced that there was room for improvement in the manner in which the groups were not only set up but also how they continued to meet the cohort’s contemporary needs. Most participants reported associated membership benefits such as support, networking, as well as being able to undertake educational opportunities. Further, a small number found NP CoP membership contributed to their sense of belonging, effectively decreasing their sense of professional isolation. To a lesser degree, mentorship and information sharing were reported. Conclusion: Participants identified the NP CoP as collegial, supportive environments which nurtured and facilitated transition to the NP role. By including educational, leadership, networking, and mentoring opportunities, the Victorian NP CoP decreased professional isolation for both neophyte and experienced NPs. However, the NP CoP did not meet all member’s needs.

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic has elevated levels of distress and resulted in anti-Asian discrimination in many countries. We aimed to determine the 10-month prevalence of depression symptoms in Asian adults in New Zealand during the pandemic and to see if this was related to experience of racism. An online survey was conducted and a stratified sample of 402 respondents completed the brief Centre for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale. Analyses included: descriptive statistics, depression scores by age/gender, factor analysis of the 10 item CES-D and partial correlation network analysis of CES-D items together with questions about experience of racism. Results show that half of the sample reported clinically significant symptoms of depression. Depression was higher among younger participants but there was no gender difference. Internal consistency was high (α = 0.85) for the CES-D which revealed a clear two-factor structure. Network analysis suggested that sleeping problems might be the bridge between experiences of racism and depression. The prevalence of low mood was high with clinically significant levels of depressive symptoms. Depression was higher in younger people and had a modest positive correlation with personal experience of racism.