When Technology Has Invisible Hands: Designing Wearable Technologies for Haptic Communication of Emotions

Author(s):  
Monica Bordegoni ◽  
Secil Ugur ◽  
Marina Carulli

In face-to-face communication, touch can establish intimacy, and therefore the presence of tactile stimulation can enhance the interpersonal relationships. While human-human interaction has been shifting from face-to-face physical conversations to electronically mediated form of communication, current technologies are not able to provide a multimodal sensorial experience that can support haptic interaction besides visual and auditory. Within the haptic research fields, affective haptics explore emotional interaction and perception mediated via touch that is simulated by technology. Besides, wearable technology and tangible interfaces can be employed as a solution to bridge the gap between the digital and physical worlds by making the body fully engaged with the interaction. This paper presents findings of a design practice that explores the avenues of affective tactile interaction through wearable technology, which can artificially produce tactile stimulations as medium for instant communication between two people. The findings are presented by the light of theoretical background, observations and analysis of the design practice.

Author(s):  
Alan César Belo Angeluci

In studies on mobile communication, a topic that has been of particular interest is the impact of increased adoption and use of mobile devices in everyday activities and in the context of interpersonal relationships. However, the ease of accessing digital content and connecting to people physically distant through the recent mobile communication technologies has shown barriers and opportunities in human interaction. Based on the theoretical approaches on identity and relational artifacts grounded in mobility and absent presence concepts, this paper describes some aspects among young people in Brazil in relation to the “phubbing” phenomenon. The term was coined to describe the act of ignoring someone due to the use of a smartphone. The results indicated effects on the level of attention and interaction, regarding not only the content of smartphone, but also the social protocol and the face-to-face communication.


1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 51-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Guiguer ◽  
T. Franz

In the last few years, groundwater management has concentrated on the protection of groundwater quality. An increasing number of countries has adopted policies to protect vital groundwater resources from deterioration by regulating human interaction with the subsurface, the use of potential contaminants, land use restrictions, and waste transport and storage. One of the more common regulatory approaches to the protection of groundwater focuses on public water supplies to reduce the potential of human exposure to hazardous contaminants. Under the framework of the Safe Drinking Water Act amended by U.S. Congress in 1986, The U.S.EPA (1987) issued guidelines for the delineation of wellhead protection areas, recommending the use of analytical and numerical models for the identification of such areas. In this study, the theoretical background for the development of one such numerical model is presented. Two real-world applications are discussed: in the first case history, the model is applied to a Superfund Site in Puerto Rico as a tool for assessment of the effectiveness of a proposed pump-and-treat scheme for aquifer remediation. Based on simulation results for the evolution of the existing contaminant plume it was verified that such a scheme would not work with the proposed purging wells. The second case history is the delineation of a wellhead protection area in the Town of Littleton, Massachusetts, and subsequent design of a monitoring well network.


Author(s):  
Deborah Carr ◽  
Vera K. Tsenkova

The body weight of U.S. adults and children has risen markedly over the past three decades. The physical health consequences of obesity are widely documented, and emerging research from the Midlife in the United States study and other large-scale surveys reveals the harmful impact of obesity on adults’ psychosocial and interpersonal well-being. This chapter synthesizes recent research on the psychosocial implications of body weight, with attention to explanatory mechanisms and subgroup differences in these patterns. A brief statistical portrait of body weight is provided, documenting rates and correlates of obesity, with a focus on race, gender, and socioeconomic status disparities. The consequences of body weight for three main outcomes are described: institutional and everyday discrimination, interpersonal relationships, and psychological well-being. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the ways that recent integrative health research on the psychosocial consequences of overweight and obesity inform our understanding of population health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Jiajia Wang ◽  
Jitao Li ◽  
Qianqian Ge ◽  
Zhao Chen ◽  
Jian Li

The Exopalaemon carinicauda could be a useful crustacean laboratory animal in many research fields. We newly established an inbred line of Exopalaemon carinicauda named EC4 inbred line by brother×sister mating and keeping to F11 generation. Trends in heterozygosity in the process of producing EC4 inbred line were examined through the characterization of polymorphisms based on gene frequencies of SNP and EST-SSR loci. The results demonstrated that the number of alleles (N), observed heterozygosity (Ho), expected heterozygosity (He), and polymorphism information content (PIC) gradually decreased with the increase of inbreeding generations. The genetic detection results indicated that 9 (29.03%, 9/31) of the SNP loci and 15 (32.61%, 15/46) of the EST-SSR loci were homozygous in F11 generation of EC4 inbred line. The variation of the growth-related traits, the immune responses, and antioxidant status were described in experimental full-sibling inbred populations of E. carinicauda at five levels of inbreeding coefficient (F=0.785, F=0.816, F=0.859, F=0.886, F=0.908) under controlled laboratory conditions. The body weight, body length, and survival rate in EC4 inbred line of all generations were less than the control population. Inbreeding affected the antibacterial activity, phenoloxidase (PO) activity, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) which decreased at the eleventh generation of EC4 inbred line. This study demonstrated that inbreeding had a negative effect on the economic traits and immune response, but our inbred line was established successfully until F11 and confirmed by genetic detection using SNP and EST-SSR loci.


ReCALL ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jérôme Eneau ◽  
Christine Develotte

AbstractThis study concerns the development of autonomy in adult learners working on an online learning platform as part of a professional master's degree programme in “French as a Foreign Language”. Our goal was to identify the influence of reflective and collaborative dimensions on the construction of autonomy for online learners in this programme. The material used was 27 self-analysis papers in response to an assignment which asked students to review their distance learning experience (reflective dimension) and to highlight the role of others, if any, in their learning (collaborative dimension). In addition to these two major points, the analysis by category of the body of results shows principally that in qualitative terms, the factors of autonomisation for online learning are interconnected and include: the difficulties related to distance learning and the strategies that learners develop to face those difficulties, the importance of interpersonal relationships in social and emotional terms in overcoming those difficulties, the specific modes of sociability developed for distance learning and the related development of a new type of autonomy that is both individual and collective. The discussion examines the creation, over the course of time, of a new “distance learning culture” that is nonetheless never easy to create and share.


2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica T. Whitty

AbstractWhile flirting is a relatively underresearched area within psychology, even less is known about how people cyber-flirt. This paper explores how often individuals flirt offline compared to online. Moreover, it attempts to examine how men and women flirt within these different spaces. Five thousand, six hundred and ninety-seven individuals, of which 3554 (62%) were women and 2143 (38%) were men, completed a survey about their flirting behaviour both in face-to-face interactions and in chatrooms. The first hypothesis, which stated that the body would be used to flirt with as frequently online as offline, was partly supported. However, it was found that individuals downplayed the importance of physical attractiveness online. Women flirted by displaying nonverbal signals (offline) or substitutes for nonverbal cues (online), to a greater extent than men. In chatrooms men were more likely than women to initiate contact. It is concluded that cyber-flirting is more than simply a meeting of minds and that future research needs to consider the role of the body in online interactions.


Author(s):  
Abdul Munir Ismail Et.al

The study aims to highlight the current learning approaches used by postgraduate students to complete their postgraduate studies on time, as studies have shown many students have failed to finish their studies as planned. In particular, this study focuses on factors and methods that are perceived to be most effective by students to help them complete their studies on time.  Methodology: Thisstudy was based on a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews. The study sample consisted of 14 postgraduate students and one lecturers as respondents. The research instrument was based on interview questions to elicit relevant information on their demography and learning practices. Data were collected and organized into four themes and were subsequently analyzed descriptively.     Findings: The findings showed that face-to-face discussions were the most popular practice adopted by the respondents. The findings also showed several factors had significant impacts on student learning, such as interpersonal relationships between students and supervisors, commitment, financial commitment, and moral support, which needs to be taken into account in helping students to complete on time.     Significance: The research findings can inform all the stakeholders, notably students, supervisors, and administrative officers, factors that have profound impacts on postgraduate students’ efforts to graduate on time.


Author(s):  
Svetlana Artemyeva ◽  
E. Zhuravleva ◽  
E. Plehanova

The health of students and their physical fitness are among the most important and urgent problems. Health depends to a large extent on the way of life, covering the entire complex of life processes and the entire area of human interaction with the environment. When studying the functional state of the body, the most important are the indicators of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the assessment of the level of physical development, fitness, functional capabilities and deviations in health. Motor activity increases the adaptation of the human body to changing environmental conditions and improves all adaptive mechanisms. Decreased physical activity contributes to an increase in the number of disorders in the body, which entails the risk of mental and physical discomfort in students.


Author(s):  
Monika Rogowska-Stangret

The article presents the philosophy of Elizabeth Grosz, its theoretical background and methods. It concentrates mainly on the category of the body which is present in her thought from the very beginning. The author pays particular attention to the problem of materiality of the body raised in The Nick of Time and Time Travels: why is the body docile? What makes it so vulnerable? What precedes social inscriptions? Those questions underline the problem of the biological aspect of the body as a part of nature which comes together with Grosz's interpretation of Darwin. The theory of evolution shows the temporality of human being and its culture and introduces future possibilities of overcoming the humankind and creating new ways of knowing, new sexes, new forms of living etc. The author suggests that this understanding of the body takes us beyond the human being and beyond subjectivity, it faces us with the process of becoming different which is perceived as emancipating. The author also suggests that Grosz's idea of the politics of imperceptibility is close to Foucault's recognition of the value of women's movement which, in his opinion, lies not in identity struggles but above all in struggles concentrating on broader cultural, social etc. changes. Both Foucault and Grosz aim at potential practices that involve giving up the question of our identities.


Curationis ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. Mothiba ◽  
R.N. Malema

Alcohol abuse is a problem in South Africa and it has negative effects on the wellbeing of individuals, families, friends, work associates and neighbours. Alcohol produces both psychological and physical dependence. Gillies (1999:112) indicated that alcoholism usually interferes with the ability to socialize, work and may lead to much other destructive behaviour. It was further stated that people who are addicted to alcohol often have a low self-esteem, immaturity, are easily frustrated, and have difficulty in solving personal problems. This study investigated the perceptions of community members towards youth abusing alcohol and identified, among others, anti-social behaviour, poor interpersonal relationships, family disorganization, poor integration with family members and physical damage as the major concerns. An attempt was also made to develop strategies that can be used to overcome the problems of alcohol abuse by youth. Design and Method: A qualitative, exploratory, descriptive and contextual research design was followed in this study for the participants to describe their perceptions regarding the phenomenon in question (Brink, 2006:113). Data were collected through individual unstructured interviews in one village of the Capricorn District of the Limpopo Province. The researchers employed the principles of Guba and Lincoln (1993) cited in De Vos (1998:331) relating to trustworthiness and adhered to the ethical standards as set by the Democratic Nurses Association of South Africa (DENOSA, 1998:2.3.2).Findings: Five themes and seven categories emerged from the data analysis, using Tech’s open coding approach (1990), as outlined in De Vos (1998:343), namely, antisocial behaviour, poor interpersonal behaviour, physical damage, poor progress in life processes and effects of alcohol on the body. To address the problem of alcohol abuse by youth in one village (the study area) of the Capricorn District in the Limpopo Province and other villages the study recommends that educational and recreational facilities and the formation of youth structures should be established.


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