Invisible to Visible: Identifying the Emerging Communication Needs in the ‘New Normal’ through Design Research

The pandemic, which started at the end of 2019, has affected societies in their own socio-cultural contexts and altered the interactions of human beings through their use of personal spaces and objects. Changes in the design of a wide range of objects varying from small tools to urban furniture are anticipated, as the “new normal” will be fully established in the coming months and years. We believe that each individual is recognized to be affected by a different aspect of pandemic, which yielded the fact that for such cases the paradigm for design may shift to favor user needs more than maintaining usability. This study examined the personal behavioral transformations after the acceptance of “new normal” and how these would be reflected on the design of everyday objects, tools or spaces. In order to address this problem, we developed design research method that was based on the tales of utopic cities found in the novel Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino. In this method, students, who already started living under the requirements of curfew, were guided to turn inwards and relate with their needs that arouse in the pandemic period with one selected city narrative and try to find design solutions based on the metaphorical narration and language used in the selected story. From the analysis of 17 works based on abductive reasoning, we obtained results in two different categories: (i) 5 generic cases supported by user scenarios, (ii) 3 groups of artifacts interacted by analogue means.

Which meaning is instilled in the idea of the ultimate ontology and existence of the world

This paper discusses the concept of ultimate ontology and the mechanism of its projection upon reality. The article consists of two thematic parts: the first analyzes the general cultural processes of the establishment of ultimate ontology and worldview, while the second traces the evolution of representations of the reality and ultimate ontology in the Moscow Methodological Circle. The article discusses the example of representation of nature, which fulfills the functions of ultimate ontology and worldview of the European Art Nouveau. Leaning on the personal research, the author outlines the following stages of the establishment of ultimate ontology: construction of narratives (i.e., initially these were schemes only, and thus, virtual semantic reality); perception and proliferation of these narratives (acquisition in the course of communication); practicing the acquired narratives (schemes) with behavioral transformations of the individuals; functioning of the new social reality, including its examination, and in some instances, attempts to make changes therein, Not every ultimate ontology is recognized in culture as the worldview, it pertains only to such that allows explicating the practices (including epistemic), which determine the core processes of functionality and development of the culture. The article also offers a reconstruction of the history of the Moscow Methodological Circle, which with time has replaced the three ultimate ontologies – attitude, activity, and mental activity. In the first two cases, these ontologies were suggested for the role of the worldviews (namely the category of activity); in the third case, G. P. Shchedrovitsky, who created the scheme of mental activity, for the most part considered it as a method of configuration of other methodological schemes, rather than a unified ontological reality. The article explores the reasons that impeded Shchedrovitsky and the members of the Moscow Methodological Circle to comprehend the essence of thinking, forgo the interpretation of the worldview as an activity, and shift towards the development of the theory of mental activity.

Psychological diagnosis and gender analysis of teenagers’ addiction propensity

We consider the current issue of teenagers’ attitude to psychoactive substances. A comprehensive study of the value relationship of teenagers to psychoactive substances and the motivation for their use is necessary. The teenagers development crisis leads to a drop in academic performance, a decrease in working capacity, negativism, alienation, ambivalence of feelings and much more, it is noted that the demonstrative “adulthood” of teenagers, their acute experience of the discrepancy between the external and internal worlds often lead them to behavioral transformations aimed at remaking reality for themselves. Based on the types of deviations characterized in psychology, we analyze the causes of chemical addiction. In the course of the study, we identify the main reasons that encourage teenagers to try drugs and consider the age differentiation of the reasons. The main motives of alcohol consumption by teenagers are determined. The results of the study were analyzed by gender of the respondents, and the peculiarities of the attitude to psychoactive substances and persons who use the above substances were noted. We present an expert assessment of the risk of teenagers’ dependence on psychoactive substances, given by schoolteachers, and identify the main causes that affect the risk of developing addiction. We note the necessity of conducting psychological preventive work with this group of respondents and the environment.

After the Storm

Chapter six addresses survivors’ mental, physical, and behavioral transformations in the post-event phase following Hurricane Harvey. The authors review factors that contribute to disaster mental health reactions, including PTSD and depression symptoms, before explaining how challenging mental health reactions were distributed across the Texas Gulf Coast. Next, the chapter offers narrative accounts that serve as exemplars of growth and positive psychological change. Finally, the chapter describes an association between survivors’ displacement paths and climate risk perception, as well as how people are preparing for future hurricanes. In this description, social and economic factors suggest that the Texas Gulf Coast is becoming a patchwork of preparedness where the poor and socially isolated remain vulnerable to future disasters.

Emergence of a Neolithic in highland New Guinea by 5000 to 4000 years ago

The emergence of agriculture was one of the most notable behavioral transformations in human history, driving innovations in technologies and settlement globally, referred to as the Neolithic. Wetland agriculture originated in the New Guinea highlands during the mid-Holocene (8000 to 4000 years ago), yet it is unclear if there was associated behavioral change. Here, we report the earliest figurative stone carving and formally manufactured pestles in Oceania, dating to 5050 to 4200 years ago. These discoveries, at the highland site of Waim, occur with the earliest planilateral axe-adzes in New Guinea, the first evidence for fibercraft, and interisland obsidian transfer. The combination of symbolic social systems, complex technologies, and highland agricultural intensification supports an independent emergence of a Neolithic ~1000 years before the arrival of Neolithic migrants (Lapita) from Southeast Asia.

Revisiting the Psychology of Denial Concerning Low-Carbon Behaviors: From Moral Disengagement to Generating Social Change

This paper reassesses the scope for shifting high-carbon personal behaviors in the light of prevailing insufficient political and regulatory action. Our previous research has shown that citizens regard such behavioral shifts as extremely daunting and create a number of psychological denial mechanisms that draw attention to the inaction of others, including governments. Further theoretical insights and relevant new findings have been attained from a more recent survey of more than 1000 German residents. This reveals that direct denial of anthropogenic climate change is replaced by a denial of responsibility for individual climate action. Ways of moral disengagement play a more dominant role, such as the diffusion and displacement of responsibility, although a majority is aware of—and very much concerned about—the climate crisis. More attention needs to be given for further reinterpretation of the role of moral disengagement to single out adequate strategies for different individuals and groups of people, such as making role models more visible to encourage social learning that could accelerate further necessary moral and behavioral transformations.

Risk Management in Future Romanian E-Government 2.0 Projects

E-government public services in Romania must follow unitary procedures considering the new requirements of the European Union from the Digital Agenda for Europe Strategy 2020. E-government 2.0 has to be implemented because of the cultural and behavioral transformations in the interaction between governments and users of e-services. E-government 2.0 projects use tools and techniques of social media to accomplish their goals. This article examines the possible risk categories and the risk management procedures needed to mitigate risks in future Romanian e-government projects, according to the strategic lines of development for the Digital Agenda. We propose a risk management plan for the e-government lines of action within the strategic lines of development that includes identifying, assessing, and mitigating the risks. New and modernized government services through e-government 2.0 projects that apply risk management will bring a significant improvement in how citizens and businesses relate to government and will increase the use of e-government services.

Androgen-Induced Vocal Transformation in Adult Female African Clawed Frogs

Sex-specific behaviors of some vertebrates are reversible by androgen administered in adulthood. Such behavioral transformations in adulthood provide opportunities to identify how neural systems reconfigure to produce sex-specific behavior. In this study, we focused on the vocalizations of the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Male and female adult Xenopus produce sexually distinct vocalizations; males produce series of rapid clicks, whereas females produce slow trains of clicks. The differences in click rate can be reduced to differences in the firing rate of laryngeal motoneurons in vivo. This behavioral dimorphism is accompanied by various sex-specific characteristics throughout the vocal pathways, including functionally distinct laryngeal muscles and motoneurons in the sexes. In this study, we first determined whether and how testosterone (T) modifies the vocalizations of adult females and then examined changes underlying the behavioral modification at the laryngeal muscle and motoneuron levels. Our results show that, in response to T, the vocalizations of females were transformed within 13 wk. Vocal transformation was preceded by complete masculinization of muscle contractile properties and motoneuron soma size by the fourth week of T treatment, which suggests that the vocal pathways' peripheral components masculinize earlier than the behavior. Therefore the rate of transformation of vocal behavior must reflect a functional transformation of neurons in the central vocal pathways, which leads to the generation of male-like motor rhythms.