scholarly journals Coordination dynamics of multi-agent interaction in a musical ensemble

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Proksch ◽  
Majerle Reeves ◽  
Michael Spivey ◽  
Ramesh Balasubramaniam

AbstractHumans interact with other humans at a variety of timescales and in a variety of social contexts. We exhibit patterns of coordination that may differ depending on whether we are genuinely interacting as part of a coordinated group of individuals vs merely co-existing within the same physical space. Moreover, the local coordination dynamics of an interacting pair of individuals in an otherwise non-interacting group may spread, propagating change in the global coordination dynamics and interaction of an entire crowd. Dynamical systems analyses, such as Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA), can shed light on some of the underlying coordination dynamics of multi-agent human interaction. We used RQA to examine the coordination dynamics of a performance of “Welcome to the Imagination World”, composed for wind orchestra. This performance enacts a real-life simulation of the transition from uncoordinated, non-interacting individuals to a coordinated, interacting multi-agent group. Unlike previous studies of social interaction in musical performance which rely on different aspects of video and/or acoustic data recorded from each individual, this project analyzes group-level coordination patterns solely from the group-level acoustic data of an audio recording of the performance. Recurrence and stability measures extracted from the audio recording increased when musicians coordinated as an interacting group. Variability in these measures also increased, indicating that the interacting ensemble of musicians were able to explore a greater variety of behavior than when they performed as non-interacting individuals. As an orchestrated (non-emergent) example of coordination, we believe these analyses provide an indication of approximate expected distributions for recurrence patterns that may be measurable before and after truly emergent coordination.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Proksch ◽  
Majerle Reeves ◽  
Ramesh Balasubramaniam ◽  
Michael Spivey

Humans interact with other humans at a variety of timescales and in a variety of social contexts. We exhibit patterns of coordination that may differ depending on whether we are genuinely interacting as part of a coordinated group of individuals vs merely co-existing within the same physical space. Moreover, the local coordination dynamics of an interacting pair of individuals in an otherwise non-interacting group may spread, propagating change in the global coordination dynamics and interaction of an entire crowd. Dynamical systems analyses, such as Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA), can shed light on the underlying coordination dynamics of multi-agent human interaction. We used RQA to examine the coordination dynamics of a performance of “Welcome to the Imagination World”, composed for wind orchestra. This performance enacts a real-life simulation of the transition from uncoordinated, non-interacting individuals to a coordinated, interacting multi-agent group. Unlike previous studies of social interaction in musical performance which rely on different aspects of video data, this project analyzes group-level coordination patterns solely from the acoustic data of an audio recording of the performance. Recurrence and stability measures extracted from the audio recording increased when musicians coordinated as an interacting group. Variability in these measures also increased, indicating that the interacting ensemble of musicians were able to explore a greater variety of behavior than when they performed as non-interacting individuals. As an orchestrated (non-emergent) example of coordination, we believe these analyses provide an approximate upper bound for recurrence patterns that may be observable before and after truly emergent coordination.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dóra Horváth ◽  
Tamás Csordás ◽  
Katalin Ásványi ◽  
Julianna Faludi ◽  
Attila Cosovan ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to argue for the sustained need for the physical workplace and real-life encounters in higher education even in the digital age despite being seemingly transformable into the virtual sphere as seen during the COVID-19 situation. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on a collaborative autoethnography by a group of seven higher educators with an overall 2,134 student encounters during the study’s time span. The authors then connect these practitioner observations with relevant COVID-19-related studies thereby adding to research on higher education as a workplace. Findings The data suggest that the physical workplace strongly bolsters the personal experience and effectiveness of higher education through contributing to its dynamics. Spaces predetermine the scope and levels of human interaction of teaching and learning. In a physical setting, all senses serve as mediators, whereas, online, only two senses are involved: vision and hearing. The two-dimensional screen becomes a mediator of communications. In the physical space, actors are free to adjust the working space, whereas the online working space is limited and defined by platforms. Practical implications Although higher education institutions may indeed fully substitute most practices formerly in a physical setting with online solutions, real-time encounters in the physical working space belong to its deeper raisons d'être. Originality/value This paper highlights the necessity of the physical workplace in higher education and describes the depriving potential of the exclusively online higher education teaching setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
Andrea Lavazza ◽  
Mirko Farina ◽  

The current Covid-19 pandemic is illustrative of both the need of more experts and of the difficulties that can arise in the face of their decisions. This happens, we argue, because experts usually interact with society through a strongly naturalistic framework, which often places experts’ epistemic authority (understood as neutrality and objectivity) at the centre, sometimes at the expenses of other pluralistic values (such as axiological ones) that people (often non-experts) cherish. In this paper, we argue that we need to supplement such a strong naturalistic framework used to promote epistemic authority with a number of virtues -both intellectual and ethical- which include i. intellectual humility, ii. courage, iii. wisdom and cares, as well as iv. relational autonomy. To illustrate this claim, we discuss these ideas in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and analyse a set of real-life examples where important decisions have been delegated to experts merely based on their epistemic authority. We use the illustrative failures described in the case studies above-mentioned to call for a revision of current understandings of expertise (merely based on epistemic soundness). Specifically, we argue that in social contexts we increasingly need “experts in action”; that is, people with certified specialist knowledge, who can however translate it into practical suggestions, decisions, and/or public policies that are ethically more balanced and that ultimately lead to fairer, more inclusive, and more representative decisions.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Deshmukh

PurposeThe pandemic-induced global shift to remote learning calls for rethinking the foundations of design for higher education. This watershed moment in global health and human interaction has accelerated changes in higher education that were long emergent and amplified specific deficiencies and strengths in pedagogical models, causing institutions to reevaluate current structures and operations of learning and campus life as they question their vision and purpose. Since physical space has largely been taken out of the equation of university life, it is evident that fresh design research related to this new normal is required.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research study speculates on new possibilities for the future of campus, based upon insights and inferences gained from one-on-one interviews with faculty and students in multiple countries about their personal experiences with the sudden shift to the virtual classroom. The longer the mode of physical distancing stretched through Spring 2020, these phone and web-enabled dialogues – first with faculty (teachers) and then with students (learners) – lead to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how the notion of the campus for higher education was itself morphing in ways expected and unexpected.FindingsAt the heart of this study lies the question – Has COVID-19 killed the campus? This study suggests that it has not. However, campuses are now on a path of uneven evolution, and risk shedding the good with the extraneous without eyes-wide-open rethinking and responsive planning. This two-part qualitative analysis details the experiments and strategies followed by educators and students as the pandemic changed their ways of teaching and learning. It then speculates out-of-the-norm possibilities which campuses could explore as they navigate the uncertainty of future terms and address paradigm shifts questioning what defines a post-secondary education.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper draws inferences from discussions limited to the first 100 days of the pandemic. This on-the-ground aspect as the pandemic continues is its strength and its limitation. As Fall 2020 progresses across global campuses, new ideas and perspectives are already reinforcing or upending some of this paper's speculations. This researcher is already engaged in new, currently-ongoing research, following up with interviewees from Spring 2020, as well as bringing in new voices to delve deeper into the possibilities discussed in this paper. This follow-up research is shaping new thinking which is not reflected in this paper.Originality/valueDesign practitioners have long-shaped campuses on the belief that the built “environment is the third teacher” and that architecture fosters learning and shapes collective experience. Educators recognize that a multiplicity of formal and informal interactions occur frequently and naturally across campus, supporting cognitive and social development, collegiality and well-being. Even today's digital-native-students perceive the inherent value of real interpersonal engagement for meaningful experiences. This research study offers new planning and design perspectives as institutional responses to the pandemic continue to evolve, to discover how design can support what lies at the core of the campus experience.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1718-1740
Author(s):  
Lisa Marchinkoski

Nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is often a highly misunderstood diagnosis. Challenges with the understanding and use of language in social contexts can have significant negative impacts on individuals with this diagnosis, in that they struggle to interpret both nonverbal communication and nonliteral language. Understanding these challenges is critical in order to provide effective intervention. Assessment in these domains provides information about the areas to target for intervention. While individuals with NLD rely heavily on their auditory skills, it is imperative to provide means for them to learn social pragmatic and language skills in order to function in dynamically changing social exchanges. It is often indicated that teaching must occur only through verbal scripting. However, relying solely on this modality will limit students' abilities to effectively learn to apply targets in real life social situations. Therefore, a balanced approach that strives toward generalization is necessary. This chapter will provide information regarding assessment and intervention practices related to social interactions for individuals with NLD.


Author(s):  
Lisa Marchinkoski

Nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is often a highly misunderstood diagnosis. Challenges with the understanding and use of language in social contexts can have significant negative impacts on individuals with this diagnosis, in that they struggle to interpret both nonverbal communication and nonliteral language. Understanding these challenges is critical in order to provide effective intervention. Assessment in these domains provides information about the areas to target for intervention. While individuals with NLD rely heavily on their auditory skills, it is imperative to provide means for them to learn social pragmatic and language skills in order to function in dynamically changing social exchanges. It is often indicated that teaching must occur only through verbal scripting. However, relying solely on this modality will limit students' abilities to effectively learn to apply targets in real life social situations. Therefore, a balanced approach that strives toward generalization is necessary. This chapter will provide information regarding assessment and intervention practices related to social interactions for individuals with NLD.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (24) ◽  
pp. 5463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Po-Wen Chi ◽  
Ming-Hung Wang

Cloud-assisted cyber–physical systems (CCPSs) integrate the physical space with cloud computing. To do so, sensors on the field collect real-life data and forward it to clouds for further data analysis and decision-making. Since multiple services may be accessed at the same time, sensor data should be forwarded to different cloud service providers (CSPs). In this scenario, attribute-based encryption (ABE) is an appropriate technique for securing data communication between sensors and clouds. Each cloud has its own attributes and a broker can determine which cloud is authorized to access data by the requirements set at the time of encryption. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving broker-ABE scheme for multiple CCPSs (MCCPS). The ABE separates the policy embedding job from the ABE task. To ease the computational burden of the sensors, this scheme leaves the policy embedding task to the broker, which is generally more powerful than the sensors. Moreover, the proposed scheme provides a way for CSPs to protect data privacy from outside coercion.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Isabella Cavalcanti Junqueira ◽  
Allan Discua Cruz

This article sketches a project designed for an undergraduate course dealing with social contexts of entrepreneurship. The learning activity asks students to devise a reward-based crowdfunding campaign for a museum. The project relies on a field trip to a museum where students gather a better understanding of fiscal and brand visibility challenges currently unsettling these types of organizations. The project draws on intra and extra classroom activities that integrate innovative trends in entrepreneurship teaching, bridging theory, and real-life applications. The exercise motivates students to design solutions, develop collaborations, and cocreate value processes with the organization and diverse actors. The activities span over a 4-week period with tasks prior, during, and after the museum field trip, culminating with a presentation of a crowdfunding campaign. The pedagogical value of this exercise relates to students cocreating entrepreneurial action with a client/entrepreneurial organization within a resource-constrained environment, which motivates the design of innovative crowdfunding campaigns and empathizes with the entrepreneurial demands placed on cultural organizations. Cultural, social, and creative problem-solving competencies for working in international and multidisciplinary teams around crowdfunding can be expected as outcomes. This exercise can be advantageous for courses dealing with the multifaceted dynamics of social contexts of entrepreneurship.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anwar Saeed ◽  
Ayoub Al-Hamadi ◽  
Robert Niese ◽  
Moftah Elzobi

To improve the human-computer interaction (HCI) to be as good as human-human interaction, building an efficient approach for human emotion recognition is required. These emotions could be fused from several modalities such as facial expression, hand gesture, acoustic data, and biophysiological data. In this paper, we address the frame-based perception of the universal human facial expressions (happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, fear, and sadness), with the help of several geometrical features. Unlike many other geometry-based approaches, the frame-based method does not rely on prior knowledge of a person-specific neutral expression; this knowledge is gained through human intervention and not available in real scenarios. Additionally, we provide a method to investigate the performance of the geometry-based approaches under various facial point localization errors. From an evaluation on two public benchmark datasets, we have found that using eight facial points, we can achieve the state-of-the-art recognition rate. However, this state-of-the-art geometry-based approach exploits features derived from 68 facial points and requires prior knowledge of the person-specific neutral expression. The expression recognition rate using geometrical features is adversely affected by the errors in the facial point localization, especially for the expressions with subtle facial deformations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siti Norashikin Azmi ◽  
Hanita Hassan

Human interaction involves a process of sharing experiences, telling stories, and retelling stories in a form of narration. While telling story, the narration is structured in a way to make sense to the audiences.This study examined the narrative structures in Kelantanese dialect used by young female native speakers. The participants were two (2) female Kelantanese students, aged 25 and 27 years old, who have completed their undergraduate studies in local universities. Audio recording and semi-structured interview were two types of instruments used for the data collection. Interview session of 1012 words was analyzed using a combination of the theory of Malay sentence classifications and the theory of narrative structure. The findings of this study reveal that the narration in Kelantanese dialect has a systematic structure which consists of title and elaboration. The title consists of the abstract and orientation, while elaboration includes the four stages of narrative structure which are complication, evaluation, resolution and coda. The findings show that the story is unfolded in a structural manner-which means it has the idea and the elaboration of the idea (the story).


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