User Expectations and Mental Models for Communicating Emotions through Compressive & Warm Affective Garment Actuation

Author(s):  
Esther W. Foo ◽  
Lucy E. Dunne ◽  
Brad Holschuh

Wearable haptic garments for communicating emotions have great potential in various applications, including supporting social interactions, improving immersive experiences in entertainment, or simply as a research tool. Shape-memory alloys (SMAs) are an emerging and interesting actuation scheme for affective haptic garments since they provide coupled warmth and compressive sensations in a single actuation---potentially acting as a proxy for human touch. However, SMAs are underutilized in current research and there are many unknowns regarding their design/use. The goal of this work is to map the design space for SMA-based garment-mediated emotional communication through warm, compressive actuation (termed 'warm touch'). Two online surveys were deployed to gather user expectations in using varying 'warm touch' parameters (body location, intensity, pattern) to communicate 7 distinct emotions. Further, we also investigated mental models used by participants during the haptic strategy selection process. The findings show 5 major categories of mental models, including representation of body sensations, replication of typical social touch strategies, metaphorical representation of emotions, symbolic representation of physical actions, and mimicry of objects or tasks; the frequency of use of each of these mental frameworks in relation to the selected 'warm touch' parameters in the communication of emotions are presented. These gathered insights can inform more intuitive and consistent haptic garment design approaches for emotional communication.


2022 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan R. Harrison ◽  
Giulia Palma ◽  
Tomás Buendia ◽  
Marta Bueno-Tarodo ◽  
Daria Quell ◽  
...  

Introduction: Diets are currently unsustainable in many countries as evidenced by the growing burden of malnutrition, degradation of natural resources, contributions to climate change, and unaffordability of healthy diets. Agreement on what constitutes a healthy and sustainable diet has been debated. In 2019, FAO and WHO published the Sustainable Healthy Diets Guiding Principles, defining what qualifies as a sustainable healthy diet. While valuable, these principles require measurable indicators to support their operationalization. Our scoping review aims to describe how sustainable healthy diets have been assessed in the literature since 2010.Methods: A search for English-language articles published in peer-reviewed journals was conducted from January 2010 through February 2020 across three databases. Out of the 504 articles initially identified, 103 articles were included. Metadata were extracted from each article on: publication year, country of study, study aims, methods, main data sources, indicators used to assess sustainable healthy diets, reported indicator strengths or limitations, and main study findings. A qualitative content analysis identified major conceptual themes across indicators and their frequency of use.Findings: From the 103 empirical articles included in our review, 57.3% were published after 2017. Most studies were carried out in high-income countries (74%). Approximately 42% of the articles assessed the sustainability of diets using solely health and environmental indicators; <25% assessed the sustainability of diets across health, environmental, and sociocultural aspects of sustainability. We found a substantial number of unique indicators used for assessing health (n = 82), environmental (n = 117), and sociocultural (n = 43) aspects of diets. These indicators covered concepts related to health outcomes, aspects of diet quality, natural resources, climate change, cultural acceptability, and cost of diets. The preponderance of indicators currently used in research likely poses challenges for stakeholders to identify the most appropriate measures.Conclusion: Robust indicators for sustainable healthy diets are critical for understanding trends, setting targets, and monitoring progress across national and sub-national levels. Our review highlights the geographical imbalance, the narrow focus on health and environmental aspects, and the lack of common measures used in research. Measures registries could provide the decision-support needed by stakeholders to aid in the indicator selection process.



2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 566-570
Author(s):  
Chelsea Towaij ◽  
Isabelle Raîche ◽  
Julia Younan ◽  
Nada Gawad

ABSTRACT Background The resident selection process involves the analysis of multiple data points, including letters of reference (LORs), which are inherently subjective in nature. Objective We assessed the frequency with which LORs use quantitative terms to describe applicants and to assess whether the use of these terms reflects the ranking of trainees in the final selection process. Methods A descriptive study analyzing LORs submitted by Canadian medical graduate applicants to the University of Ottawa General Surgery Program in 2019 was completed. We collected demographic information about applicants and referees and recorded the use of preidentified quantitative descriptors (eg, best, above average). A 10% audit of the data was performed. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographics of our letters as well as the frequency of use of the quantitative descriptors. Results Three hundred forty-three LORs for 114 applicants were analyzed. Eighty-five percent (291 of 343) of LORs used quantitative descriptors. Eighty-four percent (95 of 113) of applicants were described as above average, and 45% (51 of 113) were described as the “best” by at least 1 letter. The candidates described as the “best” ranked anywhere from second to 108th in our ranking system. Conclusions Most LORs use quantitative descriptors. These terms are generally positive, and while the use does discriminate between different applicants, it was not helpful in the context of ranking applicants in our file review process.



Geografie ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 125 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-472
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Słomska-Przech ◽  
Izabela Małgorzata Gołębiowska

Interactive maps are increasingly popular and have spread into everyday life. However, the pace of implementation of interactive maps may differ within different age groups. In order to adjust maps to user expectations and preferences, it is necessary to study disparities in attitude towards different types of maps in groups of various users. The aims of the study are to find out if the approach to maps of different media varies among age groups, and whether the frequency of use of interactive maps and their functions decreases with the age of users. A survey focusing on habits and preferences towards digital and paper maps was conducted among 80 users aged 20–72. Results suggest that the polarization of answers is lower than suggested by the Prensky theory of digital immigrants and natives: people of all ages who were tested have a lot in common in terms of interactive map use. Nonetheless, the youngest group has a strong preference for interactive maps.



Author(s):  
Nina Exner ◽  
Stephen Bollinger ◽  
Iyanna Sims

F.D. Bluford Library is a mid-sized library serving over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. In 2010, the Library began to transition from federated search technology to Web-scale discovery to meet user expectations. Users expected to have quick access to the library resources. The promise of discovery was an idealized solution for all stakeholders. Discovery platform vendors touted quick access to multiple resources using centralized indexing or highly-efficient database connectors. In the selection process, however, it became evident that there are no easy choices. Each platform currently on the market had advantages and disadvantages. The library’s task force therefore defined priorities and environmental factors to select the optimum solution while meeting an aggressive deadline for selection. This chapter discusses the particular needs of mid-size libraries and makes suggestions for an evaluation process.



2009 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishan Fernando ◽  
Gordon Prescott ◽  
Jennifer Cleland ◽  
Kathryn Greaves ◽  
Hamish McKenzie


2005 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 201-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Touvier ◽  
Boutron-Ruault ◽  
Volatier ◽  
Martin

This study investigated the prevalence of inadequate micronutrient intake and the proportion of subjects who exceed Tolerable Upper Intake Levels a) with food only, and b) with food+supplements, in a population of French regular supplement users (n = 259). Assessment tools were seven-day records for supplements, three-day records for food intake, and a questionnaire about supplement use. Most subjects were recruited in retail outlets that sold supplements. They were recent users of vitamin/mineral supplements, aged over 15 years, and normo-energy reporters. The prevalence (%) of inadequate intake decreased with the inclusion of mean annual supplements, from 68.0 to 54.8 for magnesium, 55.9 to 40.7 for vitamin C, 53.4 to 43.9 for folic acid, 37.5 to 27.5 for iron, and 40.1 to 29.7 for pantothenic acid. Few subjects exceeded upper intake levels when mean annual intake of supplements was considered. When supplement consumption was considered during the studied week only, the proportion of subjects who were in excess of the upper intake levels was higher (maximum: 9.6% for magnesium). Supplement use brought a nutritional benefit for some targeted nutrients. It was not associated with excessive intake in this study, but could become hazardous if the annual frequency of use were to increase.



Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Kelly Mazzer ◽  
Megan O'Riordan ◽  
Alan Woodward ◽  
Debra Rickwood

Abstract. Background: Crisis support services play an important role in providing free, immediate access to support people in the community experiencing a personal crisis. Recently, services have expanded from telephone to digital modalities including online chat and text message services. This raises the question of what outcomes are being achieved for increasingly diverse service users across different modalities. Aims: This systematic review aimed to determine the expectations and outcomes of users of crisis support services across three modalities (telephone, online chat, and text message/SMS). Method: Online databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Collection) and gray literature were searched for studies measuring expectations and outcomes of crisis support services. Results: A total of 31 studies were included in the review, the majority of which were telephone-based. Similar expectations were found for telephone and online chat modalities, as well as consistently positive outcomes, measured by changes in emotional state, satisfaction, and referral plans. Limitations/Conclusion: There is a paucity of consistent outcome measures across and within modalities and limited research about users of text message/SMS services.



2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Botella ◽  
María José Contreras ◽  
Pei-Chun Shih ◽  
Víctor Rubio

Summary: Deterioration in performance associated with decreased ability to sustain attention may be found in long and tedious task sessions. The necessity for assessing a number of psychological dimensions in a single session often demands “short” tests capable of assessing individual differences in abilities such as vigilance and maintenance of high performance levels. In the present paper two tasks were selected as candidates for playing this role, the Abbreviated Vigilance Task (AVT) by Temple, Warm, Dember, LaGrange and Matthews (1996) and the Continuous Attention Test (CAT) by Tiplady (1992) . However, when applied to a sample of 829 candidates in a job-selection process for air-traffic controllers, neither of them showed discriminative capacity. In a second study, an extended version of the CAT was applied to a similar sample of 667 subjects, but also proved incapable of properly detecting individual differences. In short, at least in a selection context such as that studied here, neither of the tasks appeared appropriate for playing the role of a “short” test for discriminating individual differences in performance deterioration in sustained attention.



Author(s):  
Burkhard Müller ◽  
Jürgen Gehrke

Abstract. Planning interactions with the physical world requires knowledge about operations; in short, mental operators. Abstractness of content and directionality of access are two important properties to characterize the representational units of this kind of knowledge. Combining these properties allows four classes of knowledge units to be distinguished that can be found in the literature: (a) rules, (b) mental models or schemata, (c) instances, and (d) episodes or chunks. The influence of practicing alphabet-arithmetic operators in a prognostic, diagnostic, or retrognostic way (A + 2 = ?, A? = C, or ? + 2 = C, respectively) on the use of that knowledge in a subsequent test was used to assess the importance of these dimensions. At the beginning, the retrognostic use of knowledge was worse than the prognostic use, although identical operations were involved (A + 2 = ? vs. ? - 2 = A). This disadvantage was reduced with increased practice. Test performance was best if the task and the letter pairs were the same as in the acquisition phase. Overall, the findings support theories proposing multiple representational units of mental operators. The disadvantage for the retrognosis task was recovered in the test phase, and may be evidence for the importance of the order of events independent of the order of experience.



Author(s):  
Martin Bettschart ◽  
Marcel Herrmann ◽  
Benjamin M. Wolf ◽  
Veronika Brandstätter

Abstract. Explicit motives are well-studied in the field of personality and motivation psychology. However, the statistical overlap of different explicit motive measures is only moderate. As a consequence, the Unified Motive Scales (UMS; Schönbrodt & Gerstenberg, 2012 ) were developed to improve the measurement of explicit motives. The present longitudinal field study examined the predictive validity of the UMS achievement motive subscale. Applicants of a police department ( n = 168, Mage = 25.11, 53 females and 115 males) completed the UMS and their performance in the selection process was assessed. As expected, UMS achievement predicted success in the selection process. The findings provide first evidence for the predictive validity of UMS achievement in an applied setting.



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