Context-Aware End-User Development Review

Context-aware application development frameworks enable context management and environment adaptation to automatize people’s activities. New technologies such as 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT) increase environment context (from devices/services), making functionalities available to augment context-aware applications. The result is an increased deployment of context-aware applications to support end-users in everyday activities. However, developing applications in context-aware frameworks involve diverse technologies, so that it traditionally involves software experts. In general, context-aware applications are limited in terms of personalization for end-users. They include configurations to personalize applications, but non-software experts can only change some of these configurations. Nowadays, advances in human–computer interaction provide techniques/metaphors to approach non-software experts. One approach is end-user development (EUD)—a set of activities and development tools that considers non-software experts as application builders. In this paper, we present our analysis of existing EUD approaches for building context-aware applications. We present a literature review of 37 screened papers obtained from research databases. This review aims to identify the methods, techniques, and tools proposed to build context-aware applications. Specifically, we reviewed EUD building techniques and implementations. Building techniques include metaphors/interaction styles proposed for application specification, composition, and testing. The implementations include a specification method to integrate and process context on the target application platforms. We also present the adoption trend and challenges of context-aware end-user development.

Self-reported mask-related worrying reduces relative avoidance bias toward unmasked faces in individuals with low Covid19 anxiety syndrome

Facial masks have become and may remain ubiquitous. Though important for preventing infection, they may also serve as a reminder of the risks of disease. Thus, they may either act as cues for threat, priming avoidance-related behavior, or as cues for a safe interaction, priming social approach. To distinguish between these possibilities, we assessed implicit and explicit evaluations of masked individuals as well as avoidance bias toward relatively unsafe interactions with unmasked individuals in an approach-avoidance task in an online study. We further assessed Covid19 anxiety and specific attitudes toward mask-wearing, including mask effectiveness and desirability, hindrance of communication from masks, aesthetic appeal of masks, and mask-related worrying. Across one sample of younger (18–35 years, N = 147) and one of older adults (60+ years, N = 150), we found neither an average approach nor avoidance bias toward mask-wearing compared to unmasked individuals in the indirect behavior measurement task. However, across the combined sample, self-reported mask-related worrying correlated with reduced avoidance tendencies toward unmasked individuals when Covid19 anxiety was low, but not when it was high. This relationship was specific to avoidance tendencies and was not observed in respect to explicit or implicit preference for mask-wearing individuals. We conclude that unsafe interaction styles may be reduced by targeting mask-related worrying with public interventions, in particular for populations that otherwise have low generalized Covid19 anxiety.

The Welfare of Domestic Goats (Capra hircus) in a Zoo-Based Animal-Visitor Interaction Program

We investigated whether the welfare of domestic goats in an animal-visitor interaction experience at a zoo was affected by the presence and behavior of visitors. We considered how the number of visitors in the goats’ habitat and visitor proximity to the goats impacted goat behavior. We also considered the goats’ behavior toward visitors, use of retreat space, and whether the visitors’ interaction style, specifically, how the visitors groomed the goats, was predictive of changes in the goats’ behavior. We conducted 29 hr of focal follows on 7 domestic goats (Capra hircus) at Lincoln Park Zoo, and analyzed data using mixed effects models. We found that goats preferred to be in the visitor yard as visitor numbers increased, and goat behaviors did not change as visitor numbers increased to the maximum allowed (16 people). There were no differences in rates of conspecific aggression or affiliation based on visitor presence or visitor interactions. However, there was a decrease in feeding and increase in self-maintenance behaviors specifically while visitors were in close proximity and interacting with goats. Furthermore, visitor-directed behavior, specifically head tossing, was more common when visitors groomed goats in an improper way. Overall, this study demonstrates that domestic goat welfare was relatively unaffected by the simple presence of visitors when maximum visitor limits were in place and retreat options were available, but that goats were sensitive to visitor interaction styles. These findings support the idea that domestic goats may be appropriate candidates for human-visitor interaction programs under specific conditions.

What Do New Findings About Social Interaction in Autistic Adults Mean for Neurodevelopmental Research?

Deficit-based accounts of social and communication abilities continue to dominate autism research. However, emerging findings suggest that this view may be overly simplistic and discount the two-way nature of interaction. Here we discuss the reconceptualization of social cognition to consider such difficulties as examples of bidirectional, multifaceted misattunement between autistic and nonautistic individuals. Aligned with progressive theoretical frameworks, emerging empirical research indicates that mismatches in communication styles can contribute to autistic social difficulties and the important role that nonautistic difficulties play. We highlight two areas of future research with the aim of providing empirical support for the views that the autistic community has proposed over the past 2 decades. We discuss the impact of such a paradigm shift on a number of levels, including how bridging the gap between different interaction styles can reduce stigma and increase understanding. Adopting such a framework will provide radical opportunities for transformative societal changes and education around inclusion.

A Multidimensional Model of Teacher-Student Interaction Styles

The aim of the research is to identify the parameters for a multidimensional model of teacher-student interaction styles in the framework of the teacher's management activity. Literature analysis shows that all the models of teacher-student interaction styles can be divided into two groups according to the ways of classification criteria distribution. The first group comprises onedimensional models which assign certain characteristics to the teacher leadership styles. The example of such an approach is the traditional classification of styles into authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire modes of teacher's behavior. The other group of classifications of teacher-student interaction styles includes two-dimensional models. They use two parameters in different combinations to result in four leadership styles. The author states that teacher-student interaction is so complex and multi-level that two criteria are not enough to describe teacher leadership styles. She proposes a multidimensional model of teacher-student interaction styles based on six components of teacher's organizational activities: target, stimulation and motivation, content, operation, control and regulation, assessment. According to these components, the author identified six parameters of teacher-student interaction styles which a teacher can exhibit to a different extent within the two opposite characteristics: 1) formulation of tasks to learners (implicitly - explicitly), 2) stimulation of learners' autonomy (directive behavior - delegating behavior), 3) variability of content (predetermined -available for choice), 4) interaction with students (detachment - involvement), 5) intensity of control (continuous - dispersed), 6) type of assessment (standard - essence-based). All the six parameters are independent dimensions of an individual teacher-student interaction style. To empirically verify the proposed multidimensional model of teacher leadership styles, a questionnaire was developed. It consists of 18 statements, three statements assessing each parameter. The display of characteristics was measured by values with assigned numbers: ‘never' -2, ‘no rather than yes' -1, ‘sometimes' 0, ‘yes rather than no' +1, ‘always' +2. The values -2 and +2 are the extreme poles of the behavior characteristics. The arithmetic average was counted out of the three answers on each parameter. According to the survey of school teachers, individual teacher-student interaction styles comprise characteristics of different polarity. The proposed multidimensional model of teacher-student interaction styles is a flexible, variational and open system.