BirdQuestVR: a cross-platform asymmetric communication game

BirdQuestVR is a cross-platform asymmetric communication game between one player in Virtual Reality and another on a mobile device. The game explores asymmetric co-operative gaming in a shared physical space, taking the physical surroundings of the VR user into account in its design. Asymmetric games feature different rules, abilities, or objectives for different players, generating unique and nuanced game experiences. Multiplayer asymmetric games in particular have been shown to increase teamwork and a collaborative mindset even after a play session has ended. Asymmetric design is commonplace in both digital and analog games but has yet to see widespread adoption in the emerging Virtual Reality (VR) gaming space. BirdQuestVR seeks to leverage the affordances of current consumer-grade VR headsets to build asymmetric gameplay around communication, embodied performance, and physical humour. Keywords: Asymmetric, Virtual Reality, Cross-Platform, Social Play, Avatar Embodiment

BirdQuestVR: a cross-platform asymmetric communication game

BirdQuestVR is a cross-platform asymmetric communication game between one player in Virtual Reality and another on a mobile device. The game explores asymmetric co-operative gaming in a shared physical space, taking the physical surroundings of the VR user into account in its design. Asymmetric games feature different rules, abilities, or objectives for different players, generating unique and nuanced game experiences. Multiplayer asymmetric games in particular have been shown to increase teamwork and a collaborative mindset even after a play session has ended. Asymmetric design is commonplace in both digital and analog games but has yet to see widespread adoption in the emerging Virtual Reality (VR) gaming space. BirdQuestVR seeks to leverage the affordances of current consumer-grade VR headsets to build asymmetric gameplay around communication, embodied performance, and physical humour. Keywords: Asymmetric, Virtual Reality, Cross-Platform, Social Play, Avatar Embodiment

Naturalistic Use of Aspect Morphology in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children

Grammatical morphology often links small acoustic forms to abstract semantic domains. Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children have reduced access to the acoustic signal and frequently have delayed acquisition of grammatical morphology (e.g., Tomblin, Harrison, Ambrose, Walker, Oleson & Moeller, 2015). This study investigated the naturalistic use of aspectual morphology in DHH children to determine if they organize this semantic domain as normal hearing (NH) children have been found to do. Thirty DHH children (M = 6;8) and 29 NH children (M = 5;11) acquiring English participated in a free-play session and their tokens of perfective (simple past) and imperfective (-ing) morphology were coded for the lexical aspect of the predicate they marked. Both groups showed established prototype effects, favoring perfective + telic and imperfective + atelic pairings over perfective + atelic and perfective + atelic ones. Thus, despite reduced access to the acoustic signal, this DHH group was unimpaired for aspectual organization.

Virtual peer role-play during COVID-19 pandemic for teaching medical students how to break bad news

In order to cope with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and meet with the educational needs of medical students, we have evaluated the virtual peer role-plays (VPRP), an innovative approach to teach breaking bad news communication skills to medical students. Three scenarios of relational simulation were successively proposed to 237 medical students divided in 10 groups, each supervised by two teachers. Pre- and post-VPRP questionnaires were submitted to evaluate students’ satisfaction. The response rate of the pre- and post-VPRP questionnaires were 89% and 52% respectively. Two-thirds of the students had never participated in a peer role-play session. Most students had low level of confidence in breaking bad news communication and were motivated to participate to the VPRP session. Students’ satisfaction on VPRP session regarding quality (realism, organization), interest, perceived benefits was very positive. In conclusion, VPRP are feasible, of low cost (no material is required), applicable to other healthcare students and is relevant to the growth of teleconsultation.

Peer-Mediated Pivotal Response Training

Peer-mediated Pivotal Response Training (PM-PRT) is a behavioral approach that incorporates instruction and practice opportunities on pivotal and socially significant skills (e.g., communication, playing with peers) for individuals diagnosed with developmental disorders in their everyday routines and environments. This chapter provides an overview of key components to successfully utilize the PM-PRT intervention with children in a variety of settings. The intervention includes a peer interventionist who may use selected strategies with a target student such as gaining attention, modeling, turn-taking, encouraging conversation, choice in tasks, and reinforcement of attempts during a play session. For example, the intervention may be implemented during recess and can be tailored to an individual’s target behaviors. The flexibility of PM-PRT allows it to be an effective and efficient intervention that promotes generalization across peers and settings.

The provision of toys to pigs can improve the human-animal relationship

It is now widely recognised that a positive human-animal relationship is beneficial not only for farm animals’ welfare but also for productivity and the quality of products. A better understanding of animal emotions is an important goal in disciplines ranging from neuroscience to animal welfare science, but few reliable tools exist for measuring these emotions. In this study, whether the provision of toys to solicit play behaviour in pigs is associated with a change in the human-animal relationship and the emotional state of pigs was investigated. We involved a group of sixteen mini-pigs housed in an experimental setting and the use of a preliminary test called the ‘strange person’ test. After a Control and a Play session (with medium-sized dog toys, balls with ropes), the strange person test was performed. During the test, a person wearing a colourful overall, a hood, a mask, gloves and boots (unknown person with an odd appearance) entered the pen, where 2 mini-pigs were housed, for a 2-min video recording. The strange person test results after the Play and Control sessions were compared. The results showed that the latency to approach the person (duration in seconds) and the duration for which the pig was distant from the strange person (duration in seconds) were significantly lower after the Play session than after the Control session (Degrees of Freedom =30; Statistic of the F test =39.1; p < 0.0001 and Degrees of Freedom =15; Statistic of the F test =54.3; p < 0.0001, respectively). The duration of direct contact (duration in seconds) (Degrees of Freedom =15; Statistic of the F test =14.8; p = 0.002), the need to separate the pig from the strange person (frequency) (Degrees of Freedom =30; Statistic of the F test =9.3; p = 0.005) and the duration of tail movement (duration in seconds) (Degrees of Freedom =15; Statistic of the F test =12.6; p = 0.003) were all significantly higher after the Play sessions than after the Control sessions. Overall, the results suggest a change in the human-animal relationship after the Play sessions: the pigs seemed to be less fearful and more inclined to interact with the strange person, showing a more positive emotional state. This preliminary study suggests that the provision of toys, and more precisely, the opportunity to perform object play behaviour, and sometimes, spontaneously, social play behaviour, can improve the human-animal relationship. Additional research to explore this topic thoroughly may yield interesting results because a positive emotional state of the animals and a good human-animal relationship are essential to ensure good quality of life of farm animals.

Cooperative rescue of a juvenile capuchin (Cebus imitator) from a Boa constrictor

The threat of predation by snakes is considered to have played a significant role in the evolution of primate sensory systems and behavior. However, we know relatively little about individual and group responses given the rarity of observed predation events. Here we report an observed (filmed) predation attempt by an adult Boa constrictor (~ 2 m) on a juvenile white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator) in the Sector Santa Rosa of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The snake caught the juvenile monkey on the ground during a terrestrial play session. When the victim screamed, the alpha male, alpha female, and another adult female ran to the scene, physically attacked the snake (with bites and hits), and pulled the victim to safety. Most group members participated in the vocal mobbing of the snake both during and after the attack. Based on the outcomes of this predation attempt and published reports of other B. constrictor attacks on primates, the coordinated efforts of ≥ 2 group members is needed for a successful rescue. This observation adds to our growing knowledge of cooperative group behavior and its importance in predator defense.

How Parents Support Children’s Informal Learning Experiences with Robots

Coding and robotic technologies are becoming more prominent in early childhood STEM education. Parents, who are key facilitators of children’s early educational experiences, are increasingly invited to engage with their children in collaborative robotics activities. Few studies have focused on the ways in which parents support young children’s informal learning experiences involving robots. This paper presents two different approaches to exploring how parents support young children’s engagement. Both studies involve KIBO, a screen-free robot programmed with tangible wooden blocks. The first approach brought together children ages 5-7 with their parents in small groups for 1-2-hour “KIBO Family Day” workshops. Findings from parent surveys (N = 51) indicated that these workshops significantly enhanced families’ interest in coding. Parents also reported engaging as coaches, whereas children engaged as playmates and planners. To further explore the role of parents as coaches, three parent-child dyads were invited to participate in a 20-minute videotaped KIBO play session. Findings indicated that parents predominantly used cognitive scaffolding strategies, such as asking questions, offering suggestions, and verbally acknowledging their child’s actions. Affective and technical scaffolding strategies were used less frequently. Study limitations and implications for practice and future research are discussed.

MANAJEMEN KOMUNIKASI DAN INTERPRETASI DIRI SEBAGAI PEMBEKALAN DUNIA KERJA (SMK YADIKA – JAKARTA)

According to surveyd had been done from (BPS), the number of unemployed people in Indonesia as of August 2018 reaching 7,000,000 people. This figure is equivalent to 5.34% of the total workforce in Indonesia, which is 131,010,000 people. The number of job vacancies always prioritizes the good educational background, the data had been shown: most absorbed graduates are graduate and postgraduate graduates, and professions while the lowest percentage of employment is secondary school graduates. Therefore at this time community services made a theme to providing communication and self-interpretation as a briefing for the world of work will be held in (SMK Yadika - Jakarta). Total sample of 125 students were collected in this session an being divided into two groups in this activity. The method used is the development of Laswell's theory through 5 main stages. The first session will be given direction by the lecturers on communication management starting from the definition, development, and implementation, which is then followed by a role play session. The second session, continued with interviews between students and lecturers. Through this interview session students are given directions on how to communicate well. At the end of the session the students were given one chance to do a review to meet a good interview standard. Based on the results, the participants could see that the students responded actively and enthusiastically in this activity. Keywords: Lasswell Communication Model, Interview Method, Self Interpretation

Quantifying Physical Activity in Young Children Using a Three-Dimensional Camera

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and validity of using three-dimensional (3D) video data and computer vision to estimate physical activity intensities in young children. Families with children (2–5-years-old) were invited to participate in semi-structured 20-minute play sessions that included a range of indoor play activities. During the play session, children’s physical activity (PA) was recorded using a 3D camera. PA video data were analyzed via direct observation, and 3D PA video data were processed and converted into triaxial PA accelerations using computer vision. PA video data from children (n = 10) were analyzed using direct observation as the ground truth, and the Receiver Operating Characteristic Area Under the Curve (AUC) was calculated in order to determine the classification accuracy of a Classification and Regression Tree (CART) algorithm for estimating PA intensity from video data. A CART algorithm accurately estimated the proportion of time that children spent sedentary (AUC = 0.89) in light PA (AUC = 0.87) and moderate-vigorous PA (AUC = 0.92) during the play session, and there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) between the directly observed and CART-determined proportions of time spent in each activity intensity. A computer vision algorithm and 3D camera can be used to estimate the proportion of time that children spend in all activity intensities indoors.