Classification of Dynamic Cartographic Symbols applied to Augmented Reality (AR) Systems

Paper maps were widely used during centuries; however, these maps do not change dynamically regarding its use context, the user behaviour and the change in the representations through time. Considering the research related to digital cartography, maps started to be seen both digitally and in a dynamic way due to the application of static and dynamic visual variables. During the process of navigation supported by maps, the comprehension of certain cartographic symbols can be a complex task for people. When using representations for virtual environment, specifically the Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR), an advantage is the complementing of the information communication through virtual objects, which reduces the cognitive effort to decode all the representation as in the traditional maps. Until now, several scientific investigations about adjusting the cartographic design aimed to personal and vehicular navigation maps in AR are being developed. However, few studies investigate the application of dynamic symbols in AR built from the dynamic visual variables of Cartography. In this way, the aim on this research is to classify the symbols that use the dynamic variables. In addition, verify the presence of these variables in Augmented Reality systems in mobile devices that use AR to represent spatial information in the context of personal navigation in an outdoor environment.

A new operational representation of dependencies in Event Structures

The execution of an event in a complex and distributed system where the dependencies vary during the evolution of the system can be represented in many ways, and one of them is to use Context-Dependent Event structures. Event structures are related to Petri nets. The aim of this paper is to propose what can be the appropriate kind of Petri net corresponding to Context-Dependent Event structures, giving an operational flavour to the dependencies represented in a Context/Dependent Event structure. Dependencies are often operationally represented, in Petri nets, by tokens produced by activities and consumed by others. Here we shift the perspective using contextual arcs to characterize what has happened so far and in this way to describe the dependencies among the various activities.

Recreational Psychedelic Users Frequently Encounter Complete Mystical Experiences: Trip Content and Implications for Wellbeing

A growing proportion of the population is engaging in recreational psychedelic use. Psychedelics are uniquely capable of reliably occasioning mystical experiences in ordinary humans without contemplative or religious backgrounds. While clinical research has made efforts to characterize psychedelic experiences, comparably little is understood about how humans naturalistically engage with psychedelics. The present study employs a mixed-methods approach to examine the content and implications of psychedelic and mystical experiences, occurring outside of laboratory settings. We use text mining analyses to arrive at a qualitative description of psychedelic experiential content by abstracting from over two-thousand written reports of first-person psychedelic experiences. Following up, we conducted quantitative analyses on psychometric data from a large survey (N = 1424) to reveal associations between psychedelic use practices, complete mystical experiences, and psychological wellbeing. Topic-modelling and sentiment analyses present a bottom-up description of human interactions with psychedelic compounds and the content of such experiences. Psychometric results suggest psychedelic users encounter complete mystical experiences in high proportions, dependent on factors such as drug type and dose-response effects. Furthermore, a salient association was established between diverse metrics of wellbeing and those with complete mystical experiences. Our results paint a new picture of the growing relationships between humans and psychedelic experiences in the real-world use context. Ordinary humans appear to encounter complete mystical experiences via recreational psychedelic use, and such experiences are strongly associated with improved psychological wellbeing.

Form and Function Predict Acoustic Transmission Properties of the Songs of Male and Female Canyon Wrens

To function effectively, animal signals must transmit through the environment to receivers, and signal transmission properties depend on signal form. Here we investigated how the transmission of multiple parts of a well-studied signal, bird song, varies between males and females of one species. We hypothesized that male and female songs would have different transmission properties, reflecting known differences in song form and function. We further hypothesized that two parts of male song used differentially in broadcast singing and aggressive contests would transmit differently. Analyses included male and female songs from 20 pairs of canyon wrens (Catherpes mexicanus) played and re-recorded in species-typical habitat. We found that male song cascades used in broadcast singing propagated farther than female songs, with higher signal-to-noise ratios at distance. In contrast, we demonstrated relatively restricted propagation of the two vocalization types typically used in short-distance aggressive signaling, female songs and male “cheet” notes. Of the three tested signals, male “cheet” notes had the shortest modeled propagation distances. Male and female signals blurred similarly, with variable patterns of excess attenuation. Both male song parts showed more consistent transmission across the duration of the signal than did female songs. Song transmission, thus, varied by sex and reflected signal form and use context. Results support the idea that males and females of the same species can show distinctly different signal evolution trajectories. Sexual and social selection pressures can shape sex-specific signal transmission, even when males and females are communicating in shared physical environments.

AI-powered learning application use and gratification: an integrative model

PurposeAs the center of the fourth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence (AI) has marked its presence in various disciplines including the education field in the form of AI-powered learning applications. The purpose of this study is to build a research model capturing the relationships among use contexts, user gratification, attitude, learning performance and continuous intention to use an AI-powered English learning application.Design/methodology/approachUsing the use and gratification theory, use contexts and the belief-attitude-intention theory, this paper uses a quantitative approach based on a survey method for data collection and structural equation modeling for analysis. A total of 478 students from an international university in Guangdong, China, participated in the survey after using Liulishuo for two weeks.FindingsThe results showed that perceived use contexts affected all variables associated with gratifications-obtained and gratification-opportunities. With the exception of social integrativeness, all other gratification-based factors significantly affected attitude. The attitude in turn significantly influenced learning performance and continuous use intention.Originality/valueMobile AI-powered learning applications are at the center of research on technology-enhanced learning in the age of media and technology convergence. The study is timely and contributes to the discussion of the roles of use context and gratifications on technology users’ attitudes and behavioral intentions.

Managing positional innovation in small food enterprises. The bakery industry

Purpose The concept of positional innovation – as one of the four innovation types of the Francis and Bessant’s “4P’s” model – is an effective product innovation strategy for producers of mature and credence goods as food products are. Despite the acknowledgement as one of the major industries worldwide, positional innovations about the food products are underexplored in the managerial literature. To fill this gap, this paper first develops a theoretical analysis of the concepts. Then, by adopting a case-study research methodology, it discloses the way a bakery small enterprise manages positional innovation. Theoretical and practical implications are finally introduced and discussed. Design/methodology/approach After a literature review about the role and the characteristics of the positional innovation, the paper presents a case study of definition and implementation of managerial actions and initiatives driven by positional innovation. The aim is not to report on an inductive study, but to use this example as a picture to clarify theory and show how the various conceptual issues may be operatively applied and provide more contextual insights. Findings It emerges how a small food enterprise manages positional innovation to survive and compete in the national and international markets; the positional innovation sources are tapped into culture, social responsibility, tradition and other territorial assets of tangible and intangible nature, effectively combined to innovate the product perception and/or the utility in a use context. Originality/value “Non-technological”, simple products, like food, are underexplored and rarely seen as relevant context to investigate along the strategic and innovation management literature. Nonetheless, positional innovation is a perspective that values and credits the innovation efforts of small food products, revealing interesting managerial concepts and inspiring entrepreneurs and managers for activating and sustaining new strategies of innovation for their businesses.

Theta and Alpha Oscillatory Activity During Working Memory Maintenance in Long-Term Cannabis Users: The Importance of the Polydrug Use Context

Background: Impairments in various subdomains of memory have been associated with chronic cannabis use, but less is known about their neural underpinnings, especially in the domain of the brain’s oscillatory activity.Aims: To investigate neural oscillatory activity supporting working memory (WM) in regular cannabis users and non-using controls. We focused our analyses on frontal midline theta and posterior alpha asymmetry as oscillatory fingerprints for the WM’s maintenance process.Methods: 30 non-using controls (CG) and 57 regular cannabis users—27 exclusive cannabis users (CU) and 30 polydrug cannabis users (PU) completed a Sternberg modified WM task with a concurrent electroencephalography recording. Theta, alpha and beta frequency bands were examined during WM maintenance.Results: When compared to non-using controls, the PU group displayed increased frontal midline theta (FMT) power during WM maintenance, which was positively correlated with RT. The posterior alpha asymmetry during the maintenance phase, on the other hand, was negatively correlated with RT in the CU group. WM performance did not differ between groups.Conclusions: Both groups of cannabis users (CU and PU), when compared to the control group, displayed differences in oscillatory activity during WM maintenance, unique for each group (in CU posterior alpha and in PU FMT correlated with performance). We interpret those differences as a reflection of compensatory strategies, as there were no differences between groups in task performance. Understanding the psychophysiological processes in regular cannabis users may provide insight on how chronic use may affect neural networks underlying cognitive processes, however, a polydrug use context (i.e., combining cannabis with other illegal substances) seems to be an important factor.

Inoculating an Infodemic: An Ecological Approach to Understanding Engagement With COVID-19 Online Information

As the global COVID-19 pandemic has been concurrently labelled an “infodemic,” researchers have sought to improve how the general public engages with information that is relevant, timely, and accurate. In this study, we provide an overview of the reasons why people engage and disengage with COVID-19 information. We use context-rich semi-structured interviews which invited participants to discuss online COVID-19-related content they encountered. This qualitative approach allows us to uncover subtle but important details of influences that drive online engagement. Participants both engaged and disengaged with content for individual and social reasons, with seven themes emerging connected to their engagement including actions in response to information, reasoning for engagement, content, motivating concerns, frequency of engagement with information, site of exposure, and given reason for not engaging. Many of these themes intersected and informed each other. Our findings suggest that researchers and public health communicators should approach engagement as an ecology of intersecting influences, both human and algorithmic, which change over time. This information could be potentially helpful to public health communicators who are trying to engage the public with the best information to keep them safe during the pandemic.