Connect With Me. Exploring Influencing Factors in a Human-Technology Relationship Based on Regular Chatbot Use

Companion technologies, such as social robots and conversational chatbots, take increasing responsibility for daily tasks and support our physical and mental health. Especially in the domain of healthcare, where technologies are often applied for long-term use, our experience with and relationship to such technologies become ever more relevant. Based on a 2-week interaction period with a conversational chatbot, our study (N = 58) explores the relationship between humans and technology. In particular, our study focuses on felt social connectedness of participants to the technology, possibly related characteristics of technology and users (e.g., individual tendency to anthropomorphize, individual need to belong), as well as possibly affected outcome variables (e.g., desire to socialize with other humans). The participants filled in short daily and 3 weekly questionnaires. Results showed that interaction duration and intensity positively predicted social connectedness to the chatbot. Thereby, perceiving the chatbot as anthropomorphic mediated the interrelation of interaction intensity and social connectedness to the chatbot. Also, the perceived social presence of the chatbot mediated the relationship between interaction duration as well as interaction intensity and social connectedness to the chatbot. Characteristics of the user did not affect the interrelations of chatbot interaction duration or intensity and perceived anthropomorphism or social presence. Furthermore, we did not find a negative correlation between felt social connectedness of users to the technology and their desire to socialize with other humans. In sum, our findings provide both theoretical and practical contributions. Our study suggests that regular interaction with a technology can foster feelings of social connectedness, implying transferability of dynamics known from interpersonal interaction. Moreover, social connectedness could be supported by technology design that facilitates perceptions of anthropomorphism and social presence. While such means could help to establish an intense relationship between users and technology and long-term engagement, the contexts in which anthropomorphic design is, actually, the means of choice should be carefully reflected. Future research should examine individual and societal consequences to foster responsible technology development in healthcare and beyond.

Understanding contributor behaviour within Free/Libre/Open Source Software communities: A socialization perspective

<p>Attracting a large number of new contributors has been seen as a way to ensure the survival, long-term success, and sustainability of Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities. However, this appears to be a necessary, but not a sufficient condition, as the well-being of FLOSS communities also relies on members performing behaviours that nurture and protect the community. Despite a large body of research on FLOSS communities, few studies have been undertaken to explore the influence of a participant’s socialization experience on their contribution behaviour. In addition, there has been relatively little research that has adopted a community-level view of FLOSS community participants’ contribution that goes beyond the mere notion of writing lines of code. The purpose of this study is to develop and rigorously test a socialization model that predicts contributor behaviour in the FLOSS community context. Drawing upon theories of socialization and citizenship behaviours from organizational behaviour research, this research develops and tests two separate but related research models. The first model proposes the direct impact of socialization factors on two performance-related dependent variables: task performance and community citizenship behaviours. The second model hypothesizes a mediating effect of two proximal socialization variables, social identification and social integration, between the socialization factors and the dependent variables. An exploratory study involving eleven FLOSS community leaders, managers, and experienced members was first conducted, to investigate the key variables that characterize FLOSS community newcomer socialization experience as well as the various instances of citizenship behaviours that are specific to the FLOSS community context. The analysis of the interview data revealed the existence of six socialization variables: task segregation, task purposefulness, interaction intensity, mentoring, joining structuredness, and supportiveness. Two sets of FLOSS community citizenship behaviours (CCB) were identified drawing on the citizenship behaviour literature. The first set, labelled CCB-I, comprised citizenship behaviours directed towards the benefit of individuals. The second set, CCB-P, included citizenship behaviours directed towards the benefit of the project. The findings were integrated in the two conceptual models. Subsequently, a research instrument was developed, following an extensive purification process that consisted of card sorting and expert review rounds, and a survey pretest. A pilot study assessed responses from 46 FLOSS contributors from two large FLOSS communities. Overall, the scales demonstrated high reliability and showed adequate construct validity. The analysis of the pilot study suggested the existence of a third CCB dimension, named CCB-C, that characterizes citizenship behaviours that are oriented towards the benefit of a project’s community. The main study was based on an online survey involving 327 respondents from twelve large FLOSS communities. Using Partial Least Squares (PLS), the collected data was used to test the two models. The results showed the overall superior predictive capability of the model hypothesizing the mediating effect of both social identification and social integration. Task performance was found to be directly predicted by task purposefulness as well as by interaction intensity and supportiveness through the mediation of social identification. Meanwhile, CCB was found to be impacted by the direct effect of task segregation and task purposefulness, and by interaction intensity and supportiveness through the mediation of both social identification and social integration. The existence of the third CCB dimension, CCB-C, was confirmed.</p>

Understanding contributor behaviour within Free/Libre/Open Source Software communities: A socialization perspective

<p>Attracting a large number of new contributors has been seen as a way to ensure the survival, long-term success, and sustainability of Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities. However, this appears to be a necessary, but not a sufficient condition, as the well-being of FLOSS communities also relies on members performing behaviours that nurture and protect the community. Despite a large body of research on FLOSS communities, few studies have been undertaken to explore the influence of a participant’s socialization experience on their contribution behaviour. In addition, there has been relatively little research that has adopted a community-level view of FLOSS community participants’ contribution that goes beyond the mere notion of writing lines of code. The purpose of this study is to develop and rigorously test a socialization model that predicts contributor behaviour in the FLOSS community context. Drawing upon theories of socialization and citizenship behaviours from organizational behaviour research, this research develops and tests two separate but related research models. The first model proposes the direct impact of socialization factors on two performance-related dependent variables: task performance and community citizenship behaviours. The second model hypothesizes a mediating effect of two proximal socialization variables, social identification and social integration, between the socialization factors and the dependent variables. An exploratory study involving eleven FLOSS community leaders, managers, and experienced members was first conducted, to investigate the key variables that characterize FLOSS community newcomer socialization experience as well as the various instances of citizenship behaviours that are specific to the FLOSS community context. The analysis of the interview data revealed the existence of six socialization variables: task segregation, task purposefulness, interaction intensity, mentoring, joining structuredness, and supportiveness. Two sets of FLOSS community citizenship behaviours (CCB) were identified drawing on the citizenship behaviour literature. The first set, labelled CCB-I, comprised citizenship behaviours directed towards the benefit of individuals. The second set, CCB-P, included citizenship behaviours directed towards the benefit of the project. The findings were integrated in the two conceptual models. Subsequently, a research instrument was developed, following an extensive purification process that consisted of card sorting and expert review rounds, and a survey pretest. A pilot study assessed responses from 46 FLOSS contributors from two large FLOSS communities. Overall, the scales demonstrated high reliability and showed adequate construct validity. The analysis of the pilot study suggested the existence of a third CCB dimension, named CCB-C, that characterizes citizenship behaviours that are oriented towards the benefit of a project’s community. The main study was based on an online survey involving 327 respondents from twelve large FLOSS communities. Using Partial Least Squares (PLS), the collected data was used to test the two models. The results showed the overall superior predictive capability of the model hypothesizing the mediating effect of both social identification and social integration. Task performance was found to be directly predicted by task purposefulness as well as by interaction intensity and supportiveness through the mediation of social identification. Meanwhile, CCB was found to be impacted by the direct effect of task segregation and task purposefulness, and by interaction intensity and supportiveness through the mediation of both social identification and social integration. The existence of the third CCB dimension, CCB-C, was confirmed.</p>

Relationship between the Microstructure and Performance of Graphene/Polyethylene Composites Investigated by Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy

The quantitative characterization of microstructure is most desirable for the establishment of structure-property relationships in polymer nanocomposites. In this work, the effects of graphene on the microstructure, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the obtained graphene/polyethylene (PE) composites were investigated. In order to reveal the structure-performance relationship of graphene/PE composites, especially for the effects of the relative free volume fraction (fr) and interfacial interaction intensity (β), positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) was employed for its quantitative description. The relative free volume fraction fr gives a good explanation of the variation for surface resistivity, melting temperature, and thermal stability, and the variation of tensile strength and thermal conductivity agree well with the results of interfacial interaction intensity β. The results showed that fr and β have a significant effect on the properties of the obtained graphene/PE composites, and the effect on the properties was revealed.

Effect of Interaction Intensity on Alignment and EFL Learners’ Oral Production in the Reading-Speaking Integrated Continuation Task

This study aims to uncover the relationship between interaction and alignment in a reading-speaking integrated continuation task, especially focusing on whether an increase in interaction intensity can lead to stronger alignment and further generate positive effects on L2 learning. To this end, 31 participants were asked to perform reading-speaking integrated continuation tasks under three different conditions featuring low, medium and high interaction intensity respectively. The results showed that 1) alignment existed in the reading-speaking integrated continuation task; 2) increasing interaction intensity generated stronger alignment at both linguistic and situational levels; 3) growing interaction intensity contributed to more coherent and accurate L2 oral production. These findings not only proved the workings of mind-body-world alignment, but also testified that increasing interaction intensity could bring about a stronger alignment effect (Wang, 2010), which then contributed to better L2 oral performance. These findings confirm again the role of interaction in L2 learning and suggest that alignment could possibly be a mediating factor that links interaction and L2 development. Pedagogical implications for teaching and learning L2 speaking are discussed.

RISK TRANSMISSION AND CONTROL OF PORT-HINTERLAND SERVICE NETWORK: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF PREVENTIVE INVESTMENT AND GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

The increase in risk prevention investments in the port-hinterland service network (PHSN) effectively enhances the network’s ability to resist risks and improve the sustainability and stability of ocean transportation. Based on the construction of the PHSN risk prevention investment utility model, the equilibrium strategy, the related characteristics of each participant in the complementary networks and the complete network are analyzed. Similarly, the subsidy policy of the government under the utility maximization of the whole service network is studied. We further propose new types of subsidy strategies based on the key nodes and key groups given the resources available and the subsidy efficiency constraints imposed, while also validating the advantages of this method based on a case analysis. The results indicate that the (1) equilibrium risk prevention investment is closely related to the Katz-Bonacich centrality, network interaction intensity, cost of unit risk prevention investment and competition intensity; (2) an undifferentiated subsidy strategy cannot improve the risk prevention effectiveness of the whole network; (3) the subsidy strategy based on key nodes and key groups effectively improves the risk prevention efficiency; and (4) the subsidy strategy of key groups is superior to the subsidy strategy of key nodes. Accordingly, the results of this study provide a reference for participants and managers in the PHSN when making risk prevention investment decisions.

Glucose-6-Phosphate Isomerase FgGPI, a β2 Tubulin-Interacting Protein, Is Indispensable for Fungal Development and Deoxynivalenol Biosynthesis in Fusarium graminearum

Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) is ubiquitous in most organisms, catalyzing the reversible isomerization of glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate. In this study, we investigated biological and genetic functions of FgGPI in the phytopathogen Fusarium graminearum. We found that hyphal growth, conidial germination, and septa formation were significantly inhibited in FgGPI deletion mutant ∆FgGPI. FgGPI was also positively associated with glucose metabolism, ATP biosynthesis, and carbon source utilization. In addition, pyruvate production, deoxynivalenol (DON) biosynthesis, and virulence were reduced in ∆FgGPI. A coimmunoprecipitation assay demonstrated that FgGPI interacts with Fgβ2. More importantly, the coimmunoprecipitation assay showed that carbendazim-resistant substitutions in β2 tubulin could reduce the interaction intensity between FgGPI and Fgβ2, thereby increasing FgGPI expression and accelerating DON biosynthesis in carbendazim-resistant strains. Taken together, our work revealed the indispensable role of FgGPI in fungal developmental processes, DON biosynthesis, and pathogenicity in F. graminearum.

On social permeability of municipal borders

The article investigates the intensity of social interaction between the population of different municipalities in Russian Federation. This interaction is estimated using user profile data from online social networks: a data source that grows more and more popular in population geography studies. We build a qualitative indicator of social interaction using data on the number of interregional friendship links for «VKontakte» social network users that live in different municipalities and have an open social network profile. We show that the intensity of social interaction is higher on the average for municipalities that share a common border. Social interaction intensity data is then used to characterize the permeability of municipality borders. We choose the least permeable borders among all border segments of municipalities in Russian Federation: those with the smallest transborder interaction intensity values and describe the social barriers that are revealed this way. We describe various configurations of these barriers and suggest hypotheses for the reasons why such barriers appear or do not appear. We also analyze several groups of socially insular groups of municipalities in the Khanty- Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and suggest possible reasons for their insularity.