Alternative Communication Channel Research Articles

Anonymity, nonverbal communication and prosociality in digitized interactions: An experiment on charitable giving

We empirically examine the value of modern digital communication tools for inducing prosocial behavior. In our online experiment (N=594), charity members transmit a standardized message to potential donors through alternative digital communication channels varying the amount of nonverbal content (written message in the baseline Text condition vs. voice recording in Audio vs. video-recorded discourse in Video). We find partial support for the initial conjecture that individuals get more prosocial towards strangers once the latter become less anonymous to the former. Compared to the baseline Text condition, our Audio treatment induces a significant and substantial (nearly 40%) increase in the average donation. However, the effect observed in the richest Video condition has only half the magnitude of the one in Audio and donations made therein are not statistically different to those in the remaining conditions. We rule out the possibility that these treatment effects stem from perceptual mechanisms by which the changes in prosociality are driven by the differences in the perception of charity members in the stimuli, suggesting that the treatment effects capture the intrinsic value of reducing anonymity for promoting prosociality in the digital world.

Using the “Media as Mediator” Approach to Understand the Influence of Communication Channel Trust on COVID-19 Protective Behaviors: England, January 2022

In a secondary analysis, we examine how trust in pro-recommendation versus alternative communication channels mediated effects of demographic, personality, lifestyle, and political variables on COVID-19 protective behavior in England. In so doing, we adapt the media-as-mediator approach to the pandemic context. Respondents reported that family, close friends, primary care medical providers, and mainstream news media were relatively supportive of public health recommendations, and social media friend networks, faith/community groups, alternative news sites, and alternative health practitioners were relatively unsupportive. Parallel mediation analyses showed that effects of age, dutiful civic-mindedness, sensation-seeking, healthy lifestyle orientation, and more marginally, race on COVID-19 protective behavior were mediated by trust in these pro-recommendation and/or alternative communication channels. In some cases, trust in exemplars of both types of channels resulted in these channels influences largely canceling one another out.

An Intrinsically Explainable Method to Decode P300 Waveforms from EEG Signal Plots Based on Convolutional Neural Networks.

This work proposes an intrinsically explainable, straightforward method to decode P300 waveforms from electroencephalography (EEG) signals, overcoming the black box nature of deep learning techniques. The proposed method allows convolutional neural networks to decode information from images, an area where they have achieved astonishing performance. By plotting the EEG signal as an image, it can be both visually interpreted by physicians and technicians and detected by the network, offering a straightforward way of explaining the decision. The identification of this pattern is used to implement a P300-based speller device, which can serve as an alternative communication channel for persons affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This method is validated by identifying this signal by performing a brain-computer interface simulation on a public dataset from ALS patients. Letter identification rates from the speller on the dataset show that this method can identify the P300 signature on the set of 8 patients. The proposed approach achieves similar performance to other state-of-the-art proposals while providing clinically relevant explainability (XAI).

Designing a Motion-Onset Visual-Evoked Potential-Based Brain–Computer Interface to Control a Computer Game

Brain-computer interface (BCI) establishes an alternative direct communication channel between the brain and computer or other external devices. Motion-onset visual evoked potential (mVEP) related to the individual perception of movement is among synchronous BCI system that utilizes external stimulus. mVEPs stimulation paradigm is like an oddball stimulation paradigm. Researchers have recently been investigating mVEPs to control a computer game. To control a computer game, they used translation stimulus to evoke these potentials in EEG brain signals. In this study, we examine designing a computer game with four different types of stimuli, including translation, contraction, expansion, and rotation. We also used time-domain and wavelet coefficients for the feature extraction. Also, we used different types of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classification methods, including least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), stepwise LDA (SWLDA); moreover, and spatial-temporal discriminant analysis (STDA) for detecting the target stimulus. Our results demonstrate that contraction, expansion, and rotation stimuli, as well as translation, could be employed to control a BCI game. Our results showed that subjects got higher scores, game accuracy control, and information transfer rate using the rotation stimulus with SWLDA/STDA classification methods.

An Assessment of Learning Management System Use in Higher Education: Perspectives from a Comprehensive Sample of Teachers and Students

AbstractLearning Management Systems (LMSs) are underutilized in universities despite them being standard components of higher education. Given this, there is a need to gather the perspectives of students and teachers to examine how these key end-users engage with LMS and utilize its various features and functions. Such an endeavor could aid in addressing the barriers and in promoting the use of LMSs in online teaching and learning. As studies about LMS use with both teacher and student samples are limited, we simultaneously gathered both students’ and teachers’ perceptions of Moodle from all academic faculties at a public university in Hong Kong. Structured qualitative interviews were conducted with eighty-two participants (41 teachers, 41 students) via Zoom. Results suggest that Moodle, while previously viewed as merely a repository of course materials, transitioned from being a supplementary tool to a key information dissemination tool during the pandemic. Despite the availability of collaboration tools, majority of interactions still occur in alternative communication channels. Findings point to students’ and teachers’ need for familiarity, training, and a visually and functionally improved interface to enhance their experience in the LMS. We also found how content and pedagogy influenced how LMS was integrated into teaching, with frequency and manner of LMS use varying between faculties and departments. Given this, tailor-made information and support for each department are needed to maximize LMS use in classes. We suggest the conduct of dialogues involving multiple stakeholders (i.e., teachers, students, administrators, and technical support staff) so that higher education institutions can share best practices on how to improve LMS utilization to enhance the quality of teaching and learning in universities.

Enhancing the performance of LiFi communication with OSTBC, QAM, and OFDM: High-capacity, low-complexity transceiver design

Light fidelity (LiFi) is one of the most promising areas within wireless optical communication system. It provides many benefits, including high capacity, improved security and enhanced cost-effectiveness. However, there is still challenges which are link blockages, attenuation, interference and bandwidth restriction of modulation techniques. Orthogonal space–time block coding (OSTBC) offers a suitable solution to address link blockage by providing an alternative communication channel between the transmitter and the receiver. OSTBC has more tolerate to the practical channel impact limitation such as attenuation and interference that may occur in overlapping regions. In addition, the use of the OSTBC technique enhances the system’s ability to transfer data as the transmission rate is duplicated by the number of transmitters and receivers. This paper proposes the utilisation of a LiFi transceiver-based OSTBC that employs quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) in conjunction with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM). Co-simulation tools have been done by integrated Matlab with Optisystem, were used in the design of LiFi transceiver with all assumption required. The findings reveal the capability of LiFi transceiver of transmitting rate up to 15 Gbps with maintaining a satisfactory bit error rate (BER) of 10−4 over a link range of 200 m evenin the presence of realistic channel effects. Moreover, the LiFi transceiver’s structure used does not incorporate optical amplifier components, resulting in reduced computational complexity compared to conventional LiFi transceivers. The proposed system proved its progress over the previous work under the influence of the same input effects.

Listing Butterflies

Conventionally, specimen dealers’ business publications have not been discussed in the same light as their academic writing. The present study, however, examines the catalogs of butterfly specimens issued by the company Dr. O. Staudinger & A. Bang-Haas to elucidate the latent dynamics that shaped intellectual discourse and commercial ventures. By the end of the nineteenth century, the pricing by Staudinger & Bang-Haas was widely accepted as the benchmark within the German entomological community. The company’s exclusive control over the entomological market had two outcomes. First, the establishment of standard prices facilitated the global circulation of specimens by providing a convenient tool to assess the marketability of butterflies. It convinced entrepreneurs in faraway regions of the prospects of collecting for the transnational supply chain of natural history. This was the case for Meiji Japan (1868–1912), where the business opportunity presented by the price margins between Japan and Europe lured ambitious local entrepreneurs into the trade. Second, Staudinger’s price lists effectively conjured epistemic authority from his market position. The company’s catalogs and the dealer’s academic publications, sharing the same readership, worked in tandem to create a school in systematics. The absence of a unified system of classification, the proliferation of taxonomic novelties, the heavy selling of specimens collected from far and wide, all worked in favor of the catalogs. Their readers put the company’s commercial prints on a par with Staudinger’s academic publications, enabling him to sustain his epistemic authority through his privileged access to this alternative channel of communication.

Technology Diffusion Level Among The Community: A Review Paper

In line with the concept of smart governance, ICTs and the internet will facilitate the process of governance to provide information and public services on communication between the government and communities. Society is projected to use internet technology in this era of “Society 5.0” to access essential government services including banking, education, administration, and other social and community services. The aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review paper on the topic of technology diffusion level among the community with the objective of accessing the e-services performance provided by government agencies so that the level of technology diffusion can be define. The finding will discover several types of approaches and indicators within the context of e-services assessment where the level of e-services will influence user satisfaction. To conclude the review, e-service is an alternative communication channel to the user or customers, and it is a platform for government agencies to provide good digital service in the context of smart governance aspect. The output of this paper offers a greater insight into the topic of digital technologies as a tool in facilitate daily affairs and suggestions on the future direction to be explored in e-service literature.

Investigating Inclusivity in Game-Based Learning: Current Practices and Multistakeholder Perspectives

This study aims to examine how inclusivity measures are understood and applied in game-based learning (GBL). It considers the perspectives of various stakeholders, such as educators, game designers, and students. The focus is on creating accessible and engaging games that meet the diverse needs and characteristics of players. The methodology adopted a combination of primary and secondary data sources to pursue these aims. The primary data collection involved focus groups with educators, game designers, and students. The study employed a participatory design approach, involving multiple stakeholders in the exploration of inclusivity measures. The data collected from the focus groups, along with findings from the literature review, helped in formulating a set of inclusivity metrics for educators to create educational games that cater to diverse student needs. The obtained results emphasize the limited state of analogue GBL accessibility in scholarly and professional literature, while emphasizing the existing frameworks to be adopted by educators, designers, and publishers. Stakeholder discussions revealed themes related to inclusivity measures, including motor, sensory, and cognitive needs of players. Game designers can enhance accessibility by considering these requirements and incorporating alternative communication channels, accessible cues, adaptable gameplay options, and diversified knowledge-based requirements. In addition to inclusivity, addressing instances of exclusion, managing teams effectively, promoting inclusive communication, and incorporating gameplay limitations, educational components, diverse perspectives, and real-world applicability are discussed as important in education game design, to this extent.

The dialectics of Chat: Privilege, power and institutional racism

The online Large Group promoted by the Group Analytic Society International in response to the Covid 19 lockdown, presented participants with the ‘Chat’ facility alongside the standard verbal communication. Chat rapidly became an alternative channel of communication and a forum for commentary, criticism and challenge to the primary spoken discourse of the group and became a home and a vehicle for disaffected and dissident voices, particularly those marginalized according to race, class and gender. Controversy has developed as various objections have been raised against Chat being allowed in GASi online Large Groups. In so far as Chat has become a place for marginalized and subaltern voices to speak and be ‘heard’, then closing it becomes a praxis of silencing and further institutionalizing racism, patriarchy and class oppression.

Menjangkau Sasaran melalui Sosial Media: Inovasi Edukasi Kesehatan Masyarakat di Era Pandemik Covid-19

Globally, health literacy on the Covid-19 is poor and underestimated. The intensive health education will improve the health literacy on the Covid-19 and important to control and prevent the Covid-19. The health protocol suggest that everyone should apply the physical distancing. Thus, the health education through social media was applied to reach the target audiences for improving the health literacy on the Covid-19. Instagram was chosen as the communication chanell for the program that targeted to youth. This program had been done in March 2020 which targeted to the Indonesian youth people who access internet and Instagram. The health message was developed based on the newest version of the Covid-19 control guidance that issued by the Ministry of Health Republic Indonesia. There were more than 3.500 people viewed the message on the Instagram, and part of them gave positive response and tried to send the message forward to their social network. This program indicated that Instagram was became the alternative communication channel to increase health literacy on the Covid-19, especially for youth.

A dynamic systems analysis of factors affecting success of identity-preserved products: the case of high-oleic soybeans

The factors contributing to success of identity-preserved (IP) products are understood conceptually, but are rarely quantified. A combination of system dynamics modeling and group modeling building with value chain stakeholders provides a generalizable approach to quantify the relative importance of individual factors and identify information needed to assess market potential. The limited growth of IP high-oleic soybean oil (HOSO) provides a case example for application of these methods. The specific assumptions and results for HOSO will differ from other IP products, but some outcomes appear generalizable. First, the values of key drivers need to be documented over time, including the relative cost of the IP and the proportion of potential end users that are aware of the potential benefits. Because sustained cost advantages are a key driver of end-user switching behavior for HOSO, understanding the patterns for relative costs over time would be important to develop realistic estimates of sales growth. Similarly, our analyses suggest that assessment of end-user awareness is important, which may require use of alternative communication channels and monitoring efforts by key decision makers throughout the value chain, including product formulators and procurement staff.

Brain-Controlled, AR-based Home Automation System using SSVEP-based Brain-Computer Interface and EOG-based Eye Tracker: A Feasibility Study for the Elderly End User.

Over the past decades, brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have been developed to provide individuals with an alternative communication channel toward external environment. Although the primary target users of BCI technologies include the disabled or the elderly, most newly developed BCI applications have been tested with young, healthy people. In the present study, we developed an online home appliance control system using a steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based BCI with visual stimulation presented in an augmented reality (AR) environment and electrooculogram (EOG)-based eye tracker. The performance and usability of the system were evaluated for individuals aged over 65. The participants turned on the AR-based home automation system using an eye-blink-based switch, and selected devices to control with three different methods depending on the user's preference. In the online experiment, all 13 participants successfully completed the designated tasks to control five home appliances using the proposed system, and the system usability scale exceeded 70. Furthermore, the BCI performance of the proposed online home appliance control system surpassed the best results of previously reported BCI systems for the elderly.

The Ukrainian-Polish Cultural Dialogue of the 1960s in the Discourse of Postcolonial Studies (based on the Archives of the Polish Composers’ Union)

The research is based on the analysis of materials from the archive of the Polish Composers’ Union of the 1960s, which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. It is emphasized that the cultural representation of Ukraine at the official level has always been carried out under the control of the Union of Composers of the USSR and in coordination with the ideological sector of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was one of the mechanisms of colonial cultural enslavement of Ukraine. Based on archival documents, it is proved that Ukrainian music in the 1960s was not performed by Polish artistic groups, published or recorded in Poland. The only official channel for disseminating information about Ukrainian musical culture at that time was Polish Radio. Numerous facts of unofficial private cultural initiatives by conductor Ihor Blazhkov, composer Leonid Hrabovskyi, and other young Ukrainian musicians, which went against the official discourse of the state authorities and beyond the party and ideological control of Soviet Ukraine, have been established. It is proved that alternative unofficial channels of communication between Ukrainian artists and the Polish Composers’ Union vividly illustrate their desire to “break through the Iron Curtain”, receive direct information about modern trends in music and novelties in the festival and concert life of Europe, become the part of European and world cultural processes.

Towards predicting ECoG-BCI performance: assessing the potential of scalp-EEG *

Objective. Implanted brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) employ neural signals to control a computer and may offer an alternative communication channel for people with locked-in syndrome (LIS). Promising results have been obtained using signals from the sensorimotor (SM) area. However, in earlier work on home-use of an electrocorticography (ECoG)-based BCI by people with LIS, we detected differences in ECoG-BCI performance, which were related to differences in the modulation of low frequency band (LFB) power in the SM area. For future clinical implementation of ECoG-BCIs, it will be crucial to determine whether reliable performance can be predicted before electrode implantation. To assess if non-invasive scalp-electroencephalography (EEG) could serve such prediction, we here investigated if EEG can detect the characteristics observed in the LFB modulation of ECoG signals. Approach. We included three participants with LIS of the earlier study, and a control group of 20 healthy participants. All participants performed a Rest task, and a Movement task involving actual (healthy) or attempted (LIS) hand movements, while their EEG signals were recorded. Main results. Data of the Rest task was used to determine signal-to-noise ratio, which showed a similar range for LIS and healthy participants. Using data of the Movement task, we selected seven EEG electrodes that showed a consistent movement-related decrease in beta power (13–30 Hz) across healthy participants. Within the EEG recordings of this subset of electrodes of two LIS participants, we recognized the phenomena reported earlier for the LFB in their ECoG recordings. Specifically, strong movement-related beta band suppression was observed in one, but not the other, LIS participant, and movement-related alpha band (8–12 Hz) suppression was practically absent in both. Results of the third LIS participant were inconclusive due to technical issues with the EEG recordings. Significance. Together, these findings support a potential role for scalp EEG in the presurgical assessment of ECoG-BCI candidates.

Turkish Cooperatives Society and the ruling party in the 1930s: the rise and fall of a regimented public sphere

ABSTRACT This study scrutinizes the relations between the cooperative societies and the ruling party in Turkey in the 1930s. The ruling party (the Republican Peoples’ Party) mobilized the cooperative societies to avert the subversive effects of the Great Depression. Besides their economic significance, cooperative societies were formulated as alternative communication channels between the ruler and the ruled. It is argued that under the single party regime the RPP generated a regimented public sphere over these organizations to forward its messages to the masses. The periodicals published by the Turkish Cooperatives Society, the national federation of the cooperatives, provide invaluable insights into the catalyzer role of the bureaucratic intelligentsia in the construction and deconstruction of this public sphere. It is suggested that the interactions between the ruling authority and the bureaucratic intelligentsia generate a certain pattern of political culture displaying the dialectical forces immanent to any public sphere.

뇌-컴퓨터 인터랙션 오탐 저감을 위한 뇌파-턱 근전도 통합 신호 제어 프로토콜 개발

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether electromyogram (EMG) induced by jaw-clenching can be accurately observed in steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) signals at occipital lobes as well as temporal lobes. We also investigated a feasibility that the fused SSVEP data with the jaw-clenching EMG can be classified as a function of task types characterized by SSVEPs with and without the short and long clenching noise. Based on this hypothesis, we proposed a novel command protocol to effectively and efficiently reduce false alarms caused by using SSVEP brain-computer interface (BCI).<BR><BR>Background: Much attention has been paid to various brain-computer interfaces for neural rehabilitation and alternative communication channels for disabled people with severe neurological disorders. However, despite the interests in BCI, false alarms caused by interference effects between command flickers with different frequencies or internal and external noises have been still problematic and have yet to be investigated. Even though protocols to correct the false alarms based on error-related potential (ErrP) or eye blinks have been proposed, it has still limitation due to errors inherent in involuntary reactions of humans. Thus, it is necessary to develop a protocol to address the issue and propose a method insusceptible to the involuntary reactions.<BR><BR>Method: Nine undergraduate students (3 female) voluntarily participated in the experiment. They were asked to divide their attention between the two squares randomly oscillating with 8.57 and 10Hz and perform three types of tasks characterized by SSVEP only, short clenching, and long clenching conditions. They carried out the three tasks with a semi-counterbalanced and random order and rest interval between the tasks was set to 10 minutes to minimize order and carryover effects. It took about 12 minutes in completing the experimental tasks for each participant. We used five machine learning algorithms of binary classification to compare the performance in classifying the brainwave signals characterized by the three tasks.<BR><BR>Results: As a result of the classification comparison, random forest showed the highest classification performance of more than 0.85 (AUC) as follows: 0.88 (short clenching vs. SSVEP), 0.87 (long clenching vs. SSVEP), 0.85 (long clenching vs. short clenching condition) in the test data set. Notably, the findings implicated a clear classification in the long cand short clenching condition even at the frequency band of more than 20Hz. For the participants whose highest weight factor was shown at the occipital lobe, it can be possible to reduce false alarms in the SSVEP BCI with only single electrode at the occipital lobe.<BR><BR>Conclusion: The findings found in this study implicate that the proposed protocol can be used to effectively and efficiently correct false alarms in event-related potential (ERP), event-related desynchronization/synchronization (ERD/ERS) BCI as well as SSVEP BCI. On top of that, classifying the subtle changes in the jaw clenching types enables BCI developers to create additional commands to modulate their BCI system. The results can be greatly improved if weight factors in the binary classification are modulated as a function of individual characteristics.<BR><BR>Application: The findings obtained in this study can be utilized in developing asynchronous BCI very robust to false alarms and expected to provide a future direction into hybrid BCI system.

New Media Activism and Politics of Ecology in the People’s Republic of China

The environmental sector is an interesting realm in Chinese politics to observe factors such as the contributions of new media activism in bottom-up communication and decision-making processes, especially during the 40 years of reform and opening up. Top-down efforts to curb environmental issues are primarily to address increasing pubic discomfort due to pollution and related problems. However, environmental movements are increasingly visible in China despite their application of stability maintenance mechanisms such as Environmental Police. It is therefore noteworthy to deeply analyse the factors that contribute to the increasing scale of movements in the country. This study examines the role of new media activism (occurring due to the public’s interactions through WeChat, Weibo, QQ, etc.) in shaping the trajectory of environmental movements in China. How are these avenues supporting alternative communication channels outside the mainstream policy making apparatus? Is the government willing to incorporate the interests developed in these channels to policymaking realms? How these behavioural changes are influencing the state–society relations in contemporary China in the context of increasing environmental concerns. The study employs agency-structure framework to analyse the interactions between new media activism and the single party ruling political structure with the support fieldwork data from China. The study examines policy documents, official declarations of the communist party, public attitude towards new media activism, and so on, in order to present a comprehensive understanding on the politics of ecology in the PRC.

Do Corporate Site Visits Constrain Real Earnings Management?

This study investigates the relationship between corporate site visits (CSVs) and firms’ real earnings management. Using a unique dataset of site visits to Chinese firms listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2016, we find that such visits are negatively associated with firms’ real earnings management. The results are robust to using alternative CSV measures, controlling for alternative communication channels, and using the propensity score matching method. In cross-sectional analyses, we find that the negative association between site visits and real earnings management is stronger for more complex firms and firms with greater information asymmetry. In addition, we find that CSVs are negatively associated with both management and corporate misconduct but not with accrual-based earnings management or restatements.

Monte Carlo Dropout for Uncertainty Estimation and Motor Imagery Classification.

Motor Imagery (MI)-based Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been widely used as an alternative communication channel to patients with severe motor disabilities, achieving high classification accuracy through machine learning techniques. Recently, deep learning techniques have spotlighted the state-of-the-art of MI-based BCIs. These techniques still lack strategies to quantify predictive uncertainty and may produce overconfident predictions. In this work, methods to enhance the performance of existing MI-based BCIs are proposed in order to obtain a more reliable system for real application scenarios. First, the Monte Carlo dropout (MCD) method is proposed on MI deep neural models to improve classification and provide uncertainty estimation. This approach was implemented using Shallow Convolutional Neural Network (SCNN-MCD) and with an ensemble model (E-SCNN-MCD). As another contribution, to discriminate MI task predictions of high uncertainty, a threshold approach is introduced and tested for both SCNN-MCD and E-SCNN-MCD approaches. The BCI Competition IV Databases 2a and 2b were used to evaluate the proposed methods for both subject-specific and non-subject-specific strategies, obtaining encouraging results for MI recognition.