Interaction Of Participants Research Articles

Gender differences in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) changes during drawing interactions in romantic couples: an fNIRS study

Interpersonal interaction is essential to romantic couples. Understanding how gender impacts an individual’s brain activities during intimate interaction is crucial. The present study examined gender differences in oxyhemoglobin (oxy-Hb) changes during real-time drawing interactions between members of romantic couples using non-invasive functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We analyzed the oxy-Hb concentrations of romantic couples engaged in interactive (i.e., chase and escape) and non-interactive (i.e., individual) drawing sessions. Our findings indicated that males (vs. females) exhibited more pronounced oxy-Hb concentrations in Broca’s area, motor area, sensorimotor cortex, and temporal lobe areas than women in an interactive drawing task, suggesting a heightened goal-oriented engagement in social interaction. Significant positive correlations were found between oxy-Hb volumes of the temporal area and the Quality of Relationship Index (QRI), underscoring the impact of interpersonal dynamics on brain function during interactive tasks. This study deepens the understanding of gender differences in neural mechanisms in social interaction tasks and provides important insights for intimacy research.

Analysis of Pinduoduo's Advertising Strategy from the Perspective of Communication Channels

This paper analyzes Pinduoduos comprehensive advertising strategy, which integrates both digital and traditional media channels to optimize reach, engagement, and brand awareness across diverse consumer segments. Pinduoduo effectively leverages digital platforms, particularly social media, through innovative strategies such as group purchasing, gamification, influencer marketing, and data-driven targeting. These personalized and interactive approaches foster strong user engagement and drive organic growth. Simultaneously, traditional advertising channelstelevision, print, and outdoor advertisingremain central to Pinduoduos strategy, especially in reaching consumers in lower-tier cities and rural areas. The paper further explores how Pinduoduo adheres to the principles of integrated marketing communication (IMC) by delivering consistent messaging across diverse channels, enhancing brand credibility and consumer trust. By combining the precision of digital marketing with the broad reach of traditional media, Pinduoduo has positioned itself as a leading e-commerce platform, capable of appealing to a wide-ranging audience while maintaining a cohesive brand identity in an increasingly competitive market.

Facilitator factors to develop a healthy ageing Social Prescribing local system in Portugal—A qualitative case study

Social Prescribing (SP) is an approach which aims of improving health and well-being and connecting patients to community services. Examples of these services include physical activity and cultural activities. Despite its benefits, SP has still not been fully implemented in Portugal. This case study is part of a larger study on Social Prescribing Local System (SPLS) implementation, which comprised a quantitative approach, a pilot study and a qualitative approach, and aims at exploring patients’ and healthcare workers’ perspectives on SP. The study was carried out to understand the motivations of different stakeholders for participating in the pilot project, the anticipated benefits for patients, healthcare professionals, and the health unit, as well as their perceptions and experiences within the scope of the SP project. Data collection was carried out in December 2020 through semi-structured individual interviews and a focus group. A total of seven participants were included, of which one patient, one museum representative and five healthcare professionals. Different common dimensions related to SP emerge, including health and well-being, social interaction and community engagement, accessibility and inclusivity, motivation and adherence, collaboration and coordination, and education and awareness. The patient considered the adequacy of the activity to the patient’s state of health and capabilities, adoption of a phased approach, with a focus on progress, in order to promote long-term adherence as facilitators. For the museum, disseminating its activities to healthcare professionals and patients through different channels such as posters at the health center, social media pages, and training sessions can significantly enhance visibility and engagement, while direct phone contact and digital publications can further promote adherence, ensuring a comprehensive and coordinated approach to patient participation and institutional benefit. Healthcare professionals identified several benefits, including reduction of social isolation and sedentarism, as well as a means of strengthening the therapeutic relationship with patients. The design and implementation of SP programs should be participative and involve all stakeholders participating in the process. Barriers to adherence included time for activity and the associated costs or prerequisites, availability of activities and lack of perceived interest in health.

"What are they gonna do with my data?": Privacy Expectations, Concerns, and Behaviors in Virtual Reality

The immersive nature of Virtual Reality (VR) and its reliance on sensory devices like head-mounted displays introduce privacy risks to users. While earlier research has explored users' privacy concerns within VR environments, less is known about users' comprehension of VR data practices and protective behaviors; the expanding VR market and technological progress also necessitate a fresh evaluation. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 VR users, showing their diverse perceptions regarding the types of data collected and their intended purposes. We observed privacy concerns in three dimensions: institutional, social, and device-specific. Our participants sought to protect their privacy through considerations when selecting the device, scrutinizing VR apps, and selective engagement in different VR interactions. We contrast our findings with observations from other technologies and ecosystems, shedding light on how VR has altered the privacy landscape for end-users. We further offer recommendations to alleviate users' privacy concerns, rectify misunderstandings, and encourage the adoption of privacy-conscious behaviors.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in patient engagement in healthcare interactions

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in patient engagement in healthcare interactions

Alcohol increases social engagement in dyadic interactions: role of partner's drug state.

Alcohol is commonly used in social environments and is known to facilitate social behaviors. However, most controlled laboratory studies on alcohol have been conducted in isolated settings, limiting our understanding of its effects on social interactions. The current study was designed to examine the effects of alcohol on dyadic interactions in healthy volunteers (N = 37), with a focus on the influence of the conversation partner's drug state. Using a 4-session, placebo-controlled, within-subjects design, participants received a moderate dose of alcohol (0.8g/kg men) or placebo in randomized order before engaging in a 45-minute semi-structured conversation with a partner who received either alcohol or placebo. Partners were always strangers. Outcome measures included subjective responses to alcohol, self-reported closeness to partners, and facial expressions during interactions analyzed via a machine learning model. Alcohol produced its expected subjective effects, some of which were enhanced when the partner also received alcohol. Alcohol enhanced enjoyment of social interactions and feelings of connectedness, irrespective of the partner's drug condition. Facial expression analysis revealed that alcohol increased positive and decreased negative emotional expressions. For women but not men, these effects were more pronounced when their conversation partners also received alcohol. Individual emotion analysis revealed that alcohol increased the intensity of facial expressions associated with amusement, joy, and excitement, while reducing emotions such as awkwardness and contempt. Our findings show that alcohol increases feelings of social connectedness, and that responses to alcohol can be influenced by the drug state of interacting partners. The increased feelings of social connection may contribute to risk for escalation of use.

The multi-scale complexity of human genetic variation beyond continental groups.

Traditional clustering and visualization approaches in human genetics often operate under frameworks that assume inherent, discrete groupings1,2. These methods can inadvertently simplify multifaceted relationships, functioning to entrench the idea of typological groups3. We introduce a network-based pipeline and visualization tool grounded in relational thinking4, which constructs networks from a variety of genetic similarity metrics. We identify communities at multiple resolutions, departing from typological models of analysis and interpretation that categorize individuals into a (predefined) number of sets. We applied our pipeline to a dataset merged from the 1000 Genomes and Human Genome Diversity Project5, revealing the limitations of traditional groupings and capturing the complexities introduced by demographic events and evolutionary processes. This method embraces the context-specificity of genetic similarities that are salient depending on the question, markers of interest, and study individuals. Different numbers of communities are revealed depending on the resolution chosen and metric used, underscoring a fluid spectrum of genetic relationships and challenging the notion of universal categorization. We provide a web application (https://sohail-lab.shinyapps.io/GG-NC/) for interactive visualization and engagement with these intricate genetic landscapes.

Child-Centric Robot Dialogue Systems: Fine-Tuning Large Language Models for Better Utterance Understanding and Interaction.

Dialogue systems must understand children's utterance intentions by considering their unique linguistic characteristics, such as syntactic incompleteness, pronunciation inaccuracies, and creative expressions, to enable natural conversational engagement in child-robot interactions. Even state-of-the-art large language models (LLMs) for language understanding and contextual awareness cannot comprehend children's intent as accurately as humans because of their distinctive features. An LLM-based dialogue system should acquire the manner by which humans understand children's speech to enhance its intention reasoning performance in verbal interactions with children. To this end, we propose a fine-tuning methodology that utilizes the LLM-human judgment discrepancy and interactive response data. The former data represent cases in which the LLM and human judgments of the contextual appropriateness of a child's answer to a robot's question diverge. The latter data involve robot responses suitable for children's utterance intentions, generated by the LLM. We developed a fine-tuned dialogue system using these datasets to achieve human-like interpretations of children's utterances and to respond adaptively. Our system was evaluated through human assessment using the Robotic Social Attributes Scale (RoSAS) and Sensibleness and Specificity Average (SSA) metrics. Consequently, it supports the effective interpretation of children's utterance intentions and enables natural verbal interactions, even in cases with syntactic incompleteness and mispronunciations.

Zoom Fatigue and Facial Dissatisfaction Relate to Virtual Meeting Engagement Differently in the U.S. and South Korean Contexts.

Virtual meetings, facilitated through videoconferencing or virtual reality, have become a common form of workplace communication. Despite the advantages these meetings offer, enabling collaboration among workers in dispersed locations, the phenomenon of virtual meeting fatigue, commonly referred to as Zoom fatigue, has emerged as a significant concern. This study explores whether facial appearance dissatisfaction, a known contributor to Zoom fatigue, leads to reduced engagement in virtual meeting interactions by mediating the role of Zoom fatigue. Furthermore, this study examines the impact of facial dissatisfaction and Zoom fatigue on virtual meeting engagement cross-culturally, within the contexts of South Korea and the United States. The findings indicate that in the United States, facial dissatisfaction led to a lower level of virtual meeting engagement through the mediating role of Zoom fatigue, while in South Korea, facial dissatisfaction negatively impacted virtual meeting engagement regardless of Zoom fatigue levels. Additionally, we reveal that Zoom fatigue and facial dissatisfaction are more pronounced among U.S. women than U.S. men, but differences were not observed between South Korean women and men. These results underscore the influence of societal competitiveness, as seen in South Korea, on impression management concerns in technology-mediated work environments. We highlight the importance of developing virtual meeting features to mitigate facial dissatisfaction and Zoom fatigue, thereby enhancing engagement in virtual interactions.

Micro-celebrity marketing-induced travels: a psychological ownership perspective

Purpose Despite the growing interest in micro-celebrities in destination marketing, their role in transferring cognitive, emotional and behavioral outcomes to destination psychological ownership (DPO) is underexplored. This study aims to address this void by investigating how the perceived characteristics of micro-celebrities influence travel intentions through interactive engagement, perceived information quality and DPO. It highlights three pathways for fostering DPO. Design/methodology/approach A survey-based design was developed with 302 samples collected and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling and artificial neural network to examine the hypothesized model. Findings Findings reveal that the expertise and attractiveness of micro-celebrities enhance their perceived personal trustworthiness. This perception encourages social media users to view travel information from micro-celebrities as higher quality and to engage more with them, leading to DPO. Consequently, when social media users experience this psychological ownership, they show a stronger intention to travel to the destination, influenced partly by micro-celebrity marketing. Originality/value This study provides a psychological–developmental perspective on micro-celebrity marketing-induced travels. It underscores the importance of fostering micro-celebrity-induced DPO to establish a sustained, mutually beneficial relationship between tourists and destinations.

Defining social reward: A systematic review of human and animal studies.

Social rewards are strong drivers of behavior and fundamental to well-being, yet there is a lack of consensus regarding what actually defines a reward as "social." Because a systematic overview of existing social reward operationalizations is currently absent, a review of the literature seems necessary to advance toward a unified framework and to better guide research and theory. To bridge this gap, we preregistered and conducted the first comprehensive systematic review of human and animal experimental studies that used the term "social reward" and charted existing operationalizations, revealing the implicit and explicit definitions used in the field. Stimulus characteristics and measures of social reward were extracted from a total of 384 studies encompassing 42,118 participants and subjects. We provide detailed summaries of these elements, stratified by species (human/animal) and study type (behavioral, brain imaging, pharmacological, and physiological). Two main aspects were found to account for most of the difference in operationalizations: the sensory richness of a stimulus (intimacy) and engagement in social interaction (i.e., the synchronous observation and action between at least two individuals, viz., immediacy). Drawing insights from second-person neuroscience approaches and theoretical models in the field of human-computer interaction, we propose that human and animal research can greatly benefit from considering these properties, as they have important theoretical and practical consequences for human and translational research, with far-reaching implications for neighboring research fields such as those pertaining to social media and the development of artificial intelligence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

YouTube and the Changing Landscape of Global News Flow

The advent of digital platforms like YouTube has significantly transformed the global news landscape, challenging the long-standing dominance of Western news agencies. Traditionally, global news dissemination has been controlled by a few major Western outlets, resulting in a skewed representation of non-Western perspectives. This paper explores how YouTube is democratizing global news flow by providing a platform for diverse voices, particularly from non-Western regions. Channels such as Al Jazeera, TRT World, CGTN, and others have gained prominence on YouTube, offering alternative viewpoints that enrich global narratives. The platform's algorithm-driven recommendations and ease of access have enabled these channels to reach wide audiences, often surpassing traditional media in viewership. However, YouTube's content moderation policies and the potential spread of misinformation present challenges that need addressing. Despite these issues, YouTube's role in facilitating real-time reporting, interactive engagement, and niche journalism marks a significant shift in how global news is consumed and produced. This paper argues that while YouTube has its limitations, its potential to transform global news flow by decentralizing control and enhancing the diversity of perspectives is undeniable. Further research is needed to fully understand its impact and to develop strategies for mitigating its challenges.

Unveiling Online Collaborative Learning and Sense of Community in an English Drama Course: Indonesian EFL Undergraduate Students View

A sense of community enhances the exchange of information, fosters cooperation and support, and strengthens commitment to group objectives. Numerous studies have investigated the importance of community and collaborative learning activities within online environments. However, online collaborative learning and a sense of community in an English Drama Course (EDC) are still under-explored. The current study aims to fill that gap by following a group of 131 undergraduate students participating in a 16-week online EDC. Data was gathered via a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview coded by following the dimensions of the questionnaire. The current study reveals that students view online collaborative learning in an EDC positively and generate interactive engagement, teamwork, creativity, efficacy, social skills, problem-solving skills, idea generation, and enjoyment, which is particularly advantageous for navigating unfamiliar subject matter or foreign language contexts. The collaborative learning process hinges on establishing a robust sense of community, emphasizing shared objectives, effective communication, trust, collective problem-solving, and a supportive environment, highlighting the importance of addressing barriers to fostering this communal ethos for successful collaboration. The implications of this study might catalyze researchers and educators to consider developing a sense of community in online collaborative environments.

Digital preservation strategies for historical records in the age of AI and the metaverse

Purpose This study aims to explore digital preservation strategies for historical records, focusing on the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and the metaverse. It examines how AI-driven technologies and immersive virtual spaces can enhance the accessibility, integrity and usability of digitized historical archives. Design/methodology/approach The research draws on literature from AI, digital preservation and archival studies to analyze current trends and challenges in preserving digital records. It evaluates the role of AI in automating preservation processes and examines the potential of the metaverse for interactive engagement with historical data. Ethical considerations regarding data privacy and ownership are also discussed. Findings AI enhances digital preservation by streamlining digitization and predictive record management. The metaverse offers a novel platform for immersive engagement with historical records, allowing users to interact with and experience archives in dynamic, virtual environments. However, challenges related to data ownership, privacy and the integrity of historical records must be addressed to ensure sustainable preservation efforts. Originality/value This paper contributes to the growing body of research on the intersection of emerging technologies and digital preservation. It offers new insights into how AI and the metaverse can reshape archival practices, highlighting both opportunities and ethical challenges for institutions tasked with preserving historical records in an increasingly digital world.

Examining the Impact of Online Help-Seeking Strategies on Promoting EFL learners’ Self-Regulated and Collaborative Learning Skills, Language Learning Outcomes, and Perceptions in CALL Environments

This research examines the impact of online help-seeking strategies—both adaptive and peer-based—on promoting self-regulated and collaborative learning skills, as well as language learning outcomes, among Chinese EFL learners in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environments. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study triangulates various data strands from 92 randomly selected EFL learners to explore how these strategies influence their learning outcomes. Through methodological triangulation and the execution of one-way ANOVA, the research demonstrates the superior effectiveness of combining adaptive and peer help-seeking strategies, compared to their isolated use, in enhancing self-regulated and collaborative learning skills and language learning outcomes. The findings reveal a significant positive correlation between learners’ interactive engagement with help-seeking strategies and their overall CALL outcomes, indicating that such strategies support the development of both collaborative and self-regulated learning skills. This study provides theoretical and practical insights into CALL, offering evidence-based guidance for researchers and practitioners on the nuanced impact of integrating dynamic and flexible help-seeking strategies to enhance EFL learners’ skills and outcomes.

Integrating AI Chatbots in ESL and CFL Instruction: Revolutionizing Language Learning with Artificial Intelligence

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in language teaching has emerged as a transformative approach, particularly in the realms of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL). This article explores the potential of AI chatbots as effective tools for enhancing language acquisition. By examining the current landscape of AI in language education, we identify the unique benefits that chatbots bring to the learning process, including personalized interaction, immediate feedback, and continuous engagement. The article delves into the design and implementation of AI chatbot systems tailored for ESL and CFL contexts, highlighting their role in vocabulary development, grammar practice, and conversational skills. Furthermore, it addresses the challenges and limitations of using chatbots in language teaching, proposing strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Through case studies and empirical data, the article demonstrates how AI chatbots can be harnessed to create a dynamic and interactive learning environment that caters to the diverse needs of language learners. Ultimately, this work advocates for the thoughtful integration of AI chatbots to complement traditional teaching methods, thereby paving the way for more effective and accessible language education

Selection of a classroom observation tool for disability inclusion in Uganda.

Obuntu Bulamu is a Ugandan intervention promoting inclusive education for children with disabilities. This culturally appropriate approach, based on the Ubuntu philosophy, utilises peer-to-peer support activities for children, parents and teachers. To effectively measure the intervention's impact on disability inclusion, the study aimed to select, adapt and test classroom observation instruments suitable for the Ugandan context. Three structured classroom observation tools were selected and piloted in 10 primary schools in Wakiso District: The Classroom Observation Checklist (CoC), the Teacher-Pupil Observation Tool (T-POT) and the Interaction Engagement Scale (IES). These tools were adapted to ensure cultural relevance and applicability within Ugandan school settings. Factors like class size, teaching methods, cultural relevance, language and ease of use influenced the suitability of the selected tool. The CoC emerged as a more effective tool with a strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha of 0.80) for capturing inclusiveness and peer-to-peer support in the classroom compared to the T-POT and IES. The study findings emphasise the significance of adapting and testing tools in specific cultural contexts and low-income country settings and considering culturally contextual factors like class size, teaching methods, language complexity and ease of use when measuring disability inclusion in primary schools. The selection of a classroom observation tool for the Obuntu Bulamu randomised control trial contributed to African disability knowledge and practices designed on and for the continent.

“Language means freedom to me” perspectives of Deaf and hard-of-hearing students on their experiences in the English as a foreign language classroom

IntroductionTeaching English as a foreign language (EFL) to Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) students is regarded as a major challenge.The aim of the study is to examine the perspectives of DHH students regarding their experiences in the EFL classroom.MethodsUtilizing a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 former DHH students who learned English at German schools for the DHH.ResultsThe findings reveal various language combinations within the EFL classroom, which entirely depend on the teacher. Several critical aspects of the EFL classes were highlighted, including the insufficient foreign sign language competences of teachers, the juxtaposition of German Sign Language (DGS) signs and spoken English, and the lack of Deaf cultural content and awareness in the teaching. Additionally, the absence of interactive engagement in the EFL classroom was noted as a significant issue. Based on the DHH students’ EFL learning experiences, both English and American Sign Language (ASL) served as foreign languages for young DHH individuals, particularly in the context of international communication and social media engagement.DiscussionThis study underscores the importance of integrating ASL into EFL classrooms to better support DHH students’ language learning needs. The findings highlight the critical role of teacher training in ASL and the necessity for standardized approaches to EFL instruction. By aligning teaching practices with students’ lived experiences and incorporating sign language, educators can foster more inclusive, effective learning environments that not only enhance academic success but also affirm students’ identities and rights.

A Study on the Construction of Environmental Image of Four Chinese Banks: Based on Metadiscourse Analysis

With the escalating global concern for environmental issues and China's commitment to achieving carbon peaking and neutrality goals, this study aims to investigate how four leading Chinese banks have constructed environmental images through their CSR reports from 2016 to 2021. Utilizing Hyland's (2005) Metadiscourse model and AntConc 3.5.9 for corpus analysis, we quantitatively and qualitatively examine the strategic use of Metadiscourse in these reports. Our findings reveal a dominance of interactive Metadiscourse, particularly transitions and frame markers, which facilitate coherent and structured environmental disclosures. Interactional Metadiscourse, featuring self-mentions and engagement markers etc., underscores the banks' authority and reader engagement. The banks' CSR reports demonstrate commitments to carbon reduction, green finance and credit, ecological agriculture support, and environmental risk management, and then portray proactive environmental images. This research provides insights into how Metadiscourse constructs sustainability discourse in the financial sector, informing ESG reporting and environmental communication strategies.

Industrial Accident Prevention Training with Time Travel Prevention Games: Adaptive Personalized Story Experiences by Artificial Intelligence

Industrial accident prevention is a problem of societal relevance. It is worth the investment of contemporary education theory and up-to-date information and communication technologies including Artificial Intelligence (AI). Apparent deficiencies of AI that is based on Large Language Models (LLMs) und Generative Pre-trained Transformers (GPTs) bear abundant evidence for the need of going beyond the limits of sub-symbolic AI. Game based training is attractive to practitioners and advantageous over conventional educational methods. There is developed, implemented, and applied the original concept of time travel prevention games. The approach is generic and applies to other domains such as crime prevention and health care as well. The key idea is interactive story engagement that allows, if necessary, for virtual time travel to impact the fate. Trainees experience stories of success. Digital storyboarding is an AI design methodology derived from approaches to dynamic plan generation. Technically, a storyboard is a hierarchically structured family of graphs. Semantically, it determines a potentially infinite space of different stories. Single stories unfold at execution time, i.e. during game play, dynamically in response to human activities and environmental conditions. The game AI analyzes the history of game play represented as a string of actions and events. Operationally, string processing, counting letters in strings, finding properties of strings, and the like is key. The prepared alternatives of unfolding game play represent the interdisciplinary designer team's intelligence based on domain knowledge, education theory, learning psychology, game design principles, VR technology, and the like. The storyboard is the place where AI resides. Keywords: industrial accident prevention, prevention training, time travel prevention games, education theory, Artificial Intelligence, sub-symbolic AI, symbolic AI, adaptivity, play state, game state, storyboarding, storyboard interpretation technology