Difficulties In Interaction Research Articles

What do drivers prefer? A field study on longitudinal and lateral driving automation

Vehicle automation aims to improve safety and comfort, but using partial driving automation safely can challenge drivers. To investigate how drivers trust and rely on the automation, we conducted a field study with 100 participants. While driving on a public highway, they rated their trust and commented on their interaction with the automation systems for longitudinal (adaptive cruise control, ACC) and lateral control (lane-keeping assistance, LA). Our results show that trust in partial driving automation increases continuously by using it. Comparing the automation systems, we found that drivers trust and use the ACC more than the LA. While driving, drivers express more liking statements about the ACC and more disliking and criticism statements about the LA. However, the number of mentioned interaction difficulties is higher for the ACC. We discuss possible reasons for the observed differences between the longitudinal (ACC) and lateral (LA) automation.

VR, AR, and 3-D User Interfaces for Measurement and Control

The topics of virtual, mixed, and extended reality have now become key areas in various fields of scientific and industrial applications, and the interest in them is made tangible by the numerous papers available in the scientific literature. In this regard, the Special Issue “VR, AR, and 3-D User Interfaces for Measurement and Control” received a fair number of varied contributions that analyzed different aspects of the implementation of virtual, mixed, and extended reality systems and approaches in the real world. They range from investigating the requirements of new potential technologies to the prediction verification of the effectiveness and benefits of their use, the analysis of the difficulties of interaction with graphical interfaces to the possibility of performing complex and risky tasks (such as surgical operations) using mixed reality viewers. All contributions were of a high standard and mainly highlight that measurement and control applications based on the new models of interaction with reality are by now increasingly ready to leave laboratory spaces and become objects and features of common life. The significant benefits of this technology will radically change the way we live and interact with information and the reality around us, and it will surely be worthy of further exploration, maybe even in a new Special Issue of Future Internet.

Assessing the Efficacy of Anastomosis between Ansa Cervicalis and Facial Nerve for Patients with Concomitant Facial Palsy and Peripheral Neuropathy.

Background: For decades, patients with facial asymmetry have experienced social interaction difficulties, leading them to seek treatment in the hope of restoring facial symmetry and quality of life. Researchers evaluated numerous surgical techniques, but achieving results remains a significant hurdle. Specifically, anastomosis between the ansa cervicalis (AC) and facial nerve (FN) can hinder the patient's physical appearance. Objective: Our study goal was to examine the efficiency of anastomosis between AC and FN for facial motor function recovery even in the presence of peripheral neuropathy. Materials and Methods: Four patients diagnosed with facial palsy grade VI on the House & Brackmann Scale (HB) after vestibular schwannoma (VS) resection (Koos grade IV) via the retrosigmoid approach underwent AC and FN anastomosis. Outcomes were related to tumor grade, previous therapy, and the time between postoperative facial palsy and anastomosis. Images and neurophysiological data were evaluated. Results: After vs. resection, all four patients demonstrated HB grade VI facial palsy for an average of 17 months. During the follow-up program, lasting between 6 and 36 months, two patients were evaluated as having HB grade III facial palsy; the other two patients were diagnosed with grade IV HB facial palsy. None of the patients developed tongue atrophy, speech disorder, or masticatordys function. Conclusions: Anastomosis between the AC and FN is a safe and effective treatment for facial paralysis after cerebellopontine tumor resection. Nerve reanimation may be feasible even for patients with peripheral polyneuropathy. This study also offers a new option for patients with a progression-free status.

Computer-aided diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder from EEG signals using deep learning with FAWT and multiscale permutation entropy features.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopment disorder, is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and emerges as a major threat to children. Its computer-aided diagnosis used by neurologists improves the detection process and has a favorable impact on patients' health. Currently, a biomarker termed electroencephalography (EEG) is considered as vital tool to detect abnormal electrical activity in the brain. In this context, the present paper brings forth a novel approach for automated diagnosis of ASD from multichannel EEG signals using flexible analytic wavelet transform (FAWT). Firstly, this approach processes the acquired EEG signals with filtering and segmentation into short-duration EEG segments in the range of 5-20 s. These segmented EEG signals are decomposed into five levels using FAWT technique to obtain various sub-bands. Further, multiscale permutation entropy values are extracted from decomposed sub-bands which are used as feature vectors in the present work. Afterwards, these feature vectors are evaluated by traditional machine learning algorithms viz., k-nearest neighbor, logistic regression, support vector machine, and random forest, as well as convolutional neural network (CNN) as deep learning algorithm with different segment durations. The analysis of results reveals that CNN provides maximum accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve of 99.19%, 99.34%, 99.21%, and 0.9997, respectively, for 10 s duration EEG segment to identify ASD patients among healthy individuals. Thus, the proposed CNN architecture would be extremely helpful during diagnostic process of autism disease for neurologists.

Detection of Autism Spectrum Disorder using Machine Learning

AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER (ASD) is a neurological disorder caused by differences in brain. It is one among the major disorders by which adults as well as children are suffering. In Autism Spectrum Disorder the word Autism means- a developmental disorder that is characterized by difficulty in social interaction and communication. It is derived from Greek word ‘auto’ which means ‘self’. Spectrum means- which is not limited to specific conditions and Disorder means- a state of confusion/mess. Characteristics related to ASD can include can’t able to make eye contact with others, does not respond to name and can’t able to show facial expressions like happy, sad, angry, and surprised by 9 months of age, showing no gestures by 12 months of age, does not show interest to play with other children by 36 months of age. Some other characteristics include-delaying language skills, delaying learning skills, unusual eating and sleeping habits, gastrointestinal issues (for example, constipation), unusual mood or emotional reactions, anxiety, stress, lack of fear or more fear than expected [1].

Development of Moral Judgments in Impersonal and Personal Dilemmas in Autistic Spectrum Disorders from Childhood to Late Adolescence.

A potential underlying mechanism associated with the difficulties in social interactions in Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) concerns the abnormal development of moral reasoning. The present study examined utilitarian and deontological judgments in impersonal and personal moral dilemmas, comparing 66 individuals with ASD and 61 typically developing (TD) individuals between 6 and 18years. Utilitarian judgments decreased with age. This decline was much more gradual for personal dilemmas in the ASD than in the TD group. ASD individuals rated utilitarian judgments as more appropriate but felt less calm, consistent with the Empathy Imbalance hypothesis. Utilitarian judgments were associated with social interaction difficulties in ASD. These findings identify possible social therapeutic targets for more efficient coping strategies in individuals with ASD.

Connections between and within extended psychosis and autistic phenotypes and social relationships in the general population

ObjectivesNon - clinical individuals with higher levels of autistic traits and psychotic experiences also have problems in social relationships. Therefore, this study aimed to model complex associations between autistic and psychotic phenotypes and indicators of social relationships in the general population using a network approach. MethodsThe sample consisted of 649 participants with a mean age of M = 40.23 and SD = 13.09 sampled from the general population. The sample was representative for the 18–65 years old general population in the Slovak Republic. The following scales were administered: Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences, The Comprehensive Autistic Trait Inventory, and NIH Toolbox Adult Social Relationship Scales. Associations between variables and the presence of communities were identified using Exploratory Graph Analysis. ResultsResults revealed four highly stable and densely connected communities within the network: social relationships, autistic traits, positive symptoms, and the last one consisting of all negative symptoms, problems in social interactions, and depression. The most important variables in the network were difficulties in social interaction, perceived rejection, bizarre ideas, depression, and social withdrawal. ConclusionsThe psychotic and autistic phenotypes in the general population showed a network of connections with characteristics of social relationships. Community detection revealed that autistic traits and psychotic–like experiences formed relatively independent communities. Further, there was substantial overlap between negative symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal), and core features of the autistic phenotype, especially social interaction difficulties.

Neural substrates of theory of mind in adults with autism spectrum disorder: An fMRI study of the social animation task

Although the neural mechanisms of the theory of mind (ToM) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through fMRI using the social animation task have been investigated, little is known in adults with ASD. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the neural substrates of ToM in adults with ASD. Moreover, we aimed to elucidate the relationship between brain activation and behavior of social interaction in adults with ASD. Twenty-four healthy controls and 24 adults with the clinical diagnosis of ASD were recruited. Participants were asked to complete the social animation task in functional magnetic resonance imaging. The imaging analyses of within (whole brain analysis) and between (5 regions of interest) group comparisons were conducted to explore the process of ToM. The correlation analyses were further conducted to explore the relationship between neural activations associated with ToM and social interaction abilities assessed by ADI-R. The ASD group showed greater activation in the left precuneus and right superior temporal gyrus (STG) than the control group. For correlation analyses, greater right STG activation was positively correlated with autistic symptoms assessed by the ADI-R in the ASD group. ASD adults might spend a lot of effort on identification processing, thereby influencing social communication skills. Also, the neural deficits of ToM in ASD adults might be associated with their social interaction difficulties.

Is helping you helping me? The assessment of helping others using event sampling methodology in a clinical and a non-clinical sample.

Individuals diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) and social phobia (SP) have difficulties in social interactions. It is unknown, however, whether such difficulties prevent them from helping others, thereby depriving them of the natural benefits of helping, such as receiving gratitude. Using event sampling methodology (ESM), individuals (MDD, n= 118; SP, n= 47; and control group, n= 119) responded to questions about the frequency of helping, in total at 5333 time points, and their well-being. Contrary to our hypothesis, individuals in the MDD, SP and control group did not differ in their helping frequency. Results did show an association between helping and well-being, such that helping is related to well-being and well-being to helping. Understanding the complex relation of helping others and well-being and how this might be used during therapy and prevention programmes are discussed.

Everyday life of children in out-of-home care during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT This article scrutinises the impacts of COVID-19 on the everyday life of children in out-of-home care in Finland during the first year of the pandemic. A content analysis was conducted on survey data of municipal social workers’ evaluations on the effect of the pandemic on 773 children in foster and residential care. The pandemic, with restrictions and recommendations of social distancing, had impacts on the everyday settings of children: school, spare time and family. The effects of remote school were twofold: for some, it was a good solution, while for others the impact was negative. There were positive effects on the relations between the child and their foster family, but more common was the hardships on discontinuity in the fragile relations with birth parents. As children in care more often have difficulties in learning and social interaction, as well as fragility in social relations the pandemic has affected children in out-of-home care especially in their school, family and peer environments. The impacts on decisions made by the social workers due to the pandemic in individual cases were mainly associated with increased support and contact arrangements.

Отношения с социальным окружением как мотив правопослушного поведения молодежи: опыт кросс-культурного исследования

Introduction. Understanding the grounds of the law-abiding behavior of young people is a socially significant, but poorly studied research domain. Knowledge of the psychological causes of law-abiding behavior is important for the implementation of preventive work with deviant youth and the socialization of the younger generation. Contemporary scientific ideas do not have sufficient information about the role of the entire system of relations of the subject with the social environment for the motivation of law-abiding behavior, focusing on the study of the role of its specific participants - family members, relatives, friends and colleagues. 
 The study is focused on the relations with the social environment as a motive for law-abiding behavior. For this purpose, the study performs a cross-cultural assessment of these relationships in Chinese and Russian youth samples.
 Methodology, methods and techniques. The methodological basis of the study is the social network approach to the social environment studies. This approach makes it possible to describe the social environment as a quasi-social group, the basis (center) of which is the subject, while the rest of the participants are connected to the subject through social and psychological relations. Application of this approach reveals the significance of the social environment as a motive for law-abiding behavior, showing the effect of relations with the social environment on delinquent behavior readiness.
 Cross-cultural studies represent the research strategy. Information collecting method is a questionnaire analyzing the social relations and the motives of law-abiding behavior, as well as a standardized self-report measuring the subjective interaction features. 
 Results processing method: descriptive statistics, non-parametric alternative to one-way analysis of variance - Kruskal-Wallis H-test.
 Survey sample: 100 people, consisted of Russian (50 people) and Chinese (50 people) students, of the similar age and gender. 
 Results: the social environment features have been determined affecting law-abiding behavior and making up motivation: (1) Social environment parameters (volume, homogeneity, interaction difficulties) within the average (standard) values do not affect the law-abiding behavior of young people; (2) Self-assessment of interaction with the social environment enhances the motivation for law-abiding behavior for Russian youth; (3) Social support from individuals in the social environment enhances the motivation for law-abiding behavior in the Russian and Chinese sampling; (4) The system of motives for law-abiding behavior can be represented as emotional, social, personal and rational motives developed under the social environment influence. 
 Scientific Novelty. The data obtained expand the understanding of the motivating role of relationships with the social environment, showing that the help and support of others, as well as self-assessment of interaction with the social environment, enhances the law-abiding behavior motivation. 
 Practical Significance. The represented classification of the motives of law-abiding behavior can be applied to develop procedures for measuring and evaluating the readiness of young people to comply with legal standards.

Adults with autism spectrum disorders – specificity of functioning, needs, limitations, possibilities

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) belongs to the group of neurodevelopmental disorders that are characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and social communication, accompanied by limited, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behavior, activity and interests. They are usually diagnosed early in life, but are increasingly being diagnosed for the first time in adults who were not diagnosed in childhood. Diagnosing adults with ASD is a big challenge for professionals, a long process and a complex and difficult task. Receiving a diagnosis of ASD in adulthood is very important for these people and can help people around them better understand the specific behaviors of a person with ASD. An important potential benefit of obtaining an ASD diagnosis is also the ability to obtain the necessary professional support. For most people, these disorders are life-long, and therefore there is an absolute need to support people with ASD beyond childhood and adolescence. The analysis of the social situation of adults with ASD in Poland shows that no systemic solutions have been developed to help these people throughout their lives, especially in “transition” periods, such as starting school, the next stage of education, or transition to adulthood. Effective support systems for adults with ASD and their families should be developed as soon as possible. People with ASD have a variety of needs that require the coordination of activities in the field of health care, education, finance and social affairs throughout their lives, and taking active measures in the integration and participation of people with ASD and their families in society.

Brief opportunistic interventions by general practitioners to promote smoking cessation: A conversation analytic study

Very brief opportunistic interventions for smoking cessation are effective, cost-saving for health systems, and universally recommended in guidelines. However, evidence suggests that clinicians are reluctant to intervene, citing interactional difficulties. Only one UK study has specifically examined smoking discussions, within naturally occurring primary care consultations. However smoking cessation treatment was not available at the time. We examined existing datasets amounting to 519 video-recordings of GP consultations in England for instances of talk about smoking. We used conversation analytic methods to assess patients' responses to doctors asking about smoking, giving advice on smoking, and offering cessation treatment. In 31 recordings it was apparent that the patient smoked, and, in 25/31 consultations, doctors initiated the topic of smoking. They did so by asking about smoking status, commonly during the history-taking phase of the consultation. In many instances, these questions led to active resistance from patients against being placed in a discreditable category, for example by minimising their smoking. This was more pronounced when GPs pursued efforts to quantify the amount smoked. Thereafter, where doctors returned to the topic of smoking, they did so typically by linking smoking to the patient's medical condition, which likewise led to resistance. Guidance recommends that GPs advise on how best to quit smoking where patients are interested in doing so, but this was only evident in a minority of consultations. Where GPs offered support for cessation, they did so using interactional practices that minimised the need for the patient to respond and thereby accept. Interactional difficulties were found to be common in consultations between GPs and people who smoke when GPs actions aligned with some VBA guidelines. Future research should examine when and how advice on how best to quit, and offers of support, should be delivered within primary care consultations.

Adaptation and validation of two annotation scales for assessing social skills in a corpus of multimodal collaborative interactions.

Behavioral observation scales are important for understanding and assessing social skills. In the context of collaborative problem-solving (CPS) skills, considered essential in the 21st century, there are no validated scales in French that can be adapted to different CPS tasks. The aim of this study is to adapt and validate, by annotating a new video corpus of dyadic interactions that we have collected, two observational scales allowing us to qualitatively assess CPS skills: the Social Performance Rating Scale (SPRS) and the Social Skills of Collaboration Scale (SSC). The construct validity of these two scales was assessed by exploratory factor analysis and inter-item correlations. We also checked inter-judge agreement using inter-class correlation coefficients. Internal consistency was determined using Cronbach's alpha and convergent and divergent validity by assessing correlations between the two scales and measures of depression and alexithymia. Finally, the discriminative properties of the two scales were analyzed by comparing the scores obtained by a group of anxious individuals and a non-anxious control group. The results show that our two scales have excellent inter-item correlations. Internal consistency is excellent (alpha SPRS =0.90; SSC = 0.93). Inter-rater agreement ranged from moderate to high. Finally, convergent validity was significant with the alexithymia scale, as was divergent validity with the depression scale. Anxious individuals had lower scores on both scales than non-anxious individuals. Both scales show good psychometric properties for assessing social skills relevant to different collaborative tasks. They also identify individuals with difficulties in social interaction. Thus, they could allow monitoring the effectiveness of training social skills useful in CPS.

Specific adolescent prodromal symptoms associated with onset of psychosis in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986.

Several psychological symptoms in adolescence associate with later development of psychosis. However, it is unclear which symptoms specifically predict psychotic disorders rather than psychiatric disorders in general. We conducted a prospective study comparing how specific adolescent psychotic-like symptoms, predicted psychotic and non-psychotic hospital-treated psychiatric disorders in the population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986). At age 15-16 years, 6632 members of the NFBC1986 completed the PROD-screen questionnaire. New hospital-treated mental disorders of the NFBC1986 participants were detected between age 17 and 30 years from the Finnish Care Register for Health Care. Multiple covariates were used in the analysis. During the follow-up, 1.1% of the participants developed a psychotic and 3.2% a non-psychotic psychiatric disorder. Three symptoms were specifically associated with onset of psychosis compared to non-psychotic psychiatric disorders: 'Difficulty in controlling one's speech, behaviour or facial expression while communicating' (adjusted OR 4.00; 95% CI 1.66-9.92), 'Difficulties in understanding written text or heard speech' (OR 2.25; 1.12-4.51), and 'Difficulty or uncertainty in making contact with other people' (OR 2.20; 1.03-4.67). Of these, the first one remained statistically significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. To our knowledge, this is the first general-population-based prospective study exploring psychiatric symptoms predicting the onset of hospital-treated first-episode psychosis in comparison to non-psychotic disorders. We found three symptoms related with difficulties in social interaction which predicted onset of psychosis. This is a novel finding and should be replicated.

Verbal interaction in the classroom at SMP Negeri 6 Majene: An analysis flanders interaction categories

The purpose of this study was to analyze the verbal interactions of students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 6 Majene, by analyzing the verbal interactions between teachers and students in class VIII of SMP Negeri 6 Majene in the 2020/2021 school year. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. Data collection techniques used checklist observation and video tapping. Researchers took 10 grade VIII students of SMP Negeri 6 Majene as research subjects. The results showed that in the teacher category more often appeared to accept feeling, ask question, criticizes / justifies authority. Furthermore, in the student category the most dominant was student talk response. In this case, researchers assess, that teachers and students are still lacking in verbal interaction and there are still many categories that have not been fulfilled. Furthermore, students also sometimes experience confusion and difficulty in proper verbal interaction. Then they don't really understand what is being discussed so they are afraid of being wrong even though students know what to say to the teacher.

Ionic Channels as Potential Targets for the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Review.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurological condition that directly affects brain functions and can culminate in delayed intellectual development, problems in verbal communication, difficulties in social interaction, and stereotyped behaviors. Its etiology reveals a genetic basis that can be strongly influenced by socio-environmental factors. Ion channels controlled by ligand voltage-activated calcium, sodium, and potassium channels may play important roles in modulating sensory and cognitive responses, and their dysfunctions may be closely associated with neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD. This is due to ionic flow, which is of paramount importance to maintaining physiological conditions in the central nervous system and triggers action potentials, gene expression, and cell signaling. However, since ASD is a multifactorial disease, treatment is directed only to secondary symptoms. Therefore, this research aims to gather evidence concerning the principal pathophysiological mechanisms involving ion channels in order to recognize their importance as therapeutic targets for the treatment of central and secondary ASD symptoms.

Comparing Theory of Mind Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Developmental Language Disorder, and Typical Development.

BackgroundTheory of mind (ToM) is the ability to recognize, comprehend, and consider oneself’s and others’ mental states and perspectives to predict and explain behaviors and motivations. It is widely accepted that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with ToM. However, there are also findings suggesting that ToM abilities might also be compromised in children with Developmental Language Disorders (DLD).PurposeTo assess ToM abilities in three groups of children: 1. ASD with no language difficulties; 2. DLD, known for their language disorder; and 3. TD with no language issues.Materials and MethodsA total of 41 preschool children aged 5-to-6 were examined and assigned to one of the three groups based on previous clinical reports and a standardized Hebrew language assessment tool. Nonverbal IQ was established with a standardized test to verify within average range placement (>75 IQ). ToM skills were examined with a Hebrew version of the ToM Task Battery and parent’s questionnaire (ToMI).ResultsChildren with ASD had significantly lower ToM scores compared to the children with DLD, and TD. The ToM scores of the children with DLD were similar to the scores of the TD children. According to the parents’ questionnaires, both the ASD children and the DLD children had less developed ToM skills compared to their TD peers.ConclusionThe present findings suggest that children with ASD have a fundamental difficulty in ToM that is independent of their language abilities. Children with DLD show difficulties in everyday social interactions that involve ToM. It is possible that both ASD and language disorders influence ToM development, suggesting that different developmental routes affect the acquisition of ToM.

Study of the influence of sand on rheological properties, bubble features and buildability of fresh foamed concrete for 3D printing

Using sand to partially replace binder in the preparation of foamed concrete (FC) can reduce shrinkage, result in a lower carbon footprint, and enhance eco-friendliness. The hardening properties and application of 3D printed FCs (3DPFC) are closely related to its performance. The effects of sand content and fineness on the rheological properties, buildability, pressure field, and bubble features of the FC used for 3D printing were studied and discussed. It was found that the doped sand competed with water in the surrounding paste, thus increasing the interparticle interaction force and difficulty of bubble integration, resulting in the decrease of air content and bubble diameter of FC. The static yield stress and thixotropy of sand-containing FC depends on the thickness and rheological properties of the bubble-containing paste layer around the sand particles. Replacing the binder with sand, especially with fine sand, intensifies the pressure field in the FC during the mixing process. The buildability of 3DPFC is linearly correlated with the average bubble diameter of FC. A formula is proposed to predict the buildability of 3DPFC based on the static yield stress and air content.

Anomaly Gait Detection in ASD Children based on Markerless-based Gait Features

Children with autism are known for their difficulties in social interaction, communication, and behaviour characteristics. Hence, this study proposed to develop a markerless-based gait method for anomaly gait detection in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Firstly, a depth sensor is used during walking gait data collection of the 23 ASD children and 30 typical healthy developing (TD) children. Further, these walking gait data are divided into the Reference Joint (REF) and Direct Joint (DIR) features. For each type, five sets of features are derived that represents the whole body, upper body, lower body, the right and left side of the body. The three classifiers used to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method are Naïve Bayes (NB), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Results showed that the highest accuracy, precisely 94.22%, is achieved using the ANN classifier with DIR1 gait features representing the whole body. The highest sensitivity and specificity obtained are 94.49% and 93.93% accordingly. In addition, the proposed markerless model using the DIR1 gait features and the ANN as classifier also outperformed previous studies that have utilised the marker-based model. This promising result showed that the proposed method could be used for early intervention for the ASD group. The markerless-based gait technique also has fewer experiment protocols, thus causing the ASD children to feel more comfortable.