Social Scenarios Research Articles

A globalized symbolic environment ward by the States and dominated by organizations: enticing the nobility and influencing the class habitus

Purpose Through Bourdieusian sociology, this study aims to interpret a globalized symbolic environment ward by the States and dominated by organizations through the States’ Nobilities enticing and the Euro-American influences disseminated by the cultural circuit of capitalism in the inculcation and incorporation of a class habitus conniving with this logic of domination. Design/methodology/approach This study has developed a theoretical essay based on the contributions of Bourdieusian sociology to discuss and understand the following concepts and their respective relationships: symbolic environment, globalization, organizations, State, State Nobility, Euro-American influences, cultural circuit of capitalism and class habitus. Findings The arguments built throughout this theoretical essay recognized how class habitus on environment contributes to organizations establishing themselves as a space that consolidates and replicates the domination logic. As indicated, the State Nobility is an intermediary element between dominant organizations and the State, as dominated. Practical implications This theoretical essay signals that less harmful alliances between organizations, the State Nobility and the State could culminate in social, environmental and economic scenarios provided with more inclusion, diversity and preservation. Social implications This study presents an in-depth conceptual analysis to hold power structures responsible as direct and indirect drivers of environmental problems, with their different proportions and severity levels, affecting the planet. Originality/value This study proposes an alternative lens to debate and question how much the results presented by the contemporary world order compensate (if in any way) the damage that invades and deteriorate environmental assets.

Stable neural underpinnings of emotional cognition subgroups in patients newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder: A prospective fMRI study.

This study aimed to investigate the neural underpinnings of emotional cognition subgroups in recently diagnosed patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and change over time over a 15-month follow-up period. Patients and healthy controls (HC) underwent emotional and nonemotional cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at the baseline (BD n = 87; HC n = 65) and at 15-month follow-up (BD n = 44; HC n = 38). Neural activity during emotion reactivity and regulation in response to aversive pictures was assessed during fMRI. Patients were clustered into subgroups based on their emotional cognition and, with HC, were compared longitudinally on cognition and neural activity during emotion reactivity and regulation. Patients were optimally clustered into two subgroups: Subgroup 1 (n = 40, 46%) was characterized by heightened emotional reactivity in negative social scenarios, which persisted over time, but were otherwise cognitively intact. This subgroup exhibited stable left amygdala hyper-activity over time during emotion reactivity compared to subgroup 2. Subgroup 2 (n = 47, 54%) was characterized by global emotional cognitive impairments, including stable difficulties with emotion regulation over time. During emotion regulation across both time points, this group exhibited hypo-activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Additionally, patients in subgroup 2 had poorer nonemotional cognition, had more psychiatric hospital admissions and history of psychotic episodes than those in subgroup 1. Broad impairments in emotional cognition in approximately half of BD patients and associated nonemotional cognitive deficits may originate from insufficient recruitment of prefrontal resources, contributing to poorer clinical outcomes.

Imagination vs. routines: festive time, weekly time, and the predictive brain.

This paper examines the relationship between societal structures shaped by traditions, norms, laws, and customs, and creative expressions in arts and media through the lens of the predictive coding framework in cognitive science. The article proposes that both dimensions of culture can be viewed as adaptations designed to enhance and train the brain's predictive abilities in the social domain. Traditions, norms, laws, and customs foster shared predictions and expectations among individuals, thereby reducing uncertainty in social environments. On the other hand, arts and media expose us to simulated experiences that explore alternative social realities, allowing the predictive machinery of the brain to hone its skills through exposure to a wider array of potentially relevant social circumstances and scenarios. We first review key principles of predictive coding and active inference, and then explore the rationale of cultural traditions and artistic culture in this perspective. Finally, we draw parallels between institutionalized normative habits that stabilize social worlds and creative and imaginative acts that temporarily subvert established conventions to inject variability.

Interpretation bias for ambiguous scenarios among individuals with high and low levels of empathy

AbstractEmpathy is the ability to understand and resonate with the emotions of others, typically requiring individuals to infer others' emotional status through the information around them. However, this information is often ambiguous and it is unknown whether individuals with high empathy have a bias in interpreting contextual information. Therefore, this study investigated how individuals with low and high empathy interpret other‐relevant scenarios in Study 1 (N = 98) and self‐relevant scenarios in Study 2 (N = 95), by using the scenarios task and the Sentence Word Association Paradigm (SWAP) separately. Study 1 observed that, for interpretations of other‐relevant scenarios, the high‐empathy group showed greater likelihood ratings for negative interpretations than those with low‐empathy in both social and non‐social scenarios. Study 2 found that, for interpretations of self‐relevant scenarios, the high‐empathy group differed from the low‐empathy group only on non‐social scenarios but not on social scenarios. Specifically, individuals with high empathy were more likely to report a relationship between a negative word and an ambiguous scenario compared to those with low empathy in self‐relevant non‐social scenarios. The study first revealed a bias for highly empathetic individuals to regard the ambiguous scenarios as negative in other‐relevant and self‐relevant scenarios, except for self‐relevant social scenarios.

GIS and Machine Learning Models Target Dynamic Settlement Patterns and Their Driving Mechanisms from the Neolithic to Bronze Age in the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Traditional GIS-based statistical models are intended to extrapolate patterns of settlements and their interactions with the environment. They contribute significantly to our knowledge of past human–land relationships. Yet, these models are often criticized for their empiricism, lopsided specific factors, and for overlooking the synergy between variables. Though largely untested, machine learning and artificial intelligence methods have the potential to overcome these shortcomings comprehensively and objectively. The northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) is characterized by diverse environments and significant changes to the social system from the Neolithic to Bronze Age. In this study, this area serves as a representative case for assessing the complex relationships between settlement locations and geographic environments, taking full advantages of these new models. We have explored a novel modeling case by employing GIS and random forests to consider multiple factors, including terrain, vegetation, soil, climate, hydrology, and land suitability, to construct classification models identifying environmental variation across different cultural periods. The model exhibited strong performance and a high archaeological prediction value. Potential living maps were generated for each cultural stage, revealing distinct environmental selection strategies from the Neolithic to Bronze Age. The key environmental parameters of elevation, climate, soil erosion, and cultivated land suitability were calculated with high weights, influencing human environmental decisions synergistically. Furthermore, we conducted a quantitative analysis of temporal dynamics in climate and subsistence to understand driving mechanisms behind environmental strategies. These findings suggest that past human environmental strategies were based on the comprehensive consideration of various factors, coupled with their social economic scenario. Such subsistence-oriented activities supported human beings in overcoming elevation limitation, and thus allowed them to inhabit wider pastoral areas. This study showcases the potential of machine learning in predicting archaeological probabilities and in interpreting the environmental influence on settlement patterns.

The resistance to translanguaging, spontaneous translanguagers and native speaker saviorism

ABSTRACT Translanguaging has been theoretically argued and empirically proven to have transformative and constructive potential because it provides language users with potential access to and opportunities for rich and equal educational and linguistic resources. However, we remind in this article that many ‘spontaneous translanguagers’ – language users who are understood to have a translanguaging instinct and predisposition for natural translingual use – tend to resist translanguaging in certain institutional contexts in order to fit into the dominant Anglophone society. This resistance to translanguaging is deeply provoked by the impact of pervasive language ideology – native speaker saviorism– the longstanding assumption that people of color around the world need to speak like a native speaker of English in order to fully enjoy the social, cultural, linguistic, and financial status of Whiteness. While we stand in solidarity with applied linguists who advocate for the transformative potential of translanguaging, we also caution that many actual translanguagers in certain social scenarios still carry enduring skepticism about the benefits of translanguaging. If we continue to advocate for translanguaging, it is essential to deal with core issues that hinder its application in various social settings from the perspectives of various spontaneous translanguagers.

The Effects of Human-Robot Interactions and the Human-Robot Relationship on Robot Competence, Trust, and Acceptance

As social robots may be used by a single user or multiple users different social scenarios are becoming more important for defining human-robot relationships. Therefore, this study explored human-robot relationships between robots and users in different interaction modes to improve user interaction experience. Specifically, education and companion were selected as the most common areas in the use of social robots. The interaction modes used include single-user interaction and multi-user interaction. The three human-robot relationships were adopted. The robot competence scale, human-robot trust scale, and acceptance of robot scale were used to evaluate subjects’ views on robots. The results demonstrate that in the two scenarios, people were more inclined to maintain a more familiar and closer relationship with the social robot when the robot interacted with a single user. When multiple persons interact in an education scenario, setting the robot to Acquaintance relationships is recommended to improve its competence and people’s trust in the robot. Similarly, in multi-person interaction, Acquaintance relationships would be more accepted and trusted by people in a companion scenario. Based on these results, robot sensors can be added to further optimize human-robot interaction sensing systems. By identifying the number of users in the interaction environment, robots can automatically employ the best human-robot relationship for interaction. Optimizing human-robot interaction sensing systems can also improve robot performance perceived in the interaction to meet different users’ needs and achieve more natural human-robot interaction experiences.

Brand Ambassadors and Online Influencers on The Consumer’s Purchase Intentions in The Social Media Landscape

In recent years, the emergence of social media has altered the way consumers interact with digital marketing on a global scale. It also deals with the effect of social media marketing and management on product and service reputation. The use of endorser marketing by online influencers and brand ambassadors in digital marketing has skyrocketed. The current study takes a preliminary approach to determine marketing endorsers on the TikTok site that influence consumer’s intentions. It provides an integrated credibility VisCAP Model that takes into account accessing advertising functions valued among endorsers that can influence consumers' purchase intentions, such as attractiveness, trustworthiness and expertise. Consequently, those are the three criteria to determine the validity of this research. As a consequence of this present research, a theoretical framework can anticipate the relationship between online influencers and brand ambassadors in social media scenarios. The proposed framework is supplemented with a basic guideline for other corporations, advertising agencies and industries for future understanding of endorsement marketing.

The relationship between autistic traits, expressiveness, readability and social perceptions.

This study investigated the relationship between autistic traits, expressiveness, readability (both actual and perceived), social favourability, and likability. Sixty participants designated as 'targets' were video recorded in a range of social scenarios and their autistic traits were measured using the Autism Spectrum Quotient. The videos were then shown to 106 new participants designated 'perceivers', who were split into three groups to make judgments related to readability, expressiveness, and social favourability respectively. Mediation analyses revealed that autistic traits negatively impacted both perceived likeability and social favourability, mediated by lowered expressiveness. Autistic traits also directly impacted readability, which was not mediated by expressiveness. The findings show how the level of autistic traits of a target can influence how they are socially perceived by others.

Hidden Follower Detection: How Is the Gaze-Spacing Pattern Embodied in Frequency Domain?

Spatiotemporal social behavior analysis is a technique that studies the social behavior patterns of objects and estimates their risks based on their trajectories. In social public scenarios such as train stations, hidden following behavior has become one of the most challenging issues due to its probability of evolving into violent events, which is more than 25%. In recent years, research on hidden following detection (HFD) has focused on differences in time series between hidden followers and normal pedestrians under two temporal characteristics: gaze and spatial distance. However, the time-domain representation for time series is irreversible and usually causes the loss of critical information. In this paper, we deeply study the expression efficiency of time/frequency domain features of time series, by exploring the recovery mechanism of features to source time series, we establish a fidelity estimation method for feature expression and a selection model for frequency-domain features based on the signal-to-distortion ratio (SDR). Experimental results demonstrate the feature fidelity of time series and HFD performance are positively correlated, and the fidelity of frequency-domain features and HFD performance are significantly better than the time-domain features. On both real and simulated datasets, the accuracy of the proposed method is increased by 3%, and the gaze-only module is improved by 10%. Related research has explored new methods for optimal feature selection based on fidelity, new patterns for efficient feature expression of hidden following behavior, and the mechanism of multimodal collaborative identification.

Systems analysis for energy assets of Iraq influenced by water scarcity

Water security in arid and semi-arid Middle Eastern climates has been severely impacted by effects of climate change such as reduced precipitation, diminished storage, increased evapotranspiration, and prolonged heat waves. These climate effects are compounded in Iraq, where populations, agriculture, industry, and energy rely heavily on varying transboundary water flows to meet water demands. Iraq’s most profitable sector, energy, is especially threatened by insufficient water supply, which complicates government decision making in energy infrastructure development. The goal of this paper is to develop a scenario-based multi-criteria analysis framework to prioritize infrastructure investments in the context of climate change and scarcity of natural resources. Infrastructure facilities are evaluated against social, economic, climate, and hydrologic criteria across a set of disruptive climatological, economic, and social scenarios to identify robust initiatives and the most and least disruptive scenarios to the system. A particular innovation of this paper is the evaluation of hydrology data derived from satellites in determining water scarcity impact on individual energy facilities. The methods are demonstrated for a critical sector of Iraq’s economy: oil and natural gas. The demonstration includes 13 system-order criteria, 44 oil and gas initiatives within Iraq, and seven risk scenarios. The results include an accounting of the most and least disruptive scenarios to energy sector priorities and scenario-based system orderings to guide stakeholders in investment prioritization.

The Impact of Chatbot Communication Style and Service Remedies on Consumer Adoption Intention

The development of chatbots is very rapid, so far, the research on chatbots mainly focuses on the field of service success, ignoring the fact that chatbot service failure (i.e., making mistakes) is a kind of norm, how to better design chatbots so as to minimize the loss brought by service failure has become a problem that needs to be solved urgently by AI producers nowadays. Based on the chatbot service failure scenario, this paper investigates the different impacts of chatbots adopting two communication styles, social and task, on consumers' adoption intention, and finds that consumers' adoption intention of social (vs. task) chatbots is lower after service failure, in which uniqueness neglect plays a mediating role. In addition, different matching effects between three chatbot service remedies (humor vs. apology vs. compensation) and communication style (social vs. oriented) were explored. Social-oriented chatbot service failure, using humor as a service remedy was superior to compensation. Task-oriented chatbot service failure and the use of compensation as a means of service remediation is superior to humor. Apologizing is less effective than humor and compensation in both social and task-oriented chatbot service failure scenarios. The conclusions of this paper enrich the research on chatbots in the area of service failure and provide effective suggestions for merchants to design and apply chatbots.

A spatial decision support system for multi-dimensional sustainability assessment of river basin districts: the case study of Sarno river, Italy

Effective management of the complex Socio-ecological systems (SES) of the river basin, influenced by a range of social, economic, and environmental variables, requires multi-purpose Spatial Decision Support Systems (SDSSs) to identify and select balanced and sustainable regeneration scenarios. In many cases, the lack of cooperation between administrative institutions and the low level of participation of the stakeholders involved are the main obstacles to effective planning and regeneration practices and call for new forms of governance. However, to address these critical issues, few studies use quantitative approaches to assess the multidimensional resources of river basins in an integrated perspective in terms of their capacity to activate cooperation networks between river-crossed cities. This study aims to suggest a methodological approach combining Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and Geographic Information Systems to achieve integration in pursuing sustainable regeneration pathways for a river basin district, analysing the case study of the Sarno River, composed of 20 administrative units, in Southern Italy. The specific purpose is to provide decision-makers with an SDSS to evaluate sustainability scenarios based on the multi-dimensional performances of River Basin District Units (RBDU). The results delivered four partial rankings of RBDU related to social, cultural, ecological, and economic scenarios and one overall ranking for an integrated sustainability scenario. Each ranking includes a clustering of municipalities according to three classes: Leader, Link and Follower. The outcome is twofold: to provide decision-makers with recommendations for supporting governance models based on sustainability pathways and to suggest valuable methods and tools for dealing with the spatial misfits, considered as the mismatch between the physical boundaries of a natural system and the management area of an organization.

Assessing alexithymia: the proposal of a psychometric tool based on spheric videos.

The present perspective introduces a novel psychometric tool designed to enhance the evaluation of alexithymia. Alexithymia, a condition marked by difficulties in recognizing and expressing emotions, along with a propensity to direct attention outside rather than toward one's own interior experiences, is commonly investigated through self-report questionnaires. These instruments assume that individuals have sufficient self-awareness and abstraction capabilities, which restricts the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of emotional recognition in individuals who do not possess these capacities. To address this lack, emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and 360° videos facilitate the recreation of immersive contexts, enabling subjects to engage with scenarios even remotely. Our innovative tool employs spherical video technology to recreate social and non-social scenarios that elicit emotions. Psychophysiological measures are collected during video observation; then, questions are asked to investigate how the subject consciously processes the emotions they experienced. This multimodal approach aims to capture both implicit and explicit emotion processing, providing a comprehensive assessment. Overall, the proposed psychometric tool offers the potential for a more nuanced understanding of alexithymic traits and their real-life impact, empowering clinicians to tailor treatment processes to individual needs based on a richer set of information.

Supporting Preschool Children’s Resilience at Basic Daily Context: Parents’ and Teachers’ Views in Selected Kindergartens in Greece

Aims: This paper aimed to shed light on the understanding of the concept of ‘risk and resilience’ by young children’s main caregivers (parents and kindergarten teachers), as well as to explore and compare their perspectives on the daily applied strategies to develop and promote children’s resilience at home and school respectively.
 Study Design: A qualitative approach was chosen in order to evaluate parents’ and kindergarten teachers’ beliefs, experiences and attitudes towards ‘resilience’ through semi-structured interviews.
 Place and Duration of Study: The study conducted in Greece and the whole procedure from design to data analysis and report writing lasted eight months (from January to August 2023). 
 Methodology: 17 mothers of preschool children (3.5 to 5.5 years old) and 16 kindergarten teachers who worked in public kindergartens from different regions in Greece participated in the study, selected by a convenience sampling. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data from the participants’ responses to the interviews.
 Results: Mothers and kindergarten teachers recognized risk and stressors in children development. Their discrepancy was that teachers emphasized the importance of risk factors in the family such as neglect, abuse, divorce, financial problems etc., while mothers referred more to child individual (e.g. disease, cognitive disability) or socio-cultural factors (e.g. crisis, bulling, internet addiction). They both seemed adequate enough to capture the essential features of the concept ‘resilience’ such us “positive adaptation after a threat or adversity”. As concerned the strategies to support children’s resilience both kindergarten teachers and mothers considered that they could serve as positive role models for promoting resilience. They put first their relationship/ bonding with the child as well as the interactions between the two contexts (family-school). They adopted appropriate practices (e.g. discussion, story reading, social scenarios, expression support) to achieve their goals mainly related to socio-emotional learning/ development. 
 Conclusion: The conclusions were hoped to have major implications for parents and teachers, suggesting that they can be used for the design of training or intervention programs focusing in enhancing children’s resilience and to guide principles and policy decisions that influence the field of early education.

Social robot accessories for tailoring and appropriation of social robots

AbstractThe design of robots for everyday use should take into account the specific nature of the individual end-user and the possibility of interactions with multiple users in diverse scenarios, promoting versatility and increasing the chances of their successful adoption in everyday environments. Most robots are designed, however, to perform tasks and interact in typical social scenarios with an abstract human user. We observed a recent surge in the use of accessories with social robots, which aligns with a broader trend of consumers’ preference for personalizing the technologies they interact with. Drawing from the concepts of adaptability and customizability in collaborative systems, we explore the potential use of accessory-like items for social robots to enable low-tech customization and user appropriation, thus enhancing their value and suitability in various social situations. We draw from Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Co-operative Work literature to show how end-user customizability and appropriation are essential, but less frequently considered, in the study and design of social robots. We conceptualize Social Robot Accessories (SRAs) as a way for end-users to customize robots, and present three studies - (1) a literature survey on accessory-like item use with social robots, (2) a survey of commercially available robot accessories, and (3) a Twitter-based analysis of accessory use for AIBO and LOVOT robots by their users. We use findings from these studies to envision a design space of SRAs for use by Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) researchers.

Code-Switching and Slang: An Analysis of Language Dynamics in the Everyday Lives of Generation Z

This study explores the dynamics of code-switching used in Generation Z’s (Gen-Z) communication practices, revealing it as a dynamic and adaptive strategy employed in diverse social contexts. Gen-Z exhibits context-specific types of code-switching, utilizing informal and casual forms, such as slang and non-formal language, in peer interactions. Within familial settings, a seamless transition between formal and informal language aligns with established family norms, while professional environments witness the use of formal and professional language. The strategic use of code-switching and slang by Gen-Z serves as a nuanced communication approach, catering to specific social scenarios. In informal peer contexts, the incorporation of slang fosters a sense of camaraderie, while code-switching acts as a tool for expressing emotions and personal identity, reflecting individuals’ comfort in conveying specific feelings or ideas in a chosen language. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of Gen-Z’s language practices, showcasing their adeptness in navigating diverse linguistic landscapes, expressing identity, and adapting to social expectations. Such insights are pivotal for fostering effective intergenerational and cross-cultural communication, bridging understanding between different linguistic and cultural groups.

Dampened motivation in schizophrenia: evidence from a novel effort-based decision-making task in social scenarios.

Apathy represents a significant manifestation of negative symptoms within individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ) and exerts a profound impact on their social relationships. However, the specific implications of this motivational deficit in social scenarios have yet to be fully elucidated. The present study aimed to examine effort-based decision-making in social scenarios and its relation to apathy symptoms in SCZ patients. We initially recruited a group of 50 healthy participants (16 males) to assess the validity of the paradigm. Subsequently, we recruited 45 individuals diagnosed with SCZ (24 males) and 49 demographically-matched healthy controls (HC, 25 males) for the main study. The Mock Job Interview Task was developed to measure effort-based decision-making in social scenarios. The proportion of hard-task choice and a range of subjective ratings were obtained to examine potential between-group differences. SCZ patients were less likely than HC to choose the hard task with strict interviewers, and this group difference was significant when the hard-task reward value was medium and high. More severe apathy symptoms were significantly correlated with an overall reduced likelihood of making a hard-task choice. When dividing the jobs into two categories based on the levels of social engagement needed, SCZ patients were less willing to expend effort to pursue a potential offer for jobs requiring higher social engagement. Our findings indicated impaired effort-based decision-making in SCZ can be generalized from the monetary/nonsocial to a more ecologically social dimension. Our findings affirm the critical role of aberrant effort allocation on negative symptoms, and may facilitate the development of targeted clinical interventions.

Distribution of suitable habitat of Firmiana danxiaensis H.H.Hsue and H.S.Kiu in China: An integrated analysis based on changes in climate and high forest thematic resolution land use

The distribution of species is mostly influenced by climate synergistic effects and land use. The prediction of endangered species is dependent on fine-scale environmental features, especially in forests. The capture of fine-scale suitable habitats is bounded by low spatial resolution and coarse categorization. In this study, we improved the land use information and forest spatial detail through high forest thematic resolution land use data. To understand the relative influence of environmental factors, suitable habitat models for Chinese endangered tree species (Firmiana danxiaensis) under three climate and high forest thematic resolution land use conditions was constructed. We also assess F. danxiaensis 's response to climate and land use, and differential performance in land use on the suitable habitat. The area of suitable habitat for F. danxiaensis grows slowly under the SSP1-2.6 (shared social pathway scenario) scenario, decreases by 21.33% from the present to 2090 under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, and expands significantly under the SSP5-8.5 scenario. We conclude that high forest thematic resolution land use is beneficial in capturing species' requirements for specific habitats and especially necessary in predicting endangered species. At the same time, the distribution of suitable habitats for species is primarily driven by climate, and limited their development by land use. The study shows that the synthetic effects of climate and land use change on F. danxiaensis are positive, with a marked trend toward the northeast. As a consequence, some endangered species are able to benefit from future SSPs scenarios, in particular they respond more strongly to the SSP5-8.5 scenario than to the other scenarios. Assessing the role of changes in the climate and high forest thematic resolution land use on F. danxiaensis will help promote sustainable land use management and contribute to the conservation policy for Chinese endangered species.

State Dependence in Material and Social Deprivation in European Single-Parent Households

This paper explores the dynamics of social exclusion as measured by material and social deprivation in the particularly exposed category of single-parent households. We aim to assess whether there is true state dependence in deprivation and the role of other household factors, as well as that of the macro-economic and social welfare scenario. We use 2015–2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions longitudinal data to explore a large set of European countries. We estimate three-level dynamic probit models that enable us to account for micro- and country-level unobserved heterogeneity. Our results suggest that material and social deprivation is likely to be a trap for single-parent households and that this effect is stronger for these households than for those composed of two adults and children. Among single-parent households, those headed by a female are worse off than those headed by a male. The policy implications of these findings are also discussed.