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Abstract concepts are relevant to a wide range of disciplines, including cognitive science, linguistics, psychology, cognitive, social, and affective neuroscience, and philosophy. This consensus paper synthesizes the work and views of researchers in the field, discussing current perspectives on theoretical and methodological issues, and recommendations for future research. In this paper, we urge researchers to go beyond the traditional abstract-concrete dichotomy and consider the multiple dimensions that characterize concepts (e.g., sensorimotor experience, social interaction, conceptual metaphor), as well as the mediating influence of linguistic and cultural context on conceptual representations. We also promote the use of interactive methods to investigate both the comprehension and production of abstract concepts, while also focusing on individual differences in conceptual representations. Overall, we argue that abstract concepts should be studied in a more nuanced way that takes into account their complexity and diversity, which should permit us a fuller, more holistic understanding of abstract cognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During social interactions, the behavior of an individual often depends on the sex of its social partner. Many animal societies have males and females that play very different behavioral roles, although they coexist and interact non-sexually. At specific phases of the colony cycle, social wasp females and males are contemporaries within a nest, they often interact, although mating occurs mostly off the nest, therefore providing an opportunity to test sex discrimination in contexts other than classical sexual ones. We performed a lure presentation experiment to test if Mischocyttarus metathoracicus discriminate between conspecifics of the 2 sexes during on-nest social interactions. Female wasps discriminated conspecific sex during experimentally simulated nest intrusions. Visual and chemical cues may account for this sex discrimination. Despite sex discrimination (evidenced by differential inspective behavior from the nest females toward the female and the male lures), female wasps were as aggressive toward lures of both sexes. In the female-dominated hymenopteran societies, males are often subordinate and not aggressive on nest, resulting in females directing less aggression to them compared to other females. Instead, M. metathoracicus males and females are both aggressive toward nestmates, so they might be perceived as similar threat during on-nest social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interactions have large effects on individual physiology and fitness. In the immediate sense, social stimuli are often highly salient and engaging. Over longer time scales, competitive interactions often lead to distinct social ranks and differences in physiology and behavior. Understanding how initial responses lead to longer-term effects of social interactions requires examining the changes in responses over time. Here we examined the effects of social interactions on transcriptomic signatures at two times, at the end of a 45-minute interaction and 4 hours later, in female Polistes fuscatus paper wasp foundresses. Female P. fuscatus have variable facial patterns that are used for visual individual recognition, so we separately examined the transcriptional dynamics in the optic lobe and the non-visual brain. Results demonstrate much stronger transcriptional responses to social interactions in the non-visual brain compared to the optic lobe. Differentially regulated genes in response to social interactions are enriched for memory-related transcripts. Comparisons between winners and losers of the encounters revealed similar overall transcriptional profiles at the end of an interaction, which significantly diverged over the course of 4 hours, with losers showing changes in expression levels of genes associated with aggression and reproduction in paper wasps. On nests, subordinate foundresses are less aggressive, do more foraging and lay fewer eggs compared to dominant foundresses and we find losers shift expression of many genes in the non-visual brain, including vitellogenin, related to aggression, worker behavior, and reproduction within hours of losing an encounter. These results highlight the early neurogenomic changes that likely contribute to behavioral and physiological effects of social status changes in a social insect. Author summary: Aggressive interactions often create inequalities–some individuals win while others lose. Winning versus losing can lead to large physiological differences between individuals, including different neurogenomic profiles between winners and losers. How this information about contest outcome leads to distinct neurogenomic profiles is poorly understood. Here we examine gene expression in response to aggressive social encounters in paper wasps, which naturally form dominance hierarchies on their nests in the wild. Shortly following encounters winners and losers have similar expression profiles, likely because similar mechanisms are engaged by social experiences. Four hours later, we find divergent neurogenomic profiles between winners and losers, with losers showing larger shifts in expression compared to winners. Many of the most dynamically expressed genes have been previously associated with dominance and caste differences in paper wasps showing how a single interaction can engage many of the same genomic networks that are involved in mediating more dramatic differences in queen-worker behavioral differences are also involved in responses shortly following social interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reproduction provides direct fitness benefits; therefore, it is important to determine why in some societies certain individuals have disproportionate access to reproductive opportunities. The social interactions that underlie reproductive hierarchies can occur in multiple situations, yet they are rarely studied in unison. The reproductive heir in the social wasp Ropalidia marginata is cryptic to human observers until the queen dies or disappears. To determine whether a reproductive heir can be identified through her behaviour, we examined four types of social situations: aggression, spatial overlap, trophallaxis and exchange of solid food. We asked whether accounting for all four social situations in a multilayer network provides more information about the structure of the society than examining each situation on its own or in an aggregate network that does not distinguish between social situations. We found that the reproductive heir had the most social interactions in the multilayer network but not in each of the social situations when considered separately or when all situations were lumped together. Our work demonstrates that multilayer networks can uncover new insights on social organization by explicitly considering the links between multiple situations of social interactions. • Social status is determined by synergies among interactions in multiple situations. • We use a novel multilayer network approach to identify a cryptic reproductive heir. • We test whether centrality in four social situations can predict an heir's identity. • Multilayer networks outperformed single or aggregate networks. • Multifaceted analysis of sociality provides previously unknown information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much work has shown that social isolation has lasting negative effects on adult social interactions, but less is known about precisely how and why isolation alters social behaviour. One way isolation may alter social behaviour is by interfering with the development of effective communication. Here, we test how social isolation influences individual recognition, a key aspect of social communication in Polistes fuscatus paper wasps. Polistes fuscatus reared in a typical social environment learn and remember the unique faces of conspecifics during social interactions. Typical P. fuscatus use individual face recognition to minimize conflict and stabilize social interactions. As wasps are adept face learners, they also readily learn to discriminate between wasp face images during training. Here, we show that social isolation had dramatic effects on recognition. We isolated wasps for 6 days after eclosion from pupation, then tested them for face recognition in social and nonsocial contexts. Isolated wasps did not learn and remember other individuals during social interactions. Furthermore, isolated wasps did not learn to discriminate between wasp face images during training. Therefore, social experience with conspecifics is essential for the development of individual recognition and face learning in paper wasps. Many aspects of wasp behaviour develop rapidly with little experience required. However, complex social interactions like individual recognition require social experience with conspecifics. • Wasps usually excel at using facial patterns to individually identify other wasps. • Social isolation during rearing interfered with individual recognition. • Isolated wasps did not learn unique faces during training or social interactions. • Social isolation interferes with wasp communication and social competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human technology interaction became the key driver for bringing new changes that improve the life wellbeing and solve society problems. Past studies paid a considerable attention in technology in manufacturing, but recently due to the repaid growth of service sector, technology developers targeted this sector, especially the profitable businesses. However, the social business such as education, has not received adequate attention. Even though e-learning and MOOCs application introduced to solve institutions' capacity and boost up their quality, the efficiency of using these technologies is questionable since less than 10%, who use MOOCs complete their courses. The literature suggests that technology motivation factors that influence users and educational quality as well as system are important to address this challenge. Even though, many studies investigated these factors, the problem still existed. Thus, this review paper aims to highlight and investigate the development process of MOOCs and their opportunities as well as challenges. The finding of this paper suggests that even though MOOCs adoption and operation are suffering of several issues, which should be addressed by future research, MOOCs are the future promise for education development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attribution of status carries significant social and reproductive advantages as it reflects individual qualities. However, the traits conveyed and those perceived do not always align with reality. It is crucial to understand how the status associated with different professions can influence the perception of traits, as it assists in decision-making during social interactions. This study aimed to investigate whether the status derived from university education influences the assessment of social status, mate value and personality traits among Brazilians. A quasi-experimental design with nonrandom assignment was used, employing online questionnaires administered through Google Forms. A total of 252 participants, both male and female, over 18 years of age, and residing in Brazil, took part in the study. These participants evaluated the social status, mate value, and personality traits of stimulus subjects with high and low-status university education. The results revealed that stimulus subjects with high-status university education were regarded as possessing higher status in society and scored higher on Dark Triad traits. In contrast, stimulus subjects with low-status university education were perceived as having greater agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experiences. In conclusion, university education signals social and personality traits, serving as a parameter to shape social perceptions. • Subjects with high-status backgrounds are rated higher on Dark Triad traits. • Low status indicates greater agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness. • University education serve as an indicator of social and personality traits. • University education affects the perception of the individuals in social hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a narrative lens to locate and analyze stereotypes about intimate partner violence (IPV) used by victim/survivors to describe the ways they made meaning about their relationships. I combine two models used for analyzing narrative: Labov & Waletzky's (1967) and the Social Interactional Approach (SIA) (De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2008). Stories about what counts as 'real' IPV emerged as the most told story across the 34 participants in the study. I show, victim/survivors of IPV have internalized sociocultural discourses about IPV that only recognize certain forms of physical abuse as IPV. I argue that evaluation clauses (Labov & Waltezky), developed to analyze the micro-context of storytelling, also index macro, sociocultural knowledge, making it a natural connecting point with SIA. • This paper connects critical discourse analysis (CDA) with narrative analysis to interrogate discourses. • I create an analytical model for use in stories about IPV that combines Labovian narrative analysis with SIA. • I locate the meaning-making potential of a story in the micro-details of narrative and the macro-details of social norms. • Interrogate the idea that IPV is only present when one member of a relationship leaves physical marks on the other. • Stereotypes about relationships ultimately function to maintain IPV as a cultural formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Death Café is a not-for-profit international social franchise founded in 2011 in London. This paper is based on the most extensive empirical research of Death Cafés to date, examining the content of Death Café conversations. I interrogate the finding that, alongside talking directly about death and dying, people at a Death Café consistently talk about the value of being at a Death Café and about the value of talking about death. I introduce three main ways that talking about the value of conversations about death appears in a Death Café and, most importantly, I argue that talking about the value of conversations about death is an enjoyable part of the conversation in its own right. I use neo-tribal theory and its concept of aesthetics as ‘a way of feeling in common’ and ‘a means of recognising ourselves’ to examine this further. When talking about the value of conversations about death, Death Café participants reflexively consider the activity they are engaging in= together, which strengthens the feeling of collectivity, and bonds them into a neo-tribe. This paper demonstrates that Death Café is a valued form of social interaction, moving it away from the current academic attempts to discover Death Café’s instrumental utility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities increasingly adopt diverse ethnic, social, and cultural characteristics, there is an emerging logic for planning and policy to reflect this hyper-diversity (inclusion) while resolving the looming sustainability-related challenges. However, what is not adequately addressed in the current literature on urban planning – which could also solidify the justification for more citizen inclusion – is what happens when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability. In response, this paper asks a key question: "What are the implications, in the case of urban foodscape, when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability?" This question is investigated in this paper in the domain of urban foodscapes and through qualitative interviews, with the support of maps, in the Dutch city of Almere. A novel theoretical combination of just sustainabilities and social licence to operate (SLO) was utilised to frame citizen inclusion in foodscape planning. The findings showed that based on everyday practical experiences of food access in the city, citizens were more concerned about social interaction, the representation of food from cultural origins, and local food production. This theoretical combination, as a way of deepening inclusion, would help avoid the tendency of urban planning being used as an instrument for glossing over social injustice under the guise of citizen participation. This paper, therefore, argues that SLO can be a key pathway for actualising just sustainabilities in both urban planning research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social isolation/marginalization in sub-Saharan Africa is under-researched, despite increasing evidence of weakening traditional community-based social support. This paper aims to develop a typology of social networks capable of accounting for social marginalization in a rural community in Western Senegal and to describe the socio-demographic characteristics of network profiles. Building on prior qualitative work, we carry out a latent profile analysis using a unique and extensive social network data set, identifying four different network profiles: Locally integrated, Constrained relationships, Locally marginalized, and Local elites. This paper provides the first empirically supported classification of social integration and marginalization in social networks in rural sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, it can serve as a reference for future research seeking to understand both the broader scope of social integration and marginalization and the consequences of differential access to social capital through social networks on access to health resources and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: While exploring the information experience within multispecies families, the subjective nature of humans and non-human entities, living beings and non-living objects becomes evident. This paper aims to reveal the underlying significance of information within socio-physical living environments shared among humans, cats and dogs as companions. Design/methodology/approach: Gaining inspiration from the information experience approach and posthumanism, this is a phenomenological paper. Empirical material related to lived experiences of participating families were gathered through multispecies ethnography methods, followed by phenomenological reflections. The paper has been written based on excerpt-commentary-units and the inclusion of videos and images as an approach to convey the richness of the lived experiences and multiple perspectives. Findings: Findings are organised into three main sections, each capturing lived experiences of information and its utilization from various frames. The paper shows how living beings, both human and animal, use their physical, sensual and moving bodies to acquire and convey information to and from each other. Moving beyond the living beings, the study discusses how non-living objects in the physical environment of a multispecies family also shape information. Material objects, spatial locations and even plants became sources of information for the family members. Lastly, the paper delves into the social environment of the family, where all members, human and animal, are actively shaped by information within their social interactions and companionship. Originality/value: Considering information distributed across species and material objects in a shared, more-than-human environment, the article suggests implications for an information experience approach. It emphasizes how information shapes the in-between humans, animals and their environment, highlighting their reliance on each other for understanding and living a good shared life. There is a need for future research to explore the information experience within the internal subjective minds of members of multispecies families, bridging the gap in the understanding of these external information and their internal information processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human interactions are guided by rules, guidelines, and social norms—a tacit understanding of what is adequate in a given context. With interactions being increasingly digitally mediated, understanding how behavior is regulated in these environments becomes imperative. In this paper, we provide an overview of the literature on netiquette and how usage of the term developed over time. We then present findings from five exploratory focus groups, discussing general characteristics of netiquette, how users acquire and adapt netiquette, as well as the social dynamics associated with netiquette. Findings suggest that netiquette dynamically interacts with social, psychological, and environmental factors. We thus propose integrating the netiquette literature with research on social norms and conceptualize netiquette as digital social norms. The paper identifies five areas for further research that will deepen our understanding of how netiquette evolves, how it is perceived by users, and how it impacts their everyday experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to and utilization of preventive health services are diversely distributed among immigrants. This paper aims to test the impact of structural, socio-economic, cultural, and contextual factors, and to test whether the acculturation theory holds true for migrants in Italy. Based on the "Social Condition and Integration of Foreign Citizens" survey (2011–2012), this paper shows that utilization of preventive health services among immigrants depends on structural characteristics and highlights the relevance of social interactions between foreigners and natives. Finally, the paper concludes that the acculturation model holds true for immigrants in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This discussion explores and compares the explicit interpersonal method of psychoanalysis of Harry Stack Sullivan and the implicit and until now insufficiently recognized interpersonal method of Sigmund Freud. Interpersonal means interaction via expression of feelings, emotions, and actions, gestures of body and face, and words. The centrality of emotions as motives and movers or action suggests redefining psychic reality as emotional reality. While Freud did not have the word “interpersonal,” invented by Sullivan, he nevertheless acted as an interpersonal psychotherapist both in his prepsychoanalytic period and, thereafter, from his beginnings as a psychoanalyst in 1893. The other purpose of this paper is to promote a new era of collaboration and cross-fertilization between the IPA and other psychoanalytic authors and organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely recognised that paper remains a pervasive resource for collaboration and yet there has been uncertain progress in developing technologies that aim to enhance paper documents with computational capabilities. In this article, we discuss the design of a technology that interweaves developments in hardware and materials, electronics and software, and seeks to create new affinities between digital content and paper. The design of the technology drew from findings from naturalistic studies of the uses of paper, particularly when considering how ‘users’ might ‘interact’ with the augmented technology. We briefly review these studies and discuss the results of an evaluation of the emerging technology. Analysis of the fine details of the conduct of participants in these assessments suggest how, even when we design simple forms of interaction with a device, these can be shaped and transformed by the participation and collaboration of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the work done by sixth grade students to achieve and sustain productive and personally meaningful lines of inquiry with computational models. The capacity to frame interactions with tools as dialogic exchanges with co-participants is a productive practice for disciplinary engagement in science and for computational thinking (Chandrasekharan and Nersessian 2015; Dennet 1989; Latour 1993; Pickering 1995). We propose that computational models have unique affordances for dialogic interaction because they are probabilistic and iteratively executable, features that provide an entry point for students to adopt stances that treat computational models as participants. Our analysis reveals that existing patterns in students' social interactions are resources for interacting flexibly with computational tools as participants. In particular, we found that students treated computational models as participants in three ways: (1) as conversational peers, (2) as co-constructors of lines of inquiry, and (3) as projections of students' agency and identity. Our data also demonstrate that students take on flexible, rather than fixed, stances toward computational participants. These stances parallel scientists' interactions with non-human entities, which often involve treating tools as agentive participants in inquiry (Latour 1999; Pickering 1995), affording students a pathway to practices at the intersection of disciplinary engagement and computational thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual paper is aimed at describing the very nature of meaning, advancing its sociological understanding as both process and artifact, both interaction and norm. Such a theoretical perspective mainly owes its theoretical assumptions to thinkers such as John Locke, Ferdinand De Saussure and Roland Barthes, coming up with an original conception and definition of meaning as a "flexible social artifact". It draws on the analysis and critique of a variety of social theories (from deconstructionism to hermeneutics) but inscribes within the tradition of symbolic interactionism, therefore it describes meaning as intrinsically subjective but constantly objectified and provided with the coercive power that characterizes social institutions, while introducing the ideas of social reliability and responsibility. The study, in fact, is eventually meant to underscore the ethical limits of an absolute subjective interpretation of meaning, hence to advance the hypothesis that emphasis should be posed on the social agreement that subjectivity itself implies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The horse holds a special place in Korean culture and history. This paper explores how this animal is manifested in Seoul, aiming to reveal the interests and agendas that these manifestations serve, and what this nonhuman presence can tell about contemporary Seoul and South Korea. The paper adds a new perspective to the literature on Seoul’s development and identity formation. It also provides a case study on the interaction between humans and nonhuman-animals. Lastly, it intervenes into cultural landscape theory by offering the concept of ‘collaged cultural landscape’. It is argued that, the multilayered presence of the horse in Seoul represents South Korean aspirations for economic success, positive branding, and post-colonial strength, confidence, and legitimacy, by conveying a wide range of images, including beauty, cuteness, vigor, and valor. Furthermore, there is no other animal in Seoul, and perhaps in all of South Korea, that matches the horse’s complex presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the human relationship to technology, and AI in particular, including the proposition that algorithms are the new unconscious. Key is the question of how much human ability will be duplicated and transcended by general machine intelligence. More and more people are seeking connection via social media and interaction with artificial beings. The paper examines what it means to be human and which of these traits are already or will be replicated by AI. Therapy bots already exist. It is easier to envision AI therapy guided by CBT manuals than psychoanalytic techniques. Yet, a demonstration of how AI can already perform dream analysis reaching beyond a dream's manifest content is presented. The reader is left to consider whether these findings demand a new role for psychoanalysis in supporting, sustaining, and reframing our humanity as we create technology that transcends our abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Too few studies of elite private schools consider how they derive power and prestige from their relationships and interactions with other social and political groups and institutions, including the State. This paper contributes to elite school studies by examining the relationality between the Australian State and private sector schools around how government funds public and private education. Of all Australian students, 35.5% attend private schools. All private schools, including elite schools, receive significant amounts of taxpayers' money. After explaining the complex policy architecture of this funding regime, this paper offers a fresh set of conceptual resources to help deepen the analysis of this situation. We argue that the whole Australian private school sector operates as an accumulation economy, essentially utilising public sector resources to enlarge, enrich and sustain itself. This happens via three dynamics – accumulation by extraction, by mystification and by depletion. We show how elite schools are part of, and benefit from, each. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why have Singapore's unique developmental state arrangements persisted in a region which has experienced democratic change? This paper argues that this is due to the PAP state's successful legitimation of its unique brand of meritocracy, one which has both competitive and interventionist elements. During the colonial era, a culture of economic meritocracy evolved in a bottom-up process through social and commercial interactions between the British class and Chinese community. This was then transmuted by the PAP's top-down imposition of the institutions and discourses of political meritocracy. This cultural hybrid allows the state to sustain its hegemony in the face of progressive social change. Accordingly, our emphasis on the wider institutional environment within which merit is conceived helps to better illuminate Singapore's challenges of encouraging organic innovation, alleviating social stratification, and opening up its political arena. This paper suggests that the problems in these areas stem not from meritocracy per se, but from the PAP's "monocentric meritocracy" where merit is narrowly defined and singularly imposed in the post-colonial era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities, significantly impacted by the shift to online learning during pandemic, must critically evaluate their teaching methods and outcomes to enhance performance in the post‐pandemic era. However, there has been a limited examination of whether students achieved comparable levels in cognition and social interaction during the pandemic compared to traditional face‐to‐face learning. Addressing this gap, this exploratory study utilized a quasi‐experimental design to analyse and compare the learning performance and outcomes of two cohorts of students (totalling 45) in a 12‐week university course delivered through the computer‐supported collaborative learning (CSCL) approach, both during and after the pandemic. Employing quantitative analysis and lag sequential analysis, the study examined students' behaviours, similarities and differences in performance within CSCL environments under two distinct social situations. Results indicated that students engaged in complete online learning with CSCL and those in face‐to‐face teaching with CSCL achieved similar levels of conceptual understanding. Additionally, a comparable distribution pattern of learning behaviours was observed. However, significant differences in behaviour sequences emerged between the two implementations, with students exhibiting a higher level of engagement in CSCL activities during the post‐pandemic period. These findings inform the design of CSCL environments should integrate student‐centred activities and include guiding scripts, prompts and scaffoldings in navigating learning endeavours effectively. Practitioner notes What is already known about this topic The CSCL environment could facilitate teacher‐student and student–student interaction in learning activities. Studies have been conducted on the impact of scripts and prompts on students' cognition and social interaction in CSCL environment. There is a crucial need for conducting more in‐depth data analysis to comprehensively explore the CSCL process within university settings. What this paper adds A well‐designed CSCL environment, coupled with effective instructional strategies, exhibits resilience, sustaining its beneficial effects on students' academic performance and interaction. Both cohorts demonstrated a proclivity for engaging in repetitive behaviours, particularly focused on reviewing and reading activities. The latter cohort displayed a preference for individual tasks over collaborative efforts, showcasing a relatively higher frequency of individual work as opposed to group activities. Notably absent in both groups were crucial behavioural sequences, namely VR‐IA and VC‐IA, underscoring potential areas for CSCL improvement. Implications for practice and/or policy In the CSCL environment, a variety of activities rooted in student‐centred pedagogy (ie, self‐regulated learning, inquiry‐based learning and peer feedback) should be seamlessly integrated. It is recommended to furnish students with scripts, prompts and scaffoldings to bolster their navigation through collaborative and independent learning endeavours within CSCL environment. Students are encouraged to bridge their newly acquired knowledge with their existing understanding, for enhancing engagement and promoting deeper comprehension. What is already known about this topic The CSCL environment could facilitate teacher‐student and student–student interaction in learning activities. Studies have been conducted on the impact of scripts and prompts on students' cognition and social interaction in CSCL environment. There is a crucial need for conducting more in‐depth data analysis to comprehensively explore the CSCL process within university settings. What this paper adds A well‐designed CSCL environment, coupled with effective instructional strategies, exhibits resilience, sustaining its beneficial effects on students' academic performance and interaction. Both cohorts demonstrated a proclivity for engaging in repetitive behaviours, particularly focused on reviewing and reading activities. The latter cohort displayed a preference for individual tasks over collaborative efforts, showcasing a relatively higher frequency of individual work as opposed to group activities. Notably absent in both groups were crucial behavioural sequences, namely VR‐IA and VC‐IA, underscoring potential areas for CSCL improvement. Implications for practice and/or policy In the CSCL environment, a variety of activities rooted in student‐centred pedagogy (ie, self‐regulated learning, inquiry‐based learning and peer feedback) should be seamlessly integrated. It is recommended to furnish students with scripts, prompts and scaffoldings to bolster their navigation through collaborative and independent learning endeavours within CSCL environment. Students are encouraged to bridge their newly acquired knowledge with their existing understanding, for enhancing engagement and promoting deeper comprehension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metadiscourse is the commentary on a text made by its producer in the course of speaking or writing, revealing something of how communication involves the personalities, attitudes and assumptions of those who are communicating. It offers a framework for understanding communication as social engagement and helps reveal how writers and speakers consider their audience in creating texts. This paper uses a bibliometric analysis to trace the growing interest in metadiscourse since its early incarnations in the 1980s. To do so we analysed all 431 papers relating to metadiscourse in the core collection of the Web of Science between 1983 and 2020, dividing the corpus into two periods following the massive increase in interest after 2006. We identify which topics have been most prevalent, which authors and publications most influential and which disciplines and journals most active in citing the metadiscourse literature. The findings show the importance of academic and business writing, cross-disciplinary, language and genre studies, and the increasing predominance of an interpersonal model. These findings may be of interest to those working in discourse analysis and the study of social interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past years, human computer interaction (HCI) research and innovation have developed substantially, leading to a number of fruitful research topics. In this paper, we surveyed the HCI research and innovation in China from a 10-year perspective. We analyzed the popular research methodology and topics among Chinese researchers, including human modeling, user interface techniques, context awareness, user acceptance and performance, user experience design, human-AI interaction, HCI applications and social influences. We also conducted a bibliography analysis on the published papers in top-tier conferences and journals, which revealed a significant rising trend, and a generally broad distribution of research types. Moreover, we described typical applications and the industry influence of the research outcomes. We concluded with implications and reflections for HCI researchers across the world and shared the future research trends envisioned by Chinese researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes agent-based models of epidemics dynamics, willingly simplified with the goal not to predict the evolution of the epidemics, but to explain the underlying mechanisms in an interactive way. They allow to compare screening prioritization strategies, and vaccination priority strategies, on a virtual population. The models are implemented in Netlogo in two simulators, published online at https://nausikaa.net/index.php/simulating-epidemics/ to let people experiment. This paper reports on model design, implementation, and experimentations. We have compared screening strategies to assess the epidemics versus control it by quarantining infectious people; and we have compared vaccinating older people with more risk factors, versus younger people with more social contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights from the article: UX and Usability 5 ~22 papers (paper titles including words: usability [6], user experience [5,] UX [1], Affective Computing 4 ~14 papers (paper titles including the words: emotion [12], happiness [2]) Chatbots 3 ~10 papers (paper titles including words: chatbot [5] conversational [2], voice Activated.

Two seminal notions of Harold Garfinkel have endured despite some uncertainty and indeterminacy that accompany them: "autochthonous" and "tendentious". These terms, which respect the dynamic and evolving nature of social interaction, describe how local parties discover, come upon, or develop coherent accounts that can assist them to lay hold of a local orderliness that is governing some mundane interaction. This paper illuminates these two notions, first theoretically and then empirically. Drawing upon the reflections of Garfinkel, Sacks, Schegloff, Mead, Husserl, Schutz, Gurwitsch, and others, the radical consequences of these two notions are elucidated and then applied to two perspicuous conversations where it is possible to witness autochthony and tendentiousness in action. This provides a clearer understanding of the importance that these features of social interaction can play in our everyday lives. The two illustrations reveal occasions where a local orderliness appears on its own, autochthonously, without requiring a heavy dose of deliberate conceptual control by parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upvotes serve important purposes in online social annotation environments. However, limited studies have explored the influential factors affecting peer upvoting in online collaborative learning. In this study, we analysed the factors influencing students' upvotes received from their peers as 91 participants utilized Perusall, an online social annotation system, for collaborative reading. The participants were asked to collaboratively annotate 29 reading materials in a semester. We collected student reading behaviours and analysed their annotations with a text‐mining tool of Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). Moreover, conditional inference tree was used to determine the relative importance of explanatory factors to the upvotes students received. The results showed that the high‐upvote group made significantly more annotations, posted more responses to others' annotations and displayed fewer negative emotions in annotations than those who did not receive upvotes. The two groups of students had no significant differences in the upvotes given to others, as well as cognitive activities and positive emotions involved in annotations. Moreover, the number of annotations was the determining factor in predicting the upvotes that one could receive in social annotation activities. This study has significant practical implications regarding providing interventions in social annotation‐based collaborative reading.Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topicSocial annotations enhance students' reading experience, facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration, promote high‐quality learning interactions and ultimately lead to improved performance.In social annotation environments, receiving upvotes from peers is not only a type of feedback but also a form of motivation, social interaction and social validation.No study has explored the influential factors in peer upvoting within social annotation‐based learning.What this paper addsThis study was the first to examine social annotations through the lens of the community of inquiry framework.We investigated the relationships between students' cognitive and social presence in their annotations and the upvotes they received in an online social annotation environment.Our study revealed the strategies for obtaining upvotes from peers in social annotation‐based learning environments.Implications for practice and/or policyThe high‐upvote group made significantly more annotations, posted more responses to others' annotations and displayed fewer negative emotions in annotations compared to the low‐upvote group.The two groups of students did not show significant differences in the upvotes they gave to others or in the cognitive activities and positive emotions involved in annotations.The number of annotations was the primary factor predicting the number of upvotes received in the collaborative reading.This study could inform the design of future online social annotation systems to better support collaborative learning and peer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have recently seen tremendous progress in diffusion advances for generating realistic human motions. Yet, they largely disregard the multi-human interactions. In this paper, we present InterGen, an effective diffusion-based approach that enables layman users to customize high-quality two-person interaction motions, with only text guidance. We first contribute a multimodal dataset, named InterHuman. It consists of about 107 M frames for diverse two-person interactions, with accurate skeletal motions and 23,337 natural language descriptions. For the algorithm side, we carefully tailor the motion diffusion model to our two-person interaction setting. To handle the symmetry of human identities during interactions, we propose two cooperative transformer-based denoisers that explicitly share weights, with a mutual attention mechanism to further connect the two denoising processes. Then, we propose a novel representation for motion input in our interaction diffusion model, which explicitly formulates the global relations between the two performers in the world frame. We further introduce two novel regularization terms to encode spatial relations, equipped with a corresponding damping scheme during the training of our interaction diffusion model. Extensive experiments validate the effectiveness of InterGen (https://tr3e.github.io/intergen-page/). Notably, it can generate more diverse and compelling two-person motions than previous methods and enables various downstream applications for human interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies higher-order interactions in social-ecological networks, which formally represent interactions within the social and ecological units of an ecosystem. Many real-world social ecosystems exhibit not only pairwise interactions but also higher-order interactions among their units. Therefore, the conventional graph-theoretic description of networks falls short of capturing these higher-order interactions due to the inherent limitations of the graph definition. In this work, a mathematical framework for capturing the higher-order interactions of a social-ecological system has been given by incorporating notions from combinatorial algebraic topology. In order to achieve this, two different simplicial complexes, the clique and the neighbourhood complex, have been constructed from a pairwise social-ecological network. As a case study, the Q-analysis and a structural study of the interactions in the rural agricultural system of southern Madagascar have been done at various structural levels denoted by q. The results obtained by calculating all the structural vectors for both simplicial complexes, along with exciting results about the participation of facets of the clique complex at different q-levels, have been discussed. This work also establishes significant theorems concerning the dimension of the neighbourhood complex and clique complex obtained from the parent pairwise network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of the study that was initiated to develop and standardize a measure of Social Interaction (SI). The items were split into five different types of social interaction: exchange, competition, conflict, cooperation and accommodation. The systematic process that was used to construct and validate the tool is delineated in this study. The theoretical foundation for the questionnaire was carried out through a literature review. The item pool was generated with each statement reflecting the different aspects of interaction. Initially, experts in the field of social psychology reviewed the items for content validity and refined the items. The preliminary version of the questionnaire was tested using a pilot study. A larger validation was done with a larger population to confirm the factor structure using Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The model fit indices were good for the obtained model (CFI = 0.929, IFI = 0.930, TLI = 0.920, RMSEA = 0.053), confirming that the model structure is robust. The final questionnaire has 26 items with a reliable and valid measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper deals with practices of personal mobility in public space, such as walking, passing-by and queuing, and their intelligible, recognizable and intersubjectively coordinated character. People co-exist in public places without having to explain their conduct in so-many-words; they smoothly navigate by coordinating their bodies and mobile trajectories without collisions; they queue without any instructions and differentiate between who joins the queue and who projects to butt in the queue. This article addresses the intelligibility of walking trajectories in public space, how they are bodily achieved and visibly interpreted. It reflects on mobility by relying on the notion of public in two different but complementary perspectives: a) by reference to mobility in the context of public places such as parks, squares, and streets; b) by reference to the public intelligibility and recognizability of mobile actions in social interaction. The convergence between these two notions of public enables us to investigate how mobile social actions are formed (made recognizable) and how they are ascribed (actually recognized) by co-present unacquainted persons in public space. The analysis draws on video recordings of mobile trajectories in streets, pathways, and squares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive approach to detect violent events in videos by combining CrimeNet, a Vision Transformer (ViT) model with structured neural learning and adversarial regularization, with an adaptive threshold sliding window model based on the Transformer architecture. CrimeNet demonstrates exceptional performance on all datasets (XD-Violence, UCF-Crime, NTU-CCTV Fights, UBI-Fights, Real Life Violence Situations, MediEval, RWF-2000, Hockey Fights, Violent Flows, Surveillance Camera Fights, and Movies Fight), achieving high AUC ROC and AUC PR values (up to 99% and 100%, respectively). However, the generalization of CrimeNet to cross-dataset experiments posed some problems, resulting in a 20–30% decrease in performance, for instance, training in UCF-Crime and testing in XD-Violence resulted in 70.20% in AUC ROC. The sliding window model with adaptive thresholding effectively solves these problems by automatically adjusting the violence detection threshold, resulting in a substantial improvement in detection accuracy. By applying the sliding window model as post-processing to CrimeNet results, we were able to improve detection accuracy by 10% to 15% in cross-dataset experiments. Future lines of research include improving generalization, addressing data imbalance, exploring multimodal representations, testing in real-world applications, and extending the approach to complex human interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIntroductionMethodsResultsConclusionWidening participation in education by including students from underrepresented groups has been recognized as important for the last decade. During the recent pandemic, the interest in how to make students from different backgrounds feel part of the university, and connected to their studies and peers, has become an even more widespread concern and therefore important to explore further.The aim of our study was to develop a conceptual model for educational design to support student engagement and participation, by exploring pedagogical aspects recognized as being valuable during widening participation initiatives.We used meta-ethnography following the recommended seven steps: getting started, developing a search strategy, reading and assessing the quality of the papers, analyzing how the different studies related to each other based on the interpretation of quotations of the informants (first order) and the researchers of the articles (second order), translating the meaning of the studies, developing a line of argument, and finally developing a conceptual model to express the synthesis. Three databases we used: PubMed, ERIC, and Scopus; the PRISMA workflow was used.Six articles with a qualitative approach were included. A conceptual model was developed with the theme ‘Scaffolding Strategies’ and four sub-themes: Academic Support, Social Interaction, Processing Expectations and Clarifying Learning Progress.We developed a conceptual model from previous studies that entailed aspects of particular importance to support widening participation. By using scaffolding strategies in course design, teachers and students may collectively improve the learning environment to promote widening participation, through clear instructions and frequent interaction, communication and calibration of expectations, clarification of learning processes and progress, and support for academic-skills development. Furthermore, the importance of using academic support and social interaction between students and teachers early on, to encourage students to explore how to become an independent learner, is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social interactions are characterized by being very diverse and changing over time. Understanding this diversity and dynamics, as well as their emerging patterns, is of great interest from social, health, and educational perspectives. The development of new devices has been made possible in recent years by advances in applied technology. This paper presents the design and development of a novel device composed of several sensors. Specifically, we propose a proximity sensor integrated by three devices: a Bluetooth sensor, a global positioning system (GPS) unit and an accelerometer. By means of this sensor it is possible to detect the presence of neighboring sensors in various configurations and operating conditions. Profiles based on the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) exhibit behavior consistent with that reported by empirical relationships. The present sensor is functional in detecting the proximity of other sensors and is thus useful for the identification of interactions between people in relevant contexts such as schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the safety of direct physical interaction between humans and lower-limb exoskeletons, the actuator of the lower-limb exoskeleton should possess compliance, force controllability, and back-drivability. In this paper, a novel compact compliant force control actuator with worm gear and gear rack as transmission modes is designed to provide flexible power to the lower-limb exoskeleton. The worm gear is utilized to amplify the torque generated by the motor in the compact compliant actuator, while the gear rack is established to improve the bearing capacity. Yet, the friction is occurred between the worm gear, rack and other mechanical configurations which may lead to non-negligible force control error of the compliant actuator. A noise-tolerant zeroing neural network controller is proposed to suppress noises. Additionally, theoretical proofs are provided for the convergence performance of the noise-tolerant zeroing neural network controller, as well as the suppression of constant noise, linear disturbances, and bounded random noise. The proposed noise-tolerant zeroing neural network controller is validated on the compliant actuator through numerical simulations, experimental results, and comparison experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in suppressing various noise and improving the convergence, stability, and robustness of the compliant actuator system. Additionally, the controller is further verified through walking experiments conducted on a knee robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines a child's personal experiences with peer relationship building in the classroom and is guided by Vygotsky's cultural historical concepts of the social situation of development and cultural tools and Hedegaard's (2012) model for learning and development. Hedegaard's (2012) dialectical—interactive approach was adopted to analyse the data for this study which was gathered using digital video observations of a grade one classroom within the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia over a five week period. This paper explores the strategies used by children that enables them to balance their desire for peer relationships while remaining within what is considered acceptable behaviours by their teachers within the classroom. It is argued that it is important for schools to continue to strive to find the balance between institutional demands while creating social situations that foster peer relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality and emotion as intrinsic factors often have great influences on the cognition of people's behavior. In computer vision, there is a lot of work done on the recognition of emotions, such as classification of a person's emotions via analyzing facial expressions. Relatively there is less work done on personality estimation. Personality, as a long-term characteristic pattern of behavior, influences the emotion generation of a person. In this paper, we present a new method to analyze and estimate personality and emotions in dyadic and multiparty social interactions. We first propose a context-aware deep learning framework that automatically estimates the personality of a target person based on his/her own and the interlocutor's body behavioral and facial information recorded in the interaction process. Then, we expand this architecture to form a method for jointly estimating personality and recognizing emotions. We conduct a series of experiments on two datasets and the experimental results show that the proposed method has good performance in both personality estimation and emotion recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we concentrate on the neolithisation process in Mediterranean Iberia through a diachronic view (from 8600–6800 cal. BP), focusing on social interaction as a factor in articulating new cultural ties. To do this, we apply techniques centred on similarities in material culture by applying Social Network Analysis (SNA). For the first time, we point to the geometric projectiles, taking into account their recurrence in both Mesolithic and Neolithic groups as part of their characteristic hunting equipment. We hypothesise that patterns of cultural variability would express the changing flow of information between communities according to their mobility strategies (last hunter-gatherer groups), including economic and social behaviour, and that these relationships will be restructured with the arrival of the newcomer farmers and herders and their new spatial and social arrangement. The results obtained allow us to describe a connected and homogeneous Late Mesolithic network dramatically structured by the Neolithic arrival. Since then, a heterogenous pattern emerged, involving connected periods, network ruptures, and small-world phenomena. The emergence of this characteristic could support the flow of information when the network presents a clustered structure, the last probably due to regionalisation events. These diachronic dynamics fit well with demographic and socioecological trends observed from regional literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn response to the challenge of high cognitive pressure and difficulty for commanders in cross-layer operations during the transition from traditional two-dimensional command and control system interfaces to mixed reality human-computer interaction interfaces, this paper conducts research on the information fusion display method for the human-computer interaction interface of the mixed reality command and control system. First, based on the findings of previous research, we developed a five-layer human-computer interaction interface for a mixed reality command and control system in typical combat scenarios. An evaluation experiment was designed and the resulting data analyzed. This analysis revealed that there are problems with low work efficiency and high cognitive load in the information acquisition process in cross-layer interaction operations. Consequently, we conducted research into the methods of integrating and displaying interactive interface information, integrating and displaying interactive and display interface information, and integrating and displaying complex situation interface information. The research findings indicate that: (1) The optimal display ratio for mixed reality 2D interface integration is 3:2. (2) The optimal display scheme for mixed reality 2D interface fusion is a combination of the main and secondary interfaces, with the main interface table displaying global information and the secondary interface displaying accurate information. (3) The optimal display scheme for mixed reality 2D and 3D interface fusion is the display of overall class information in 2D and the accurate identification of class information in 3D. The findings of this research can be applied to the design of human-computer interaction interfaces for mixed reality command and control systems in complex battlefield environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real networks often exhibit community structures, while community networks often have heterogeneity. Group interactions beyond pairwise interactions can adequately characterize the high-order features in the propagation process. In this paper, we construct a community network with heterogeneity which can reflect the heterogeneity among communities. According to the proposed model, high-order interactions are introduced to study the impact of heterogeneity among communities and higher-order interactions on epidemic dynamics. It is shown that heterogeneity among communities and high-order interactions will have an impact on the propagation speed, propagation threshold and final propagation scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Loneliness is a serious public health concern. Although previous interventions have had some success in mitigating loneliness, the field is in search of novel, more effective, and more scalable solutions. Here, we focus on "relational agents", a form of software agents that are increasingly powered by artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs). We report on a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the impact of relational agents on loneliness across age groups. Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched 11 databases including Ovid MEDLINE and Embase from inception to Sep 16, 2022. We included randomised controlled trials and non-randomised studies of interventions published in English across all age groups. These loneliness interventions, typically attempt to improve social skills, social support, social interaction, and maladaptive cognitions. Peer-reviewed journal articles, books, book chapters, Master's and PhD theses, or conference papers were eligible for inclusion. Two reviewers independently screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias via the RoB 2 and ROBINS-I tools. We calculated pooled estimates of Hedge's g in a random-effects meta-analysis and conducted sensitivity and sub-group analyses. We evaluated publication bias via funnel plots, Egger's test, and a trim-and-fill algorithm. Findings: Our search identified 3,935 records of which 14 met eligibility criteria and were included in our meta-analysis. Included studies comprised 286 participants with individual study sample sizes ranging from 4 to 42 participants (x̄ = 20.43, s = 11.58, x̃ = 20). We used a Bonferroni correction with αBonferroni = 0.05 / 4 = 0.0125 and applied Knapp-Hartung adjustments. Relational agents reduced loneliness significantly at an adjusted αBonferroni (g = -0.552; 95% Knapp-Hartung CI, -0.877 to -0.226; P = 0.003), which corresponds to a moderate reduction in loneliness. Conclusion: Our results are currently the most comprehensive of their kind and provide promising evidence for the efficacy of relational agents. Relational agents are a promising technology that can alleviate loneliness in a scalable way and that can be a meaningful complement to other approaches. The advent of LLMs should boost their efficacy, and further research is needed to explore the optimal design and use of relational agents. Future research could also address shortcomings of current results, such as small sample sizes and high risk of bias. Particularly young audiences have been overlooked in past research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study explores the role of the Eye to I© intervention model in facilitating advancement through social stages of play in which skills contribute to the quality of social interaction and communication in children with autism. Data were collected on 11 participants, ages of 2–6 years, formally diagnosed with autism, receiving Eye to I© Social Communication therapy at Potentials Therapy Center, New Delhi, India. Eye to I© is developed in-house at Potentials and is further discussed in the paper. All participants attended a form of group intervention. A mixed-method design included quantitative measures administered pre and post intervention (Communication DEALL Developmental Checklist, Communication Matrix) and video coding of Social Communication sessions. Qualitative measures were semi-structured parent interviews conducted at the end of intervention. Thematic analysis and quantitative statistical analysis results show that by the end of the Eye to I© intervention period children engaged in social stages of play of greater developmental complexity and showed increased scores in assessments of social skills as well as generalization of skills. This suggests that skill acquisition necessary to directly support two diagnostic criteria areas of autism as per DSM-V; i.e., communication and social interaction occurred during the period of intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay summarizes the key pillars of human ecodynamics (HE) research and then highlights the most trenchant ideas from each of the seven papers in the Special Issue, especially as they intersect with HE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative robots are used in scenarios requiring interaction with humans. In order to improve the safety and adaptability of collaborative robots during human–robot interaction, this paper proposes a modular wire-actuated robotic arm with symmetric variable-stiffness units. The variable-stiffness unit is employed to extend the stiffness-adjustment range of the robotic arm. The variable-stiffness unit is designed based on flexure, featuring a compact and simple structure. The stiffness–force relationship of the variable-stiffness unit can be fitted by a quadratic function with an R-squared value of 0.99981, indicating weak nonlinearity. Based on the kinematics and stiffness analysis of the symmetric joint module of the robotic arm, the orientation of the joint module can be adjusted by regulating the length of the wires and the stiffness of the joint module can be adjusted by regulating the tension of the wires. Because of the actuation redundancy, the orientation and stiffness of the joint module can be adjusted synchronously. Furthermore, a direct method is proposed for the stiffness-oriented wire-tension-distribution problem of the 1-DOF joint module. A simulation is carried out to verify the proposed method. The simulation result shows that the deviation between the calculated stiffness and the desired stiffness was less than 0.005%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]