The effect of mediation on impression formation: a comparison of face-to-face and video-mediated conditions

It is suggested that communication mediated by video may have an important impact on the way in which individuals are perceived and this might be a result of an attenuation or distortion of visual signals. The current study aimed to test this further by employing a simple mind-reading task, which gave participants an opportunity to interact with one another. Participants completed the task in pairs either face-to-face or via video-mediated technologies. After completing the task, participants filled in a questionnaire which was designed to assess perceptions of how much they liked and how intelligent they believed their partner in the task to be. Results indicate that participants were regarded as significantly less likeable and intelligent in the video-mediated condition. This is probably a consequence of the attenuation of visual signals, in particular eye gaze, which has been shown to be important in impression formation. Findings from this study have practical implications for using this type of technology to assess performance, for example in interviews, especially if comparisons are made with face-to-face interviewees.     

Social network site use,mobile personal talk and social capital among teenagers

Social network sites (SNSs) and mobile phones are becoming increasingly important in teenagers’ lives. Using data collected from a nationally representative survey (N = 800), this study explores the variation of social capital by SNS adoption, different SNS activities, and mobile personal talk among teenagers. The results indicate that SNS adoption and mobile personal talk can not only enhance teenagers’ close ties with friends, but also jointly promote teenagers’ civic engagement. Among SNS users, mobile personal talk also increase teens’ network capital. Different SNS activities such as commenting on friend’s Facebook pictures and joining Facebook groups have different relationships with social capital, and such relationships are moderated by mobile personal talk.     

A model of the relationship between psychological characteristics,mobile phone addiction and use of mobile phones by Taiwanese university female students

While many researches have analyzed the psychological antecedents of mobile phone addiction and mobile phone usage behavior, their relationship with psychological characteristics remains mixed. We investigated the relationship between psychological characteristics, mobile phone addiction and use of mobile phones for 269 Taiwanese female university students who were administered Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale, Lai’s personality inventory, and a mobile phone usage questionnaire and mobile phone addiction scale. The result showing that: (1) social extraversion and anxiety have positive effects on mobile phone addiction, and self-esteem has negative effects on mobile phone addiction. (2) Mobile phone addiction has a positive predictive effect on mobile phone usage behavior. The results of this study identify personal psychological characteristics of Taiwanese female university students which can significantly predict mobile phone addiction; female university students with mobile phone addiction will make more phone calls and send more text messages. These results are discussed and suggestions for future research for school and university students are provided.     

基于ASP的网站后台手机短信实时监控系统的设计与实现

随着计算机技术的日益普及,越来越多的企事业单位建立了门户网站.网站在给单位提供便利的同时,却也要承担被黑客攻击的风险.网站的安全维护涉及的范围十分广泛,其中网站后台密码被窃取是网站被攻击的一个重要原因.本文研究当用户登录网站后台时,网站自动通过手机短信通知管理员以及时判断网站是否被攻击.     

The action of looking at a mobile phone display as nonverbal behavior/communication: A theoretical perspective

This study investigates the now-common action of looking at a mobile phone display, thereby offering insight into the present communication situation in an era in which the use of high-performance mobile phones has become ubiquitous. In this study, the action of looking at a mobile phone display is considered nonverbal behavior/communication. This study applies a basic, general model to elucidate the present situation of face-to-face communication in light of the increasing prevalence of social interaction via mobile phone use. The results derived from the model include mobile phone users’ increasing social power and an accumulation of potential discontent in relation to different interpretations. This study concludes that in an era of high-performance mobile phones, the social context in face-to-face communication can be influenced by the act of looking at a mobile phone display.     

The effect of nonverbal cues on relationship formation

An unprecedented number of relationships begin online, propelling online dating into a billion-dollar industry. However, while the online dating industry has created an effective mechanism for matching and accessing profiles, it has largely neglected the quality of communication between individuals. We investigate whether the lack of nonverbal cues (inherent in the text-based communication tools commonly used by dating sites) hinders communication and relationship formation. In this study, members of a dating website interacted through one of four randomly assigned versions of a text chat, where each version featured an increasing number of nonverbal communication cues. A survey was then administered regarding users’ perceptions of each other, the level and quality of information disclosure, and their interest in developing a relationship with the other person. Results suggest that restoring nonverbal cues through the use of avatars can help improve online interaction and relationship formation. Chat versions that featured more nonverbal cues were associated with more favorable perceptions, greater exchange of information, and a stronger desire to pursue a relationship. While both genders found nonverbal communication conducive to developing a relationship, men and women reacted differently to certain types of nonverbal communication.     

The value of big data for credit scoring: Enhancing financial inclusion using mobile phone data and social network analytics

Credit scoring is without a doubt one of the oldest applications of analytics. In recent years, a multitude of sophisticated classification techniques have been developed to improve the statistical performance of credit scoring models. Instead of focusing on the techniques themselves, this paper leverages alternative data sources to enhance both statistical and economic model performance. The study demonstrates how including call networks, in the context of positive credit information, as a new Big Data source has added value in terms of profit by applying a profit measure and profit-based feature selection. A unique combination of datasets, including call-detail records, credit and debit account information of customers is used to create scorecards for credit card applicants. Call-detail records are used to build call networks and advanced social network analytics techniques are applied to propagate influence from prior defaulters throughout the network to produce influence scores. The results show that combining call-detail records with traditional data in credit scoring models significantly increases their performance when measured in AUC. In terms of profit, the best model is the one built with only calling behavior features. In addition, the calling behavior features are the most predictive in other models, both in terms of statistical and economic performance. The results have an impact in terms of ethical use of call-detail records, regulatory implications, financial inclusion, as well as data sharing and privacy.     

The effect of flow experience on player loyalty in mobile game application

Mobile gaming is an emerging with highly competitive industry. There are hundreds of games launched per day in the past two years. To understand whether factors influence the player loyalty (PL) of game users through flow experience, this study tested the proposed hypothesis by administering a questionnaire survey on the mobile game application “Tower of Saviors”. A structural equation modelling analysis and the FsQCA method were adopted to explore the survey responses of 394 players who were recruited for this study. According to the empirical study results, human–computer interaction (HI), social interaction (SI), skill (S), and challenge (C) independently positive influenced flow experience, and further positively influenced the PL of mobile game users. This study contributes to the literature on flow theory by elucidating the influence of player behavior on their PL. In particular, the higher the C and SI are, the more the game challenges experienced players and facilitates interactions with each other, thereby raising PL.     

Kei-Tying teens: Using mobile phone e-mail to bond, bridge, and break with social ties—a study of Japanese adolescents

This paper examines the extent to which Japanese adolescents use mobile phone e-mail to bond, bridge, and break with their social ties. Although existing literature shows that adolescents use mobile phone e-mail to bond with intimate strong ties, the fluid nature of social networks during adolescence suggests that mobile phone e-mail may also be used to bridge to new ties and to break with old ties. Drawing on a stratified random sample survey of 501 high school students living in Tokyo, we find that mobile phone e-mail is used both to bond and bridge, but not to break with ties. We also find that the intensity with which Japanese adolescents use mobile phone e-mail is more fundamentally a result of bridging than bonding. These findings apply both to typical users and heavy users.     

The performance of hand postures in front- and back-of-device interaction for mobile computing

Three studies of different mobile-device hand postures are presented. The first study measures the performance of postures in Fitts’ law tasks using one and two hands, thumbs and index fingers, horizontal and vertical movements, and front- and back-of-device interaction. Results indicate that the index finger performs well on both the front and the back of the device, and that thumb performance on the front of the device is generally worse. Fitts’ law models are created and serve as a basis for comparisons. The second study examines the orientation of shapes on the front and back of a mobile device. It shows that participants’ expectations of visual feedback for finger movements on the back of a device reverse the direction of their finger movements to favor a “transparent device” orientation. The third study examines letter-like gestures made on the front and back of a device. It confirms the performance of the index finger on the front of the device, while showing limitations in the ability for the index finger on the back to perform complex gestures. Taken together, these results provide an empirical foundation upon which new mobile interaction designs can be based. A set of design implications and recommendations are given based directly on the findings presented.     

Future vehicles: the effect of seat configuration on posture and quality of conversation

Abstract

The percentage of passengers that prefer travelling in groups is increasing. In most vehicles, passengers sit side by side and need to turn their body to be engaged in the conversation with their fellow travellers. However, rotating the body could lead to discomfort which influences conversation quality. The aim of this research is to study the effect of seat configuration on the (dis)comfort experience, conversation quality and posture. Experiments in which participants were asked to talk to each other while sitting at the same distance (1 m) were conducted in four seating arrangements (with seat-belts on), where the angle between the forward directions of two seats were positioned at 0° (side by side), 22.5°, 90° and 120° (almost opposite each other), respectively. Optical tracking has been deployed and the collected data were processed with MatLab^® to acquire postural angles over time. Questionnaires were also used to evaluate the perceived (dis)comfort and the quality of the conversation. Experiment results indicate that the 120° configuration scored the best in the overall comfort and the quality of conversation, but only slightly better than the 90° configuration.

Practitioner summary: Seating side by side is not optimal to have a comfortable conversation with your seatmate. To improve comfort and quality of conversation in future vehicles, we tested four seating arrangements analysing the effect of seat layout on (dis)comfort experience. Statistical analysis of objective and subjective data shows the optimal configuration for a comfortable conversation.

Abbreviation: LPD: localized postural discomfort; PDF: probability density function; OCRA: occupational repetitive action     

The effect of mobile retailing on consumers' purchasing experiences: A dynamic perspective

The emerging retail culture is characterized by the extensive use of mobile technologies, high connectivity, ubiquitous computing and contactless technologies, which enable consumers to experience shopping differently. In fact, innovative mobile technologies provide new tools (apps) which are able to separate the moment of purchase from the moment of effective consumption, by allowing consumers to make purchases by mobile phone and collect them at home or at a store (a pick-up boutique or collection point), in addition to the traditional in-store service (purchase in the store and collect/consume in the store). The aim of this paper is to understand the extent to which mobile technologies have an impact on consumer behaviour, with emphasis on the drivers motivating consumers to adopt the consumer experience of mobile shopping. To achieve this goal we used a qualitative approach involving 29 consumers in the Italian market, where mobile shopping is still at an early stage. The findings shed a light on the extent to which consumers are moving from e-channels to mobile channels and take into account the effect of these technological innovations in retail settings from a cognitive standpoint, where studies are limited. The implications for researchers and practitioners are then discussed, with emphasis on retailers need to develop new mobile service competences, and integrate and synthetize physical retail settings with mobile opportunities and functionalities.     

Prediction of mobile image saliency and quality under cloud computing environment

Recent years have witnessed the explosive growth of multimedia applications over networks and increasingly high requirements of consumers for multimedia signals in terms of quality of experience (QoE). Effective and efficient yet energy-saving saliency detection model and quality prediction method are eagerly desired, since they play critical roles in raising users' QoE and promoting the progress of green multimedia communication. Current studies of saliency detection and quality evaluation are far from ideal yet. In this paper we investigate the influence of complexity on visual saliency and quality. Complexity is an essential concept in human perception to visual stimulus, but it is substantially abstract and hard to be endowed with a clear definition. We suppose that brain systematically combines global and local features during the whole process of human perception. Global features lead a dominant position in seeking salient areas under the condition that image complexity is high, namely without obviously isolated foreground objects, whereas local features play a key role in an opposite situation. With this consideration, this paper establishes a novel framework for detecting visual saliency based on image complexity estimation before complexity-adaptive merging of global and local features. Furthermore, the concept of complexity is deployed for blind photographic image quality assessment (IQA) by means of saliency-based weighting. Features which refer to contrast, artifacts, brightness and natural scene statistics (NSS) are modified and integrated to derive a blind IQA model and predict the quality of photos. Based on the above two technologies, this paper introduces smart phones as mobile terminals, cloud platforms for speed-up and energy-saving, and wireless networks for transmission, and provides a practical mobile multimedia application. Comparative experiments validate that, within this application system, our proposed saliency detection model and blind photographic IQA method implement better than existing relevant competitors in terms of effectiveness and efficiency comparison.     

Studying the effect of perceived hedonic mobile device quality on user experience evaluations of mobile applications

When people interact with digital artefacts they perceive their pragmatic and hedonic qualities. In the case of interacting with mobile devices and applications, users seek utility as they try to satisfy certain needs, but at the same time they have certain feelings and emotions when, for example, they feel attached to their personal phone and/or trust its brand. Due to this strong relation between users and mobile devices a significant problem occurs when researchers want to evaluate the user experience of a mobile application in laboratory settings: the selection of an appropriate mobile device. Towards this end, this paper aims to unveil the effect of perceived hedonic quality of a mobile device on the user experience evaluation results of an application. Our results show that the perceived hedonic quality of a mobile device significantly affected the perceived pragmatic quality of the application, but not the hedonic one.     

Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college students: The role of emotional intelligence

This study deals with maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone and its relationship to symptoms of psychological distress and mental disorder, as well as to the possible role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence in this relationship. Three hundred and sixty-five undergraduate university freshmen at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona (Spain), majoring in four different studies (Psychology, Education, Journalism and Broadcasting, and Health Studies) replied to scales assessing the negative consequences of maladaptive use of both the Internet (CERI) and the mobile phone (CERM), a self-report scale on Perceived Emotional Intelligence (TMMS-24), and a clinical instrument to check for complaints related to the presence of psychological distress (Symptom Checklist-90-R; SCL-90-R). Results indicate that psychological distress is related to maladaptive use of both the Internet and the mobile phone; females scored higher than males on the mobile phone questionnaire, showing more negative consequences of its maladaptive use. With respect to major study, students of Journalism and Broadcasting showed a more maladaptive pattern of Internet use than students of other majors. The components of Perceived Emotional Intelligence contributed to the explanation of the variance of the general indicators of psychological distress, but to a lesser degree than maladaptive use of Internet and mobile phone.     

移动机器人远程人机交互软件平台设计与实现

基于移动机器人代替人去危险场合执行探测和救援任务的应用背景,设计了一个人机交互的软件平台。采用UML对设计过程进行建模,基于组件对系统进行模块化设计;各组件并行运行,通过消息队列与消息响应的机制实现组件之间的并发式通信。软件平台基于LabVIEW的Actor框架实现,核心Actor组件基于状态机设计,协调其它组件之间的通信;设计了一个远程Actor代理,实现与基于ROS的远程机器人的本地控制系统通信,将人的指令传输给机器人并将机器人的传感信息传回给人机界面。实验系统部署在两台计算机上,一台运行基于LabVIEW的人机界面,一台运行基于ROS的P3AT控制仿真系统。实验表明,设计的软件平台各部分能够协同工作,人机交互自然顺畅,满足预期要求。     

The effect of visual feedback types on the wait indicator interface of a mobile application

This study examines the essential effects of visual feedback on users’ perceptions of time and on their evaluations of waiting time for a mobile application user interface. The two variables adopted in this experiment are wait indicator visual feedback and waiting time. Three types of visual feedback were used: bar indicator, pie indicator, and cartoon indicator. Three waiting times were used: 2 s, 5 s, and 10 s. This study was conducted based on the attentional-gate model of Zakay and Block to help investigate user time perceptions. The experiment of this study was a 3 × 3 mixed factorial design to measure the impact of the research variables on the users’ perceptions of waiting time, wait evaluations, and preferences. Results showed that the users’ time perceptions and wait evaluations were affected by the feedback types and waiting times, and the results are consistent with Vierordt's law and the attentional-gate model. Furthermore, there was a positive impact on the participants' preferences when they perceived a shorter waiting time. The cartoon type feedback can help reduce the perception of waiting time, but it does not necessarily improve user experience regarding short waiting time.     

The relationships among service quality,perceived value,customer satisfaction,and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services

The purposes of this study are to construct an instrument to evaluate service quality of mobile value-added services and have a further discussion of the relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention. Structural equation modeling and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data collected from college and graduate students of 15 major universities in Taiwan. The main findings are as follows: (1) service quality positively influences both perceived value and customer satisfaction; (2) perceived value positively influences on both customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention; (3) customer satisfaction positively influences post-purchase intention; (4) service quality has an indirect positive influence on post-purchase intention through customer satisfaction or perceived value; (5) among the dimensions of service quality, “customer service and system reliability” is most influential on perceived value and customer satisfaction, and the influence of “content quality” ranks second; (6) the proposed model is proven with the effectiveness in explaining the relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile added-value services.     

Effects of different interaction modes on fatigue and reading effectiveness with mobile phones

Reading on touchscreen mobile devices is common in modern society. However, it is difficult to determine which interaction mode has the best reading effect when reading texts of different lengths. Using memory tests, eye-movement data analysis, and task load scale, we studied the effects of paging and vertical scrolling modes on the memory level, visual fatigue, task load, and reading speed of 28 participants reading both long and short texts. The results showed that vertical scrolling has a better memory effect than paging mode when reading short texts, but there was no difference in effect when reading long texts; the blink frequency in paging mode is higher than in scrolling mode whether reading long or short texts; no significant differences were found in reading speed in scrolling or paging mode when reading short or long texts; and in task load, the mental and temporal demands in scrolling mode were lower than in paging mode whether reading long or short texts. Considering that most current mobile readings do not differ in interaction mode according to the length of reading material, our conclusions provide valuable design recommendations to designers working on mobile reading apps.