Lisbon Symbol Database (LSD): subjective norms for 600 symbols

This article presents subjective rating norms for a new set of 600 symbols, depicting various contents (e.g., transportation, technology, and leisure activities) that can be used by researchers in different fields. Symbols were evaluated for aesthetic appeal, familiarity, visual complexity, concreteness, valence, arousal, and meaningfulness. The normative data were obtained from 388 participants, and no gender differences were found. Descriptive results (means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals) for each symbol in each dimension are presented. Overall, the dimensions were highly correlated. Additionally, participants were asked to briefly describe the meaning of each symbol. The results indicate that the present symbol set is varied, allowing for the selection of exemplars with different levels on the seven examined dimensions. This set of symbols constitutes a tool with potential for research in different areas. The database with all of the symbols is available as supplemental materials.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Visual-Related Factors in Mobile Iconic Communication

The purpose of this exploratory, sequential, mixed methods design research was to explore current design trends and patterns in mobile application icons by analyzing existing icon elements and principles of design. The process of data collection and data analyses went through three main phases: (a) identify current characteristics and pattern design of existing icons, (b) compare mobile icons across selected application categories to underline how each category was different from the other regarding elements and principles of design used, and (c) explore users’ perceptions about the elements and principles of design and account for how these elements and principles influenced the mobile application user’s interaction. The results of the three phases concluded that in mobile iconic communication, the most impactful elements of design were color and graphics. It was also concluded that the icon’s visual design had a significant impact on mobile usability, interaction, and communication whereby mobile developers were encouraged to design attractive, appealing and easy to recognize icons. The outcomes of this study emphasized the importance of graphic visual-design as a visual representative of the content and category of the application. Further studies are needed to explore the impact of other senses involved in mobile communication

A High-Fidelity VR Simulation Study: Do External Warnings Really Improve Pedestrian Safe Crossing Behavior?

To better communicate with pedestrians, adding external displays to autonomous vehicles (AVs) has been proposed as a potential communication method to encourage safe crossing behavior by pedestrians. Whereas, most researchers have conducted intercept interviews, lab studies, or simulation studies to explore the efficacy of these displays, these approaches only studied crossing intention but did not explore crossing behavior. We developed a high-fidelity virtual reality scenario where participants could demonstrate actual crossing behavior within an adequately replicated real-world street. We simulated a local street with scalability of the real world in a VR environment, conducted an experiment in an empty space large enough for participants to move across the road in the VR environment. A mixed-method approach assessed attitudinal and behavioral interactions with potential warning patterns. The results showed that the warning patterns contributed significantly to pedestrians’ perceptual vigilance, as in past studies, but safer crossing behavior was not observed. This suggests that crossing intention measures may not be an adequate substitute for behavioral measures of crossing

Transparency by design : incontro interdisciplinare sul principio di trasparenza dei dati personali : Venezia, 19 dicembre 2022

Il principio di trasparenza è uno dei principi cardine del diritto europeo e italiano a protezione dei dati personali. I Considerando del GDPR spiegano che le modalità con cui sono raccolti, consultati, utilizzati e trattati i dati personali devono essere trasparenti per l’interessato; che le informazioni e le comunicazioni relative al trattamento devono essere facilmente accessibili e comprensibili e che si dovrà utilizzare un linguaggio semplice; che determinate informazioni sono cruciali (identità del titolare del trattamento, minore età, stato di salute, opinioni politiche, preferenze sessuali eccetera) e dovranno essere “trattate” adottando certi accorgimenti. Come mettere in pratica questa normativa? Come evitare il rischio di profilazioni indesiderate, pratiche di marketing aggressivo, sottrazione di dati particolari, trattamenti discriminatori quando il trattamento dei dati non è “trasparente”

Transparency by design : incontro interdisciplinare sul principio di trasparenza dei dati personali

Il concetto di trasparenza è uno dei principi cardine del diritto europeo e italiano a protezione dei dati personali. I Considerando del GDPR spiegano che le modalità con cui sono raccolti, consultati, utilizzati e trattati i dati personali devono essere trasparenti per l’interessato; che le informazioni e le comunicazioni relative al trattamento devono essere facilmente accessibili e comprensibili e che si dovrà utilizzare un linguaggio semplice; che determinate informazioni sono cruciali (identità del titolare del trattamento, minore età, stato di salute, opinioni politiche, preferenze sessuali eccetera) e dovranno essere “trattate” adottando certi accorgimenti. Come mettere in pratica questa normativa? Come evitare il rischio di profilazioni indesiderate, pratiche di marketing aggressivo, sottrazione di dati particolari, trattamenti discriminatori quando il trattamento dei dati non è “trasparente”

Kanji learning by Japanese language learners from alphabetic backgrounds: an examination of how ‘component analysis’ impacts learners of differential proficiencies

One aspect of Japanese that continues to challenge learners is the idiosyncratic writing system, a complex orthography consisting of two phonetic syllabaries and thousands of morphophonemic ‘kanji’ characters. The perceived difficulty of kanji can affect student motivation (Mori & Shimizu, 2007) and can be responsible for higher attrition rates among students who are not familiar with morphographic writing systems (Grainger, 2005). Experimental data on kanji processing models suggests that L1 learning methodologies could be a potentially valuable reference for LX pedagogical research. Studies on cross-linguistic transfer provide evidence that LX decoding efficiency can be impacted negatively among learners with incongruent L1 orthographic backgrounds (Hamada & Koda, 2008, p. 23), suggesting that alphabetic learners may have particular difficulty with kanji. One recommended pedagogical response is to employ a ‘component analysis’ learning strategy that targets awareness on the individual components within kanji characters (Chikamatsu, 2005; Hagiwara, 2016), allowing learners to more efficiently extract semantic and phonological information from the characters. This study tests the recommendation by (1) designing and implementing teaching materials that enact component analysis in a real classroom situation, (2) monitoring changes in kanji processing by alphabetic learners of differential proficiencies, and (3) analysing the nature and possible causes of any changes observed. Implementing the strategy over a 12-week semester, data indicates that a group of ab-initio learners developed more efficient responses in kanji decomposition than a group of lower-intermediate learners with prior kanji learning experience. The finding is interpreted as evidence that using component analysis could facilitate compositional awareness in beginners, despite having a limited lexicon, while learners with prior kanji knowledge may experience some difficulty adjusting to this unfamiliar strategy. Feedback responses indicate that the success of component analysis may be contingent upon factors such as workload, enjoyment, and perceived effectiveness of specific tasks in the prescribed exercises