Teacher Decision Making Processes And An Analysis Of The Avatalker Application When Used By Students With Autism

This study was an investigation into the elements that teachers of students with autism use to select apps and an analysis of the Avatalker app to increase verbalizations. Results showed teachers used technology with students with autism. Teachers were unsure of an app selection process, such as a rubric or committee. Results showed that teachers use the elements of ease of use for students, motivation, engagement, flexibility, and relevancy to student needs. The Avatalker app when used with students with autism to increase verbalizations results showed that peer interactions were limited. The study results can be utilized to help implement strategies for selecting apps. The use of a committee based team to review apps using selection criteria can lead to research based apps. The results also shed light on the continued need to find strategies to increase verbalizations, conversational methods, and peer interactions in students diagnosed with autism

Psychology, Learning, Technology

This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of 1st International Workshop on Psychology, Learning, Technology, PLT 2022, Foggia, Italy, during January 2022. The 8 full papers presented here were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. In addition, one invited paper is also included. Psychology, Learning, ad Technology Conference (PLT2022) aims to explore learning paths that incorporate digital technologies in innovative and transformative ways and the improvement of the psychological and relational life. The conference includes topics about the methodology of application of the ICT tools in psychology and education: from blended learning to the application of artificial intelligence in education; from the teaching, learning, and assessment strategies and practices to the new frontiers on Human-Computer Interaction

NCBO Ontology Recommender 2.0: An Enhanced Approach for Biomedical Ontology Recommendation

Biomedical researchers use ontologies to annotate their data with ontology terms, enabling better data integration and interoperability. However, the number, variety and complexity of current biomedical ontologies make it cumbersome for researchers to determine which ones to reuse for their specific needs. To overcome this problem, in 2010 the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO) released the Ontology Recommender, which is a service that receives a biomedical text corpus or a list of keywords and suggests ontologies appropriate for referencing the indicated terms. We developed a new version of the NCBO Ontology Recommender. Called Ontology Recommender 2.0, it uses a new recommendation approach that evaluates the relevance of an ontology to biomedical text data according to four criteria: (1) the extent to which the ontology covers the input data; (2) the acceptance of the ontology in the biomedical community; (3) the level of detail of the ontology classes that cover the input data; and (4) the specialization of the ontology to the domain of the input data. Our evaluation shows that the enhanced recommender provides higher quality suggestions than the original approach, providing better coverage of the input data, more detailed information about their concepts, increased specialization for the domain of the input data, and greater acceptance and use in the community. In addition, it provides users with more explanatory information, along with suggestions of not only individual ontologies but also groups of ontologies. It also can be customized to fit the needs of different scenarios. Ontology Recommender 2.0 combines the strengths of its predecessor with a range of adjustments and new features that improve its reliability and usefulness. Ontology Recommender 2.0 recommends over 500 biomedical ontologies from the NCBO BioPortal platform, where it is openly available.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, 11 table

The integration of children with Autism in the Egyptian society by the use of ICT tools

Autism has been discussed through the fields of medicine, sociology or psychology all over the past decades. Today, however it is being discussed through a different lens: „Communication‟. Being privileged by so many virtues, the Mass communication field not only spreads information, news and discusses views but also bonds people together. In that sense, Children with Autism should be part of this dynamic sphere, with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) tools, integrating those suffering from autism within the Egyptian society. A Descriptive Survey research clarifies the actual use of children with autism to ICT tools through the perspectives of their parents and their caregivers. A comparison between both views interweaving with various demographic criteria clarifies a larger outlook of the issue. The topic was explored through the Uses & Gratification and Digital Divide theories and further added the Laswell Model to elucidate possible clarifications to realize the integration of children with autism in the Egyptian society through the use of ICT tools. „Who, says what to whom‟ principle is scrutinized to identify the best mode to address the information to the children with Autism and make it reach them, based on research and experience. Although the innate limitations of children with Autism can impede integration willingness, the role of ICT can be shaped to serve the parents and caregivers with valid ideas, information and handling mechanisms with the aim of supporting the children with Autism to develop improved behavioral patterns. These techniques will help people affected with autism to be more accepted within the society‟s social code of conduct, and consequently more integrated. High importance is given to early intervention that avoids the hassle of unlearning negative traits. iii The research proved that neither the standard of education nor the financial capabilities of the parents, directly affects the child with Autism‟s acquisition of ICT tools thus the integration within the society. Computer tablets in particular and various ICT tools in general are provided, but the main issue is the awareness and training of the parents and caregivers to know that the child‟s use should be accompanied and tutored for best outcomes. A further step in the research focuses on the correct choice and use of the applications installed on the computer tablets and assistive ICT tools to be tailored to help each child‟s personalized need

Low empathizing and high systemizing tendencies in Higher Education computing students: The affordances of virtual worlds in their education

Background. The increasing societal reliance on emerging technology is demanding much more of those planning a career in the computing profession than technical ability alone. Many contemporary roles require business contact and therefore soft skills are an essential component of capability. However, the association between those who are inherently drawn to a career in computing and low empathizing, high systemizing (LEHS) tendencies could impair their future performance. Therefore, it is important for higher education to both recognize this need and devise strategies to ensure that the required soft skills are developed as early as possible.Aim. To evaluate the ability of virtual world technology, through its characteristics of immersion, identity and interaction, to foster the soft skills identified as presenting the most difficulty for those with a LEHS disposition as part of their higher education experience.Method. A variety of virtual world activities were introduced to an undergraduate applied computing programme in order to target the following areas: coping with changes in routine, verbal and non-verbal communication, the application of play/imagination and the development of social relationships. The study was guided by the students’ position on the Autism Quotient continuum and a range of quantitative/qualitative methods were applied to assess student performance, as well as their perception of the intervention.Result. It was found that achievement was generally improved for all students in areas that involved virtual world activities. Although the soft skills attainment appeared to be delayed in those with LEHS tendencies, it was seen as being more significant than those below the average AQ threshold, with a noticeable impact in areas of extreme difficulty.Conclusion. The achievement, apparent in all computing students, was expedient in terms of educational practicality. However, the study suggests that VW activities could be used as an engaging device to provide a technical solution to the acquisition of non-technical skills, particularly for those exhibiting LEHS traits

Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine

Patient centric intervention for children with high functioning autism spectrum disorder. Can ICT solutions improve the state of the art ?

In my PhD research we developed an integrated technological platform for the acquisition of neurophysiologic signals in a semi-naturalistic setting where children are free to move around, play with different objects and interact with the examiner. The interaction with the examiner rather than with a screen is another very important feature of the present research, and allows recreating a more real situation with social interactions and cues. In this paradigm, we can assume that the signals acquired from the brain and the autonomic system, are much more similar to what is generated while the child interacts in common life situations. This setting, with a relatively simple technical implementation, can be considered as one step towards a more behaviorally driven analysis of neurophysiologic activity. Within the context of a pilot open trial, we showed the feasibility of the technological platform applied to the classical intervention solutions for the autism. We found that (1) the platform was useful during both children-therapist interaction at hospital as well as children-parents interaction at home, (2) tailored intervention was compatible with at home use and non-professional therapist/parents. Going back to the title of my thesis: 'Can ICT solution improve the state-of-the-art ?' the answer could be: 'Yes it can be an useful support for a skilled professional in the field of autis