710 research outputs found

    Contexting Koreans: Does the High/Low Model Work?

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    South Korea is assumed to be a high-context culture with extensive shared information and an emphasis on relationships in doing business. The follow ing study reported here tests this assumption and illustrates similarities and differences between Korean and American writers in an attempt to document language differences between high- and low- context societies. Data in the texts studied did not confirm the high/low contextfeatures expected. South Korean texts showed more similarities to than differences from the American texts, and the language features found suggest a more complex context situa tion than the high/low context model may be able to accommodate.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66563/2/10.1177_108056999806100403.pd

    How Do You Like Me in This: User Embodiment Preferences for Companion Agents

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    We investigate the relationship between the embodiment of an artificial companion and user perception and interaction with it. In a Wizard of Oz study, 42 users interacted with one of two embodiments: a physical robot or a virtual agent on a screen through a role-play of secretarial tasks in an office, with the companion providing essential assistance. Findings showed that participants in both condition groups when given the choice would prefer to interact with the robot companion, mainly for its greater physical or social presence. Subjects also found the robot less annoying and talked to it more naturally. However, this preference for the robotic embodiment is not reflected in the users’ actual rating of the companion or their interaction with it. We reflect on this contradiction and conclude that in a task-based context a user focuses much more on a companion’s behaviour than its embodiment. This underlines the feasibility of our efforts in creating companions that migrate between embodiments while maintaining a consistent identity from the user’s point of view

    Diagonalizing operators with reflection symmetry

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    Let UU be an operator in a Hilbert space H0\mathcal{H}_{0}, and let KH0\mathcal{K}\subset\mathcal{H}_{0} be a closed and invariant subspace. Suppose there is a period-2 unitary operator JJ in H0\mathcal{H}_{0} such that JUJ=UJUJ=U^*, and PJP0PJP \geq 0, where PP denotes the projection of H0\mathcal{H}_{0} onto K\mathcal{K}. We show that there is then a Hilbert space H(K)\mathcal{H}(\mathcal{K}), a contractive operator W:KH(K)W:\mathcal{K}\to\mathcal{H}(\mathcal{K}), and a selfadjoint operator S=S(U)S=S(U) in H(K)\mathcal{H}(\mathcal{K}) such that WW=PJPW^*W=PJP, WW has dense range, and SW=WUPSW=WUP. Moreover, given (K,J)(\mathcal{K},J) with the stated properties, the system (H(K),W,S)(\mathcal{H}(\mathcal{K}),W,S) is unique up to unitary equivalence, and subject to the three conditions in the conclusion. We also provide an operator-theoretic model of this structure where UKU|_{\mathcal{K}} is a pure shift of infinite multiplicity, and where we show that ker(W)=0\ker(W)=0. For that case, we describe the spectrum of the selfadjoint operator S(U)S(U) in terms of structural properties of UU. In the model, UU will be realized as a unitary scaling operator of the form f(x)f(cx)f(x)\mapsto f(cx), c>1c>1, and the spectrum of S(Uc)S(U_{c}) is then computed in terms of the given number cc.Comment: 30 pages; Dedicated to the memory of I.E. Sega

    Come Closer:Encouraging Collaborative Behaviour in a Multimedia Environment

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    Исследование коэффициента пульсации современных источников света

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    Материалы XVIII Междунар. науч.-техн. конф. студентов, аспирантов и молодых ученых, Гомель, 26–27 апр. 2018 г

    Adolescents' Understanding of Smoking and Vaping Risk Language: Cognitive Interviews to Inform Scale Development

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    Introduction: Perceived message effectiveness (PME) is a common metric to understand receptivity to tobacco prevention messages, yet most measures have been developed with adults. We examined adolescents' interpretation of language within candidate items for a new youth-targeted PME measure using cognitive interviewing. We sought to understand the meaning adolescents assigned to our candidate PME items to improve item wording. Aims and Methods: Participants were 20 adolescents, ages 13-17 years from the United States. Cognitive interviews used a structured guide to elicit feedback on comprehension, answer retrieval, and language regarding a set of Reasoned Action Approach-based survey items that assessed the PME of smoking and vaping prevention ads. We employed thematic analysis to synthesize findings from the interviews. Results: Interviews identified three main issues related to survey items: ambiguity of language, word choice (risk and other terminology), and survey item phrasing. Adolescents preferred direct, definitive language over more ambiguous phrasing which they saw as less serious (eg, "will"instead of "could"). For risk terminology, they preferred terms such as "harmful"and "dangerous"over "risky,"which was viewed as easy to discount. The term "negative effects"was interpreted as encompassing a broader set of tobacco harms than "health effects."Adolescents said that the term "vape"was preferable to "e-cigarette,"and identified ways to simplify item wording for greater clarity. Conclusions: Tobacco risk terms that appear similar differ in meaning to adolescents, and more direct and unambiguous language is preferred. Our findings informed changes to the PME scale items to improve clarity and reduce measurement error. Implications: This study adds to the literature on how adolescents interpret tobacco prevention language. Adolescents may interpret terminology differently than adults, which could lead to ambiguity in meaning and thus measurement error. Through cognitive interviewing, we identified and improved the language in a youth-focused PME measure for tobacco and vaping prevention

    The Middle Way: East Asian masters students’ perceptions of critical argumentation in U.K. universities.

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    The paper explores the learning experiences of East Asian masters students in dealing with Western academic norms of critical thinking in classroom debate and assignment writing. The research takes a cultural approach, and employs grounded theory and case study methodology, the aims being for students to explain their perceptions of their personal learning journeys. The data suggest that the majority of students interviewed rejected full academic acculturation into Western norms of argumentation. They instead opted for a ‘Middle Way’ that synergizes the traditional cultural academic values held by many East Asian students with those elements of Western academic norms that are perceived to be aligned with these. This is a relatively new area of research which represents a challenge for British lecturers and students

    Norms and trust-shaping relationships among food-exporting SMEs in Ghana

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    There is a marked paucity of empirically rigorous research that focuses on the impact that indigenous institutional influences can have on the internationalization strategies of entrepreneurs operating in developing countries. This study therefore explores the complex processes through which owner-managers of food-exporting SMEs in Ghana draw on cultural norms to build networks that enable internationalization, in the absence of formal institutional support. The results facilitate a better understanding of the hybridization of indigenous and global norms that underpin SME internationalization in Ghana and other developing economies, particularly in Africa. The study contributes to the theory and practice of interorganizational relationships and to international entrepreneurship in an African context

    A Comparison of the Technical Communications Practices of Japanese and U.S. Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

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    To understand the diffusion of aerospace knowledge, it is necessary to understand the communications practices and the information-seeking behaviors of those involved in the production, transfer, and use of aerospace knowledge at the individual, organizational, national, and international levels. In this paper, we report selected results from a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that focused on communications practices and information-seeking behaviors in the workplace. Data are presented for the following topics: importance of and time spent communicating information, collaborative writing, need for an undergraduate course in technical communications, use of libraries, the use and importance of electronic (computer) networks, and the use and importance of foreign and domestically produced technical reports. The responses of the survey respondents are placed within the context of the Japanese culture. We assume that differences in Japanese and U.S. cultures influence the communications practices and information-seeking behaviors of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists
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