Facing with Collaborative Robots : The Subjective Experience in Senior and Younger Workers

In the past few years, collaborative robots (i.e., cobots) have been largely adopted within industrial manufacturing. Although robots can support companies and workers in carrying out complex activities and improving productivity, human factors related to cobot operators have not yet been thoroughly investigated. The present study aims to understand the subjective experience of younger and senior workers interacting with an industrial collaborative robot. Results show that workers' acceptance of cobots is high, regardless of age and control modality used. Interesting differences between seniors and younger adults emerged in the evaluations of user experience, usability, and perceived workload of participants and are detailed and commented in the last part of the work.Peer reviewe

Adapting the System to Users Based on Implicit Data: Ethical Risks and Possible Solutions

Symbiotic systems are systems that gather personal data implicitly provided by the user, derive a profile/model of the user from such data and adjust their output/service according to their notion of what would be desirable to the user thus modeled. Because of these three characteristics, symbiotic systems represent a step forward towards facilitated, simplified, user-friendly digital devices, or do they? Here we propose three cases describing realistic applications of symbiotic systems that potentially encapsulate some serious risk to their users. Experts of five different domains (i.e., ethics, security, law, human-computer interaction and psychology) dissect each case to identify the risks to the users and derive some possible minimization strategies. This panel aims at contributing to a beneficial development of symbiotic systems as it can be achieved by increasing users' discernment and awareness of their consequences for society and everyday life

Designing for Mixed Reality Urban Exploration

This paper introduces a design framework for mixed reality urban exploration (MRUE), based on a concrete implementation in a historical city. The framework integrates different modalities, such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and haptics-audio interfaces, as well as advanced features such as personalized recommendations, social exploration, and itinerary management. It permits to address a number of concerns regarding information overload, safety, and quality of the experience, which are not sufficiently tackled in traditional non-integrated approaches. This study presents an integrated mobile platform built on top of this framework and reflects on the lessons learned.Peer reviewe

Collective intelligence for promoting changes in behaviour: a case study on energy conservation

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges humanity faces today. Despite of high investments in technology, battling climate change is futile without the participation of the public, and changing their perception and habits. Collective intelligence tools can play an important role in translating this “distant” concept that is climate change into practical hints for everyday life. In this paper, we report a case study grounded on collective intelligence tools to collaboratively build knowledge around energy conservation. A preliminary study to raise energy awareness in an academic environment is summarised, setting the scene to a more ambitious initiative based on personal stories to transform energy awareness into behaviour change. The role of the collective intelligence tools and other technical artefacts involved are discussed, suggesting strategies and features that contributed (or not) to users’ engagement and collective awareness. Lessons learned from both studies are reported with a sociotechnical approach as implications for design pursuing behaviour change

Pattern of care and effectiveness of treatment for glioblastoma patients in the real world: Results from a prospective population-based registry. Could survival differ in a high-volume center?

BACKGROUND: As yet, no population-based prospective studies have been conducted to investigate the incidence and clinical outcome of glioblastoma (GBM) or the diffusion and impact of the current standard therapeutic approach in newly diagnosed patients younger than aged 70 years. METHODS: Data on all new cases of primary brain tumors observed from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010, in adults residing within the Emilia-Romagna region were recorded in a prospective registry in the Project of Emilia Romagna on Neuro-Oncology (PERNO). Based on the data from this registry, a prospective evaluation was made of the treatment efficacy and outcome in GBM patients. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty-seven GBM patients (median age, 64 y; range, 29-84 y) were enrolled. The median overall survival (OS) was 10.7 months (95% CI, 9.2-12.4). The 139 patients 64aged 70 years who were given standard temozolomide treatment concomitant with and adjuvant to radiotherapy had a median OS of 16.4 months (95% CI, 14.0-18.5). With multivariate analysis, OS correlated significantly with KPS (HR = 0.458; 95% CI, 0.248-0.847; P = .0127), MGMT methylation status (HR = 0.612; 95% CI, 0.388-0.966; P = .0350), and treatment received in a high versus low-volume center (HR = 0.56; 95% CI, 0.328-0.986; P = .0446). CONCLUSIONS: The median OS following standard temozolomide treatment concurrent with and adjuvant to radiotherapy given to (72.8% of) patients aged 6470 years is consistent with findings reported from randomized phase III trials. The volume and expertise of the treatment center should be further investigated as a prognostic factor

Action in Hybrid Environments: Why technical interferences do not necessarily 'break' the virtual presence.

The topic of this chapter is the sense of presence in technologically generated environments and the way in which it may be affected by technical interferences. We considered 84 interferences that spontaneously occurred during immersive sessions in virtual environments, such as the entanglement of a wire or a delay in the functioning of the system. Each interference considered here is followed by an interruption in the users' course of action and by a series of attempts at repairing it. Such events are commonly assumed to break the sense of presence in the virtual environment, but the episodes in our collection show that this is too rough an assumption. In particular, any estimation of a shift in presence from one place to another should be preceded by an analysis of the nature of such places. We will argue that presence does not follow pre-defined, objective spatial distinctions, but is tied to those spatial distinctions that are relevant to the ongoing action. Virtual presence encompasses the spatial region, more or less close to the participant, where the action mediated by the virtual technology takes place. Interferences change the distribution of real and digital resources creating a new, contingent configuration of presence to be assessed on a case-by-case basi

Psychological strategies to promote household recycling. A systematic review with meta-analysis of validated field interventions

Recycling urban waste is a priority to preserve natural resources and reduce pollution. However, the entire recycling process is not possible without the cooperation of citizens through primary separation of waste at home. Various psychological intervention strategies have been applied to promote household recycling, such as information, feedback, incentives, commitment, behavior modeling and environmental alterations. The purpose of this article is to systematically review and evaluate through a meta-analysis their effectiveness, investigating also existing connections between intervention-based research and research on recycling determinants. A random-effect meta-analysis with a sample of 36 studies reporting 70 interventions revealed that social modeling and environmental alterations were the most effective techniques. The examination of underlying factors considered in the interventions also showed that some of them are rarely accounted for when designing the interventions. The findings are discussed along with possible future directions for interventions aiming at promoting recycling