Thermal Cues Composed of Sequences of Pulses for Transferring Data via a Haptic Thermal Interface.

This research study is the preliminary phase of an effort to develop a generic data transfer method via human haptic thermal sensation (i.e., a coded language such as Morse or Braille). For the method to be effective, it must include a large variety of short, recognizable cues. Hence, we propose the concept of cues based on sequences of thermal pulses: combinations of warm and cool pulses with several levels of intensity. The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of basing a generic data transfer method on haptic thermal cues using sequences of short pulses. The research included defining the basic characteristics of the stimuli parameters and developing practical methods for generating and measuring them. Several patterns of different sequences were designed considering the relevant data known to date and improved by implementing new insights acquired throughout the tests that were conducted. The final thermal cues presented to the participants were sensed by touch and clearly recognized. The results of this study indicate that developing this new method is feasible and that it could be applicable in various scenarios. In addition, the low impact measured on the user's skin temperature represents an inherent advantage for future implementation. This report presents promising findings and offers insights for further investigations.

The effect of color coding and layout coding on users' visual search on mobile map navigation icons.

Color and spatial layout are important factors that affect users' icon cognition and play a huge role in the visual search process of icons. Guided by the user's interactive needs, this paper aims to improve the visual search efficiency of mobile map navigation icons. The mixed design within and between subjects is adopted through the combination of theoretical and experimental research, and the subjective questionnaire method is used to explore the research. This paper explores the visual search problem of mobile map navigation icons based on color coding and layout coding. The experimental results mainly include reaction time, accuracy rate, user experience, and statistical and variance analysis. The results show that the layout of the mobile map navigation icons significantly impacts the user's visual search. The navigation icons that use color for layout coding have the highest visual search efficiency and better user experience. Among the icons, the layout with regular color distribution and a larger area of the same color has the highest visual search efficiency for users and the best user experience; the visual search efficiency of navigation icons using color for layout coding is significantly higher than that of mobile map navigation icons. Relevance to industry: The user scale of mobile information maps is huge and the usage rate is high, but the large number of navigation icons increases the burden of user information identification and acquisition. As a result, the efficiency of user information acquisition is low, and the user experience is reduced. A clear, easy-to-search navigation icon design can enhance the user experience of the entire product. The results of this research provide theoretical support and practical guidance for the design optimization and improvement of mobile map navigation icons.

Evidence for Shifting Cognitive Strategies when Icons Appear in Unexpected Locations.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examines the cognitive effects of placing icons in unexpected spatial locations within websites. BACKGROUND: Prior research has revealed evidence for cognitive conflict when web icons occur in unexpected locations (e.g., cart, top left), generally consistent with a dynamical systems models. Here, we compare the relative strength of evidence for both dual and dynamical systems models. METHODS: Participants clicked on icons located in either expected (e.g., cart, top right) or unexpected (e.g., cart, top left) locations while mouse trajectories were continuously recorded. Trajectories were classified according to prototypes associated with each cognitive model. The dynamical systems model predicts curved trajectories, while the dual-systems model predicts straight and change of mind trajectories. RESULTS: Trajectory classification revealed that curved trajectories increased (+11%), while straight and change of mind trajectories decreased (-12%) when target icons occurred in unexpected locations (p < .001). CONCLUSION: Rather than employing a single cognitive strategy, users shift from a primarily dual-systems to dynamical systems strategy when icons occur in unexpected locations. APPLICATION: Potential applications of this work include the assessment of cognitive impacts such as mental workload and cognitive conflict during real-time interaction with websites and other screen-based interfaces, personalization and adaptive interfaces based on an individual's cognitive strategy, and data-driven A/B testing of alternative interface designs.

Improving safety in the operating room: Medication icon labels increase visibility and discrimination.

Misreading labels, syringes, and ampoules is reported to make up a 54.4% of medication administration errors. The addition of icons to medication labels in an operating room setting could add additional visual cues to the label, allowing for improved discrimination, visibility, and easily processed information that might reduce medication administration errors. A multi-disciplinary team proposed a method of enhancing visual cues and visibility of medication labels applied to vasoactive medication infusions by adding icons to the labels. Participants were 1.12 times more likely to correctly identify medications from farther away (p < 0.001, AOR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.22) with icons. When icons were present, participants were 2.16 times more likely to be more confident in their identifications (p < 0.001, AOR = 2.16, 95%CI: 1.80, 2.57). Carefully designed icons may offer an additional method for identifying medications, and thus reducing medication administration errors.

Novel sonification designs: Compressed, iconic, and pitch-dynamic auditory icons boost driving behavior.

With the development of connected vehicles, in-vehicle auditory alerts enable drivers to effectively avoid hazards by quickly presenting critical information in advance. Auditory icons can be understood quickly, evoking a better user experience. However, as collision warnings, the design and application of auditory icons still need further exploration. Thus, this study aims to investigate the effects of internal semantic mapping and external acoustic characteristics (compression and dynamics design) on driver performance and subjective experience. Thirty-two participants (17 females) experienced 15 types of warnings - (3 dynamics: mapping 0 vs. 1 vs. 2) × (5 warning types: original iconic vs. original metaphorical vs. compressed iconic vs. compressed metaphorical auditory icon vs. earcon) - in a simulator. We found that compression design was effective for rapid risk avoidance, which was more effective in iconic and highly pitch-dynamic sounds. This study provides additional ideas and principles for the design of auditory icon warnings.

Educating with Captain America: metabolic and nutritional considerations.

Captain America can bring more than entertainment value to the public. The pop icon can also be used effectively in the science classroom, encouraging students to more effectively learn the content. How Captain America uses nutrients and how often he eats are novel ways to communicate real science. The point is to make a connection using science to explain how the superhero can run faster, jump higher, or lift more than is humanly possible. In this way fun, teachable moments are available for the educator.

The Impact of Different Types of Auditory Warnings on Working Memory.

Auditory warnings have been shown to interfere with verbal working memory. However, the impact of different types of auditory warnings on working memory tasks must be further researched. This study investigated how different kinds of auditory warnings interfered with verbal and spatial working memory. Experiment 1 tested the potential interference of auditory warnings with verbal working memory. Experiment 2 tested the potential interference of auditory warnings with spatial working memory. Both experiments used a 3 × 3 mixed design: auditory warning type (auditory icons, earcons, or spearcons) was between groups, and task condition (no-warning, identify-warning, or ignore-warning) was within groups. In Experiment 1, earcons and spearcons but not auditory icons worsened the performance on the verbal serial recall task in the identify-warning condition, compared with that in the no-warning or ignore-warning conditions. In Experiment 2, only identifying earcons worsened the performance on the location recall task compared with performance without auditory warnings or when auditory warnings were ignored. Results are discussed from the perspective of working memory resource interference, and their practical application in the selection and design of auditory warning signals is involved.

To be Mother or not? Cultural Models of Motherhood and Their Meaning Effects on Gendered Representations.

In this paper I will focus on the concept of the person in its philosophical, representative and bodily facets, in a gender perspective. Starting from the interesting figure of Gianna Beretta Molla, known for having been beatified for having sacrificed her own life to save that of the child she was carrying, I'll try to reason about some key concepts concerning women representation in modernity, such as motherhood, iconic figures and cultural models from which the meaning of feminine subjects itself depends.

Sicilian Byzantine Icons through the Use of Non-Invasive Imaging Techniques and Optical Spectroscopy: The Case of the Madonna dell'Elemosina.

The iconographic heritage is one of the treasures of Byzantine art that have enriched the south of Italy, and Sicily in particular, since the early 16th century. In this work, the investigations of a Sicilian Icon of Greek-Byzantine origin, the Madonna dell'Elemosina, is reported for the first time. The study was carried out using mainly non-invasive imaging techniques (photography in reflectance and grazing visible light, UV fluorescence, infrared reflectography, radiography, and computed tomography) and spectroscopic techniques (X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy). The identification of the constituent materials provides a decisive contribution to the correct historical and artistic placement of the Icon, a treasure of the Eastern European historical community in Sicily. Some hidden details have also been highlighted. Most importantly, the information obtained enables us to define its conservation state, the presence of foreign materials, and to direct its protection and restoration.

Improving the Screen Exploration of Smartphones Using Haptic Icons for Visually Impaired Users.

We report the results of a study on the learnability of the locations of haptic icons on smartphones. The aim was to study the influence of the use of complex and different vibration patterns associated with haptic icons compared to the use of simple and equal vibrations on commercial location-assistance applications. We studied the performance of users with different visual capacities (visually impaired vs. sighted) in terms of the time taken to learn the icons' locations and the icon recognition rate. We also took into consideration the users' satisfaction with the application developed to perform the study. The experiments concluded that the use of complex and different instead of simple and equal vibration patterns obtains better recognition rates. This improvement is even more noticeable for visually impaired users, who obtain results comparable to those achieved by sighted users.

Cycles and circulation: a theme in the history of biology and medicine.

We invite systematic consideration of the metaphors of cycles and circulation as a long-term theme in the history of the life and environmental sciences and medicine. Ubiquitous in ancient religious and philosophical traditions, especially in representing the seasons and the motions of celestial bodies, circles once symbolized perfection. Over the centuries cyclic images in western medicine, natural philosophy, natural history and eventually biology gained independence from cosmology and theology and came to depend less on strictly circular forms. As potent 'canonical icons', cycles also interacted with representations of linear and irreversible change, including arrows, arcs, scales, series and trees, as in theories of the Earth and of evolution. In modern times life cycles and reproductive cycles have often been held to characterize life, in some cases especially female life, while human efforts selectively to foster and disrupt these cycles have harnessed their productivity in medicine and agriculture. But strong cyclic metaphors have continued to link physiology and climatology, medicine and economics, and biology and manufacturing, notably through the relations between land, food and population. From the grand nineteenth-century transformations of matter to systems ecology, the circulation of molecules through organic and inorganic compartments has posed the problem of maintaining identity in the face of flux and highlights the seductive ability of cyclic schemes to imply closure where no original state was in fact restored. More concerted attention to cycles and circulation will enrich analyses of the power of metaphors to naturalize understandings of life and their shaping by practical interests and political imaginations.

Mood moderates the effect of aesthetic appeal on performance.

Aesthetically appealing stimuli can improve performance in demanding target localisation tasks compared to unappealing stimuli. Two search-and-localisation experiments were carried out to examine the possible underlying mechanism mediating the effects of appeal on performance. Participants (N = 95) were put in a positive or negative mood prior to carrying out a visual target localisation task with appealing and unappealing targets. In both experiments, positive mood initially led to faster localisation of appealing compared to unappealing stimuli, while an advantage for appealing over unappealing stimuli emerged over time in negative mood participants. The findings are compatible with the idea that appealing stimuli may be inherently rewarding, with aesthetic appeal overcoming the detrimental effects of negative mood on performance.

Aesthetic Evaluation of Computer Icons: Visual Pattern Differences Between Art-Trained and Lay Raters of Icons.

Adopting eye-tracking measures, we explored the influence of art experience on the aesthetic evaluation of computer icons. Participants were 27 college students with art training and 27 laypersons. Both groups rated icons of varying complexity and symmetry for "beauty" while we recorded participants' eye movements. Results showed that art-trained participants viewed the icons with more eye fixations and had shorter scanning paths than participants in the non-art group, suggesting that art-trained participants processed the icons more deliberately. In addition, we observed an interaction effect between art experience and symmetry. For asymmetrical icons, art-trained participants' ratings tended to be higher than those of lay persons; for symmetric icons, there was no such rater difference. The different visual patterns associated with aesthetic evaluations by these two participant groups suggest that art experience plays a pivotal role in the aesthetic appreciation of icons and has important implications for icon design strategy.

The matrix revolutions: towards the decoding of the plant chromatin three-dimensional reality.

In recent years, we have witnessed a significant increase in studies addressing the three-dimensional (3D) chromatin organization of the plant nucleus. Important advances in chromatin conformation capture (3C)-derived and related techniques have allowed the exploration of the nuclear topology of plants with large and complex genomes, including various crops. In addition, the increase in their resolution has permitted the depiction of chromatin compartmentalization and interactions at the gene scale. These studies have revealed the highly complex mechanisms governing plant nuclear architecture and the remarkable knowledge gaps in this field. Here we discuss the state-of-the-art in plant chromosome architecture, including our knowledge of the hierarchical organization of the genome in 3D space and regarding other nuclear components. Furthermore, we highlight the existence in plants of topologically associated domain (TAD)-like structures that display striking differences from their mammalian counterparts, proposing the concept of ICONS-intergenic condensed spacers. Similarly, we explore recent advances in the study of chromatin loops and R-loops, and their implication in the regulation of gene activity. Finally, we address the impact that polyploidization has had on the chromatin topology of modern crops, and how this is related to phenomena such as subgenome dominance and biased gene retention in these organisms.

Iconic Visualization of Sickle Cell Patients Current and Past Health Status.

Rapid access to patient overall health status is essential for a physician during a medical consultation. The use of a HIS for the management of neonatal screening and follow-up of sickle cell disease patients at CERPAD in the Saint-Louis region of Senegal leads the patient electronic records growing in volume and complexity. To facilitate access to relevant information and shortens the time required to analyze and understand these clinical data, an original solution is to set up a data visualization system. In this article, we propose the integration of two iconic visualization tools into the SIMENS-CERPAD module designed for sickle cell screening and healthcare. The two tools use the VCM iconic language and consist of a simplified anatomical schema showing the current health status of the patient and a timeline to visualize its temporal evolution.

Marketing a health Brand on Facebook: Effects of reaction icons and user comments on brand attitude, trust, purchase intention, and eWOM intention.

This study examined effects of Facebook reaction icons and user comments on brand attitude, trust, information seeking, purchase intention, and eWOM intention towards a health brand, as well as potential moderating effects of SNS use. Results of a 3 (reaction icons: positive/neutral/negative) × 3 (valence of comments: positive/neutral/negative) between-subjects experiment (N = 306) indicated that positive Facebook reaction icons significantly influenced brand attitude, trust, purchase intention, and eWOM intention, while neutral comments significantly impacted brand attitude and trust. The degree of SNS use also negatively moderated between reaction icon valence and eWOM intention. Implications for health marketing communication are discussed.

Skeuomorphic or flat icons for an efficient visual search by younger and older adults?

The debate around skeuomorphic and flat designs has been long lasting and inconclusive, in part because of the lack of empirical evidence supporting the superiority of one or the other icon style from the perspectives of function and aesthetics. Therefore, this study investigated whether older and younger users perceive the aesthetics of icon styles in the same manner as designers and which style results in the most efficient visual search. Using an experimental system that we developed, 24 older and 24 younger participants rated and searched application icons belonging to the two styles. The results indicated that there was generally a notable difference between participants' and designers' perceptions of icon design styles, even after training, and that the perceived icon design styles further influenced the visual search time and accuracy of the participants as well as their evaluation of the icons' beauty. The results imply that the younger participants could use the skeuomorphic icons more efficiently than they could use the flat icons and that they had an advantage over older participants in terms of this ability; however, aesthetically they appreciated flat icons more. In contrast, older participants searched skeuomorphic icons more quickly and accurately than they did flat icons, and aesthetically they appreciated skeuomorphic icons more.

Participatory design for selection of icons to represent daily activities of living for a vision-based rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for locked-in patients.

Purpose: The majority of rehabilitation systems for locked-in patients are used for therapeutic purposes. However, round-the-clock assistance and support are essential after discharge from hospitals or nursing homes. This inspired us to develop a round-the-clock rehabilitation-cum-assistance system operated by eye gazes of locked-in patients. To do this, we aimed to identify the essential daily activities of living for locked-in patients and represent these activities using the most universally acceptable icons/images on the interface for the rehabilitation-cum-assistance system.Method: Activities were selected from available conventions and literature with advice from a local physiotherapy centre. Simple arithmetic averages and weighted averages of recognition rates for different icons representing different daily activities were calculated as per ISO 3864. Universal acceptability of the icons was compared based on responses from 72 locked-in patients across five different age groups. The final icons or images were then selected.Results: Three icons were categorized as identifiable with overall average recognition rates above 66.7%. Icons with average recognition rates 30-60% were considered to have "medium" recognisability and 21 icons were in this category. The average recognition rates of six icons were below 30% and were not acceptable. An overall recognition efficiency of 91% was achieved for participants from all age groups.Conclusions: The most preferred and unambiguous icons or images representing the essential daily activities of living were identified for use on the interface of our rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for round-the-clock operation.Implications for rehabilitationPerforming some of the daily activities by locked-in patients himself/herself is essential for self-independence as well as measures the level of regular improvement.Assistive technologies have huge potential for application for the purpose, especially the vision-based systems.Present technology is useful for development of a vision-based rehabilitation-cum-assistance system for 24 × 7 assistance for the locked-in patients.A new approach for real-time, user-based field evaluation of icons representing daily activities of living using statistical method of averaging of the recognition rates.