This paper underscores the centrality of individual technological devices, particularly mobile phones, in structuring contemporary social interaction in public spaces. It illustrates the need to re-think the relationship between information and communications technologies and practices of sociability in public spaces. Based on surveys of users of mobile phones (basic mobile phones and smartphon...

This paper presents an issue related to interior architectural environments, which is currently being investigated through an empirical research program entitled the NetWorkPlaceTM© study. It is delivered from a speculative standpoint which invites consideration and feedback. The radical structuralist conception of Castells’ network society is adopted as the position from which to explore the e...

Recently, Microsoft and Sony have added network capabilities to their game consoles allowing real-time competitive and cooperative game play over the Internet. This paper reports on the initial stage of a study examining Microsoft’s Xbox Live, a system supporting computer supported cooperative play (CSCP) through voice communication and centralized identity management. In order to understand th...

A Learning Network is an ensemble of individual users, institutions and learning resources which are mutually connected through and supported by information and communication technologies. Learning Networks are particularly attractive to self-directed learners, who themselves decide on their learning program as well as on the timing, pace and place of their studies. Such learners may easily bec...

The motivation to seek social contact may arise from either positive or negative emotional states, as social interaction can be rewarding and social isolation can be aversive. While ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons may mediate social reward, a cellular substrate for the negative affective state of loneliness has remained elusive. Here, we identify a functional role for DA neur...

In unstructured interactions, male friends were found to be more accurate than male strangers in inferring each other's thoughts and feelings. Plausible reasons for this difference were that friends (a) interacted more and exchanged more information, (b) had more similar personalities and therefore more rapport with each other, and (c) had more detailed knowledge of each other's lives. Data con...

Purpose: This study aimed to identify the longitudinal effects of children’s temperament on maternal depression.Methods: Data from a cohort Panel Study Korean Children (PSKC) 2010 2012 were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling. The survey included 1,721 mother-child dyads. mothers reported their and depression. was measured by Emotionality, Activity Sociability-Temperament Survey for Chi...

objective: this study focused on the factors affecting the institutional delivery and delivery assisted by health professionals in urban slums. materials and methods: a semi-structured questionnaire was developed to collect information from women aged 15-49 who had at least one birth. totally 540 eligible women were interviewed. results: the results showed that around 20% of women delivered at ...