Exchanging gazes with a social partner in response to an event in the environment is considered an effective means to direct attention, share affective experiences, and highlight a target in the environment. This behavior appears during infancy and plays an important role in children's learning and in shaping their socio-emotional development. It has been suggested that cultural values of the c...

One of the central objectives of project COOL is to explore critical aspects associated with learning (and teaching) object-oriented concepts. This objective will be pursued by bringing forth the heritage of Kristen Nygaard and the Norwegian approach to object-orientation. The project will develop learning material based on this work and intends to make the material available to the object-orie...

Creating agents that are capable of emulating similar sociocultural dynamics to those found in human interaction remains as one of the hardest challenges of artificial intelligence. This problem becomes particularly important when considering embodied agents that are meant to interact with humans in a believable and empathic manner. In this article, we introduce a conceptual model for socio-cul...

In this paper, we describe a novel approach to computational modeling and understanding of social and cultural phenomena in multi-party dialogues. We developed a two-tier approach in which we first detect and classify certain social language uses, including topic control, disagreement, and involvement, that serve as first order models from which presence the higher level social constructs such ...

Dance has been an integral part and ventricular parcel of my life since childhood. I began this endeavor at the tender age of three with Sri Kunhiraman and Srimathi Katherine Kunhiraman of Kalanjali Dances of India. They were a great source of encouragement as they were the only teachers who consented to accept me into their tutelage at a young age. They have indeed inspired me to great depths....

Transgenic Maize in Mexico.

Neuroscientific and psychological research on moral development has until now developed independently, referring to distinct theoretical models, contents, and methods. In particular, the influence of socio-economic and cultural factors on morality has been broadly investigated by psychologists but as yet has not been investigated by neuroscientists. The value of bridging these two areas both th...

E-government is not only an innovative idea but, more and more in a growing number of countries, a practical activity of high priority. It reflects the emergence and development of information societies (IS). Socio-cultural context is a framework of e-government strategies and practices. The context will determine the effects of such efforts. It is important to consider and understand the socio...

Socio-cultural factors are one of the important variables involved in development of anorexia nervosa. The prevalence of the illness has shown a definite increase in last few decades. Certain other important sociocultural variables like familial interaction patterns, parental attitude towards weight control, desirability for slimness and thinness also have a deciding role. Stress of any kind ca...