The Net in the Park

Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing, Physical Computing, Everyware, Tangible User Interface, and the Internet of Things all share the same viewpoint—a viewpoint that sees computers, phones, and game consoles as no longer being the only devices in our environment deemed worthy to embody computation and be connected. Each of these approaches focuses on slightly different aspects of the features and potentialities of the enabling technologies (i.e., Physical Computing focuses on the growing power of microcontrollers; IOT on the increasing influence of tagging systems; Everyware on the pervasiveness of the web through wired and wireless connections, etc.) We understand and place more emphasis on the similarities then the differences among these approaches, and at the same time, we try to address specific human activity issues by exploiting these new enabling technologies and visions. In the paper, we present a project, Wi-roni, that addresses two issues: in-person communication and the added value of being in a given location when accessing a given content. To this end, we considered in some detail the possibilities of three of these enabling technologies: ultrasound sensors, MEMS, and mash-up of Internet application. These technologies were chosen based on the nature of the human activity, and not vice versa. In Wi-roni, an Urban Architecture project located in the La Gora public park in Monteroni d'Arbia, a small village in the province of Siena (Italy), we developed two interconnect solutions: Wi-wave, a column for accessing web audio content in public spaces, and Wi-swing, a children’s swing that tells stories while swinging. These devices represent both the concrete grounds from which to begin to address the abovementioned human activity issues and the playground in which to explore the new, emerging interaction modalities that the enabling technologies could allow.     

Lost in the Sauce: The Effects of Alcohol on Mind Wandering

ABSTRACT— Alcohol consumption alters consciousness in ways that make drinking both alluring and hazardous. Recent advances in the study of consciousness using a mind-wandering paradigm permit a rigorous examination of the effects of alcohol on experiential consciousness and metaconsciousness. Fifty-four male social drinkers consumed alcohol (0.82 g/kg) or a placebo beverage and then performed a mind-wandering reading task. This task indexed both self-caught and probe-caught zone-outs to distinguish between mind wandering inside and outside of awareness. Compared with participants who drank the placebo, those who drank alcohol were significantly more likely to report that they were zoning out when probed. After this increase in mind wandering was accounted for, alcohol also lowered the probability of catching oneself zoning out. The results suggest that alcohol increases mind wandering while simultaneously reducing the likelihood of noticing one's mind wandering. Findings are discussed with regard to theories of alcohol and theories of consciousness.     

Cross-national comparisons of the association between alcohol consumption and deliberate self-harm in adolescents

How differences in drinking patterns may affect the impact of alcohol consumption on deliberate self-harm among adolescents is explored in this international comparative study. Schools in Australia, Belgium, England, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Norway (N = 30,532) were surveyed. In all countries the risk of deliberate self-harm was significantly elevated among adolescents who reported some or numerous episodes of intoxication, controlling for confounding factors. The results support the assumption that intoxication is significantly related to the association between alcohol consumption and deliberate self-harm in adolescents.     

Premarital Predictors of Remarital Quality: Implications for Clinicians

This paper presents a review of the research literature from 1980 to present on the premarital predictors of remarital satisfaction and stability (quality). The predictive factors are organized with an ecosystemic theoretical model using three general predictor categories: background and context factors (e.g., stepchildren), individual traits and behaviors (e.g., attachment to an ex-spouse), and couple interactional processes (e.g., couple consensus). Major factors related to lower remarriage quality include the roles of stepchildren, stepfamily complexity, emotional attachment to an ex-spouse, serial marriage, and economic strain. Predictors related to higher remarital quality include couple consensus on important topics, social support from family and friends, and financial stability. Implications for couple therapy before remarriage are discussed.     

Personality characteristics of research volunteers

We evaluated Big Five personality factor differences between research volunteers and nonvolunteers. In the first study, 158 military officers were asked to participate in a mail survey. The personality scores of the officers were available from an archival data set. In our second study, adult siblings from large families were invited to participate in extensive clinical epidemiological evaluations. The personality scores of volunteers (N = 55) and nonvolunteers from the same families (N = 29) were estimated from sibling ratings made by those who participated in the study. In both studies, respondents, compared to nonrespondents, were found to be significantly lower in Neuroticism and higher in Conscientiousness. The second study further indicated respondents as being higher in Extraversion and Agreeableness. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-esteem reconsidered: unstable self-esteem outperforms level of self-esteem as vulnerability marker for depression

Previous studies have built up evidence that an unstable self-esteem is associated with vulnerability to depression and that it outperforms level of self-esteem as a predictor for symptoms of depression. However, most of these studies have used student samples exclusively to investigate the role of self-esteem instability in depression vulnerability. Our present study used samples of currently depressed inpatients, formerly depressed individuals, and never-depressed controls to investigate the relationship between self-esteem instability and depression. In addition, we examined the predictive validity of self-esteem instability in predicting future depressive symptoms. The results indicate that self-esteem instability is associated with depression and vulnerability to depression. Furthermore, self-esteem instability interacted with perceived stress variability and depressed mood variability in predicting future depressive symptomatology at six months follow-up. These results are in line with the diathesis-stress model and support the hypothesis that self-esteem instability might be more important than level of self-esteem in predicting vulnerability to depression.     

The Relationship Between Spirituality,Health Beliefs,and Health Behaviors in College Students

The United States is a country in which religion and spirituality play a significant role in people’s lives. The relationship between religion, spirituality and health has long been investigated. However, most of these studies have focused only on patient populations and the elderly. The present study examines whether the same pattern of relations reported earlier is seen in a sample of healthy, college students using measures of both spirituality and religion. Health beliefs and behaviors were also examined. The results show that individuals with higher spirituality scores are more active and hold difference health beliefs than those who scored in the low spirituality group. However, some contradictions from previous research were reported in this sample. The study suggests religion may have some different pattern of relations in the overall health and health behaviors of younger, healthier populations. Dr. Sgoutas-Emch teaches at the University of San Diego. Erik Nagel received his BA from there.