This paper investigates how the psychological notion of comfort can be useful in the design of robotic systems. A review of the existing study of human comfort, especially regarding its presence in infants, is conducted with the goal being to determine the relevant characteristics for mapping it onto the robotics domain. Focus is placed on the identification of the salient features in the envir...

OBJECTIVES Little is known regarding modifiable factors that may explain sociodemographic disparities in breastfeeding rates among women in the United States. Using a mediation model approach, we examined the relative contributions of breastfeeding and formula feeding psychosocial factors in explaining disparities in breastfeeding intentions. METHODS We interviewed 532 expectant first-time mo...

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact that office comfort has on office occupiers’ productivity. Design/methodology/approach – The author evaluates the literature that claims to make a linkage between the physical comfort of the office environment and the effect on the productivity of the office occupiers. Office comfort will initially be discussed as a generic concept and s...

Environmental control strategy via computerized implementation is one of the most efficient approaches to integrate new advanced knowledge in research of human thermal comfort to a mechanical air-conditioning unit. Recently, a new conceptual development in designing air-conditioning systems has indicated that the indoor comfort temperature strongly depends upon changes of the outdoor air temper...

Subjects were exposed to sequences of partial-body cooling and warming over a period of three hours. Skin temperatures, core temperature, thermal sensation, and comfort responses were collected for nineteen local body parts, and for the whole body. This paper relates local thermal sensations and comfort to skin and core temperatures, and examines how the thermal sensation and comfort perceived ...

Theories of social surrogacy and embodied cognition assume that cognitive associations with nonhuman stimuli can be affectively charged. In the current research, we examined whether the "comfort" of comfort foods comes from affective associations with relationships. Two experiments support the hypotheses that comfort foods are associated with relationships and alleviate loneliness. Experiment 1...

The study identifies the gap between actual thermal sensation and theoretical comfort calculated through simulated microclimate data in different urban configurations in a tropical, high-density, megacity: Dhaka. The methodology stated here could be applied for evaluating outdoor comfort conditions for future urban areas at an early design stage. To apply the concept of theoretical comfort it i...