The Screen Is Yours—Comparing Handheld Pairing Techniques for Public Displays
Whereas mobile devices have been heavily investigated as remote controls for distant displays, research on the fundamental first step, the pairing with the display, is scarce. In a comparative user study with 31 participants we evaluated five potential pairing techniques concerning their performance and acceptance for connecting to a public display and gained insights into the general requirements for pairing techniques in this special usage context. Besides four established mobile interaction techniques (touching an NFC tag, capturing a QR code, scanning, and manual input), our study considered a recent appropriate pairing technique called display pointing, which allows passers-by to conne…
Raiders from the sky: slavemaker founding queens select for aggressive host colonies.
Reciprocal selection pressures in host–parasite systems drive coevolutionary arms races that lead to advanced adaptations in both opponents. In the interactions between social parasites and their hosts, aggression is one of the major behavioural traits under selection. In a field manipulation, we aimed to disentangle the impact of slavemaking ants and nest density on aggression of Temnothorax longispinosus ants. An early slavemaker mating flight provided us with the unique opportunity to study the influence of host aggression and demography on founding decisions and success. We discovered that parasite queens avoided colony foundation in parasitized areas and were able to capture more broo…