827 research outputs found
Emotions and Digital Well-being. The rationalistic bias of social media design in online deliberations
In this chapter we argue that emotions are mediated in an incomplete way in online social media because of the heavy reliance on textual messages which fosters a rationalistic bias and an inclination towards less nuanced emotional expressions. This incompleteness can happen either by obscuring emotions, showing less than the original intensity, misinterpreting emotions, or eliciting emotions without feedback and context. Online interactions and deliberations tend to contribute rather than overcome stalemates and informational bubbles, partially due to prevalence of anti-social emotions. It is tempting to see emotions as being the cause of the problem of online verbal aggression and bullying. However, we argue that social media are actually designed in a predominantly rationalistic way, because of the reliance on text-based communication, thereby filtering out social emotions and leaving space for easily expressed antisocial emotions. Based on research on emotions that sees these as key ingredients to moral interaction and deliberation, as well as on research on text-based versus non-verbal communication, we propose a richer understanding of emotions, requiring different designs of online deliberation platforms. We propose that such designs should move from text-centred designs and should find ways to incorporate the complete expression of the full range of human emotions so that these can play a constructive role in online deliberations
PPM-Extended (PPMX) - a catalogue of positions and proper motions
Aims: We build a catalogue PPM-Extended (PPMX) on the ICRS system which is
complete down to a well-defined limiting magnitude and contains the best
presently available proper motions to be suited for kinematical studies in the
Galaxy.
Methods: We perform a rigorous weighted least-squares adjustment of
individual observations, spread over more than a century, to determine mean
positions and proper motions. The stellar content of PPMX is taken from GSC 1.2
supplemented by catalogues like ARIHIP, PPM and Tycho-2 at the bright end. All
observations have been weighted according to their individual accuracy. The
catalogue has been screened towards rejecting false entries in the various
source catalogues.
Results: PPM-Extended (PPMX) is a catalogue of 18,088,920 stars containing
astrometric and photometric information. Its limiting magnitude is about 15.2
in the GSC photometric system. PPMX consists of three parts: a) a survey
complete down to R_U = 12.8 in the magnitude system of UCAC2; b) additional
stars of high-precision proper motions, and c) all other stars from GSC 1.2
identified in 2MASS. The typical accuracy of the proper motions is 2mas/y for
66 percent of the survey stars (a) and the high-precision stars (b), and about
10 mas/y for all other stars. PPMX contains photometric information from
ASCC-2.5 and 2MASS.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
A Photometric Study of the Young Stellar Population Throughout the lambda Orionis Star-Forming Region
We present VRI photometry of 320,917 stars with 11 < R < 18 throughout the
lambda Orionis star-forming region. We statistically remove the field stars and
identify a representative PMS population throughout the interior of the
molecular ring. The spatial distribution of this population shows a
concentration of PMS stars around lambda Ori and in front of the B35 dark
cloud. Few PMS stars are found outside these pockets of high stellar density,
suggesting that star formation was concentrated in an elongated cloud extending
from B35 through lambda Ori to the B30 cloud. We find a lower limit for the
global stellar mass of about 500 Mo. We find that the global ratio of low- to
high-mass stars is similar to that predicted by the field initial mass
function, but this ratio varies strongly as a function of position in the
star-forming region. Locally, the star-formation process does not produce a
universal initial mass function. We construct a history of the star-forming
complex. This history incorporates a recent supernova to explain the
distribution of stars and gas today.Comment: 42 pages, 11 figures; to appear in the Astronomical Journa
A deep all-sky census of the Hyades
On the basis of the PPMXL catalogue we perform an all-sky census of the
Hyades down to masses of about 0.2 m_sun in a region up to 30 pc from the
cluster centre. We use the proper motions from PPMXL in the convergent point
method to determine probable kinematic members. From 2MASS photometry and CMC14
r'-band photometry, we derive empirical colour-absolute magnitude diagrams and,
finally, determine photometric membership for all kinematic candidates. This is
the first deep (r' < 17) all-sky survey of the Hyades allowing a full
three-dimensional analysis of the cluster. The survey is complete down to at
least M_{K_s} = 7.3 or 0.25 m_sun. We find 724 stellar systems co-moving with
the bulk Hyades space velocity, which represent a total mass of 435 m_sun. The
tidal radius is about 9 pc, and 275 m_sun (364 systems) are gravitationally
bound. This is the cluster proper. Its mass density profile is perfectly fitted
by a Plummer model with a central density of 2.21 m_sun*pc^-3 and a core radius
of r_co = 3.10 pc, while the half-mass radius is r_h = 4.1 pc. There are
another 100 m_sun in a volume between one and two tidal radii (halo), and
another 60 m_sun up to a distance of 30 pc from the centre. Strong mass
segregation is inherent in the cluster. The present-day luminosity and mass
functions are noticeably different in various parts of the cluster (core,
corona, halo, and co-movers). They are strongly evolved compared to presently
favoured initial mass functions. The analysis of the velocity dispersion of the
cluster shows that about 20% of its members must be binaries. As a by-product,
we find that presently available theoretical isochrones are not able to
adequately describe the near-infrared colour-absolute magnitude relation for
those cluster stars that are less massive than about 0.6 m_sun.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
WASP-31b: a low-density planet transiting a metal-poor, late-F-type dwarf star
We report the discovery of the low-density, transiting giant planet WASP-31b.
The planet is 0.48 Jupiter masses and 1.55 Jupiter radii. It is in a 3.4-day
orbit around a metal-poor, late-F-type, V = 11.7 dwarf star, which is a member
of a common proper motion pair. In terms of its low density, WASP-31b is second
only to WASP-17b, which is a more highly irradiated planet of similar mass.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. As accepted for publication in A&A;
bibcode = 2011A&A...531A..60
A Census of the Chamaeleon I Star-Forming Region
Optical spectroscopy has been obtained for 179 objects that have been
previously identified as possible members of the cluster, that lack either
accurate spectral types or clear evidence of membership, and that are optically
visible (I<18). I have used these spectroscopic data and all other available
constraints to evaluate the spectral classifications and membership status of a
total sample of 288 candidate members of Chamaeleon I that have appeared in
published studies of the cluster. The latest census of Chamaeleon I now
contains 158 members, 8 of which are later than M6 and thus are likely to be
brown dwarfs. I find that many of the objects identified as members of
Chamaeleon I in recent surveys are actually field stars. Meanwhile, 7 of 9
candidates discovered by Carpenter and coworkers are confirmed as members, one
of which is the coolest known member of Chamaeleon I at a spectral type of M8
(~0.03 M_sun). I have estimated extinctions, luminosities, and effective
temperatures for the members and used these data to construct an H-R diagram
for the cluster. Chamaeleon I has a median age of ~2 Myr according to
evolutionary models, and hence is similar in age to IC 348 and is slightly
older than Taurus (~1 Myr). The measurement of an IMF for Chamaeleon I from
this census is not possible because of the disparate methods with which the
known members were originally selected, and must await an unbiased,
magnitude-limited survey of the cluster.Comment: 59 pages, 22 figure
A catalogue of bright (K <9) M dwarfs
Using the Position and Proper Motion Extended-L (PPMXL) catalogue, we have used optical and near-infrared colour cuts together with a reduced proper motion cut to find bright M dwarfs for future exoplanet transit studies. PPMXL's low proper motion uncertainties allow us to probe down to smaller proper motions than previous similar studies. We have combined unique objects found with this method to that of previous work to produce 8479 K <9 M dwarfs. Low-resolution spectroscopy was obtained of a sample of the objects found using this selection method to gain statistics on their spectral type and physical properties. Results show a spectral-type range of K7-M4V. This catalogue is the most complete collection of K <9 M dwarfs currently available and is made available here.Peer reviewe
Emotional Engineers: Toward Morally Responsible Design
Engineers are normally seen as the archetype of people who make decisions in a rational and quantitative way. However, technological design is not value neutral. The way a technology is designed determines its possibilities, which can, for better or for worse, have consequences for human wellbeing. This leads various scholars to the claim that engineers should explicitly take into account ethical considerations. They are at the cradle of new technological developments and can thereby influence the possible risks and benefits more directly than anybody else. I have argued elsewhere that emotions are an indispensable source of ethical insight into ethical aspects of risk. In this paper I will argue that this means that engineers should also include emotional reflection into their work. This requires a new understanding of the competencies of engineers: they should not be unemotional calculators; quite the opposite, they should work to cultivate their moral emotions and sensitivity, in order to be engaged in morally responsible engineering
Spectral Energy Distributions of Type 1 AGN in the COSMOS Survey I - The XMM-COSMOS Sample
The "Cosmic Evolution Survey" (COSMOS) enables the study of the Spectral
Energy Distributions (SEDs) of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) because of the deep
coverage and rich sampling of frequencies from X-ray to radio. Here we present
a SED catalog of 413 X-ray (\xmm) selected type 1 (emission line FWHM km
s) AGN with Magellan, SDSS or VLT spectrum. The SEDs are corrected for
the Galactic extinction, for broad emission line contributions, constrained
variability, and for host galaxy contribution. We present the mean SED and the
dispersion SEDs after the above corrections in the rest frame 1.4 GHz to 40
keV, and show examples of the variety of SEDs encountered. In the near-infrared
to optical (rest frame -- 4000\AA), the photometry is complete for
the whole sample and the mean SED is derived from detections only. Reddening
and host galaxy contamination could account for a large fraction of the
observed SED variety. The SEDs are all available on-line.Comment: 22 pages, 22 figures, ApJ accepted, scheduled to be published October
20th, 2012, v75
Local stellar kinematics from RAVE data: III. Radial and Vertical Metallicity Gradients based on Red Clump Stars
We investigate radial and vertical metallicity gradients for a sample of red
clump stars from the RAdial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) Data Release 3. We
select a total of 6781 stars, using a selection of colour, surface gravity and
uncertainty in the derived space motion, and calculate for each star a
probabilistic (kinematic) population assignment to a thin or thick disc using
space motion and additionally another (dynamical) assignment using stellar
vertical orbital eccentricity. We derive almost equal metallicity gradients as
a function of Galactocentric distance for the high probability thin disc stars
and for stars with vertical orbital eccentricities consistent with being
dynamically young, e_v<=0.07, i.e. d[M/H]/dR_m = -0.041(0.003) and d[M/H]/dR_m
= -0.041(0.007) dex/kpc. Metallicity gradients as a function of distance from
the Galactic plane for the same populations are steeper, i.e. d[M/H]/dz_{max} =
-0.109(0.008) and d[M/H]/dz_{max} = -0.260(0.031) dex/kpc, respectively. R_m
and z_{max} are the arithmetic mean of the perigalactic and apogalactic
distances, and the maximum distance to the Galactic plane, respectively.
Samples including more thick disc red clump giant stars show systematically
shallower abundance gradients. These findings can be used to distinguish
between different formation scenarios of the thick and thin discs.Comment: 27 pages, including 15 figures and 4 tables, accepted for publication
in MNRA
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