Investigating the Impact of Cooperative Communication Mechanics on Player Performance in Portal 2

Cooperative communication mechanics, such as avatar gestures or in-game visual pointers, enable player collaboration directly through gameplay. We currently lack a deeper understanding of how players use cooperative communication mechanics, and whether they can effectively supplement or even supplant traditional voice and chat communication. The present research investigated player communication in Portal 2 by testing the game’s native cooperative communication mechanics for dyads of players in custom test chambers. Following our initial hypothesis, players functioned best when they had access to both cooperative communication mechanics and voice. We found that players preferred voice communication, but perceived cooperative communication mechanics as necessary to coordinate interdependent actions.NMSU Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Discovery grant #RGPIN-418622-2012) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC grant #895-2011-1014 (IMMERSe)Peer-reviewe

Developing a strategy for the development of small enterprises in the energy sector of the economy

As a part of the study, the problems of forming the investment strategy of energy companies were considered. Possible ways of choosing the most rational forms of investment in the assets and a comprehensive assessment of the strategy’s effectiveness were proposed. A methodology for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the investment strategy for the development of an enterprise has been developed by analyzing the Cobb-Douglas production function. In the paper, when solving specific problems, general economic methods of analysis, probabilistic and statistical methods, the method of expert assessments, and methods of system and comparative analysis were used. The practical application of the proposed assessment methodology is considered on the example of comparing two options for the investment strategy of an enterprise operating in the field of energy processing

Standard Model Neutrinos as Warm Dark Matter

Standard Model neutrinos are not usually considered plausible dark matter candidates because the usual treatment of their decoupling in the early universe implies that their mass must be sufficiently small to make them ``hot'' dark matter. In this paper we show that decoupling of Standard Model neutrinos in low reheat models may result in neutrino densities very much less than usually assumed, and thus their mass may be in the keV range. Standard Model neutrinos may therefore be warm dark matter candidates.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, LaTeX file uses revtex packag

Interband superconductivity: contrasts between BCS and Eliashberg theory

The newly discovered iron pnictide superconductors apparently present an unusual case of interband-channel pairing superconductivity. Here we show that, in the limit where the pairing occurs within the interband channel, several surprising effects occur quite naturally and generally: different density-of-states on the two bands lead to several unusual properties, including a gap ratio which behaves inversely to the ratio of density-of-states; the weak-coupling limit of the Eliashberg and the BCS theory, commonly taken as equivalent, in fact predict qualitatively different dependence of the $\Delta_{1}/\Delta_{2}$ and $\Delta/T_{c}$ ratios on coupling constants. We show analytically that these effects follow directly from the interband character of superconductivity. Our results show that in the interband-only pairing model the maximal gap ratio is $\sqrt{N_{2}/N_{1}}$ as strong-coupling effects act only to reduce this ratio. This suggests that if the large experimentally reported gap ratios (up to a factor 2) are correct, the pairing mechanism must include more intraband interaction than is usually assumed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Smiles as Signals of Lower Status in Football Players and Fashion Models: Evidence That Smiles are Associated With Lower Dominance and Lower Prestige

Across four studies, the current paper demonstrates that smiles are associated with lower social status. Moreover, the association between smiles and lower status appears in the psychology of observers and generalizes across two forms of status: prestige and dominance. In the first study, faces of fashion models representing less prestigious apparel brands were found to be more similar to a canonical smile display than the faces of models representing more prestigious apparel brands. In a second study, after being experimentally primed with either high or low prestige fashion narratives, participants in the low prestige condition were more likely to perceive smiles in a series of photographs depicting smiling and non-smiling faces. A third study of football player photographs revealed that the faces of less dominant (smaller) football players were more similar to the canonical smile display than the faces of their physically larger counterparts. Using the same football player photographs, a fourth study found that smiling was a more reliable indicator of perceived status-relevant personality traits than perceptions of the football players\u27 physical sizes inferred from the photographs

The Calculation of the Spatial Distribution of Temperature Fields for Remote Monitoring of the Surface From an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

В статье рассматривается расчет пространственного распределения температурных полей на поверхности и вглубь грунта. Представлена общая постановка задачи расчета пространственного распределения температурных полей в переменно-насыщенных пористых средах. Приведены результаты реализации предложенного способа расчета в ходе натурного экспериментаThe article deals with the calculation of the spatial distribution of temperature fields on the surface and deep into the soil. Presents a general formulation of the problem of calculating the spatial distribution of temperature fields in variably-saturated porous media. The results of the proposed method of calculation in the field experimen

Methods of Assessment of Dynamics of Change of Probability Characteristics of Recognition of Objects in Aerial Reconnaissance

В статье представлена методика оценки динамики изменения вероятностных характеристик распознавания и различения объектов воздушной разведки при операторном и автоматическом дешифрировании соответственно. Представлена математическая постановка задачи распознавания объектов воздушной разведки по инфракрасным изображениям. Приведены результаты оценки изменения вероятностных характеристик распознавания (различения) объектов воздушной разведки по результатам натурного экспериментаThe article presents a method of assessing the dynamics of changes in the probabilistic characteristics of recognition and distinction of objects of aerial reconnaissance in the operator and automatic decryption, respectively. The mathematical formulation of the problem of recognition of objects of aerial reconnaissance by infrared images is presented. The results of the evaluation of changes in the probabilistic characteristics of recognition (distinction) of objects of aerial reconnaissance on the results of full-scale experimen

Inhomogenous Primordial Baryon Distributions on Sub-Galactic Scales: High-z Galaxy Formation with WDM

For the Warm Dark Matter (WDM) cosmological model the implications of strongly inhomogenous, primordial baryon distribution on sub-galactic scales for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies and Galaxy Formation (including fully non-linear evolution to z=0) are discussed, and the inflationary theory leading to such distributions is briefly reviewed. It is found that Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is essentially unaffected relative to SBBN and that the change in recombination history at z~1500-700 relative to ``standard'' theory leads to differences in the anisotropy and polarization power spectra, which should be detectable by the Planck satellite provided systematic effects can be accounted for. Moreover, it is shown by fully cosmological, hydro/gravity simulations that the formation of galactic discs is only weakly affected by going from smooth to highly non-homogenous, initial baryon distributions. In particular, the final disc angular momenta at z=0 are as large as for the standard case and the ``disc angular momentum problem'' is solved to within a factor of two or better without invoking (hypothetical) energetic feedback events. A very desirable difference relative to the the standard WDM model, however, is that the on-set of star (and AGN) formation happens earlier. For the ``optimal'' free-streaming mass scale of M_f~1.5x10^11 h^-1 Msun the redshift of formation of the first stars increases from z_*=4-5 to >6.5, in much better agreement with observational data on high-redshift galaxies and QSOs. It will, however, not be possible to push z_* above ~10, because at higher redshifts the gas velocity field is nowhere compressive. Probing the ``dark ages'' will hence enable a direct test of this theory.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, submitted to MNRA

Species richness in North Atlantic fish: Process concealed by pattern

International audiencePrevious analyses of marine fish species richness based on presence‐absence data have shown changes with latitude and average species size, but little is known about the underlying processes. To elucidate these processes we use metabolic, neutral and descriptive statistical models to analyse how richness responds to maximum species length, fish abundance, temperature, primary production, depth, latitude and longitude, while accounting for differences in species catchability, sampling effort and mesh size