Pervasive Gaming: Testing Future Context Aware Applications

More and more technical research projects take place that weave together elements of real and virtual life to provide a new experience defined as pervasive. They bank on the development of mobile services to drive the expansion of pervasive applications and in particular pervasive games. Using geolocalisation, local networks and short range radio frequencies technologies like RFID or other tagging technologies, pervasive games rely on a close relationship to the environment and thus explore the space between fiction and reality. This is their main quality but possibly their main weakness as the development relies on the production of specific contents in relation to the context of use. In this article, we propose to explore what this entirely new paradigm for game design implies in terms of production and how to overcome the limitations due to this dependency of contents and context. Based on our experience of three pervasive games developed within research projects on adhoc wifi (ANR-Safari and ANRTranshumance) and RFID networks (ANR-PLUG), this paper presents different options to reducing the cost of content production relying on either traditional editors or grass root contributions.pervasive games, content production, game design, geolocalised technologies.

On trouve de tout sur Yahoo !

Much has been written about the changes introduced by new computer technologies. But what innovations have media like the Internet actually introduced ? This analysis of the server Yahoo ! demonstrates the extent to which mimesis with pre-existing media dominate how such servers are conceived and used. It also demonstrates the impossibility of speaking of a clear "communicational contract" with respect to such media due to the consequent lack of clarity in terms of what kind of informational "contract" is proposed. Confusion due to the variety of types of media and the inability to identify the sources of information are an integral aspect of the user's experience

Cognitive-Behavioral Processes Distinguishing Normal From Pathological Experiences Across Anxiety and Mood Disorders

Several cognitive, behavioral, and emotional experiences are found across healthy and clinical populations and across distinct diagnostic categories. The present research was aimed at identifying processes (e.g., functional impairment, perfectionism, unwanted thought) that may operate across disorders to differentiate normal from abnormal experiences or increase risk for anxiety or mood symptoms. In Study 1, individuals diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), non-GAD high worriers, and normal worriers completed measures of perceived functioning and performance standards. Widespread functional impairments were reported both by individuals with GAD and by non-GAD high worriers. However, only non-GAD high worriers showed elevated performance standards, suggesting that different processes may account for the functional impairments perceived by these groups (i.e., recognition of diminished personal functioning versus inflated standards). Study 2 tested the association of appraisals of worried, ruminative, and obsessional thoughts to outcomes assessed concurrently and at 1-month follow-up. Across thought types, negative and positive appraisals were cross-sectionally associated with greater negative outcomes; positive appraisals were further associated with greater positive outcomes. Negative and positive appraisals of worry and rumination were also associated with increased negative outcomes at follow-up. These results suggest several similarities across thought types in the relationship between appraisals and outcomes, providing support for further transdiagnostic study of these processes. In Study 3, healthy participants were randomly assigned to receive negative, normalizing, or no feedback about their worried, ruminative, and obsessional thoughts to test the hypothesis that negative appraisals would lead to negative outcomes across thought types. Individuals\u27 preexisting beliefs about thoughts were also expected to predict outcomes, both alone and in interaction with experimental condition. Unexpectedly, individuals in the Negative Feedback condition reported less negative outcomes than those in the other conditions, but these results were qualified by an interaction between preexisting beliefs and experimental condition across all thought types. These results suggest that preexisting negative beliefs about different forms of unwanted thought function as a cognitive vulnerability in interaction with specific stressors. Collectively, these studies suggest several features that may operate transdiagnostically to increase risk for symptom development or to differentiate normal from abnormal experiences of anxiety and depression

Sostenibilidad para los acueductos comunales en Costa Rica : Desafíos pendientes en la gobernabilidad hídrica

Les associations administratives des systèmes d’aqueducs et d’égouts au Costa Rica approvisionnent une grande partie de l’eau à la population rurale. Ces associations réclament de plus grandes compétences légales et de ressources financières afin d’améliorer la distribution de l’eau, d’assurer la protection des sources aquifères, d’augmenter l’autonomisation de leurs employés et de fournir une éducation environnementale aux utilisateurs de l’eau. L’État fera face à ce défi et tentera de remplir ces demandes à travers la décentralisation institutionnelle et une plus grande autonomie, mais sans renoncer à assurer un accès adéquat et suffisant aux sources d’eau potables.Community water and sanitation bodies called ASADAS in Costa Rica provide a large part of water to rural population. These bodies claim for enhanced legal competencies and financial resources in order to improve distribution of water, to ensure protection of water aquifers, to build capacities among their members and to foment a broad environmental education among water users. The State confronts the challenge to fulfill these demands through institutional decentralization and a greater form of autonomy, though without renouncing to ensure an adequate access to sufficient and potable water resources.Las asociaciones administrativas de los sistemas de de acueductos y alcantarillados (ASADAS) surten de agua a gran parte de la población rural en Costa Rica. Estas organizaciones reclaman en la actualidad nuevas potestades legales y recursos financieros adicionales para mejorar los sistemas de abastecimiento, garantizar la protección de las nacientes y mantos acuíferos, capacitar mejor a su personal y fomentar la educación ambiental entre la población abastecida. El Estado costarricense enfrenta el desafío de satisfacer estas necesidades por medio de una descentralización regulada y mayor autonomía real, pero sin renunciar al mandato de velar por el acceso adecuado de los habitantes del país a un servicio de agua potable de calidad

Siberian Exile and the 1863 Polish Insurrectionists According to Russian Sources

A description of the deportation to Siberia of Poles and others involved in the 1863 Polish Uprising, and of their conditions and activities there

Justicia y equidad social en los sistemas de Pago por Servicios Ambientales

Payments for Environmental Services (PSA) are meant as a transfer of monetary or non-monetary resources among social actors, aiming to create incentives and aligning individual and / or collective decisions of land use with the public interest in management of natural resources. PES can be articulated through a market or other mechanisms such as incentives or public subsidies. In other words, PES are considered to be voluntary transaction when a buyer is purchasing a well-defined environmental service of at least one service provider if and only if the service provider secures service provision. However, in practice PES programs rarely meet this restrictive definition. Most common problems are often a not entirely voluntary nature of the program, the difficulties a clear causal link between some practice in land use and the amount of services provided, as well as problems setting a long-term resource monitoring for the level of service delivery. The purpose of this article is to examine through a critical literature review of case studies from Latin America whether PES programs are regulated sufficiently to achieve - apart from its main objectives, the conservation of the environment and create opportunities - equity and social justice standards among service providers.Pagos por servicios ambientales (PSA) se definen como una transferencia de recursos monetarios o no monetarios entre los actores sociales, cuyo objetivo es crear incentivos para alinear las decisiones individuales y / o colectivas de uso del suelo con el interés social en la gestión de los recursos naturales, articulados a través de un mercado u otros mecanismos como los incentivos o subsidios públicos. Una transacción voluntaria cuando un comprador está comprando un servicio ambiental bien definido de al menos un proveedor de servicios si-y sólo si el proveedor de servicios asegura la prestación de servicios. No obstante, en la práctica los programas de PSA rara vez cumplen con esta definición restrictiva. Los problemas más comunes son a menudo una naturaleza no totalmente voluntario del programa, las dificultades que s establece tener un nexo causal claro entre una cierta práctica de uso del suelo y la cantidad de servicios proporcionados y problemas que garantizan un seguimiento a largo plazo de los recursos, así como a nivel de prestación de servicios. El propósito de este artículo es examinar a partir de una revisión crítica de experiencias desde América Latina si los programas de PSA en América Latina se encuentran suficientemente regulados para alcanzar - aparte de su objetivo principal - la conservación del medio ambiente y generar oportunidades- equidad y justicia social entre los proveedores de los servicios

Health assessment of tree swallows (tachycineta bicolor) nesting on the Athabasca Oil Sands, Alberta

Oil sands mining companies in Alberta, Canada, are planning to create wetlands for the bioremediation of mining waste materials as part of a reclamation strategy. To assess feasibility, experimental wetlands mimicking proposed reclamation scenarios were constructed on mining leases. This research assessed the health of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) nesting on these sites where they were naturally exposed to a mixture of chemicals including unrecovered bitumen, naphthenic acids (NAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Endpoints reflecting health were compared among three experimental wetlands and one reference site. In order to specifically investigate toxicity of NAs to birds, an experimental exposure to NAs was also conducted on a subset of nestlings on the reference site. In 2003 and 2004, approximately 50 breeding pairs (total, per year) nesting on the following sites were monitored: Suncor’s “Consolidated Tailings” and “Natural Wetlands”; Syncrude’s “Demo Pond” and “Poplar Creek” reference site. In 2003, reproductive success was very low on OSPM-sites compared to the reference site, but was relatively unaffected in 2004. Compromised reproductive performance in 2003 was linked to harsh weather, during which mortality rates of nestlings reached 100% on the site with the highest levels of PAHs and NAs, while they did not surpass 50% on the reference site. In 2004, mortality rates were low but nestlings from OSPM-sites weighed less and showed greater hepatic detoxification efforts (etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity) than those on the reference site. Furthermore, nestlings on OSPM-sites exhibited higher levels of thyroid hormones and suffered parasitic burdens (Protocalliphora spp.) approximately twice that of those on the reference site. Several of these findings may be associated with low post-fledging survival, suggesting that wet landscape reclamation strategy is not optimal for avian species and may require improvement. As part of a separate study investigating toxicity of naphthenic acids, twenty nestlings from the reference site were randomly selected for an experimental exposure. Nestlings received 0.1 ml/day of NAs (15g/L) orally from day 7 to day 13 of age while being reared normally by their free-ranging parents. Nestling growth, hematocrit, blood biochemistry, organ weights and etoxyresorufin-o-deethylase activity (EROD) activity appeared unaffected by naphthenic acids. No toxic changes were detected on histopathological evaluation of major organs. These findings suggest that for nestlings reared on oil sands reclaimed sites, exposure to other chemicals such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons is a greater concern than exposure to NAs. However, this study did not investigate the chronic or reproductive toxicity of naphthenic acids. More research still needs to be conducted as a part of an assessment of the sustainability of wet landscape reclamation because a previous study found that chronic exposure to NAs severely compromised reproduction in mammals