1,114 research outputs found
Blowtooth: a provocative pervasive game for smuggling virtual drugs through real airport security
In this paper we describe a pervasive game, Blowtooth, in which players use their mobile phones to hide virtual drugs on nearby airline passengers in real airport check-in queues. After passing through airport security, the player must find and recover their drugs from the innocent bystanders, without them ever realizing they were involved in the game. The game explores the nature of pervasive game playing in environments that are not, generally, regarded as playful or “fun”. This paper describes the game’s design and implementation as well as an evaluation conducted with participants in real airports. It explores the players’ reactions to the game through questionnaire responses and in-game activity. The technologies used in Blowtooth are, intentionally, simple in order for the enjoyment of the game to be reliant more on the physical environment rather than the enabling technologies. We conclude that situating pervasive games in unexpected and challenging environments, such as international airports, may provide interesting and unique gaming experiences for players. In addition, we argue that pervasive games benefit most from using the specific features and nature of interesting real-world environments rather than focusing on the enabling technologies
Magnetism and structure of LixCoO2 and comparison to NaxCoO2
The magnetic properties and structure of LixCoO2 for x between 0.5 and 1.0
are reported. Co4+ is found to be high-spin in LixCoO2 for x between 0.94 and
1.0 and low-spin for x between 0.50 and 0.78. Weak antiferromagnetic coupling
is observed, increasing in strength as more Co4+ is introduced. At an x value
of about 0.65, the temperature-independent contribution to the magnetic
susceptibility and the electronic contribution to the specific heat are
largest. Neutron diffraction analysis reveals that the lithium oxide layer
expands perpendicular to the basal plane and the Li ions displace from their
ideal octahedral sites with decreasing x. A comparison of the structures of the
NaxCoO2 and LixCoO2 systems reveals that the CoO2 layer changes substantially
with alkali content in the former but is relatively rigid in the latter.
Further, the CoO6 octahedra in LixCoO2 are less distorted than those in
NaxCoO2. We postulate that these structural differences strongly influence the
physical properties in the two systems
An Open Community-Driven Model For Sustainable Research Software: Sustainable Research Software Institute
Research software plays a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge, but
ensuring its sustainability, maintainability, and long-term viability is an
ongoing challenge. To address these concerns, the Sustainable Research Software
Institute (SRSI) Model presents a comprehensive framework designed to promote
sustainable practices in the research software community. This white paper
provides an in-depth overview of the SRSI Model, outlining its objectives,
services, funding mechanisms, collaborations, and the significant potential
impact it could have on the research software community. It explores the wide
range of services offered, diverse funding sources, extensive collaboration
opportunities, and the transformative influence of the SRSI Model on the
research software landscapeComment: 13 pages, 1 figur
Transitioning ECP Software Technology into a Foundation for Sustainable Research Software
Research software plays a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge, but
ensuring its sustainability, maintainability, and long-term viability is an
ongoing challenge. The Sustainable Research Software Institute (SRSI) Model has
been designed to address the concerns, and presents a comprehensive framework
designed to promote sustainable practices in the research software community.
However the SRSI Model does not address the transitional requirements for the
Exascale Computing Project (ECP) Software Technology (ECP-ST) focus area
specifically. This white paper provides an overview and detailed description of
how ECP-ST will transition into the SRSI in a compressed time frame that a)
meets the needs of the ECP end-of-technical-activities deadline; and b) ensures
the continuity of the sustainability efforts that are already underway.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur
High-resolution VLA Imaging of SDSS Stripe 82 at 1.4 GHz
We present a high-resolution radio survey of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS) Southern Equatorial Stripe, a.k.a. Stripe 82. This 1.4 GHz survey was
conducted with the Very Large Array (VLA) primarily in the A-configuration,
with supplemental B-configuration data to increase sensitivity to extended
structure. The survey has an angular resolution of 1.8" and achieves a median
rms noise of 52 microJy/bm over 92 deg^2. This is the deepest 1.4 GHz survey to
achieve this large of an area, filling a gap in the phase space between small,
deep and large, shallow surveys. It also serves as a pilot project for a larger
high-resolution survey with the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA). We discuss
the technical design of the survey and details of the observations, and we
outline our method for data reduction. We present a catalog of 17,969 isolated
radio components, for an overall source density of ~195 sources/deg^2. The
astrometric accuracy of the data is excellent, with an internal check utilizing
multiply-observed sources yielding an rms scatter of 0.19" in both right
ascension and declination. A comparison to the SDSS DR7 Quasar Catalog further
confirms that the astrometry is well tied to the optical reference frame, with
mean offsets of 0.02" +/- 0.01" in right ascension, and 0.01" +/- 0.02" in
declination. A check of our photometry reveals a small, negative CLEAN-like
bias on the level of 35 microJy. We report on the catalog completeness, finding
that 97% of FIRST-detected quasars are recovered in the new Stripe 82 radio
catalog, while faint, extended sources are more likely to be resolved out by
the resolution bias. We conclude with a discussion of the optical counterparts
to the catalog sources, including 76 newly-detected radio quasars. The full
catalog as well as a search page and cutout server are available online at
http://third.ucllnl.org/cgi-bin/stripe82cutout.Comment: 18 pages, 22, figures. Submitted to AJ, revised to address referee's
comment
An improved formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in 2D Cartesian coordinates
A number of astrophysical scenarios possess and preserve an overall
cylindrical symmetry also when undergoing a catastrophic and nonlinear
evolution. Exploiting such a symmetry, these processes can be studied through
numerical-relativity simulations at smaller computational costs and at
considerably larger spatial resolutions. We here present a new
flux-conservative formulation of the relativistic hydrodynamics equations in
cylindrical coordinates. By rearranging those terms in the equations which are
the sources of the largest numerical errors, the new formulation yields a
global truncation error which is one or more orders of magnitude smaller than
those of alternative and commonly used formulations. We illustrate this through
a series of numerical tests involving the evolution of oscillating spherical
and rotating stars, as well as shock-tube tests.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure
NMR Reveals Functionally Relevant Thermally Induced Structural Changes within the Native Ensemble of G-CSF.
Structure-function relationships in proteins refer to a trade-off between stability and bioactivity, molded by evolution of the molecule. Identifying which protein amino acid residues jeopardize global or local stability for the benefit of bioactivity would reveal residues pivotal to this structure-function trade-off. Here, we use 15N-1H heteronuclear single quantum coherence (HSQC) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to probe the microenvironment and dynamics of residues in granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) through thermal perturbation. From this analysis, we identified four residues (G4, A6, T133, and Q134) that we classed as significant to global stability, given that they all experienced large environmental and dynamic changes and were closely correlated to each other in their NMR characteristics. Additionally, we observe that roughly four structural clusters are subject to localized conformational changes or partial unfolding prior to global unfolding at higher temperature. Combining NMR observables with structure relaxation methods reveals that these structural clusters concentrate around loop AB (binding site III inclusive). This loop has been previously implicated in conformational changes that result in an aggregation prone state of G-CSF. Residues H43, V48, and S63 appear to be pivotal to an opening motion of loop AB, a change that is possibly also important for function. Hence, we present here an approach to profiling residues in order to highlight their potential roles in the two vital characteristics of proteins: stability and bioactivity
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