1,952 research outputs found
The relationship between anomie and participation of Latvian inhabitants in social activities
The purpose of this research was to investigate relations between different dimensions of anomie of Latvian inhabitants and their participation in social activities, as well as to find what social activities of Latvian inhabitants best predict their sense of anomie. In this research the secondary data from the third European Quality of Life Survey (European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), 2012) was used. The Latvian sample consisted of respondents (n = 1009), aged from 18 to 92 years (male - 34.9%, female - 65.1%). To assess anomie three subscales of anomie - Social distrust, Social isolation and Meaninglessness - were used. These subscales [1-5] were constructed basing on the integrative multidimensional model of anomie, developed by Levina, Martinsone and Kamerade [1-6], and using questions from the third European Quality of Life Survey [7]. To measure social activities, twenty questions of the third European Quality of Life Survey were used. It was found that all three aspects of anomie - social distrust, social isolation and meaninglessness - were negatively associated with such social activities as interaction with others without doing a specific activity with them, doing an activity with others, helping others and contributing to society (civic activities). Contact by phone, the Internet or by post with a brother, sister or other relative best of all predicted social distrust. Contact by phone, the Internet or by post with any of friends or neighbours, as well as with a brother, sister or other relative together with participation in social activities in a club, society, or an association and attending a meeting of a trade union, a political party or political action group best of all predicted social isolation. Meaninglessness best of all could be predicted by contact by phone, the Internet or by post with any of friends or neighbours as well as with brother, sister or other relative and by being a volunteer and doing unpaid voluntary work through education, cultural, sports or professional associations.publishersversionPeer reviewe
Compositional Diversity Among Primitive Asteroids
Spectroscopic observations from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared have
revealed new and diagnostic differences among primitive asteroids. We review
the spectral characteristics of these asteroids and their inferred
compositional and physical properties. Primitive asteroids throughout the belt
show carbon-rich compounds, varying degrees of aqueous alteration and even
surface ice; recent observations provide significant new constraints on
composition, thermal inertia, and other surface properties. New mid-infrared
connections between primitive asteroids and interplanetary dust particles
indicate that the latter sample a larger fraction of main belt asteroids than
meteorites. Links with the composition of comets are consistent with a proposed
continuum between primitive asteroids and comets. Two sample-return missions,
OSIRIS-REx and Hayabusa 2, will visit primitive near-Earth asteroids (NEAs).
Most spacecraft-accessible NEAs originate in the inner asteroid belt, which
contains several primitive asteroid families and a background of primitive
asteroids outside these families. Initial results from these families offer a
tantalizing preview of the properties expected in the NEAs they produce. So
far, primitive asteroids in the inner belt fall into two spectral groups. The
first group includes the Polana-Eulalia families, which show considerable
spectral homogeneity in spite of their dynamical and collisional complexity. In
contrast, the Erigone and Sulamitis families are spectrally diverse and most of
their members show clear 0.7 microns hydration features. The two sample-return
targets (101955) Bennu and (162173) Ryugu, most likely originated in the Polana
family.Comment: 31 pages, 11 figures, chapter 5 in Primitive Meteorites and
Asteroids, Physical, Chemical, and Spectroscopic Observations Paving the Way
to Exploratio
Pervasive and standalone computing: The perceptual effects of variable multimedia quality.
The introduction of multimedia on pervasive and mobile communication devices raises a number of perceptual quality issues, however, limited work has been done examining the 3-way interaction between use of equipment, quality of perception and quality of service. Our work measures levels of informational transfer (objective) and user satisfaction (subjective)when users are presented with multimedia video clips at three different frame rates, using four different display devices, simulating variation in participant mobility. Our results will show that variation in frame-rate does not impact a user’s level of information assimilation, however, does impact a users’ perception of multimedia video ‘quality’. Additionally, increased visual immersion can be used to increase transfer of video information, but can negatively affect the users’ perception of ‘quality’. Finally, we illustrate the significant affect of clip-content on the transfer of video, audio and textual information, placing into doubt the use of purely objective quality definitions when considering multimedia
presentations
Heat stress on agricultural workers exacerbates crop impacts of climate change
The direct impacts of climate change on crop yields and human health are individually well-studied, but the interaction between the two have received little attention. Here we analyze the consequences of global warming for agricultural workers and the crops they cultivate using a global economic model (GTAP) with explicit treatment of the physiological impacts of heat stress on humans' ability to work. Based on two metrics of heat stress and two labor functions, combined with a meta-analysis of crop yields, we provide an analysis of climate, impacts both on agricultural labor force, as well as on staple crop yields, thereby accounting for the interacting effect of climate change on both land and labor. Here we analyze the two sets of impacts on staple crops, while also expanding the labor impacts to highlight the potential importance on non-staple crops. We find, worldwide, labor and yield impacts within staple grains are equally important at +3 ∘C warming, relative to the 1986–2005 baseline. Furthermore, the widely overlooked labor impacts are dominant in two of the most vulnerable regions: sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In those regions, heat stress with 3 ∘C global warming could reduce labor capacity in agriculture by 30%–50%, increasing food prices and requiring much higher levels of employment in the farm sector. The global welfare loss at this level of warming could reach $136 billion, with crop prices rising by 5%, relative to baseline
Quantum squeezing of optical dissipative structures
We show that any optical dissipative structure supported by degenerate
optical parametric oscillators contains a special transverse mode that is free
from quantum fluctuations when measured in a balanced homodyne detection
experiment. The phenomenon is not critical as it is independent of the system
parameters and, in particular, of the existence of bifurcations. This result is
a consequence of the spatial symmetry breaking introduced by the dissipative
structure. Effects that could degrade the squeezing level are considered.Comment: 4 pages and a half, 1 fugure. Version to appear in Europhysics
Letter
AtDelfi: Automatically Designing Legible, Full Instructions For Games
This paper introduces a fully automatic method for generating video game
tutorials. The AtDELFI system (AuTomatically DEsigning Legible, Full
Instructions for games) was created to investigate procedural generation of
instructions that teach players how to play video games. We present a
representation of game rules and mechanics using a graph system as well as a
tutorial generation method that uses said graph representation. We demonstrate
the concept by testing it on games within the General Video Game Artificial
Intelligence (GVG-AI) framework; the paper discusses tutorials generated for
eight different games. Our findings suggest that a graph representation scheme
works well for simple arcade style games such as Space Invaders and Pacman, but
it appears that tutorials for more complex games might require higher-level
understanding of the game than just single mechanics.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, published at Foundations of Digital Games
Conference 201
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