Ground-based FTIR measurements of O3- and climate-related gases in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere

In the frame of the EC project UFTIR (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations from a European ground-based FTIR network), a common strategy for an optimal determination of the chemical composition in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere with ground-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers is being developed. The project focuses on 6 target species that are O3, CO, CH4, N2O, C2H6 and CHClF2 (HCFC-22). The strategy consists in selecting the most appropriate parameters to retrieve vertical concentration profiles from solar FTIR spectra. Among the important parameters are the spectral microwindows: they have been optimised to maximise the information content and to minimize the influence of poorly known spectroscopic data and interfering species

Divided Loyalists or Conditional Cooperators? Creating Consensus about Cooperation in Multiple Simultaneous Social Dilemmas

The current social dilemma literature lacks theoretical consensus regarding how individuals behave when facing multiple simultaneous social dilemmas. The divided-loyalty hypothesis, from organizational theory, predicts that cooperation will decline as individuals experience multiple social dilemmas with different compared to the same group members. The conditional-cooperation hypothesis, from behavioral economics, predicts that cooperation will increase as individuals experience multiple social dilemmas with different compared to the same group members. We employ a laboratory experiment to create consensus between these literatures and find support for the conditional-cooperation hypothesis. The positive effect of interacting with different group members comes from participants having an opportunity to shift their cooperative behavior from the less cooperative to the more cooperative group

VR as a Persuasive Technology “in the Wild”. The Effect of Immersive VR on Intent to Change Towards Water Conservation

The combination of VR with the correct psychological mechanism could become a powerful persuasionsystem to stimulate intent to change towards important environmental issues such as water conservation.However, very limited research has been reported on VR usage in this area. Therefore, we conducted abetween-groups study to investigate whether the level of presence felt in a VR environment together with a trigger mechanism such as guilt could spark intent to change towards water conservation. Participants were exposed to a persuasive message about water conservation in one of three conditions: audio only, simple VR and visually rich VR. Forty participants completed the study “in the wild”. The results showed that while intent to change increased in all three groups, both VR groups indicated lower levels of change than the audio only group. Additionally, a positive correlation, albeit small, was found between presence and cued recall along with presence and intent to change. These results furthermore showed that presence could play a role in behavior modification and intent to change