Micro Agenda Setters: The Effect of Social Media on Young Adults’ Exposure to and Attitude Toward News

Social media services like Facebook and Twitter are playing an increasingly large role as sources of news. This article investigates the ways the composition of social media networks affects people’s exposure to and attitude toward news. Focus groups (N=31) and in-depth interviews (N=15) with young adults of varying ethnicity and country of origin showed that people’s networks on social media function as micro agenda setters. The characteristics of people in one’s network can facilitate negative effects such as echo chambers and spirals of silence but can also unfold new perspectives and create awareness of topics not covered by legacy media

Exploring Twitter as a game platform; strategies and opportunities for microblogging-based games

Recent years have seen the massive daily engagement of players with games that are integrated with online social networking sites, such as Facebook. However, few games have successfully created engaging experiences through integration with microblogging websites. In this paper, we explore the opportunities and challenges in using Twitter as a platform for playing games, through the case study of the game Hashtag Dungeon, a dungeon-crawling game that uses Twitter for collaborative creation of game content. Two studies were carried out. A quantitative user study with 32 participants demonstrated that players found the game engaging and rewarding. A follow-up qualitative study with 8 participants suggests that Twitter integration in this game is meaningful, but that there are concerns over the impact of the game on players’ Twitter profiles. Based on findings from both studies, we propose strategies for the design of Microblogging-based games, and discuss wider implications of social media integration in games

Second Interim Technical Report for Advanced Research in Range Image Interpretation for Automated Mail Handling

This is the report on range image interpretation of singulated irregular parcels. The overall approach to this problem was to find the most general and generic method that will interpret the data yet is computationally economical. We have observed that the large majority of objects that are classified as Irregular Parcels are convex or can be modeled as such plus some deformation. Hence the primitive model that we have chosen, is the superquadric plus deformations such as tapering and bending along the major axis. The superquadric model is an analytic representation of volume for which cross-sections are a class of curves varying between rectangular to elliptical (of course, circular and square shapes are included). As a side product of this representation we obtain naturally the position, orientation and the scale of the object. The principle of recognition is a fitting procedure which changes the parameters so as to minimize the difference between the data and the volume of the model. We believe that this approach is more general than any previously model based approach including CAD/CAM systems. In comparison to the Generalized Cylinder model proposed by Binford [3] and continued with his students [13], our model has the advantages that: a) It does not require any preprocessing, that is the fitting is performed on raw 3-D data points. b) The interpretation is performed in coarse to fine fashion, or from global to local

National Geodetic Satellite Program, Part II: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

A sequence of advances in the determination of geodetic parameters presented by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory are described. A Baker-Nunn photographic system was used in addition to a ruby-laser ranging system to obtain data for refinement of geodetic parameters. A summary of the data employed to: (1) derive coordinates for the locations of various tracking stations; and (2) determine the gravitational potential of the earth, is presented

Politics at Home: Second Screen Behaviours and Motivations During TV Debates

The use of peripheral devices or second screens to access social media and other content is now a common activity during televised political debates. Based on a study conducted during the 2015 UK General Election debates, this paper explores attitudes and practices around such usage. Through the use of home observations and semistructured interviews of 18 participants, we focus on the motivations that the participants had for using second screens, capturing both fulfilled and unfulfilled needs. Based on the results, we suggest future directions for research that may further support online political discourse and we identify the potential need to rethink the implied hierarchy of the phrase second screens

Antifungal Nanocomposites Inspired by Titanate Nanotubes for Complete Inactivation of Botrytis cinerea Isolated from Tomato Infection

"Antifungal silver nanocomposites inspired by titanate nanotubes (AgTNTs) were successfully evaluated for the effective inactivation of the phytopathogenic fungus Botrytis cinerea within 20 min. One-dimensional H2Ti3O7 nanotubes functionalized with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) exhibit unique surface and antifungal properties for the photoinactivation of B. cinerea. Nanostructured titanates were synthesized by the eco-friendly, practical, microwave-induced, hydrothermal method followed by a highly monodispersive AgNP UV-photodeposition. Protonated nanotubes of ∼11 nm in diameter and four-layers displayed high surface areas, 300 m2/g, with a size functionalization of 5 nm for the AgNPs. UV–vis DRS and XPS allowed the characterization and/or quantification of surface reactive species and cytotoxic silver species such as Ag°, Ag+. The effective biocidal properties of the nanocomposites were confirmed by using the well-known Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, and then proceeding to the effective inactivation of the phytopathogenic fungus under visible light. The photoassisted inactivation mechanism was examined by HAADF-STEM, HRTEM, and FESEM electronic microscopies. A plasmalemma invagination due to oxidative stress caused by reactive oxygen, silver cytotoxicity species, and AgTNT sharp morphology damage expands the conidia to induce the cell death. The impact of the eco-friendly inactivation is significant because of the ease with which it is carried out and the possibility of being performed in situ with plants like tomato and grapes, which are ranked among the most valuable agricultural products worldwide.

Antideuteron yield at the AGS and coalescence implications

We present Experiment 864's measurement of invariant antideuteron yields in 11.5A GeV/c Au + Pt collisions. The analysis includes 250 million triggers representing 14 billion 10% central interactions sampled for events with high mass candidates. We find (1/2 pi pt) d^(2)N/dydpt = 3.5 +/- 1.5 (stat.) +0.9,-0.5 (sys.) x 10^(-8) GeV^(-2)c^(2) for 1.8=0.35 GeV/c (y(cm)=1.6) and 3.7 +/- 2.7 (stat.) +1.4,-1.5 (sys.) x 10^(-8) GeV^(-2)c^(2) for 1.4=0.26 GeV/c, and a coalescence parameter B2-bar of 4.1 +/- 2.9 (stat.) +2.3,-2.4 (sys.) x 10^(-3) GeV^(2)c^(-3). Implications for the coalescence model and antimatter annihilation are discussed.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Latex, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Mass dependence of light nucleus production in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions

Light nuclei can be produced in the central reaction zone via coalescence in relativistic heavy ion collisions. E864 at BNL has measured the production of ten light nuclei with nuclear number of A=1 to A=7 at rapidity $y\simeq1.9$ and $p_{T}/A\leq300MeV/c$. Data were taken with a Au beam of momentum of 11.5 A $GeV/c$ on a Pb or Pt target with different experimental settings. The invariant yields show a striking exponential dependence on nuclear number with a penalty factor of about 50 per additional nucleon. Detailed analysis reveals that the production may depend on the spin factor of the nucleus and the nuclear binding energy as well.Comment: (6 pages, 3 figures), some changes on text, references and figures' lettering. To be published in PRL (13Dec1999

Antiproton Production in 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We present the first results from the E864 collaboration on the production of antiprotons in 10% central 11.5 A GeV/c Au+Pb nucleus collisions at the Brookhaven AGS. We report invariant multiplicities for antiproton production in the kinematic region 1.4<y<2.2 and 50<p_T<300 MeV/c, and compare our data with a first collision scaling model and previously published results from the E878 collaboration. The differences between the E864 and E878 antiproton measurements and the implications for antihyperon production are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter