Empirical Traffic Data and Their Implications for Traffic Modeling

From single vehicle data a number of new empirical results about the temporal evolution, correlation, and density-dependence of macroscopic traffic quantities have been determined. These have relevant implications for traffic modeling and allow to test existing traffic models.Comment: For related work see http://www.theo2.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/helbing.htm

Are you still comparing or already learning?:experience report of a Facility Management benchmarking for laboratory buildings

The founding of the "IFMA Benchmarking® Research Group Chemistry, Pharma and Life Science" actually has its roots in the former professional association IFMA Deutschland e.V., which preceded the organization Rea1FM e.V.. The acronym was redesignated as "Industrial Facility Management Benchmarking" and the right to this name was secured. With the founding of the research group in 2004, the goal was set to identify the most efficient concepts related to the special requirements of constructing and operating laboratory and office buildings in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry through benchmarking. The research group has grown to include 15 participating companies. The results of this long-standing and successful cooperation are being increasingly acknowledged outside of the research group and more and more inquiries from third party companies are being made. The present article entails key fin- dings of our conducted benchmarking study

A high-current hollow cathode as a source of intense line radiation in the VUV

The VUV line emission of a high-current DC hollow cathode was investigated in the wavelength region 10 nm to 100 nm. Spectra of quadruply ionised atoms could be observed. The radiance in the Al IV lines at 13 nm and 16 nm and in the He II Lyman-series was determined by a comparison with the spectral concentration of radiant intensity of the synchrotron radiation emitted by the electron storage ring BESSY. The authors found the radiance of the lines to be reproducible within +or-25%

Can social robots affect children's prosocial behavior? An experimental study on prosocial robot models

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a social robot that models prosocial behavior (in terms of giving away stickers) influences the occurrence of prosocial behavior among children as well as the extent to which children behave prosocially. Additionally, we investigated whether the occurrence and extent of children's prosocial behavior changed when being repeated and whether the behavior modeled by the robot affected children's norms of prosocial behavior. In a one-factorial experiment (weakly prosocial robot vs. strongly prosocial robot), 61 children aged 8 to 10 and a social robot alternately played four rounds of a game against a computer and, after each round, could decide to give away stickers. Children who saw a strongly prosocial robot gave away more stickers than children who saw a weakly prosocial robot. A strongly prosocial robot also increased children's perception of how many other children engage in prosocial behavior (i.e., descriptive norms). The strongly prosocial robot affected the occurrence of prosocial behavior only in the first round, whereas its effect on the extent of children's prosocial behavior was most distinct in the last round. Our study suggests that the principles of social learning also apply to whether children learn prosocial behavior from robots

Child–robot relationship formation: A narrative review of empirical research

This narrative review aimed to elucidate which robot-related characteristics predict relationship formation between typically-developing children and social robots in terms of closeness and trust. Moreover, we wanted to know to what extent relationship formation can be explained by children’s experiential and cognitive states during interaction with a robot. We reviewed 86 journal articles and conference proceedings published between 2000 and 2017. In terms of predictors, robots’ responsiveness and role, as well as strategic and emotional interaction between robot and child, increased closeness between the child and the robot. Findings about whether robot features predict children’s trust in robots were inconsistent. In terms of children’s experiential and cognitive states during interaction with a robot, robot characteristics and interaction styles were associated with two experiential states: engagement and enjoyment/liking. The literature hardly addressed the impact of experiential and cognitive states on closeness and trust. Comparisons of children’s interactions with robots, adults, and objects showed that robots are perceived as neither animate nor inanimate, and that they are entities with whom children will likely form social relationships. Younger children experienced more enjoyment, were less sensitive to a robot’s interaction style, and were more prone to anthropomorphic tendencies and effects than older children. Tailoring a robot’s sex to that of a child mainly appealed to boys