455 research outputs found
What Drives the Selection of Political Information on Google? Tension Between Ideal Democracy and the Influence of Ranking
The emergence of the Internet has altered how individuals obtain information—this also applies to political information. Search engines have taken over the role of political infor- mation gatekeepers, thus becoming key players in democ- racy. However, surprisingly little is known about the role of search engines in the political information process, that is, whether they represent an opportunity or a threat to democ- racy. Through an online survey experiment, which mimicked a Google web interface, this study examines how Swiss citizens select political information on a political news event from a Google search results page. Although citizens consider textual cues from snippets, they are more likely to select sources of information from the top of a Google results page, regardless of the source. We discuss these findings from a democratic theory perspective
Controlling the phase of a light beam with a single molecule
We employ heterodyne interferometry to investigate the effect of a single
organic molecule on the phase of a propagating laser beam. We report on the
first phase-contrast images of individual molecules and demonstrate a
single-molecule electro-optical phase switch by applying a voltage to the
microelectrodes embedded in the sample. Our results may find applications in
single-molecule holography, fast optical coherent signal processing, and
single-emitter quantum operations
The uncertain relationship between transparency and accountability revisited through four Swiss cases
Accountability and transparency are of growing importance in contemporary governance. The academic literature have broadly studied the two concepts separately, defining and redefining them, and including them into various framework, sometimes mistakenly using them as synonyms. The relationship between the two concepts has, curiously, only been studied by a few scholars with preliminary approaches. This theoretical paper will focus on both concepts, trying first to describe them taking into account the various evolutions in the literature and the recent evolutions as well as the first attempts to link the two concepts. In order to show a new approach linking the concepts, four cases from the Swiss context will be portrayed and will demonstrate the necessity to reconsider the relationship between transparency and accountability. Consequently, a new framework, based on Fox's framework (2007) will be presented and theoretically delimited
Sporadic randomness, Maxwell's Demon and the Poincare' recurrence times
In the case of fully chaotic systems the distribution of the
Poincare'recurrence times is an exponential whose decay rate is the
Kolmogorov-Sinai(KS) entropy.We address the discussion of the same problem, the
connection between dynamics and thermodynamics,in the case of sporadic
randomness,using the Manneville map as a prototype of this class of processes.
We explore the possibility of relating the distribution of Poincare' recurrence
times to `thermodynamics',in the sense of the KS entropy,also in the case of an
inverse power law. This is the dynamic property that Zaslavsly [Phys.Today(8),
39(1999)] finds to be responsible for a striking deviation from ordinary
statistical mechanics under the form of Maxwell's Demon effect. We show that
this way of estabi- lishing a connection between thermodynamics and dynamics is
valid only in the case of strong chaos. In the case of sporadic randomness,
resulting at long times in the Levy diffusion processes,the sensitivity to
initial conditions is initially an inverse pow erlaw,but it becomes exponential
in the long-time scale, whereas the distribution of Poincare times keeps its
inverse power law forever. We show that a nonextensive thermodynamics would
imply the Maxwell's Demon effect to be determined by memory and thus to be
temporary,in conflict with the dynamic approach to Levy statistics. The
adoption of heuristic arguments indicates that this effect,is possible, as a
form of genuine equilibrium,after completion of the process of memory erasure.Comment: 13 pages,two-column,latex-revtex,2 figures(2 files .eps
Memory in the Photon Statistics of Multilevel Quantum Systems
The statistics of photons emitted by single multilevel systems is
investigated with emphasis on the nonrenewal characteristics of the
photon-arrival times. We consider the correlation between consecutive
interphoton times and present closed form expressions for the corresponding
multiple moment analysis. Based on the moments a memory measure is proposed
which provides an easy way of gaging the non-renewal statistics. Monte-Carlo
simulations demonstrate that the experimental verification of non-renewal
statistics is feasible.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Diffusion regimes in Levy flights with trapping
The diffusion of a walk in the presence of traps is investigated. Different
diffusion regimes are obtained considering the magnitude of the fluctuations in
waiting times and jump distances. A constant velocity during the jump motion is
assumed to avoid the divergence of the mean squared displacement. Using the
limit theorems of the theory of Levy stable distributions we have provided a
characterization of the different diffusion regimes.Comment: 1 figure, submitted to Physica
Local governments' communication on social media platforms: refining and assessing patterns of adoption in Belgium
This article relies on the literature on technology adoption and empirical studies on social media adoption in the public sector to analyze the case of Belgian municipalities. Our objective is threefold as we aim to: (a) provide a new approach to assess the adoption of social media platforms by governments, (b) describe the current situation in Belgium through the concept of “active adoption” and (c) determine the main factors that relate to the uptake of Facebook in Belgian municipalities over 10,000 inhabitants. To achieve these objectives, we used software to retrieve quantitative data regarding Facebook adoption and institutionalization. Our results reveal that municipality size, median age and longevity on the platform are positively associated with the adoption of Facebook. In contrast, median income is, surprisingly, negatively associated with several dimensions of active adoption. These findings contribute to the literature on the factors related to social media use. In addition, the new ways of uncovering social media adoption and institutionalization patterns provide a solid conceptual approach for future research. For practitioners, our study provides municipalities with a better assessment framework and offers them a new model to evaluate social media adoption, underlining the fundamental difference between registration and “active adoption
Dynamical heat channels
We consider heat conduction in a 1D dynamical channel. The channel consists
of a group of noninteracting particles, which move between two heat baths
according to some dynamical process. We show that the essential thermodynamic
properties of the heat channel can be evaluated from the diffusion properties
of the underlying particles. Emphasis is put on the conduction under anomalous
diffusion conditions. \\{\bf PACS number}: 05.40.+j, 05.45.ac, 05.60.cdComment: 4 figure
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