1,076 research outputs found
Mood and learning in navigation-based serious games
Games are played for entertainment and have the ability to stimulate a variety of moods during gameplay, including happiness. Serious or applied games are created and used to serve a specific purpose rather than for pure entertainment. The relationship between mood and task efficiency has been investigated in psychology with contrasting results, and it also appears that there is a relationship between mood and learning. Players' mood and learning efficiency as a consequence of playing two serious games involving navigation in a virtual environment as the main action of gameplay, but with different learning objectives, have been investigated. The first game taught the route to a real world destination, while the second trained players to perform a religious ritual. The pre- and post-gameplay mood of 52 players were noted. It was found that both serious games helped the players developing a pleasant overall mood and significantly increased the self-reported happiness score in the post-questionnaire. It was also discovered that players who felt happier spent more time learning and that women performed better when they were happier. Besides, younger learners tend to obtain a higher learning performance score than other age categories
Energías no convencionales : biocombustibles
Fil: Romano, Silvia Daniela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Grupo de Energías Renovables; ArgentinaEntre los principales atractivos de los biocombustibles se encuentra el hecho de que se\nobtienen a partir de recursos renovables, generan menos emisiones, son\nbiodegradables y brindan la posibilidad de diversificar la matriz energética. Además,\nvarios de ellos se producen a partir de residuos o sustancias no alimenticias. La\nFacultad de Ingeniería de la UBA se constituyó en los últimos años como una de las\nprincipales fuentes de investigación sobre energías no convencionales. En su sede de\nPaseo Colón, ya se inauguró la primera planta piloto de biodiésel del país
Is playing violent video games a risk factor for aggressive behaviour? Adding narcissism, self-esteem and PEGI ratings to the debate
INTRODUCTION: Aggressive behaviour is a challenge for society. There continues to be considerable debate over whether the consumption of violent video games affects aggression, as violent video game content has become more accessible in recent years due to the growing use of online distribution platforms. Personality traits often linked to aggression, such as narcissism and self-esteem, have been considered in the context of violent video game play and their relationship with aggression. METHODS: We surveyed an international population of 166 game players on their personality traits and their three favourite video game choices, which were classified as violent or non-violent, using Pan European Game Information (PEGI) 16 and 18 ratings. RESULTS: We found that violent video game choice is a predictor of verbal aggression alongside narcissism, and hostility alongside self-esteem. A categorical regression highlighted the desire to impersonate society’s undesirable role models (e.g., ‘be a thief or a killer’) as one of the motivations for aggression and violent video game choice. DISCUSSION: These findings show that video game violence should be considered a risk factor for aggression, as in other violent media, as it provides a social reinforcement of aggressive behaviour and observational learning of aggressive models, calling for the introduction of stricter online age verification procedures on online game platforms to safeguard children from violent video game content; and increased use of parental controls on content fruition. More granularity should be considered in the PEGI classifications
A resilient approach to manage a Supply Chain Network
Today we depend more and more on logistic networks, which often know nothing, or worse, on which our power of control is almost zero. It is impossible to imagine a life without certain types of products or food, all of that to get us often follow long and complex network and therefore vulnerable. Let see how increase in energy costs has engulfed many small companies. Differently by rising energy costs, there are also changes that are not so easily predictable, so it is essential for the survival of a company to have “redundant” resources, able to operate strategies and proactive behavior. It’s important to be flexible and adapt better to the changes that are imposed by external or even internal conditions. More than on flexibility, it is necessary to focus on the concept of Resilience, which requires the ability to remain calm, to address a crisis, but maybe leave it weakened but with the strength, the ability and the confidence to create a tomorrow of own business, adapting to change
System Dynamics Approach to model a Hybrid Manufacturing System
The aim of this work is to create a simulation model of a manufacturing system operating within the supply chain by system dynamics approach heeding dynamics of system-company and factors that may affect performance, so that management can have a useful tool for decision support. The results have shown interesting correlations between management choices and the system outputs
NEW FORMALISM FOR PRODUCTION SYSTEMS MODELING
This paper aims to highlight the usefulness of the simulation, analyzing in particular, two simulative techniques: the Discrete Event Simulation and the System Dynamics. The main objective is to propose a simulation methodology to use to model, analyze and control any type of system. This approach is supported by three studies, belonging to different sectors, which demonstrate the utility of adopting a simple and common scheme of analysis
I Prodotti agroalimentari e floricoli tipici tra conservazione e innovazione
Recent EU and National policies for agriculture and rural development are mainly focused to foster the production
of high quality products as a result of the increasing demand of food safety, typical foods and traditional processing
methods. Another word very often used to describe foods in these days is “typicality” which pools together
the concepts of “food connected with a specific place”, “historical memory and tradition” and “culture”. The importance
for the EU and the National administrations of the above mentioned kind of food is demonstrated, among
other things, by the high number of the PDO, PGI and TSG certificated products in Italy.
In this period of global markets and economical crisis farmers are realizing how “typical products” can be an opportunity
to maintain their market share and to improve the economy of local areas. At the same time, new tools and strategy are needed to reach these goals. A lack of knowledge has being recognized also on how new technologies
and results coming from recent research can help in exploiting traditional product and in maintaining the
biodiversity. Taking into account the great variety and richness of typical products, landscapes and biodiversity, this
report will describe and analyze the relationships among typicality, innovation and research in horticulture.
At the beginning “typicality” and “innovation” will be defined also through some statistical features, which ranks
Italy at the first place in terms of number of typical labelled products, then will be highlighted how typical products
of high quality and connected with the tradition and culture of specific production areas are in a strict relationship
with the value of agro-biodiversity.
Several different examples will be used to explain different successful methods and/or strategies used to exploit and
foster typical Italian vegetables, fruits and flowers. Finally, as a conclusion, since it is thought that innovation should
be compatible with typical products without interfere and modify the link between product and area of production
the role of research will be defined and quantified
A decision support tool, implemented in a system dynamics model, to improve the effectiveness in the hospital emergency department
The emergency department of a hospital is, among all areas in which lean policies are focused, the one that has received the most attention. The emergency room, in fact, plays a vital role in providing primary care to patients and is also recognized for the contribution it gives to society. The important results in terms of cost savings and improving the flow due to the reduction of the waiting time of the patients, obtained from major international hospitals, were crucial to assess whether it was possible and useful to implement similar improvements in Italy, certainly not without to many problems in the provision of health services. This paper explores what can be improved for the department to be more efficient, using simulation techniques based on dynamic and continuous logics (system dynamics)
Alternative Properties in Liquid Fuels and Blends
This work summarises the results of the research program at the Renewable Energy Group (GER) of the University of Buenos Aires on alternative properties for the characterization of liquid fuels. The study included fossil fuels: diesel fuel, gasoline, and methanol, and biofuels: biodiesel from different feedstocks and bioethanol. Blends of diesel fuel/biodiesel, gasoline/bioethanol, gasoline/methanol, biodiesel/butanol, and diesel fuel/biodiesel/butanol were also studied. The electrical, acoustical, and optical properties of fuels and blends were determined as a function of temperature and composition. From these results, the composition of blends was accurately estimated from measurements of permittivity and temperature. The research program included the study of correlations of the alternative properties with those indicated in the international quality standards for liquid fuels (kinematic viscosity, methanol content, flash point). These correlations make possible to verify the quality of liquid fuels with simpler and more convenient measurements in industrial settings, and also in the laboratory.Fil: Romano, Silvia Daniela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Ingeniería Mecánica; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Tecnologías del Hidrogeno y Energias Sostenibles. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Instituto de Tecnologías del Hidrogeno y Energias Sostenibles; ArgentinaFil: Sorichetti, P. A.. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ingeniería. Departamento de Física; Argentin
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